Score/Bust

So, my sister and I had these friends that always played the score/bust game. It is played like this: One person says something that is either good or bad. If it is good, everyone then shouts, "Score!" and if it is bad, everyone shouts, "Bust!" People from older generations (like my parents) usually shake their heads and don't think it's funny, but it is quite hilarious if you give it a chance. I was thinking about it the other day and decided to make a score/bust list of Peru. I'm sure I will add to it as time goes on, but here is what I've come up with so far:

Score:

• Mopping the sidewalks- Every morning on my way to class there is a man mopping the sidewalk in front of a particular apartment building. It even looks shiny! I've never seen a shiny sidewalk before.
• Cool drying rack- Our new apartment has a washing machine, but no dryer. We went shopping all over looking for a drying rack and couldn't find one. When we got home, we realized that we already had everything we needed! They have installed a drying rack that comes down from the ceiling on a pulley system. I'd like to see Derek engineer something like that!
• Breastfeeding women- Jeff laughs, but everytime I see a woman breastfeeding in the middle of the street I want to give her a high five. No one has problems with something as ordinary as a mom feeding her baby. I'm not quite sure why in the U.S. it's considered pornography by so many people.
• Tanta- For anyone travelling to Lima, you have got to try this restaurant. SO GOOD!!
• My school- For anyone travelling to Lima to learn spanish, El Sol is the place to be! It is awesome.
• Handwashing sink in the mercado- Not sure why they haven't thought of this in the U.S. There is a handwashing sink next to the meat section in the supermercado! Unfortunately there are almost no other food safety practices that I am aware of. You can wash your hands, but you still might be buying week old meat that has been sitting at room temperature.

Bust:

• Cucarachas- we are in cucaracha season. Apparently there are always cucarachas here, but during these months they are bigger. And there are a lot of them, dead and alive, on the sidewalks.
• Honking- Anyone who has travelled outside North America knows how imporant it is to have a working horn on your car. They honk EVERYTIME they cross an intersection to let people know they are coming, everytime they see a gringo, everytime they see an old lady crossing the street, etc. I haven't the heart to tell them that when everyone honks that much, it doesn't mean anything anymore.
• Giving change- People here HATE giving change. Everytime you give them a large bill, they either refuse to take it or give a long sigh as though giving change is the most difficult thing in the world to do. One day we needed change to take a taxi, so we went to a tienda to purchase something and break a larger bill. The lady wouldn't let us buy anything because she didn't want to give us change!
• Hot water- Every apartment has a little breaker switch that controls the hot water. Usually you don't have hot water 24 hours a day. You have to flip the switch and let it heat up each time you need hot water. This means that we wake up every morning at 5am to flip the switch so that we can take warm showers.