Today was Sunday and I really, really wanted to experience a Dominican church service, but that dream faded quickly once I realized that it was nearing 12:00 by the time I woke up haha! I definitely needed the sleep though. I decided that I need to develop some sort of routine while I am here, since everything else (the school, language, people, culture, surroundings) is completely different. Soooo everyone morning (twice so far) I do a yoga flow, some conditioning, stretching, and read something out of the Bible. Now I just have to routinize my reading and work for school. All of the other cultural/new stuff I think is better left unplanned, but having a routine will allow for that kind of spontaneity.
After I woke up, I went upstairs to the kitchen. Everyone in the house was either sleeping or out, so I opened the fridge and took what looked like a big piece of cornbread, but what was really, I later learned, some sort of cheesy potatoey type thing and my host mother laughed when she saw me eating it haha. She made me an egg, platanos, and juca. It was a nice mix and made me feel good. My body seems to be able to tolerate Dominican food pretty decently. Actually, there are very few foods that I am unable to tolerate and my body in general seems to be resilient to a lot of things.
It was nice navigating my way around the kitchen and watching my host mama cook. She is sweet and helpful and not at all overbearing. She lets me do my own thing, but she makes sure I am comfortable. I spent the majority of the day hanging around the house and learning about more about the family and what goes on in this house. Everything about it is set up for social gatherings - tables, couches, big screen TV, nice open spaces; it's unbelievably beautiful, especially compared to some of the surrounding poverty. It is definitely an anomaly here.
The family has a live-in butler type worker who I mentioned before. He is both blind in one eye and deaf in both ears and he had a tumor on the side of his head a few years back. He reminds me of my uncle Tom in that he speaks with lots of hand gestures and sounds and has a great sense of humor. It is so nice that the family would take him in. Boliver (the son) told me that he is famous around town, although he rarely leaves the house. I quite enjoy his presence as neither he nor I can either understand nor communicate en espanol so it is interesting to see how he navigates his way around. Boliver tells me that they have all learned to interpret his language. I told him about Tom and how my family has done the same thing.
Camilla continues to be a source of entertainment for me and I for her. Today, she timed me while I did handstands and I fixer her ballet positions. Caridad (her mom) seems to be happy because she is a little out of shape and me helping her stretch and work out a little bit seems to be helpful.
I am so thankful that I have Boliver Jr here. He speaks english, is my age, and is really laid back. We talk about culture and family and all sorts of different things and he, too, goes to the university. He is my best amigo here!
Boliver Sr (papa) is the dad of the house and he is laid back as well. Today, I got to sit in while Caridad and Boliver had some friends over. I just sat back and watched them chat - it was nice to experience that and though I didn't understand much, I was able to watch their gestures, notice their style, and pick up on other smaller communicative things. I don't feel like an outsider here, strangely - I just feel like someone quiet and peaceful and humble. Whenever the are visitors here they drink coffee and smoke cigarrettes off of a try brought out by the worker I mentioned before (I asked what his name was and Boliver told me that they call him "mute.")
Boliver took me to exchange my dollars for pesos later on. We flagged down some old men who looked like the were peddling drugs on some side street in Santiago and apparently they gave us a good rate. It seemed a bit sketchy, but I trust Boliver. I definitely didn't expect exchanging money to be so informal and undercover haha! Afterwards he took me to visit is grandmother. She is the last of 14 children and the sweetest Dominican lady you ever want to me - you can by her eyes that she is bursting with love. What I enjoyed most about her house were the high ceilings.
At night, I met my NYU friends and went merengue dancing at a Dominican club!! Merengue is super easy and sort of repetitive until the beat picks up, but all dancing is good dancing, so I was in heaven! They played some American songs, too, but mostly Spanish music. I enjoy the dancing part of this trip because I don't have to communicate verbally; just feel the beat and go where my partner moves me.
I love it here! Dominicans are so spirited and there is something that is so real and not mediated about this place. My host brother told me that 90% of the businesses are family owned and operated. How nice!!
I love the Dominican!!
If you approach the world's complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only just scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size
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