I got up around 6:30 the next morning and got ready for the day. I got packed up, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel, and checked out. I was hoping to hit the road by 7am, but the shuttle to the rental car place was taking its precious time. Probably about twenty minutes later I was able to hit the road. I made my way through San Juan to the autopista, Spanish for freeway. Though to be honest, for those living in the Western US, you wouldn't recognize is it as a freeway, as it was kind of unkempt (for those who've lived in Pittsburgh, it makes the Parkway West look like a super highway). But its looks aside, you can go 65 on quite a bit of it, so we'll go ahead and call it a freeway.
It was about an 1 1/2 hour ride down to Ponce, where my conference was. There are a couple of toll booths along the way. I thought I'd be smart and got off the autopista a bit before one and just take a highway into town (to save myself apparently only 50 cents). This is when I learned that the map they gave me at the rental place wasn't wholly reliable, that or need they need to increase the number of traffic signs around the country (both are true). I got a little bit lost and was pretty soon right on the coast. A couple of lucky turns later and I somehow found the highway I was looking for and was back on my way.
Conference Welcome Sign
I got to the Hilton with plenty of time to register, say hi, and get my presentation together before my 10:35 start time. I checked out the copy of PRTESOL Gram they gave me, which is a publication Puerto Rico TESOL puts out. I flip through it and found that they had printed a copy of the article I had written based on my presentation. I was really surprised by that. I was a little concerned when 10:35 came around and only two people were in the room. I gave basically the same presentation at Qatar's TESOL conference earlier this year and only two people showed up. We ultimately got off to a late start, but in the end I figure at least 30 people were there. I had run out of handouts at this point. The presentation itself went pretty well. It was rushed though since they only gave me half an hour (I was expecting a full hour). Everyone was nodding their heads with approval throughout and several people complimented me on it in the end. One woman told me she had just written a book on the same topic and wanted to ask me to write the preface for it. Another guy told me he enjoyed it, but was disappointed I didn't give more examples from teaching in Qatar (which he attributed to me being rushed). At any rate, I was really shocked by the whole experience. Had I really bamboozled all of these professionals into thinking that I'm credible?
I attended another session after that. There was supposed to be a free lunch, but the line was forever long, and I didn't know how much longer I'd be able to handle being awake. So I got in the car and headed into town. I had my problems earlier with the maps and lack of road signs, but I quickly realized how unreliable Google maps is in Puerto Rico. In fact, I'm pretty sure Google hasn't sent anyone down here, ever. The downtown area is exclusively one-way streets, but accordingly to Google they're not. So the directions it gave me were completely useless. On top of that, most of these one way streets aren't labeled as such, so the only way I could really tell which way to go was by leaning around the corner and seeing which direction the cars were parked.
Christmas tree in the hotel lobby
I eventually got to my hotel and it was very nice. It had tall European style roofs and just felt old and historic. They also had Christmas decorations up (although it should be noted that the weather has been much hotter than it's been in Qatar as of late). I got all my stuff in and headed out to find some lunch. I grabbed a hot dog with everything on it, which appeared to include chili, onions, cheese, ketchup, mustard, and crumbled potato chips. It's a combination that surprisingly worked, but wasn't completely filling. I went around to a place serving comida criolla, or basically New World food, something purely Puerto Rican. They gave me a pastel (kind of a pastry with meat inside), a big serving of rice and beans, and turkey. It was all very good and tasty. They told me after it was a dish served for Christmas, only when they pronounced it they didn't say Navidad, but rather Navida', since dropping the letter "d" (and lots of other letters for that matter) is a big part of the Puerto Rican accent. I'm used to it with some words, but overall I've had a bit of a hard time understanding the accent at all times, especially when they lay it on thick.
Cathedral in Ponce
After a good lunch, I strolled around the old town to walk it off. I walked into a store selling lots of Christmas things (though nothing I really wanted) and an old man came up to me and asked "trabaja aqui?" (Do you work here?) I should my head and said no, but it does make me happy that I'm in a place where someone may confuse me with a native. I don't get that much anymore in Qatar. I got it absolutely everywhere in Europe. Probably my favorite thing I found from exploring was a store selling jeans. Out front they had the bottom of the mannequins displaying them, but had them turned backwards with the bootie sticking right out. You'd probably never see that at a store where white people shop.
Talk about bum cakes, my girl's got 'em
I headed back to the conference for one final session on the day. I wish I had been able to do more. I did feel like an outsider pretty much the whole time though, since I was basically the only one who has never taught in Puerto Rico. A lot of the people knew each other and I, well, knew no one. They'd also make references to things that I simply didn't know about. But ultimately, if I ever wanted to take a job here (though I don't imagine they get paid very well), I've got an article published here and have presented at a conference. I think that would go in my favor.
After the conference I went up to Wal-mart, at Lyssa's request. We don't have them in Qatar, and as a result we can't really buy anything cheap for the baby. The stuff they have there is usually overpriced and not really what we'd want in the first place. So Lyssa had a big long list for me, and I think I was able to get most of it taken care of. From there I drove back to the hotel and took one last stroll around the main square. It seemed appropriate to buy an ice cream and sit in the square to watch the fountain. But ultimately, I was very tired, and decided to call it a night.
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