The Capital and other happenings

Day two was interesting.  I headed out to my dad’s business to check things out.  It’s not the same as it was before when I was little but it is still standing. The economy has hit it pretty hard so it’s  a little sad to see that there are only 4 full time employees in addition to my dad, when usually there were about 7 and up to 10.  I hung out there for a while and then headed to see an old friend but she wasn’t home.  After I went to La Sirena which is the Dominican Walmart of sorts with lots of departments, a huge supermarket and wine store along with a food court.  I don’t see any Walmarts here so it’s probably because La Sirena type store and are nationally owned were smart enough to expand before a foreign entity could take over.   They have so much crap that it makes me wanna have a home here so that I can buy stuff.  At night I went to my aunt’s house and used the wireless Internet. 

The next day I went back to use the wireless Internet and ended up staying with my aunt all morning helping her in the kitchen because the cooking /cleaning lady had gone to the doctor’s office.  I did the dishes and help with food preparations.  It was good. I laughed a lot.  Afterwards I headed over to Santo Domingo, the capital, to meet up with my paternal siblings for the first time. It was an interesting meeting.  They met me at the hotel and we headed to an Italian restaurant right across from it—Il Capo.  The restaurant was nothing out of this world but it was good.  My “older” sister paid the bill.  Her name is Desiree and she is a lawyer working for a bank.  My brother, Vladimir and a year younger than me, is a publicist with a Masters from Spain and is looking for work currently.  They both have a 3 year old little girl and a 5 year old boy, respectively.  There were moments of awkward silence and moments for nervous chatter. We talked about Spain and work and looking for work.  Then we talked about our families and our father.  Afterward, we dropped Vladimir off at his house—his mother’s house—and Desiree and I went to a mall nearby to have coffee/tea.  We chatted for a while about our father and how my mother contacted her, etc.  There were moments where I felt a bit jealous where she mentioned that he would send her letters and stuff but that she wouldn’t open them.  He never really wrote me a letter of that I felt a bit left out.  However, given that he had a mental illness towards the latter part of his life, dealing with incoherent letters would have been too much for me to handle also.  I probably would not have read them either.  In any event, it was an interesting talk.  I feel that she has some resentment towards him still and wonder what the source of it is exactly.  She spoke negatively towards him at times.  Vladimir definitely has resentment towards him.  I totally got that from him.  In fact, Desiree mentioned that he didn’t want to go initially.  She didn’t force him either but he wasn’t that much into it to begin with, which I noticed as soon as we sat at the restaurant and he started watching the TV to his side.  Eventually he was quite chatty, when things focused more on what he cared about, i.e. his experience in Spain and looking for a job.  It was a surreal meeting for me.  They are my siblings; as much my siblings as the ones I grew up with are.  However, there is this abysmal distance between us.  I didn’t feel much warmth from them. I didn’t feel like they were "emphatically" looking to meet with me.  It felt like something that had to be done.  On my end, there wasn’t really much of affection felt for them. It was like hanging out with people that for a reason or another you happen to have to hang out with.  It felt like having to hang out with people from a new job but without the possibility of making new friends.   It was weird.  But I guess that will come with time. I'm not made of stone, you know? Towards the end of the it, my sister kept wondering why my father never brought me and them two together.  He definitely had the older brother and the other two hang out; and I hung out with the older brother but never with the other two.  I have a feeling that it was because of their mother.  I could bet money on the fact that she probably forbade it.  Anyway, I think they’re both very cool, especially the guy.  He seems like the artsy type that I would get along with and talk for hours about nothing really important but that sounds so.  I like his style a lot.   I think he’s kinda cool/hot. I’m looking forward to meeting up with my older brother who is in Philadelphia on vacation.  Go figure, when I come to DR he goes to the US.  I hope I catch him.  He sounds a lot more friendly and warm; like he really wants to meet with me.  I hope I can keep in contact with them and develop some sort of friendship.   After all, we are siblings. I have always wanted to "have" and older brother.  Maybe this will be it.   :)