The Truth, It Hurts.

One day my friend Patty, a slight, smiley blonde from Minnesota, was in the dorm kitchen cooking breakfast when Eunice, one of the women who works in the building, walked by. Patty, being the sunny, amiable type, smiled and said good morning and asked how Eunice was. Eunice broke into a responding smile, replied, and after a short conversation, turned to go – but not before cheerfully observing that though Patty was very thin when she had arrived in the dorm, she was “now getting fat!”

This directness is the kind of thing that still takes me (and a few of my other friends) by surprise down here. It is one of the culture clashes that I’m not sure will ever entirely pass – even after months here we still trade stories about the surprisingly candid comments that we hear.