Hi,
Those few of you who have persisted in visiting my blog despite the recent dearth of change—and in particular those several who have decried my turning it into an advertisement for a used vehicle–will perhaps be pleased to learn that I’ve finally sold my car. As for the rest of you, trust me—there’s plenty of joy to share in this event.
Buying or selling a car is not as simple a process here in the Republic as it is in the States. There are many more steps involved, administrative and otherwise. Many, many more steps. And paper. Not a lot of paper copies, but a lot of official rubber stamps. (I have two of my own.)
It probably didn’t help matters that every time I managed to successfully advertise the car here I turned around and left for the United States. The eventual buyer actually tracked me down in the mid-west and then volunteered to wait for several weeks until I returned to Las Galeras!
Anyway, I have the money, if not yet the $7,000p transfer tax. The buyer has the car, if not the current matricula (title) in their name. The transaction should be all wrapped in another couple of weeks. I think.
During the hiatus from me writing on this blog several of you have had heart attacks, at least one has retired, and another (my mom) has moved into assisted living. A couple of babies have cropped up too, and not just here in the RD, So, tell me, what’s new in your world?
In the “passages of life department” my mother has finally given up the Internet after succumbing at the age of 86 to yet one more bout of frustration with Windows. I understand the temptation. I’ll bet that I get an “Amen” to that?
Here in Las Galeras it is now very slow, very quiet. It is hot and breezy in a tropical way. This village is generally a good place to be (despite the hyperbole one might find in certain backwaters of the Internet, spread by an alarmist or two.) Perhaps I will take it upon myself to correct some of the factual misrepresentations about my little village that appear in one discussion forum or another. Perhaps I will not.
It does feel like home here in Las Galeras, even if more than one person did say to me “welcome home” when I was in Richland Center, Wisconsin recently. One woman was even prepared to argue when I denied that RC was home. Home in Takoma Park is also more than “where the cat is” even though the cat is indeed in Takoma.
This leads me to wonder offhandly what it is that I mean when I refer to “home.” If, as Robert Frost said “home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,” then I suppose that I’m blessed with a number of homes.
Come to think of it, increasing the number of such homes isn’t a half-bad goal in life.
I hope that all is well with you.
This excellent vehicle is located on the NE Coast of the Dominican Republic and is now for sale. Originally titled in Japan, this Diesel SUV has been (mostly) converted to a LH drive vehicle. It has had one careful owner in the RD and has been well-maintained. This very comfortable vehicle has only 80,000 original km and is well-priced at 450,000 pesos.
If interested drop me a note at: banderson@elotrowa.com or call (809) 840-4150.
- 5 new 3-belt radials with hard compound tread
- Recent 4-way alignment
- New brakes
- New and seriously large battery
- Multi-lock security system
- Double air conditioning
- 7 passenger
- Tinted windows
- AM-FM CD Player
- Recent oil change
- Look closely and you can see the dents on the passenger side. They’re included.
Tags: Dominican SUV For Sale
When you find yourself weighing the imponderable questions in life—“what does it all mean,” “who is actually as important as they appear,” “will the meek even WANT their inheritance,” etc., you may find yourself wondering why we are here.
There are worse responses than the one posited by the band Devo: “We are here to go.” And, really, what is life if not a series of lesser and greater goings?
This perspective on living made a particularly big impression on me as I watched my wife prepare with equanimity to die. Once it was clear that her death was imminent she was gracefully all about the going.
As she had very little unfinished business in this world and focused on the next steps for her family and her friends, and for herself. That “next steps” business was her way of Going, which she did completely and beautifully.
Her departure left me to ponder the process of living. Like the rock band, I’m realizing that the simple English word “go” is just loaded with metaphoric potential. It can be used as a verb, a noun, or as an adjective and—best of all—the word can be used ambiguously. If you wish, the grammatically ambiguous term “go” can open a metaphorical path between the simple processes of living and something as profound as the purpose of life. So it seems anyway, but exploring that possibility is not the purpose of this little essay.
I mean only to reveal that I recognize myself in the state of “going” a lot lately.
Initially this realization gave me pause because I’ve fancied myself as willing to stand and face circumstances, uncomfortable or not. And so I considered that this continual “going” might in some way be me avoiding the reality of my loss in Denise’s dying, rather than going as a simple and inevitable consequence of being. I considered, and ultimately discounted avoidance as the primary purpose of my now more appreciated going. And so, going I am.
In some ways the phrase “Here to go” approaches in the spatial realm the elegance of my favorite temporal oxymoron, “Now, then.” But I digress.
To recap: I’ve been back and forth to Las Galeras and the United States. In this moment I have returned to Wisconsin where both the weather and my mother’s health have improved since last December. Before returning to the Dominican I intend to go to Nova Scotia and take a look at the Bay of Fundy, perhaps eat a lobster.
Before you Google “Bay of Fundy,” pull down your dictionary and take a look at “go.” I think you’ll be impressed.
“We are here to go.” Devo was onto something here.
I can almost hear you muttering “well, THAT’S an odd thing to say,” and you’d be correct in that, if it weren’t so damn cold.
To my surprise and maybe yours I am not in the Dominican in this moment. I was home there this winter only long enough to open the house and prime the pumps before moving my friend in as I departed for the frozen upper mid-west that is Wisconsin. I’ve been here in a communal icebox filled with friendly and helpful people–many of whom I’ve known for a decade–for a little more than a couple of weeks now. And I’ll likely remain for a couple more. But I’m certainly not staying for the climate.
And, actually, I’ve only worn long underwear on those days when the HIGH temperature has stopped short of minus ten, Fahrenheit. I’m pretty sure the year-round residents don’t exercise such arbitrary (alright, RIDICULOUS) measures when dressing in the morning, but I’m trying to establish my own tradition here. And I don’t spend much time outdoors; as little as possible, actually.
It is REALLY cold here and it is cold all of the time. It hasn’t been above freezing in two weeks, since the big snow.
I’m in a small town, the county seat of Richland County in south-western Wisconsin giving my mom a hand–administrative and otherwise, as she prepares for what she terms the adventure of the next phase of her life. My mother is inspirational and makes what is a pretty difficult process much easier with her positive and reasonable approach to most of the impending changes.
I hope that I’m like that when I’m 85.
A few of you have been kind enough to pester me about keeping current with stories of Las Galeras (and I haven’t forgotten a promise to a friend for the detailed and excruciating story of a month of political action in Texas.) To those of you anxious for news from this direction, I can offer the prospect of a break in the action, maybe after the first of the year.
Indeed, there are several things that do warrant reporting in some detail. For example, I’m a licensed driver in the Dominican Republic. This is amusing and challenging in more ways than you may imagine. And the Medio Ambiante continues to behave in the most inconsistent and baffling ways regarding the construction projects of my friends and neighbors in Las Galeras. On the infrastructure front, the aqueduct is now marginally functional all of the way to downtown Las Galeras and the final 40 kilometers of road between Samana and our village are SO much improved that I can almost envision eventual asphalt. See what news you have to look forward to?
Anyway, I think of each of you, and wish you and your families the best in this holiday season.
The snow here can be pretty, so I’ll put a snapshot or two on the website.
Best,
Bill
Hi,
Incredibly enough, I’m in Texas. Have been for a month.
You’ve probably heard that Texas is big. Well, Texas IS big. It is also largely boring.
You may not realize this (I didn’t) but the ambient daylight is very, very bright. “Glaring” is not an extravagant exaggeration.
“Why Texas,” I can hear you thinking. There’s a good reason.
A friend and retired officer of the AFL-CIO, Linda Chavez-Thompson, is running as a Democrat for the office of Lieutenant Governor. My union, the Painters and Allied Trades, has once again stepped to the plate in support of the broad labor agenda and is underwriting my costs to work with the unions here in Texas. And so I’ve been here since early October, not recruiting, organizing or coordinating volunteers, but stuffing envelopes and compiling literature packets and walking precincts. It’s been humbling and invigorating and enlightening all at the same time.
Unfortunately, I believe that our candidate is going to get her clock cleaned.
Her goal in this campaign is to mobilize the Latino, women’s and labor communities and educate them as to the differences between the candidates from the top to the bottom of the party tickets. Even in a considerably constrained situation, she has performed a yeoman-like effort.
No one who knows Linda personally is surprised by this.
Anyway, we’ll continue to plug along here through the election and then I’ll drift north to Wisconsin to visit with my mom before returning to Washington and then on to Las Galeras on Thanksgiving.
I hope to see many of those of you in the D.C. area before decamping, and I do think of all of you more frequently than you may imagine.
Be sure and vote on Tuesday, if you haven’t already done so.