Real Life

I've never written much about the daily life here in the Dominican or the differences that we have encountered.

The grocery shopping is much the same. Grocery stores that we've been to are Bravo, Super Pola, Supermacado National, and La Cadena. Eggs and milk are sold on the shelf instead of in the refrigerado. And strangely enough Adeline has no allergy symstems to this milk like she does to the US milk. Wonder what the difference is? The carrots are on steriods (meaning they are huge), but I haven't found them to be very sweet. I've yet to learn all of the fruit names, but look forward to going with a friend to show me the ropes of Dominican food shopping. There are many men selling fruits and avacado in every intersection along with windshield wipers, play toys, cell phone paraphanalia, nuts, and more). I've seen what looks like a small candied apple being sold, and found out this past week that it is candy covered coconut. The price of an avacado is usually around 30 pesos (under $1 US). On almost every corner you find a colmado (small convenient store). There are 2 around our apartment. At colmodas you find all the necessities including the bottled water. We've found that we go through about two botellas a week. Each colmado has an errand boy wh0 you call to bring up your grocery item (it's way too easy to get a diet coke here). There are outside markets that we haven't been to yet, but hope to visit when Andrew and Stephanie get here.

One of the things that has taken getting used to is the trash everywhere. I think my dad would have a hernia. We've been told though that the trash system has gotten better over the last couple of years.

Electricity costs a lot of money so most people live in this heat with only the hot breeze coming in through their windows. The air conditioners are usually only in the bedrooms and turned on only at night. This of course causes a lot of dust and dirt to constently be on the floors, which are all tiled. Maintenance of tiled floors is a lot more work than carpet and I'm very thankful for my maid on Mondays. A lot poeple have live-in maids and nannies. I have a girlfriend in her mid-50s who is from Columbia and is learning how to cook for the first time in her life. Her family has always had someone to cook for them. This kind of labor is considerably cheaper here, which is why it is very common. Many Dominican children are raised by nannies. An education is very important to the Dominicans, although there are MANY who can't read or write (around 90% live below the poverty level here). So at 15 months a baby is put in some kind of learning center.
On Friday, Cynthia showed me how to cook Dominican beans and rice and fried plaintain. I did my best to make it for lunch today. Rice and beans is a very typical meal here with a green salad, avacado, and bananas on the table. I cooked the beans in the crockpot last night and through church, which made lunch very easy. It was the first rice and beans I've ever made that Scott complimented. So I felt pretty successful with my first Dominican meal. You'll notice though that we did have a Southern American dish of cucumbers in vinegar and water.

The culture here is very much every man for himself. No one feels sympathy for the next man. We were told this week if we see a woman with ten crying babies, don't stop, just pray for her. This is a hard mindset to get used to. It is very hard for the kids and me to cross the street and even on a one way street you must look both ways. When we've been in line for the elavator, patiently waiting our turn, someone will push their way to get in front of us. "Patiently waiting your turn" is not the mindset here either, which is one of the reasons driving here is so crazy.

The people LOVE children, men and women alike. A huge difference in the people here though is that no one is afraid of telling you what you should do with your children, including strangers in the stores. We've pretty nuch gotten used to it, but are still baffled by it.

Lunch is usually between 1 and 2:30p and a very large meal. Dinner is around 8p and very lite.

Maybe this gives you more of a feel for "Viva en la Republica Dominicana."