La Comida Dominicana

So I was talking with my mom tonight and she mentioned that I ought to talk about the food here since many of you that may read this are foodies! So far I like the food a lot. For breakfast I’ve been having either juice or hot chocolate and bread and cheese. Many people eat more breakfast than me, but I told my family that I didn’t each much breakfast. Although even then a huge piece of bread toasted with cheese is quite filling. Juice is one of the main drinks here, more so than water because the water from the taps is bad and bottled water is kind of expensive. My favorite juice so far is guayaba (guava). There’s also zapote (some kind of fruit) which tastes kind of like a very sweet yam and my host mom put vanilla in. Also there’s tamarindo (a fruit which grows in pods on a tree). It’s not my favorite as it has a slightly fermented taste kind of like kambucha. For lunch we have la bandera which is arroz (rice) with habichuelas (beans) and a piece of meat (usually chicken, although I beef today). And usually a salad, although a salad here pretty much means a plate of random vegetables, sometimes raw, sometimes cooked. We’re not supposed to eat lettuce or cabbage raw because water can get trapped in them and the water can make us sick. So far the salads we’ve had have been made of papas (potatoes), zanahorias (carrots), pepinos (cucumbers), and col (cooked cabbage). We also had some berenjena (eggplant) mashed up. For dinner we have platanos (plantains) every night. I’ve had them boiled, mashed (called mangú here), and fried (my personal favorite, although probably not the best for me). Also with dinner we have lots of starchy foods. I’ve had yucca which tastes like potatoes, yame which also tastes like potatoes, and batata which is a sweet potato. Also we’ve had some salame (which tastes like hot dogs). My family is very excited that I like the food!

They’re also excited that I speak so much Spanish. Overall, I’m feeling pretty confident about my Spanish. Some people are harder to understand than others but everyone is super friendly and will repeat things for me. My Spanish is stronger than that of many of the people in my group, other than a few people whose first language was Spanish and a few who have spent time abroad more recently than I. The Dominican culture is fun! They are a loud, boisterous group of people, there’s always a TV or music going and people just drop by at all times of the day to visit for a while. My host mom Doña Sol sells clothes, chicken, and ice cream from her house so she’s here most of the day. It’s such a community culture. Everyone knows everyone and they greet each other on the street.

We have seven of us that live in our barrio (neighborhood). There are 4 of us that are super close together and the others aren’t too far away. We have spent the weekend exploring our barrio with the help of one of my group members’ little brother. It’s a cute little neighborhood with lots of colmados (general stores) and farmacias (pharmacies which sell everything), and cute little businesses that I don’t entirely understand, and bancas (little corner bars that we’re not supposed to go to). We sat outside the colmado that is the most central to all of us today and shared a liter of Presidente light beer which has 4.3% alcohol. The regular Presidente beer has over 6%. I bought a cell phone too (for only $6) so if anyone feels like calling, e-mail me and I’ll send you the number. Not sure about the rates from the states but they shouldn’t be too bad from what I hear, although check with your phone company to be sure about that or just buy one of those cards that they have at mini-marts, they usually have good rates.

All right, that’s enough for now! I hope everyone is doing well! I’m going to try to upload some pictures of my house that I took the other day too. Love to all!