So You Think You Can Dance?

We had our first Dominican dance lesson today.  Here, there are two national dances: the Marengue and the Bachata.  Our instructors were a group of super friendly students who volunteer their time throughout the semester to help us lowly internationals navigate life in the DR.  Apparently dancing is an important part of this navigation. 

            As anyone who knows me can tell- I like to dance, indeed do quite frequently among friends in private, totally non-public settings, but also have a basic lack of rhythm.  Another of my charming characteristics, that tends to show itself in potentially embarrassing situations, is that I laugh.  What can I say?  It’s a copping mechanism.  

So, there I was, one of 20 Americans with about 8 Dominicans, trying to dance and keep from laughing out loud.  I’d say my success rate was about 50%.  Certainly on the bright side I didn’t step on anyone’s toes.  Although I did have some flashbacks to grade school end of the year dance shows in which we were partnered up with a classmate (of which I was always at least 4 inches taller) and made to dance in front of an auditorium full of parents and peers. 

And let me just add that I think it is incredibly unfair that all of our Dominican teachers were stellar dancers.  I mean, come on, there is no way if you asked the 20 Americans in the room to all dance the same thing we’d all be good at it.  It’s like they were born to move their bodies that way, enthusiastically and with style.  

A Day in Santiago

We left early this morning to take a tour of the city.  Our first stop: the Monument- a symbol for Santiago like the Statue of Liberty is for New York- stands on a hill in the center of the valley, over looking the whole city.  Since we've been here we've been told it is an important place to visit and a great tourist spot.  The building itself is white and about three stories tall.  On top of this is a cylinder with an angle statue over looking the people of Santiago.  The staircase inside the building is a cylinder, very narrow and a bit claustrophobic.  Each level has displays telling part of the history of the country and murals of important events.  There was also a person on each level to explain the history to us.

Built by the dictator Trujillo, the monument has been reclaimed to honor the heroes of the Dominican War for Independence.  One Dominican woman told us during one of our orientations that she doesn't like to visit this symbol of the city because Trujillo was like Hitler for her parents and grandparents and she sees it as a phallic symbol of the dictatorship.  So there you go.

Coconut tree!

Next we visited a very cool art museum with an anthropological display of Dominican history.  No cameras allowed.

We finished the day off at a pool.  Turns out we were at the home of my host mom's brother.  She told me just now that I can consider that my second home here and if I ever want to swim I can feel free to ask.  Sweet.  We went to the pool with a group of Dominican students who are volunteering their time to help show us around and practice our Spanish.  They are all super nice and some are really good dancers.

Block the Culture Shock

Every meeting and orientation we have had since coming here has mentioned this at least once.  It’s the big bad, the dreaded, the inevitable CULTURE SHOCK!  It’s almost like a rite of passage- an ordeal we all need to get through in order to fully appreciate life Dominican style. 

Here’s what one of our many, many packets had to say about it: “As we grow up we are exposed to an endless amount of signs and symbols that as we grow allow us to interact with others in a way that is socially accepted.  We can’t remember learning these ‘rules’ we ‘just know.’  These cues are just as important as the language we speak or the beliefs we live by.  They allow us to interact with others without having to concentrate on our every move.  We learned these cues unconsciously and we use them the same way.”

There is definitely a point to be made about all the little things that make up our lives and how we interact with each other.  By moving to another country, all the rules and actions I took for granted are moot.  Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.  Common courtesy and looking both ways before I cross the street and cleaning up after myself will come in handy. 

Basically the advice we’ve been given to survive culture shock is to get out there.  The best way to understand a new place is to experience it.  The more people we talk to and places we visit, the better we will be able to appreciate the cultural references and attitudes of the locals. 

Side note- I got my first sunburn today.  Nothing shocking about that.

Class Registration

Yes and yes!  Not only did I get into advanced classes (meaning they can count towards my major) but they are also classes I want to take.  Here’s the line up: Afro-Caribbean culture, Latin American film and society, gender and society in the Dominican Republic and Dominican/Haitian relations.  The only two drawbacks are that I have to retake advanced grammar (we took a placement exam and I did not do so well) and my classes are spread out over the whole day.  For instance, on Monday, my first class is at 11am and my last class ends at 9pm.  Thursday will be my worst day though; it starts at 8am and ends at 7pm.  But there are nice big chunks of time in the middle and I do live within walking distance of campus.  (This also, by the way, ruins my college goal of never having to take an 8 am class.  Sigh.)

Here’s a brief description about how registration went.  We met at 2:30 to fill out the necessary paper work and review our placement exam results.  There was a schedule in which we would each individually meet with a professor/advisor for fifteen minutes to select classes.  Well, Dominican time is a bit slower than ours and a fifteen-minute meeting quickly turned into a thirty-minute meeting.  I was in the middle of the pack in terms of appointments and by the time I spoke with someone we were already over an hour behind.  (Note to self- always bring a deck of cards/book to read when there will be a lot of down time).  However, as long as an afternoon it was for us, it must have been twice as long for those helping us register.  After all they were the ones figuring out which classes conflicted with which and trying to make it work with what classes we wanted to be in. 

The afternoon is also the hottest part of the day here and we got to spend that time in air conditioning!

Puerto Plata

Our group traveled to Puerto Plata on Saturday.  I had to get up at 6:45am to be at the office at 7:45 so we could leave by 8.  (I feel like every morning is earlier than the last.)  We took a bus (a guagua) that was blessedly air-conditioned and drove the two hours to this costal town.  I’m not sure what I was expecting (I find myself at times comparing the Dominican Republic to El Salvador- which doesn’t really serve me because they are very different) but the brilliantly green countryside surprised me.  There are palm trees everywhere here and emerald hillsides and trees that are always in bloom.  On my first full day here I told my host mom: “There’s just so much color!”

 

The first thing we did in Puerta Plata is take a cable car ride to the top of a mountain/really big hill to get a view of the city and ocean.  Below the town was spread before us, the horizon between the ocean and sky indistinguishable.  When we reached the top, not only was the view beautiful but we were up out of the humidity.  You could actually see the cool air blowing up the steep hillside in a foggy mist. 

Next we visited the Fortaleza- an old military defense fort built during the DR war for independence.  The castle like structure is right on the coast and the canons are still there, pointed towards the waters, ready to defend.  The fort was left rough and unfinished for years (centuries really) but was finished during the Trujillo era and used as a prison.  Now, it is a bit of Dominican history and a tourist attraction.

Last but not least was the beach.  I love the water and I love the ocean!  The water is clear shades of blue and warm.  The sand is soft and not too hot.  What more could anyone ask for?

Vocabulary

Hello everyone!  My first week is not even over and I feel like I've been here a month.  Everything is new and different and challenging.  The language especially so.  Every country has their own special slang and la Republica Dominicana is no exception.  Here is a brief sample of vocabulary one might encounter here (compliments of our orientation packets):

Guagua - (pronounced gu-a-gua) meaning bus.  People will understand you if you use altobus, but they wont use it themselves.

Mangú - mashed plantains, sometimes mixed with oil or onions.  My host mom made this for me one night and it has the consistency of chunky mashed potatoes.  

Vaina - this is an all purpose world that is probably the most similar to 'thing' in English.  It can be used in in countless ways.  (Abre la vaina, odio esta vaina, etc).

Bolsa - in the DR this means scrotum (you really don't want to use this one by mistake!)  Usually people use funda.

Colmado - a mini-market with food and drinks.  There is usually at least one in each neighborhood. 

Ahorita - this does not mean 'right away' here.  It's more like- when I get to it, maybe never.  It's better to use ahora misma.

And that's just a sample of the vocabulary.  The thing about learning a new language is that the one you learn in school is never the one the native speakers use on the street.  Accents vary from country to country and region to region.  Just when you get comfortable speaking with one group of people, the accent changes and you have to adjust to a whole new style.

Case in point: Every morning I wake up and greet my family 'Buenos días.'  They in turn respond 'bueno día.'  In fact, people here almost always drop the final 's' in words.  So far it's been easy to follow when they are speaking slowly and directly to me, but watch out when they start speaking rapid fire Spanish to one another.  It's beautiful to listen to but very difficult to understand.