Last Day

On our last day in the Dominican we had a goodbye party at a country house in Santiago. It was a house made in the 1980s that had beautiful multi-colored tiles on the floor and an outdoor pool + BBQ. We ate steak and sausages and salad and had a grand ol' time sitting under the stars and laughing about our days in the DR. At one point, we all sat in a circle and went around one by one sharing our thoughts about the experience. Everyone expressed how grateful they were for the friendships gained, the history that had been shared with us, the amazing Dominican food, the generosity of the host families, etc. etc. I talked about how amazing I thought it was that I had experienced such extremes on this trip; I had been on such amazing highs while out dancing or being surrounded by such tropical beauty or hanging with my host family etc. etc. But I had also been so humbled by things like the orphanage, by the devastation in Haiti, by  the Haitian orphans that Dean showed me, by Mudo's death, by poverty, by the street market in Santiago etc. etc. etc.

After the party, we went back to our homes and hung out a bit until the nighttime festivities kicked in. I got to chat with Boli and the new host student, Jamar. We had a great conversation and it sort of stinks that right when our relationship has reached a deeper level I have to go home!!! I am going to miss all the crazy characters in this house - the weirdo cat, crazy Juan, all of the houseguests, ahhhhhh everyone!

Later on that night we went to Puerto Del Sol to hang out before dancing. It was one of those nights during which  I could have cared less what we did. I was just so happy to be alive! ie. one of my friends and I needed pesos from an ATM so we went out in search of one, which ended up being a 40 min walk because we couldn't find a working one - she was so annoyed, but I was in heaven! =P

Later, we went out dancing at Vintage, a nearby club. Rolando came and we danced merengue/salsa. I also befriended some Haitians that one of my American friends had been hanging with all week. They were multilingual; French, Creole, Spanish, English - that is amazing!

Then we went back to my host brother's house and stayed up late and I hung out with Rolando some more. He is so funny and completely relaxed all the time. I'll miss him a lot.

Rolando drove me to the airport the next morning and taught me how to say "how do I check my bags?" in spanish.

It's funny, you would think that the thing that I would have been most frustrated by was not knowing the language, by communication issues and cultural differences between myself and the Dominicans. But thinking back, it seems as though each time I was frustrated or annoyed it was because of some encounter or interaction with the Americans on the trip. Granted that I was not in the DR long enough to really experience what it must be like to live in a culture where your own language/culture is not the dominant one or experience any significant form of culture shock, what I have come to discover is that the language barrier and cultural differences did not both me in the least- it was fun and exciting trying to communicate, getting lost in translation. I made friends with cab drivers and waiters and students and Haitians and foreigners from other programs and performers and teachers. I spoke through the language of dance and listened with ears keen on learning. I watched and acted and reflected and went in and out of being conscious of my status as a foreigner, as a host student, as a New Yorker and then as a sister, a friend, and a human. Because I often did not have the words to express what I wanted or what I was feeling, I had to rely on other things like hand gestures or body language or facial expressions or broken Spanglish. And that was a learning experience in and of itself.

I've tried to capture all that I've felt, seen, and experienced in this blog. However, like the small, yet most important, messages that are lost when you communicate cross-culturally, there is no way that I could have ever really done complete justice to my life in the DR. There are adjectives that I can use to point in the direction of how I felt and experienced the whole trip; amazing, humbling, breathtaking, relaxing, new, self-explorative. But these only just scratch the surface.

Hasta Luego Republica Dominicana!  más que palabras....



Truth is something which can't be told in a few words. Those who simplify the universe only reduce the expansion of its meaning.