Learning about America in the Dominican Republic :: Personal Narrative Essays

Exactly one week after graduating from high school, with thirteen years of American education behind me, I boarded a planing machine and headed for a Caribbean island, I had fifteen days to spend on an island surrounded with crystal blue waters, white sandy shores and luxurious ocean resorts. With beaches to tactical maneuver on by day and casinos to play in during the night, I was told that this farming was an exciting new tourist destination. My days in the Dominican Republic, however, were non modify with snorkeling lessons and my nights were non spent at the black dump table. Instead of visiting the ritzy East Coast, I traveled upcountry to a mountain community with no running water and no electricity. The bus ride to this town called Guayabal, was long, burning and uncomfortable. The mountain roads were not paved and the bus had no air conditioning. Surprisingly, the four-hour ride flew by. I had big bucks to think about as my mind raced with thoughts of the next two weeks. I wondered if my host family would be welcoming, if the teenagers would be friendly, and if my work would be hard. I mentally prepared myself for life with out the everyday luxuries of a flushing toilet, a hot shower, and a comfortable bed. Because Guayabal was with out such basic commodities, I did not expect to see many reminders of home. I thought I was passing to leave behind my American ways and immerse myself into another culture. These thoughts filled my head as the bus climbed the rocky hill towards Guayabal. When I last got off the bus and stepped into the town-square, I realized that I had thought price there was no escaping the influence of the American culture.In a way, Guayabal was an specimen of what author Mary Louise Pratt refers to as a shock zone. Pratt defines a contact zone as a place where cultures meet, shock, and grapple with each other, lots in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power (Pratt 76). In Guayabal, American culture and Ameri can consumerism were clashing with the Hispanic and Caribbean culture of the Dominican Republic. The clash came from the Dominicans desire to be American in every sense, and especially to be consumers of American products. This is nearly impossible for Dominicans to achieve due to their extreme scantness. Their poverty provided the asymmetrical relation of power found in contact zones, because it impede not only the Dominicans efficiency to be consumers, but also their ability to learn, to work, and to live healthily.