Dominican Ice Cream

It rained most of the day today and at one point it was coming down so heavily, the streets were filled with three feet of water. There didn’t seem to be any drainage system in place in San Pedro de Macoris even though the town is right on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. Driving through flooded streets near disabled my brakes. I was in a 4×4 SUV so I could plow through it, but as I got out of the flood, brakes would not work. There was no resumption for a while but I kept stepping on them after acceleration to heat them back up as I figured they don’t wark because water cooled them down rapidly.

Domingo tried calling the number of the potential notebook theft suspect, but there was no answer. We made appointments to appear on live radio shows the following day and decided to wrap this one up as it was nearing midnight already.

Domingo mentioned that he told his wife about me and how I was robbed by a girl I was helping and said it made his wife very upset. She was angry at the girl for doing it and could not take it off her mind. Since it was nighttime again and I was as stressed as can be because my time in the Dominican Republic was running out yet I still have not recovered my stolen laptop, I asked Domingo if he would go for a beer with me again and asked him if his wife would be interested in joining us. He phoned her up and made arrangements for her to dress up so she’s ready by the time we get to his house.

Domingo has a beautiful wife. They ended up in this weird relationship because she was once married and had two children but her husband abandoned them. He simply picked up one day and disappeared never to come back. Domingo on the other hand was also married and had two children with his wife whom he caught on several occasions at home doing bumping business with another man. He was putting up with it for as long as he could but eventually had to go his own way. Now he’s married to a woman whose previous marriage didn’t work out either, but they seem very happy together and create a beautiful couple.

I knew Domingo didn’t drink and I was sure his wife didn’t either. I was gonna have my Presidente Grande again and thought Domingo will do a small one, but didn’t want to drag his wife into this drinking game so I suggested that take her to an ice cream parlor. The plan was to get a big ice cream for Domingo’s wife so she can savor it while the two of us are sipping on Dominican beer.

We walked into that ice cream place which was just on the opposite side of the road from those mini bars by the shore and as we were choosing which ice cream to get, a girl working there offered us samples of a caramel one. I had my taste buds focused on beer which I was gonna chug in a minute but I gave that ice cream sample a try and was blown away. That ice cream was so good I don’t think I’ve ever tasted ice cream this irresistible. One small sample and my mouth was watering with lust. Dominican ice cream is the best. It was so insanely awesome I was seriously contemplating ditching beer and having a cone instead.

Despite amazingly tasting ice cream I have resisted the urge and stayed true to my original intention to grab a beer before sleep. We went back to the bar where Keira served us the night before, but she was not there and their bar was closed. That was kind of disappointing but Domingo explained that many social places in the Dominican Republic are not open every day. Sometimes owners get a better gig somewhere else, sometimes they simply take care of their private matters and sometimes it’s simply not worth it as some days during the week are generally slow. We ordered beer elsewhere, I took Domingo and his wife back to their home and set out on my own way to get some sleep. Still insanely stressed out because of that laptop theft. but I tried my best to get some rest at night. That Dominican ice cream was seriously yummy, though.

A Perfect Life – When Everything Goes as Planned

Shortly after I started to work for the government, one of the co-workers had a “leaving for retirement” farewell party. She’s been with the company for 40 years and knew everything backwards, so the director said we’re facing challenging times ahead of us as he gave toast. He said she could not be replaced, but we’ll try to find someone who could do similarly good job in her place.

As I was talking with another of my co-workers during this retirement party, he mentioned that the lady leaving had perfect life. He said everything in her life went as planned – she applied for a job with the government as soon as she got out of college, got hired, started working here, got knocked up, got married, spawned a few kids, kids grew up and got married, then they left family house, then she’d worked here for few more years and now she’s retiring and has all the time in the world to do the things she enjoys. A perfect life revealed before our eyes. Apparently this woman’s life went exactly as planned, everything fell in place, everything went smooth and now she’s gonna reap benefits of it. Could life get any more perfect than that?

As I looked back at my life so far, I thought there was a lot of merit to what my co-worker had said. True enough – everything in that lady’s life went smoothly and she’s now secured for the rest of her life to enjoy herself any way she pleases. It made me feel lost and desperate a little since I was 32 at the time and my life so far has been nothing like that. I was not married, I did not own a house, the longest I stayed in one job was 4 years… compared to that retiring lady I was a lost cause. When she was my age, she had already worked for the government for over a decade and had family and organized cash flow.

The one positive I saw was the fact that even though I scored that government job later in my life than she did in hers, I scored it nonetheless and my contributions to the retirement fund have been steadily dispensed every month. I had more than 20 years of working ahead of myself so if stuck with the government, at the end of those more than two decades I’d still be looking at dignified retirement. So I kept myself safely locked within the mundane lifestyle of a corporate slave. It was not making me rich, but I was not poor either. I continued accumulating possessions and kept telling myself to bite it and go with it, for one day I could retire and my life will know joy at last.