Rocks Out of Water

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted. We are still getting into this blogging thing. Hopefully we can get in the groove while still in the states, so our posts in the DR are frequent and interesting!

Since our travels up the east coast we have been staying in rainy Glenside, which is a little outside of Philadelphia. A Beyond Borders board member, Renee, has kindly let us stay in her home. We have a great set up with a room and bathroom all to ourselves, but we are getting restless as we work out the details of our living situation in the Dominican Republic. Our activities are limited without a car and job, but we have managed to keep ourselves busy. Most of our days are spent reading, learning Spanish with a video/cassette tape & workbook series, and working on our computer via an internet connection we found at a local University library.

We do manage to get out every once and awhile and seem to find something interesting & amusing to do. Monday we journeyed to New York to open up a bank account. City Bank has branches in the Dominican Republic, we needed to open an account ASAP, and there are no branches in PA. The quickest option was to take the Chinatown bus to New York. We are letting you in on a great secret, stuff the locals only know. The Chinatown bus is the cheapest form of transportation, only $20 round trip from Philly to New York.

The bus experience did not disappoint. Women were pressuring us to buy bus tickets in both English and their native language. The sidewalk was filled with produce, raw fish, and seafood creatures that were still moving. Our return bus was late, but it wasn’t a problem. It gave us more time to experience the bustle of yet another New York immigrant community. It also gave us time to ponder and laugh about our day. It took us 3 ½ hours to open up a measly checking account. Our lesson learned? It looks awfully suspicions to open up a bank account in New York’s Chinatown when your home address is in California (but your drivers license does not have this address on it), you are staying in Philadelphia, and are on your way to the Dominican Republic.

A few weeks back, as part of our east cost tour, Leah and I spent sometime in Washington D.C. with another good friend of ours, Tony Brunswick. Tony is a semester away from finishing a master’s degree in counseling. He currently uses his skills as a councilor for a social service organization, working with the homeless in D.C., called SOME (So Others Might Eat). Tony and I participated in the same Beyond Borders program, and as with many who have lived in Haiti, share in a strong bond of common experience. Unfortunately, we did not take any pictures with him during our visit, but Tony himself is a photographer. His photos can be seen here.

While in D.C. we did a number of the touristy things– museums, monuments, and tours. One highlight was a visit to the highest court in the land, The Supreme Court. Not many people know this, but when the court is in session seats are made available for public viewing; seventy-five seats are open for viewing the full 60 minute case, while there are also a number of rotating seats which allow those who are unable, or who don’t wish, to see the whole case an opportunity to have a Supreme Court experience.

We decided to take a shot one morning at getting into see a case. Upon arriving to the court almost two hours early, the line had already snaked down the block. That morning happened to be the first day of cases for newly appointed Chief Justice John Roberts. It also involved one of the Courts most controversial cases on the docket this year; Gonzales V. Oregon, the case dealing with physicians assisted suicide. We had hoped to see a full case, but settled for the 5-minute peak.

It was a great experience, especially with all the talk about the Court lately. If I were President, I might nominate one of these guys.