- Thread starter leon486
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What are the biggest cultural differences since you guys moved here?
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less is the option on food your used to seeing in the states, electricity, government
most is the friendly people
most is the friendly people
In the Caribbean since 1992... Got used to everything...
-Absolutely everything ?
...Well, almost everything...
My only problem is the noise level everywhere...
I was living downtown for 4 years, and had to move because of very loud music...
Very loud music/noise level is my only issue down here... I solved it by moving to a quiet place...
-Absolutely everything ?
...Well, almost everything...
My only problem is the noise level everywhere...
I was living downtown for 4 years, and had to move because of very loud music...
Very loud music/noise level is my only issue down here... I solved it by moving to a quiet place...
You could try places like Gazcue or Miraflores. I live in miraflores and everyday, all day is as quiet as a sunday morning.
Cheese? what's wrong with our cheese? Maybe you forgot how real cheese is supposed to taste after eating "imitation pasteurized process cheese food" that may or may not come from mistreated agonizing slave cows. (just kidding,
)Are you buying that yellow-orange-ish cheese from the colmado? don't expect a delicacy
Have you tried supermercados nacional or supermercado bravo, they sell various cheeses from varying quality and also import cheese from many countries, other than that I'm not really sure where else you can get good cheese.
Add good bread to the list also.
has anyone tired bread in a local corner store bakery in colombia? I mean the bread there will knock your socks off and I am only talking about a corner store local bakery. Now why can't the dominicans figure this out for themselves?
AZB
I feel your pain. So much so that I bought a bread maker at Americana.
<a href="http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv10/Toober_SDQ/?action=view¤t=BreadMachine.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv10/Toober_SDQ/BreadMachine.jpg" border="0" alt="Bread Machine"></a>
Cheese here goes by color. Both ntaste the same and it doesn't taste like "real" cheese.
Michel yellow (labeled cheddar, but Tillamook it ain't) is somewhat tolerable.
So imported cheeses from PriceMart...and Nacional...is what a decent % of the Familia CB budget goes toward. That stuff costs!
I mean, what is life without cheese, garlic, helado and fermented fruits and grains in drinkable form?
But seriously: why isn't real cheddar, swiss-type or other yummy cheese not made here? Bad milk? No demand? Too expensive?
From what I see (strictly as a visitor) Dominicans are at their most industrious and innovative when it comes to hatching schemes to get over, like how to steal internet access and electricity, falsifying documents, selling songs to download on stolen ipods and all manner of other things.
They are also good at doing the impossible, like getting dead cars and appliances to start up again and gerry-rigging their motos to transport oversized items from point A to point B.
But it seems as if the typical Dominican business mind is stifled by new ideas until they see someone else at it. They'll copy it, but only if they see the business in question doing well.
The biggest cultural difference for me was adjusting to the emphasis on keeping social interaction always 'nice' and conflict free. Being a 'what you see is what you get' sort of person and coming from a 'what you see is what you get' type of culture I was accustomed to sharing exactly what I felt about something, if asked. And sometimes even when I wasn't asked :cheeky:.
It took a while to be able to analyse this in terms of group culture versus individual culture and to really understand why this was so and what it stemmed from. But like Squat, having lived fulltime in the DR since 1992, this was an adjustment which took place many years ago.
What I like most is that, thanks to Dominicans, I have become a warmer, more mellow, less brittle person by living here. No mean achievement on the part of the local population and one an array of previous husbands and partners didn't manage to accomplish. What I like least is the inexorable exploitation of the bulk of the populace by those few with power which then translates down the ladder into corruption and macuteo which unfairly disadvantages the poor. And the fact that in my perception this has, if anything, got worse in the last 17 years, not better.
Things like electricity outages, water shortages, bread and cheese don't feature on my radar and never really did, even when I was new...........:cheeky:
It took a while to be able to analyse this in terms of group culture versus individual culture and to really understand why this was so and what it stemmed from. But like Squat, having lived fulltime in the DR since 1992, this was an adjustment which took place many years ago.
What I like most is that, thanks to Dominicans, I have become a warmer, more mellow, less brittle person by living here. No mean achievement on the part of the local population and one an array of previous husbands and partners didn't manage to accomplish
. What I like least is the inexorable exploitation of the bulk of the populace by those few with power which then translates down the ladder into corruption and macuteo which unfairly disadvantages the poor. And the fact that in my perception this has, if anything, got worse in the last 17 years, not better.Things like electricity outages, water shortages, bread and cheese don't feature on my radar and never really did, even when I was new...........:cheeky:
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What?? I find the Gouda sold in the DR way better than the one I get here in USA.
Although the quality of milk is way superior in the US, don't know why they can't raise the bar with milk products in the DR.
Do you think the same about the salami? I like Dominican chicken and pork, but give me North American cheese or salai....etc any day. Nothing beats cheese curds from Quebec.
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