JMB, I must start by saying I have a deep respect for you and your posts. However, I don't know what to think of this last one.
- Thread starter Mauricio
- Start date
Usa
Castle I am on both sides of the tracks. I have a little girl in Santo Domingo and a little girl here in the states. When my 9 yr old was the age of my daughter in Santo Domingo, she was much more advanced. My 9 yr old has been to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Jamaica. My daughter in Santo Domingo has been to Boca Chica.
My daughters mother in Chicago is a RN and makes a nice salary. My daughters mother in Santo Domingo can't find a job.
BTW My daughters mother here was born in AguasCaliente, Mexico. Could not speak a word of English at the age of 12. My 9 yr old see her mother going to work everyday using her OWN money. What do you think this does for a young woman to see her mom accomplish her goals to become a nurse. Women in the DR are taught to depend on a man.
I take care of my child in DR as well as her cousins, aunts and grandmother, because the DR does not allow them to be self sufficient. Spend 1 week in my shoes then tell me about a cyborg mentality.
My daughters mother in Chicago is a RN and makes a nice salary. My daughters mother in Santo Domingo can't find a job.
BTW My daughters mother here was born in AguasCaliente, Mexico. Could not speak a word of English at the age of 12. My 9 yr old see her mother going to work everyday using her OWN money. What do you think this does for a young woman to see her mom accomplish her goals to become a nurse. Women in the DR are taught to depend on a man.
I take care of my child in DR as well as her cousins, aunts and grandmother, because the DR does not allow them to be self sufficient. Spend 1 week in my shoes then tell me about a cyborg mentality.
I hear you JMB. But those are different matters. I don't think they are related to a lack of freedom, but to poverty and underdeveloped environment. I would never say DR's society is advanced or anything of the sort. And I understand things in DR aren't easy for dominicans. I even think is kind of unfair that we come down here and just because we have a different state of mind, we get some advantage, but that only shows it is not the country but the people who make things hard for themselves.
I understand what you saying as well. The comment about the cyborg was not meant to be negative. One more example then I have to go.
I love Santo Domingo Este it is my favorite in all of DR. When I tell Dominicans where I live this is their response 99.9% " OH MY GOD!!!! very dangeous for you" Now crime happens all over the island, but many people were taught that Santo Domingo Este is to be avoided.
Once I met a guy in the Colonial Zone and he was from Canada, and I invited him to my apartment in Alma Rosa II for dinner. He talked with some Dominican on the street and he told him that many people are killed in Santo Domingo Este, so the guy said "I better not."
Now I was the most harmless person when I was living in Santo Domingo, but because I lived across the bridge it was a chance I was a bad guy.
I love Santo Domingo Este it is my favorite in all of DR. When I tell Dominicans where I live this is their response 99.9% " OH MY GOD!!!! very dangeous for you" Now crime happens all over the island, but many people were taught that Santo Domingo Este is to be avoided.
Once I met a guy in the Colonial Zone and he was from Canada, and I invited him to my apartment in Alma Rosa II for dinner. He talked with some Dominican on the street and he told him that many people are killed in Santo Domingo Este, so the guy said "I better not."
Now I was the most harmless person when I was living in Santo Domingo, but because I lived across the bridge it was a chance I was a bad guy.
Why Not "The BEST Of BOTH Worlds"????????????????????
I visit "New England" for a month or more in the summer/fall, and stay nice and "comfy" here in the DR all winter!
In the summer/fall I eat fantastic FRESH sea food "Up There"!
In the winter, "Down Here", I CAN't"!!!!
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I visit "New England" for a month or more in the summer/fall, and stay nice and "comfy" here in the DR all winter!
In the summer/fall I eat fantastic FRESH sea food "Up There"!
In the winter, "Down Here", I CAN't"!!!!
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Discrimination is a terrible thing in DR. There are just too many reasons people get discriminated for. That is one of the very first things this society has to understand in order to move forward.
Un pueblo ignorante es un instrumento ciego su propia destrucci?n. Simon Bolivar.
Pllllease, you're talking about the same people who camp, for days, out of a store to get an Iphone,
like it's the end of the world. Don't get me started on cyborg mentality!Most people are cyborgs. It doesnt matter what country. Througout history they have been called the mob, the masses, the fourth estate, etc.
You know like the kids in class who ask "is this on the test" ?
Back to the subject I love the Northeast during fall. After hunting season back to DR. A week in Feb to go skiing in Colorado and back to the DR home after Semana Santa. The best of both worlds
You know like the kids in class who ask "is this on the test" ?
Back to the subject I love the Northeast during fall. After hunting season back to DR. A week in Feb to go skiing in Colorado and back to the DR home after Semana Santa. The best of both worlds
I love the fall, that's my favorite season.I love driving and looking at the colors of
autumn leaves.
That's what I miss! the fireplace.There's nothing like waking up on a weekend morning to a steaming
cup of coffee and cuddling on the couch next to a fireplace.
You will have your answer when the cold air hits you in Maine. Beautiful State but so cold
Head west Mauricio. Go to Arizona and Utah. Visit the painted desert and Zion Canyon. Hit the grand Canyon and then go further west to Seattle, then turn south and take the coastal road south to California. Go to the Napa valley and you'll see a part of the USA that is nothing like the east.
Pllllease, you're talking about the same people who camp, for days, out of a store to get an Iphone,
You are missing my point. In South Beach Miami you are more likely to see wealth on display such as, Bentleys, Rolls, Bugatti, Aston Martin etc. In Palo Alto Califonia where people have just as much money the life style isn't as flamboyant. New York City and Los Angeles are the two biggest cities in the USA, and the two cannot be more different. A family living on the Upper East in Manhattan is TOTALLY different then a family living in Beverly Hills. Have a conversation with the two and you would be see they can't be more different if they tried.
Now take an upper class family from Piantini and one from La Trinitaria in Santiago. You will see the two are very similar in every aspect, but let them tell they are different. Jeepitas, maids, best schools, hanging out with the right crowd, nannies, knows and understand a little English, have connection with the PN, NEVER hangout at Colmados etc. Its like there is a handbook on how to be upper class, middle class, and lower class in the Dominican Republic. Even on DR1 everybody says the same thing when describing the upper class in the DR.
Now Michael Jordan son attended a Chicago public school, when his family lived in a 28,000,000USD home. A guy I knew at DePaul is a lawyer at a very prestigious law firm in downtown Chicago, and his annual salary is around 195,000USD. If you visit him right now you will see an empty pizza box on his table, 3 cans of empty beer cans and his cloths everywhere. He has never had a maid in his life. A female friend of mine that attended school in the ATL now works for Mogan Stanley in NYC makes around 150,000USD and has NEVER owned a car in her life. My sister and brother in law can afford 5 nannies, but our cousin watches my nieces.
I can give you more example how every American household is totally different, but I think you get the picture.
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The top three percent of the population is wealthy. That is distributed equally through the informal class system. Generally the kind of wealthy people you see in Miami are working class or first generation wealthy people who have the need for attention hence the expensive cars bling bling etc.
There are more wealthy working class people than middle class people. Middle class are the most likely to overextend themselves to keep up appearances
Being middle class is more of a lifestyle than an earning bracket,. although most well paying professions are considered middle class
There are more wealthy working class people than middle class people. Middle class are the most likely to overextend themselves to keep up appearances
Being middle class is more of a lifestyle than an earning bracket,. although most well paying professions are considered middle class
The point I was trying to make to A29 is that in the USA you have a different type of status symbols, therefore Americans are far more likely not to be called cyborgs. NY, California, Kentucky, Alabama, Flordia, Texas and Georgia etc all view wealth in a different way.
There are people with MILLIONS in the bank in Texas that drive a Ford 150 pick up truck and wear cowboy boots. There are people with millions in NYC that ride the subway.
I read once on DR1 that the type of uniform your kids wear is a status symbol. Also a status symbol in DR is how much food you have piled into your basket at La Sirena or Jumbo. The more food you have the more money people think you have.
I was once told not to go on Duarte to shop by my EX wife's uncle because people will think I am lower class. R U KIDDING ME!!!
To some extent,it's the same in the states.Think about this, a socialite like Paris Hilton wouldn't be
caught dead in Walmart.
But Michelle Obama can shop at Target. Its the class system that really confuses me about the Dominican Republic.
Did you know if JMB773 rents a car in the DR and uses guaguas more then drive the car I rented, Dominicans look at me like I'm weird. In the DR only poor people uses guaguas and public cars, people with money drive everywhere.
Upper class is more of an attitude or a belief system in DR, opposed to actually being a place on a financial "todem pole"
Being upper class is not enough in DR you have to act upper class which out weighs what a person networth. My ex wife family on her dad side is considered to be upper middle class in DR. He has the address, the jeepita, the whole nine. When I would visited them in their house with the maid, they all thought I should be thankfull to be in their presences. Now I make more money then he does when I am dreaming at night in my sleep, then he does when he is actually working, but because he wears a tie 90% of the day his status is much higher then mine.
Well, I've been to Palo Alto and people there are pretty snobish; Status, success and getting rich are very important things there and in the Bay area in general, especially for young people, Just like in any other big city in the U.S.
Let me tell you that my friends there laughed at me when I told them I wanted to go Shoe shopping at payless and wanted to go check out Walmart. THEY HAD NEVER BEEN TO A WALMART! By the way, one of my friends' brother had just got a BMW and they were telling me he'd been dating hotter women ever since.
And hey, you're talking about someone in NYC who makes a lot of money and has never owned a car, and in other posts you talk about public transportation in the DR as if those who don't use it do it out of pride and not out of need.
You are comparing people who don't have a car because they live in cities with efficient public transport systems. It is you who doesn't get the picture!
When I was a college student I had my good share of public transportation: stacked like sardines with other people in a tiny bus, very little air to breathe, especially in the back, sometimes you had to wait for over 45 minutes inside for the bus to be full so it would leave, the person next to you carrying a chicken or some other animal and the icing on the cake, you are so tight against everyone that the the guy next to you, with his stinky armpit, puts his arm around you, and all through the trip he's hitting on you lol. Well, Im sorry if you find it so terrible that some Dominicans don't want to use public transportation but it's something I would never go back to!
By the way, What is the reaction of some American who uses public transportation here for the first time? They are always disgusted and outraged. Try a long trip in a mini bus in the summer and tell me if you were glad to use it.
Same thing is with public schools. If you can, you have your kid attend a private school. It's become a need!.
Just like you, I know plenty of Dominicans who have money and live simple lives. It's usually people who were born rich who usually flaunt it less.
You telling me that every single household in America is completely different. That is just not true!
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