flabbergasted.

i am. in class today we did this little exercise that went something like this--pretend you just landed at a mcdonald's (i know, lovely) in kuwait or the united states. then, tell me some of the things you can observe about the values, norms, and beliefs of the culture(s) in the restaurant. that part went fine. and you might be interested to know that mcdonald's here serves halal food and a sandwich called McArabia (how culturally sensitive of them). but then the discussion continued. somehow we went there, and no i didn't bring it up :). but one of my students then said that boys and girls get different toys in their happy meals! and that is when my jaw dropped. literally. what!? and that, my friends, is a perfect example of gender socialization (or another reason not to take your kid to mcdonald's). next stop--a little investigation at the golden arches. i'll report back later.