- Thread starter memphisj
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Why does anyone live in the DR?
to bring it to a shorter term,
all guys answering to this st.. qustion came over here, like me myself, for very differnt reasons, under very different circumstances. so what each of us found and liked would be different to what somebody else's been looking for and found or maybe not.
taxes?, compared to my birth country a dremcase, a top notch reason to settle your business down here, if you're a Harz 4 receiver in germany don't pull over to the island, because here you would get less.
the tax paradise where i've been before from a business's sight of view been the virgin islands, in my case St Croix.
for the cool relaxed and stress free life:
you're on the right spot, doesn't matter you come with some money so you can afford your prefered lifestyle, which with money you could anyways at any place where you want to, or you have nothing, so to have nothing on a sunny caribbean street with a colmado nearby who gives you FIAO for a while is really better than to pull a shopping cart with your belongings in front of you on Miami beach .
that question can only be answered individual, for every individual of us here in the country as residents or illegals on his specific situation and willings.
so don't attack the person asking a simple question, answer it or if you don't want to, what is you right as a person in this free world of us, just shut the **** upand read the answers of the ones who are willing to answer truely to a simple thread.
i don't really want to be a answerer to that specific question, because i like to keep that kind of stuff for my own, but i try it with something to see if we are enough PEOPLE to bring each his own story on the board, and it is not a must do, just for the ones who want to.
i retired from a good paid job at the age of close to 30yrs, i did it on a bad way and lost my rights on a long years earned pension, i had still money left, thanks god i've not been on the streets somewhere, i traveled around and hit the north coast of this island due to recomendation of an former buddy of mine. i loved the life on the streets of puerto plata by that time, before they shut down the chimis aso on the Malecon, but i did not like that much the area to life there for a long time, so by my travels i hit besides many other spots on the island Punta Cana, by that time, 13 years ago, a country side spot on the beach, and i loved it, i stayed til today and maybe til the end of times, because i fell in love with the area back in the day and til today i don't know any reason to cut it loose, even the area changed a lot within a decade, no more beautiful countryside with great mangroves and free perfect natural build public beaches, but still part of the beauty i found back in the day.
i had hard contacts with people from here, but if i count it all together, pos and negs, i never travelled a country where the frontiers been more clear and trueful than here, onece you really settled down, gave up your natural born attitudes and start to really think about the regular people's life, problems, needs, behaviors.
there been many things as a european, studied and univercity gratuated, i never would accept/agree to, but once you are IN the daily life of an other country, you start to see the things with different eyes, why a beautiful young lady is working on the streets, why my 20yrs old neighbour is going out again like a couple of months ago with that fat old ugly german lady?
you get in it with the time, if you're a person who visited the DR just 20 times for a 2-3 weeks of vacations each, don't even think about the stuff i am writing here, you may think(for sure you do) you know this country, i assure ya you don't know a thing.
to know about the people of an other country means to life with 'em, that means to earn your money with a simple normal job, like they do, and that for time, not just for some months, and of course not to life in a beach front appartment because you brought some thousand dollars from home to rent it, there you would make "friends" which would never accept or respect you as some of 'em.
i stayed here because of so many reasons together, of course i like the women, one of the 1st reasons so may people bring up when asked about their reason why they stay here on the island, but those beautiful women could never been the only reason why is switch from one country to an other, evern very beautiful over here the whole world has beautiful women. if they are the reason for someone who stays here he is not truefully talking about women, he just means hookers, cheaper and easier to lay hand on than in it's original country, real women he for sure never had in his country of birth neither.
gret friendly people, yes, that's a point, i love the dominican people at all, even nowing about negatives so far, too, but at all i must say i put them much more out in front of the line ahead from my german guys.
specially very far ahead in front of the germans i know over here, lol.
the sun/climate/weather what ever stuff, o yeah, if you like the all over the year heat more than a changing climate from hot to frozen, you're on the right spot, besides an other 20000 islands all over the caribbean, and many more in the pacific, too.
what made it easy for me to settle down here from the regulations side, been there hasn't be too many rules about it, to get a residency, settle down here, with legal papers aso, then to start a business(after many years, i did not bring the money to start a business over here), that was much easier than the burocracy of european countries, where to face lots of paper works just to switch from living in one town to an other, within the same country.
so let's get back to the point of this post, a simple question:
what the hell pushed you forward to live on this paradise island of ours?????
don't offend anybody, sure not me, 45mm mag S&W on my knees,
just let us know what brought you to the point to leave your homeland, and specially, why besides all those other beautiful spots on the whole wide ****ing world you choose to stay here on this beautiful island???
looking forward to some straight and interesting answers without any offenses to anybody
saludos
Mike
all guys answering to this st.. qustion came over here, like me myself, for very differnt reasons, under very different circumstances. so what each of us found and liked would be different to what somebody else's been looking for and found or maybe not.
taxes?, compared to my birth country a dremcase, a top notch reason to settle your business down here, if you're a Harz 4 receiver in germany don't pull over to the island, because here you would get less.
the tax paradise where i've been before from a business's sight of view been the virgin islands, in my case St Croix.
for the cool relaxed and stress free life:
you're on the right spot, doesn't matter you come with some money so you can afford your prefered lifestyle, which with money you could anyways at any place where you want to, or you have nothing, so to have nothing on a sunny caribbean street with a colmado nearby who gives you FIAO for a while is really better than to pull a shopping cart with your belongings in front of you on Miami beach .
that question can only be answered individual, for every individual of us here in the country as residents or illegals on his specific situation and willings.
so don't attack the person asking a simple question, answer it or if you don't want to, what is you right as a person in this free world of us, just shut the **** upand read the answers of the ones who are willing to answer truely to a simple thread.
i don't really want to be a answerer to that specific question, because i like to keep that kind of stuff for my own, but i try it with something to see if we are enough PEOPLE to bring each his own story on the board, and it is not a must do, just for the ones who want to.
i retired from a good paid job at the age of close to 30yrs, i did it on a bad way and lost my rights on a long years earned pension, i had still money left, thanks god i've not been on the streets somewhere, i traveled around and hit the north coast of this island due to recomendation of an former buddy of mine. i loved the life on the streets of puerto plata by that time, before they shut down the chimis aso on the Malecon, but i did not like that much the area to life there for a long time, so by my travels i hit besides many other spots on the island Punta Cana, by that time, 13 years ago, a country side spot on the beach, and i loved it, i stayed til today and maybe til the end of times, because i fell in love with the area back in the day and til today i don't know any reason to cut it loose, even the area changed a lot within a decade, no more beautiful countryside with great mangroves and free perfect natural build public beaches, but still part of the beauty i found back in the day.
i had hard contacts with people from here, but if i count it all together, pos and negs, i never travelled a country where the frontiers been more clear and trueful than here, onece you really settled down, gave up your natural born attitudes and start to really think about the regular people's life, problems, needs, behaviors.
there been many things as a european, studied and univercity gratuated, i never would accept/agree to, but once you are IN the daily life of an other country, you start to see the things with different eyes, why a beautiful young lady is working on the streets, why my 20yrs old neighbour is going out again like a couple of months ago with that fat old ugly german lady?
you get in it with the time, if you're a person who visited the DR just 20 times for a 2-3 weeks of vacations each, don't even think about the stuff i am writing here, you may think(for sure you do) you know this country, i assure ya you don't know a thing.
to know about the people of an other country means to life with 'em, that means to earn your money with a simple normal job, like they do, and that for time, not just for some months, and of course not to life in a beach front appartment because you brought some thousand dollars from home to rent it, there you would make "friends" which would never accept or respect you as some of 'em.
i stayed here because of so many reasons together, of course i like the women, one of the 1st reasons so may people bring up when asked about their reason why they stay here on the island, but those beautiful women could never been the only reason why is switch from one country to an other, evern very beautiful over here the whole world has beautiful women. if they are the reason for someone who stays here he is not truefully talking about women, he just means hookers, cheaper and easier to lay hand on than in it's original country, real women he for sure never had in his country of birth neither.
gret friendly people, yes, that's a point, i love the dominican people at all, even nowing about negatives so far, too, but at all i must say i put them much more out in front of the line ahead from my german guys.
specially very far ahead in front of the germans i know over here, lol.
the sun/climate/weather what ever stuff, o yeah, if you like the all over the year heat more than a changing climate from hot to frozen, you're on the right spot, besides an other 20000 islands all over the caribbean, and many more in the pacific, too.
what made it easy for me to settle down here from the regulations side, been there hasn't be too many rules about it, to get a residency, settle down here, with legal papers aso, then to start a business(after many years, i did not bring the money to start a business over here), that was much easier than the burocracy of european countries, where to face lots of paper works just to switch from living in one town to an other, within the same country.
so let's get back to the point of this post, a simple question:
what the hell pushed you forward to live on this paradise island of ours?????
don't offend anybody, sure not me, 45mm mag S&W on my knees,
just let us know what brought you to the point to leave your homeland, and specially, why besides all those other beautiful spots on the whole wide ****ing world you choose to stay here on this beautiful island???
looking forward to some straight and interesting answers without any offenses to anybody
saludos
Mike
My first visit to the island will be from mid December 07 until mid January 08. I can't say enough about how DR1 has helped me to learn more about the Dominican Republic, particularly from the point of view of those who live there, and those who love it.
I hope to meet the real people that call the DR their home, Dominicans as well as expats. I've known for a long time that I will never be entirely happy in the states, for many of the reasons those who have responded to this thread have listed. Mike Fisher's post, as well as many others, reflect a lot of my own feelings on the stress and limitation that comes from trying to exist in the so called developed world.
This trip will be made on a shoestring budget, at least by American standards. I hope to improve my Spanish, and learn about Dominican culture.
Ultimately, I would have to say that it is because of my love for the Dominican families I have known in the states that I decided to make the visit the DR.
Thank you all for sharing your reasons that you call the Dominican Republic home. I am very excited about my trip!
hey Memphis, i myself did not speak a word of spanish when i settled down here, if you can get some basics prior to your big change, get 'em, it helps a lot, i found that out the harder way, but not really hard, that's the good thing if you make frineds here, i mean Dominican friends, one speaks some english, an other some this and that, you find the way to get it together and learn the new language fast, not perfect, who cares about some grammar, be true guys, many aren't perfect in the grammar or writing of their own language, but it will be enough for conversations and to improve your skills on the new language. practice makes it "perfect", good enough.
a short budget is not meant to be a neg in case of learning about the people here, their culture, costumbres aso.
i saw enough people coming in from different countries, they spent many months here, some of 'em years, none of them ever learned more spanish than to ask for a beer aso, or made dominican friends others than the needed mechanic to fix their big new pick up truck, nothing about culture, because they rented their big luxury appartment in a closed secured residence, left sometimes to the beach , of course where the expensive restaurants are, and the day they got back to their homecountry they knew barely more about the country and it's people than a tourist visitor who's been here a couple of times but left the resort on it's own to meet people, real people.
you'll find your way.
good luck
Mike
a short budget is not meant to be a neg in case of learning about the people here, their culture, costumbres aso.
i saw enough people coming in from different countries, they spent many months here, some of 'em years, none of them ever learned more spanish than to ask for a beer aso, or made dominican friends others than the needed mechanic to fix their big new pick up truck, nothing about culture, because they rented their big luxury appartment in a closed secured residence, left sometimes to the beach , of course where the expensive restaurants are, and the day they got back to their homecountry they knew barely more about the country and it's people than a tourist visitor who's been here a couple of times but left the resort on it's own to meet people, real people.
you'll find your way.
good luck
Mike
Hi you know i posted a topic with that same question, why do people in dr compain so much? I was born and raised in the states and for the last 7 years i have been living in Dr i love it despite what everyone says. People complain cuz they think that they are the only ones who have crimes, Goverment issues, no work issues, robbery, drugs but man its all over the world and if there is no drugs there is a war. Many years ago things were not like this but yet again many years ago there were no computers. So as an American living in Dr dont let there complaints dont let that change your mind of what Dr is go to dr and make your own judgement. You will love it!
N
naturelover
Guest
well its got to be safer than certain areas of america........in every country its just a question of knowing where not to go......i founda very bad area in sydney by accident there were syringes lying about everywhere
I didn't have any option as I was born here...
But it sure as heck beats any other place on Earth, well not all, only if I could find Paradise... Hmmm... Thinking on it, I already am there!
But it sure as heck beats any other place on Earth, well not all, only if I could find Paradise... Hmmm... Thinking on it, I already am there!
Thanks for the posts. I will be landing 2 weeks from tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited! I guess I originally asked this question because of a lot of negative posts I read here. Since then, I've read twice as many positive posts.
I plan to take lots of photos and write a trip report when I return to share with everyone. Wish me luck! Jay in Memphis
I plan to take lots of photos and write a trip report when I return to share with everyone. Wish me luck! Jay in Memphis
Good luck. For a vacation, the DR is GREAT. Living here with 3 kids on a modest salary, not so great. The issue really comes down to "How much of the BS can we handle." After awhile, you realize that those "oh so friendly people" are very willing to stab you in the back or gossip about you (gossip makes this and other countries go 'round.)
We are here because there was a job opportunity and we wanted our 3 kids to be truly bilingual via immersion. Given the demographics of the US, I believe it is essential and they come from "gringo" stock so the only way they were going to be truly fluent was to LIVE in a culture that speaks Spanish. Now I'll admit, we didn't know how BAD the Spanish was here prior to relocating. Having lived here over a year and half with the boys (my dh has been here longer), I find that I NEED my trips back to the US to decompress.
Living in another culture DEFINITELY is not boring so I agree with the poster who said that it keeps life interesting. Having to communicate in a diff language and culture keeps one on one's toes all the time. The ex-pat community will help you out and Dominicans as a whole are "overly" helpful as my dh puts it (but many times the "help" you get sends you on a wild goose chase!)
Just relax! Enjoy the WARM azure water...drink some Brugal and be careful!
We are here because there was a job opportunity and we wanted our 3 kids to be truly bilingual via immersion. Given the demographics of the US, I believe it is essential and they come from "gringo" stock so the only way they were going to be truly fluent was to LIVE in a culture that speaks Spanish. Now I'll admit, we didn't know how BAD the Spanish was here prior to relocating. Having lived here over a year and half with the boys (my dh has been here longer), I find that I NEED my trips back to the US to decompress.
Living in another culture DEFINITELY is not boring so I agree with the poster who said that it keeps life interesting. Having to communicate in a diff language and culture keeps one on one's toes all the time. The ex-pat community will help you out and Dominicans as a whole are "overly" helpful as my dh puts it (but many times the "help" you get sends you on a wild goose chase!)
Just relax! Enjoy the WARM azure water...drink some Brugal and be careful!
You might like to try living in Thailand. Quite similar in many ways to the DR but with one significant difference..."happiness" is paramount here. This applies at all workplaces.
Trips back to "slavery" (the US or any other westernised country)? WTF!!!
There are 4 kinds of people who come to Thailand;
1] the "sex pig" - they usually go home within 6 months because they don't want to pay for sex all the time. Their main concern is sex.
2] the "greedy pig" - the ones who come here because "you get more bang for your buck". These people never ever really experience the country & as a result, never learn anything about the culture. They invariably remain isolated from their immediate society. Their main concern is money.
3] the "life pig" - these people usually blend in very well with their chosen community because they take the time to learn the ways of the local culture.
4] the "sick pig" - these people go to another country in the belief that their lack of well being will be resolved. In most cases, these people "bring their troubles" with them & so never escape the manacles of the western world & never resolve their health problems.
My primary suggestion would be to forget about where you come from. Try to live where you are now. If the life seems lazy & things never seem to get done (this is Thailand), just go along with the flow & don't bitch about it. Let's face it, what foreigner would go to another country only to put up with the same slavery techniques imposed in their own country? Answer - NONE!
At the end, fresh air!
To drChrisHE....
I did not smile much during the last month and your comments has help me taking a deep breath. I admire your realism and can tell you that you have the righo meett way to be an expat. If I ever have the opportunity to meet you it will be with a warmful shake hand. Keeo on going!!!! Enjoy life.....
To drChrisHE....
I did not smile much during the last month and your comments has help me taking a deep breath. I admire your realism and can tell you that you have the righo meett way to be an expat. If I ever have the opportunity to meet you it will be with a warmful shake hand. Keeo on going!!!! Enjoy life.....
that's the real Jan, ha ha.
i've been down by the flu for 2 days, so my wife cleaned up the fridge, Jugos, Teas, Milk, absolutely anything but the good stuff.
so yesterday i had a "office" meeting at the corner bar, those cold ones been that goood, been a long meeting and the flu is away, ha ha.
of course presidente is enough reason to stay, agree.
Mike
i've been down by the flu for 2 days, so my wife cleaned up the fridge, Jugos, Teas, Milk, absolutely anything but the good stuff.
so yesterday i had a "office" meeting at the corner bar, those cold ones been that goood, been a long meeting and the flu is away, ha ha.
of course presidente is enough reason to stay, agree.
Mike
Because I got tired of the "never been no where, never done nothing AMERICANS" and the attitude of AMERICAN greed....it was said in this post, Americans work for the weekend....that is somewhat true....bu many WORK ON WEEKENDS to pay for the broken families.....AMERICAN society is broken.
The positivies about the DR
1) The people
2) The family attitude
3) While many are poor, MOST are PROUD! (Criminals are not)
4) Simplicity of life
5) The beauty of the countryside...beats USA hands down
6) The coffee, rum and beer...just tastes better here
7) The history
8) My girlfriend....and ALL her friends...DR women are PLEASANT
9) My job...I didn't go to college to get a job and sve for vacation, I went to school to get a life.......and live adventure!
10) I live here because I CAN!
CRIME in the DR is no different than many streets in MIAMI, Fort Lauderdale, MEMPHIS, Nashville, LA, NY, Chicago....except here, after you defend yourself, you can leave the scum in the street and walk away.........
The positivies about the DR
1) The people
2) The family attitude
3) While many are poor, MOST are PROUD! (Criminals are not)
4) Simplicity of life
5) The beauty of the countryside...beats USA hands down
6) The coffee, rum and beer...just tastes better here
7) The history
8) My girlfriend....and ALL her friends...DR women are PLEASANT
9) My job...I didn't go to college to get a job and sve for vacation, I went to school to get a life.......and live adventure!
10) I live here because I CAN!
CRIME in the DR is no different than many streets in MIAMI, Fort Lauderdale, MEMPHIS, Nashville, LA, NY, Chicago....except here, after you defend yourself, you can leave the scum in the street and walk away.........
What a wonderful post...I mean this!
This is exactly the same as Australian society, or should I say Amstralian/Ausmerican society. It is very broken.Thanks to the lust for money, gone are the real values of humanity.
Not that I'm religious, which I'm not, I believe that one day "the meek shall rule the world (again)".