Other quick observations

Things that are way more popular HERE
(as opposed to in the United States):

~Popcorn
Salted popcorn here is eaten all the time, of everything you can buy at school to eat the bags of popcorn are the most popular I would have to say. Here it is eaten like no big deal, where as back home it's very much like- you are eating popcorn...where's the movie?
~clapping
At our Rotary meetings we clap for the flag of Peru and Rotary... mild but interesting difference
~taking pictures
Every official moment or action moment---PICTURE!
~slippers
Don't even think about walking around in bare feet in your house... I don't know if I'll see my feet for a year... everyone thinks you will get sick, but also your feet would get dirty...
~rice
Every single lunch, with out fail, even if there are potatoes. They don't let THAT faze them, they eat them both!
~Seasoning (on food-pretty heavy)
~Dancing / Music
To dance here, casually or at a party or anything, is to salsa and do other related steps. When people ask if I know how to salsa or merengue and I say no (though I have learned enough so far to look more or less normal and have fun) they all look really confused and ask me what we do to dance in the US... And I try and explain, but I'm starting to ask the same thing! Hahaa
~TRAFFIC
There is alot of traffic in this huge city! It's a terribly annoying thing! I am proud to say that now when someone tells me where they live, in what district of Lima, I am picture it on a visual map--the physical distance. So I'm going along orienting myself well! But along with that comes the realization that when someone says that they live in Miraflores, I see an hour long trip via combi and/or taxi. It's kinda crazy! And about traffic as well is that it is made up of a completly different mix! the majority is loads of Combis, which are public buses. I doon't even know how many different types, sizes and colors there are! Some are literally vans that seats got shoved into, those are harder to get in and out of because of my height (hahaa)... And there are loads of taxis! Though there is some concern surrounding taxis, since everyone is concerned with their personal well being and with an increases in crimes of abductions and murders, women inparticular are much more catious to take taxis by themselves since about 98% of the time the drivers are men... So my family is much more comfortable with me taking the combi then getting into a taxi by myself!
~Billboards
HOLLY MOLLY. I have never been more exposed to more adds here in one week of traveling about the city (I mean my school is an hour away so five days a week I have atleast two hours of commute each day) than in like four months in Portland!
~sub topic: Political Billboards
YEAH. ALL OVER THE PLACE! Elections are October Third and there are extra billboards all over the place for each canidate! Normal signs that are put up on sticks everywhere! I'll get some pictures before the election time, though something tells me they won't come down that fast anyway...
~French Fries
They eat alot of french fries. Alot. Wiiiith chicken, meats and fast foods.


Things that are way more popular in the USA:

~Drinking
Now, this should be taken with a brick of salt. People drink here alot, but the manner that they do so is very different. Here the majority of people only drink when there is a cause for celebration, at reunions, parties, or formal gatherings. But to drink beer or a glass of wine at home would be strange here, super strange. What's more is that the glasses and bottles are completly different-- Beer comes in really large bottles, and at family parties they way that people drink beer is that one person has the bottle, and everyone has a glass--actually the majority of the times I have seen there have never been enough cups, so people just share once they finish, because one person has the big bottle and they pour in about a fourth of the way full and let the person drink that and then fill it up again or pass to someone else (usually pass). And these cups are small. The peruvian glass is a midget. Everything is taken out of small cups-cut our normal glass in two and then make it more narrow, that's what we drink everything out of. So in this way the drinking of beer becomes very communual and is super super different.
Now wine comes in the same normal wine bottle, but it is alot alot stronger here. Now. I don't drink. But you don't have to drink to notice that, you just have to have a nose. You can smell one glass from the other side of the table. All wine is served in a smaller cup than the normal, and is usually served to everyone at formal gatherings where toasts are made.
~Cream Cheese
~Bagels- I have seen NOTHING resembling this tasty breakfast/snack/Americanlunch!
~Chocolate
People eat alot of snacky/junkfood/desserts like cookies and other stuff, but to eat just a bar of chocolate is not that common. Ice cream is expensive and to have just chocolate is tasty here (highly praised) but for some reason even though people like eating just chocolate, it's not a 'shopping list' iteam if you will. Though I will go in depth on shopping for food one day!
~Jelly
~Fortune Cookies
There are ATON ALOT ALOT ALOT ALOT of chinese restaurants here, and they are obviously different than back home because they have a differnt influence, but they are very tasty (though Peruvians think they are Peruvian, not Chinese.. which is just odd...) But there is not a whisper of a fortune!
~Chocolate chip cookies--no one knows what CHOCOLATE CHIPS ARE!