Anyway, I arrived safe and sound in the Dominican Republic only three days ago, but I love it already. I know enough Spanish to get by and ask for the basics (phone cards, water, where the movie theater is) but evidently not enough to converse too well with my host family yet...maybe in a few weeks. My host mom and her daughter Alejandra (my host sister) are both very patient with me and smile when I make self-deprecating jokes. I've kept a journal for the past few days but I think I'll be switching over to this since it's so much easier (and I already ran out of ink in one of my pens). So let's start out with some character introductions. In order of appearance:
Nathaniel - looks a little bit like a significantly younger, less leathery-skinned Jeffrey Donovan. His official title is Resident Coordinator for CIEE here in the DR; he met me at the airport. Very nice, good first person to meet in a foreign country.
Rafael - CIEE's favorite taxista. And hopefully soon to be mine. Apparently it's important to have a taxista con confianza - a taxi driver you can trust - because you can rely on them to pick you up and even work it out so if you don't have the money to pay them immediately, you can do so the next time you see him.
Aracelis - my host mom. Obviously I don't call her by her first name. She's very nice and makes very good food.
Alejandra - my host sister. She's 20 years old and studies architecture at the same university I'll be taking my Dominican History and Culture classes at. She also speaks fluent English but I try to forget that because she makes me feel stupid for only knowing one. But not for long!
Cricket - one of two other students here on the same gap year program as me. (There are other students with CIEE Liberal Arts.) His name is actually Christopher and he's from California.
Lynne - Resident Director of the DR program. She's a little crazy, but even crazier about the Dominican Republic and helping people. She has an adorable dog named Colby (I think) who drives around with us in her tiny Fiat.
Avi - the other gap year student. She's from Washington D.C. And black. Just so you get a good mental picture.
Mibra - the CIEE intern. She's in her early 20's and speaks almost fluent English, which is awesome. She taught us how to use the conchos (more on that later) and bought us piña colada flavored ice cream. I like her.
I didn't actually get to my host family's house until around 10 or so, and I was pretty tired. In the taxi ride over I was still really excited to finally be here where it was warm and humid, but when I got to my host's house I finally started feeling overwhelmed. Mild culture shock I suppose. I showed them the book full of pictures of Chicago that I brought for them, and mumbled my way through the Spanish language explaining to them who Sue at the Field Museum was and how big Lake Michigan is. Afterwards I decided to go to bed - I was so tired - but had a horrible time trying to fall asleep. There's no AC here, just a ceiling fan in my room that I was afraid to turn up too high because it shakes a little. There's also these birds that like to make a lot of noise at night, plus all the cars driving around honking and the people yelling...it's a very loud place. The next morning I felt a little sick and my mom gave me a grilled ham and cheese sandwich - not ideal for a queasy stomach. I felt bad about not eating all of the first meal she made for me, but I would make up for it later. ;) Lynne picket me and Cricket up (we live in the same apartment complex) after breakfast around 8:30 to take us to the PUCMM campus where the CIEE offices are located for an orientation Powerpoint. We drove with her and Avi (who lives just two blocks away) to PUCMM and met up with Nathaniel again. We went through the powerpoint and had a delicious snack during "intermission" called tres leches, which is some kind of delicious cake. Had lunch back at our host family homes and then Lynne picked us up again for a city tour and to exchange money and buy new phones. Santiago is very colorful and very loud and there's a lot going on in the streets. I'll try to wrap this up now with some interesting things I learned my first day here:
- You can't wear shorts above your knees. Ok, well, mid-thigh is OK but pushing it. Apparently even though it's a tropical country, the people in Santiago dress more conservative and traditionally than elsewhere in the country where there are more tourists. Here only prostitutes where short-shorts.
- Speaking of clothes, there is day-specific discoteca attire. On weekdays (yes, people go) simple jeans and a tank top and acceptable for girls. But on Fridays, girls wear tight, tight jeans, sky-high heels, and nicer blouses. And on Saturdays they break out the mini dresses and even higher heels.
- Pedestrians do not have the right of way. A car will not slow down because someone is crossing the street, the person crossing just speeds up. And I can accurately make the generalization that no Dominican driver follows the law - people regularly drive the wrong way down one-way streets, barely stop at stop signs and red lights, unless someone's coming, and basically drive wherever they want. Surprisingly, because no one follows the rules everyone has to be extra careful and watch what they're doing, there are very few car accidents, and when there are, they're only minor fender-benders.
- You can't flush toilet paper down the toilet here. Ever. You have to throw it away and hope someone changes the garbage regularly.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario