Flat Stanley

One of the frustrating things about living in a foreign country in which one is not a master of the language is the utter flatness your personality takes on. I felt this way in France, where I actually spoke the language decently, and now that I'm reduced to an infantile position of carefully stringing together 3 word sentences, I realize once more what we so often take for granted: depth. I feel like that character that my tenth grade English teacher used to warn against: the flat character. Characters must be ROUND

My name is Elizabeth. I am from America. I like fried noodles with vegetables and ice cream.

Thrilling stuff.

Despite linguistic divide, I've actually managed to learn about some interesting/random cultural differences. For example, people here LOVE American movies amd facebook. It's pretty funny because I haven't even heard of any of the recent blockbuster releases, which of course further confuses things...

Also, not unlike the US, there is a phone obsession here. "hp" (short for handphone, which is what they call their cell phones) is a huge part of the culture now. Apparently it is normal for most people here to have 2 or more phones that they carry around with them, which helps explain why the entire street near my school seems to be dedicated to "toko hp" (phone shops). Because of how their system of phone cards and buying credit works, people use different phones (and numbers) for different uses like calling family, calling friends, SMS, etc. depending on what is cheapest. Confusing.

Also interesting is the fact that no one has fruit in the morning here. ever. Apparently it makes them feel sick to their stomach. They DO however drink fruit in these delicious shakes in the afternoon, including "alpocat" which turned out to be not apricot as I thought, but avocado (and chocolate). Might be my new favorite thing.

NB: Flat Stanley is a children book in which Stanley got flattened, and then is mailed all around the world, traveling via envelope.