culture.

hello all! it's really been too long since i've seriously updated this blog. i realized today that i've completed one month of classes already. time certainly is flying! i've been keeping busy with homework, hanging out with friends, volunteering, sleeping and eating. unfortunately i haven't been taking very many pictures, but i hope to change that very soon.

the theme for tonight's post is culture. i've been noticing a lot recently how where you grew up greatly influences all areas of your life. i guess i've always been told that but i never really believed it. i mean we're all human so of course we have the same values and ideas of how things should work, right? wrong. every person from another country is actually an alien with very different values and ideas. just kidding, the incorrect part of that statement was the part about sharing values and ideas. why yes i think that some ideas and values are universal, i'm learning that many of my own (more than i would have thought) have been shaped by my american-ness. let me share a few examples that i've come across:

1. answering your cell phone during class. yes, thats right. i've seen it done. sometimes a fellow student will bend over in their seat and whisper into their phone in the middle of class! i honestly couldn't believe it. some just get up and walk right out of the room to talk. i don't know which i think is better. i mean isn't that rude? or doesn't it show a lack of respect for the professor? for me, yes. but not for everyone. i asked my friends jonatan and miki about this yesterday and jonatan's response was "por favor abby! vivimos en una democracía en perú, donde estás libre a hacer lo que quieres. no es como los estados unidos." translation: "come on abby! we live in a democracy here in peru, where you are free to do what you want. it's not like the u.s." (he likes to joke around about the u.s. by the way, he wasn't being serious)

2. wearing hats inside. i recently realized that my friend jonatan is always wearing a hat. i don't think i've ever seen him without it. which got me thinking if he ever takes it off, like in class or such. but no. i've always grown up thinking that it is rude (for a guy) to wear a hat inside. i'm not really sure why. but hats were definitely not allowed in school. and they are not allowed at the dinner table in my house.

3. walking. first off i'd just like to say that walking speeds vary greatly. here in peru i'm practically a speed walker. although sometimes i do get passed on the sidewalk. but when i'm walking with my peruvian friends sometimes it is painfully slow. like literally my legs start to hurt after a while. isn't that weird? but thats not actually what i wanted to say about walking. what i recently noticed and got me a little frustrated was when i was walking up stairs in a building on campus someone was walking down the stairs on the same side as me. as in i was staying to the right, because that is the way that traffic goes, but the other person was walking on their left. i thought to myself, why don't these silly people walk on the right? simple rules of traffic!! but my program director kindly pointed out that what may be common sense to me does not necessarily apply here. and it's true. it can be a bit frustrating at times, but i'm learning to deal.

4. colors. so usually peruvians identify the micros by their colors. (i haven't figured out why they don't refer to them by numbers, that would be logical - there i go again) as in to get to barranco from la católica take the white one with red and green stripes. or take the big gray and orange one to get to pueblo libre. but what always gets me is the color celeste which is sky blue. so someone tells me to take the celeste and to verify i say ¿el azul? (the blue one?), to which they reply, no celeste. as if it's not even blue. but it clearly is, to me at least.

5. food. huge aspect of culture. i've come to realize that the food you grew up with will always hold a special place in your heart. i mean yes peruvian food is good, but nothing will ever be able to stand up to my mom's spaghetti and meatballs. (side note: i was trying to think of another expression for that...like nothing will ever hold a cake to my mom's spaghetti?? or hold a candle?? am i making this up or is it actually a phrase that people say?) what you eat is just such a big part of who you are (literally - haha). and here in peru is no different. and peruvians are very gosh darn proud of their cuisine. talk with any peruvian long enough and the topic of conversation will undoubtedly become food. they want to know what you like, if you've tried ceviche and what you think of all the different kinds of potatoes. honestly, they go on and on and on. and they just can't seem to understand other types of food. my peruvian friends are appalled by the mexican tortilla because it apparently has no flavor and really serves no purpose. whenever that argument comes up i point out the fact that peruvians eat rice with every meal. mmmm how yummy and flavorful. all they can say to that is "no es igual." - it's not the same. sometimes at lunch when the básico (the lunch plate that you buy at the cafeteria at la católica) doesn't contain rice, but instead maybe noodles they complain and get upset. for them it just isn't a meal without a mountain of rice. i'm not joking. it may be hard to believe, sometimes i can't even believe it myself and i see it every day.

thats it for now. please don't mistake some of my sarcastic comments for negativity. i really do have an open mind and i'm enjoying realizing and learning new things. i'm being stretched outside of my comfort zone and learning to re-evaluate what i think is acceptable or important. and i'm happy here. it's a beautiful place with wonderful people who have welcomed and accepted me into their lives, for which i am eternally grateful.

dear peru,

i love you, with all your quirks and things that seemed so foreign to me and are now becoming strangely familiar.