Living in the DR is a privilege?

[windeguy]

That's one key thing right there in my opinion. You chose to live there, even if not considering it a privilege. Many people have to for example live close to where they work etc., usually in their home country. I'm not saying there's something wrong living in your home country, but for many people in particular the warmer climate does constitute as a privilege. For me it does.

I believe I have read on this forum that you have also worked in the DR (as in a company physically in the DR). As the DR is a country of quite a bit fewer opportunities, this is also usually not that straight forward for just anyone to get a job that is any good in the DR. I did in fact work in a company that was a DR company, but it was just half-good as while my salary was nowhere near a normal salary in the DR, I still was not happy with that. So after getting out of that employment, I have considered myself to be privileged in the sense that I have been able to have an employment that has given us a salary the same level as in my home country (more or less), while still being able to enjoy the positive sides of what the DR has to offer.

I know many other posters on this forum also physically work in the DR, and they all have my full respect as I can imagine that working or even running a business in the DR might not be that straight forward as back home.

Josh, I stopped working in around 2002 when I was selling everything I was not going to bring to the DR. That was the last time I had a day job for a company.
Music was always a hobby for me in the USA (from the age of 15 I was playing a gig here and there from time to time). I also play gigs here on occasion.
But no, I never worked full or part time in any company business in the DR. I am happy to be retired in that way and just play some music when I can.

Enjoying my hobby is much harder to do now since there are so many wandering minstrels that come with a guitar and play illegally in the local bars and restaurants. They don't consider getting paid for a gig "work"... Yeah, it is working illegally unless they are legal residents. (I just watched the latest movie on the Beatles and they had a sub story about two guitar players from the USA that wanted to play a gig where the Beatles played - They did play, they were caught and they were deported. ) Here in the DR, it does not matter if you enter on a tourist card, you can work and drive as long as you want to without residency.

I came here from 10 years of living in California. I assure you the climate there was MUCH better than it is here. I do miss that weather, so the weather here is no privilege over California. The DR is a place to come to and retire to, not work for a pittance.

 

[josh2203]

I came here from 10 years of living in California. I assure you the climate there was MUCH better than it is here. I do miss that weather, so the weather here is no privilege over California. The DR is a place to come to and retire to, not work for a pittance.

As I've only ever been outside of any US airport in Miami, and aside from that, only ever been to MIA and JFK (inside the terminal, never outside), I take your word for it for the climate in California, I believe it's in fact better than in the DR. My comparison comes from spending my childhood pretty darn close to the North Pole with 4-5 weeks being sick every winter and then early adult life (20-23) in Austria and Germany, where the climate is already much better but being prone to getting sick, still hated that. My brother visited us in POP a few years back, he hated it for the climate, I love it. We're so different in most ways anyway...

Going completely off-topic but since you mentioned, career-wise in particular Los Angeles and San Francisco are of great importance to me and those are places know my wife would love to visit for the fashion stuff (she watches so much some fashion related stuff from there) and visiting a region that has given us income for years and years is on my bucket list and will be there.

 

[windeguy]

Josh, I had about 300 sunny days a year when I lived in the San Francisco East Bay area. Almost no need for air conditioning nor heat, but I had both in case a day exceeded the norms in either direction. And there was very low humidity as well. By far the best climate I have lived in. I am from upstate NY where i lived for 37 years so I know what warm humid buggy summers and cold miserable minus 30 with wind chill on that days are like. I hated that in upstate NY.
So yes, the DR is better than upstate NY when it comes to weather.

I hope you get the California Dreamin chance for you and your wife to visit there. San Diego, Balboa Island, Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco and Sausalito across the bay, a view from the Oakland hills are just a few spots I recommend. Not easy to get there from here. You will notice the weahter difference I refer to instantly upon landing there.

 

[malko]

You are saying that someone that has always lived in the DR since before many expats here knew the DR existed and has seen the changes of the country since then. A person that didn’t lived a sheltered life limited to a few blocks around her house, but actually got to know many areas of the DR and got to study abroad because of scholarships offered by the Dominican government. Somehow the expats think they know more than her about the DR?

Well based on the article, yes.

Now, I do understand she probably knows better and she is just doing her job as a politician.

 

[windeguy]

What is the minimum wage in PR?

$9.50 per hour in 2024

Puerto Rico Minimum Wage 2024 - Minimum-Wage.org

www.minimum-wage.org

 

[windeguy]

You are saying that someone that has always lived in the DR since before many expats here knew the DR existed and has seen the changes of the country since then. A person that didn’t lived a sheltered life limited to a few blocks around her house, but actually got to know many areas of the DR and got to study abroad because of scholarships offered by the Dominican government. Somehow the expats think they know more than her about the DR?

I would say that yes, but then I only lived in New York, California and New Hampshire in the USA and saw parts of every state that had any tech businesses when I was in the USA while visiting Canada, Mexico, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Dubai, and buying property and planing to live in Sri Lanka before I ended up here.

It isn't about knowing every part of the DR for someone, it is about where they spend most of their time. At least that is how I judge the DR. Not based upon a crap hole like Santo Domingo, for example, where I spend as little time as possible.

 

[NALs]

Well based on the article, yes.

Now, I do understand she probably knows better and she is just doing her job as a politician.

That means you didn’t see the interview, because in the very beginning she says she isn’t a Vice Minister of Tourism, but rather at the moment has that role because the government asked her. As before that, when her time as a Vice Minister of Tourism ends with the Abinader administration she is leaving the government. Her entire practice has been and continue to be in the private sector.

This is another example of an expat that think they know more than her, yet completely miss a point she herself said at the very beginning of the interview.

This, by the way, isn’t a rarity in the forums of DR1.

She has been living in the DR since well before many of the expats here even knew the DR existed and in conditions most expats here never can imagine, yet somehow sone expats think they know more than her about the DR. lol

 

[josh2203]

That means you didn’t see the interview, because in the very beginning she says she isn’t a Vice Minister of Tourism, but rather at the moment has that role because the government asked her. As before that, when her time as a Vice Minister of Tourism ends with the Abinader administration she is leaving the government. Her entire practice has been and continue to be in the private sector.

This is another example of an expat that think they know more than her, yet completely miss a point she herself said at the very beginning of the interview.

This, by the way, isn’t a rarity in the forums of DR1.

She has been living in the DR since well before many of the expats here even knew the DR existed and in conditions most expats here never can imagine, yet somehow sone expats think they know more than her about the DR. lol

I watched the interview pretty carefully. I think whether or not she works in the govt, she is on a relatively high level on the career ladder and the question is (I don't know her nor the answer): How did she get there? I doubt that for almost every qualifying student there are those scholarships to study abroad and again, please prove me wrong, but did she grow up in poor conditions? I most definitely agree with malko, there are two sides in the DR and your post is ignoring one of those...

There's a point where she says that the DR is "fertile" if you have the capacity to "create". This is well put, I agree, in order to progress you have have a mind to create something... But if you have to fight for the daily meal, you might not always have the strength to "create"... I know there are people that rise from poverty, huge respect there, but unfortunately not all of them...

I know there is a decent number of opportunities in the DR, but to get to those without knowing people (so by already being from some family in particular, for example), it might be difficult to get higher, no? She might have traveled the world, but I doubt where she goes are slums/barrios and I doubt she spends time in those in the DR either...

 

[CristoRey]

When I first arrived here and started working in the Outsourcing Industry I met all types of professional women and back it was quite common to hear people say "she either knew the boss or she blew the boss" to get her position. Not saying (nor am I implying) this applies to everyone however it does beg the question...

and don't bother trying to shoot the messenger because he will shoot back.

 

[Aguaita29]

If living in the DR is a privilege, why do so many Dominicans take yolas to PR or get visitor visas to the USA and remain there?

Most relatives and people I know leave with the intention to come back. For most, the goal is to work abroad to have their own home here in the DR, help their kids get a better future and have money to retire here. For instance, I know someone who works for a cleaning company in New York. She already bought a house here. It would have been difficult in the DR for her to achieve that just with a cleaning person salary. Another plus is that those who come back are now "Dominican yorks" they get respect for being people with money and businesses here.
I do like living here and being able to travel abroad. A negative point for the DR is that most people rely on their children to support them when they´re elderly. If you´ve worked indepenently for most of your life, there is currently no hope for a real and effective pension system.