One of my favorite things about living abroad is experiencing a different culture. I love hearing what others believe and comparing that to what I grew up learning about. I could probably write a book about the differences between Georgia and America, but I will just start with a few:
1. If you put butter on a bruise it will make it better. Tamriko convinced Emet to try this theory.
2. In old-fashioned, traditional Georgian families, the man is not supposed to touch his child before he/she turns 3 years old. In the first 6-9 months of the child's life, all caregiving is the responsibility of the mother's mother.
3. You should never sit on the cold pavement, it will damage your reproductive organs.
4. If you leave a window open, your back will catch a cold (which means you will pull a muscle in your back and be rendered motionless).
5. Everything is about a person's blood pressure. The change in weather warrants a 30 minute conversation about how each person's blood pressure has fluctuated due solely to the changing weather (therefore making them feel terrible from either too high or too low blood pressure). Students come to school with their own blood pressure cuffs just in case we need to get an emergency blood pressure reading.
6. If you drink or eat anything cold, you will catch a cold. Have I mentioned I am having ice cube withdrawal? Or that I went into a convenient store the other day to purchase a drink and the refrigerators were all shut off, so the drinks were warm. It is winter, so why would you want a cold drink? They also wanted to save on electricity costs, but that is another topic entirely. I tucked my 2 Lari back in my pocket and walked out of the store, thirsty.
7. There is a great fear of getting sick. Many kids were sick in my school about a month ago. Many more kids stayed home from school because their parents were afraid their child might get sick. If you walk the hallways of my school, you see kids and teachers wearing surgical masks like the one below. Kids are also wearing necklaces made of garlic or onions to keep the "sick germs" away. The aroma in the classrooms and hallways is breathtaking!
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8. Eating soup at least once a day keeps you regular. When I finally confessed that I don't love to eat soup every day, I was immediately asked about my daily bathroom habits. There was a great deal of concern for my well being.
And my favorite so far is (drum roll please)...
9. If you are a woman and have high blood pressure, you have not had enough sex. It is important to get that "injection"(wink, wink) of hormones to lower your blood pressure.
P.S.
In no way am I poking fun of these Georgian beliefs...I am sure when people to come to America and learn of some of the crazy things we do, they post them on their blogs as well.
P.P.S.
There was no change in Emet's bruise after the butter was applied. We were robbed.
5 comments:
Not to "shock" you but I need to comment on:
#1 - My grandparents were believers in "butter on bruises" & also burns.
#2 - I still believe in the basics of this one - maybe not three years but at least one! HA!
#7 - the onion & garlic thing was common in my elementary school in the 1940's.
How interesting! It's funny how groups of people develop these beliefs. The preoccupation with blood pressure is one to ponder. Is high blood pressure particularly common among Georgians?
Wow. What happened Emet that he got that big bruise? Run into and straddle an escalator?
Remember the time you made us leave Ledo's pizza because their ice machine was broken and we wouldn't get refills on the bottled soda we'd have to buy? lol
This totally reminds me of my mother telling me not to sit on the cold ground unless I wanted a kidney infection. At the time I thought who in the world would WANT a kidney infection? what exactly constitued a kidney infection? At the same time I just KNEW that if I ever dared to sit on the ground - curb, sidewalk, cement steps etc., somehow my mother would know, and my kidney infection would end up being the mother of all kidney infections and would culminate in a "shot" with a needle roughly resembling the length and width of the lightning rod atop the Empire State Building. Needless to say, I was at least 16 before I risked my kidneys by sitting on a sidewalk curb!
That being said, #9 has a certain appeal, but I never heard it from my mother!
@ fivenewyorkers--that's a good one! I haven't heard that one yet. Is your mom American?
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