Moving to the DR (ex Pat mix)

24hourman

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I am contemplating moving to the DR in the next 18 months and I was wondering what the mix of non nationals living in the DR is IE. Germans, Brits Americans etc. Within places such as Sosua, Carbarete.etc. I have been to the DR on many occassions over the last 10 years but staying in a hotel you never really get out into the community. Thanks in advance
 

HOWMAR

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24hourman said:
I am contemplating moving to the DR in the next 18 months and I was wondering what the mix of non nationals living in the DR is IE. Germans, Brits Americans etc. Within places such as Sosua, Carbarete.etc. I have been to the DR on many occassions over the last 10 years but staying in a hotel you never really get out into the community. Thanks in advance
Before I wasted anymore time contemplating, I would spend time in the community.
 

24hourman

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I dont think contemplating is wasting time and I do intend spending time in the community when I arrive next week. Your response is not helpful to my question. This is my first post in this forum which is also a community relating to the DR your welcome is not encouraging.
 

HOWMAR

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24hourman said:
I dont think contemplating is wasting time and I do intend spending time in the community when I arrive next week. Your response is not helpful to my question. This is my first post in this forum which is also a community relating to the DR your welcome is not encouraging.
On the contrary, I am indeed welcoming you. In fact, my point was that until you experience the community, you having nothing to base your contemplation on. I think that is more helpful than me telling you that Sosua has X% Americans, Y% Brits, Z%Germans, etc, etc.
When you arrive next week, are you staying in a hotel again? Until you live in the community, experience it's positives and negatives, what is there to contemplate. Speaking as a tourst for almost 30 years, some 75 trips, when I moved here fulltime 3 years ago, it was like living in a different country. How many blackouts do you experience in the hotels? How many weeks of continuous rain have you experienced here? How many times was your hotel room burglarized? How many time have you shopped for groceries in the DR?
How many times have you been to a Dominican doctor or hospital?
These are all things to experience and then contemplate. We'd love to have you come and experience. We hate it when someone moves here, are unprepared, and leave with a bad experience and a bad attitude towards the DR.
 
L

lovesthebeach

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I would also like to know the answer to this question. I believe the statistics would be interesting to analyze.

I don't understand why almost everytime someone posts a question on this board, there are some people that feel they need to answer in a negative manner.

If the 24hourman had not started his post with "I am contemplating moving..." how would you have answered this HOWMAR?

Isn't contemplation better than just showing up?

In my opinion, it is a given that people should experience the community/way of life and that it would be beneficial to them to do this before moving to the DR.

I have been reading posts in all of the forums and the pattern is everywhere. Bring down the newbie. Yes I will grant you that there are alot of naive people on here...but isn't this the point of the website....to educate people about the culture, community, politics etc of the Dominican Republic?

If anyone does have an answer to 24hrmans question.....I would love to hear it.

LTB
 

24hourman

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Howmar
Whilst you have been to the DR far more times than me and you living in the DR for 3 years you will naturally have a far greater finger on the pulse compared to someone like me. Who has only been to the DR on 6 occassions. However on the occassions that I have visited I have not spent all my time around the pool at the hotel. I have made every attempt to get out into the community and see the real Dominican Republic. I have experienced the rain, constant blackouts, food posioning, been ripped of by phoney guides hit by a hurricane and nearly losing my wife whilst white water rafting but still we return. We have thought long and hard regarding moving and the decision should we decide will not be taken lightly.

I suppose staying in a hotel could be construed as not really living in the country when you come on holiday. However in our case it is the means to an end as it is cheaper to book an all inclusive holiday to the Dominican from the UK than it is to arrange a return flight and find our own accomodation. My original question relating to ex pats in certain areas may be that we do not want to be living in an area that is home from home. If we were looking for a home from home with sunshine we would have probably gone to spain
 

Robert

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Real stats do not exist. Lots of undocumented expats here.
I live here and have been to Sosua many times and still haver no idea of the mix. More Europeans than Americans, but if you add in Canadians, then maybe it's even.

What difference does it make? Why are you asking the question?
Gives us some background, then maybe we can give you the answer your looking for.
 

Robert

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lovesthebeach said:
I don't understand why almost everytime someone posts a question on this board, there are some people that feel they need to answer in a negative manner.

Not true. Yes, it happens, but we get 250+ posts some days.
In % terms, the overall majority are informative and helpful.

But I understand why some people pick up on the negative and inflate it.

Let me add...

This is the best and largest resource on the Dominican Republic.
Love it or hate it, you will not find anything close that will provide you with the amount of valuable information that people here can.

Learn how to work it and it will give you back more than you ever imagined.
 
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HOWMAR

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I guess the answer to your specific question is the $64,000 question the government is wrestleing with right now. There is a move to have a national census taken of foreigners. Although they won't admit it, the motivation for this census is the influx of Haitians into the DR. This is much debate about this subject in the newspapers almost daily.
To answer your question. The question is too vague. For example, on any given block is Sosua, depending on the neighborhood, the population can be mainly Dominican, or American, or Canadian or German or Haitian or etc., etc. It is not significant what the overall population breakdown for a city or region is, as most people live with their own. Walk two blocks and you are in another ethnic area.
 

Robert

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24hourman said:
My original question relating to ex pats in certain areas may be that we do not want to be living in an area that is home from home. If we were looking for a home from home with sunshine we would have probably gone to spain

As a Brit, this is not home from home :)
This is the Dominican Republic and it's a VERY different animal from Spain.

You need to do a lot more research and ultimately experience living here before you know if it will be right for you.
 

24hourman

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We intend living here for a short period of time next year for up to about six months before we finally decide on whether the Dominican will be for us permanently. And as I said in an earlier posting the descision will not be taken lightly and a lot of research has been done to date. However if you listened to all the bad things in life you would never get around to doing anything. Sometimes you have to take a flyer. Tomorrow will be the same as today unless you do something different today. There is no tragedy in stumbling and falling the tragedy comes if you dont pick your self up.
 

HOWMAR

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24hourman said:
We intend living here for a short period of time next year for up to about six months before we finally decide on whether the Dominican will be for us permanently. And as I said in an earlier posting the descision will not be taken lightly and a lot of research has been done to date. However if you listened to all the bad things in life you would never get around to doing anything. Sometimes you have to take a flyer. Tomorrow will be the same as today unless you do something different today. There is no tragedy in stumbling and falling the tragedy comes if you dont pick your self up.

This post is a far cry from your original post:
24hourman said:
I am contemplating moving to the DR in the next 18 months and I was wondering what the mix of non nationals living in the DR is IE. Germans, Brits Americans etc. Within places such as Sosua, Carbarete.etc. I have been to the DR on many occassions over the last 10 years but staying in a hotel you never really get out into the community. Thanks in advance.

I am sorry if I bruised your thin skin, but based on the original post you were in need of some tough love. There are plenty of people here with a great deal of experience. I found all are willing to help, just ask. By the way. Do you play poker?
 

24hourman

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HOWMAR said:
This post is a far cry from your original post:


I am sorry if I bruised your thin skin, but based on the original post you were in need of some tough love. There are plenty of people here with a great deal of experience. I found all are willing to help, just ask. By the way. Do you play poker?

The original posting asked a question you did not answer it.

There is no need to feel sorry You did not bruise my skin (thin ?) you are of course assuming. Unfortunately your response to my original posting assumed to much and you posted a reply that was not relevant to my question or needs. If you are unsure as to the question you should ask instead of bowling in with little regard to what is being asked. Do I have to bear my soul with everything I have done or intend to do in order to get an answer to a simple question?

In Answer to your question re: poker Yes.

On a more lighter note if I can get this sort of banter within the DR I could be more than happy:classic:
 

Ken

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24hourman said:
We intend living here for a short period of time next year for up to about six months before we finally decide on whether the Dominican will be for us permanently. And as I said in an earlier posting the descision will not be taken lightly and a lot of research has been done to date. However if you listened to all the bad things in life you would never get around to doing anything. Sometimes you have to take a flyer. Tomorrow will be the same as today unless you do something different today. There is no tragedy in stumbling and falling the tragedy comes if you dont pick your self up.

I agree, 24hourman. If you maintain this attitude, you should have no trouble adjusting to life here. But as to the percentage of different nationalities living here, I have no idea and really don't care. Maybe it would be interesting information, but I don't see how it makes any difference in determining whether living here is what you really want to do.

My advice is to come here with the idea you are making a permanent move and begin life as though you were here to stay. Have an escape hatch, but don't think about it. If you start questioning your decision each time something happens that is different than what you are used to or is a bit upsetting, I doubt you will last even 6 months.

If you are already thinking about something you are going to do 18 months from now,that is more than enough preparation as far as I am concerned.

Good luck