Monday, January 28, 2013

Bribery is Rule

For anybody who missed my spamming of our YouTube show, here it is!  You may have to watch on YouTube for it to make it all the way through:



So, I touched lightly on the bribery that goes on here.

About how we had to pay off the authorities in order to have our secure concrete wall.

We knew it to be truth that people are corrupt here, so we just assumed it was true that the house maid told us she'd help us pay the authorities.

We know that when a cop pulls you over he may be only doing so to extort money from you.

We know that we can bribe him not to ticket or fine us with a small 'donation'.

We know that our spot in the queue at the hospital can be shortened by way of money.

It was when the pool guy came by, who is a man from America who has lived here for 20 years, that we'd been told we were taken.

He told us, "I've been here long enough to know how things work."

However, we believe that he may be wrong.

Mama brought the documentation that we were allowed to put up the horseshoe around the house, but not the wall in front of the house, because they don't want the scenery ruined.

She told us that in a few months, we'll sneak up the wall in front and the authorities won't know, because they will have come to see only the 'horseshoe' up.

When we get the pool in we'll have a the fence up that will block the view of the ocean, but we'll be having sliding doors so that we can still look out.  So the pool has to go in first anyway.  Kinda works out to our advantage.

They started the wall this morning at 8am.  Hard workers.

Anyway, we can't really know who is telling the truth without being mind readers, so at this point, we're just going to keep our eyes open and be wary on both ends.

What we do know, is that our DR Family is really looking out for us.

I mean, for the lady to come running down the road to be sure we had a 'bueno persona' in our house on her day off, and to come by to check on us for small reasons that could wait, we realize she's protective of us.

The other day, when they were upstairs helping us, Papi had dropped a coin.  Some kinda peso.

Papi nor I knew, but the Dominican Daddy and son both saw it.

We watched the Dominican Daddy point to his little love of his who saw it, look at him and say in Spanish, "Nope.  Pick it up and give it to Hector."

To me, a dishonest person wouldn't do that.

To me, the way they help us get what we need and do it without asking for anything says a lot.

We've given them all the hand-me-downs that we get rid of day by day and they're so excited!

Mama asked us, "What will you do with the old fence?"

We told her, "Garbage."

She asked if she could have it.  When I asked her if it was to put around her house, she laughed, "No, I will sell it and use the money to fix MY house."

Would a dishonest person say that?

Would they?

I still want to believe that they're inherently honest and that we didn't get scammed.

I still want to believe they are our DR Family.

We will definitely be wary, and watch if things go missing, but that's no way to set up a dynamic if we're not coming at this situation with love.

I spoke to her gently about not using bleach on my clothes, pointing out the polka-dots on everything and asked her not to use bleach anymore.

So, to get them really clean she used SO much soap that my clothes seem like they will never feel dry.  They felt greasy!

No matter.

We hung them out to dry and it's rained so much that they didn't get dry for a few days, instead they were WELL rinsed.

On a different topic, here's something I don't understand.

I've not eaten since Friday, for fear of Montezuma's Revenge wreaking it's havoc on me, and I'm starving.

I'm lethargic, weak, dizzy and shaky.

What I can't figure out is, how the hell was I ever anorexic?  I'm dying over here!!!!

I think I can safely say, that I will never, ever harm my body with starvation for the sake of feeling 'skinny' again, no matter how hard that Anorexia Monster tries to sway me.

I can't take 3 days!  Never mind the point to get to skin and bones.

Good thing I've got some padding for my body to feed off of.

i respect my body

10 comments:

  1. You got it all wrong about the pool man!! He said he would have told the guy to screw off and paid the Jeje LESS!! You do have to bribe them for the Fence on the beach!

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  2. You got the peso thing wrong too. The dad never said nope to the son. He Just told him to pick it up and give it to us! The kid wasn't going to take it!! I thought you spoke better Spanish than I did?!

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  3. I do need a blog just to correct all your MISTAKES! ;-)

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  4. you two are in the same house right? nutters!!
    i hope your housekeeper turns out to be honest, I think she has a good thing going working for you, and she knows it, so the longer you stay happy with her the longer she has a job, I know how hard they work there, so to jeprodise a long term job for short term gain makes no sense, you are their bread and butter.xxx

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    1. yeah ... we chat to everyone at the same time lol! pretty ridiculous indeed.

      after finding out more, we weren't taken, but we were charged a bit more than we should have. so, oh well, but i think we can still trust her, which makes me SO happy. she's so industrious.

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  5. Ditto on Kikinotee. Same thing ive been thinking. The DR Famdamily comes with the house holmes - you best be representing all proper, word! Coz u iz in 4life beaches. N Momma's the leader of DA pack Jack. U did get jacked. Buy her a pinkie ring lol

    So fuckit. Call your Realtor. Coz yer place is now worth more. Yeehaw shit is getting done! The pool n fence ups your selling price right. Net worth etc.

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    Replies
    1. yeah, when the market goes up, we'll be really ok :) just broke now lol!

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