Some things I’ve been pondering on sleepless nights, long bus rides, and boring classes:
-The cultural similarities and differences in body language
-How much does Spanish sign language differ from American Sign Language?
-Can you study the linguistics of a Sign Language? That could be cool…
-Old Spanish traditions of eating immense amounts of food, and how that clashes with the modern, socially “acceptable” image of women (everyone is pretty judgmental and talks about how they are fat, their friends are fat, and the people on TV are fat; rarely is this true).
-The interconnectedness (in my opinion) of punctuality, reliability, and responsibility and their relationship to judging character in a person; especially when these traits are less important here
-People are never expected to be on time (and rarely ever are), but the public transportation is scheduled to the second
-Table etiquette differences (hands and/or elbows should be on the table when eating here, etc.)
Most recent ridiculous thing to consider:
There are what seem to be an extremely high number of blind people here. But then again, it’s a huge city, and there’s a lot of just about everything. I was waiting for the metro last week when a blind woman walked by. I noticed she kept her eyes closed pretty tightly. Well, that made me think about that proverb about how eyes are the windows to the soul. But, would this be true from someone who can’t see? Would we still show our emotions and personality through something that serves no purpose (as in, do we control this; is it something we learn)? Yep, these are the fascinating things I think about…
