Been awhile since my last post but now that the school year is over (Wahoo!!!) our minds are turning towards summer and the D.R. and the camp (only 38 days, 20 hours, 28 minutes away). The big news is that all of the camp materials have been sent (see photo).
Yes siree. We sent down 15 boxes full of books, art supplies, writing supplies, sporting goods, more books, more writing supplies... you get the picture right? So, how did we get all of these goods shipped you ask? Well, Tanya contacted a company that Yasi has used to ship goods to the D.R. in the past and the owner guaranteed that he would give her a good deal since we were sending soooooooo many boxes. Now, here's where the exciting part comes in. Usually, when we're negotiating any sort of contract or agreement having to do with the D.R. Tanya makes sure I'm out of the way because the "gringo" price is always far greater than the "dominicano" price. For those of you who don't know me I am distinctly gringo (at least on the outside). As an example, whenever we're in the D.R. and need to take a taxi anywhere Tanya makes me hide behind a bush or something so that the taxista doesn't realize that one of his customers is a gringo. Then Tanya negotiates the fare, usually getting an excellent price (my wife is a master negotiator - in the D.R. she's known as La Rubia Regateadora (The Blonde Negotiator). Then, poof! out I pop and the taxista realizes he has been fooled into letting a gringo travel at the dominican fare. Ha!
But, back to our story. This time around Tanya wanted me around for my extraordinary math skills. Even though Tanya still did most of the negotiating I was able to use my math skills to help out on occasion. For example, at one point we had negotiated $40 for a big box and the owner wanted us to pay $30 for a much smaller box. I said, and I quote, "Well, the smaller box is half the size of the bigger box so the price should be half, $20." And he went for it. (That's math practice standard #2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively for you Common Core fans). In any event, Tanya took over from there and we did end up getting a good deal ... assuming all of the boxes arrive of course.
Lot's more news about exit visas, travel plans, water kits, and the reading club. But, that will have to wait for another time.