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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------{ October 28, 2006 }
Dominican men
I debated about posting this information on here, and I'll probably get some flack for it, but if you really want to know about my daily life, read on.
I've learned that our CBT is not only useful for technical training. I have definitely learned how to strategize for dealing with men when I go to my site for two years. Men here are incredibly forward and really believe in the 'love at first site' deal...and it's not just the 'I'm an American thing'...I had a conversation with a Dominican friend about this. And it really blew up b/c there is this guy who is at my house every night that plays dominoes (that's what we do for fun...and dance) and he's attractive, but that's where it ends. No intellectual possiblity there, but I was sending the wrong signals because I kept getting 'I love you, I'm in love with you, etc' and he didn't get the 'I only want to be your friend' thing, and so I got this intense love letter the other day, which apparently I shouldn't have accepted, but I didn't know what it was, so last night I had to be harsh. And he's not the only one.
I knew before that the man/woman interaction was different, but even between Santo Domingo and the campos it's really different. It's hard to adjust because at home I have a lot of male friends and it's fine. I'm not expecting them to start telling me they are going to marry me one day, but here, it's almost impossible to have a Dominican man friend in the campo. And they just start going and telling you they love you in less than a week. So my strategy when I get to my site is pretty much to cut off from having men friends at first and if gradually, after a few months, I do, then that's fine. This is seriously emotionally stressing, because I don't want to hurt people's feelings but the whole 'love' thing here is really different and so are people's attitudes about it. Ay yi yi.
Despite all that, things are still going well. 2 more weeks of training here in Jarabacoa, then back to Santo Domingo. We're going to have a Halloween party on Tuesday but I can' think of a costume with my limited wardrobe. Maybe I'll just wear my mosquito net around. Let me know if you have any creative ideas with basic clothes and materials.
Posted by katie on October 28, 2006 12:46 PM | Permalink
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Comments so far:
You could cover yourself in mud and go as a black person.
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Posted by:
Cory |
October 30, 2006 02:56 PM
are you sure you don't want a Latin lover...heh. Love you babe.
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Posted by:
shlee |
November 1, 2006 10:43 AM
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