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.