Every culture in the world (at least all that I know of) values “Health”, “Money”, and “Love.” If any of you readers out there know of a culture that doesn’t value health, money, or love, I’d love to hear about it.

These three words used together form a very small piece of Latin American culture, but in a way you might not have guessed. These words are said when someone sneezes! If you sneeze once, Latin people say “Health!” If you sneeze a twice, they say “Money!” and a third sneeze in a row brings “Love!” (more…)

When I was around 10 years old, living in the United States, I went to a movie with a friend. I didn’t have money to purchase food at the snack bar, but my friend seemed to have an unlimited supply with him. He bought a large drink, large popcorn and big bag of licorice but didn’t offer to share any of it with me. He went through the entire movie eating in front of me but never offered me one single thing to eat or drink. I don’t remember anything about the movie, but I do remember that this friend didn’t share even one single piece of popcorn with me.

I learned a great lesson that day which was again re-emphasized later when I lived in Latin America. Latin people will usually share anything with you, even if it is the smallest amount of possessions and food that they have. Many invite you to dinner or meals when they barely have enough food to feed their own families. (more…)

In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to eat in front of someone else who is not eating also. But, what do you do if you if you stop by someone’s home while they’re eating? If this happens to me, I usually say something like, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner”, or “Sorry to bother you during dinner time.”

This type of meal-time interruption doesn’t seem to happen as much in the United States as it does in Latin America. This seems to be because just about everyone in the United States has access to a telephone and people usually call each other before stopping by. In many Latin American areas, especially in the lower-income pueblos, a very small percentage of the population owns a telephone because of the cost involved. (more…)

In English, when we’re composing a letter that will be used as an example in business or in a textbook, we usually address it with, “Dear John” or “Dear Jane.” And, at the end of the letter we usually sign it, “Sincerely, John Doe” or “Sincerely, Jane Doe”.

John and Jane Doe, who are obviously married and model citizens, also have their names on government and employment forms as they show us, by their perfect examples, the proper way to fill out those difficult forms. Some of us tend to get frustrated as “John” and “Jane” seem to be the epitome of perfection in our society, and we are just the “average Joe” never quite able to reach their level of perfection. (more…)