This is the country we have chosen to live in, and although we love it most of the time it would be dishonest to say that we are delighted with every aspect of it. From time to time - especially when driving in the city - all cultural sensitivity and tolerance goes out of the window and we curse the day we ever set foot here.
May I suggest the following exercise as therapy for exasperated expats? Simple - you make two lists. Things about living in the Dominican Republic that you love and the things you hate. Do the 'hates' first to get your frustrations off your chest and then move on in a serene fashion to the positive.
Here are mine.
What I hate - in no particular order:
Early morning phone calls even on a weekend, when no-one has died
Motorbikes, especially the one without a silencer that delivers the paper at 4:30 am
Universal lurid piety in contrast to universal lurid practice
Hot humid summers
Ice-age a/c
The abonimable lighthouse
Being served ultra-sugared coffee
Being called 'Americana' despite repeated explanations
Driving technique - that unique but fatal combination of stupidity and selfishness, and what about all those brand new cars without indicators?
Concepts like feo, ordinario, cabello malo and all other manifestations of rudeness, ignorance and racism
What I love - in no particular order:
Attitude to kids - when the sight of my two-year-old reduces sane men and women to jibbering idiots
Kids' attitude - the children I know here are much nicer than my friends' kids back home
The treatment I got when I was pregnant - no need to queue (stand in line in American English) at the bank!
Saman? beaches - need I say more?
Non-smoking culture - even as a 'social smoker' I appreciate the fact that most public spaces are smoke-free.
Not needing to be stick-thin to be treated like a normal attractive woman (and before you men all start - I'm not fat, just not stick-thin)
Can be 'blonde' without spending a centavo in the sal?n!
Sunny warm winters
Cerveza bien fria
Tropical fruit for breakfast
Old-fashioned courtesy (although it magically disappears when behind steering wheel)
The colours people paint their houses, especially blackberry-yogurt pink
Bizarre slogans on guaguas
Amapolas in bloom
The coffee
Unconditional hospitality, especially in the pueblos and campos
Servicio a domicilio
Dancing
The richness of the language
Male and female beauty, of all colours and shapes
Music - but not saccharine dirge merchants like Marco Antonio Solis (I know he's Mexican but Dominicans have taken him to their hearts) full-volume, repeat-play on long-distance guagua rides
Last but not least - DR1 - a newly discovered treat
What would yours be? I haven't included most of the other obvious candidates in the 'hates' list: the rubbish, social inequality, los apagones, corruption, clientilism, the noise, the machismo... but these were all things we knew about from the start and shouldn't really need to complain about, it's too boring. Not to say that the excesses of all the above do not grind us down from time to time.
I guarantee you that the list of things you love will be twice as long. If it isn't, time to take stock and wonder if you really should be here. Step two (optional) would be to draw up a list of good things and bad things about returning to your country.
If this helps just one of you distressed folks - or even just makes you laugh - it'll all have been worthwhile.
Chirimoya
May I suggest the following exercise as therapy for exasperated expats? Simple - you make two lists. Things about living in the Dominican Republic that you love and the things you hate. Do the 'hates' first to get your frustrations off your chest and then move on in a serene fashion to the positive.
Here are mine.
What I hate - in no particular order:
Early morning phone calls even on a weekend, when no-one has died
Motorbikes, especially the one without a silencer that delivers the paper at 4:30 am
Universal lurid piety in contrast to universal lurid practice
Hot humid summers
Ice-age a/c
The abonimable lighthouse
Being served ultra-sugared coffee
Being called 'Americana' despite repeated explanations
Driving technique - that unique but fatal combination of stupidity and selfishness, and what about all those brand new cars without indicators?
Concepts like feo, ordinario, cabello malo and all other manifestations of rudeness, ignorance and racism
What I love - in no particular order:
Attitude to kids - when the sight of my two-year-old reduces sane men and women to jibbering idiots
Kids' attitude - the children I know here are much nicer than my friends' kids back home
The treatment I got when I was pregnant - no need to queue (stand in line in American English) at the bank!
Saman? beaches - need I say more?
Non-smoking culture - even as a 'social smoker' I appreciate the fact that most public spaces are smoke-free.
Not needing to be stick-thin to be treated like a normal attractive woman (and before you men all start - I'm not fat, just not stick-thin)
Can be 'blonde' without spending a centavo in the sal?n!
Sunny warm winters
Cerveza bien fria
Tropical fruit for breakfast
Old-fashioned courtesy (although it magically disappears when behind steering wheel)
The colours people paint their houses, especially blackberry-yogurt pink
Bizarre slogans on guaguas
Amapolas in bloom
The coffee
Unconditional hospitality, especially in the pueblos and campos
Servicio a domicilio
Dancing
The richness of the language
Male and female beauty, of all colours and shapes
Music - but not saccharine dirge merchants like Marco Antonio Solis (I know he's Mexican but Dominicans have taken him to their hearts) full-volume, repeat-play on long-distance guagua rides
Last but not least - DR1 - a newly discovered treat
What would yours be? I haven't included most of the other obvious candidates in the 'hates' list: the rubbish, social inequality, los apagones, corruption, clientilism, the noise, the machismo... but these were all things we knew about from the start and shouldn't really need to complain about, it's too boring. Not to say that the excesses of all the above do not grind us down from time to time.
I guarantee you that the list of things you love will be twice as long. If it isn't, time to take stock and wonder if you really should be here. Step two (optional) would be to draw up a list of good things and bad things about returning to your country.
If this helps just one of you distressed folks - or even just makes you laugh - it'll all have been worthwhile.
Chirimoya