It is 6 in the morning. My grandmother takes a steaming cup of strong Dominican café con leche out to the porch and watches the street. She watches the trees , she hears the birds and smells the flowers. It is a wonderful quiet time.
Here it is 6 in the morning I’m probably still sleeping. There’s a feeling of rush in the New York City air. People rushing to get to work, people rushing in the street, people rushing to find a seat on the V train. Hardly any time for breakfast, maybe coffee on the go ( for others, I personally don't drink coffee, and have never tried it! Strange for a person living in New York City, right?)
I could spend hours pointing out the countless differences between life routine here in New York City, and the lifestyle back in the Dominican Republic. And I wouldn’t just be talking about the mosquitoes, lol.
Dominican people are humble, resourceful, supportive and resilient. I feel like we in the developed world are losing some of that due to our fast paced lifestyle. Coming from a highly developed country to the developing world has forced me to examine some of our beliefs and behavior patterns.
My experiences in the Dominican Republic have been enjoyable, for the most part, and have made me more humble.Life for me in the Dominican Republic allows me to actually wake up, smell the coffee, and then some. Besides the obvious cultural differences there is a difference between the way people live their lives over here, and how people live their lives over there. Life just seems, more... lived.
There is definitely a difference in how people spend their leisure time over in the Dominican Republic as compared to here in New York City. People know their neighbors and say hello. The youth is always involved in some type of outdoor activity, like going to the beach, or playing sports, and the small things we over look here in New York City become meaningful. Like dessert for example. Who even has time for that anymore? A Sunday might simply start off by inviting some close friends and family over for some dessert. Here in New York City... on a Sunday for the typical New Yorker? Well you might probably go shopping,sleep, or spend the day in front of the television (which is ok for those who watch TV, but I actually do not remember the last time I watched TV. I actually have an 11 month old son, and watching TV is the last thing we do together. I mean there are many pros in watching TV, there are many educational and informative shows but here in New York City some people have the tendency to become glued to their television sets.)
The main difference between New York City and anywhere else in the world for that matter is that New York City is the city of the world. New York City is a fast paced city that demands people to live fast paced lives. And in the mist of these fast paced lives people loose track of what’s really important. Spending time on the small things you otherwise wouldn’t have time for. And when I travel to the Dominican Republic I feel like all those small things come back to me, I guess that is why I enjoy traveling over there so much. It really does feel like you get away from the routine life we live here in New York City; in the United States.
I feel that people are so consumed by the responsibilities of life that they forget about what’s really truly genuine and so beautiful about life.
One day while I was watching Oprah ( which is what I would watch when I do watch television) she was interviewing Randy Pausch, a professor over at Carnegie Mellon University. He was dying of pancreatic cancer and delivered what is known as "the last lecture" to his students. It was his way of saying goodbye and leaving a message to the rest of us who are still here and living. The video was uploaded to you tube and attracted so much attention it even got to Oprahs ear. It is really an inspirational,touching, even funny video and I think that we should all watch and think about our lives and how lucky we are to be living and have all these small things in life. I think that after watching this video , people will learn to appreciate all the small things I’m talking about, all the small things we take for granted in life.
Here is the link, copy and paste. Still having problems with the links on my pc for some reason, sorry about that.
1 comment:
I really really like the way you put this story. i come from Greece, actually born here but have been back to Greece where my parents are from and I agree with everything you say. I love to take the time out to enjoy the little things in life. I think thats what the problem is with the people in this country. =)
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