Glowing

As a white girl from a white town, I'm used to being the majority.  I'm not used to curious glances or stares.  I'm not used to people having to explain words that are new to me or explaining simple concepts with the assumption that I don't understand. However, it's not just the fact that I'm in the minority that intrigues me.  It's the fact that Mexican attitudes regarding skin color and ideal beauty are quite different .

Mexicans walk around with umbrellas, not because of frequent rain (um, over the past month, it has sprinkled once...).  On the contrary, women use umbrellas to block the sun and remain as light-skinned as possible.  

"I really like your skin," one girl told me.  I was sitting in my living room with three, perfectly and naturally tanned high school and college-aged girls.  They were olive-skinned without any effort, and yet they wanted to be pasty white.  

Mind = blown.  

I tried explaining the concept of tanning booths to people who use umbrellas to prevent tanning.  I'm really not sure that I succeeded.

In Mexico, in order to ask someone what he or she does for a living, you literally say, "To what do you dedicate yourself?"  An occupation is more than a job here; its' your identity.  Many students don't know my name.  I'm "Teacher," and many students leave the classroom with, "Thank you, Teacher" after every class.  This usually leaves me feeling slightly embarrassed and a little ashamed to receive far more respect than I deserve.

I was in line at Soriana (Mexican Wal-mart), speaking English with a Mexican friend, when a man pushed past my friend with, "Permiso" but proceeded past me with, "Excuse me."  Although we were both speak English fluently, my friend had been identified as a real Mexican, whereas I had been labeled as a non-Spanish-speaking foreigner.  

I had been stereotyped.  

I had heard the phrase, "They all look the same to me,"  but in my reality, we look the same to them.  I was observing an English class taught by my German friend (who is fluent in 3 languages...yeah...be impressed!), when one of the students told her, "I thought she was your little sister!"  My friend is small and short, has light hair and very blue eyes, and speaks with a German accent.  Yes, we're practically twins.  Another student believed that the German teacher was my mother, even though we are roughly the same age.  That was weird.

Overall, I don't like being the fluorescent bulb in a chandelier of incandescent lights.  I feel as though I have a giant "GRINGA" sign on my forehead.  At the same time, my American nationality is a conversation starter.  I get the chance to exchange customs and share stories with people from another culture.  

That's pretty cool.