Saturday, January 06, 2007
Dancing, Holidays, Fiestas, Parties (okay work too)
It has been an especially busy time for us blondes. You know there is sooooo much pressure on us party loving blondes, during holiday season it is even more so. Holiday season here in Paradise, also known as the Dominican Republic, is a long drawn out affair.
A little background for you: in this country everyone in the public and private sectors is entitled to a 13th pay cheque. Kind of a cool idea isn’t it? It is equivalent to one month income if you have worked a full year or 1/12 of the annual if you haven’t been there the whole year.
And guess when you get it??? Yup – right before Christmas. It is like forced savings without any hassles. Except of course if you own the company and then December can be a little uncomfortable. It is mandated that it must be paid out by the 20th of December. So my friends party time starts before the 20th.
Here the last holiday of the “Christmas Season” is on January 6th – today. It is the day of the 3 kings and this is historically when gifts are given to the kids.
The season here starts around the 15th or so of December and runs to about January 8th. Yup you can go dancing every single night…………. Wow. Dancing Blonde – yours truly – was a happy girl. Except that bloody work keeps interfering. What a pain in my little blonde butt…… I digress, sorry.
Anytime that the rum is flowing a good time is sure to be had by all. But it isn’t just about dancing and parties, it is also about Family and Community. This is one of the draws to this country. Christmas here is celebrated on Christmas Eve. Big big big family and community dinner. My friends W&M are always invited to the family celebration of their landlady. A feast!!!! I am sure W put on 5 pounds that night alone. And of course “cena” or dinner is eaten quite late normally. It is a grand feast with copious amounts of food, drinks and fun to be had.
Christmas day by contrast is much quieter – yeah right. That is the day you rest in the morning, spend time with family and then hit the “car wash” by about 2pm. You can dance all day here if you want to………. It’s great.
New Years Eve was another eye opener for us. Dancing Blonde and Larimar Blonde were dateless! OH my goodness. Not to be left out of the partying we put on our very best frocks and hit the town. Much to our surprise it was fairly quiet! The club – Terraza Caribe was about 2/3 full. Not a great crowd but we were having fun anyway. Can I just mention that no one but us were in our good frocks???? Tight jeans, short glitzy tops were the uniform for the women. We kind of stand out anyway but even more so that night………. No problem for us blondes, just another night in paradise.
Well midnight came and I almost missed it! Go figure, there is no count down – nada. All of a sudden everyone is hugging and kissing! Not fair so we found several men to kiss so we would feel included. Okay, confession time, they found us……
Then let me tell you within 20 minutes that club was full to bursting! Yup, the people here treasure family. They saw in the New Year with their family and then hit the bricks to make their way out dancing. Within the hour it was just a rocking………
We left at 2:30 and found out next day it went until 7 am! And they re opened at 10 am for another round. Yes folks we danced again on New Years Day. This time, jeans and tight glitzy tops for us too.......
Do you want to know what my resolution is:
1. You guessed it: Dance More!!!!
Alright, it is one of several.
2. Look after myself better – I have had bouts of pneumonia that are not fun.
3. Eat more regularly ( I forget to eat )
4. Spend more time blogging (honest)
5. Continue to give back to this country I love so much.
Larimar Blonde has some resolutions too, but I don’t know what they are so I am going to make them up:
1. Dance More
2. Blog More.
3. Learn to Bachatta (This is a dance)
A little background for you: in this country everyone in the public and private sectors is entitled to a 13th pay cheque. Kind of a cool idea isn’t it? It is equivalent to one month income if you have worked a full year or 1/12 of the annual if you haven’t been there the whole year.
And guess when you get it??? Yup – right before Christmas. It is like forced savings without any hassles. Except of course if you own the company and then December can be a little uncomfortable. It is mandated that it must be paid out by the 20th of December. So my friends party time starts before the 20th.
Here the last holiday of the “Christmas Season” is on January 6th – today. It is the day of the 3 kings and this is historically when gifts are given to the kids.
The season here starts around the 15th or so of December and runs to about January 8th. Yup you can go dancing every single night…………. Wow. Dancing Blonde – yours truly – was a happy girl. Except that bloody work keeps interfering. What a pain in my little blonde butt…… I digress, sorry.
Anytime that the rum is flowing a good time is sure to be had by all. But it isn’t just about dancing and parties, it is also about Family and Community. This is one of the draws to this country. Christmas here is celebrated on Christmas Eve. Big big big family and community dinner. My friends W&M are always invited to the family celebration of their landlady. A feast!!!! I am sure W put on 5 pounds that night alone. And of course “cena” or dinner is eaten quite late normally. It is a grand feast with copious amounts of food, drinks and fun to be had.
Christmas day by contrast is much quieter – yeah right. That is the day you rest in the morning, spend time with family and then hit the “car wash” by about 2pm. You can dance all day here if you want to………. It’s great.
New Years Eve was another eye opener for us. Dancing Blonde and Larimar Blonde were dateless! OH my goodness. Not to be left out of the partying we put on our very best frocks and hit the town. Much to our surprise it was fairly quiet! The club – Terraza Caribe was about 2/3 full. Not a great crowd but we were having fun anyway. Can I just mention that no one but us were in our good frocks???? Tight jeans, short glitzy tops were the uniform for the women. We kind of stand out anyway but even more so that night………. No problem for us blondes, just another night in paradise.
Well midnight came and I almost missed it! Go figure, there is no count down – nada. All of a sudden everyone is hugging and kissing! Not fair so we found several men to kiss so we would feel included. Okay, confession time, they found us……
Then let me tell you within 20 minutes that club was full to bursting! Yup, the people here treasure family. They saw in the New Year with their family and then hit the bricks to make their way out dancing. Within the hour it was just a rocking………
We left at 2:30 and found out next day it went until 7 am! And they re opened at 10 am for another round. Yes folks we danced again on New Years Day. This time, jeans and tight glitzy tops for us too.......
Do you want to know what my resolution is:
1. You guessed it: Dance More!!!!
Alright, it is one of several.
2. Look after myself better – I have had bouts of pneumonia that are not fun.
3. Eat more regularly ( I forget to eat )
4. Spend more time blogging (honest)
5. Continue to give back to this country I love so much.
Larimar Blonde has some resolutions too, but I don’t know what they are so I am going to make them up:
1. Dance More
2. Blog More.
3. Learn to Bachatta (This is a dance)
4. Bake banana bread more often for Dancing Blonde!
Here is my new motto for 2007, thanks to my good friend Tanya for sending it to me.
If :
you learn to translate every event of your life, into a positive experience,
You will stop being a prisoner of your past
And
Become the designer of your future!
To each and every reader, I hope 2007 is exactly what you want and need it to be. On behalf of all blondes everywhere (but especially those here) I wish you:
Here is my new motto for 2007, thanks to my good friend Tanya for sending it to me.
If :
you learn to translate every event of your life, into a positive experience,
You will stop being a prisoner of your past
And
Become the designer of your future!
To each and every reader, I hope 2007 is exactly what you want and need it to be. On behalf of all blondes everywhere (but especially those here) I wish you:
peace, joy, good health, prosperity and most of all FUN.
