Expanding My Horizons

Until I moved out of KC- I didn't realize how very much the "same" everyone is there. Meaning, other places are much, much, MUCH more cultured. I worked in Dallas in an office of about 15 people. I was one of like 4 that wasn't bilingual or trilingual. I worked with 2 Persians, 1 Egyption, several others that could speak fluent Spanish and grew up either in Argentina or have parents straight from Mexico, etc. Living in Dallas really opened my eyes to new types of food and different cultures that I literally knew NOTHING about before moving there. Denver is much more like KC in that sense, but still a bigger city - so with slightly more culture.
Now, I am in South Florida at least half of every week and I am learning all about the Cuban culture which is really fascinating to me. Several of our lobbyist are Cuban and, therefore, I have learned much from disscussions about their background. Here are a few facts for all of you who don't know about Cubans either.
- Cubans are not Latinos and hate being called Latino
- Tortillas and mexican food are not what they eat. They eat a lot of rice, meats, beans, etc. but no tortillas involved :)
- What really is different about them in American is this: When Fidel Castro came into power in Cuba, the most knowledgeable and rich saw all the bad changes coming and were able to get out because they had money and means to do so BEFORE everything went downhill in Cuba. So basically, you took the rich of the rich (the lawyers, doctors, etc) from Cuba and they all came to Miami. Today, Miami is literally run by Cubans because of this. I met with some very powerful men this morning at a CUBAN breakfast restaurant in Miami. It was delicious..... the only glitch that gave my uncultured self away was when the coffee was brought to the table, they were all staring at me "expecting" me to do something. I had no clue what to do, or why they were looking at me. The waitress had given us all our cups and put something in the middle of the table. Since I was the only girl, they were all staring at me and I was confused.... so then finally some showed me what to do. (The cups only had steamed milk in them... the expresso is the in the middle- so you pour the expresso in your steamed milk to make your coffee and thats how the Cubans do it). So now, if you ever find yourself in a real Cuban restaurant and the coffee comes... it is actually just steamed milk in front of you.