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Hola.... Leslie here and glad to have been back since 8/6.... I went over the days I missed on the forum and I cannot believe that I was so busy with my Nietas (grandbabies) that I never even knew there was a potential for a tropical storm as that would certainly be on the news in the US?  Almost 3 weeks with family and sharing my cultural adventures left no time for TV!!

Most important was time with the little girls (ages 4 months and 19 months)... Most of my family is happy for me and my new idea of extending this Dominican Adventure another year past October... I have to weigh that against missing what might indeed be beautiful moments with my grandbabies but I truly believe that for them to have me there for 2 to 3 weeks at 3 month intervals on my visits home even if I did this for 2 more years, they are so young, that the real fun with them will be in another 2 years or so.!!
I am so limited to type of community I can live in here in Punta Cana (no car and need to be in gated with security guards, etc.)...hope I can just find something here in my current complex Playa Turquesa....

One addition to that "electricity issue".... when staying at my first condo complex, they found that that their electric had been tapped into by a neighboring restaurant and complex!!! 

Happy to be back.. Planner, didn't note if you went to Punta Cana..  if so, hope all was well!!

I did not make it in July but will be there in next couple of weeks. I hope we can meet!!!

The house in Barahona after painting.

I am trying to figure out how to get some photos to post.

This shows the photo when I click on it, but How do I post the actual photo?

It's done. You just click on the text.
Nice colour!

[url=]before painting, it looked like this[/url]

The yellow and darker blue were as close to primary colors as Pintura Tropical had. The kitchen, sala and two bedrooms are the same shade of light blue as the wall next to the door.

Thanks Planner, I certainly hope so as well... Sounds like you have had a momentous last month or two... perhaps a break in your hard work is due to you!!!  So very very glad I found this forum and the support I have had (especially since my long-winded narrative sessions regarding my first month at my old place)...

Nice House. How did you finally get the photo to post??? I have never seen a photo here on the blog before. How did the house take to build? Looks nice after the paint job  are you going to put a fence or is that not possible with the way the house is situated?

Been away in Eastern Canada (New Brunswick) for a week.  Just caught up on the forum and I feel confident I can solve the mystery of the missing storm.  It was above us!  It rained almost the entire week we were gone....

Sheri

So far as I can tell, the property line is right in front of the house, and so we won't be putting a fence around it. I have a price on putting bars on the six windows (all aluminum jalousies) and a wrought iron outward opening kitchen door, There is  a small patio on the side opposite the kitchen door with a couple of mango trees. When the wind is blowing and sometimes when it is not blowing, mangoes come crashing down on the tin roof and rolling down to the ground. WE have planted some greenery in front of the galeria.

Years ago, there was a Plaster of Paris plant about 100 yards west of the house. It is a two story ruin with no roof, and there are about six smaller houses inside the old factory. I would say that about 45 people live in the area around the old factory, and all but one family is related by blood or marriage. Or I suppose I mean "marriage" There is one street with a row of houses facing away from the kitchen towards another street. Across that street there is a Khoury cement block plant and storage yard. The plant is on the far side of this large lot, but at night you can hear very faintly the beeping of the backloaders at Khoury when they go into reverse.

Palmerito is no the fancy part of Barahona. There are some fancy houses. even a couple of mansions, from back when the Sugar Boom of the 1920's "La Danza de los Milliones" was going on, but there does not seem to be any fancy neighborhood in Barahona. It is a provincial capital, but it is a sugar town. The Sugar Mill and Khoury are easily the two biggest industries. There is an Aeropuerto Internacional de Barahona, but there are no scheduled flights. Usually there are several private planes on the runway.

The closest thing to a daily paper is a website named ecos del sur.com

The house was supposedly in great shape when I bought it for around $3000 US, but as I knew would happen, the roof was leaky, the plumbing was a disaster and the electrical system was dangerous. So it took about another $3000 to enlarge the house, add a new roof and to raise the floor 18 inches because when it rained hard, they water was flooding the kitchen. Perhaps we will install an inverter system, but I have three LED rechargeable lights that work pretty well, plus a kerosene lamp. The remodeling process involved moving a wall ten feel to one side, removing the previous roof and adding a new one, installing all the plumbing and wall sockets and switches. All this took about three months. There were up to three people working on this at once.

The new bathroom is nicely  tiled and has new fixtures. The tinaco warms water for showers when there is water in it, which is most of the time.

This looks to be a typical house in a lower income neighborhood.  Thanks for the updates and for letting us know what things cost.  This is helpful information for many many people!   

I live in a middle class neighborhood in Santo Domingo. The owner is now installing a cisterna.  It will hold almost 5,000 gallons of water when it is done. The excavation alone cost  28,000 RD plus another  9,600 for truckloads to haul off the materials. Now they have laid the floor and are buidling the block walls.

Such a mess at my house right now.........

But just keep thinking of all that water  you will have.

Bob K

So far as I can tell, every neighborhood in Barahona has everything from mini-mansions to hovels in it. The area between Cassandra Damiron and the bay has a lot of fancy, partially built houses, several have been completed, but there are also a lot of empty lots on the unpaved streets as well as shacks made of coconut planks and recycled zinc roofs.

There are a number of ruined roofless buildings between the Parque Central and the Malecon with fading SE VENDE signs on them. I don't think Barahona has grown much in the last 30 years. Azua and Bani are a lot more prosperous in appearance. There is a huge area along the Malecon that has nothing built on it at all. I think the houses that once were there were wiped out in a hurricane long ago.

I did not buy and rebuild my house as ant sort of investment, just a place to stay.

Ok so it is off to buy school supplies for  our "adopted" daughter who starts high school next week.  The older one starts at the university in 2 weeks and we will go with her for books and supplies in a couple of weeks.

School books here are a joke. They change them every year so you can't hand them down or buy used.  It is controlled by the government with only one publisher.  Prices are outrageous and the books themselves many times are glorified comic books.  Most are in soft cover format, and loaded with pictures rather than text.  And like I said very expensive a 50 page "comic" book can cost up to $25US.  I shake my head in amazement every year.

So this should be an interesting day.  Plus the costs of clothes (uniforms) book bags, supplies

Bob K

Bob you do a good thing my friend!!!!   Keep us posted on the costs this year. I will do my shopping tomorrow with a similar list!

For those visiting us or who want to help - when you come down bring school supplies!  Don't bring paper - it is too heavy - bring pencils, erasers, rulers,  sharpeners, crayons etc etc.  those are items constantly in need here!

Do you read Spanish?   As a teacher, I find the books used in the schools to be very well done, and appealing. They are quite similar to the books used in Puerto Rico, and are much more appealing to those I have seen in other Hispanic countries.

The biggest problem is that the teachers do not use the books effectively. I can see this easily because the books are intended to be written in and you can see what has been assigned and completed. Sit down with a kid and go over the book with them, I think you will see that they enjoy learning from these books.

Remember that spelling is easy in Spanish and not stressed as it is in the US. It should be stressed more, I would say,

The typical Barahona school day was three and a half hours, with half an hour used to take role and salute the bandera. They have built more schools, so next year this may be better, as school may  not be in two shifts. 

In most of the US, there are huge sales of school supplies at Office Max, Wal*Mart, Staples and even Walgreens. You can buy pencils and the sort of 100 page cuaderns for as lillte as a dime when they have sales. Pencils at a dime or less apiece. You can ship them to the DR and get them there in a month for far less than they would cost in the US. Bookbags and backpacks are also always on sale in the US in August. Sales on this sort of stuff in the DR suck. They seem to want to sell stuff for 3 or 4 times cost.

Planner, what you and Bob are doing is very honorable. Those kids are lucky to have you in their lives !

Thanks. Its about giving back!   We are here as  welcome guests in this country so giving back should be pretty natural.

Yes the costs of school supplies here are ridiculous!  Very expensive, but all are imported.   

Education -  it has been in the news for  2 years now, the government has been building a huge amount of new schools.  The end result will be a full day education program instead of half day programs.  Now they simply lack qualified teachers. So some schools will be full day and they expect by 2015 (August new school year) 90% will be full day!   Lets hope they meet their targets!

I agree with you Xavier, stuff in the DR always seems to cost 3 or 4 times more than here in the U.S. and many times it is of subpar quality!   and it looks like the government is getting ready to close the last resort on savings which is available and that is internet shopping.  I know planner and Bob kept saying this new tax on internet tax on items less than $200 dollars would not become a reality, but so far it looks like all the ducks are lining up to make this a reality.  Such a high tax will definitely slow internet purchases and in the end I believe the greedy brick and mortar guys will do some harm to their own pockets. 

       If Dominicans are forced to buy locally because the internet is no longer a saving depot, this means they will have to buy at local high price for certain necessary goods, which translates into less money to spend in other sectors of the economy, but then again, long term planning has never been a priority for the aforementioned group. "Live For Today" Is Alive and Well! Today is my birthday and I get one wish when I blow out my candles later today and I think I will wish for fair and just pricing for the Dominican people, they can't afford any more taxes! 

As we speak there are hearing going on in various court challenges to this tax.  Lets wait and see what happens.

Rule of thumb for everyone - material items are more expensive and labor is less expensive!  Applies to just about everything.

Ok back from the first shop. Of course here it is one week before classes start the stores were mobbed (went to three) and of course 2 or the 5 books we needed have not come in yet and maybe here next week or the week after or....
Cost of 3 soft bound small (150 or less pages), mostly pictures and like a work book with "homework" pages in them to be fill out by the students  and one Spanish soft back dictionary....cost...4600RD.  That is over $105US. Unbelievable.

Pencils, supplies, all 3x costlier than in the states.  Not to mention uniforms.  No wonder why many kids here don't go to school.. Who can afford it???

Bob K

Massagewiz still holding out the tax wont happen but we will see

Bob K

Yes we have lots of new schools, Yes we are moving to a full day of clases

NO we don't have nearly enough qualified teaches.  I believe last exams given over 40%of the university trained teachers looking for employment failed the test......Hummmmm

Bob K

And it was a pretty basic test apparently!

Correct it was not for advanced placement just for general grade school classroom teachers.

Bob K

Wow! Bob $105 Dollars!   and these are H.S. Books??? The books sound very basic by what you describe, and the fact that the books change every year, there is no chance to at least recoup part of the investment or at least apply it to new book purchases or donate if to kids the following year who might not be able to afford new books.  It sounds to me like there is a Book Mafia!!!! Is the book system the same for public schools as far as the books or do they get free books by the government??? I sure hope to hear good news on the 6'O Clock broadcast regarding these taxes, don't want to waste my birthday wish on the taxes! Keeping my fingers crossed Hope you guys get some quality rain soon, the report given today on the upcoming rainy season looks bleak

Looks Like you guys are the experts for good reason, just signed on to noticiassin and I see where the tax measure was suspended temporarily, I guess it is a small win for now, but what surprises me is that Danilo has said Zero regarding this situation, he keeps deferring the issue to his crew   I guess the wrong position could hurt his image   Well for now I'm pleased with the temp stop, but I hope the judges do not give in to pressure or the old briefcase with some $$$$ left in the chambers.  Looks Like I get to wish for something else today. Thumbs up all the way!

Supreme court just ordered Aduanas to stand down on the taxation of items under US 200!!!!

And the little guy wins....for the time being.

Bob K

And Massaewiz yes there is a school book mafia, that makes lots of money every year.

Bob K

I see that Bob. Well at least for today the score is  Vultures=0 The People=1 

The books I have seen were elementary school books not HS books, and I think that they were issued free of charge. I cannot comment on books I have not seen.

Thanks Xavier, just wanted to know if the public schools had the same deal as the private schools.  The public school system in Canada, US, Asia, Europe and even some of the other Caribbean neighboring island is pretty good.  My. Stepdaughter came to the US from Panama at age 6 and did not speak a word of English, but because she had such a good scholastic school base before arriving, she was able to pick up and keep up with the American kids in 3 months time, and even ended up being her school valedictorian. Looks like the Prez aside from just opening new schools, he also needs to overhaul the teaching system. I guess the extended school hours is an attempt at improving what the kids learn, but they still need to nip the book mafia in the butt

The public school system here is horrible! I believe the gov't is working on change but they are not there yet.

Nothing in the school system is free. Parents struggle at times to supply pencils!!!!  Unless items are donated they are not free..

Every year at this time families struggle to get kids ready for school and they need all the help they can get.

Yes it is crunch time. This week an organization in Sosus (Sosua Kids) distributed back packs, some uniforms and supplies along with a $1600RD voucher for a local store for other supplies.  This was for 630 kids.  A great organization to donate to, and all run by local expats.

Bob K

Just got the bill for our other "daughter" who starts at the university this fall.
Tuition is $1800RD a month plus about $6000 in other fees, papers, files etc. To put that in prospective that is just under what our housekeep (her mother) earns a month.

Books????? That will be the next surprise

Bob K

What is she going to study Bob?  At which university?

We will be happy to bring what we can on our  visit in Dec. Will hit the sales after the back to school rush and probably clean up!

Sheri

Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy  thanks!

Count me in too Planner.  Ill bring some things down.