Finally, i am broadcasting from Santo Domingo...

I finally find my safe space (and free source of Internet) to keep the record of my new life in Dominican Republic (DR). I am having so many interesting and challenging experiences every single moment, meeting with so many new people that i am afraid i will not remember most of them and won´t be able to share with the loved ones, if any point i meet again..

So, i will be sharing stories, mostly non-fiction, about myself in DR, people i have meet, and general reflections. It will be retrospective and thematic, rather than sequential.

Here i am, sitting in my new office for the next 3 - 4 months, in the Ciudad Alternativa. The Ciudad Alternativa is a Santo Domingo based NGO, mainly working on the issues of urban development, urban poverty, participatory planning etc. It is a technical/professional NGO, working closely with communities and organised civil society. Today, through Marianella, i met with most of the people working here, about 22 people!!! They seems to be very organised and systematic, and resourceful. Mainly doing research on planning and advocacy work.

I had a warm welcome here, everybody trying to call my name and nobody succeeding.. I have been yesher, jesher, jasher, jashe, jashat etc. Nothing near to Yashar, or even Yasar!! There are two ladies in the kitchen, for preparing coffees and cleaning the offices. One work during the morning and the other at the afternoon. One is Senora Blanca (Mrs. White) and the other is Senora Negra (Mrs. Black)..

After work, i suppose to call Ellias, a hairdresser whom i met at my flat last night. After he learnt that i can speak English, he started to talk in English with his Borat-like accent, and ask, "hey my friend, do you want to fuk wuman? I know lots of wuman because i am a hairdresser.." Hehehehe. And i broke into laugh, after having a difficult day at the beach (yes, difficult day at the Caribbean beach, funny but true). Ellias was a bit disappointed with my laughter but i couldn't stop. I really wanted to spend some time alone at the beach after meeting with one million people in 2 weeks, and while lying down under the sun, it started to rain! And on the way back, the car broke down and we waited for 2 hours on the highway, and finally after everything fixed, just before arriving my house, another car crushed into ours.. At least before going to bed, i had some merengue classes from my flatmates!