Nica oddities

Now this isn't meant to criticize everything that Nicas do that must be wrong because they're different.  They're more of funny and interesting observations, and also some things that just frustrate/annoy me.  It's all part of being in immersed in another country.   And when I say "Nicas" I don't necessarily mean every Nica, but just many that I have witnessed. 

Something that drives me crazy is the lack of cleanliness in the kitchen.  This is where you make your food and there's so many things that could taint it that why would we take our chances?  Ugh.

My family, along with pretty much every other Nica family, uses their dish sponge or metal sponge to clean chicken before cooking it.  Um, yuck.  It wouldn't be so bad if the sponges didn't have bits of chicken stuck in them later because they didn't clean them out.  I'm just terrified I'm going to wash something with chicken bits instead of soap.  Great.  Today I pointed it out to my host sister and told her she needs to be careful because chicken has bacteria.  I really wish they didn't use the same sponge to wash the dishes, clean the counters, and scrub the chicken.  Not exactly sanitary.

Another thing that I find strange, not so disgusting this time, is that Nicas drink oatmeal.  Yes, you read that right.  They drink it instead of eat it.  And, it's cold, not hot.  So, what they do is pour about a 1/4 cup of uncooked oats in a cup, add water, sugar, and ice cubes, and drink.  Strange to have little floaties in your drink, but it actually doesn't taste too bad.  It took me awhile to get over the chunks in my drink, and today I actually made one for myself.  Shows how much I've integrated ;)  I dare you to try it too!  I did also teach my sister how to make oatmeal the real way (cooking it) and we found that Dyland really likes it so she has given it to him sometimes, but usually it's just the overly-greasy fried eggs and gallo pinto (beans & rice fried in oil).  Now, I've never been a mom before, but I feel like a 1 year old shouldn't be eating lots of greasy foods (well anybody for that matter), but here they pretty much feed the babies what they eat because they can't afford to make something special and not many people really like vegetables here.  It's unfortunate, but that's how they've done it for so long and people still live long lives so I guess it can't be too terrible.

Superstitions sure a fun topic here.  You'll hear some pretty crazy things from witch spells to cold water makes you fat.  Oh yes, that's one of my favs.  Nicas don't drink very much water in general, usually slurping down sugar-packed fruit juices, Coca Cola, and tons of coffee, but if they do drink water, they usually don't drink it cold because that will make you fat.  Hmmm.  If they're that concerned about getting fat from water of all things, maybe cutting back on the Coke & coffee wouldn't be a bad idea either.  haha  It's interesting though because so many people complain of high blood pressure, so many suffer from Diabetes, and so many complain of having little energy and feel lethargic.  I'm assuming those are all the results of loads of caffeine and sugar.  With it being so HOT here, I can't imagine skipping out on water.  I always have a water bottle with me and if by chance I don't, my mouth feels like cotton and I crave water. 

Another good superstition is that my host mom has told me is that she refuses to allow the rain water fill our pila (the water container that fills from city water and then distributes the water throughout the house) because if the rain water and the city water mix, it will do you harm.  Oh really?  Considering they don't drink the water from the tap anyway, because my host mom says its bad river water (even though it's chlorinated), I'm not exactly sure why rain water and city water would be bad for washing dishes/clothes/hands, and taking showers.  That one kinda drives me nuts though because the pila is empty some days which means no water flows through the pipes, but it could be rainy that day, so we fill up any buckets that are lying around and use that water to do the necessary things, for example: wash dishes, take a shower, wash clothes.  It's very strange I know. 

Oh, speaking of water, it's funny how Nicas sometimes don't like to use a washing machine (if they even have one) because of the reason that it uses too much water, yet they use about a gallon of water for each piece of clothing they wash by hand.  I only will accept the reason of using too much electricity. 

I don't know if there's a superstition about this one or not, but Nicas don't eat gallo pinto for lunch, only breakfast and dinner.  They will look at you like you're crazy if you ask for/make it for lunch.  I really don't know the reasoning behind this one--it's one of those "we just do" kinda things.

Here's something that sorta drives me crazy again.  So, Nicas like to point out the obvious, just in case you needed someone to tell you that you don't look so great today, oh they'll let you know.  Not necessarily in a mean way, they'll just let you know.  For example, pretty much every time I walk home from school or sometimes when I arrive other places from walking, my face gets red from how hot it is and the bit of exercise that it requires to walk there.  Well, Nicas find it very amusing to tell me my face is red.  Obviously. It's like 100 degrees out there and I'm walking up a giant hill.  I'm surprised my face isn't purple.  I think its because I walk fast though.  Apparently the students at the instituto told the principal that I walk really fast.  I just don't like to walk casually down the street with the sun beating down on me--I gotta get to my house asap and flip the switch on my fan and cool down. 

The refrigerator.  That's a doozy.  Covering food with any sort of wrap or even a lid doesn't quite happen here.  Things get stacked inside others (a bowl holding beans on top of/inside a bowl with rice--I'm sure that bean bowl wasn't clean on the bottom) and tipped over to spill.  Also, if the power goes out, they unplug the fridge and then often forget to plug it back in after the power comes back.  I understand that they're afraid that it might destroy an appliance when the power goes on and off, but leaving the fridge unplugged for that long cannot be good.

Here's another one.  Ruth doesn't want to take Dyland to preschool because she's afraid he'll get sick, which is pretty reasonable, but she doesn't quite supervise him at home and I've definitely seen him put a pile of dust in his mouth, carry around used 2 liter soda bottles and put them in his mouth, walked out to the back patio by himself where there are about 6 buckets full of water just his height...and other such things.  But instead, it's TV time for Dyland.  I feel bad for the little guy cuz he's glued to the TV all day while others go about their business.  They do play with him sometimes, but it's terrible how much I hear them say, "oh let's watch TV", plop him down, and walk away.  :(

My host mom has given up trying to prevent me from taking showers after exercising and/or too late at night.  Apparently it can make you sick if you're body is too hot and you take a cold shower.  Actually, it feels quite refreshing. 

You're not allowed to eat pineapple late at night either because you'll wake up with a cough and scratchy throat the next day.  Never has happened to me...yet.

Going to the pool or lake is not called "going swimming" but "going bathing", like the same word used to take a shower.  And, Nicas wear regular clothes right into the water, never swimsuits because they don't want to get dark, and probably that swimsuits are expensive.  I offered to let Ruth wear one of my bikinis when we went swimming one time but she said her husband would kill her if she wore one of those because other men could see her.  Ok, I know Nicas are not that conservative judging by their everyday apparel, so this one stems from jealousy and the macho culture.  She ended up wearing it after many giggles of embarrassment but told me I was not allowed to post any pictures on Facebook of her.  So silly. 

The fact that I can't say banana, cucumber, or any other fruit or veggie in that shape without people laughing at me is just plain annoying.  This is especially with students.  They even have several for the female anatomy just for extra laughs.  There goes the English food unit!  I also said "water the plants" when we were talking about household chores and they laughed because apparently that's slang for peeing.  Great. 

Well, nothing else comes to mind as of now, but I'm sure I'll share others later.