Figure It Out, Don't Freak Out | Jesse

I hadn't been sure what to write my blog post on up until now so here we go. In the Dominican, there are a couple common themes that I saw, especially within construction. What is the first theme? Managing. Yes, managing. How so? Well, lets delve into that in more detail in a little while. And the second theme that I found was a servant's happiness (okay not really a theme, but still something that I found to be common in the Dominican. Learning through service is kind of the theme I suppose). Our culture today is all so rushed, at least when we let it be rushed. In the Dominican I learned a bit about a different type of lifestyle. One where you don't have to be rushed for everything, one where you (according to Rachael) #figure it out, and one of daily change. Down there (Dominican Republic) we are not in a third world country, we are in a majority world country. How is that? We in Canada are living in conditions that only 20% of the world lives in. So with that said, the Dominican Republic is within the remaining 80% of the world. How do we manage in the Dominican? Let's find out.

So, as I said before, during my time in the Dominican, I sensed the theme that you have to just learn to adjust, and manage with what is put on your plate. During construction, we all started to learn quickly about the challenges and perks to, well, having to manage. How did we learn? We didn't necessarily learn right away. We took a while to get into the swing of things of DR life. For instance, the first time there wasn't any electricity, if I’m remembering correctly, we weren't sure what to do, so we asked a lot of questions, and didn't really think we could work without electricity. But then what did we start thinking and hearing? (at least I heard from Max...) “Ah there is no electricity but we still have power.” Then I just looked at Max with a confused look on my face. Then he says, “Well you have power, and I have power, and she (Rebecca) has power as well. So why can't we work?(not quite the exact words)” And that's when my first realization about Dominican life came to light. Dominicans really do just go with the flow, as we all learned to do. In construction there were so many opportunities for us to learn to 'do as the Dominicans do'. One of the jimmy rigging/ Dominican style things that I did was wire up a light. Not a big deal right? Haha that is a lie. Normally it wouldn't be a challenge if I just had a male end of a plug to put into the electrical box. But alas, one could not be found. So what did I have to do instead? Hold two insulated wires into the electrical box so that the light would turn on. Still not a big deal right? Wrong. First I had to find an extension cord that would be long enough to reach the classroom where they were pouring the concrete. I found it, but then I had to find the closest plug, which was in a locked classroom behind some cupboards, so that was an adventure in itself. Anyhow, we (Max and myself) managed. Oh there's the same theme again! Learning through experience is one of the major parts of this trip, and I think it's safe to say that one of the first things we as a class learned through experiencing is definitely managing to #figure it out.

One of the next things that we learned would be time. How do you learn time when you already know it? Haha this is not that type of time. No, I'm talking about Dominican time. It's just different. In Canada, I find that we are almost always rushed to be two steps ahead of the game. When you think about it, does it not make sense that instead of attempting sprinting a super long distance race, is it not just as good, if not better to be part of the main pack? The main pack that I am referring to is the 80% of the world that I previously mentioned. In Canada, we strive for the new, and reject the old. In the Dominican, they strive for the new for them and the old for us. How is that? Well, we don't realize it, but we always want new, new, new and feel pressured to get that which we don't yet have. In the Dominican, they live behind our times. I've seen many old, rusted, jimmy-rigged, better off in the trash (according to minority world standards), tools, cars and the like, all being used happily by Dominicans. Why would they use all this old 'junky' stuff when they can get good, new tools and such? Well simply, there isn't necessarily the same opportunity to buy new goods in the Dominican like we have in Canada. With all this talk about new, quality, goods, you are probably wondering how this relates to time. Let me tell you. I think about how quickly we sometimes give up on something that doesn't quite work perfectly. Then I think about our time in the Dominican, and how much longer things will take because we just manage with what we have. For instance, a simple task like cutting wood with a hand saw can take a lot longer than needed. Why? Because the saw is dull. So fix it. I can't because there's nothing to sharpen it. So keep using it until you can't use it anymore. So one thing leads to another and by the time we get it done its taken 2 or 3 times as long as it's needed to. But, it is what it is, and down, during our time in the Dominican, I feel that we learned and found out what it means to be on Dominican time.

With all this talk about better, and difference from Canada to the Dominican, you must be thinking that I hate Canadian life. Nope I don't. I really am just looking at the differences between the two worlds. Quality of life might be materially better here in Canada, but I have noticed a difference in happiness between the two countries. Here we are so absorbed sometimes with our material goods. We have to have the best of the best, and anything less is not worth it. It seems that there is something new coming out every week. And I think because we become absorbed in the new, there is sometimes the feeling that we become less and less happy with what we have that is good but is considered bad by our new found standards based on what the newest thing is. In the Dominican, there is a complete difference I find. They are happy with what is new to them, old to others, and garbage to us (sometimes). This does not mean they are perfect and are always happy, but I've noticed that they seem to decide to be happy with the (possibly lesser) quality that they have. In a way they have to be sometimes because of what is available to them. It's just a different world where they live. Not everyone has a steady source of income so it comes across that they have to work harder for their buck. So when they do get the chance to support their family and get new better quality things, it seems to make sense that they would be a lot happier. Again we are learning through experience and service down in the Dominican, and we definitely learn to, in a way, figure out the Dominican happy.

Figuring out the Dominican happy. What is that? How do you find it? Happiness here is pretty easy to find I think, at least it got easier as I adjusted to the Dominican lifestyle over the two month trip. In the Dominican I got the sense that no one was in a rush to blast through the day, and absolutely everything had to be done exactly on schedule, as opposed to here in Canada where we are held to deadlines and to be late is to lose. Lose what? The race, the industrial, material, commercial, race. This race to get ahead of everyone else goes on everyday, and it is life. But is it a stress free happy life? Not always. This isn't to say that life in the Dominican is any less or more stress free and happy than life here. Nope, it's just different in general. People down there are stuck in survival mode a lot of the time. This (in my opinion) doesn't make them any less happy though. Children in the Dominican Republic always want more as well, much like us here. However, I think that one of, if not the, main reasons for that is because they are stuck in survival mode. The more things that they have, the more they are able to sell. The more you sell, the more money you get. The more money you get, the more you are able to support your family. The more you aer able to support your family, the happier you will be because you know that you are actually doing something for your family. It's not always even big extravagant things that they strive to provide, no it's the basic food and drink that we sometimes take for granted. I found myself thinking at times on the trip, how can people here be happy with what they don't have? How does this make any sense? Then I realized they have a servants happiness. I'm calling it servants happiness, because I think it's different happiness than the (sometimes) material happiness that we sometimes thrive off of when we are caught up with the times, and have the new and advanced 'goods'. A second realization occurred to me about happiness, kind of in general. At home I realized that I myself would be wanting more and more, not that I wasn't happy, but I wanted more because it was available to me. So during this realization I started thinking about change. Change for what? Read on dear friend.

Does change come softly? Or would it be a swift kick in the behind that would lead to pain at first, but in the end I would be free? To be honest, I don't know. What change am I talking about? Well, it's the change or transition into majority world living. Maybe I don't actually need as much as I think, and the Dominican Republic taught me that. Within our time in the DR, I think we as a class learned to love, to learn, laugh, and live, with less than what we normally think we need, and yet still be content. I'm not saying that we are all going to change right away, for better or for worse, I know I won't, but we all have something to chew on and think about. Going forward, I hope to think more before buying (it won't be easy or fast) things that i don't really need, as well as, have a servants happiness. Because if there's anything the Dominican Republic, and Rachael taught me, it's that we live in the minority world, and there’s no reason that we can't have a servants happiness, as well as #figure it out without freaking out because we are a lot farther along than the majority of the world.

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope it's made sense and been a little bit of an inside view of our two month majority world living.