Litty Latino Holidays

Hey guys! Sadly, this is the last post:( For this post I’d like to write about how latinos do the holidays, more specifically, Christmas. As we all know, Christmas is coming up in a couple of days. This is the time where kids can’t wait to wake up in the morning and see their gifts under the tree. Hispanic kids love this too...PSYCH. We don’t do that AT ALL.

This is how hispanics do Christmas:

• On CHRISTMAS EVE, go to a relatives house.
• Preparation of food for an eternity 
• Eat dinner at around 7pm or 8pm
• Watch baseball or football for another eternity 
• Open gifts at around 10pm, which also takes an eternity, while screaming “SE LO ABRA!” which means “HE/SHE WILL OPEN IT!” for some strange reason

Fortunately, I get to experience all of this on the 24th, CHRISTMAS EVE, not CHRISTMAS DAY. Very important to remember that guys. 

Well, this is my last post. I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog and that you’ve learned a little bit about my culture!

NOS VEMOS!

#latinovibo

Delightful, Delectable Dominican Dishes

Hey guys! As we all know, Thanksgiving just passed. I hope that you guys had a day filled with family, fun, and most importantly...FOOD! Speaking of food, there are several dishes that almost every family has on the table: turkey, chicken, potato salad, etc. There are also dishes that are based more on your families culture. Today I would like to share five dishes that my Dominican family always has on our Thanksgiving table that may be different from other cultures' tables.

Pollo Guisado(braised chicken)

 Beef Empanadas

 Potato Salad with Beets

 Tostones(fried yellow plantains)

 Pernil(roasted pork)

Missions trip: UPDATE!

Hey guys! So, like I said in my last post, I had a missions trip coming up in the Dominican Republic. I left on Friday the tenth and spent two days there. During these two days, I got to see so many happy children and happy families come to Christ. Aside from this, I got to speak to little girls that I've watched grow up for the last five years. We set up a cotton candy machine and a popcorn machine for the children, and I have never seen them happier. We also provided buffet of food for the community of the town of Hainamosa, which is located in the capital, Santo Domingo. We also handed out small gifts to the workers that help us do this missions trip every year. They are the ones that clean the land that we use and set up the stage and the lighting. They work in rain or shine, and that is something that should be appreciated and rewarded.

My favorite part about this trip is the children because they are truly the heart of our country. They are the ones that can make a change for the future, and I tell them this every time that I see them. It breaks my heart to hear about the tragedies that they have had to face during the year that I am not able to see them. It is crazy how a rare occurrence of suffering for us is a constant pain and struggle for them, but they continue to maintain faithful and joyful throughout it all. Although they look to me as an inspiration, I see them as inspiring individuals.

Sadly, I was only able to spend two of the seven days of this missions trip, but it was still a blessing. I enjoyed seeing the familiar faces and seeing new faces come to Christ. I also loved hearing people tell their stories and share how God made a terrible situation into a blessing for them. This inspires me to keep going whenever I feel that I'm going through a rough time. Although I am there to serve them, I truly feel that at the end of the day, they are providing hope and happiness for me.

Here are some pictures from the trip, enjoy!

Missions Trip

Sooooo this week is more of a simple post. I just want to briefly talk about the upcoming missions trip that I am going on this weekend. I usually go for two weeks but I couldn't this year because of school, obviously. Since the age of about eight or nine, I have gone to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for missionary work. My parents created a foundation called Stand 4 A Child, and every year we travel to Santo Domingo to provide school supplies, food, water, clothes, medical help, and most importantly, spiritual strength to the people of this city. It saddens me to see my people dying out physically and spiritually, which is why I find joy in traveling every year. Although a very stressful process, it is all worth it in the end to see the smile of a little child or a single mother or father after they have received whatever help we could provide for them.
#VIVESANTODOMINGO

Images from www.google.com

UNIBE School of Medicine

Now that I have started college, I am on the path to getting a career. I have always wanted to be in the science field, and that is what I am working on right now as I go through these years of my college education. My interest and passion for science came mostly from my dad. He is a General Dentist. He got his degree and license for dentistry both in our country, the Dominican Republic, and in the United States. In the United States, he went to NYU, or New York Univeristy. In the Dominican Republic, he went to UNIBE.

I want to write a little bit about this university because not many people know about this school, or any schools that are located in the Dominican Republic.

UNIBE, which stands for Universidad Iberoamericana, was founded in 1982. It is a private school of medicine located in Santo Domingo, the capitol of the Dominican Republic. This university offers 15 careers: Advertising, Architecture, Interior Design, Business Administration, Dentistry, Early Childhood Education, Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering, IT Engineering, Law, Marketing, Medicine, Psychology, Religion, and Tourism and Hotel Management. Although it is not where I was interested in going, it is in fact a very good school.

This school of medicine consists of five years and four months of study. The first through fourth semesters are for pre-med, while the fifth through the tenth semesters are focused on the basics of science. The 11th through 13th semesters are focused on pre-internships in the areas of Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics Gynecology. In the last three semesters, official rotations are done in the same areas listed above including Community Medicine and Emergency Medicine and Trauma. As you can see, this university is not playing any games, and neither are hispanics.

Stereotypes...they're not cool.

WHY TALK ABOUT IT?
In this post I would like to cover the stereotypes that most hispanic or latina women have to deal with. The reason I'm writing about this is because it is very frustrating that my own ethnicity is in question just because I "don't look like a hispanic." People say this about me because I'm skinny and my hair isn't as unmanageable and because I'm of lighter complexion. It's quite offensive because not only was I born there, but I take a lot of pride in who I am and where I'm from. Yes of course every ethnicity has a certain culture and may have certain characteristics, but this should not define who the person is. You'd be surprised that not all hispanic women have curly or nappy hair, not all of us have curvaceous bodies, and most importantly, not all of us have a lifelong goal of either being a stay at home mom with six kids or working as a maid in rich people's houses. Of course, this does not mean that having those occupations is in any way demeaning or unfortunate, but it's a stereotype that hispanic women face all the time.

STORYTIMEEEEE!
In my junior year of high school, I had to take a financial literacy class. In the first class, the teacher asked us to go around the room and introduce ourselves and give some information on who we are and what we would like to do in the future. I went to a predominantly white school, so of course her hearing that my last name was Rodriguez was SOOO shocking. When I said my name and that I was from the Dominican Republic, she immediately interrupted me and said, "Oh wow! So how did you and your family get here?" This was obviously implying that she assumed that we were not U.S. born, which she wasn't wrong about. So, I told her that my all my family, including myself, were born in our country, but we all came to the U.S. later on. She looked so flabbergasted it was honestly disgusting.
I continued by saying what I wanted to be when I grow up, which is a Forensic Scientist, and she almost fell out of her seat. She made a very judgmental comment by saying, "Oh so you're really trying to be the first successful member of your family aren't you?!" Bro. Let me not start. I calmly retorted back by saying, "Well actually, my grandparents, although not educated, which you probably already assumed about them, were pretty successful because one is a chef and the others owned some successful businesses. My dad is in fact not a janitor. He is a dentist. My mom is a psychologist and also is an English major, so she's not a main or a stay at home mom. My aunts and uncles are all pretty much doctors of some sort. My cousin is a neurologist and is also in the process of studying to be a cardiologist. Would you like me to keep going?" I pretty much shut her up and she said no and moved on to the next student.

SO, WHAT'S THE POINT?
My intentions weren't to be rude, but it comes to a point where you notice how ignorant people really are. This is including myself as well, which is why I'm even more determined to put this message out there, because I know how it feels to be judged and to have people assume things about you and your family just because of your last name and your birth country.

Hips Don't Lie

As a Latina, it is very likely that I will have about ten family reunions in one year. At these reunions, imagine several Dominican dishes, drunk uncles letting loose, and most importantly, the loud music that doesn't seem to stop relatives from talking to each other. Although I do really love food, especially Dominican food, I love the music because it brings everyone together. I feel like as if we were born with the ability to move our hips to any beat of music. I could be wrong, but I have yet to meet a Dominican or a Latina who cannot dance to our music.

The most common music that we listen and dance to are listed below:

Bachata

Salsa

Merengue

Reggaeton

Perico Ripiao

In the photo below, the traditional merengue in The Dominican Republic is captured. Although these flamboyant outfits are not worn as often, the tradition of merengue is still forever in our hearts.

The Common Misconception

As a girl with curly hair and slightly tan skin, one of the most common questions I get, aside from "Are you Jewish?" is "Are you Spanish?" This question would be completely fine if I in fact was Spanish, but I'm not. I always answer this question by saying, "No I'm Dominican," and then they ask "What's the difference?" This is honestly very upsetting because non-hispanics really do believe that there is no difference between one being Spanish and one being hispanic. Hopefully, this post will enlighten the minds of some of those people who maybe have never been told this.

When one is Spanish, they are from Spain. Therefore, just because someone speaks the Spanish language, they are not automatically considered Spanish. Many people don't see how this could be offensive because they believe that all Spanish speaking people are the same. The reality is that we are all very different. Every one of our cultures have their own traditions. So, because of this, assuming that my culture is Spaniard is offensive to me because my Dominican culture is nothing like that of the Spaniards.

This does not mean that the Spaniard culture, or any other culture for that matter, is less than another. With culture comes pride, and this is something that is taken very seriously to a lot of people.

Hopefully, now knowing this, you will understand the severity in misnaming a hispanics ethnicity solely based on the language that they speak. Remember that assumptions and culture do not mix.

Latino Background

This blog is all about the beautiful culture of a hispanic. In order to even understand the culture, you need to know what a hispanic is and what makes them unique. Hopefully, this blog will help you do this, while also getting some tips on how to embrace this ethnicity.

I started having a passion for embracing my heritage when I was in 8th grade. At my grammar school, I was one out of about ten hispanics in the school community. While the majority of kids had straight blonde hair, I had crazy, curly, brown hair. Kids and teachers would always ask me strange questions like "Is it hard to have that kind of hair?" or even "Why is your hair like that?" It drove me crazy that this simple difference sparked such strange conversation and curiosity, even though I was almost the same skin complexion as most of them.

It was not until I had to do a family tree project in the 8th grade that I really got to understand and know who I really was and what my background was. I am originally Jewish, last name transforming from "Rodrigues" to "Rodriguez." This is a very long, historical story that all has to do with the wonderful Christopher Columbus. My family, and myself, are from the Dominican Republic. No, we are not from Punta Cana. Although very beautiful, it is not the heart of my country. I am from the capital, Santo Domingo. This city is full of loud music, smoke from meat carts, and the smell of tall trees and plants that fill its grounds.

As I grew up, I began to take pride in my ethnicity and the little things that made me different. I began to love my hair, my slightly tan skin tone, and although not noticeable now, my hispanic accent. Because of this pride and passion, I even found it more my responsibility to shine light on certain things that non-hispanics do not know. This is what I intend to do in this blog.

I want to talk about the common misconceptions that people have about the hispanic population, the different "looks" of a hispanic, and the details that make up this beautiful culture. Hopefully, by the end of this semester, you will embrace this community and gain a better understanding of us.