Everyone feels like an
outsider at some point in their life; grade school, college, work, special
events, clubs, parties, etc. Any time when you’re thrown into an environment
you’re not used to with people you don’t know can be very awkward, especially
if you’re “different.” For me, I was
(and still kind of am) a white American girl tossed into a world of Spanish and
dark skinned sexy people. Did I mention I can’t really speak Spanish?
Being “La Gringa” is one
hell of an adventure, let me tell you that. From the stares of amazement from
children, general looks from adults, a completely different way of living and a
100% language barrier, I really felt like a fish out of water the first time I
went to Venezuela to be with my fiancé (boyfriend at the time). Sometimes, not
only did I feel like a fish out of water, I felt like a fish on a damn grill.
In Venezuela (and other Hispanic
countries), homes are most certainly different than what we in the US are used
to. Most homes in suburban and residential areas near the city consist of mostly
no carpet, open to the outside, made of concrete, fenced in, surrounded by
barbed wire or electric fence, pad locked, minimal lawn size with gates
everywhere. I kind of knew they would be different from seeing homes in
California and Florida but they just don’t compare. To be completely honest,
the first thing I thought when I saw everything was “Wow, it looks like a prison.”
These are, of course, the
typical moderately wealthy type of homes. Then you have these:
I’ll save that topic for
another post…some day.
Not only are the homes different, so is the
food (duh). When I bring the topic up to a lot of people, their minds
automatically go to Mexican and they ask “All
their food is spicy isn’t it??” No. No, no, no, a thousand times no. It’s
delicious and full of flavor and nothing at all compared to the Tex-Mex
Americans are used to. In fact, it is very difficult to find a good Tex-Mex
place! The remotely familiar food service they had that reminded me of home was
pizza, and even so it is about a hundred times better than anything here. More
on Venezuelan cuisine later.
On to the language barrier,
which sucks. I took 2 years of Spanish in high school and tried my damndest
with Rosetta Stone but the first time I went to South America I was just shit
out of luck. Could barely speak a word or understand anything, which is
particularly hard when your love’s family doesn’t speak English. It’s also hard
when hardly anyone in the country speaks English. Suddenly, it’s like being shut
off from the rest of your surroundings. You have absolutely no clue what is
going on, what anyone is saying, why people are laughing, why they’re shouting…nothing.
Everything is a damn blur and even though you’re surrounded by people and family
and your SO…you’re alone. Even in your own home. You’re alone and completely
helpless and have to rely on someone else to do your talking for you. It just
really sucks.
And as if not being able to
talk doesn’t single you out enough, being white as hell with light brown
straight hair in a world full of tanned people with dark features will surely
do it. I’ll never forget using the restroom at a mall and seeing this little
girl staring at me in awe as I washed my hands. Or having a gay guy from a
salon rave about my beautiful blonde hair. Me, blonde! Ha!
I guess through the years I’ve
learned how to blend in. I know my way around the place, can understand quite a
lot of Spanish, know how to act, walk, and dress like a Venezuelan woman. By
the end of my last visit, I really felt like I finally fit in (somewhat)…only
to have to be thrown back into this dump of a society and do it all over again.
I mean, I didn’t get stares anymore and I had a gist of what was going on,
people even talked to me like I could understand them…and I could! And now it’s
over for the moment.
Being different is really
hard, especially in a place where being different is just asking for trouble.
But I found my niche and grew to be comfortable in my surroundings and the
people I was with. In a way, I think everyone should experience something
similar…it makes you realize just how easily your whole world could flip upside
down and how you need to be ready to go through it and survive.
Stay strong and love on!
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