Straight From The Dominican Republic

Nicole Mera is a student at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida but originates from the capitol of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. I interviewed Nicole about her life in the Dominican Republic and this is what she had to say...

1. How long did you live in the Dominican Republic and when did you move to the U.S.?
I’ve lived in the Dominican Republic all my life (18 years). I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. I moved to the U.S. in September 2009, just for college.

2. How did you end up in St. Augustine and at Flagler College?
I ended up at Flagler College because my counselor in high school recommended it and I wanted to go somewhere where it was warm and close to the beach like D.R. and St. Augustine is just like that. Also, I’ve studied in English all my life since preschool and the U.S. offers be a better education than back home.

3. What is your favorite thing about Dominican Republic?
Everything. I absolutely love my country. I would say that what I like the most is the people. We are so happy and friendly with everybody. We are really optimistic and open-minded even though we have a lot of poverty and we’ve been through a lot of corruption, we try to live our life based on carpe diem.

4. What are some popular: bands or music and social networking (Facebook, Myspace, etc.) in the D.R.?
Music: We are famous for our Merengue, salsa, reggeaton, and mambo. We dance everything! We love music and to dance.
Bands: Aventura, Juan Luis Guerra, Omega, Milly Quezada, and Eddy Herrera.
Facebook and twitter are really popular all over the island.

5. Do Haitians immigrants in the D.R. get along with Dominicans or is there discrimination?
To be honest, some Dominicans don’t like Haitians emigrating in to our country but most of the time we offer them jobs with low income. For example: gardeners, street cleaners and construction workers. We don’t like the idea of them invading our country but at the same time we feel sorry for them so we try our best to help them. I don’t think we discriminate towards them at all. Maybe some people.

6. What is your favorite part of the Dominican Republic?
Santo Dominigo ( the capital), where I was raised and born.
The North: Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete.

7. How has poverty affected the country and is it progressing towards a brighter future?
If you’re young and poor in the Dominican Republic, chances are you’ll finish secondary school and get a steady job. Maybe, you will never go to school and just become a delinquent or a beggar in every intersection. Meaning that poverty has caused a lot of delinquency and unemployment in the DR. Now the country is taking a step toward solving these problems with a new plan to train some 28,000 young people and expand its adult education programs over the next four years. Hopefully conditions in my country will improve soon.

8. Why are there so many groups of men hanging out on their scooters and motorcycles on the street corners?
Hahaha!!! They are like taxis but cheaper and they can only take one person or sometimes more. They try to fit as many people as they can. Many people depend on them for transportation; especially poor people that can’t afford to pay a taxi or a car. They all hang out while someone comes to them for a ride. Those are called “ Motoconchos.”
They always scream dirty stuff to women that pass by them! haha!

9. Do Dominicans like their government or are there some problems?
There is too much corruption and people feel indignant, mistreated, and deceived. We don’t trust our government but since we haven’t had a good government for a while we are used to it.

10. Do you plan on returning to the Dominican Republic when you leave Flagler or will you stay in the U.S.?
I definitely plan to go back to my country and make a difference. I came to the U.S. only to experience a different culture and for the education but what I call home is the Dominican Republic. It can have all the problems in the world but I love living in that little island that not many people know of.

Photos by: Nicole Mera

Education

Upon our arrival in Boca Chica one afternoon, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to see what was going on. It was around 4 and a public school was just letting out. I was surprised by the fact that every child was wearing a school uniform. In the U.S. most public schools let the kids wear whatever they want. It got me interested in the education system in the Dominican Republic and this is what I found...


Children ages 7 to 14 are required to attend school in the Dominican Republic. However, many children drop out of school before they reach these requirements, of this group many are girls. With so many children attending public school, there is often a lack of teachers, facilities and funding. Classes in public schools are taught in Spanish, while private schools are often bilingual. Although public school education is provided to citizens at no cost, they still are required to pay for the school uniforms and books.


As of 2009, the adult literacy rate was at 89 according to a United Nations Development Programme. In Santo Domingo the oldest university in the Americas, Santo Tomas de Aquino University, was created in 1538. Today it is known as the University of Santo Domingo.


Photo credit: ME

Religious Ceremony Turned Dance Party?

La Guacara Taina is an underground bar in Santo Domingo. While you're dancing the night away as you hold your Presidente with music blaring and a lasers beaming rays over you're head the last thing in the world you would probably think of is a anything having to do with religion.
But sure enough, this cave was originally used by the Taino people as a place where they would conduct religious ceremonies.
The only thing going on now in this mulitlevel underground cave is just a memorable night of dancing and drinks.


Photo credit: Guacarataina.net

Googlization?

Globalization? No, more like Googlization. As Google continues to extend its services throughout the world, they are now showing a specific interest in Central and South America. Google has already appointed a delegate in Peru and is now looking to the Dominican Republic for another possible candidate.
According to Dominican Today, Daniel Gertsacov, team manager of Google TV ads, said, "his visit to the country aims to make Google more open to markets with the potential to develop the Internet".
Photo credit: Google.com

What's playing in the Dominican Republic?

While I was in the Dominican Republic, one of my friends bought a few pirated CDs from a street vendor. They were all bands we had never heard of before but we figured we needed something to play in the car while we were cruising along the beach. There was one CD in particular that we thought was exceptionally good and it ended up becoming our kind-of soundtrack for the trip. The CD was Aventura's most recent album The Last.
To us, Aventura was just a group that made great music to listen to in our car, but when one of our Dominican friends, Gabriel, got into our car and heard Aventura playing we realized that the group was much more than that.
Gabriel, a guy in his early 20's who lives along Encuentro Beach in the northern part of the Dominican Republic, was surprised that we had an Aventura CD. He told us that Aventura is what everyone his age listens to and that it was one of the biggest bands in the Dominican Republic.
Aventura's members are mainly of Dominican descent. Ever since their beginning in 1994, the group has grown more and more popular over time as they have mixed bachata with hip hop and R&B. In their most recent album, Aventura collaborated with Akon, Wyclef Jean, Ludacris and other well known artists. The group has won countless awards and has a fans worldwide.
Who knew that buying a CD by a group we had never even heard of, would turn out to teach us about one of the most popular groups in the Dominican Republic and around the world!


Photo credit: Soundcheck.freedomblogging.com, Beinglatino.wordpress.com