I'm sure I'll discover more differences during my last week here, but these will suffice for now! Once again, I don't really have corresponding pictures, so I threw in some random ones! Enjoy!
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| This little red hen is smart for a reason! |
- When you arrive at work, church, etc, or are leaving, you must acknowledge everyone around you with the customary cheek-to-cheek air kiss and hug; it would be rude not to.
- If you are part of a church community here, it is how you spend most of your time outside of work with events nearly every night of the week and parts of Saturday and Sunday, too! At least, that is what I’ve heard from many of the teachers with whom I work!
- Food here is packaged differently. Milk comes in shelf-stable boxes, or is sold in bags in the refrigerator section. You can buy bottled water, but most people buy it in 12 oz. bags; it’s not uncommon to see people walking around or sitting at a desk with bags of water hanging from their mouths. Condiments like ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise are not sold in bottles; they are sold in bags. The brand name varieties have a re-sealable cap on the bag at least!
- Every school here, whether public or private, has its own uniform for students to wear.
- Bilingual (Spanish and English) schools are very common here. I wish they were in Michigan, too!
- It’s totally normal for vendors to stroll or parade in trucks up and down the neighborhood streets shouting out what they’re selling, ringing bells, or muttering through loudspeakers. While this is a convenient way to buy anything from fruit and vegetables to toilet paper and soap, the noise can be very disrupting! It’s like the ice cream truck on steroids!
Excuse me while I herd my cattle down the street! - I think it’s safe to say that big city-dwellers in MI typically do not have farm animals at home. Here, however, it’s not uncommon for people to have not only chickens, but cattle and horses. What better way to get around the crowded streets than on horseback?
- Trying to get just about anything done here takes at least twice as long. You need a carpenter to come fix a piece of furniture? Plan to call him for several weeks or months before he makes it over to do the work. You need to buy new bathroom fixtures? Don’t plan on the store having what you want in stock or even being able to get it shipped in time. The only business I’ve witnessed provide good service is our internet provider. I am thankful for that!
- In Michigan, the power goes out because of a storm with high winds or because of an ice storm. Here it just goes out for apparently no reason. Just like with the water, I think a higher power enjoys cutting off the power at random. Sometimes it is off for a good chunk of the day. Tonight, as I write, it’s been on and off all evening, and while talking with my host parents, I learned why: we are on the same circuit as the news station that broadcasts the TRUTH about the corrupt Honduran government, so whenever something has been going on that they don’t want publicized, they turn off the power so the station can’t broadcast their reports! WOW!
- I remember learning in Spanish classes that even body language can be different in other cultures. Here it is considered very rude to point with your finger, so instead you use your lips. Yup, your lips. It’s like you’re puckering up to kiss someone, but it’s a quick gesture in the direction of the person or object you’re indicating while raising your eyebrows at the same time. If your mouth is busy eating, use your elbow or your head, but never your finger!
My dear dad received a lesson in hand washing his clothes! - Laundry: I think it’s safe to say that the majority of people in Michigan have access to washers and dryers even if it means just within their apartment building. Of course, some people do have to go to the laundromat, too. Here, however, very few people have washing machines, and almost no one has a dryer. What just about everyone does have, though, is a pila, a water holding tank and scrub sink combo for hand washing clothes. Not only is this the way most Hondurans wash their clothes, they actually prefer to wash their clothes this way, swearing that it gets the clothes so much cleaner. Perhaps stranger still, many women I have talked to sincerely enjoy the process of hand washing their clothes. Now that I’ve been hand washing my own clothes for quite a few months, I have to agree on both accounts: my clothes are cleaner, and there’s just something satisfying about the process of hand washing them! Now, if I had to wash clothes for a whole family, I think I’d feel differently….!
- Basic medical care: no matter what ails you, here, there is an injection for that. And, you can probably buy the injection at your local pharmacy without a prescription and have someone at home give it to you. If you have a cold, you absolutely should not drink or eat anything cold, no matter how hot it is outside. Of course, I’m a rebel, and I do it anyway! Thankfully, I am not well acquainted with the medical care here, but when I went to a neighborhood clinic to get drops for an ear infection, my whole visit plus medications cost me just $3.50! Lastly, you can buy some antibiotics over-the-counter. That isn’t a good idea!
- On the same theme, hospitals here are only for providing medical care. Hospitals rely on a patient’s family members to go buy the prescribed medications for staff to administer, to bring in meals, provide bedding, and help with self-care tasks. Maybe they hold the solution to lowering our healthcare costs? (Said tongue-in-cheek!)
- Auto repair: Just as hospitals do not provide medicines, auto shops do not provide auto parts. Your mechanic will diagnose the problem, give you a list of parts to buy, you go and buy them, and he’ll fix your vehicle once you bring the parts back. On the up side of this, car repairs are MUCH cheaper here!
- Skin color: Historically this has been a big deal in the US, and it continues to be so for some reason. Here in Honduras, however, skin color differences are no big deal. Lest you think, “Yeah, well, they are all the same color!” let me tell you, you’re wrong! The influence of the Spaniards, African Americans, Chinese, and Arabs is evident here. The great thing, though, is nobody cares what color you are, and, culturally, people just call things as they see them. Your wife has a darker skin color than yours? Well, it’s OK to call her “mi negrita” (my little black one). Or, you’re trying to describe a co-worker—who is a little on the heavy side—to a friend, so of course you describe him as “el gordo”—the fat one. No worries! From my US culture perspective, this honesty seemed offensive at first, but now I find it quite freeing! You don’t have to be constantly on your guard lest you offend someone!
This is a picture from my visit in August 2014. - Ants! In Michigan, who hasn’t had ants invade their house in the summertime? Well, since it’s always like summer here, we always have ants. Thankfully, the bigger ones are harmless, but the itty-bitty ones in the kitchen are enough to make me crazy! They occasionally are so audacious as to chew through my bags of cereal and have a veritable feast. If this were to happen in MI, I would, of course, throw out the bag of cereal. Here, however, we don’t waste food, and my house mom knows that if you put the cereal on a tray out in the sun for a few hours, the ants will all leave, and then you can still eat the cereal. Yup. I’ve eaten ate-chewed cereal and lived to tell about it!
- Rules of the road: I know I’ve touched on this a little bit already, but recently I learned the rules for letting emergency vehicles pass. Like in the States, on a single lane road, you are supposed to move to the right, but here, on a two lane road, both lanes of traffic are supposed to move to the shoulders allowing the ambulance to pass down the middle. Here, pulling over doesn’t mean slowing down or stopping, it just means moving over!
The Catholic church in Santa Lucia
