This week might have been the longest one that I've had so far, and that's mostly because of how much I managed to pack into it. Tuesday I went to the launch of a new partner of ours, the Consorcio Dominicano de Competividad Turistica (CDCT) - I think it sounds better in Spanish. They are the product of the different tourism clusters that we work with. So, I met about 50 people on Tuesday night, all with something or other to do with the tourism industry here. Not too shabby for a work night. I think my favorite new acquaintance is this older gentlemen who runs The Nature Conservancy (his day job) and is one of the main singers in the Cuban salsa band that plays every Sunday at the Rinconcito in the Colonial Zone - one of my absolute favorite cultural events. (If you come to visit, I'll take you there.)
On Wednesday I took our summer hire out with me on a day long site visit. We went to be the representatives at a workshop run by Plan International on the Role of Journalism in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response. It was an incredibly long day (like 12hrs clocked on the job), but rather interesting to see the press here. They are very passive, in my impression. There is very little in the way of investigative journalism, and since so many of the major papers are tied to business interests, they are very reluctant to cover controversial topics or get too critical. The press that attended this workshop learned more about their role and responsibility as community members and as a crucial part of any national emergency response effort. They seemed to really be pleased with the workshop - I hope that was genuine interest and not the fact that we fed them breakfast and lunch. (The role of food in ensuring attendance sound familiar to you SIPA folk?)
Tonight I had my first set of dinner guests over. I made a variety of Indian dishes, which turned out not too shabby for not having recipes or any prior experience (not that I would have relied on either one). My scuba group came over for our theory session. I was so happy to have a dinner party again :) just like old times...
Tomorrow I am off to the beach for the weekend with a handful of friends. Since I finally got my car today (a fabulously old school '98 Mercedes Benz Jeepeta), I will be getting to take it for it's first road trip - at least under my ownership. It's going to be an awesome trip to a place called Las Terrenas, and since I have had an incredibly busy, long week...I am totally ready to collapse in the sand.
No comments:
Post a Comment