SNAFUs

Hello, dear reader.

Long time, no blog. Here's a shock-and-awe photo blog for you to scratch your head over. The situation: the local utility company, in talks with representatives from Neyba, has been insisting that residents only "deserve" 16 hours of electricity per day. Indeed, "la luz" here is reliably unreliable. I can expect that every day between 3 and 7pm and 3 and 7am, there will be no electricity. How much does this affect my life?  When the lights are out in the afternoon, not terribly: after all, I am in class. But when there is no fan to cool me off in the wee hours of the morning it is difficult to sleep. Needless to say that my sympathies were with the strikers who, for 48 hours (yesterday and today), effectively shut down the city. Highway entrances in and out of Neyba were blocked, businesses shuttered, tires burned, and people wounded (although this was purportedly a "pacific" protest). I have still not heard word on how the situation has resolved itself--i.e., whether or not the protesters achieved their intended goal of securing a promise of 24/7 electricity from the utility company. My limited experience with Dominican bureaucracy (namely, the Ministry of Education) keeps me skeptical. For those of you inclined to wade your way through a little Spanish, HERE is a video one local took of the strike and a pastor's take on the situation. Below you will find pictures of the strike, taken and posted by some of my students who were kind enough to give me permission to repost them here. In case you're wondering, I stayed well away from the proceedings: I spent the day ensconced at home grading papers, reading and writing lesson plans. Without further ado, pictures of the protest in Neyba...

I hope these pictures have given you something to contemplate (and perhaps be thankful for--the reliable electricity in the States. As gridlocked as Congress may be, at least the government gets the very basics right...)

Until next time, dear reader!

Saludos,

~Kirsten