Culture Curiosities

One example of new celebrations would be Easter here in Peru.  How do Peruvians celebrate?  Many celebrate it much like we do by attending a church service or mass.  On Palm Sunday, a statue of Jesus is paraded through the town on a mule with people following carrying palm branches.  On Good Friday, we passed another procession.  The lights in the town were turned off and a statue of Jesus and Mary are carried through the streets lit by candles.  A small number of people want to “truly” share in Christ’s suffering.  These, though they are few, will actually allow themselves to be nailed to a cross for a short period of time! 

     An example of cross cultural stress is the process of buying school supplies. In Peru every family must buy all of their books and school supplies. This might not sound so bad, until you find out that the school supplies include toilet paper, paper towel, printer paper, soap, dry-erase markers, dry-erase erasers, paint brushes, paint, pencils, tape, and virtually every other possible item that could be used in the school. We joke that the school provides a building, a desk, and a teacher. The parents must provide nearly everything else. There are no Walmart stores in Peru and so buying school supplies involves going from one shop to another. School books are sold in a variety of shops scattered across the city.  Each shop has its own specialty for the books it sells. Marcy and I spent many frustrating hours trying to track down the various supplies and books required by the school.  After one month in school we still are trying to find Ethan’s math book!