For as long as I can remember, whether it was good or bad, I always felt different. When one thinks about living in another country, they think about how exciting it will be. They think about the change in cuisine, melodic accents, and the Instagram-worthy sights. Most people tend to ignore the fact that moving to another country can be such an intimidating experience. Will they like you? Will you be seen as an equal? Can you adjust to their customs? And just how many strikes can you get before you get kicked out of their country? Just kidding about the last one. Kinda.
I remember my family and I moving from Peru to the Sunshine State when I was five years old. In Florida, there are a lot of Hispanics as is so it wasn't a huge difference for me - yet. When I got enrolled in school, I remember wishing I wasn't Hispanic. I felt SO different from every girl at school. At the time, I wanted to wish away my olive complexion, Spanish accent, and dark hair. I wished for lighter skin and glowing, blonde hair. Don't get me wrong; I still had a plethora of friends. I don't think they really cared or saw it as a big difference. It was the feeling of never truly being one of them that never left.
People may look at this picture and just see a group of friends, but I see it and remember how I wished to be an American. However, now I embrace and love the fact that I'm Peruvian!!
In the fourth grade, I had to say goodbye to orange trees and beaches and say hello to cotton fields and soul food! At this point in my life, I started noticing a lot more cultural differences. The list below is just a fraction of them:
- Greeting new people with a hug or a kiss on the cheek isn't really a thing...like ever. This definitely caused a few awkward situations.
- Sometimes people didn't even greet each other at all! This became hard when trying to explain to my parents why my friends didn't say hi when they picked us up from school. My friends didn't see a problem with it, but my mom thought they were raised in a barn.
- People eat out. All the time! It'd have to be someone's birthday if we were going to go out and eat.
- People feel so safe and comfortable showing off how much money they have! If you go walking around in your new Nike's in Peru, chances are that later that night you'll end up seeing some guy running away with the exact same pair.
Once I reached high school, I attained this newfound confidence on almost everything I had to offer. I started being thankful for my year-round tan. Being bilingual turned out to be much more useful than I realized - hence my A in Spanish class. I embraced my Peruvian roots, and a lot more people than I had imagined loved that about me - and not just because I could teach them words in Spanish that they'd later use to confuse people.
However, life later presented me with other reasons on why I should tone down the volume on my cultural background.
Successful. What do you think of when you read that word? Who do you think of? The CEO of some company? A doctor? A lawyer? Or maybe just someone making a lot of money and traveling? 9 out of 10 people will imagine a Caucasian in this position. How many people actually imagine Hispanics at the top of the food chain? Unfortunately, Hispanics are usually stereotyped as the ones to be fixing houses, doing your lawn work, or washing your bathrooms. This may knock some's confidence on making it to the top - it just makes me want to work harder.
Personally, living in America as a Hispanic has made me appreciate who I am and where I come from. I don't see it as my cultural background as a weakness or a flaw. It gives me opportunities and provides me with a more open mind of the world. I see it as power, and I'm proud to say that I am a Peruvian woman living in America.
