See you later Santo Domingo. Culture shock and adaptation.
Today the 27th of February is the Dominican Independence Day, which actually isn’t independence from colonization by Spain, but from Haitian occupation in 1844 after 22 years.
Renewed today a power of attorney to Raysa Suarez so she can represent me in a few pending matters in the Dominican Republic. We had breakfast at Nocciola at Bella Vista Mall in Santo Domingo and coffee with the notary at Bella Piazza. Having lived over 15 years in the Dominican Republic, I can now enjoy coming back to visit. Knowing a country, the people and their culture is a personal “wealth” that can’t be measured in money. There are some rewards from having been nomadic first and then an expat living in the Dominican Republic.
I went through all the four stages of culture shock and adaptation; excitement, irritation, adjustment, and adaptation. The excitement phase, also referred to as the honeymoon stage, I prolonged by moving around and traveling, spending time in different places. I think the irritation and adjustment phases overlap and are of course together — the main learning phases. You are challenged and irritated and then you adjust and then there are new challenges with the culture and you adjust again. Sometimes it’s very difficult.
They say when you move back to your country of origin you go through a reverse culture shock and adaptation. I have been coming back more and more to Denmark the last five years, so I am expecting it won’t be a brutal process. January and February are the coldest months in Denmark and the least warm in the Dominican Republic. So the best time of year to travel here.
The Dominican Republic is the most diverse country compared to any other country/island in the Caribbean. I will be looking forward to future visits and to exploring it more as a tourist again. Now I am looking forward to soon going back to Aarhus, Denmark to continue my new routines around exercise with swimming, training with weights and long walks/runs again as the weather gets milder.
