Something I've noticed for a while and have become used to- the way raw meat is packaged here. Any time of the day, you will find people walking down the street with a sack of raw, fatty meat of some kind. It is not wrapped tightly by the butcher, on top of a nice styrofoam plate, but it is piled into a clear grocery sack that is thinner than tissue paper, and is tied at the top by someone's careless efforts to make a knot. I am sure that raw meat juice constantly drips from these bags. But people don't care here. They just stroll around with these sacks of solid white (not like white meat/dark meat but white fat) meats and just go on with their day like they were holding their purse in their hand! Bizarre- and gross.

The weather has begun to get cooler here. It is about 50-60 degrees- but you would think that it is below freezing by the way people here dress. It is like there is a memo written on everyone's calendar that says, "First Day to Wear Your Warmest Pieces of Clothing" and they put on every heavy coat and sweater they own and will not take them off until March. So it's obvious that they think I am crazy when I wear a short sleeved shirt in this weather. Girls will come up to me on the street and ask me if I'm cold. Really?