Culture P1

A few points about culture....
1. School... is from 8-12.30 for young children and 7-12.30pm. Just have 1, 30 minute break in the middle of the day. And the curriculum is fascinating, reading and writing is not a priority, you start this at 5 or 6. Following rules / instruction, concepts, colours, social skills such as singing and dancing are important along with science and culture. School is a lot of copying and repetition, at preschool is colouring in, creativeness is not encouraged.
It was fascinating the first time I asked a 5 year old to draw me a person because she had no idea what to do (and it wasn't just her it was all the class following that experience), and decided just to draw circles, squares, rectangles and triangles on the paper. They are initiating drawing images for themself now but initially if I gave them a blank page they didnt know what to do.
I asked the teacher of the 8 year olds if they could write me a short story about their day and what they do in it, or a list or something and she couldn't understand why I would want that. Instead I was given cards from each of them, telling me about their families.
2. Time keeping... People generally will be on time to appointments and school but if you pass someone you know in the street (which if you live here you know everyone) then you have to stop and talk. If you say that you have to go to meet someone you are telling the other person that they are less important and that is a no no! I am getting used to this laid back approach but was slightly stressful when my host Mum offered to take me to work and we drove past the street to my school to run errands first, I only arrived at the school 15 minutes late the first time and 30 minutes late the second. You may ask, why did I do it twice, I thought the first was an accident and we left 20 minutes earlier the second day!
3. Driving...Minimal road rules, can't see a speed limit, pass where you want, toot at everything and everybody including intersections and most importantly don't wear a seatbelt!
4. Male dominance...where to start?..Well in the 25 minute walk to work the least number of toots greetings and wolf whistles I have counted is 20, normally a lot more. And usually in the first 10 minutes when I walk along the main road. But it is most disturbing when it is the car horn that are wolf whislting at you and it is a woman driver (I think she was making sure I didn't step on the road, or at least I hope so), not to mention the truck full of cops that stopped up ahead (I just crossed the road), or the volunteer fire service going to a call out - yes the car horns, most of them, have been changed to all sorts of noises including wolf whistles and sirens. I am trying to take all this as a compliment, even if Big Butts are hot here, I can see why Im winning! (Speaking of big butts, I broke the chair at the school the other day and fell out of another, now I've given up and just sit on the floor, Im just too tall for the furniture.) When all the osbscenities come I never know whether to look or not, smile or not, respond or not, mostly I just ignore it, but if they just greet me in spanish I normally politely respond.
In a discoteca (bar/nightclub where they play a badly mixed cross between 80s/90s/and now western music, with loatin american music, and everyone dances salsa style to EVERYTHING) if a guy asks you to dance - in the old fashioned style - you are expected to say yes, the problem lies that there is no chance to sit down because there is no break between songs and as good as I was at getting away in NZ I just cant seem to do it here.
Ingeneral (yes things are slowly changing) Girlfriends/wives are expected to be faithful while it is no surprise if a man is not. Women are not allowed to go out without their partner and for this reason they have women only parties at the houses where married or taken women can go. Men go out at all times and there is no expectation of information about their time out of the house to be shared with their wife.
5. Officials (police in particular)- many are dodgy and I wouldn't feel comfortable approaching them in the street for help. I would go to a shop, which usually have women and ask them for help.
6. Shops...Street shops are barred up and you stand at the entrance hollaring "buenas dias" until somebody comes from the house, they will then ask what you want and pass it through the bars in exchange for money. Of course this is not the case in malls.

That is enough for now, but in the next 2 weeks I am visiting other hospitals and clinics so will write something about the crazy health system soon! And I mean crazy...A small snippet, if you gp to the hospital and need medicine your family have to go out buy the medicines from the pharmacy with a prescription and bring them back to the hospital. Crazy!