Saturday, January 9, 2010

Why???



Relecting on our journey thus far, we have to stop and ponder... why? Following are just a few of the things we still do not comprehend.

1. Why are there no clocks in any house in the Dominican? How on earth did they ever know the time, before cell phones existed?

2. Why do most Dominicans leave food out from their heavy meal at 1:00 (that they must eat at 1:00 or they will starve to death), only to put it in the fridge just before going to bed.... and then serve it again the following day. Why?

3. Why, even in the nicest houses, are there no toilet paper holders? The one small hotel we stayed in actually had an industrial sized toilet paper dispenser, but positioned it half way across the bathroom? Why?

4. Tubees...does anybody get them? For those of you who don't know what tubees are, they are thick "hairnets" used by every Dominican woman, and sometimes even children.... to keep their salon look all week. Nearly every Dominican woman has her curly hair straightened once a week or so then wrapped in a tubee 23 hours of the day 7 days a week. They go to the mall with their tubee, we see them at the airport with their tubee, we just don't know when is the appropriate time to let it loose.

5. Why are young children (we even saw a 2 year old ) encouraged to entertain adults with dance moves that are less than appropriate?

6. How it is somehow ok to put your music on with the biggest speakers known to mankind at 3:00 am, but shunned upon if you "re-direct" a pesky frog into the neighbors property.

7. Why is yuca root or boiled plaintains an acceptable breakfast staple, but not rice?

8. How is it that if you are sick, or suffer from respiratory problems you cannot go swimming, wash your hair, be around clorox or laundry detergent, cannot eat chips of death (doritos, fritos, cheetos, etc), but yet you are not allowed to rest?

9. How there is so much poverty, but somehow there is always money for their Presidente Beer when company comes by.

10. How you call a taxi to take you to the store and he goes shopping with you, but rushes you all the way.

11. Why there are only a handful of post offices in this huge city. And when you find one, it is about the size of our little local colmado... 12' X 12'. People cannot tell you where the post office is, and rarely send or receive mail.

12. How it is an unwritten law that toilet paper is thrown into the trash next to the toilet, but they can't remember to throw other trash into recepticles on the street. Why?

13. Why, when some Dominicans do their power walking, do they use whiskey bottles as their weights?

Most of these questions will never be answered. Just a few items that American's don't understand. Thank you for following and we'll write again soon. God Bless!

5 comments:

  1. There are many questions that will never be answered! I wonder what questions they have about the American culture?? Hmmm...You guys should start interviewing people on the street to see if they have similar thoughts about us.

    I'm glad to hear you made it safely back from Haiti. I must say, I was a little worried (fear of the unknown, I guess). It's good to hear from you~
    me

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  2. Wow, you guys were up early in the morning on that Saturday - posted at 4:54 am. As Katie said, were all glad you made it back from Haiti o.k. and especially so after hearing about the recent earthquake. Keep on posting and we'll keep on reading. Anything you can share about the earthquake and the aftermath from your perspective would be interesting. By the way, I don't think we've seen the sun since you left. Enjoy it while you can and maybe bring some home with you in a little bottle we can all share. Oh yeah, its a girl!!!!

    Will

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  3. Jill,

    Bring me back a tubee:) I can wear it on my USDA visits. I love reading your blog. I've been watching the news on the eathquake, it's so heartbreaking..You girls take care.

    Patsy

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  4. I'm glad you all liked the tubees! Pasty, it would be great for your visits! Kristen, you and Brad are both getting one. It's a great idea, really, I had one the other day and it worked wonders for my hair! (right) Brother Will, I've been trying to capture the sunshine for you but it hasn't been out much the last couple of days. We can't wait to meet little Gumercinda Libby Rose Astrazenica Gardner Schoen (or Glrags for short)! Congrats!

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