Cultural Superstitions

Superstitions: Ecuador

When I was in college, I did a summer study in Ecuador and Peru. In Ecuador (Quito), I lived with a host family. A husband and wife owned the house. They had grown children and grandchildren who visited frequently. This was a well-educated family, probably upper-middle class. The husband was a doctor.

I went to the ocean one weekend and found some seashells. Oh, they were gorgeous! I placed them on the dresser in my room so I could admire them daily. Until the lady of the house noticed them there and freaked! Bad luck to have sea shells in the house! Find a new place for them immediately!

So I took them outside and placed them on a ledge or something, only to discover the next day that the grandkids had found them and after playing with them, had scattered them all over the tiny yard.

New plan: I stashed them on top of the carport roof where they were both out of sight and out of reach of the grandkids.

Next day: The man of the house backed his car out of the carport, out the driveway, into the street, and BAM! was struck by an oncoming vehicle.

Day after: I found a new place for those seashells.

Awassa, Ethiopia

Superstitions: Georgia (republic of)

Walking barefoot on the floor will freeze women's ovaries.

Drinking cold water or eating ice cream may cause sore throats.

Most illnesses are from a "change in the weather."

American superstitions

Salt kills.

Bottled water is better than tap water.

It's important to take vitamin supplements.

Coffee dehydrates you.

Your body needs 8-10 glasses of water per day.

Travel Blasphemy #4: "American" is OK

One of the first questions people ask a foreigner:

Where are you from? 

You'd think that'd be an easy thing to answer.




Am I from the US, the USA, or America? 


I used to answer carefully that I was from the U.S. because, in order to be accurate and respectful, I must recognize that two continents share the name American. To say I was from America would be at best, gauche, and at worst, imperialistic. I didn't want that. 

Now I use "the U.S." or "America" interchangeably, depending on whichever option my brain pushes forward first. The reason why is in the section below.


Am I American or USian?


Fake question. Because in truth, USian was never an option for me. USian is just stupid, though if you want to call yourself that, go right ahead. I think we have the right to call ourselves whatever we want.

I used to feel awkward self-identifying as American (see first section for why), so I generally reframed my answer as "I'm from the U.S." 


But over time, I noticed something interesting. Almost everyone outside of the U.S. refers to people from the U.S. as Americans. And almost as often, they use America following "going to," "visiting," or "living in."

In other words, they don't trip over what is, in my current view, an artificial issue. By artificial I mean that we North and South Americans don't talk about being American (with a larger capital A than is already there) unless we're talking in the context of North America or South America. In other words, the distinction doesn't usually come up in casual conversation. Which is what the question "where are you from"? is -- casual conversation. 


I noticed something else here in Georgia. Sakartvelians don't complain about being called Georgian even though they refer to their country as Sakartvelo. (They do get a mite annoyed about being called Russian.) 

Speaking of Georgians, they don't shy away from calling themselves Caucasian simply because billions of people outside of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia might also self-identify as Caucasian.



So anyway, I'm American.

But what if this offends people in North or South America? 

Bottom line: All of us have the right to self-identify as we wish.