September 25

I was talking to Lauren yesterday about the things that I´ve learned here. There really hasn´t been that much. The cultures aren´t really that different. I think people here are generally more ameable, or at least they pretend to be. And I still haven´t quite mastered the kissing on the cheek thing. I´m not sure when to do it. I think the general rule is kiss everyone you have any kind of relationship with when you meet them and when you say goodbye. And mostly I can do that. It just gets complicated when there are a bunch of people around or when I´m in a hurry. But in my experience that´s about where the friendliness ends, at least with me. Introductions don´t seem to be too common and for the most part if you don´t talk to them, they won´t talk to you. Course, that could just be because I an extrañero. And really, they are mostly very nice once you get talking to them.

The biggest thing I´ve learned here is how I treat people. Before now, I never realized how hard it is to understand things in a different language, and it never really occured to me that a cute accent means something more than that they weren´t born in this country. Even when I was with Kana, I probably didn´t slow down and explain enough. Native speakers talk so fast, and unless I am invited into the conversation and directly spoken to, it´s really hard to participate. My normal state of being here is tuned out. So I am more aware of myself. I will invite outsiders into my conversations and introduce them to others and make sure they are comfortable and participating. It´s difficult, because I´m kindof shy myself to think that I will take that much iniciative, but it is much more difficult or the one who´s new.