Sometimes we run out of water. We only get the amount of water that is in the cistern every day so hopefully you’re not in the shower when the water stops.
There aren’t hot water heaters here. At least not like we think of them… there is a small device that plugs into the wall and attaches to the shower head: it sends an electrical current that heats the water. Don’t touch the shower head or you’ll get shocked.
Our toilet is a bit funny. We’re not allowed to put toilet paper in the toilets and sometimes when you flush it you can hear a gurgle come from the bathtub. But if for any reason the toilet doesn’t flush you have to walk up to the third floor, fill up a bucket of water, walk back down the stairs, and pour the bucket quickly into the toilet to “flush” it. We learned the hard way that you’re supposed to pour the bucket quickly but not turn the bucket completely upside down… that gets water everywhere.
You can’t find a carton of milk if you tried. Milk is always in a bag. Also, yogurt comes in a jug and you drink it.
When you buy eggs at the store or corner market they’re just sitting out on the shelf as if they were any other dried good. You also buy them buy the kilo, if you ask for a dozen eggs you will either be laughed at or not understood.
Seatbelts really aren’t much of an issue. One day the cab driver said we could put four people in the back… it saved us fare for another cab.
Honking your car horn is a necessary part of driving. When someone is driving too slow, if a bus stops in front of you with no notice, if there’s a j-walker, if you just feel like it… lay on the horn!
Instead of having a dog that barks when the doorbell rings, we have parrots who squak. Well Panco is quite boisterous Pepita is a lot quieter. We’re really trying to teach Pancho to say “party on” before we leave.
It’s apparently culturally appropriate for men to whistle at women when they’re walking down the street, no woman ever turns her head to it. We get whistled at a few times whenever we go out. We’ve also heard many variations on the whistle, everything from “my precious”, “you are pretty buy a map”, “oh my goodness…”, and one time a bus even whistled at us, we’re not sure how that worked.
We also kiss numerous people every day. When ever you greet someone to say good bye you place your right cheek against theirs and kiss the air… except some of the older men who kiss you right on the cheek, watch out for them.
2 comments:
Aww I miss kissing on the cheek! My extended family, especially my dad's side, is very in touch with their South American heritage and that is a custom we do with them, but I don't see them very often anymore.
We used to have a bird named Pepita!!! haha :)
oh my gosh, that sounds fun. maybe not the old men part, but the rest of it sounds like a genuine adventure...
i love milk bags! we had those at my high school and i miss them.
"you are pretty, buy a map"? is that supposed to be polite?
i will be praying earnestly for that bird to learn "party on". maybe next you can teach him to say "he's a righteous dude" when otto comes home. : )
thanks for your e-mail, it was lovely to get it! things are good here, it's hard to be back after spring break when i am not motivated in the least. the japanese girls are a lot of fun, a peace rally yesterday was a lot of fun, making green footprints with earth-friendly tips for st patrick's day was fun, learning about snake handlers and the congo and unitarian universalists (but not all together) is very very fun, hearing that our pastor decided to resign is not that fun (although it comes in the midst of a lot of other issues, that i think will be able to move forward better now... it's a weird thing) and remembering how much i love my friends is fun!
life is good here, i just keep realizing that i am checked out of school. bleh. oh well, not too much longer!
how is your monkey?!?
Post a Comment