The Whirlwind of the First Few Days

Oct 2

3 min read

A chart to sum it up:

Expected	Not Expected
Power going out	A broken mattress
Water going out	More than two spiders
Mosquitoes	Missing my apartment so quickly!

If you heard from me in the first 3 days of my stay here, you probably only heard agony. There's a different set of struggles that comes from doing a Fulbright in your own country, because you think you know, but that doesn't necessarily prepare you for the next time water is out for four days straight, or the next 5-6 spiders you see that everyone is unfaced by, or the power going out every night at 10pm and coming back at 2am., or no one answering emails because that's not how things work here.

To be fair I was already crying on the plane, weeping in fact, because it dawned on me I was going to be away from friends and the life in NYC I had carefully crafted. Unaware of why I looked so devastated, the Dominican lady sitting next to me kindly patted my knee and said not to worry, that God was going to pilot this plane safely. Then I was met at the airport with mangu and homemade guava juice and I thought 'nevermind, I'll be fine'.

Everyday since has been exactly like that, one moment I'm so glad I'm here, the next I'm looking at flights back to NY. Even in terms of my research, I catch lucky breaks where the first school principal I talked to about the project was the Spanish teacher at my school when I used to live here. At the same time, I have to pull teeth to get the support I need from my university because they're busy with the start of the semester. Although the hard days are very frustrating, I know it will all average out to a wonderful experience in the end and I am extremely grateful to be here. I will take the power outages, and the spiders along with the opportunity I've been given to give back to my community, and experience my country and my family.

Highlights from a trip to Altamira for a billy goat stew on my first weekend here:

From left to right:

Dad chopping a bundle of a plantain variant.
Step-mom and dad around the cacao tree.
The inside of the cocoa fruit. The seeds inside are cocoa beans, and they get placed in the sun to dry to make cocoa nibs and later chocolate.
The cook, stirring the stewing goat with a stick. The wood fire below it compliments the flavor.
A guy we asked for directions on our way there surrounded by lush greenery.
The family sitting around the compound.
Jell-o in little cups, a treat that has been in circulation since I was a kid.
The view from the front of the car, all trees.
A local shop, think bodega/deli, what we call here a colmado.

Lastly, a fun fact from Wikipedia:

Altamira [which translates to high views] is a town in the Puerto Plata Province of the Dominican Republic. The town's name is the subject of at least two different origin traditions. One asserts that when Christopher Columbus first arrived in the area, he took note of the height of the mountains and exclaimed: "Look at the heights." Another reports that the name is based on the geographical resemblance of the region to Spain's Altamira Caves.