gel apa no= jalapeno in Utah...

It all started when my family and I moved to Utah. I began sixth grade there, and I began to notice alot of very slight differences in the view of mexican culture that I had as compared to the local residents of Utah. Now, most of the residents of Utah are white Mormons. Most of them are nice people who would like to know more about mexican culture. They usually just don't learn the correct things.
For example, one day I was eating lunch with my friends at school, and one of them offered me a "gelapano", as he pronounced it. I had a 5 minute conversation with him on why he should pronounce it as "Halape(enye)o" or at least "halapeno". The other numerous times came with my name. I had to explain to many people that it is not pronounced "Vase qwez". Finally, probably the most annoying example was the food. There is good food in Utah, but not good mexican food. For example, ordering a "cheeze taco" will get you a brick of cheese melted inside of a taco.
It isn't their fault. I just think it's interesting that the further from the border you get, the crazier the "mexican culture" can seem.