Well folks, here I am, listening to Jacques Brel singing ?Ne Me Quitte Pas?, as I write this. That is culture! A comment for those of you who remember my previous posts on the subject. However, I have decided to contradict Brel and actually ?quitte?!
I have come to the sad conclusion that DR is not the place for me! So I really have no reason to continue writing on this board and post negative remarks and challenge peoples reasons for moving to DR, do I?
Here are some very personal reasons for my ?quitte? :
DR is for me much too isolated! Not only isolated but insular as well with the mentality that is typical for islanders. The local culture is too narrow and consists basically of dancing and drinking. Call is festival, call it concert, call it disco, call it whatever you like, but the bottom line is that people dance and drink and that?s it! And spending an evening in the street, drinking beer, listening to screaming bachata from cracked loudspeakers and watching guys playing domino? Well, I can, kind of, do without that?
More on isolation: My main interest and hobby is to travel! I find DR a not too good base for travel? Or am I wrong? Okey, give me a million dollars and I can do my travels also from DR!
It is astonishingly expensive! Housing, cars, even food, in an ordinary supermarket! I can not understand how regular Dominican people make ends meet??? I enjoy going to a restaurant at least twice a week but in Santo Domingo, I need mucho pesos to afford that! I remember what I pay for gourmet meals in Thailand! And if I can not buy everything cash, I cringe by the figures I have seen for interest rates on loans, rates that would be criminal in my home country!
Corruption and lack of infrastructure! I hate to live in a country, where my well being depends on knowing the right people!?
Lack of information in any other language than Spanish! I can not understand how in God?s name a city of 2 million people can be without even ONE newspaper in English??? Yes, I know, I know, I have to learn Spanish but that just won?t happen overnight and until then I am without news??? Yes, yes, I know there is news in English on DR1, but I dislike having breakfast with a computer on my kitchen table, and it would be nice to enjoy my Sunday morning coffee outdoors with a good ol? fashioned newspaper in my hands.
Jobs? I am more pessimistic than ever of finding a job in DR that is anywhere near my requirements for content and compensation package. When I last worked in Sweden, I made the equivalent of 45.000 pesos a month and I make a lot more now. Should I give that up for a mere 20.000 pesos or so (?) for touting excursions to tourists?
Getting stranded? I have a fear of taking a huge risk at my age (45) for little compensation and risking getting trapped in DR! And believe me, it is NOT an added bonus in your C.V. to have worked in DR when you want to return to Europe, unless you have had a very special job in DR or have found your own niche!
DR is a great place for a vacation, but to live there? Nah?
What did I see? Well, I saw Santo Domingo, Boca Chica, La Romana, San Christobal (for some odd reason?), Samana, Jarabacoa and Puerto Plata.
Well, I stop here?
Before I leave: Thank you Grahame, for your hospitality and good advise! I enjoyed meeting you and your lovely wife! And Pib, we only met for coffee but it was my best coffee break in a long time! Brenda, please forgive me for not returning your phone call but something came up? As for some other folks I had wanted to meet, well, things does not always work out as planned, do they?
As for my future, I will now start planning my next travel. My hobby, remember! I have a colleague at work who has climbed K2 and he will advise me about trekking in the Himalayas and climbing Mt Kinabalu on Borneo. I see that as a less risky challenge than moving to DR?
Adios!
/JohnS
PS. Speaking of the Caribbean, I just read an article in The Economist (Jan 12th) about the number of murders per capita in Jamaica, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas and Barbados. Scary!!!
I know (hope!!!) things are different in DR but still?
By the way, can you even buy ?The Economist? in DR? It is in English and so, by definition, unavailable and most probably unknown? Sorry for my little sarcasm?
I have come to the sad conclusion that DR is not the place for me! So I really have no reason to continue writing on this board and post negative remarks and challenge peoples reasons for moving to DR, do I?
Here are some very personal reasons for my ?quitte? :
DR is for me much too isolated! Not only isolated but insular as well with the mentality that is typical for islanders. The local culture is too narrow and consists basically of dancing and drinking. Call is festival, call it concert, call it disco, call it whatever you like, but the bottom line is that people dance and drink and that?s it! And spending an evening in the street, drinking beer, listening to screaming bachata from cracked loudspeakers and watching guys playing domino? Well, I can, kind of, do without that?
More on isolation: My main interest and hobby is to travel! I find DR a not too good base for travel? Or am I wrong? Okey, give me a million dollars and I can do my travels also from DR!
It is astonishingly expensive! Housing, cars, even food, in an ordinary supermarket! I can not understand how regular Dominican people make ends meet??? I enjoy going to a restaurant at least twice a week but in Santo Domingo, I need mucho pesos to afford that! I remember what I pay for gourmet meals in Thailand! And if I can not buy everything cash, I cringe by the figures I have seen for interest rates on loans, rates that would be criminal in my home country!
Corruption and lack of infrastructure! I hate to live in a country, where my well being depends on knowing the right people!?
Lack of information in any other language than Spanish! I can not understand how in God?s name a city of 2 million people can be without even ONE newspaper in English??? Yes, I know, I know, I have to learn Spanish but that just won?t happen overnight and until then I am without news??? Yes, yes, I know there is news in English on DR1, but I dislike having breakfast with a computer on my kitchen table, and it would be nice to enjoy my Sunday morning coffee outdoors with a good ol? fashioned newspaper in my hands.
Jobs? I am more pessimistic than ever of finding a job in DR that is anywhere near my requirements for content and compensation package. When I last worked in Sweden, I made the equivalent of 45.000 pesos a month and I make a lot more now. Should I give that up for a mere 20.000 pesos or so (?) for touting excursions to tourists?
Getting stranded? I have a fear of taking a huge risk at my age (45) for little compensation and risking getting trapped in DR! And believe me, it is NOT an added bonus in your C.V. to have worked in DR when you want to return to Europe, unless you have had a very special job in DR or have found your own niche!
DR is a great place for a vacation, but to live there? Nah?
What did I see? Well, I saw Santo Domingo, Boca Chica, La Romana, San Christobal (for some odd reason?), Samana, Jarabacoa and Puerto Plata.
Well, I stop here?
Before I leave: Thank you Grahame, for your hospitality and good advise! I enjoyed meeting you and your lovely wife! And Pib, we only met for coffee but it was my best coffee break in a long time! Brenda, please forgive me for not returning your phone call but something came up? As for some other folks I had wanted to meet, well, things does not always work out as planned, do they?
As for my future, I will now start planning my next travel. My hobby, remember! I have a colleague at work who has climbed K2 and he will advise me about trekking in the Himalayas and climbing Mt Kinabalu on Borneo. I see that as a less risky challenge than moving to DR?
Adios!
/JohnS
PS. Speaking of the Caribbean, I just read an article in The Economist (Jan 12th) about the number of murders per capita in Jamaica, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas and Barbados. Scary!!!
I know (hope!!!) things are different in DR but still?
By the way, can you even buy ?The Economist? in DR? It is in English and so, by definition, unavailable and most probably unknown? Sorry for my little sarcasm?