“How come the things that make us happy make us sad”
Joy and Pain-Maze
I’ve been here for 6 months now and I have to say most of it has been a positive experience.
One of the main reasons I like this place is that people just make things work. Maybe not efficient as it should be, but they make it happen.
Maybe because of the lack of regulations or non-enforcement of regulations things get done here. Also being poor you have to work with what you have.
One of my first examples of this was walking down a section of a street that was dark at night because it was not well lit. In the middle of that section is an apartment building. Someone made a homemade streetlight and strung some electric wire from the building to the light attached to a tree on the sidewalk. Now that section is lit and it didn’t take much to get it done.
Back in the US you would have had to jump through a bunch of red tape and adhere to different regulations to get that simple light installed.
Now on the other hand is that light properly installed? Could it cause harm to someone walking by? This is the reason we have regulations in the US.
I’ve seen other examples of things being done here that made me shake my head but at the same time, thought hey, if you don’t have many resources but things need to get done, what you going to do?
A list of some other observations on living here. This is only my short limited interaction, so take it for what it’s worth.
Food. Most Dominican food imo is bland. I do enjoy it but not anything I would write home about. There is a variety of different foreign places to eat.
Dominicans don’t mind calling someone, fat, skinny, black, white etc. I guess that’s good because it’s straight forward but does that also lead to the ruddiness I’ve experience (the cutting in line and making everything about them)
Men/ Women/Dating: Same as any other place. If you are the man, women expect you take care of certain things. I’m talking about those traditional man/woman roles. If you get caught up with a gold-digger or scammer don’t blame it on the country. It’s the man not the land.
I find myself embarrassed sometimes because of the images/ ideals I have of a third world country. Especially when those ideals are blown apart. Thinking everything is backward and behind the times. This is a modern city. I guess because the out of date stuff and the inefficiently of some basic services the nice things get over looked.
Then there are things like this revamped parked that makes be happy to be here. Sorry for some of shaky clips. I was testing out my glider. Need a lot more practice. LOL
parque - YouTube
Joy and Pain-Maze
I’ve been here for 6 months now and I have to say most of it has been a positive experience.
One of the main reasons I like this place is that people just make things work. Maybe not efficient as it should be, but they make it happen.
Maybe because of the lack of regulations or non-enforcement of regulations things get done here. Also being poor you have to work with what you have.
One of my first examples of this was walking down a section of a street that was dark at night because it was not well lit. In the middle of that section is an apartment building. Someone made a homemade streetlight and strung some electric wire from the building to the light attached to a tree on the sidewalk. Now that section is lit and it didn’t take much to get it done.
Back in the US you would have had to jump through a bunch of red tape and adhere to different regulations to get that simple light installed.
Now on the other hand is that light properly installed? Could it cause harm to someone walking by? This is the reason we have regulations in the US.
I’ve seen other examples of things being done here that made me shake my head but at the same time, thought hey, if you don’t have many resources but things need to get done, what you going to do?
A list of some other observations on living here. This is only my short limited interaction, so take it for what it’s worth.
Food. Most Dominican food imo is bland. I do enjoy it but not anything I would write home about. There is a variety of different foreign places to eat.
Dominicans don’t mind calling someone, fat, skinny, black, white etc. I guess that’s good because it’s straight forward but does that also lead to the ruddiness I’ve experience (the cutting in line and making everything about them)
Men/ Women/Dating: Same as any other place. If you are the man, women expect you take care of certain things. I’m talking about those traditional man/woman roles. If you get caught up with a gold-digger or scammer don’t blame it on the country. It’s the man not the land.
I find myself embarrassed sometimes because of the images/ ideals I have of a third world country. Especially when those ideals are blown apart. Thinking everything is backward and behind the times. This is a modern city. I guess because the out of date stuff and the inefficiently of some basic services the nice things get over looked.
Then there are things like this revamped parked that makes be happy to be here. Sorry for some of shaky clips. I was testing out my glider. Need a lot more practice. LOL
parque - YouTube