Santiago, DR - 3 weeks in, 2 weeks to go!

We have just finished our three weeks of language school in the DR! Simply the practice of speaking Spanish, especially about relatively complex topics - education, poverty, medicine, etc. - I saw improvement in everyone's ability to communicate with the Dominicans. It was also especially fun to communicate with Europeans in Spnaich, because that was our shared language.

With the language wchool, we were able to visit the public hospital to interview several patients. At public hospitals, the government covers medical insurance, but of course the quality of the care that the patients receive is not as high as it is in the private clinics, which are only accessible to people who can pay for better insurance on their own - definitely not the majority of people. What happens at the public hospitals is that there is not always access to the appropriate instruments, tools, or medication needed to treat the patients. There is also a lack of available doctors, which results in patients having long stays at the hospital just waiting to carry out their treatment plans or surgery. Needless to say it was an eye opening experience. Here's some of the things we noticed:

-there are vendors immediately outside the front entrance shoving things in your face to buy.
-clocks don't work
-there are armed military men present to "keep order" because sometimes the doctors strike
-people form a line at the main staircase leading up to the wards and wait their turn to get up the stairs - they are guarded by security
-after you get up the stairs, you have free reign of the hospital; all we had to do was walk into any room and say we were medical students from the States and ask if we could interview them; they gladly complied
-doctors wear tight white pants, and a slimming white blazer
-men will still cat-call at you in the hospital, the stethoscope we were wearing doesn't even act as a "shield"
-no hand sanitizer anywhere. sinks are a rarity. we only washed our hands after leaving the hospital
-many patients do not seem to know the name of their doctor or how their illness is being treated
-men are not allowed to sleep overnight in the hospitals, only women are allowed; I'm still not sure if this is for safety measures or if it is just another demonstration of machismo

I was pretty nervous interviewing the first couple of patients in spanish because I have never done it before. They spoke quietly, very quickly, and with a much heavier accent than many of the other Dominicans in the city, but they were patient, not to mention very gracious for allowing us to speak with them. They were definitely more willing when they heard we were from the U.S. This wasn't the only time, however, that people seemed to view us as better than them- as more knowledgeable, wealthy, whatever it may be. It was something that made me uncomfortable because I didn't feel like I was worthy of being held in such a light - I certainly hadn't done anything to prove that I had earned their trust or approval. Additionally I don't believe that just because I am American that I myself, or the way I do things, is any better than anyone else and their culture.

Aside from practicing Spanish, my favorite thing about the last 3 weeks in Santiago was learning about the Dominican culture. Maria and I were blessed to have become pretty close friends with two Dominican guys - our homestay brother and one of his best friend. During the first week, they gave us a detailed tour of the city, showing us not only its beauty but also the less appealing parts as well. They were very frank with us in explaining the "disaster that is the D.R." After many long discussions about the state of the DR, it seems apparent to me that the basic principles from which their greatest political, economic, and social issues have developeed are not so different than those in the U.S. There is an overwhelming disparity between the rich and the poor here so much that you may see a multimillion dollar house with a Range Rover parked in the driveway on one side of the street, and a small home that houses a large family on the other side of the street. Of course, the different socioeconomic classes allow some to obtain an education from the university; to afford the best (private) health care; and advance themselves within their profession, while the poor do not have the same opportunities. Unfortunately, even from a soical perspecctive, there are still many disparities when it comes to race. The DR is a very mixed country since the people are of descendants of the aborigines, of Europeans, and of Africans. The skin color of Dominicans ranges from white to very dark. Just as I see it happen in America, "los blancos" and mestizos are a bit pretentious and see themselves as better than "los negros." There is also a very apparent sense of superiority over Haitians, the darkest people on the island. What is a bit different from the U.S. though is that there seems to be a total lack of desire to help ones neigbhor here, in an effort to improve the overall state of the country. Dominicans tend to only look out for their own well-being and that of their closest friends, even if it means stepping over someone else to get there. As difficult as hearing about this "disastrous" situation was, and wanting to do something about it, even the Dominican we were with - a wealthy, highly educated individual, felt like no matter how badly he wanted to change the situation, he said he wouldn't even know where to being because he is so jaded by it all. And while he doesn't just want to leave his country behind, he does think he may want to start a life in the U.S., a sentiment shared by nearly all of the Dominican people.

Besides for everything that is "wrong" with the DR, it really is a beautiful country with a very interesting culture and many gracious, outgoing people. We learned how to dance the merengue, bachata, and salsa; to cook a couple of traditional Dominican dishes; to appreciate the vendors on the street; to not be bothered by the cat calls however crude they might be; to accept the presence of machismo while appreciating the fact that it does not exist to the same degree in the States; to run on "Dominican time;" and to navigate the city in a concho, a public car that squeezes as many people in as possible so that you end up sitting on stranger's laps. Despite being out of our comfort zone, or perhaps because we were out of our comfort zone, I think we came to appreciate and understand many aspects of the Dominican culture. There are many things we experience that we cannot express in words, and it will be something that we may not be able to communicate after we return to the atates. I am very thankful I have had Maria, Erin, and Jackie here with me to process our experiences and emotions.

Oh, and the Docs arrive in just a couple hours, we're all eagerly awaiting their arrival.