Goshen College

Life in the Dominican Republic

Nicole Kandel writes about Dominican food.

My main observations:

• Cook everything in oil (except rice and boiled platanos)
• Fried eggs go with everything
• Platanos go with everything
• Salami is a yummy treat
• Tomato paste is a dietary staple
• It takes a long, long, long time to make salad when you have to wash each lettuce leaf, then chlorinate it.

Some of my favorite dishes:

Mashed platanos with a fried egg and onions

1. Boil some platanos until they're mashable, put them in a bowl and use the bottom of a cup to mash them together with butter to taste and a bit of water. Shape it in a pile on a plate to the size of a fried egg.
2. Fry an egg in hot oil by heating the oil, cracking an egg into it, letting it cook until the clear part turns white then flipping it over for cooking a bit longer. Put the egg on top of the platanos.
3. Sautee onions in remaining egg oil and place on top of and around platano-egg pile.
4. Eat.

...I think the carefree style of cooking is a good reflection of the carefree style of Dominican life....

Jason Miller writes about playing Dominoes

Usually a group of men come over about 8:30 on any given night, and play to 11:30. They always finish, like clockwork, by 11:30. Men play dominoes, women do not. I have noticed that women bring juice and bread to the men, and then usually disappear. I am not sure to where yet.

Domino time seems to be a time when they get to talk about major happenings, like politics and their jobs. I also think sometimes they try to distract each other from paying attention to the game.

My father, Pablo, is the master at our house. If he ever loses, everyone gives him a hard time. He owns three sets of dominoes. They are red, white, and blue. My theory on the colors is that blue is the fancy set for special occasions. and that the red and white sets are more common.

Domino time is not just for the players, but also for those around the table, trying to figure out what move they would make. Up until this weekend, I had just watched, but I finally played, which made it even more impressive. The other players seem to know what will happen before it happens. When they slam a domino down, they're cocky, it seems to mean they know they're going to win. I also think they trash talk each other, but with my Spanish I can't catch it all.

I continue to be amazed at how much they've figured out about the game. I hope I can take this lore home, as a gift from the domino kings.

Ben Smucker went with host family members to a Pentecostal church.

...The first hour or more of the service is taken up with singing/making a joyful noise. Church members who want to may come to the front and begin singing into a microphone. At times the singers can be very good. The judgement of good or bad has to come in the first acapella line, as the singer will soon be joined by a guitar, piano, drums, and the congregation doing their best to match the pitch of the singer....

By the end of the pastor's sermon, the service will be pushing two or two and a half hours. Some people may have left midway through the sermon, only to have their places filled by late arrivers. Unlike the more structured Mennonite services I'm used to in the U.S., the Pentecostal services here are much more open to coming and going: my cuñado, my sister Raquel and I cut out half way through a service to get ice cream! (I ended up going to two other churches that night, and then being spoken to in tongues, so I didn't feel too guilty for leaving the first church early.)...