Have Bike, Will Travel

8/31/11

Rather bored from the lack of classes due to Irene, I decided to take a trip with my new bike to Plaza Las Americas which is a well known PR mall. Consulting my map of San Juan and trying to discern how far i needed to travel, I was delighted to see I only had to travel 3 inches to get there!  However, shockingly 3 inches on a map is much farther in the real world and as a result my legs were tired, shirt was drenched and my butt was sore from the not-so-well designed bike seat.

The mall was very nice and housed your typical upscale "mall" stores.  The mall was "grande". It was a mall on steroids. The enormity and scale was mind boggling. It was a catacomb of Macy's, Sears, and 1000 different cell phone and shoe stores.  The best part of the trip was the...... air conditioning.

On the way back I stopped at this nifty little burger joint called 'Jamberguera' which had been established for exactly
1 year. Despite the lack of a golden arch out front and clout among the other hamburger chain giants, the burger I tried had was "muy delicioso".

 

So here is another weird observance about puerto rico, a good percentage of jobs down here are in security.  Walgreens has security, Burger king has security, restaurants, gas stations, parking lots all have security guards.  And cops drive around town with their lights flashing.  I suppose that's just to let their presence be known.  You would figure with all the bars on the windows  (and nearly EVERY building is barred) that so many protective measures wouldn't be needed.  I suppose I feel safe! It's very different than Kentucky.

One last note, they still use the Card Catalogue system in the Library! Cracks me up!

Club Gallistica

8/28/2011


Yesterday was...interesting.  First on the agenda was a taxi ride to a Fedex store so my roommate could pick up his new phone.  After only one minute into the cab ride we looked at each other as if to say, "did we really just get in a car with a puerto rican driver?".  The trip turned out to be a highspeed, fullthrottle race to get to..... the Fedex store.  As if being pursued by the police, he ran redlights, took curves at 30mph, honked his horn repeatedly, made 3 lanes out of a 2 lane road, all while driving one-handed and texting on his phone with his other.  I prayed the whole way there.  


Next up was a trip to club Gallistica.  What's that you ask?  Is it the latest hot night club in San Juan? Well, you'd be wrong.  It's a cockfighting arena geared towards tourist.  Is cockfighting legal you ask?  Yes.  There are 128 active "galleras" in Puerto Rico.  It's estimated that 175,000 fights take place on the island per year and PR is becoming the world's host to cockfighting.  In 2007, the government passed a law to keep galleras legal citing that it is part of Puerto Rican culture.

Immediately upon entering, one senses the overpowering aroma of chickens.  And not the good KFC kind.  The chickens are on display in plexiglass cages to you can scout out potential winners.  

When it's time for a match, the chickens are lowered to the ring where they are then 'riled up' by the handlers. They use a stuffed rooster toy to peck at it and cause agitation.  Then they put them in the cages in the center of the ring and set the timer for 14 minutes.  They release the birds and they begin to fight. 

The most interesting thing about the trip was the 100 middle-age men yelling in full capacity during the matches to support their bird. There are constant shouts of number amounts for betting and "azul or blanco" depending on which bird they are rooting for.  It was an odd experience!!


Later we ate at a Denny's and explored the beach at Isla Verde.

Spending Spree

8/25/11

So it's been hard doing without some of the things I enjoy: coffee, transportation, and clean floors.

Check out this pic of an entrance to a walmart inside of the Plaza del Sol mall.

I was feeling withdraw from my daily coffee routine and so I went in search of a coffee maker.  I found one at the local Walgreens, purchased some strange Puerto Rican coffee that smelled like feet and the next morning enjoyed a tasty cup of coffee (surprisingly it tasted MUCH better than it smelled).

Lack of any sort of device that uses wheels as a mode of transportation was making my feet very unhappy, quite rebellious actually.  So, I took the train to Bayamon and purchased a shiny new "bicicleta".  I had to get another card to bring it on the train, which brings the total amount of cards that I have in my pocket and in my wallet to 16.  I'm almost to a full deck.  I bought the most beastly, gargantuan lock I could find.  I don't want anyone stealing my nice, shiny, spiffy bike.  I plan to utilize this wonder of modern technology to explore the concrete jungle that is San Juan.  I'm really looking forward to exploring around OLD San Juan.

The floors in my room were quite gross that I think the cockroaches even wear flipflops to walk across it.  I bought the necessary supplies to SCRUB the tainted, grotesque, not 'doctor recommended' floor. After a half hour of scrubbing it still looks like the floor of a subway station bathroom, however, at least it feels clean to walk on.


On a separate note, did you know that a gallon of milk here is $6?

Hurricane Irene

8/24/2011

The other day, hurricane Irene was kind enough to "breeze" through.  Our jurassic dinosaur of a building retracted her metal scaled windows as we prepared for a deluge.  The hyped storm on the news turned out to be just lots of rain and the occasional wind snap.  In the middle of the night I woke up and recorded some of the storm.  I happened to catch the culprit lightning strike that knocked out San Juan's power for half a day.  The first pic is .....the calm before the storm.

So here is some more pics of the city.  Some of the architecture is interesting. Some buildings are modeled in a colonial style where others are modern styling.  Some need to be condemed.  And I believe that every one of the 1,000,000,000,000 buildings in San Juan has some type of grafiti on it.  Puerto Ricans are a colorful people.

As with any big city there is this.....  

I've had several people ask me for money.

Oh check this out.... this is what every book store around campus looks like.  How can they find anything!

Voy a escribir mas pronto!

Tirramar

8/21/2011


Yesterday my roommate and I went in search for an ATT store because his brand new phone died. I expect nothing less from ATT.  We took the train to Tirramar which runs westward from the university.

Once there we had to walk to the store.  On the map it appeared to be a ghetto location, but Kellen assured me that it was an upper-class neighborhood.  He was correct and it was a pleasant walk among the tan colored mini-mansions housing their BMW's and Audi's.  We found the ATT store and proceded to wait for assistance.  We wait. And wait. AND WAIT.  Until finally the new Iphone 15 comes out before Kellen can get his brand new Iphone 4 fixed. Apparently ATT stores are the same here as back home.  I have a theory that all ATT stores and conjoined by some weird time nexus where upon exiting the store it is 2 weeks into the future. And of course ....they can't fix his phone.  Deflated, we tread back home.  Only to be re-inflated by the 2 ice cream stores we saw: Ben and Jerry's and Maggie Moo's.

We elected for Maggie Moo's and I have decided that it holds the record for World's Best Icecream.


Walking back we saw odd trash can holders that were in the ground.  I don't really get why they were in the ground.  The trash people would have to lift some serious poundage! Unless they had some device to suck it up, some...garbageman vacuum.

That's all for now. The internet is INSANELY slow today. ARG!

Parte Dos

8/20/11

This week I explored the markets that are nearby.  They were very interesting to say the least.  There were shops of all types, street vendors, and a farmers market.  Here is a picture of the market street Before it opened.  It kinda looks like a scene from a scary movie, however, once the metal doors goes ups, its much nicer.

Prices were incredibly cheap!  Here is an example of what I saw...

Jeans $6
Watches $3
Pots and Pans $2.75
Dress shirts $6
Full Mens Suit $49.99

I bought a PR tourist shirt for $1.50.  Incredible! Which makes me wonder.... how can they sell things so cheap?! 

I also found out that some of the professors here opt to use copies of text books, rather than having a student buy a text book.  So, effectively, I can get a copy of a $60 text book for only $3.00 at the copy store.  Infringement? Yes.  Do I care? ...well... no. Text books should be free!

So, a bit on PR fashion.  Most everyone here wears jeans even though it's 80 and humid.  Girls dress like there going to to beach.  Needless to say it can be hard to concentrate.  Guys sport 'rat tails' quite proudly.  Nearly a quarter of the male students choose to adopt a hair fashion meant for children, rednecks, and native indians.  There's definately a PR style that is different from KY.

My classes appear to be manageable.  One of my math classes is taught in english.  The students have been very nice.  Some have offered to help me with class notes. My current note taking process is to write key words down and then look it up later on Wikipedia because I can only understand so much.  One of my teachers speaks at a ridiculously fast pace (as do most puertoricans), so it will be a challenge! I'm an obvious 'gringo' here.  Perhaps it's my blinding white skin and reddish goatee. I'm getting used to the funny looks people give me.  In fact, my teachers readily identified me as an exchange student. The thing most said by me this week was "Si, soy un esdiante de intercambio. Soy de Kentucky.  Mi espanyol no es bueno."

Puerto Ricans have adopted an aggressive style of driving.  A serenade of honking horns can be heard echoing through the city streets.  From a  stoplight, the sounds of revving engines and screeching tires can be heard as cars race hurriedly to the next stoplight only a block away. Crossing the street is like playing Frogger.  This is a photo of a crash I happened to come upon while exploring...

I got my first experience with the PR public transportation yesterday.  A couple of us 'gringos' elected to go to the beach.  The train stations were nice and modern.  I had to get ANOTHER card to use the train system.  Between all my school cards, train cards, and cards in my wallet, I'm only a few away from building a full deck.

Then from the train, we took a bus to the beach.  The buses were crowed and it took a while to get there because it made many stops.

It rained while at the beach.  Most rain only lasts a short while. The sun came out later and fun was had by all. 

Puerto Ricans like murals.  San Juan is very colorful!!

That's all for now!!

Adventures

8/17/2011

I discovered quickly that the humidity level in PR stays around 70 percent all the time.  The temperature stays in the 80's and combining that with the humidity allows for a fair amount of feeling "sticky".... all day.  

The dorm is a colossal behemoth dinosaur built around the jurrasic period. 

The elevators rarely work, which as it be, has the benefits of me developing nicely toned calves.  The toilet in the small bathroom on our floor doesnt flush and the lights in the bigger bathroom don't work so you must bring a flashlight, which feels like a caving expedition and brings a new meaning to the term "spelunking".   The rooms are decent sized, however I had to beat the mattress into submission after trying to devour me.  No really....it was that nasty.  I let loose a furious battle plan involving an entire can of Lysol, a plastic mattress cover and a large shoe to squash any critters attempting to crawl away.

 

It was quite odd not having a pane of glass between me and the 150 feet below me.  The building designer elected to NOT install air conditioning, rather use giant metal blinds that retract up and down to allow air flow.  Occasionally a gust of wind will lessen my "stickyness".  Maddy kindly lent me her 6inch fan which helps to pass the nights.   Since there is no glass, the sounds of PR flood the room.  "Would you like fries with that?" is the phrase most ofter heard from the conveniently placed Burger King directly below our room.  Surprisingly 13 stories up I am able to hear sirens, construction work, cars and buses driving noisily down the street and the occasional shout from the random passer-by.  Sleeping is a challenge.

However, with all my complaining, there is a bright side to living on the 13th floor.  The view is amazing.

To say the least...my state of mind is..."frazzzzeled".  Yes, with 2 EXTRA z's.  Monday passed with waiting in lines for what seemed like an eternity.  Maybe an eternity + 1...that's how long it felt. I had to obtain several cards in order to "survive" at UPR.  I first obtained my personal ID card.  Next I went to to get my dorm card.  However in order to get that card I had to get another card. So I had to get my ID card to get my Dorm card to get my Door Code Card.  Confused?  SO WAS I.  And on top of that I had to get pictures developed for my ID card, which no one was kind enough to inform me.  SO, along with the 75 miles I walked from office to office, I had to walk another 34 to a Walgreens to get my pictures made.  While there, I also purchased a new pair of legs because mine were worn out.

In contrast to the grey building of doom, AKA the dorm, the university is appealing. The buildings are well-kept, the grounds are nicely groomed and the trees are FASCINATING.  James Cameron literally came to PR to get ideas for his movie "Avatar".  See below...

Here are some views of the school.....

That's all for now folks..... probably will explore today.  I need to find textbooks somewhere because the campus does not have a bookstore.  Yes, a university, a place where students go to learn things,  does not sell the books required to learn said things.  Uhg.  I miss Kentucky...