Expatriates? Us? All strange?

gringosabroso

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?. . . Who goes to the Godforsaken Dominican Republic to try and scratch a living? With the biggest boom of the century going on in the States? Freaks, frauds, fools, and failures. . . . I?ve lived on a tropical island most of my life. Ninety per cent of the mainlanders who come in are loonies of one kind or another, and they nearly all blow sooner or later - if they don?t die of the booze.?
?Don?t Stop the Carnival? by Herman Wouk, page 183 [1965].

Is this an accurate description of the typical Ex-Pat living in the DR? American Ex-Pats? Canadian Ex-Pats? Western European Ex-Pats? Male ex-Pats? Are we all ?freaks? of 1 variety or another? To quote Herman Wouk? Food for thought? [please note: the Poster has taken some very considerable liberties with the original text.] This is a very good book; especially if you live in the DR. I think that most of us would greatly enjoy it. Thank you.
 

woofsback

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Dec 20, 2009
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go west young man :)

or in my case SOUTH...where it's warm and there are less stressful problems than in my own country...
i watch very unhappy people go to work everyday...working and working to pay for the house, food, cars, insurance health insurance, dental insurance, car insurance, life insurance, kids braces....ect
with no time to enjoy anything....
yet here in the dr and similar countries...they don't worry about those things and actually ENJOY LIFE for it's sake!
everyone has thier reasons....

to me one who leaves the island is looking for wealth
one who goes to the island is looking for peace and freedom
 

tflea

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Jun 11, 2006
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If

If one comes here looking for wealth, one will likely be disappointed in the majority of cases (if measured in monetary wealth). The death from booze I see sadly often but tolerate, to an extent.
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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I think Herman Wouk had it right. It's not the norm for people to leave their home country, friends, and family to move to a country which for many has a different culture, language, and lower standard of living.

That makes those of us who have, by definition 'abnormal'... and in many cases just plain weird. I often say "most of the expats here are strange in one way or another, and I can't exclude myself". I can live with that - I'm happy, it makes life interesting, & I don't want to be anywhere else. :)
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
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-Who the heck is Herman Wouk ?
-Why should we care what this guy thinks ?
 
Mar 2, 2008
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A little crazy, a little logical. In other words, it just makes sense to us, and it doesn't need to make sense to anyone else.

By the way,

Herman Wouk: One of the greatest authors of our time, and one who's book "Don't Stop the Carnival" is a great example of humor mixed with message, and should be required reading for any ex-pat.

Although it doesn't surprise me some people don't know literature (and probably don't even read, for that matter) it is a little disturbing that they are so automatically dismissive of any and all new or different ideas.

Oh my goodness, does that sound self-righteous? I'm so sorry.
 

rafael

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Jan 2, 2002
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I am writing a book as well. The title is
"How to move to the Caribbean and make a small fortune"


Unfortunately the book will only be a single page with bold type saying. . . .

"Start with a LARGE fortune". . . . . . .. . ;-)
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
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Herman Wouk: One of the greatest authors of our time, and one who's book "Don't Stop the Carnival" is a great example of humor mixed with message, and should be required reading for any ex-pat.
-Required by who ? For what purposes ? Did you pass an exam to get your expat permit ? Is Wouk some sort of a mystical guru about human beings, does he hold "the truth" ?

Oh my goodness, does that sound self-righteous? I'm so sorry.
As a matter of fact, you always do... But don?t be sorry, we grew accustomed to it ;)

Enjoy your day anyway, no offense...
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Please keep to the topic of the thread. Posters are free to use PMs for personal snipes.
 
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Selected works by Herman Wouk:

* Aurora Dawn (1947)
* The Lomokome Papers (1947)
* City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder (1948)
* The Traitor (1949 play)
* The Caine Mutiny (1951)
* A Modern Primitive (1952 Unpublished Play)
* The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1953 play)
* Marjorie Morningstar (1955)
* Slattery's Hurricane (1956)
* Nature's Way (1957 play)
* This is My God: The Jewish Way of Life (1959, revised ed. 1973) (non-fiction)
* Youngblood Hawke (1961)
* Don't Stop the Carnival (1965)
* The Lomokome Papers (1968)
* The Winds of War (1971)
* War and Remembrance (1978)
* Inside, Outside (1985)
* The Hope (1993)
* The Glory (1994)
* The Will to Live on: The Resurgence of Jewish Heritage (2000)
* A Hole in Texas (2004)
* The Language God Talks (2010)
 

MikeFisher

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Feb 28, 2006
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to me one who leaves the island is looking for wealth
one who goes to the island is looking for peace and freedom

excellent short description, full agreement from my side.


Wouk never claimed to hold the truth nor did David(Catcher) say it would be so,
but 7 decades of successful top books mean's at least that a lot of people/readers enjoy to listen to his written words.

no group of people on the planet can be thrown in one box and get branded all the same, but counting together the countless expats i met here on the Isle during my 15 years of 'Expat-Live" a very big number shows up to be the ones who 'did not make it', who came from low levels at home and did not climb up over here neither.

some failed home and do the same here.
some failed home and did successful here.
some been successful home and failed here.
some been successful home and do the same here.
others, successfull home or not, do not come down to have any kind of success here, they just come to retire/live the calm rhytm of Islandlife for the rest of their days or just want to try something completely different to the way of live they grew up with.

and there's one point on which i completely disagree with above posts:
"change from the higher standards at ''home'' to the lower standards on the Isle".

i see it as the exact opposite:
" the higher standard of LIFE is def the one down here on the Island, life here ranks on a much higher/more important position".
some countries may have on the papers a higher standard in case of 'more cars/more luxurous houses/more money to travel twice a year to the Caribbean' etc etc, but that's in my eyes by far no higher standard of LIFE.

and btw we have here on the Isle compared to our number of citizens much less homeless people pushing shopping karts with all their habbits through the 'high standard' shopping malls at 5AM than the huge 'civilized western 1st world'.

even poor, family still cares and is high ranked on the scale.

the higher standard of LIFE is here on the Island.

Mike
 

CFA123

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May 29, 2004
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and there's one point on which i completely disagree with above posts:
"change from the higher standards at ''home'' to the lower standards on the Isle".

...

the higher standard of LIFE is here on the Island.

Mike

I put that in my comments, removed it, then put it back.

I agree with you Mike, but from the perspective of so many in the world, they can't begin to imagine it is really so. It's not the norm to think that way, or if one does, to do something about it and actually make the move.
 
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Herman Wouk is an amazing writer. If you ever pick up Winds of War, you will not be able to put it down, so don't order it. People do call me strange for uprooting myself from Miami and putting down roots in the DR. I always get a "pero tu ta loco? I love it. I think the DR has much to offer, more time at least to read Herman Wouk and other authors that I could not fully read or enjoy working nearly 16 hrs a day making the american sueno. at least there is more time to think.
 

Black Dog

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May 29, 2009
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I'll just say this, in the UK I had on paper what people might call a high standard of living, I paid for it by sacrificing my quality of life!
 

DannyS

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Jun 19, 2007
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Dont Stop the Carnival and DR?

?. . . Who goes to the Godforsaken Dominican Republic to try and scratch a living? With the biggest boom of the century going on in the States? Freaks, frauds, fools, and failures. . . . I?ve lived on a tropical island most of my life. Ninety per cent of the mainlanders who come in are loonies of one kind or another, and they nearly all blow sooner or later - if they don?t die of the booze.?
?Don?t Stop the Carnival? by Herman Wouk, page 183 [1965].

I thought the backgound for that book was St Thomas.