Dia Numero 12

Sever culture shock at its finest!
This morning I was approached at school by one of the head ladies whose name is Edith (pronounced Edeet here). She informed me that my family has family arriving and they need a place to stay and that I will need to move from my current house to another one. I instantly realized this could not be the real problem and they real problem had to do with my friend Lalo. As I have previously shared my friend Lalo has several facial piercings and longer hair (just to his shoulders). Although these "people" exist in Mexico they are far less common than in the United States or even Europe. My host mother Eva had mentioned to me that she was concerned about him...keep in mind this is based solely on the way that he looks. Lalo has been a great companion and we have enjoyed alot of the city together...not to mention the fact that I am forced to speak spanish with him...even at school I find myself speaking English with the other students. As students we are not allowed to invite guests into our home...which of course I have followed. Communication problems are unavoidable and there were several times where Lalo came to the door to ask for me. He always courtiously asked for me and we would promptly leave to get a coffee or a beer or whatever. We or he was never outside of the door for more than 5 minutes. Upon arriving home, I began feverishly packing my bags...I am angry! I told Katie and she was in absolute shock just as I was. Eva came to discuss the problem with me and told me she thought I needed to know the "real" reason why I needed to leave. She told me that her neighbors have been complaining about Lalo coming to the door for me (3 times) and that rather than telling me how I should live my life outside of her door, she thought it was best I find another place to live. She told me that there were not any problems with ME and that she was very content to have ME in her house but she just couldn´t see any other way to resolve the problem other than me leaving. I said: "Entiendo pero no entiendo" I understand but I don´t understand. She told me that as a culture they are extremely closed minded and although my friend may be a very nice person she didn´t want him around! Needless to say I finished packing my bags and Katie and I moved myself into student apartments owned by the school. I left quickly without an argument but it was definately huffy. I was just getting acquainted with my other family and didn´t feel like I wanted to deal with that all over again so I decided it would be best to have a little more freedom with the apartments. Unfortunately meals are not included in my new living space so I will just have to enjoy more of the Mexican dining that Oaxaca has to offer! The new house is nice enough but there are no other students living there right now except for 2 "house mothers" that live upstairs. Also, there is no hot water....sucks! The whole thing was quite surreal and everyone I have talked to about it, including the school officials, have been quite surprised. They told me that they will question placing students in this home again in the future. I felt very sad being rejected by the family but have come to realize that I probably never will understant their position. I am grateful that I come from a country that is not dominated by closed-mindedness and that we have the ability to express ourselves in different ways without getting the cops called on us! I surely have done many worse things in the US that would likely get me kicked out of a house...funny that I didn´t even do anything wrong and here I am! I am not going to let this or anything ruin the experience that I have had here! I´ll just add this to the list of stories that I will never forget! Adios....besos....Hasta Pronto!