In 1974 I moved to the Dominican Republic to teach in a school. However, my presence there was under the guidance of the Free Methodist Church so being a part of the church was an expected part of my responsibilities there. It was in the church that I really encountered much of the cultural challenges that I had in the country. While teaching I worked mostly with American adults. At the church I was with Dominicans. I had much to learn.
As I stated in my previous post, I did not know Spanish when I arrived in the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless I started attending a local Dominican church right away. As a new American in the church, I attracted quite a bit of attention, and it was here that I was forced to try to learn Spanish. There was a large group of young people at the church. Some had studied English and wanted to practice their English with me. Others didn’t know more than a few words of English. Conversations could be frustrating and long, but it certainly encouraged me to work on my Spanish.
One lesson I learned was to just go for it. I made a lot of mistakes learning Spanish, but I had to keep trying. Fortunately people at church were patient with me. Those who knew some English helped, and others tried to offer me the words I needed. If I had been unwilling to make mistakes, I doubt I would have been able to learn as well as I did.
Another aspect of church life forced me to learn how to count in Spanish. When I arrived, the missionaries informed me I would be the pianist at the church. I was flabbergasted. I had never done anything like that before. When I had filled out the information sheet about myself, I said that I could play the piano “a little” which was the truth. However, the missionaries assumed I said it out of modesty so they decided I could play for church.
So on any given Sunday I would hear the number of a hymn announced. I would find the hymn and play an introduction. Occasionally the congregation would then begin to sing a different song than I was playing. No one bothered to inform me I had the wrong song because I didn’t understand the number. They just sang the song announced. I would then scramble to find the right song. When I tried to join in, it was usually now in the wrong key. Occasionally it was close enough I could get them with me, but often I had to just give up and let them sing. I needed to learn the numbers.
Not only did I play for church, they wanted me to play for the youth choir. Wouldn’t you know it, the Dominican director really wanted to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus,” and he expected me to accompany them. Not only that, but he led it at a break neck speed. It was impossible. I think I only manged a third of the notes, and many of them were the wrong notes, but they didn’t seem to mind.
Here is one of the cultural elements that I had to learn. While I would not consider myself a perfectionist, I do like things to be done well. Dominicans didn’t always have that same attitude. They were happy to be good enough. That would often bother me. I learned to grit my teeth and bear it as I was the one living in their culture. I needed to adapt to them. In terms of piano playing, however, I certainly grew in my ability to play from the experiences I had.
Other attitudes bothered me as well. Commitments did not seem to be a big deal to them. It’s not that they didn’t care, it was that if something else came along which they felt was more important, they would do that and not think anything about it.
I remember once I was leading a program, and one of the young men had promised to come and do something in the program. However, he didn’t show up or contact me before hand. Upset, I later confronted him about it, and he looked at me as if I was really strange. He offered his explanation with the attitude that it had not been a big deal. We often think of customs as particular actions, but often it is these unspoken attitudes that really create challenges for us as we live in a different culture.
My Achilles heel while I was there was always time. Their attitude toward times was much more casual than we Americans have. In fact if they were pressing people to be on time they would often say, “6:00 tiempo Americano.” I still remember the time the pastor was concluding his message, and a woman arrived at church, walked to her usual place in the front rows, and sat down. A minute later we all stood for the closing hymn. She showed no embarrassment over arriving so late. Any American would have just hung out in the back of the church if they arrived that late, but she marched to the front of the church to her usual place.
Occasionally I would be invited to a party or event outside of church at the home of one of the church members. The host would give me a time, but I had no idea what time to actually show up. I would ask my friends, and they couldn’t give me a time either. So I would try to guess what time to arrive in Dominican time. I would often guess a half hour after the stated time, only to be the first one to arrive. What was always interesting was the other guests would almost all arrive about the same time. They seemed to know intuitively what the correct time to arrive would be. I never figured it out.
One of the big events while I was there was the celebration of a major anniversary of the church in the Dominican Republic. Churches from all over gathered together to celebrate. Music groups from different churches performed. Some leaders came down from the US as well. It was a really great experience to be a part of.
The summer after my first year, I decided to sit in on a seminary class that was being held in the building where my apartment was located. I figured it would be a good way to work on my Spanish. It was, but it also helped me develop friendships with some of the students there. The following year I ended up teaching a class in music theory to the students in Spanish. That was a real challenge, but a lot of fun. It also helped cement some of the friendships that I had developed. It was special to me when they had the graduation and ordination for the seminary students.
As time went by, and my Spanish improved, I participated more in the activities of the church. At one point I was going out with some of the other young people and doing some house Bible studies. These were in people’s homes, and the leadership usually gave me some role to play so I was not just an observer. That was truly a challenge.
One of my friends from the seminary was assigned to a church about a 45 minute drive from Santiago in the town of Bonao. He asked me to come down every other week to help with the music in his church. That was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. It also opened my eyes to the courtship process in the Dominican Republic. There was a young lady in the church that he had an eye for so I had a front row seat on how that all worked out. Dating as we knew it in the US was not really an option. There were a lot more guarded responses. Eventually they did get married, however, but after I had returned home.
One of the interesting things that happened after I left the Dominican Republic is most of my pastor friends ended up in the US. The one I just referred to ended up in Rochester, NY. The pastor of the church I attended in Santiago went to Tampa, Florida and developed a church there. A couple of other pastor friends ended up in New York. They have all worked among the diaspora of Dominicans that came to the US.
When Americans go to other countries to work among the churches, it is important that they go with an open heart, willing to learn. When James Hudson Taylor went to China, he ended up adopting the dress of the people down to wearing a braid. Other European missionaries laughed at him and thought he was crazy, but Taylor had more success than all the others as he was willing to learn.
During my time in the Dominican Republic, I learned a lot about my self as I was confronted with the need to face and relate to a different culture. I am glad I had these experiences early in my adult life. I believe it has made me more sensitive to the differences that we face as we become a more ethnically diverse country today.
Next week join me for one more look at my experiences in the Dominican Republic. See you then, and don’t forget to subscribe, like, comment, or share this post with someone else. That’s always an encouragement for me to see.
You had to learn to speak Spanish, learn to play the piano, learn a new culture AND teach. Wow!
I was young so perhaps more resilient and flexible. In the end it was a great four years.