Why All At Once?

tflea

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Jun 11, 2006
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Seems sooo many people are asking questions recently about re-locating to the DR, SDQ, Sosua, where ever. What gives?
Is it the American economy? Is it the current Bush administration?
Is it the aging of the baby boomers?
Is it something else?
There are all kinds of people asking and there is, as always, a flow of
responses depending on the original post.
There are posts that say "I moved here because....."
or..... "I wanna move because".....I know there are some of those.
I just read "Quisqueya" recently by a long-time ex-pat who can give at least a bit of insight on the move from your origin country. Doesn't apply to everyone of course, but pretty insightful.
Everyone has their reasons....but lately.......what's going on?
Is this just a bump in interest because it's high season, or are people really being intuitive, or making life changes and need some support to affirm they are as crazy as all of us and it's ok?
 
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Berzin

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Nov 17, 2004
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My personal feeling is that it is more of a lifestyle issue than anything else.

I think that once people discover the DR, they realize exactly what is missing from their day-to-day lives.

A dominican I know told me that the dominican diaspora consist mainly of economic refugees. If it wasn't for that, they would never have left.

And you can say much for what the DR lacks in education, infrastructure and the thinly veiled corruption of its' public offices and private sector, but the lifestyle is just different and preferable to many who live in the US, Canada and Western Europe.

In NYC most people shuffle off to work and come back home and lock themselves in their apartments. And I challenge anyone to find a more miserable bunch of people than on the subway during rush hour.

In the DR, even an underdog can enjoy a day at the beach on a Saturday or Sunday. You can do whatever, every day of the week-even if its' hanging out at a colmado having a fria with your friends.

Next thing you know everyone is laughing and having a good time. Its' easier to meet people, the weather is nicer and of course the dating scene is more open.

Maybe some people are realizing how much they are missing in their everyday lives and want to force a change. Certainly can't blame anyone for that.
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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Ummm...........they've all read Aaron Russo's Freedom to Fascism website & believe plans are being developed to have all Americans embedded with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) computer chip under their skin so they can be tracked wherever they go...........???? :laugh:

I'd like to believe they are all refugees of conscience but I think economics plays a huge part also.

Two UK papers ran this last November in relation to Brits & got some interesting responses..............

'There's a lack of space, lack of choice and lack of any incentive'
Have Your Say: Why record numbers of Britons are emigrating - Home News, UK - The Independent

Why are so many Britons emigrating? - Telegraph
 

AK74

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Jun 18, 2007
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My personal feeling is that it is more of a lifestyle issue than anything else.

I think that once people discover the DR, they realize exactly what is missing from their day-to-day lives.

A dominican I know told me that the dominican diaspora consist mainly of economic refugees. If it wasn't for that, they would never have left.

And you can say much for what the DR lacks in education, infrastructure and the thinly veiled corruption of its' public offices and private sector, but the lifestyle is just different and preferable to many who live in the US, Canada and Western Europe.

In NYC most people shuffle off to work and come back home and lock themselves in their apartments. And I challenge anyone to find a more miserable bunch of people than on the subway during rush hour.

In the DR, even an underdog can enjoy a day at the beach on a Saturday or Sunday. You can do whatever, every day of the week-even if its' hanging out at a colmado having a fria with your friends.

Next thing you know everyone is laughing and having a good time. Its' easier to meet people, the weather is nicer and of course the dating scene is more open.

Maybe some people are realizing how much they are missing in their everyday lives and want to force a change. Certainly can't blame anyone for that.



I`d rather call it not life style but quality of life.

When one has much more personal freedom and independence.
Even having very little caash in the pocket.

Including in such an important thing like phisical movement and one`s time. One does not need car and thus does not bother about cost of gas or repair or traffic or any. One have the luxury of WALKING!

In USA this luxury does not exist. One cannot live without a car.
In Sosua I can walk to ANY place in 10-15, maximum 20 minutes. Or motoconcho. 20 pesos to any place.

This is real quality of life - to be the real master and owner of oneself. One`s mind. One`s body.

Freedom is a much stronger and addictive drug than money (pieces of green paper).

glumbert - Bad Day at the Office
 

wishingiwasthere

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This is real quality of life - to be the real master and owner of oneself. One`s mind. One`s body.

Wow - yes - that is what I am aiming for. However in my reality i have to work a few more years before I can master the above.

Back to the grindstone - wishingiwasthere
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Okay, I must be a masochist, but here goes.

I don't believe anyone has one single reason, and if they do they should be suspect. My reasons are complex and multifaceted. I can't even categorize them in terms of determinant value. My reasons are dynamic and synergistic, and they materialized over the past 10-15 years.

So now that I've shaken off the quick fix readers, I can proceed with those of you who know that a move of this magnitude is not a shot in the dark.

First the quick list:

4 kids to empty nest.
Divorce after 29 years.
Retirement from first career and considering retiring second (teaching, which is what I spent my first career preparing to do. 25 years-first, 10 years-second, both with modest pensions)
Long, snowy, and cold winters, which get colder, and longer, and darker every year. And more expensive, as the price of oil and everything else increases every year.
The desire for light and warmth. Anyone familiar with SAD knows what I mean.
Alright, and the desire, period.

Take these factors and add a few more and can begin to visualize the chemistry.
Add a years of looking elsewhere (Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, etc) and giving Costa Rica more of a try than it deserves, and start doing the math regarding life-span, available finances, a reasonable assessment of enjoyment, opportunities for social service work, the sense of comfort, community, acceptance, friendship, and I was left with Sosua, DR.

Granted, there are also the elements of circumstance, luck and/or fate, gut feeling, willingness to take a risk, and the spirit of adventure to be factored in. Or maybe those are the real reasons, with all the other stuff being just so much intellectualized rationalization. Who really knows?

All I really know is I'm going to get far too much negative feedback, some level of understanding, and a couple people who will really get what I'm talking about. Those couple of people are what makes everything worthwhile. So please, throw all the BS at me you want, but let those couple people express their recognition and I'm a happy man.
 

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Affluent Baby Boomers wanting to live their Dream.

Also, the WWW has exotic escape closer to home...

Great book for those who, for whatever reason, cannot escape the Rat Race but wish they could: How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, by Harry Browne
 

bob saunders

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I think that Catcherinthe rye captures many of the reasons for the move. As we go through life many of us change our perpective on whats important. As a teenagers, I could walk out my front door, walk down to the river through our farm fields surrounded by Bald eagles, throw my line in the water and have a trout in 10-15 minutes, or a salmon if I was lucky. Phone up my girl, walk the 3 miles to her house, have a glass of beer or wine with her parents...etc. Jobs behind every tree and under every rock. You grow up, finish school, start on a career, get married, have kids, get so caught up with paying bills, buying new cars, ...etc that you wake up one day and say " what the hell am I doing", there has to be more to life than this." My middle son, who is twenty, this January came home from Business school, told me he quit, signed up for a year to teach English in China, and away he went. We are in daily communication on the computer. He doesn't every want to return to a NA Style life. My idea of paradise is different than it is for most of you. To live in a neighbourhood where you know your neighbour, and you have appreciation for each other, harmony if you will, you own your own house with no mortgage, and you have enough money to meet your needs, a Little in the bank to get you from worrying, where you don't need a furnace or AC, Where you can grow your own food year round, and be surrounded by flowers...etc. Where the girls are a joy to watch with their grace walk, and appreciate being looked at. Where the children laugh and play on the streets.
 

AK74

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Jun 18, 2007
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The answer lies on the home page of http://www.ThornlessPath.com

Excellent link ! Thank you!

- "living freely, without every step insured or hobbled by cat's cradles of regulations and government programs. Living without ever-present signs of "NO smoking", "NO fishinig, swimming, loitering, littering, entry, passing, parking in the park ... NO!". "

But to understand how miserable for human dignity and freedom are all those "NO`s" one needs to live outside of the country long time or to be from a different country originally.

Otherwise all those stupid "NO`s" are considered normal. "The LAW"
 

Rocky

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Excellent link ! Thank you!

- "living freely, without every step insured or hobbled by cat's cradles of regulations and government programs. Living without ever-present signs of "NO smoking", "NO fishinig, swimming, loitering, littering, entry, passing, parking in the park ... NO!". "

But to understand how miserable for human dignity and freedom are all those "NO`s" one needs to live outside of the country long time or to be from a different country originally.

Otherwise all those stupid "NO`s" are considered normal. "The LAW"
A very wise judge once said, that laws were made by decent people to force indecent people, to be decent.
Here in the DR, one is given the opportunity to be decent by choice, not because one is being forced to be.
This is a valuable freedom, not afforded to those who live in the robotic industrialized nations.
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Excellent point AK74 and Rocky! Rules and regulations. As Cool Hand Luke said, "All I've seen is a lot of bosses laying down a whole lot of rules." He also said, "Yeah, well, sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand."

When you consider that all rules are made by a group of people to the benefit that same group of people, and that throughout history, rules have been made to justify everything from slavery to genocde, then it is easy to see without looking too farv that much much is really sacred. (Okay, Bob Dyan said that, but at least I remembered it).

My point being, the fewer rules that are written for others to follow, the more people are going to be invested in enforcing the one rule that makes any sense, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I'm not sure who said that, but he must have been a very smart man.
 

gamana

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Apr 24, 2006
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Interesting thread!

When you compile all the mentioned reasons (beach, freedom from rules, weather, ...etc), the obvious common denominator is a desire for change. That being said, with such a enormous amount of reasons as each individuals tend to customize their own, I am wondering if there is such a place in this world that could harbor all the change seekers.

Going further, it would be interesting to know how many expats coming to DR actually stay here forever. There is a paradox between a desire for change and settling in one place. The climax of change tends to be perceived at the moment it happens but fades away with time. DR is a rapidly changing country and many of the reasons why expats left their home country could very well be around the corner, here in DR.
 

Lambada

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While we are all lauding the freedom of the DR can I interject a note of realism? There are rules here: I don't mean the law. I mean those 'rules' it takes you light years to find out about, the unspoken, unwritten. The ones some of us try to convey to aspirant residents. Fifteen years in and I'm still learning some of these as I go............;)
 

DRob

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Aug 15, 2007
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True, but I think AK74 and others are talking about a level of freedom - however perceived - that transcends mere social mores. To them, freedom is liberation from a dull job/relationship/life, being able to enjoy nature a bit more, not facing spending another winter in the middle of a major northern city, escaping the rat race, and having a cost of living which is commensurate with a real quality of life.

I suspect it's what brings many people (including some of the more senior posters and moderators) out here.

The DR dream serves as a cure-all for such a mundane lifestyle. Beaches. New adventures. Suddenly becoming "rock star" attractive. And if it means making a sacrifice in lifestyle, some are willing to do so to escape the cruel reality where watching bad TV (while deciding whether to take a baggage-and-drama-ridden date to eat at Chili's or TGI Friday's) has somehow become a priority in their lives.

But, as with all things, it depends on perspective. After all, wherever you go, there you are. Meaning, many bring the same dark attitude they developed in their home country to DR, with predictably dismal results. It's evident in the posts where they try to figure out how to

1) bring in a gun;
2) find a walled subdivision to live in;
3) figure out how to make it in DR without bothering to learn Spanish;
4) complain about prices of fuel and imported goods in a country where the average person is lucky to take cold showers, eat rice, beans and platanos twice a day, and maybe clear $500USD/month;
5) use the locals as their sexual playthings, then complain about how they're somehow being "deceived;"
6) take pride in their frugality of both pocket and passion;
7) like to be in charge, have bossy personalities, or tend to view others as inferior to them;
8) intend to obsess over replicating their previous lifestyle (which they tried to get away from) in DR,
9) complain about how things are so different compared to their previous first world country lifestyle, and how nobody seems to know what they're doing,

Then this country - or any other country, for that matter - is likely not for you. In those cases, the problem isn't your home town; it's you.

And no amount of beaches, brugal or bikinis will solve that particular problem.
 
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Matilda

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Sep 13, 2006
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Another reason is people are looking for something which they could not find in their own country, in some cases love and in some happiness, or a sense of contentment. The former is much easier to find here than in most first world countries (without discussing the price many have to pay for it), and the latter can be found if you are prepared to adopt the mentality of many of the poorer people here. You can be happy if you live for the day - don't dwell on the past and don't think about the future. This is what many Dominicans and Haitians do. If you can eat today don't worry about where the money will come from tomorrow. The problem is that for those of us who move from a system where we are constantly thinking about the future and live by our filofaxes (do they still exist), it takes a long time to learn to live for the day.

But to me the main advantage of living here is to learn how to live your life a different way, and how to give and gain pleasure from fellow human beings. That is why I can never see myself returning to the UK, nor leaving for any other country.

Matilda
 

bob saunders

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1) bring in a gun; After being in the military most of my adult life I have no desire to have a gun
2) find a walled subdivision to live in; Not interested in that either, but can see why others are.

3) figure out how to make it in DR without bothering to learn Spanish; Don't speak it as well as I'd like, but I'm not embarrassed to make mistakes, people laughing at my mangling of their language doesn't bother me, I try.

4) complain about prices of fuel and imported goods in a country where the average person is lucky to take cold showers, eat rice, beans and platanos twice a day, and maybe clear $500USD/month; I don't like to pay Gringo prices, but will pay the going rate for things I want or do without. I'll let my wife negotiate.

5) use the locals as their sexual playthings, then complain about how they're somehow being "deceived;" Not going to happen with me, regardless of the temptation, not part of my character.
6) take pride in their frugality of both pocket and passion; My wife thinks I'm too generous(to a fault) I'm a very animated person, can't talk with my hands in my pocket.

7) like to be in charge, have bossy personalities, or tend to view others as inferior to them; I 'm a take charge type person, so is my Dominican wife, but I'm not superior to anyone, and nobody is my better either.
8) intend to obsess over replicating their previous lifestyle (which they tried to get away from) in DR,. Are you kidding - only thing I'll miss is family, perhaps seeing less blonde's.

9) complain about how things are so different compared to their previous first world country lifestyle, and how nobody seems to know what they're doing, Dishonesty bothers me no matter where I am, especially from rich people, but as Lambada says there are many unwritten rules that can take years to figure out- little things like pointing at people...etc. I believe in treating all with respect.

Then this country - or any other country, for that matter - is likely not for you. In those cases, the problem isn't your home town; it's you.
 

tflea

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Jun 11, 2006
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Well Said

Kudos to you DRob, very well said, and encompassing some very common
misunderstandings.
And I love your last line.
"And no amount of beaches, brugal or bikinis will solve that particular problem."
Like those who travel and don't have a good stay. They always take themselves along. We're usually our own worst companions and last to recognize that, whether it be a vacation or change of location.
It's the trip, not the destination.
When's the last time someone bought a one-way ticket?