PROOFS OF GLOBALIZATION

A Tribute to the Ability of American Capitalism to Reach the Most Obscure Corners of the World  

1. I can do a Google search in Quechua

2. On a small carrot farm in the mountains of Chichubamba, I heard Kanye West singing "I wanna make love na-na-na-now" echoing in the hills

3. I just bought an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt from a second-hand store in Urubamba

4.  My host brother’s favorite movie is Transformers

5. In the volunteer lounge at ProPeru: 1 room, 5 people, 4 webcam conversations in 3 languages--Korean, English and Turkish (and we're in a Spanish-speaking country).

6. My 8-year-old host nephew knows almost all the words—and dance moves—to Michael Jackson’s greatest hits (even though he has no idea what the lyrics mean)   

The sad thing is, even with the mushroom-like spread of certain technologies, celebrities, and brands, I still get asked questions like, "What's the weather like right now in your country?" "So, are you from the US itself, or from a state of the US?" "Do you live near China?" The kids in my class don't know the difference between a continent and a country and they were looking for Cuba on a map of Peru.  Ok, so they're just kids, but I still get the feeling like the majority of Peruvians imagine to US to be one big city and all the other countris to be floating around out there far away.  I have yet to see a world map since I've been here.