I bought a bag of salt at the grocery store and was looking for a salt shaker. No luck at all, nothing even remotely like a salt shaker. I was so confused as to how there could be salt but no salt shakers. How do people get their salt evenly and cleanly onto their food?
Then I opened the bag of salt. It has the consistency and texture of brown sugar, there's no way it would pour out of a salt shaker like the granulated salt I am used to.
It's eye-opening to realize how many of these cultural biases I have. The big ones you can try to prepare yourself for; these small ones catch you off guard, and I think it is the small ones that most contribute to culture shock over the long-term.
As we (Peace Corps Volunteers) like to say, "Everything's the same, except it's all different."
I love hearing about all your happenings and findings there. It's fascinating. I'm glad you're feeling better.
ReplyDeleteThis blog keeps getting better and better, I'm HOOKED!! and salty :-D
ReplyDeleteThey probably put in in a bowl by the stove and use their hands to season the dish. That's what Spainards do. I made the mistake of watching once when a member made us lunch on the mission. She rinsed (no soap) her hands after chopping the raw chicken, dipped her hands in the salt to season it, and then used that same salt to season our salad. I learned to steer clear of the kitchen. Shockingly, I hardly ever got sick.
ReplyDeleteActually, I think I was only sick once on the mission. Not bad, considering...
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