White people, aka Bank of Gringo

So if people are really just people, where ever you go...which is where I was going last post, then I need some shoe polish, and a rag...but maybe its not ' looking white ' that is so bad. Actually today my gripe is not just the feeling but the fact that everyone casually asks for and expects free flowing money ..to "borrow". When I was first here , living on the boat, finding my way, I put myself out there to help and made many "loans" but never with the expectation that a poor Dominican could pay me back. I worked up crazy contracts trading labor , or whatever would make the loan meaningful(obviously only to me) ..I loaned the money for a motorcycle purchase for free boat washing for a year. I got three days of boat washing and not a word more. I paid salaries in advance, paid for services never rendered.....but learned and made each deal with the knowledge of my borrowers. Many more requests and loans have come and gone, but things are very different here on the Samana Peninsula. And the reason a black face is not enough to 'save face'. The extranjeros , the whiteys from everywhere, and living here, are now elbowing each other out of the way to be the next "borrower". With the same repayment plan as the Dominicans. I came to understand the honest direct eye contact way a Dominican sees white people as walking banks : it is on their tvs and cell phones everyday. We have everything and have to do nothing to receive...But how is it that the Europeans see through the same eyes? Everyone I know has asked me or my boyfriend for money. Everyone. And the few people I was almost to the cliff to consider a friend.. have all felt comfortable repeatedly asking for something. And it is usually up to me to ask to be paid back, like some Charles Dickens tyrant, plus the extended expectation that I will pay for each shared meal, ride...I do love it as I watch them smoke their cigarettes, drink, take their recreational treats, and then ask for money... I have always been happy to be the worrier, the one who watches each dollar , each peso find a new home. It is my job to claim to be poor, to keep the borrowers away. It is not working well, but I wake each day in a sweat knowing there is less for me , less of what I worked so hard for...and I want to continue to be generous and help the Dominicans who are in my close-knit neighborhood, the local school, the health crisis, the jailed son, the motorcycle accidents, cancers, and life changing events that the poor cannot answer to. But spare me the cocaine snorting, person who pays for alcohol, sex, smokes, and tattoos, and needs some cash!! Exit soap box stage left. People are just people, and I prefer the Dominicans and their open honesty, clear eyed needs and willingness to share to any other ethnic commodity I have experienced so far. Back to a beautiful country and a beautiful first day of December 2013.