I feel like I used to have a lot of problems. Just a bunch of stupid things I kept carrying with me for no good reason. I guess sometimes I kinda thought that being sad was somehow "cool" - I mean, you get attention, everybody sees you like a hero if you survive much pain, etc etc. Stupid stuff like that. I considered my last year, the first year of high school as the best year of my life, well, up until I got here, right... hehe. But I know that deep down I was ignoring what was really there, something kinda misty that needed to be resolved.
When I got here, it kinda exploted all. Being forced to a whole new EVERYTHING basically left me all alone - all that could help me were my own thoughts and attitude. And well, when all that's left is your personality, you get to see pretty well all the flaws you have. Especially now that time has passed, I can see clearly what I've been doing the last years, and why I've been acting as I acted. I don't feel the need to think or act that way anymore, which is pretty cool, gotta admit it.
But I guess I've always known I'm sort of 'special', now I see really well why I never got used to living in Finland, why I've always wanted something MORE. So I just want to talk a little about silly Mexican stuff that I think is cute and cool and.. well, just plain different. Getting to experience all of this stuff is pretty damn awesome.I already talked about food.. something that I really like is the way people communicate. For example, I live in a small town - everybody knows me. And I do mean EVERYBODY. Since Mexicans have a habit of being "chismosas" (=they have a pretty big mouth at times.. hehh) I don't even wanna know what stuff they talk about me.. So anyways, when I meet new people, usually their reaction is "oh yeah I've seen you at __ with __ and you were wearing ___". Creepy..... but anyways, we always end up talking about who knows what (and actually I never get bored when people ask "What's Finland like! What does snow feel like! How do you live in the cold!"). The people are really open and friendly and NICE and it's so easy to talk to them about basically everything. Of course I've gotta be careful what I say to who but oh well ;) anyways, the people are super nice. I think I've never felt as comftrable around people as I do know. I still remember how everything was more complicated in Finland, or I felt like I needed to "hide" parts of my personality - I've always been loud, I laugh a lot, I like physical contact etc., and this stuff is more normal and acceptable in México than I feel it never was to me in Finland. Here we laugh and scream and joke all day all night, which is super cool, something I think I've kinda been missing on. To just be yourself and know you will be accepted as you are, no matter who you're with.
yes, I am a giant...
I really like the Mexican culture and the people and could write all day long about them. But I guess I could talk about some little differences I've noticed. Boring or not but it's all a part of the experiene no..
First of all, there are absolutely no traffic lights. Instead, there are these silly bumps in the road that make the cars go slower as they pass them by. This basically means that there's no unnecessary waiting at the traffic in the red lights, you can just go and drive as you wish and slow down at these bumps. The bus trips are absolutely crazy, you basically bump up&down all the time. But I know it's something I will really miss!!
Second of all, people. Don't. Recycle. EVER. This is a real heartbreaker. All the trash ends up in one plastic bag which you throw in your yard/garage/wherever and wait for the truck to pass by. It comes really early, like 8am, and you have to hand the trash over to them, and they put them all into one huge mountain of trash. :((( there's really no chance to start recycling, which sucks, since everything has a lot of plastic - in the supermarkets there are people working as "baggers", and they might put just 2-3 items in one bag, so people leave the place with a bunch of plastic bags when it wouldn't be really necessary.. oh well, what can one do though..The stoves work with gas - or you light them with a match or you press some buttons and they light up. The gas car also passes by and the men are knocking on the barrels so you know that they're coming. Then you just open your door and ask for gas. Simple right?
There's also no clean water, you need to buy those barrels of 20litres. Also sold by cars (and sometimes some little shops).
Of course I live in the South, this may be really different in the Northern part, who knows. Anyways, I'm falling in love with this place. Honestly, there are so many places to go, things to see, people to meet, and.. I don't know, it's so easy to just be happy. I think I'm gonna stay here. One of the reasons I even wanted to go on exchange was to see if maybe there's a place that feels more like home, and I think I found it!! So yeah, that IS the coolest thing that could've happened to me. Forget the places and the people, discovering (or more like creating) who you are is the coolest thing in the world.
Thank you México for all these crazy adventures, and it's not over yet (y)
This is what I looked like with other exchange students 6,5 months ago.
This is what I looked like with other exchange students 1 mont ago.
Friends :--) (los quiero mucho)
And that's me (quelle suprise!!).
I don't if this post had a point :D I just wanted to write about this stuff, it feels important to me right now. After the first rough mounts I finally did start living my life as I wanted to, and it makes me happy. I've learned and grown so much it's hard to recognize the girl I used to be. Now I'm redder (hahah), thinner, more confident, more "street smart" I guess, more.. I don't know. More.. a lot of stuff. And I'm happy, since I still think if I would've stayed in Finland, I'd still be living as I used to be. Kinda broken inside I guess. But now it's all gone and I can just be here and ENJOY :) thank you México you are a lifesaver !
Peace&love,
Minea
No comments:
Post a Comment