Santo Domingo

This past weekend, we all went to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Santo Domingo was a complete difference than Santo Domingo.

We stayed in a hostel for a night and took tours around the historical part of the city and local museums. The historical district is very different from Santiago. The streets are quieter and smaller and there are so many tourists. The first moment we stepped out of the hotel and walked into a little store, there were Americans. That was the first time we had seen Americans other then ourselves since we left the United States. There are very few tourists here in Santiago, if any. As gorgeous as Santiago is, there is not much to see or do other than a few museums or monuments.

We arrived on Friday and left on Saturday. The first couple of hours on Friday and the last couple of hours on Saturday were for shopping and just hanging out around the tourist area. So many of us walked around the plaza (many restaurants and old buildings) and also up and down Conde Street which has many shops and eateries. A lot of the stores are aimed towards tourists and sell a lot of knick knacks and typical touristy items. There were also the more traditional and unique items such as larimar and amber jewelry and Haitian art. All of the shop owners assumed that we were tourists and Americans so we were welcome with "hello" and "sale!". I am not used to being spoken to in English outside of ILAC because very few people in Santiago can speak English. I just wanted to let everyone know that I could speak Spanish and that there was no need to speak English.



On Friday and Saturday we toured the streets with our tour guide who attempted to speak English to us. We were able to connect what we were seeing to what we had been learning in our EDP class. Many of the original buildings remain (some are currently being restored) including Christopher Columbus’ home, the famous Cathedral, and several court and governor buildings. The old original entrance to the city is still standing and the wall is still standing around the city as well.

On Saturday before leaving Santo Domingo, we visited Columbus' Lighthouse (ZAFA!). This lighthouse was built for Columbus (ZAFA!) in dedication to his "achievements". The thing is, it does not look like your typical lighthouse. It looks more like a jail. The lighthouse used to use so much electricity emitting a light, that it would cause blackouts across the city. Since it did cause so many blackouts, they have decided to stop emitting the lights. Also, the lighthouse is considered cursed. Every time someone says Christopher Columbus (ZAFA!), you must say ZAFA to reverse the curse. The idea that the lighthouse is cursed comes from many experiences of bad luck. Many bad experiences have occurred such as the amount of money that the city spent on the lighthouse (millions, maybe even billions) and the fact that the Pope got extremely sick right before he was scheduled to bless the lighthouse.



On Friday night, we had dinner at a nice and delicious Italian restaurant and I had my first pizza in weeks and it was delicious. Surprisingly enough, the salad I had was basically the same salads I had all three years in Europe and it brought back such good memories! I did notice though while eating, is that everyone was dressed very nicely and very classy. It was a completely different atmosphere from Santiago and it was obvious that many of these people were tourists or businessmen.

After dinner, we watched a live meringue and bachata show in the plaza. There was a band playing and dancers would come out in their bright and gorgeous costumes and take part in the traditional and widely accepted dancing. Afterwards, we all just walked around and enjoyed the plaza and breezy Caribbean Sea air.



Today (actually in about 1.5 hours), we will be on the road for Gajo de Yuca and live there for 10 days. Gajo de Yuca is a campo in the mountains NE of Santiago about 2 hours away. We will each be living with a family and during the day building an aqueduct. The campo has no running water and the electricity goes in and out. This immersion will be an experience that will take me out of my comfort zone and put me into a place where I will be speaking Spanish 24/7 and taking part in a culture where I will be considered part of a family.

BIENVENIDOS A LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA

Cien Fuegos
We went to Cien Fuegos last Friday. Cien Fuegos is a little town outside of Santaigo. It is named Cien Fuegos for the fire that hit the town in the 70s and burnt down all 100 homes (Cien Fuegos = 100 Fires). A new community was born that started on the outskirts of Santiago. This town is very poor and has very little water, electricity or anything similar. Many of the citizens are unemployed and struggle to make ends meet. We hiked to the top of a hill that overlooks the town and will soon be a spot for a home to be built on. This little plot of land is probably the size of my bedroom in Omaha and the bathroom.


A local priest told us the story of Cien Fuegos and the improvements that the town is seeing. Many kids are able to go to the local university and eventually choose to come back to Cien Fuegos to open their businesses so they can support their hometown and still live near their friends and family. Also, the town hall is starting up a program that will pay some families to pick up the trash off the streets and just to keep their sectors that they are assigned to clean and trash free. Other than supplying families with much needed money, this will also improve the health of the town. Currently, Dengue Fever is on high alert in the Dominican Republic and the alert is extremely high in Cien Fuegos because there are so many open containers of standing water that attracts the mosquitos with the viruses. If the townspeople are able to keep trash out of the streets and remove objects that collect water, then there would be less people at risk for Dengue Fever. Also, there is currently no vaccine for Dengue Fever. The only way to get better if they have Dengue Fever is to go to a hospital and stay well hydrated.

Many of the residents of Cien Fuegos work at the local trash dump and plastic plant. For the employees at the dump, their job is to find reusable materials in big piles of trash. The employees are scheduled into multiple shifts for each day. For the workers at the plastic plant, the employees make plastic containers and organize the trash that has been pulled out and claimed as reusable.


Internship
I actually got to work at my internship today!! It has been an extremely long and tedious process. It all started about two weeks ago when I went in with my Spanish teacher, Edwin, who is also going to be in charge of my internship, and we sat for about an hour in the waiting room of the director's office. When he finally arrived, we were allowed to go in and meet with him. I gave him my letter of recommendation from the Director of the ILAC Center (where I am staying and taking classes). He looked over it quickly and then made sure I knew some Spanish and joked that Americans speak English very quickly, which I argued. After that we were told to come back the next day to meet with a man named Alejandro who would help me get settled.

On Thursday, right after my EDP class, Mary (my EDP teacher and program director) and I rushed over to the hospital (between 20 and 40 minutes by gua gua depending on the time of day). When we got there, we went to the Human Resources office and they said Alejandro was not there to give me a tour so I was told to sit outside the office and wait for someone else to help. About an hour and a half later, we found out that “no one” was available to help me that day. So I was told to come back later.

On Monday, I went in with Mary again and I actually made progress and was able to fill out a basic form for Human Resources and found out that I had to get a picture taken. We walked over to a portrait studio and got a picture taken. Now for 140 pesos (about $4), I got 6 little pictures of my face that had been photoshopped, airbrushed, etc. After we went back to the hospital, I was given an ID card with my picture and it said that I was a “pasantilla” (intern). We even got a quick five minute tour of the offices such as accounting, marketing, welcome center and payroll. But, our little excitement bubble was popped when we found out I would have to come back Wednesday to meet with the Administrator. See, there is a lot of red tape that I have to cross over and quite a few formalities in the hospital. I was not even allowed to observe for the day because I had yet to meet with the administrator.

So, Edwin went back with me on Wednesday and we waited awhile because the Administrator was not into the office yet. After a little while, the administrator arrived and we were invited into his office, only to find out, he didn’t even know who I was or why I was there. It turns out that the director I had met with the week before, never told the administrator about me like he was supposed to. Since he did not know anything about this, I was not allowed to start yet.

Today I went to the hospital and got passed around but was able to start in Seguros de Salud (Health Insurance Office). I met all of the people in the office and did a lot of observing. I learned how they get all of the records together with the information about how long the patient stayed in the hospital, which drugs they were given and their personal information sheet. I also helped at the front desk and observed the authorization of the paperwork the patients were giving to the office. I also helped out with the organizing and sorting of all of the paperwork. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the day and it was a lot more difficult to understand everyone than I thought it would be.

This has been a very on going process, but I know in the end, that it will be an amazing experience. Even though I told the people at the hospital when I be there to meet people and get started, nothing ever was accomplished accordingly. But, that is how things are run in the Dominican hospitals, and apparently it is working out for them just perfectly. My Spanish will improve so much because I will speaking Spanish the whole time and I will get to experience a hospital from another country and see how they run things. I am extremely grateful that my teachers have been able to go with me each time I went to the hospital, because I don’t know if I would have been able to get everything settled like they have been able to. As my teacher says, Bienvenidos a La Republica Dominicana.