1000 Words

By Sarah Fiske

InteRDom Correspondent, Sarah, has recently completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. She is participating in the 2014 10-week InteRDom Summer Program. You can read more about Sarah and her participation in the Correspondent Program here.

To mark my somewhere-near halfway I thought I’d just give a little photo summary of my time here so far. These pictures are a combination of my phone photos as well as some I’ve found online.

First, the view from the airplane: foggy, I could see the air was thick, the heavy clouds cast shadows on the deep green fields speckled with dots that up close must have been pieces of life: small towns, occasional roads and farm equipment. The occasional baseball diamond assured me I was landing in the right place.

As we got closer to the city I was able to catch a glimpse of the ocean – a rich turquoise for deep waters and a bright aqua closer to shore.

As the ocean transitioned, so did the land. The airport is on the outskirts of the city and I watched the landscape transition from the small houses and yards hidden behind the line of street side businesses to the crowded poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city to a bustling metropolitan zone with city traffic and city buildings. Most of the people with the equipment and talent to capture the city skyline have it copyrighted, but scan through google images and you’ll see.

Since arriving I have gotten to explore different parts of the country from beautiful beaches to the rooftop water pipes.

The Colonial Zone is a beautiful area full of the rich, wonderful and tragic history of the city with the distinguished claim of being the oldest city the Europeans established in the Western hemisphere. Here is a fortress that stood guard over the city wall and river – the original wall was established in 1496 and rebuilt after a hurricane in 1502.

Modern life here is a bustling and I’ve gotten to enjoy everything from shopping in the market to the free zumba class everyday in the park to watching the World Cup at the mall.

I have enjoyed the food – I mentioned before. I also enjoyed my 25th birthday celebration here complete with paella and a delicious almond cake. 

Paella

Almond cake

And kittens. There are 5 of them: Bones, the runt of the liter and my favorite; Spiderman because he likes to cling upside down to his box; Favorite, the only one who resembles Momma; Chicken who scrambles to hiding with any loud sound and one more, a voracious little thing, who has yet to be named.

I’ll leave it at this for now. Hope you enjoy this glimpse into life here.

Surprising Lessons from Chinese Trade Policy

By Sarah Fiske

InteRDom Correspondent, Sarah, has recently completed her undergraduate studies in Political Science at the University of Louisville, Kentucky. She is participating in the 2014 10-week InteRDom Summer Program. You can read more about Sarah and her participation in the Correspondent Program here. 

At some point in my day, I had this brilliant idea for a blog post… but it has disappeared into the abyss of lost thoughts, forgotten vocabulary words and disconnected streets that takes up most of my brain come evening. So, given that, you’re stuck with reading about work. I’ll try to make it worth your time though.

Here is a “selfie” of me at work… and for fun, I’ll share the story that goes with it. The other day I had two awkward moments. The first was on the way to work when I tried to pay the share car driver with a quarter instead of 25 pesos! The second was shortly after I arrived at work - and I was caught taking this selfie. Gringo (gringa) level: fannypack.

Anyway, on the computer screen behind me in this picture is a 200+ page document on Chinese trade and investment policy… in Spanish. So if anyone is looking to practice having a Spanish conversation about capital account outflows to Hong Kong, I’m your girl. I tried discussing it with my taxi driver on the way back for practice, but I don’t think he was too interested. Just kidding, we actually talked about the World Cup.

To state the obvious, I’ll share why I’m reading Chinese trade policy in the Dominican Republic ;). I’m working at the Ministry of External Relations (MIREX) in the trade negotiations unit here. I’m working on projects with the World Trade Organization’s trade policy reviews now. The second aspect of my internship is to work on a research project on CAFTA-DR, the Central American, US, Dominican Republic free trade agreement. 

MIREX - Photo credit: Diario Libre

So that is work in a nutshell; I’ll spare you the nitty gritty, but instead share something important I learned at work that I think is relevant to anyone reading this. This is something I learned about myself, and I think it is something that at some point every one of us comes face to face with.

I am a very verbal person. I’m good at speaking and have always had a good vocabulary and been able to articulate my thoughts and points well for people. I consider interviewing to be one of my greatest skills because of this. I’ve always known I had this strength, but what I didn’t realize was how tied in with it my confidence is. At work I have my verbal skills taken away from me. I have to communicate things in a language where I lack the power and precision of words in my native language. I lack the vocabulary to choose carefully what I say; I lack the grammar structure to ensure the subtleties of my speech are there. My handle on the language goes from being as smooth as Messi’s ball handling skills (okay, that is exaggeration, but you get the picture) in English, to that of a small child trying to kick a big ball. I trip, fall, kick in the wrong direction or score in the wrong goal. And with my language handling skills I felt my confidence evaporate.

Often we think of confidence and pride as going hand in hand, but I learned in this case how incredibly important it is to extricate them. My confidence was an important tool that I needed to get through each day in the workplace, but my pride was getting in the way. My pride made me sit quietly at my desk hesitant to ask questions or make friends. Only when I humbled myself could I enjoy confidence and a lack of fear making my work day so much better. At its root, confidence comes from my identity, not from my achievements. It took humility, my setting aside my fear of failure and my desire to look good, in order to act in true confidence.

Thanks for reading this blog. Feel free to comment, question or suggest a topic you’d like to know about.

Later, gators.

Flying by the seat of your pants

By: Ikenna Okoro

InteRDom Correspondent, Ikenna, has recently completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Miami, Florida and is participating in the 2013 10-week Graduate and Gap Year Program. You can read more about Ikenna and his participation in the Correspondent Program here. 

Flying by the seat of your pants. Although I just learned this saying, it’s seemed to define my trip to the DR and a great theme for my last blog post. For instance, I heard about InteRDom in an elevator and just went with it. I didn’t learn until recently it would be the deciding factor for me getting cleared for my first job in Miami. On a day off from work, I tried to get a meeting with the minister of public health, Dr. Freddy Hidalgo Nunez (He’s a boss). Although unsuccessful, I traveled all around the Ministry of Public Health talking to people and asking questions. I ended up leaving with new insight to the health care system here, contacts, and a bunch of brochures. Finally, after buying a pack of dried mangos from an organic store in Agora mall here in Santo Domingo and tasting that they were the best tasting thing ever to be heat sealed; I called a number on the back of the package. After talking to the lady on the other end and explaining my fandom she arranged a ride for me to visit their factory in Baní. So, one Saturday morning I got to learn about my beloved favorite fruit and talk to a CEO about his company and industry. 

Maybe the Dominican Republic air and wind are more suitable for flying by the seat of your pants? That’s just a theory, but it does seem fitting that great things can happen when you see an opportunity and just go for it. 

FYI, the phrase originated 75 years ago on my birthday, when a pilot flew from New York to Ireland instead of California!!

Looking Back

By: Kim Sanchez

InteRDom Correspondent, Kim, has completed three years of her Bachelor's degree in Film and Video at the Visual Arts College at the University of Toledo in Ohio. She is participating in the 2013 10-week Caribbean Summer Program. You can read more about Kim and her participation in the Correspondent Program here.

I can't believe how fast these two months have passed. Looking back, I can't believe how far I've come since the first day. I've made a lot of great friends here and many memories that I will never forget. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to come here and work with this program. I have learned a lot and produced a lot of works that I am proud to add to my portfolio.

Here are some examples of work for my internship:


 

(1) Colonial Zone Video

(2) FUNGLODE Gallery

(3) Marketing Photos

(3) Marketing Photos

(4) UNIBE Video

(5) Student of the Week - InteRDom

During my stay in the DR, I have been taking every opportunity to explore, meet people, and be involved in film! For example, I made a lot of friends in the One Race Film Foundation, a filmmaking course partnered with FUNGLODE. I was welcomed onto film sets, and assisted with editing.

(6) One Race Film Foundation @ Film Festival After Party

 











I've done a lot of creative photography. As well as made numerous travelogue videos. This is very good practice for me, because I would like to be a travel photographer for a living.

(7) Creative Photo

(8) Travel Photo

 


 

















I have access to a lot of equipment, facilities, and advising through my internship. I was able to produce a demo reel, which is a collection of my work that I can show potential clients and future employers. I also produced a demo reel for Ariginalshoot, a local independent production company.

(9) Demo Reel Link

I have had many opportunities to independently explore other cultural activities. For example, I was invited to record a capoeira class at the Center of Brazilian Culture.

 (10) Capoeira Class

There is a big interest in independent film here in DR. I have been networking with a lot of photographers, filmmakers, and artists around the city who are excited to collaborate and create. For example, I have just finished shooting a music video for a choreographer I met at UNIBE. I also met a director who recruited me as Director of Photography in a short film, called Cruzando La Linea.

(11) Screenshot - Music Video

(12) Screenshot - Music Video 2

(13) Cruzando la Linea - On Set

(14) Cruzando la Linea - Crew

 

 


 

(15) Cruzando la Linea - Screenshot

 







































I have built a lot of confidence during my internship here. I can feel that I am different now than when I first arrived.

I am so excited to return and start applying my experience in my videography.

Sancocho

By: Giselle Deñó

InteRDom Correspondent, Giselle, has completed the first year of her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Sciences Po, Reims, France. She is participating in the 2013 10-week Dominican International Student Program. You can read more about Giselle and her participation in the Correspondent Program here.

Two and a half months into my stay in the Dominican Republic and I still have not eaten sancocho. It was an aberration to everything I stood for, to my “Dominicanness.” I had had it in mind since I set foot in this country, but the odds were against me; every time I held a chance to enjoy this delicious dish, something got in the way. My colleagues had to pay for the effects that the lack of sancocho had on me; the side effects are very serious, almost lethal. I spent the whole week telling anyone who had ears to hear me that I needed, not even wanted, sancocho in my system.

Regardless of this condition, the week went off great. I experienced some relapses every now and then but in general everything went very smooth. I worked on some amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, with which we are in search of more effective penitentiary and judicial procedures that would be tougher against criminality in our country. The subject of criminality and violence is one that is very close to every Dominican’s heart due to its degree and reach, but also our fervent desire to see it get better. It is a subject that should be addressed for countless reasons, but opening tourism that is so much restricted and overly dependent of all-inclusive hotels is perhaps one of the most important. There is so much to see and experience on this little Caribbean island and that is why leaving without eating a sancocho distraught me. 

Besides my usual work, a couple of things happened off-schedule. Kim came to visit me at the House of Representatives for an interview about my internship. We had a pleasant talk and I felt happy to show her what I have been working on and so that she too could be as amazed as I was the first time coming here. I don’t believe law is her cup of tea but she had fun filming around the building. One day this week I was also invited to visit another department, PNUD, Spanish abbreviation for the Development Program of the United Nations. I conversed with the director and got a chance to meet her intern, a very nice Italian girl that has grown a liking for the country. One of the thoughts that crossed my mind while I was with her is that I bet she had already enjoyed a nice and steamy sancocho and what a disgrace that me, a Dominican, had not. The impossibility of such thing remaining at that state was assured this weekend when my grandmother, who had just arrived from New York, cooked this typical dish at my request. Nothing like cucina della nonna. Now I can finally resume with my work in peace and my colleagues are let off the hook with my constant mention of this famous sancocho.

Photo by: http://carlosprieto.net/?s=sancocho+de+pocho

My boss is in a good mood

InteRDom Correspondent, Giselle, has completed the first year of her Bachelor’s degree in

By: Giselle Deñó

Political Science at Sciences Po, Reims, France. She is participating in the 2013 10-week Dominican International Student Program. You can read more about Giselle and her participation in the Correspondent Program here.

“¡Levanten campamento!” shouts Mr. Ortiz as he comes storming out of his office with suitcase in hand and switching the lights off. Malge, Domingo and I are immediately possessed by a secret smile. That is our boss’s way of giving us the green light to go home and for the first three days of the week, it was an identical scenario. We were dismissed awfully early and the workload we had on our desks went from very little to none. I even took the freedom to draw on a bunch of yellow post-its; scribbles keep my mind going as everything else outside follows a slow pace. No sessions at the Congress, only a few files coming in the department to be revised, less reporters and people roaming around the hallways; there was a sense of stillness, in which I felt completely at peace. Our boss cracked jokes, he was seen around more and he replaced his usual motivational speeches for random, impersonal small talk. In this abnormal situation we stayed at ease because we knew that it consisted in a false calm before the storm. I marked my words.

Thursday arrived and there it was, waiting for us, a pile of manila folders on top of the secretary’s desk. And there he was, he knew it all along; the chief director came in laughing as he saw our future together with what seemed like a thousand documents. Something told me that I was not going to hear the pleasant phrase I had heard very early the former three days until at least sunset. My predictions did not fail me once again, but there was an unexpected twist to the story. Our boss happily announced to us that we had to prepare a presentation on a specific subject, which he gave us, to present the next day in front of all of the lawyers in the other legal departments of the House of Representatives. No smile from our part this time, but he was still in a good mood. To heal our wounds he bought us pizza and as we struggled to juggle between turning the huge pile into a smaller one and writing an essay-type of discourse about a subject that was, at least to me, completely unknown, we fed our minds and body with cheese, ham, tomato sauce and a lot of carbohydrates. On top of which we had a restraining order that kept us from reaching even 10 meters away from the door until our job was done. 

With barely any sleep, we came like zombies next day to work. Our boss greeted us and the first thing I noticed is that he was no longer in a good mood. He had revised our work for the meeting we were scheduled to have in an hour and decided to change his mind regarding our respective speeches. Even though we were kind of disappointed not to reach the level he was requiring from us, we had been relieved from our duties and I could go back to the state of peace of mind from the beginning of the week. The meeting went great. The idea behind it was to share the common problems we saw in all files and set homologous criteria to face them. Ideas clashed, and interpretations of laws and the Constitution, led to some very heated arguments. I kept quiet and watched as lawyers defended their position. I was glad to finally hear some soundtrack after a couple of days in complete silence. Because the reunion went so well, our boss, who had led the conversation, was in a good mood again. He even announced a paella day for the following week. Storms are not so bad after all. 

Photo Credit:  ©iStockphoto.com/VallarieE

Office work, oh no.

By: Giselle Deñó

InteRDom Correspondent, Giselle, has completed the first year of her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Sciences Po, Reims, France. She is participating in the 2013 10-week Dominican International Student Program. You can read more about Giselle and her participation in the Correspondent Program here. 

The Dominican Republic has two legislative sessions, one that begins February 27th and another one scheduled for August 16th. Well, this week Congress was wrapping up every little piece of legislature they had on the table before the end of the first legislative session of 2013. Every deputy had a say, some were fighting with their claws out to get their initiatives to be passed, others were vehemently refuting their counterparts’ ideas, and it was, pardon the expression, hell at the office. We received files after files, transcripts after transcripts, proceedings, letters, contracts; you name it. You know the phrase: “History is being made”? This week, that was EXACTLY IT. The House of Representatives passed a Wage Regulation Bill, which is intended to make public administration more equitable and fair; amendments to the criminal code, which makes law harsher for juvenile offenders; a convention with important Dominican universities for internships in different areas of the House of Representatives, something that was never done before; and a couple of other transcendental pieces of legislation that I’m not going to bore you with.

Dominican Congress
Photo Credit: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21581233

The action was happening not only at the Chamber but also at our office, and with me personally as well. I finally made peace with technology, as I had to make extensive use of it. Coffee and I became best friends, even if we had more or less a rocky relationship before. The suit and formal attire came natural to me as I got dressed in the morning. Yes, office work, what I had dreaded so much as a child, had now become my daily routine. It is not so bad after all. I love what I’m doing, and sadly but true, my dreams and aspirations all point out to plenty of administrative work carried out mainly in an office. The dichotomy comes from my love of nature, my love of being outdoors. How can I reconcile these two very distinct worlds? Perhaps too early to have the answer but this week in my internship made this disjunctive even clearer than it was before. I’m coping pretty well with office work, no complaints. I must admit I do have some sporadic and sudden allergic reaction to the white walls in which I start singing and just goofing around with my colleagues. Malge and Domingo (both in the picture) have are now very close to me and have become the necessary balance to my office work. We have lunch together at the building’s cafeteria, our safe haven. We cross the street to buy empanadas at a stand of “frituras” in between one file and the next. Most of all, they are my law teachers every time I’m stuck and do not know what to do.

My internship has permitted me to take a quick glance at a possible future for me and if it involves office work, then so be it. 

Is it really almost over?!

InteRDom Correspondent, Carlos, has completed three years of his Bachelor's degree in

By: Carlos Gonzalez

Political Science at St. Peter's University in New Jersey. He is participating in the 2013 10-week Caribbean Summer Program. You can read more about Carlos and his participation in the Correspondent Program here.

All the sunny days, beautiful weather, and delicious food have almost come to an end. I can only wish for more time, but my home calls me. This experience has taught me plenty about living, studying and working abroad. All I can say is; I cannot wait to do it again. As it is my first time living abroad on my own, I have learned more than just basic living skills. I have broadened my knowledge of Spanish, grew accustomed to Dominican culture, and have developed a stronger work ethic. Through my internship at INTEC, I have expanded my knowledge on environmental issues and policy.

I was able to follow and be mentored by my boss, Dr. Yolanda Leon. She has taught me a great deal about environmental studies as well as her passion for conservation. Dr. Leon’s work is well-known throughout the Dominican Republic, as she has fought to maintain the forests for its rich biodiversity that contributes to Hispaniola. She has also taught me the importance of the government’s role in fostering environmental awareness in the community.

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh once wrote “...forests are our lungs outside our bodies.” This powerful quote highlights nature’s vital role in sustaining human life. We cannot live without our biosphere because we are interconnected. Just as Dr. Leon fights for this right, it is important for the rest of us to become aware of this reality and fight for our planet as well.