delayed culture shock

I´m currently sitting here, eating cookies and watching 24, which is my new addition unfortunately. This morning I just hit the point of needing some familiar comforts, like the simple ability to get a cookie out of a cubbord. After class, Erin and I went to a little coffee shop (totally americanized, what can I say) and were talking about our frustrations and just observations about our experiences in our first 9 days here.

A problem, or at least bump in the road, that I had not anticipated was the almost reverse racism that exists here against gringos, or white people. It´s not necessarily exclusive to Americans, just white foreigners in general. It happens in the littlest things, and the more obvious situations as well. For example, we have to take a taxi to and from our house to get into the city every day. If say how much we will pay, we can usually get the lowest price. But if we ask the driver how much it will cost, he almost always raises the price at least 10 pesos from what a mexican patron would be charged. Part of it is because people assume that we don´t understand Spanish, but most of the time it´s simply because we`re white girls.

There is an unconcious feeling a lot of the time in America that all of our culture is negative and in order to actually be concsiencious citizens, we should try to live more like other cultures. I agree that experiencing another culture is an enriching and essential experience for anyone who wants to be a more compassionate and educated human being. But this shouldn´t necessarily come at the expense of all that you consider comfortable, in the sense of things you know. I´m not saying that just because something is familiar makes it okay to pursue. But the fact that I`m obsessed with my planner and schedules, and I like having regular meals 3 times a day doesn´t mean I´m an ignorant, selfish American. I´m allowed to have a positive culture, and to take a healthy amount of pride in my upbringing and own cultural experiences and tendencies. One is not more or less correct than the other. It´s just different.