A Few More Differences

I learned something interesting this week about Puerto Rico. I think it might be a perfect place for Anna Moeller to move to. Most people here do not use peanut butter. Our Spanish prof told us that peanut butter and pickles are two things that just never caught on here. Apparently we shipped them a whole bunch of peanut butter for the school lunch programs and they didn't know what to do with it. Adriana (my prof.) said that the first time they shipped it to the school she was in elementary school and they used an ice cream scoop and just put a glob of it on everyone's plate. When no one ate it, they then put it in a glass and filled it with milk. Still not a hit. Haha. I like peanut butter, but that is just nasty. I guess that explains why I went through the isles at Sam's four times and couldn't find any. At least they sell it at the normal grocery stores.

Another thing that is different from home is funerals. Our campus is on the top of a hill that overlooks a ginormous cemetery. There are a whole bunch of trees so, unless you live in one of the dorms that faces the cemetery or go on the roof, you can't see it. For the longest time, Cathleen and I would hear music and could never figure out where it was coming from. It always sounded like there were speakers in the dense row of trees behind the school. It was always this upbeat reggaeton that made Cathleen and I wonder what celebration we were missing. When we first got here we tried to figure it out and after a couple of weeks someone told us that it was coming from funerals in the cemetery. At first I thought it was really bizarre music for a funeral, but the more I think about it, it makes it seem like they are celebrating life rather than playing sad stuff, that makes you even more depressed than you are in that kind of situation.

I really wish that Puerto Rico had a better English newspaper. There is only one that I know of and it sucks. http://www.prdailysun.com/ I feel detached from the politics and some of puerto rican culture just because I can't fully understand everything in a Spanish newspaper. Jim, if you get sick of Rice Lake, I know an island that could use your help Hahaha.