fundamentos de la vida diara dominicAnna

10 shitty things about living in Santo Domingo

1. the fact that drivers use their horns as an all purpose signal with meanings including, not limited to, ¨I´m about to turn,¨ ¨I´m going keep going straight¨ ¨that girl is hot,¨ ¨I´m a bus/taxi/public car in case you were wondering,¨ ¨you´re not going fast enough,¨ and ¨you better cross the street fast, girl, cause no way I'm slowing down.¨
2. crossing streets, period (terrifying)
3. the randomly distributed piles of garbage (sometimes neatly packed into the crevices of palm trees) and the non-existant recycling system
4. feeling like I have to change my clothes/bathe 2 or 3 times a day because I´m so sweaty (and it´s only gonna get hotter)
5. when people speak english to me just because I'm white (do I speak spanish to people just because they look latino? I don't think so)
6. the fact that at my "pasantía", or internship (I'm working at a orphanage/school for girls) I am told to "teach english" to a random conglomeration of girls with various levels of literacy and styles of learning with no preparation or qualification or materials or anyone to explain things to me and students who won't pay attention no matter how many times I yell CALLENSE
7. the ingrained, accepted racism
8. in a lot of ways, my classes are a joke, full of busywork and teachers who don't care
9. being pestered by aggressive street vendors who inspire as much pity as they do annoyance
10. the frustration that comes day after day from not speaking spanish perfect perfectly, from forgetting the word, or the verb tense, or the proper form of "you."

15  marvelous things about the same experience:

1. Doña Iris Grullón de Mondesert (Mimima) and every member of her family I've met (Iris, Victor, Gabriel, Henri, Daniela, Carina, Andre, et cetera)
2. the plants, the flowers, the trees, the colors! (the Botanical Gardens!)
3. pineapple, papaya, banana, lime, orange, zapote, mango, avocado
4. Frito-Lay "Platanitos del Caribe," like potato chips but SO MUCH BETTER
5. the boys at Bonó Institute (especially Pedro, Dominic and Carlos): friendlier than you can ever imagine and so funny you don't have to understand what they're saying to think it's hilarious
6. The wonderful girls (and a few boys) at the Hogar Escuela Doña Chucha. The fact that I walked in this morning and was greeted by a million yells of PROFE! (I'm a profe?!) and little hands and little hugs and the sweetest faces. The combination of adorable, polite, and dominican street attitude they all exude. Being the teacher, figuring it out, coming up with things to do, no matter how ramshackle (and frustrating) the process may be.
7. Sunbathing, frolicking and swimming in the ocean every weekend. In January.
8. Victor's yoga class: $15 per month for two classes each week, where Aly and I get to stretch and relax under a starry sky and warm breeze and the impeccably relaxing instructions of Victor, and try to make friends with Dominican hipsters.
9. Bachata: really! If you listen to it now you'll think I'm absurd, but the cheesy, sentimental, repetitive, insanely catchy, happy-sad love songs have worked their way from the blasting speakers of the guagua into the depths of my heart.
10. The staff at CIEE: unfailingly helpful, incredibly kind, thorougly knowledgable, 99% Dominican (considering Robin, the Californinian Lewis & Clark graduate who's lived here for three ish years).
11. The colonial zone: as old and lovely as any place in Europe, but with that extra Caribbean flava
12. The general cultural attitude of positivity and strength (PA'ADELANTE!)
13. Morir Soñando smoothie. Look it up.
14. Mamajuana: herbs and spices + rum + red wine + honey + time, mmm
15. Dominican Spanish: 

• chulo/jevi/nítido/chevere: cool
• chin/chinchin/chininin/ñinga/ñingita: a tiny bit
  
• que lo que/ dime/ dime a ver/ que tu dices: what's up
• ahorita: just before OR just after right now
• vaina: anything. literally. depending on the intonation.

(and many more)

...ya basta, pa'ahora