The Dominican Republic
and It's culture
The lay of the land
The Island
The Culture
The people of the Dominican Republic have many customs the main one being the principle of "family first" is very important with nepotism being looked up upon and tend it tends to be that the first born son helps makes the family's decision. One of they most popular holidays on the island is Carnaval Dominicano which last the whole month of February and tends to climax on the 27th which is Dominican independence day and involves a show of military strength at the capital.
The language
Bomba - Gasoline Station ( same word for Bomb )
Yipeta - SUV
Compai - friend
Tourism
If your going to stay in any city while you're there you need to stay in Santiago, the second largest city in the D.R. , know for it's vibrant night life and beautiful sunsets.
There are many monuments you can visit in the D.R. Monumento a los Heroes De La Restauracion, built to honor the patriots who died there during the war for independence from Spain.
while your in Santiago you should visit the Ciabo Stadium home Aguilas Cibaeneras baseball club.
Other places to visit would be the capital Santo Domingo and San Pedro.
The Food
The Interview
Q: what was it like in the Dominican Republic
A: When I was growing up we lived in a rural area on property that was owned by my great grandmother were we grew our own food and we didn't have much, we had no running water but we had electricity, we had no restrooms but we had an outhouse, and yet we didn't feel like we needed more we had everything we needed.
Q:what do you think are the main differences between the U.S. and the D.R.
A:The Government mainly how it's a democracy where the people have a voice. In the D.R. the people don't have really have voice the government tends to make the rules without listening to the people. But when it comes to industry we don't compare our main export is sugarcane and amber.
Q:what was it like moving from the D.R. to the U.S.
A: It was a big culture shock first from moving to a Caribbean country where it tends to be 80 to 90 degrees in winter and then stepping out of the plane to New Jersey the cold shocked me and to this day I can't stand the cold. The second came from not knowing the language which was a huge barrier in my education and because of my family being the only Hispanic family on the block and it being back in 1969 kids would try to fight us, also because of me not knowing the language they labeled me as having learning disability and there were any ESL (English as a second language) programs which makes me think how things have gone from back then were as now these programs popping up everywhere.
Interesting facts about the D.R.
In 1980 there was a ridiculous plan to try to take over the D.R. by the KKK
The D.R. was the first placed reached by Christopher Columbus in 1492
The D.R. is home to some of the worlds greatest baseball players