Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Show me what I'm looking for.

Things that are different here:
  • There are cats everywhere. They all respond to "here kitty!" so they must be multi-lingual cats. I feel like the US feline community is being shown up. 
  • The language (REALLY)
  • The handwriting. I can't take notes because I can't tell what letter it is.
  • The crazy driving.
  • People are really really friendly and extremely social here.
  • They eat warm milk with their cereal. My host family looks at me weird when I pour cold milk into my bowl. 
  • Balcalhou (dried, salted, rehydrated codfish). Enough said. 
  • 2 hour lunches.
  • People think Americans eat McDonald's every day.
  • It's not uncommon to see small children sitting at bars with their parents.
  • They iron everything. 
  • They think it's weird if you wear just socks and no slippers around the house.
  • They think it's weird if you wear short sleeves in the winter (even if you have a jacket on), and they are also concerned when your socks and/or pajamas don't match.
  • EVERYONE wears scarves and boots. Every day. 
  • Soup all day, every day.
  • Everyone loves a foreigner.
  • PASTRIES. BREAD. YUM.
  • There are tiny motorcycles that go super slow and buzz really loud, it's quite hilarious.
  • The bus driver won't stop at your stop if you don't stand up beforehand. 
  • The school bus is a coach bus.
  • There's no native music, it's all American. I'm like "I came here to get AWAY from Katy Perry, not to hear her more!"
  • Everyone knows where most of the US states are. (?)
  • Everyone thinks there's cowboys and tumbleweeds in NM. I have to assure people that the Wild West is not really around anymore.
  • If you say you'll be there at 7:00, you won't be there until at least 7:45.

But for the most part, things are the same here as they are in the US. Everyone keeps asking me if things are really different but something exchange teaches you is that people everywhere are mostly the same. I ride a bus to school, but sometimes my parents take me. My friends at school like to do the same things I do in the US. My host family hangs out at home after school and work and watches TV. Although I do read out of a Portuguese Winnie the Pooh book to learn more Portuguese every night.
Do people in America really want anything different than people in the Congo, or people in Portugal? Everyone wants to be loved. To have something to work for and something to hope for. To have people you can count on. To be safe and warm and financially stable. Some are poor. Some have disabilities. Some like to sneak dessert before dinner.
But we are all the same. 

2 comments:

  1. Gosto muito deste post!

    Ps Katy perry is half Portuguese her moms parents are from Portugal haha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Obrigada! And seriously hahahaha oh man. That explains that at least. But I wanna hear Portuguese music!!

    ReplyDelete