We're just finishing our second week of language school in Santiago, Dominican Republic and are finally getting acclamated to the hustle and bustle of one of the DR's biggest cities. With two weeks down and three to go, I have started to wrap my mind around some of the social and cultural aspects of the country. Here are some excerpts from some of the emails that I've sent to friends and family over the past two weeks that will hopefully capture some of what we have experienced so far...

6/14/10
subject: adventures in santiago
"It's only 2pm on our first day and already, we've had quite an adventure. We rode the "concho," a public car (and a standard form of transportation here), to school today for the first time. The conchos run a particular route through the city, and stop at various points along the route to pick people up and take them where they need to go. On paper it sounded fine when our host mom explained it to us, but it wasn't until we got into the car that we realized that the normal capacity is 2 people in the front seat and 4 in the back. It costs about 20 cents per ride, and needless to say it is always pretty squished, so we hug our bags as tightly as possible and make sure to have our fare out and ready before we get in.

This morning we went over some grammar and a lot of medical vocabulary in class. Our class is just Alaina, the teacher and I this week, so we really get to discuss everything that we have questions about, and are getting a lot out of the sessions. Our teacher is also a medical student, so we've spent a good portion of our time discussing the differences between our medical systems, including topics like how insurance works and how the hospitals/clinics are set up. Tomorrow we are going to the public hospital for a tour and to learn more about the health care system. Our teacher told us to be prepared to see some tough things, as the public hospitals here have doctors, but none of the resources needed to properly treat most patients, so we will see lots of people that are dying or otherwise in pretty bad shape, without much hope of recovering."

6/16/10
subject: ants in my cereal and cockroaches in the shower
"let's just say i got a little extra protein with my breakfast and saved Alaina from a cockroach in the bathtub this morning...

Interesting start to our day, but I'm trying to take everything in stride and get in touch with my "survivor" alter ego. It's only going to get more "au natural" once we get to the campo, so I'm managing my expectations appropriately and getting used to being sweaty and a little dirty all the time.

One of the most striking things that we have seen so far has been the stark disparity that exists between the rich and the poor. It is amazing to see how intermixed the rich and the poor are here. It is not uncommon to see a Corvette, BMW or Hummer on the road next to a group of beggars. There doesn't appear to be much of a middle class, and the impression that I have gotten so far is that the rich are very focused on gaining even more wealth and seem to enjoy the opportunity to place themselves on a pedestal away from the poor (and as such supposedly "lower" class). We have heard stories of clubs and bars discriminating based on race, even though the racial make-up of the country is equal parts Spanish/white as African/black, and most people here have at least some African ancestors. This discrimination leads to hatred between the groups which then ends up in crime.

Additionally, we are starting to learn about the corruption in the government, and although we haven't seen it directly ourselves, the stories that we have heard from our host brother Alban and his friend Hilario about their experiences have started to paint a picture for us. It seems as though much of the aid from more developed countries often ends up in the hands of the corrupt politicians and is distributed mostly among the rich class, propagating their wealth and promoting the poverty of the rest of the country. This contributes to the fact that economically, the DR appears to be growing but from a social standpoint, the disparity between the classes and poverty is only getting worse.

I am so fascinated by everything that I am experiencing and am really trying to absorb everything that I see and hear to get an idea of how things work and what the state of the country really is. Of course, in such little time and with limited resources I wonder how complete of a picture I really can get, but I am trying my best."

6/18/10
subject: machismo in action

Over the past week we have come to experience first hand the chauvinistic reality that is machismo in Latin America. It is impossible for us to go down the street without getting cat called by every single man, young (and I'm talking like 10 years old) or old that we pass. The cat calls have ranged in severity from the men yelling out "Americana!!!!!!!!!!!" to ones too graphic to post here. Even as we walked around the hospital with stethoscopes around our neck, we were not immune from the cat calls from patients sitting in the hallways. Our teacher was with us in the hospital she didn't seemed phased by it at all, saying that you just have to ignore them and go on with your business. It's amazing to me that the women here just accept comments like that as normal and don't see anything wrong with being subjected to such subordinating behavior day in and day out. My skin is slowly but surely getting thicker, but it's hard not to let it get under your skin.

Despite this, our visit to the hospital was exciting because we actually got to talk to patients and take histories. Most of the patients were from rural areas so they were a little harder to understand than most people we've talked to so far, but it was definitely good practice for what we'll experience in the campo. The hospital was super different from anything I've ever seen. This was the public hospital and inside it was really chaotic. Anyone could walk anywhere, and there were armed guards with huge guns to "keep order." All of the rooms had at least 4 beds but were big enough to not be too crowded, but there was nowhere to wash your hands between rooms and no hand sanitizer anywhere, so it's easy to imagine how easily infections can be spread. When we came back to the school we presented each case to each other and the teacher. It was great practice and will definitely give us a leg up by the time we get to the medical portion of the trip."

We're looking forward to our last week in the city before heading to the ILAC Center next Sunday! Besos a todos!!