Music - Dominicans simply can't live without music. It has to be played everywhere and always, even as the background for all daily activities. So [...read more...]
Noise - unfortunately is the daily reality in Dominican Republic. If I'd be forced to describe this country in just one word - it would be "NOISY". Here everything seems to [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Mobile Noise Maker Unit - welcome to Dominican Republic. It's full of Dominicans ! 😉
Silence and Dominican are two excluding words, totally. In picture: proof 😉 one of the many sources of noise in Dominican Republic..Dominicans just love the music and cant live without it. The same like they love noisy mufflers of their motorcycles and cars, and in the same way like they love to talk LOUDLY....
If you want to probe your resistance to the noise, just take a walk in Santo Domingo or any other Dominican city.
So where is actually quiet in Dominican Republic ? Where you can find quiet area to rent a house and live and so on ? Well, first of all search for area that is [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Peaceful - despite easiness in expressing bad emotions, Dominicans are usually peaceful people.
Plastic - something that floods Dominican Republic. When you go to shop or supermarket in DR, seller will always pack your things in 10 plastic bags, even if you buy just one banana....The problem is, which Dominicans seem to not understand at all (as they dont understand dozens of other issues) is what is going on later with that plastic used here in DR....And it is either [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
"Civilized" people from the XX and XXi century are really systematic in flooding the Earth with trash. The problem of polluting the planet with trash is common for every country, but it is best seen in the countries that actually have no money to cover it up by putting it "under the carpet". In picture: stack of this plastic bottles, Nagua, Dominican Republic. So maybe it is actually worth to reconsided buying that another plastic bottle or bag ?
Poverty -Dominican Republic is a poor country, judging by developed- world standards. Despites that, it is rich in one thing - the sun. And exactly for that reason 1000s of people from cold countries come to Dominican Republic to enjoy sunny weather during their wintertime. Lets take a closer look on dominican poverty and how exactly it looks like. When you will look at all these cars that are worth tens of 1000s dollars, that ride on the dominican roads, when you will see the houses located in the areas for which many rich European people pay hundreds of thousands dollars, when you will take a look at milions of motorcycles driving in the country and fancy new smartphones that each Dominican has to have (even the poorest one - if they have salary like 8,000 pesos , they will HAVE TO have nice smartphone for 4,000 pesos... what would the neighbours think ? that they are poor losers ? "I have to have it !")... You will wonder if this country is actually really poor as sometimes they call themselves.
But they are for sure poor in one thing, which is very often main reason for their true poverty [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
So usually these two levels of Dominican society share the same [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
Privacy -Dominicans usually live in the communities and always together. This society doesnt know that much about [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
So being from the northern, developed country or even - any developed country - and having such concept and idea of privacy in your mind - it may be [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Religion - it means a lot for many Dominicans. You will always hear people saying here: "thank god", "my god" "if the god will help" etc. You can also see the religious symbols in many places - like [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Religious paintings in Santiago, Dominican Republic
The christian faith of Dominicans is simple, but on the same hand - is a fervent faith. Very often the children are named here after the heroes from the Bible, to remind about good life and life from the Bible. The Bible is also presented in most of dominican homes (you can even spot it in the hotel rooms and so on) and in contrary to, let's say European houses - the Bible is not only "present" here, but actually is being read too....
Most of the Dominicans consider themselves as a "religous" persons. Christianty is the most popular religion here, in its many fractions, with the dominating catholicism.
But what is really nice, beautiful and charming here in Dominican Republic is the way how the people [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
Road Rules - if you drived only on the roads in developed/ "rich" countries, you will be really surprised how the traffic looks like in Dominican Republic. In theory - all road rules and signs [...read more, 60 % of content inside...]
Let's also not forget about overtaking when actually there is not enough space for it, pushing away from the road while overtaking, riding 100 km/h in the cities, complete lack of any care towards pedestrians, using the honk instead of brakes ("I'm making noise, so you have to let me go") and so on.
And how about the vehicle's conditions ? Are they in good estate ? Not really. Imagine 20-25 years old cars, completely eaten out by corrosion, sometimes without doors, windows and so on.
Despite all of that, there is one interesting thing here in Dominican Republic - usually there is [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
Sjesta - break in the daily work time. In Dominican Republic - it is usually always between 12:00 until 2:30 pm. Most of the shops, banks and other places close at this time. But there are places that even in this time - work. Like cafeterias, gas stations etc.
Too hot to work, or maybe just today is bad day for work ? Sjesta somewhere in Dominican Republic, from 12 to 2 pm
Most of the dominican shops and services are open in Dominican Republic from 8-9 am to around 9-10 pm (with sjesta break in the middle of the day). So it is around 12-13 hours of work, and not usual european 8-10 hours...And here, in Dominican Republic - usually [...read more...]
Smile - despite of poverty and daily troubles, the Dominicans are usually very cheerful people and they smile often. And they have very good reasons to smile - with such amount of sun, probably even the saddest Russian or Finnish guy would smile like never every day....
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