Thursday, April 14, 2016

Quirky Things Part 5 - The last of the series!

This is the last in the series of Quirky Things.......  I jotted these things down while I was in Habanero so I could share them with you.   It's been fun to write and remember these events.  I hope you've enjoyed reading these blogs and it's shed a little light on life in Habanero.

Here in America I have a few little things that don't work properly around my house but for the most part everything works as expected.   Key word in relating to these differences is expectations!  Mine are always different than the reality of Habanero.

So you know when I go to Habanero to prepare for a team part of what I do is get everything up and running for the team as best I can.  The tropical environment is hard on equipment and the quality of work plays into how things work as well.  There are 3 things to fix on the doors.  1) There's just a padlock on the new door and the 2 pieces that you lock together don't line up well, so it was very difficult for me to slide them apart.  2) We need a deadbolt  3) We need a lock on the new bedroom door.

Yanet arranged for a man to come do the work and he is well known and is "very, very good".  In Habanero there is no Angie's List, it's Yanet's List!  He comes in the morning around 8:30am.  He has to weld the new deadbolt on the door so he needs power.  He hands me a cord through the window.  I look at the end and there is no plug in just two stripped wires.  I smile at him and motion for him to come in and hook it up.  He puts the wires in the socket and welds the new lock.  I ask if there is anything else he needs, he says no so I secure the rest of the house and leave to go to the school.

  

A couple hours later when I return he is still working on the bedroom lock.  It's 4pm by the time he is finished.  I have supplied all the materials so I just need to pay for his labor, I ask him how much and he says 700 pesos. Approx $15 for him and his helper.  He also had come to the house the day before to tell me what I needed to purchase for the job.  So $15 for 2 men all day + an extra trip was reasonable. We say goodbye.


Later that night Yanet comes over and we inspect the work. Hmmm....... the new deadbolt works perfectly but the 2 pieces that go together for the padlock still don't fit - I now actually need a hammer to smack them apart.  We look at the bedroom door, lock looks good, but the lock doesn't actually lock.  Bummer for us, because once you buy something in this country you own it weather it works or not. But don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the doors and locks, we have no lovers and no poopers back there!



Among other things that didn't work on my arrival, the water tank on the roof overfills, the refrigerator didn't work, the washing machine was broken and one fan didn't work.

As they say, welcome to the Dominican Republic!  For you here in America "count your blessings!"


2 comments:

  1. Nice piece of info! May I reference part of this on my blog if I post a backlink to this webpage? Thx. 5 hour driving course

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