Feel Good Story of the Day

[Wishing you well]

We went on a camping trip in the mountains, this last weekend.
"We" as in me, my wife, my BIL and his wife and 3 kids, sobrina and her kid, 2 other muchachas, a friend of the family and her punny dog, the donkey and my rottie, rex ( well I call him T but nobody ever understands :laugh. Oh and also 6 live chicken ( if we carried them up dead themeat would spoil ).

So early 5.00 am start. Off we go. Each time we are better prepared......
After the river over flow and storm and buckets of rain on the last trip ( long story barely made it away..... ). An owner of a finca proposed us a small house ( well 4 walls a roof and a dirt floor, place they use when they are up tending cacao trees in the mountain ), and its outside kitchen.
Great.

So spend 3 nights up there. Great time. River, waterfall, very cool temperature under the cacao trees. Perfect.

Owner of the finca stops by to say hello. A few hours later 2 of his workers stop off with a ration of platanos, a ration of rulos (?), a dozen of yautilla (??) white and yellow, a bag of oranges ( the cabarete variaty, one of my prefered ), 2 dozen fresh water crabs and a bunch of big fresh water shrimps ( or crayfish I am not sure )..........

Just like that, for no reason. Out of kindness.......

How is that for hospitality ???

I LOVE THE CAMPO IN THE DR !!!!!!!!!

Further away from the "modern world", big towns and touristy areas, the much nicer the people. ( just my take.....).

My best times in DR were always at the mountains of Bonao, picking plantains and coffee, enjoying the water falls and smoking a cigar in the evening looking up and down the mountains -- great times!

 

[dv8]

i much prefer it when you talk about the murder in your campo.

 

[Meemselle]

I need to make friends with youse.

 

[malko]

i much prefer it when you talk about the murder in your campo.

Ask and you shall recieve.......

Disclaimer, this is radio chime,

Couple of days ago in a nearby campo, a haitiana was killed by her ex-boyfriend. He caved her head in with a hammer.
As she had complained beforehand to PN that he beated her, PN arrested the guy as soon as her body was discovered. ( he was playing dominoes, and obviously claimed it wasnt him..... who knows ? ).
The body was taken to Santiago morgue for autopsy, supposedly. I mean it should have been quite obvious she died of repeated hammer blows to the head, no ?:tired:

Brought back to our campo by friends/relatives of her.
Momy, aspirante syndico and danilisto, gifted a casket. Kudos !!
Juan, syndico and ex-aspirante diputado until the announcement that, no he cant be, so aspirante syndico again and leoneliste, said no-no, no haitians in my cemetery. Very clas.sy !!
So the body was propped up, in its body bag, against the wall in the scorching sun, until the situation unblocked.
The lorry of ayunamento (?) took everyone into the hills, far, far away, to dig a hole and bury the body .

Kind of unbelievable, no ?

Hope this satisfies everyones " feel good story of the day "

 

[dv8]

here is the story: http://noticiaspop.com.do/apresan-h...-guananico-apresan-hombre-con-pistola-ilegal/

 

[Garyexpat]

my mother is the same ungrateful, unloving parent. first time i traveled home with miesposo she bought him 3 different pillows because she was not sure what he liked. number of pillows for moi? ZERO. "you don't use a pillow",she said. ok. every day she made miesposo's favourite food (pierogi) as a side dish and bought him a box of chocolate coated cookies he loves. god help if i tried to touch one cookie, she'd smack my hand faster than a snake snapping the neck of a field mouse. :speechles

Does your mom make the pierogis from scratch? Visiting my family in the states we all made, what seemed like millions, LOTS of work. I was one of the wrap the dough around the potato / cheese filling guys. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat what I thought was my share before I was headed back here to the D.R.

 

[dv8]

she does. here is a recipe i posted a while ago:

well, people make different dough. but the way i learnt from mama is simple. 3 ingredients: flour, a spoon of olive oil, hot water.

the water should be hot enough to use without the fear of being burnt, so not boiling hot, of course. about a cup of water for 3 cups of flour. now, the trick is in adding the ingredients: water goes all in, straight up. it is better to add too much water and then use a bit more flour in order to make a dough than use too little water and then add some more. why? because then the dough will be too hard.

i only ever do the dough by hand. no mixers, spatulas, food processor, nada. into the bowl goes flour, i make a small dent and put oil and then pour all the water and start mixing by hand. as soon as the dough starts to form i take it out on lightly floured surface and knead it until it makes a soft, flexible, almost glossy ball. put some more flour onto the working surface and start rolling. use more flour so the dough does not stick. change the sides few times.

finally, after the dough is rolled flat flour the top again, very lightly. cut round shapes with a cup. put the filling on the side that was touching the working surface. cook in boiling, salty water, few at a time. as soon as pierogi "swim" to the surface they are done.

and one more, for pierogi with the filling of potatoes and cheese:

pierogi is a hit with my dominican family. the downside to this is that when they visit i need to make maybe 100 pierogi which can take a long time. then they eat them in 20 minutes and go home (siesta nap). ha ha ha.

miesposo's favourite filling is ruskie (russian) pierogi:
1 cup boiled mashed potatoes (can be with skins on, can be roasted and mashed, whatever you wish)
1 cup white twar?g cheese (it is a specific type of cheese, i think in america it is called quark or curd cheese)
half an onion
few cloves of garlic
herbs
spices

onion and garlic need to be cut into small pieces and fried. all ingredients to be mashed together. do not use food processor for this, the filling needs to be somewhat lumpy. add cut herbs and spices. lots of pepper, otherwise the pierogi will be quite bland.

how to make twar?g:
all you need is milk, unpasteurized, with high fat content. in DR is is easy, all you need to do is buy milk form a truck that passes barrios every day. pour the milk into a large pot. you will need about a gallon to make a chunk of cheese size of small bread loaf. cover lightly, with fabric (cheese cloth) is best. let stand until milk separates. you will know because there will be greenish water in the bottom and soft, thick white curd on the top. you will be able to cut the milk with a knife. in DR it takes about 24 hrs.
put the pot, uncovered, on a low fire and let slowly get to the point of almost boiling (bubbles will start forming). do not let it boil. ideally, you should be able to touch the pot with your hand all the time, without burning yourself. when bubbles form turn the gas off and let the milk cool down. spread the cheese cloth in a strainer. use ladle to scoop out white lumps. the liquid left in whey. many people will drink it. it can also be used for baking. i hate the stuff so i give it to my dogs. they go crazy about it.
close the cheese cloth over the cheese. place a small pot full of water to weigh the cheese down and squeeze all the whey out. it should take about 2 hours. put the cheese in a container and store in the fridge.

i am very sorry to have gone off topic and i give this thread back to malko, please forgive me.

 

[les1]

i have lots of warm feelings for malko and his dogs so i struggled mentally to write something positive. you must know that this is against my nature and i may die if i come in touch even with the slightest amount of optimism. but i am gonna risk my life to say that all recent weeks we have been foraging the land for cajuil fruits and managed to gather and freeze four large bags. today miesposo took them to his mom so she can make dulce de cajuil and give us a good portion of it. so. free fruits and someone else is to do all the hard work that i will benefit from.

now excuse me while i go to lie down,being nice put a strain on my heart. farewell, fellow posters.

I can see DV8 gossiping at the local Colmado and taking plates of food to her neighbours. Well done!.....lol

 

[dv8]

I need to make friends with youse.

sure thing. i'll buy you a drink and we'll share murder stories

 

[malko]

perverted feel good story of the day, cos it made me laugh.

Boyfriend of sobrina, and sobrina too, a year or 2 behind, passed his diploma of maestro,ie to be a teacher. Congrats !
Then he has to take another exam, like a concours, in french.
Gets that too. Congrats.

So he starts teaching in a nearby school, a few weeks ago. Nice !
What do you teach ? Maths..
What ? I thought you studied spanish language and litterature.
Yes, I did.
Duuuh ?
Yes they needed a math teacher.
Did you get a course ?
No.
Are you teaching toddlers to count on their fingers then ?
No 8th grade.
Mmh what age students ?
14 to 17 years old.
OMFG !!

Sobrina has asked me for help for university economic maths a couple of times. Easy peasy simple stuff.....for me......
Anyways, she is trying to help make sense of what he is supposed to teach students.
I gaze in amazement as they do a whole afternoon of trying to understand 5y +9=6y -8...... y= ?......
A university student and a teacher !!! Yes, yes.....

So I suppose its a start to throw money towards education...... but I am not sure new buildings and more teachers of this quality is going to give many results anytime soon

Oh and I asked how he got through school, his maths being really, really bad.... fingers for + and -, pebbles for ? and for ? ...well he doesnt do divisions
He answered, everyone goes through to the next level....no matter what.

 

[Mauricio]

On that 'everybody goes to the next level' in primary school it's not allowed anymore to fail children until 4th grade. How smart is that. If a child isn't ready for 3rd grade, let him repeat 2nd. But no, besides not teaching well, they apply developed world ideas that ONLY work if the whole system works. Just like not giving grades anymore until 5th grade. Everything now is a check mark as in 'the child manages this'.

They are clueless.

 

[Mauricio]

Anyway: a real feel good story: the other day I was on my way to the gas station. Had waited too long to or gas and when almost there my car stopped. Out of gas, just turning to get into the gas station. Only needed to cross the street and enter the gas station. I whistle to a security guy who comes running and a customer jumps out of his car and pushes me to the pump. I thank the other customer and then go to the security guy to give him 50 pesos. "No", he said. I say: "no?". He says: "no, por que?!".

I felt like the idiot offering money for that little help, but my experience has been any help a monetary thank you is expected.

 

[malko]

perverted feel good story of the day bis, cos it made me weep.

Politics have been THE topic for the past year.
Current syndico wanted to be candidate to diputado for the purples, but in the end couldnt cos of decree that said all ex syndicos have to run for syndico, ex diputados for diputado. He is also leonelisto. Lets call him X.

Another purple candidate, was supposed to take his place as candidate for syndico. But wouldnt step down after previously mentionned decree.
He is daniliste. Lets call him Y.

Camps are formed, meetings, blabla, central purpule electoral office says yes, no, yes, no.
Both were promised, apparently, to be the sole purple candidate.... mmmh.

Some intresting meetings that taught me that a couple of millions of pesos is the budget of the small campo town.
Where does the money go ? There are no sewers, no pavements ( that merit the name at least ), 2 speed bumps (!!), 3 " garbage men "........
Anyway......
Then I discover the supporters of X get a monthly check....for what ? For support ? with the towns money ? W.TF ?? Small amounts between 1000 and 2000 pesos, but even so.....

So new developpment, X feels the wind is turning in Y favour, both from purple political party and even among the pueblo.
So he jumps ship to another political party, the whites. Not the whites who formed an alliance with danilos purple, no. Dissidents of those whites....
Lost ?
So am I.
Anyway he hopes, again to be a diputado.... or maybe not, no one is sure, maybe syndico.......

So, obviously, some will still vote for him, others no..... lots of heated conversations.
Can you guess who is still on his side ?
Yes the ones who get their monthly checks..... normal.

So, today heated conversation between some locals, over politics. To be precise, is it moral to change political party ?
Me, fed up, and sipping baileys on ice under the heat, to a family member : you have no idea what you are voting for, all you want is your monthly check to continue coming in...
Another guy gets all excited !! Rants and raves....
A supporter of Y says, of course you disagree to the ranter, everyone knows YOU get 25k pesos every month from X ( so from the town ) !
He is a finca owner BTW, so hardly in need....
The ranter answers back that Y has no less then 7 goverment salarys.....yes, yes 7. Education, passports......
Unbelievable !!! But true, says the pueblo

All as thick as thieves I say.........

I got up and crossed the road back home after saying,
4 more years of fukcing the poor up the a$$, dont come complaining........ in 2020 vote for me

 

[dv8]

you can name names, they are public knowledge: http://www.puertoplatadigital.com/verNoticia.aspx?Id=20303
:cheeky:

 

[dv8]

So I suppose its a start to throw money towards education...... but I am not sure new buildings and more teachers of this quality is going to give many results anytime soon.

i call it "idiots teaching morons how to be stupid". there is no other way to express this. tanda extendida for all? go fcuk yourself, 8 hours of training in stupidity ain't no better that 4 hours of the same. invest in teachers first.

 

[malko]

So I am coming around to the fact that it is very hard to get a good laugh in my campo in the dr.
Sure we laugh about stuff, people and family stories.
But humour is .......lets say diffrent ( to not say inexistent ).
In France we would say they take everything at the first degree...... so one has to be careful what one jokes about.

So this morning I am sitting sipping coffee across the road at in-laws, topic of the day : There is no water, please let it rain !!!
Anyway, MIL, life long female friend of hers ( who could be part of the furniture ) and her old-maid daughter., a SIL ( who we call lele....says it all ), a sobrina and a bloke friend of MIL.
They all blame the lack of rain on the fact that people
a) people dont pray for it, to some deity or other.
b) that people dont do offrends anymore
c) and a whole bunch of stuff i forgot allready.

Instead of mocking them, which i felt like ( bad plan ), or keeping my mouth shut, which i usally am good at ( good plan ), i decided on some subtil humour ( worst plan ).
That never works, i say.
MIL chims in ( its a dominican conversation, everyone speaks at the same time and cuts one and other off ). He probably knows better. Because paja water is plentiful ( true ) and the mountains are made of water ( not true, but kind of, cos we live in the alps ), MIL has visited france and switzerland a couple of times.
Lots of oohs and ahhs....
I finally manage to speak again ( i have learned to repress years of education and can now speak loud and at the same time as everyone else with the best of them, but when there older folk, its stonger than me, i revert to politeness and courtesy ).
You want to know the ONLY way to make it rain, with certainty ??
I have their attention now.
Well a human sacrifice is the only possible way.
The younger the better, I say, while bouncing my 2 year old sobrino on my knee.
Awkward silence.
Ok, that fell flat...no problem.

The conversation moves on to more serious topics such as what were last nights lottery numbers ( quinela, pale, tripleta, la national, la otra.... ) , and who died in the past few days ( to plan which bela we are going to attend ).

Maybe 20 mn later, i am in the " garden " kicking a ball with the wee one.
MIL calls me back in.
" is it true que pa fuera we sacrifice children to make it rain ?? " -_- -_- -_-
I lost my voice, left my sobrina to explain it to them, crossed the road back to the sanity of my home and poured myself some pear moonshine.

 

[dv8]

yeah, death jokes don't fly here. my friends back home would try to outbid each other saying who should be sacrificed and how.

 

[malko]

A good culinary day !!

I was in a bad mood, as I got to la pollera too late, it was closed already. Sold out. My better half, proposed to roast a gallina, but its just not the same. The meat is tough.

A friend of ours, going back to europe, dropped of a raclette machine. Nice of them, especially since they did the detour on their way to POP from Santiago.

And at 1800 tonight, the bell rang, while I was making Pita bread. Haitiana friend of my wife's, who used to be the trabajadora, brought us 24 fresh water crabs !! Yummy !!
We were talking about the lack of crabs, due to the hot, hot year and no water in rivers, so she sent her elder son out last night to " fish" !!
Thank you Tata !!

Oh and I also got some guyanavana ( or something like that ), big green fruit with wihte flesh. You spit out big black pips.

So it was crabs, avocado and platano ( for my wife ) , pita bread for me, for dinner.
And fresh fruit salad for dessert. Mango, guyanavana and mandarines.

Roast chicken will be tomorrow

 

[dv8]

baked salmon here today, rubbed in sesame teriyaki seasoning, dry roasted tomato flakes and dressed with fresh tomato. served with potatoes and green salad. followed by a cup of espresso.

 

[Virgo]

Oh and I also got some guyanavana ( or something like that ), big green fruit with wihte flesh.

GUA-NA-BA-NA (apparently called "Soursop" in English)