Now that I have been here for 3 full months, sometimes I have to just stop and laugh at the things that have become a completely normal part of my life:
1. Three people on a motorbike, without helmets, usually with a baby somewhere on there.
2. Dembow, reggaeton, merengue, and bachata EVERYWHERE! Constant music and constant dancing.
3. Presidential campaigns consist of trucks driving around with dancers and extremely loud reggaeton or dembow music.
4. Although the police intervene in a fight in a public park that involves gunshots, no arrests are made.
5. I'm more accustomed to being called "rubia bella" (beautiful white girl) than I am to being called Michelle.
6. Random men singing "pa manga mi visa" (a Dominican reggaeton song about wanting an American girl so they can get their visa) when I walk by them on the street.
7. Some form of plantains with every single meal.
8. Professors show up an hour and a half late to a 3 hour class.
9. Public transportation=8 people in a compact car.
10. Always being uncomfortably hot.
11. What's iced coffee? And for that matter, what's a cafe? I'll never adjust to this one.
12. Walking on the sidewalk is dangerous business- no such thing as man hole covers or warnings for wet cement, and motorcycles commonly use the sidewalk as their own personal extra lane of the road.
13. Driving while drinking out of a bottle of Presidente beer or Brugal rum is perfectly normal and acceptable-there are even drive-thru liquor stores that sell already opened bottles for your convenience.
14. Even the worst beaches are a lot better than the majority of beaches that I've been to in the states-white sand, clear water, and Caribbean sea water that's warm enough to swim in are the norm.
I'm sure there are a lot more that I'll of think of later that I could add to this list! Right now it's Semana Santa (Holy week) which means my spring break! Quite a few of the students are traveling to beach towns, but I decided to stay in Santo Domingo and try to do some things that I haven't had time for. So far I went to a nightclub that was inside of a real cave with stalactites and everything, dinner at Outback (haha I know a real cultural event, but the idea of fajitas and burgers sounded too good!), and spent a few hours last night at Parque Guibia. That park is just a few blocks from my house and is along the ocean. It's my favorite park in the city because it has volleyball nets, a food stand (I'm now friends with the entire staff, so me and my friend went inside the stand for a while and pretended to work there!) and generally has a good representation of Dominican life with loud music blaring from various car stereos and random dance battles. While we were at the park last night, I witnessed my first fight! A lot of people were running away from something and we could see two guys going at it punching each other. Fights get pretty serious here since there are less laws, so were grateful that we befriended the staff of the food stand so we could hide out inside there. Soon we heard two gunshots! The police were there but from what I could tell no one was hurt and no arrests were made. Hahaha ohhhh Santo Domingo, gotta love it!
Well, here is a song that I hear every day but I love it! And if you watch it you can see some of Santo Domingo and a little bit of normal Dominican life.
Other than that the power cord to my laptop has decided to stop working which is pretty annoying...fortunately one of the other American students has a Dell so I can use hers when we are together!
Love from the DR,
Michelle
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