Ex-Pat Fatigue Syndrome

[windeguy]

I just returned from trips to Santo Domingo (visa renewal for my wife to the US and license renewal for me were both doen in two days) and Jarabacoa (sold a small house we had there). My wife and I were both happy to return to Cabarete. Neither of us could stand to live in Santo Domingo and Jarabacoa, while a nice place to visit and where she was born, neither of us like it there for more than a day at a time. As for the Expat fatigue in the DR, we just take a trip out from time to time. Last month we did one of those trips for 3 weeks.

 

[keepcoming]

When I leave the DR I am always happy to get back. But I have noticed my "need" to leave is more often than before. Maybe it is living in Santo Domingo all these years that begins to take a toll on sanity. We have talked about moving out of SD for awhile now but have not made that move yet. As we get older maintaining two households (in USA and DR) might get a bit more difficult to manage. There are always positives and negatives on both sides (where to live).

 

[dulce]

I have not lived in the DR for quite some time now. So, I don't have much input on this thread. I would like to say that I am enjoying reading everyone's experiences and opinions.
When I did live there I only went home when I needed to. I couldn't wait to get back to the DR.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[william webster]

There is a parallel universe here....

The Dominicans that ex-pat to the USA.....
Surely - they suffer the same symptoms

I am amazed at the Dominicans that work in the USA..
we have several in my town who go to Nantucket for the summers

Their English is terrible to non-existent ....
no wonder they come back

Mind you - in Canada - when Hong Kong was exiting the British Empire
they FLED to Canada (Vancouver) with their British passports.

Bought BIG house... & knocked them down
to do the Feng Shue...whatever

Millions for the house.... millions more to rebuild
They destroyed the real estate market

Mercedes dealers sales went thru the roof

BUT --- BUT
they NEVER assimilated...
no English, their own schooling... totally separate

The men commuted back to HK to work

Same game - different place

Mind you, their exodus had different reasons
but still............

 

[Commander Ooh La La, USN]

There is a parallel universe here....

The Dominicans that ex-pat to the USA.....
Surely - they suffer the same symptoms

I am amazed at the Dominicans that work in the USA..
we have several in my town who go to Nantucket for the summers

Their English is terrible to non-existent ....
no wonder they come back

Mind you - in Canada - when Hong Kong was exiting the British Empire
they FLED to Canada (Vancouver) with their British passports.

Bought BIG house... & knocked them down
to do the Feng Shue...whatever

Millions for the house.... millions more to rebuild
They destroyed the real estate market

Mercedes dealers sales went thru the roof

BUT --- BUT
they NEVER assimilated...
no English, their own schooling... totally separate

The men commuted back to HK to work

Same game - different place

Mind you, their exodus had different reasons
but still............

What you gotta do is spread yourself around. 12 months in a year and this is a small country so once you come back from overseas and tire of Cabrera move about the country courtesy of Airbnb type websites. San Cristobal, Semana, Moncion, some fogey mountain village. 3-4 weeks here and there for a change of pace.

Right now I just want a farmhouse, a green back 40 and a pond. If you had a farmhouse in DR the labor to dig a pond would be cheap but you could never stock it with fish

Sent from the Federation Intergalactic space vessel: DromOlax 3B55-90R

 

[Harleysrock]

What you gotta do is spread yourself around. 12 months in a year and this is a small country so once you come back from overseas and tire of Cabrera move about the country courtesy of Airbnb type websites. San Cristobal, Semana, Moncion, some fogey mountain village. 3-4 weeks here and there for a change of pace.

Right now I just want a farmhouse, a green back 40 and a pond. If you had a farmhouse in DR the labor to dig a pond would be cheap but you could never stock it with fish

Sent from the Federation Intergalactic space vessel: DromOlax 3B55-90R

That is what keeps me happy here. I am always traveling around to different areas. I love doing road trips here

 

[LTSteve]

Should I post this in Residents.... or here
it may apply to some long term visitors........

https://www.expatfocus.com/c/aid=52...s-expat-fatigue-and-how-can-you-deal-with-it/

If you have ever felt irritable/short tempered... listless....out of touch.... itchy to do something other than what you're doing

This may be the reason.

It happens to me... in fact I'm in a funk now...
but I'm outta here in 2 weeks

Interesting thought... I found

affects some - not all....

Your not unique to this and it is more common than you think. Paradise doesn't come without a price.

 

[kcdmps]

DR for me is an escape. When I get “patriot” fatigue, I go to DR for a week vacation.

The problem with being an ex-patriot is that you are already at your escape destination. When you get ex-patriot fatigue, where are you going to escape to now? Many turn to drink/insanity.

 

[Drperson]

why can't you stock a pond with fish?

 

[Fulano2]

DR for me is an escape. When I get “patriot” fatigue, I go to DR for a week vacation.

The problem with being an ex-patriot is that you are already at your escape destination. When you get ex-patriot fatigue, where are you going to escape to now? Many turn to drink/insanity.

When I lived in SD I used to walk to Plaza Central and feld back home.

 

[Commander Ooh La La, USN]

why can't you stock a pond with fish?

The weather is too hot for standing water projects. Unless you add an aeration pump the fish will run out of oxygen.
Then...unless your plantation is fenced off expect hungry Dominicans and Haitians to come thru at night and poach your fish to eat.
On the upside fish eat mosquitos and moskito larvae so dengue and other insect transmitted diseases can be controlled.

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[Commander Ooh La La, USN]

Your not unique to this and it is more common than you think. Paradise doesn't come without a price.

I dont know if it is the actual landmass or the absurd idiosyncratic behaviors of the people that burn you out. I am declaring the latter bcause the climate and geography is roughly the same in South Florida or Gulfcoast Alabama(even though those people can be loco as well in their own right).

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[windeguy]

I dont know if it is the actual landmass or the absurd idiosyncratic behaviors of the people that burn you out. I am declaring the latter bcause the climate and geography is roughly the same in South Florida or Gulfcoast Alabama(even though those people can be loco as well in their own right).

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Replace idiosyncratic with idiotic and I can go along with your statement. No place is perfect and the DR is not for everyone. It is the people, not the land or the climate that is "odd".

Six month trips out of the DR for a "couple two, three weeks" do the trick for me. At the end of the trip I am anxious to return to the DR and my wife even more so to be back in the DR.

 

[NALs]

Just keep in mind that the DR is an island (in fact, its an island within an island) and a very hermetic country until a few decades ago. It took the country a couple of decades to show itself how it is instead of having a dictator say just short of when a person could go to the bathroom. Most people alive right now were not born in a dictatorship, though the older one goes the greater the probability that someone was born in a dictatorship and some before that too. I think once people understand this, they begin to understand the DR.

I also agree that some things are not meant to be understood, just accepted that it is the way it is. There is no logical explanation, just that it exist. lol

 

[drstock]

The weather is too hot for standing water projects. Unless you add an aeration pump the fish will run out of oxygen.
Then...unless your plantation is fenced off expect hungry Dominicans and Haitians to come thru at night and poach your fish to eat.
On the upside fish eat mosquitos and moskito larvae so dengue and other insect transmitted diseases can be controlled.

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Well, I don't know much about fish, but I do know that the Cabarete lagoon which is standing water, and which is at the back of my property, is full of them. I feed them daily to encourage them so that, as you say, they will be there to eat mosquito larvae.

 

[the gorgon]

Just keep in mind that the DR is an island (in fact, its an island within an island) and a very hermetic country until a few decades ago. It took the country a couple of decades to show itself how it is instead of having a dictator say just short of when a person could go to the bathroom. Most people alive right now were not born in a dictatorship, though the older one goes the greater the probability that someone was born in a dictatorship and some before that too. I think once people understand this, they begin to understand the DR.

I also agree that some things are not meant to be understood, just accepted that it is the way it is. There is no logical explanation, just that it exist. lol

actually, NALS, a slight correction. it is a part of an island, but not an island in an island, since an island is completely surrounded by water, and the Western border is landlocked.

 

[NALs]

Well, I don't know much about fish, but I do know that the Cabarete lagoon which is standing water, and which is at the back of my property, is full of them. I feed them daily to encourage them so that, as you say, they will be there to eat mosquito larvae.

Maps of the island from the 1800s show the lagoon as attached to the ocean. There was a part on the left side (the west) where the lagoon and the ocean meet. It is hard to know when that lagoon became a lagoon, but it was very recent in geological terms.

 

[william webster]

Yes... but it don't split/separate the island ...

The Spaniards sailed in there.... now landlocked....
it never divide the island... IMO

 

[John Boyter]

1-3 months fantastic, 3-5months everything is good , 6 months everything is peachy,7 months islandites syndrome sets in must leave soon, 1yr stfu and leave me alone or I’m going to put this pencil where the sun don’t shine! Hence why I’m snowbird category in and out 3-4 times a yr ...don’t want to give someone lead poisoning accidentally

I think the DR is big enough to not have to get island syndrome as you call it. If you are in SD or Santiago you can go to the beach or mountains for a change and vice versa. Try one of the other islands in the Caribbean. There it is much worse. The DR is the most diverse in the Caribbean in my opinion.

 

[Commander Ooh La La, USN]

Replace idiosyncratic with idiotic and I can go along with your statement. No place is perfect and the DR is not for everyone. It is the people, not the land or the climate that is "odd".

Six month trips out of the DR for a "couple two, three weeks" do the trick for me. At the end of the trip I am anxious to return to the DR and my wife even more so to be back in the DR.

I agree wholly. I was going to be more harsh but said "noooo". But it is true. I think the society has made these people idiots and comfortable aiming for Idiocy as a personal credo.
And THAT is what burns people out.


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