i may sound like a mother... but EW....

to enlighten you on some facets of my culture shock that still SHOCK me daily.

i absolutely cannot stop myself from cringing when i see one of the following things:
-dredlocks
-facial piercings

-a single dredlock or long braid protruding from semi-normal hair

-jeans sagging so low they may fall off at any given second
-conversely, jeans so tight that i am wondering how the person vacuumed into them is breathing
THESE ARE NORMAL THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY AND ITS DISGUSTING.

i cannot grasp the lack of respect, sense of time and schedule, disorder and complete ignorance of any normal behavior in these schools. i cannot believe there is no dress code. its remarkable i dont have nightmares about what these kids will be wearing in the summer! if i see cleavage and its 10 degrees outside, seriously, i am terrified about summer!

one of my kids came to school wearing this tshirt and i remember getting DETENTION for having a white undershirt on under my navy blue polo. on "college tshirt day" someone got saturday school for wearing the alabama tshirt with "rammer jammer yellow hammer give em hell alabama" on the back because it said "hell." i know i went to private school and all... but seriously. i asked him what his mother says when he wears that shirt and he said, "she doesn't care, profe!" oh, really??!! unbelievable.

because there is no time between classes on the schedule, everyone is always late somewhere. it blows my mind. every day its like i have to relearn how abnormal it is not just to be on time, but to think anyone else would be on time. and by "not on time" i'm talking what stephanie would call "late." which is OVER ten minutes LATER than i'm suppose to be there.
the concept of a syllabus could really go a long way over here. and by that i mean, every student would be failing and/or expelled by week two.

"public displays of affection" does not quite accurately describe the PDA that occurs in every corner of public spaces, on the metro, on the streets, and worse of all, on the escalators. while you are just trying to stand there on the temporary step, the couple in front of you is exchanging saliva and attempting to eat eachother's tongues as if this is the LAST chance they will ever have to do so in their ENTIRE LIFE! as if, when the escalator ends, they will no longer be allowed to touch. instead, there is usually another escalator, where they continue their touching, again, centimeters from your face. its torture. really. the PDA is just as bad at the schools. there is hand holding in class, lap-sitting, petting during recess and all i can think is, "EWW" the entire time! ES UN HORROR!

you can gamble at any and every restaurant here. there are slot machines in every restaurant/bar. yes. yes. and its quite disruptive when youre trying to read the newspaper and enjoy a nice meal.

of course for as many things that i think are totally crazy and ridiculous, there are just as many things i absolutely love. but, just to give you an idea of what i get to stare at on a regular basis, i hope you enjoyed the images provided. i really do obviously CRINGE every time. ew, who knew facial piercings had so many names.