It’s been quite some time since my last post. Possibly because I have friends in PR that may read this and call me out, and partly because I’ve just been living life. And I think most of us can agree that by and large, day to day life isn’t all that noteworthy.
I really am getting accustomed to the culture here. I can now laugh and just shake my head at things that used to send me into a blind freaking rage. For instance, a week or so ago, a coworker and I went to Chili’s for lunch. Chili’s is in the mall, and to park at the mall you go through a little gate and take a parking ticket. Parking is free for three hours and if you stay longer you need to pay before you actually leave the inside of the mall. Either way, you need to keep your ticket and insert it into the machine for the gate to open and let you out.
As we went to leave, we worked our way into the line of cars waiting at the gate to exit the parking lot. We were at the far exit, approximately 200 yards from where you would enter the mall building. The lady directly in front of us is monkeying with her ticket, sticking it in and out, while the line of cars behind us continues to grow. She asks for help and my coworker, who thankfully speaks Spanish, got out to help her, whereby they learned she’d stayed beyond her three hours and hadn’t paid. We tried to back up so she could get out of the line, and the van behind us did the same when they realized what was going on. But it’s Puerto Rico, so as soon as the van made a space, someone else zoomed in to fill it.
It became clear that the only option was for her to hoof it back to the mall and pay for her parking. So we waited. In any of the lanes of the parking lot that I could see, there was a solid line of cars. The parking lot was total freaking gridlock while we waited for her to walk all the way in, pay, and walk all the way back. And I just shook my head, laughed, and realized how’d far I’d come. Sometimes I think I need a dashboard camera, because for a lot of these driving related stories, words just don't do it justice.
The thing I will never understand is why there isn’t a better system. Surely this must happen several times a day. Why isn’t there a worker out there to take money, or even a credit card machine? But then that would be efficient, and as I’ve said, efficiency isn’t really a valued trait here.
Another way I’ve adjusted? When asked, I’ve started using my middle name. Just during simple transactions – coffee at Starbucks, a dinner reservation, etc. Why, you ask? My name has presented a challenge since I’ve been here. It’s not something a Puerto Rican would ever name their child, with good reason. In Spanish, “jodi” is the first person past tense of the verb “joder” - “to screw.” Not like “to screw something into the wall," but, in a strong enough context, it can also be taken as “to fuck.” So literally, “Me jodi” translates to “I’m screwed” in Spanish.
So I took a cue from my buddy I met in Scuba class. He’s a Jewish Californian who speaks decent Spanish, but also has a unique name for the Puerto Ricans. A couple of weeks ago, on our drive to the west coast for our final dive of the class, we stopped at a local bakery to get some breakfast. When the employee asked for a name on the order, without hesitation he said, “Javier.” (So not his name.) And I thought, “That’s genius. Why haven’t I thought of that?” So in certain situations, I’m Marie. It’s much more Spanish sounding. Maybe I’ll go with Maria and really try to blend in.
As mentioned, I’ve also completed my Open Water Scuba certification. Now I’m free to go try to drown myself anywhere in the world. It’s actually been on my life-long To Do List for about 15 years, so I figured it was now or never. I was worried about how it would affect my ears since I’ve had problems. And I was concerned about feeling claustrophobic – once in Hawaii I took one of those submarine tours and it kind of freaked me out. But as it turns out – I love it. It’s like visiting a whole other world. I’ve only done the four dives for my certification so haven’t seen anything too crazy yet, but I should have plenty of opportunity.
And that opportunity stems from a move at work! For over 11 years, I’ve always been on the Service side of our business. But this week they announced that I’m going to transition to the Sales side next month, and will have direct dealer contact responsibility for our 15 dealerships in the Caribbean islands, outside of Puerto Rico and USVI. So I’ll be traveling more – to such places as Antigua, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, the Caymans, Curacao, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, and Trinidad. And Haiti. Mustn’t forget Haiti.
While I hate the thought of more time in the kennel for Charlie, when I took this assignment I really wanted to get my list of countries visited up to 40. After a trip to Aruba, Curacao and Trinidad a couple of weeks ago, I hit 34. I haven’t been to nine of the islands on my list, so I should make it! I was a bit sad that I didn’t get the Central America zone, since I have friends there and a big personal reason I took this assignment was to learn Spanish. But if Charlie is already in the kennel, it’s easier for me to justify a night or two over a weekend to actually play tourist on some of these islands (while on a company sponsored plane ticket, as well!) See something other than a dealership, for once. And now I guess I need to add Dutch, French, and Papiamento to my curriculum!
