So I wanted to share a blog post I wrote a long time ago but never had time to post. At one of our weekly workshop sessions, the topic of one of the discussions was
Cultural Adaptation. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it, since I
consider myself kind of a pro by this point, but it turned out to be quite
entertaining. Our assignment was to break into groups and write a list of
“Things that make us go ‘hmmm’”. This could be done in a variety of styles;
some groups made lists; some drew representative pictures; we thought of
appropriate song titles. My favorites were “Who Let the Dogs Out?” (a reference
to street dogs and other animals) and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” (a double
reference to arriving during rainy season and the many parades we saw in the
month of September). Some of the stories that my fellow trainees told were
hilarious examples of adapting to the new culture and customs around us, and I
took it upon myself to write them down and share them. Some are simply
observations that I may have forgotten in earlier posts, some are more comical,
all serve to paint a picture of where I am
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Carbs. Each meal features a carb dish, with at
least one side dish of carbs. I personally don’t worry about this since I have
a good relationship with Luisa, who is in charge of cooking for me, and she understands
my food needs while not feeling offended.
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Buses. I had a personal moment of culture shock
when I rode an inter-city bus for the first time last week, which was in
reality an old school bus. It was odd to see a school bus full of adults. But
most of the transport within regions in Nicaragua is via “micros”, which are
12-16 passenger vans similar to the tro-tros I rode in Ghana, but a little
smaller. They are manned by a driver and a money-collector, who hangs out the
door shouting the destination until someone hails him. I find the fares very
cheap, but apparently there has been a national increase recently that has many
people, especially students who have to commute, protesting.
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Drunks. We’ve been told since day one that
moderation doesn’t exist in Nicaragua, and that women usually don’t drink in
public. My friends have stories of almost tripping over drunks passed out on
the sidewalk, or of cab drivers swerving around them lying in the street.
Volunteers share stories of having to take longer, alternate walking routes to
avoid street corners where drunks typically congregate.
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Piropos. This is the Spanish word for the
obnoxious things men say to women they find attractive, especially foreign
women, even if they are completely disgusting and sweaty from their morning
run. A strategy for avoiding this is to beat them to the punch by greeting them
politely before they can say anything, though this is not always 100%
effective. (On a side note, the standard Nica greeting is “adios”, which of
course usually means good-bye. I wonder if it’s a reflection of the religiosity
of the country since the literal meaning is “to God”.) Two of the best examples
of piropos received so far are “shake it don’t break it girl” and “you are a
rainbow in my sky”.
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Treat? One friend told a story of how her young
host sister offered her a piece of her “sweet”, which came in a Play-doh
container. Sure enough, the treat was Play-doh, and the mother bought it for
the daughter as a special treat periodically. (Another side note: small snack
stores here are called “pulperias”, and no one has been able to tell me why. I
know that “pulpo” means octopus…but that can’t be it, right?)
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Large spider found in bed. I’m not sure how it
got through the mosquito net. Also, lots of people are covered with bug bites,
despite layering on the bug spray (which the Peace Corps supplies for free). I
swear I haven’t seen a mosquito this entire time, knock on wood.
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Baby food. Trainees with babies or infants in
their host families repeatedly report coffee and Coke being served to them,
sometimes in a bottle.
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Ovens. Most kitchens have an oven, but I have
yet to see one actually used for its intended purpose. Instead, they are used
to store pots, pans, and other cookware. I thought this was just my family, but
word on the street is it’s universal.
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Pets? Some friends have cows, pigs, and chickens
that live within the housing compound. One boy reported having his leg pecked
by a chicken while eating breakfast.
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Stuffed alligators. One volunteer reported that
they sold stuffed alligators in his site.
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Bathing rituals. We were told from the beginning
that Nicaraguans bathe in the morning, and that it is against cultural norms to
do otherwise. I haven’t tried bathing at nighttime, since I rn in the mornings
so it is convenient to me to bathe after that, but those who have report that
their families found them to be very strange, and couldn’t understand why.
Since there is never running water in our neighborhood between the hours of 6
am and noon, roughly, bathing at night would seem to be logical; but this is
not the case. One girl caught a cold, and her mother told her it was because
she had bathed in the evening. This seems illogical to us, but I wonder if
there is a reason for this belief.
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Plastic bags. Juices, soda, and ice cream are
typically served in plastic sandwich bags. To drink, you tear a hole in the
corner with your teeth and suckle. I had experience with this with water bags
in Ghana, but watching my friends attempt to figure it out at our first group
meeting was hilarious. Ice cream is still tricky for me though, and I always
seem to puncture the bag somewhere and make a mess.
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Dietary beliefs. Some report that their host
mothers have given them some interesting dietary advice, such as that one must
drink Coke after eating eggs to aid digestion. Another belief is that women are
not allowed to open the refrigerator while on their period. One family had a
1-yr-old who came down with a cold, and their attempt to cure it was to bathe
him/her in alcohol.
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Titanic. One environment trainee reported that
the first question a group of kids in the community who were helping build
their garden asked was, do you know the Titanic song? Will you sing it for us?
She refused (I would have done it), but they persistently asked. A current
volunteer reported that, in his 2 years in site, his host family has probably
watched Titanic over 300 times, sometimes starting before breakfast.
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Bicycles. 2-3 people on a bicycle is not an
uncommon site. I appreciate this fact more after attempting to be both a driver
and passenger in this scenario while in Hangzhou and failing miserably. But
I’ve heard reports of up to 5 people on a bicycle, and I can’t fathom how they
do that.
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Noise. We were told that noise was an
unavoidable part of life, but it still surprises us. I heard reports of
parades, complete with drumming marching bands, starting at 4AM, most likely to
commemorate a saint’s day. I’ve also heard that mariachi bands begin making the
rounds at midnight on Mother’s Day. One of my friends had a carnival spring up
on the street outside her doorstep virtually overnight, complete with a very
unsafe-looking Ferris wheel constructed of car tires and metal.
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Cancellations. One volunteer we talked to
estimated that only 70% of scheduled classes actually take place. We witnessed
a lot of cancellations during September, which is a whole month of celebrating
Nicaraguan-ness. And substitute teaching doesn’t seem to exist in here, so if a
teacher is ever sick or has to attend an impromptu teachers’ meeting, class
simply doesn’t happen. I’ve heard that many classes don’t happen when it rains,
too, since students simply don’t show up. This is a stark contrast to China,
where if the government benevolently decided to grant us a day off on Monday,
we would have to compensate them by working on Saturday. One time before New
Year’s, I had to work Saturday AND Sunday to make up for 2 days off (I think I
called in sick on Sunday…).
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Markets. I’ve walked through my fair share of
meat markets in my day, but here there is a very real possibility that you will
turn around and be confronted by a hanging pig’s head, and it’s accompanying
entourage of flies. Bleh.
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Bathrooms. I share my bathroom with 4 other
people, and I believe I have already talked about how I have to go through my
host mother’s room to get there. However, I am more appreciative of my
situation after hearing about some of my friends who share with up to 7 people,
or who don’t have locks on their doors.
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Clothing. One friend’s host mom routinely hangs
out in the house topless.
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Dinner. A girl answered the door one day, and
the woman next door handed her a paper bag to give to her host mom. To her
surprise, it started to move, and the neighbor informed her that it was a duck.
She dutifully delivered it to her host mom, whose response was “Oh good, we’ll
make soup.”
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Silence. Nicaraguans are apparently much more
comfortable with silence than Americans, who feel compelled to make
conversation during pauses. This will take some getting used to.
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Anniversaries. I don’t know if this is more of a
Nicaraguan thing or a Catholic thing, but family members and their friends
attend church to commemorate every month anniversary after the death of a loved
one for the first year, then a mass to commemorate the anniversary of their
passing every year. For these ones, I think the closest family members offer
food to all attendees afterwards.
