Si pudiera decir todo...

IQO FCGQH LNEJKHRCNMEWJK N CR!!!!!!!
Well, I just got back from four hours of Charlie. Where to start....? Mi cabeza esta tan llena y no puedo encontrar las palabras.
I guess I'll start with this afternoon. I was standing in the Zocalo waiting for Holley at a street vender, and for some reason I just had this moment of "AHA!" I realized I've still been perceiving Mexico as "the other" in relation to the U.S. I don't know why, but I think I subconciously assume that everyone in Mexico aspires to go to the U.S....I haven't been thinking of Mexico as a completely self-sufficient entity where people are born, live, and die completely comfortably and with no desire to leave. I know how horrible this sounds, me being an anthropology major, but I think I'm suffering from a lingering case of ethno-centrism. I guess the first step is recognition, right? Even so, I feel like every day I'm being slapped in the face by how deep my "American-ness" goes. In cultural anthropology we learn that culture IS who you are...what makes you human. I AM 99.9% American (I know it's not P.C. because the U.S. isn't the home of the only "Americans," but I don't know what other term to use.) For twenty years of my life I have been indoctrinated with American beliefs and practices...and these have oriented me in the world in a very particular way. I think maybe it's more accurate to say "American" IS me, rather than I am "American." I guess my point is, again, that there is a vast difference between learning something is true in school and experiencing it for yourself. Being here, I am experiencing firsthand every day what makes me "American." In the U.S., my culture is invisible because it is the dominant culture. There, "Mexico" and anything Mexican is the other, the obvious... I can only learn about Mexico in terms of how it is different from my culture. But here, I am "the other;" and so my culture is no longer invisible. Maybe I can turn the tables now and learn about the U.S. in terms of Mexico...and learn about Mexico on its own terms.
So much more to say...but maybe that must wait for another day. :/