Food:
Rice, beans and fresh fruit such as melon, pineapple, plantains, banana and avocado were enjoyed regularly.
Language:
I had a limited Spanish vocabulary to communicate with the people I met but at the end of the week had learned a few words and phrases such as “Ola”-Hello and “Como se llama?”-What is your name?. Even though I wasn’t able to communicate with the children very well, we were still able to play and enjoy our time together, which makes me think of a quote from a Justin Bieber song, “U smile, I smile”.
I also found being the minority in the Dominican Republic to be an interesting experience. As a group, we definitely stood out because of our skin colour which gained a lot of attention from the locals. I personally liked this because I have never experienced this type of attention before in Canada.
I learned a lot about Dominican culture in the week there and got to experience it first hand by trying the food, speaking the language, going out dancing and interacting with the people.