Aplatanado or going native, Dominican style

[the gorgon]

I can live with and adjust ............. now let's be honest the trash tossing is, well simply a lack of education and I gonna go out on a limb and agree with chicobill. Strange thing i visited my ladyfriend in SD este Sunday after parque de las luces. I say you want a Presidente Jumbo. Response was NO, wait we go walk. Well we take a three block walk so she can show me the three bock hang out spot. Finished the Brahma beer and the plastic cup time to dispose.

I was ready to go "aplatanodo" and toss the cup to the curb. I looked down and surprisingly there was no trash on the street. Walked about twenty feet and there was a garbage receptacle filled to the rim with trash properly disposed.

Just my two pesos worth of brain but it always seems what city, area, neighborhood you are in where things can be so different.............

we all deplore garbage. we all know better than to litter the public space with trash. i am not voicing disagreement with chico bill's disapproval of littering. what irks me is that he has posted a dozen or so negative things, and not had one nice thing to say about the people.

 

[william webster]

There is no question we can all lose our patience now & then...

due to cultural or just circumstantial stuff..... happens to me regularly.

If the case is severe... you see me at an airport
Milder and I soak my fat head in the ocean
In between and I revert to the help of Senor Barcelo

Coping is key

I adjust as much as I want.
BUT - I have DISH tv... SiriusXM music in car and house.... small luxuries from home.

The nitty gritty cannot be avoided..... just swallow it.

I had workers doing something on the roadway outside my gate.
They left their styro lunch stuff on the roadside

I admonished them - they picked it up

I hear they are teaching recycling/trash/etc ideas in the schools

Remember, it took a long time to train Canada and the USA in recycling/deposit/plastics issues.

USA has yet to catch up with Canada in that regard - or Europe....from my observations

Sooo.... something about glass houses and rocks... I never remember

 

[ROLLOUT]

I have Dominican citizenship but don't speak Spanish well enough to be Dominican. My Dominican family don't eat salami and rarely eat platanos. Lots of fruit, veggies, rice, beans, avocados, chicken, salad, pasta, eggs, moro with guandules, potato salad every Sunday. Pork only at Christmas. I am pretty accepted and greeted all over town but aplatanado, not yet. I can dance Merengue but not bachata, at least not as good as most Dominicans. My wife's cousin and her two daughters always ask me to dance at a party, but I think that's just because we are really good friends. I have credit at several ferreterías. I don't have either time or inclination to play Dominions and nobody in my immediate Dominican family either plays Dominos or drinks. They aren't religious, they just aren't drinkers. My wife's brother that lives in Winchester Mass drinks a lot. I stop at red lights but only curse once or twice on a trip to Santiago. I can drive anywhere. The DR is easier than Greece or Egypt.

sumpin ain't right here; I smells a rat!
And pork only at xmas?? puleeze! what about fish or chivo?

 

[bigbird]

........

I hear they are teaching recycling/trash/etc ideas in the schools

Remember, it took a long time to train Canada and the USA in recycling/deposit/plastics issues.

USA has yet to catch up with Canada in that regard - or Europe....from my observations

Sooo.... something about glass houses and rocks... I never remember

Agora Mall in SD throughout the mall they have three different trash receptacles. One for plastic, one for paper, and one for bottles. Sure the plastic in in with the paper and the paper with the bottles but it is a beginning. I remember when USA said I had to wear a seat belt when driving. LOL ............ It takes time to change but at least it is a start.

and grill man I remember a few years back you taught me the secret. When things start to get under your skin hop on a plane and go back to where you came from to chill for a bit.

 

[william webster]

Precisely....

I tried a new the other day.........
retreated to Las Terranas for lunch....

Ideal... service, civility, good food.... like not being here

Normally, I get good service here (shouldn't complain).... small pond - big fish

Yup, I remember when you were throwing the towel....
selling the Aerie.... the works ... back to NJ

Glad you changed your mind

In your resume here - you forget your close connection to the female community
that helps you get by !!!

hahaha

 

[rfp]

why did i know that your list would not have one positive and complimentary thing to say about the people of the country in which you have chosen to reside?

another guy who judges a group of people by the worst of them. jeez.

Relax ... its funny. I hate every single thing mentioned but it is very prevalent even among people who should know better.

 

[Wishing you well]

Welp another good thread ruined by a bitter expat who refuses to go back home where it's so great and clean.

No necessarily the reason why the refusal to go back exist - reality is, some of these folks were nobody where they were raised, now, a few dollars late and they believe they deserve the sky.

Plato del Dia, no way - only God knows what in the world did they eat if anything growing up.

 

[chico bill]

Lots of Dominicans get annoyed at all the garbage thrown around as well. The properties my wife and I just bought are on a dead end road and pretty well all the other properties are owned by Dominicans and there are no tirar basura signs everywhere.

Do the signs work ? Or does trash appear at night, when the signs might not be visible, because we talked about signs

 

[william webster]

We just have a hard time accepting the reality of 2.5 world

I throw the phone at anyone near me when the connection is bad
Just frustration
It’s the small, frustrating, maddening things that me crazy (ier)

Big stuff, I get

Of course, latter years don’t help... patience wanes....

Double whammy.... older people in 2.5 world.... bad juju

 

[bob saunders]

sumpin ain't right here; I smells a rat!
And pork only at xmas?? puleeze! what about fish or chivo?

Fish on those Catholic occasions where they are required. Nope, never chivo, occasionally hamburger or other beef but not very often. salt cod once or twice a year. Not everyone eats an unhealthy diet.

 

[bob saunders]

Do the signs work ? Or does trash appear at night, when the signs might not be visible, because we talked about signs

There is decent garbage pickup so people hire a haitian to clean it up and put in in the pickup area, but yes there is some thrown at night but not too much.

 

[suarezj519]

I live in a Dominican campo, with a Dominican family and Dominican neighbours. I speak Spanish all day long, listen to Dominican news, cook and eat Dominican food. I also cook Chinese, Thai, Indian, Italian and British food. I dance merengue and bachata but my salsa sucks. I use guaguas and motoconchos and colmados. I drink rum and coffee the Dominican way. I don't go to the doctor for analysis every week, I can't kill and pluck a chicken, I hate loud music and I can only sit chatting on a plastic chair for 30 mins max. I share food and produce with my neighbours, I can cook for up to 10 uninvited guests and I don't get offended when they decide to mop my house.

Matilda

This sounds exactly like me 100%!. DR is my other home and Ive taken the culture in full stride. This year I'm going to miss Christmas at my Grandma's house for the first time in a while and it's really bumming me out not being able to eat all that good food, dance bachata and merengue and just be with family. DR to me is a special place to me and I tell my friends here in cold Michigan, just come down with me for a week or two and you'll one of the best times of your life guaranteed. When working in SD I had some coworkers of mine telling me let's go to places like McDonald's, Applebee's, etc. I'm like no, with the exception of Asian Food, when I'm in the DR I am in DR mode. I tell them I want my Arroz con habichuelas y carne, aguacate, Concón. I want to drink frías at the colmado people watching and blasting old school bachata.

 

[monfongo]

Good food ? you must be going to another Dominican Republic.

 

[the gorgon]

Relax ... its funny. I hate every single thing mentioned but it is very prevalent even among people who should know better.

it might be funny to you, but not to me. that is because we have different upbringing. how i was raised, my parents taught me not to curse the horse while you are riding him.

your mileage may vary.

 

[ROLLOUT]

Fish on those Catholic occasions where they are required. Nope, never chivo, occasionally hamburger or other beef but not very often. salt cod once or twice a year. Not everyone eats an unhealthy diet.

Holy jeezus santo roberto, life is passing you by, and you may be oblivious. If you have not tasted the miracle of mondongo, the richness of stewed pork feet,a boudain laced gumbo, or a 3/4" sirloin on the grill, you may as well come to N. Fl and let me put you out of your misery! I will shed a tear for you tonight.

 

[Wishing you well]

Good food ? you must be going to another Dominican Republic.

They just keep coming by the bunches. What exactly is wrong with DR food?

 

[rfp]

it might be funny to you, but not to me. that is because we have different upbringing. how i was raised, my parents taught me not to curse the horse while you are riding him.

your mileage may vary.

So thats why you trash America and our Leader while getting Social Security ?

I agree on upbringing. I was raised in Church and in US, if not I would be like the rest of "them". I had a Dominican dad who has kids with 3 women, he beat the &*( out of my mom and us and squandered millions. I dont defend the indefensible.

 

[the gorgon]

So thats why you trash America and our Leader while getting Social Security ?

I agree on upbringing. I was raised in Church and in US, if not I would be like the rest of "them". I had a Dominican dad who has kids with 3 women, he beat the &*( out of my mom and us and squandered millions. I dont defend the indefensible.

you are just one more fool looking for a fight, and generally it is against my better judgement to entertain people with your thinking. in the first case, i do not ''get'' social security. that is my money which they took out of my paychecks. secondly, i do not trash the USA. i am a grown man, and i have a post graduate education. i earned the right to criticize dumb political and economic initiatives. that is not the same as demeaning American people.

pull up a chair, get a warm cup of coffee, and put your mind to work. it might dawn on you that disagreeing with policy is not the same as belittling people. it's not that esoteric a notion.

 

[bob saunders]

Holy jeezus santo roberto, life is passing you by, and you may be oblivious. If you have not tasted the miracle of mondongo, the richness of stewed pork feet,a boudain laced gumbo, or a 3/4" sirloin on the grill, you may as well come to N. Fl and let me put you out of your misery! I will shed a tear for you tonight.

I have had the miracle of a quadruple heart bypass operation and plan to continue living for quite a few more years. I hate mondongo but absolutely love a good hamburger and the same for pretty well any barbeque ( steaks, ribs, smokies....etc) however I prefer living over dieing.

 

[ROLLOUT]

I have had the miracle of a quadruple heart bypass operation and plan to continue living for quite a few more years. I hate mondongo but absolutely love a good hamburger and the same for pretty well any barbeque ( steaks, ribs, smokies....etc) however I prefer living over dieing.

ok, didn't know about the heart issue. makes perfect sense. I find that a LOT of garlic helps.