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Category: Dominican Republic

Time: Better Late With a Treasure?

It’s almost time for me to go back home, and unlike with many things here, that can’t happen late. I got an email kindly reminding me I was due (overdue) for writing a blog post and my first thought was, “let me see how quickly I can write this thing.” It is crunch time in my second internship - a research project on CAFTA-DR (DR, Central American, US Free Trade Agreement), and I feel like I am just getting my footing on it. I chuckled at my thought because I’m never able to write these things quickly, but also because here [in the DR] things just don’t happen quickly. It’s a cultural thing and I’m... Read More

Category: Dominican Republic

Dominican Nom Noms!

Memory is a funny thing. Sometimes it seems the most unusual thing triggers a long buried memory. For me, the trigger was trying to describe the fruit here. And, the memory was a children’s book: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. I think the title sufficiently tells the plot, but what I remembered is in this story; the Big Hungry Bear smells this strawberry from miles away. I believe this story is actually an allegory. The authors were clearly relaying their experience with Caribbean fruit! The bear is the gringo, the strawberry is pineapple, passion fruit or mango and the great lengths the bear goes to steal the strawberry... Read More

Category: Dominican Republic

Running

I seem to be encountering a lot of running here. Today it was running to work after I took the wrong share taxi! Sometimes it is a few miles in the park, but what I want to talk about is metaphorical. Let me explain: I am not a runner.  I can run, but it isn’t pretty and it doesn’t feel pretty (see the picture below from a 5k I ran/walked).  But, running makes the perfect analogy for speaking a foreign language. In my race, the first few miles weren’t too bad. But, it grew harder until eventually I felt like I was inhaling fire and pushing my legs through daggers. It took every ounce of... Read More

Category: Dominican Republic

An Introduction

Hey guys, Since this is my first blog post on here, I’ll introduce myself quickly. I’m Sarah. I’m from Rhode Island (10 points for every northeast word you catch in my posts). I finished my bachelor’s degree where I studied Political Science and I’m going to start my master’s degree in International Development and Economics in the fall. I want to work in economic development. Today, I think I’ll answer a few FAQ’s: Where are you going again? The Dominican Republic – I’ll be in the capital city, Santo Domingo. It shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti. What language do they speak there? Do you know it? They speak Spanish. Though like English, different... Read More