Dancing and Dominoes

Dominican life is very different to ours. The people are nicer, the weather is better, everything is more laid back. They also like dancing. Everyone, it seems, likes to have a good old dance. So it was only a matter of time before I had to join in. Last Saturday, Cristian and I went to an 18th. It was just a gathering of about 15 people for a girl's birthday. They didn't seem to mind at all that we were intruding. After a few glasses of rum, which they love out here, it was decided that I should dance. I was taught two dances: the 'Bachata' and the 'Merengue'. I thought it went pretty well, but everyone was laughing, so perhaps it didn't. Throughout the course of the evening, I was addressed as 'Europa', which joins my nicknames of 'el rubio' and 'el americano?' that other people call me. Views on children are another example of how different life is here. I'm told that by the age of 30, women stop having children because they're too old. At first I was alittle surprised by people asking me how many childrne I have, but now i"m just used to it. We also bumped into a man who told us that his uncle had 27 children with four different wives and they all lived nextdoor to each other. It's pretty crazy.

I've had some more interesting food this week. On Monday night, I was served 'spaghetti blanco'. It tasted just like spaghetti carbonara to me and was great. And just yesterday, I had octopus for lunch. I can't say it was the nicest thing I've ever tasted, but it went down reasonably well; just a little bit too chewy..

After work on Thursday we visited a local 'colmado', which is essentially an off license with chairs outside. Men gather at these colmados to play dominoes. When i was told that we were going to play dominoes, it seemed pretty trivial to me. However, they play with such intensity that it was actually very interesting. I just had a problem with the scoring. At random points in the game, all four players would throw their remaining pieces onto the board, one would celebrate, and this, apparently, is how you win.

I already mentioned the public transport: the conchos. I do enjoy travelling in them, but twice this week I have been on the front seat and a woman decides to share the seat. This is quite normal, you have to squeeze, but it does annoy me when the whole backseat of the car is free. From now on, I will sit in the back!

And finally, last night I had a proper haircut. It is now very short and doesn't look too bad. Everyone here has very short hair, so I just thought it would help me to fit in. I shall try and put some photos up next week!