Formalities

Peruvians are pretty formal about a lot of things. It’s a little strange for such an underdeveloped country but it’s definitely a part of the culture here. I struggle a lot knowing when to use tu versus usted (the formal and informal versions of the word “you” in Spanish). Working with the fair committee I learned more about how they refer to people by their professional titles as well.

My counterpart is a teacher at the local teacher’s institute. Instead of calling her by name, most people referred to her as “Professora”. Another guy in the meeting must have his PhD in something to do with agriculture because everyone calls him “Doctor”. My favorites though, are the engineers. There are a couple of guys on the committee that are agricultural engineers and everyone refers to them very respectfully as “Ingeneros”.

I think I’m going to make a request that everyone calls me “Ingenera” from now on. When else in my life will I have the chance to be referred to by distinguished title? Might as well take advantage of it while I can. It’s like being a doctor or a lawyer in the states. I’ll never be “Dr. Bronwen”. I worked my ass off for my Industrial Engineering degree, might as well get some benefit from it. So I haven’t done a thing engineering related since the day I graduated, no one here knows that.

That’s it, no more “Senorita Bron” it’s “Ingenera”, thank you very much.