Feedback after the First Full Week: Hay que “Aplantarse”

August 29, 2008
Santo Domingo

As I type this, I cannot decide if I need a pat on the back or a good laugh at naiveté. I have officially survived my first full week of training and my first full week in the DR – and it’s been even better than I’ve thought.

Clearly, I am not in the campo yet. I have not been sent off to a rural area to experience life as the token foreigner in a closely-knit community. Heck, I haven’t even learned how to ride the moto I will be taking to my volunteer visit next week. I have, however, been attempting to “Dominicanize” myself. As my host sister’s girlfriend put it to me yesterday, “hay que aplantarse.”

What did she mean by this? Like plátanos, the plantains that serve as a staple to the Dominican diet, I have to plant myself into the culture and integrate as much as I can. Thus far, this has meant anything from recognizing Dominican piropos (read: those oh so “creative” expressions that accompany cat calls) to navigating the “organized chaos” (as our training director call it) that is Santo Domingo’s transportation system. I have begun to understand the root causes behind the constant apagones (power outages) and mastered the bucket bath. I have even won an occasional round of dominoes, a local pastime slash obsession, and can shake my hips enough to fake a decent merengue or bachata.

Only time will tell whether or not I am really absorbing the customs of my new home and letting them shape my daily life. Some tests will come sooner than others (wish my two left feet luck at the discoteca tomorrow), and others won’t sneak up on me until I move to my permanent site. Nonetheless, my first days here have given me reason to be incredibly optimistic. With respect to the acculturation aspect of the Peace Corps, I believe that I will really enjoy being a plátano – and by that I mean growing and maturing as new values and traditions shape my thoughts and my actions here in the Caribbean.

Cheesy? Perhaps. Exciting? Definitely – maybe even more exciting than the fact that I just paused from this reflection to catch a lizard crawling up my wall…