How does it all start?

wildnfree · May 22, 2006

Hi

I'm making my final preparations to come down to the DR very soon, after researching and preparing for over a year. I plan to travel through the country first to get a general feel for the place; have saved enough $$ until I can find work (presuming I feel the DR is to my liking) and the first thing I plan to do is use the first few months doing a Spanish course.

Unfortunately, even after all this time there are still some very basic questions that I still get conflicting answers on. So I'll ask here are hope your advice can assist.

How do you get started in the DR?

1. A cedula - the prerequisite for working in the DR. Is it a matter of just paying for one at immigration? Or I need a lawyer? Or - heaven forbid - I need an employer to sponsor me for one? (the red tape usually puts most employers off in my experience) How do I get one?

2. Renting - How do you find a place to live? All word of mouth? Or newspapers/agents (oh no!) like here?

3. Finding work - repeat Q. no. 2

4. Corrupt cops - being wide-eyed and niave, how do I stop myself being a cops' payola victim?

5 Dealing with the bull**** - having been to brazil, I know people are friendly for one of two reasons. 1. they are genuine; OR No. 2. They want some **** from you. Anyway people I should avoid who would more often than not belong to no. 2?

If you have any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. Or mention any more points I should have added but didn't.

I am 26yo single male who has travelled to Latin American and all throughout Asia. I don't have any misconceptions about a tropical paradises, as having been to a few 'paradises' I know that there is usually trouble in paradise

My motivation to move to the DR is out of desire to learn fluent Spanish (Im low intermediate now) and live in another culture for a few years.

Wildnfree

Rocky · May 22, 2006

You need not get a residency/cedula, until you are sure that you want to settle down here.
Find the area that best suits you, then start looking for digs & a job.
If all is well 6 months down the road, then you can start proceedures for becoming a resident.
You should have no dealings with cops, unless you are a crime victim or a criminal yourself.
Otherwise, there is little reason that you would have any run-ins with them.
There is no set rule on how to find out who's a mafioso and who's not.
Trust your gut feelings and take as few chances as possible.

rellosk · May 22, 2006

Rocky said:
You should have no dealings with cops, unless you are a crime victim or a criminal yourself.

Or driving a car, but that shakedown fee is relatively small.

wildnfree · May 25, 2006

thanks for the responses so far..but does have anyone have anything ELSE to share about their intial experiences? This message has been 2nd-paged a little prematurely for my liking

Rocky · May 25, 2006

wildnfree said:
thanks for the responses so far..but does have anyone have anything ELSE to share about their intial experiences? This message has been 2nd-paged a little prematurely for my liking

Want to say that again in a way that I understand?
I'm not exactly known to be brilliant, you know.

FireGuy · May 25, 2006

Rocky said:
Want to say that again in a way that I understand?
I'm not exactly known to be brilliant, you know.

"2nd-paged"

Getting sufficiently few responses that it falls off the first page of the list of active threads.

In other words "get off your duffs people and answer me" - LOL.

Gregg

Chris · May 25, 2006

wildnfree said:
1. A cedula - the prerequisite for working in the DR. Is it a matter of just paying for one at immigration? Or I need a lawyer? Or - heaven forbid - I need an employer to sponsor me for one? (the red tape usually puts most employers off in my experience) How do I get one?

Yes, you need on if you're going to live here. Lots and lots of information on the board about Cedulas - I suggest you use the search function.

wildnfree said:
2. Renting - How do you find a place to live? All word of mouth? Or newspapers/agents (oh no!) like here?

Mostly word of mouth and searching yourself ...

wildnfree said:
3. Finding work - repeat Q. no. 2

Mostly word of mouth, making connections and checking the employment board here on the DR1. There are a few good positions offered right at the moment.

wildnfree said:
4. Corrupt cops - being wide-eyed and niave, how do I stop myself being a cops' payola victim?

Do the right things, meet the right people, play with the right friends and don't involve yourself with anything that can involve you with the cops.

wildnfree said:
5 Dealing with the bull**** - having been to brazil, I know people are friendly for one of two reasons. 1. they are genuine; OR No. 2. They want some **** from you. Anyway people I should avoid who would more often than not belong to no. 2?

Do the right things, meet the right people, play with the right friends and don't involve yourself with anything that can involve you with people that you don't want to be involved with.

Also, you say you've done a lot of research. Use the search function on the board and read a little more. There is a lot of good information here.

wildnfree · May 26, 2006

In other words "get off your duffs people and answer me" - LOL.

Thanks, Fire. I tried to avoid being so blunt as to risk offending people. In my observations, people can be so easily offended here sometimes ...However, you decoded it perfectly

Rocky · May 26, 2006

wildnfree said:
In other words "get off your duffs people and answer me" - LOL.

Thanks, Fire. I tried to avoid being so blunt as to risk offending people. In my observations, people can be so easily offended here sometimes ...However, you decoded it perfectly

That part was clear.
What wasn't clear was this.

wildnfree said:
but does have anyone have anything ELSE to share about their intial experiences?

Your post didn't ask for initial experiences, and the questions you asked were answered.
If you want stories about what happened to us when we first moved here, then ask for them.
In the meantime, get off your duff and use the search feature.
Until you put us on the payroll, you'll have to address your complaints to the complaint department on the 4th floor.

wildnfree · May 26, 2006

Ok then, here it is:

Share with me.

Tell me what happened when you first got here, or what was it you wished you knew/ or something you wished someone had told you that would have helped immensely when you first arrived...

Gracias a to'o

Rocky · May 26, 2006

wildnfree said:
Ok then, here it is:

Share with me.

Tell me what happened when you first got here, or what was it you wished you knew/ or something you wished someone had told you that would have helped immensely when you first arrived...

Gracias a to'o

Well it's a heck of a long story, so I will try to limit it to things that might be useful to you.
If there's one thing I would have changed, I would have imitated people, copied them, etc.
As it is not in my nature to do so, I banged my head up against the wall, way too many times, when I could have simply studies others, to see how they went about doing things.
When I first moved here, Sosua was 90% German, and it was very cold & unfriendly.
I did not have the benefit of getting advice from others, like we do on DR1.
I wish I had known that cops were not actually cops, rather uniformed bandits.
I wish I had known how simple it was to bribe my way out of things, and how to go about doing it.
I wish I had understood more about Latino/Dominican culture.
I wish I had not been so trusting.
The list could go on, but that might give you something to chew on for now, and if you want more later, I'm sure I have some.

wildnfree · May 26, 2006

Thanks ROcky

Sousa 90% German? Excuse my niavety, but is that tourist - German or Old immigrant German?

What do you do if you a cop talks to you?

Rocky · May 26, 2006

wildnfree said:
Sousa 90% German? Excuse my niavety, but is that tourist - German or Old immigrant German?

It was tourist and expat.
Sosua was the German's number 1 sex destination, at that time, then the government cracked down and closed all the bars in town.

wildnfree said:
What do you do if you a cop talks to you?

I always reply.
When I was new to the country and did not speak the lingo, I did a lot of smiling and "No Speaky Spanish".
Smiling and shaking hands can go a long way.
Showing any one the respect they deserve, goes a long way.
It's not as if the cops go around harrassing people.

AnnaC · May 26, 2006

Rocky said:
I always reply.
When I was new to the country and did not speak the lingo, I did a lot of smiling and "No Speaky Spanish".
Smiling and shaking hands can go a long way.
Showing any one the respect they deserve, goes a long way.
It's not as if the cops go around harrassing people.

That reminds me that back in 1999 this cop on Pedro Clisante was asking me or telling me something that to this day I have no clue what it was.

aranoid: I was walking and he was standing on the sidewalk so it wasn't a car thingy. I understood anyone else but I never got what he was saying, just as well now that I think of it.

I just kept smiling and saying " what" ??

Cleef · May 26, 2006

"Cleef,,,,no veng aqui..."

wildnfree said:
Ok then, here it is:

Share with me.

Tell me what happened when you first got here, or what was it you wished you knew/ or something you wished someone had told you that would have helped immensely when you first arrived...

Gracias a to'o

The first time I tried to move to the DR, a historic hurricane devastated the island (Georges). I paused for a couple years.

The second time I tried, I did get there - and through 2 years - with a little help from quite a few people, and a ton of help from a small few.

Instead of a hurricane to beat me back to the states on the second try, a more tyranical and pitifully stupid natural phenomenon know as a "Goat's Mouth" was the one with all the hot air and devastating fiscal winds of illicit corruption.

The storm surge never let up until every single dollar I'd saved and borrowed, and every measly peso I "won", was blown all over the island.

The cleanup from that short, fat, dumb and ugly 'goat mouth' took another 2 years, and I never saw my girlfriend Presidente ever again.

My palm tree is just now growing back it's coconuts.

[edited to add:]To translate (for myself): If you need to move somewhere, the only sensible approach is to go and stay as long as you like - or can - and see if it fits you.

You will inevitably need help along the way and you will have to be determined.

Upon moving to S.D. what struck me immediately was that I was a newborn. A whole new world; culture, structure (or lack thereof really) pace and place (my place). If you're fortunate, the first thing that strikes you won't be a fully loaded motoconcho, however, both are heavy and can leave you in a daze.

If someone could have told me that the peso would go from 14:1 to 50:1, (from my arrival to departure) that would have helped immensely.

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