One of the beautiful things about traveling is that it is a chance to discover new parts of the world and enrich your knowledge about a variety of cultures. Even though we can learn so much about any country or city on our computers in the comfort of our own homes, there is no substitute for experiencing it for yourself.
During my time in Las Terrenas I have experienced many things that I already knew about Dominican culture before I came here, but how it has impacted me emotionally and mentally over a period of months has put me on a journey of self discovery. The three aspects of life here in Las Terrenas that have stuck out to me the most are related to race, control and dating.
Race
In the United States race plays a big part of the way people perceive different situations, circumstances and other cases. For example if there is a mass shooting or a bombing somewhere a common question that will pop up on the radio or social media is what race was the shooter or bomber. As if knowing the race explains why they person did what they did or makes it make sense in some way.
Also, even in my own everyday speech if I'm telling a story about people I will usually describe their race or ethnicity as if that explains something deeper than just their skin color.
Since I have been here in Las Terrenas, one of my friends named Yanilsa, has religiously called me out when I do this and always tells me I have a problem with white people.
For her and also many Dominicans race is genuinely only skin deep. They don't typically associate other characteristics with someones race, because people just see themselves as Dominican.
I want to be clear I do not have a problem with white people. However because of the culture I grew up in, the media I have been consuming since childhood and just being sensitive to race due to the injustices of many black people in the United States I can see how someone from a different culture like Yanilsa could perceive that I have a problem.
So this is definitely a part of the Dominican culture that has made me think more about why I think and talk about race in the way that I do.
Control
As many content creators have pointed out in their videos one negative or reality of living in the Dominican Republic is that the power can go out at any time for any length of time. As someone who teaches English online, obviously, this can be a problem and disrupt my plans on any particular day.
In the United States, we expect something like electricity to always be functioning and it usually is which allows for us to meticulously plan out our lives days, weeks and even months in advance.
This ability to rely on American infrastructure is great, however; it creates a culture where if something out of our control does go wrong it can send people spiraling into anxiety and serious frustration.
Experiencing the power outages which are sometimes random and sometimes scheduled has helped me accept that at the end of the day I can't play god. There are times that things out of my control happen and I just have to be ok with it and not get too bent out of shape about it.
Dating
Before I arrived to this country I watched many videos about dating in the Dominican Republic. In those videos, many content creators make it seem that ALL or MOST Dominican women are easy to get with or looking for some no strings attached casual pleasure.
In my own experience I have definitely experienced women here in Las Terrenas who were looking for pleasure and nothing more. However, I feel like it is an injustice to use broad strokes when describing the picture of the dating scene here.
I have also encountered women who are very principled and have no tolerance for games. These women are looking for a level of commitment and foundation of trust before anything flings of passion may commence.
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