This Friday marks my 7th month living in Colombia. Every once in a while it still hits me: Leanne, you live in Colombia. I will close my eyes and imagine a map. Yes, I live in the southern hemisphere. Wow. It's surreal to think about and yet sometimes it seems so normal. I never imagined living here would feel normal. There are faces that I recognize, walking routes I'm familiar with and cultural norms that I'm aware of. This is my current home.
Even though I acknowledge this as home, there are certain things that will always grab my attention. My inner gringa will forever be on alert and no matter how long I'm here, I'm certain certain things will catch my eye. This post is dedicated to these such things.
1)Random horses walking down the middle of the road: I live in a city with over half a million people. It is developed. There is cement everywhere. Walking down a deserted street at 6:00 AM on my way to breakfast and I see a horse walking towards me. No bridle. No saddle. No owner. Now that's an attention grabber.
2) Public make-out session: couples here enjoy expressing their "passion". In public. It's just awkward to me. I don't care how long I've been here, it will never seem okay to me. I can't help but do a double take when I walk into a cafe and see 2 people heavily involved with one another. Come on people.
3)High heel shoes and plastic boobs: No matter how many pairs I've seen, it seems there are always bigger or more colorful ones out there. It just seems so unnatural.
4) Being stared at: No, I am not from here. Yes, I am a gringa. That doesn't give you permission to stare at me like I'm an alien. Can't I just blend in for once in my life? I will always be aware of the intensity of their stares.
5) Monos: In Colombian Spanish they call people with light features (light skin/hair) monos. This literally means monkey. there are so many people with dark features that when I see someone with light features my eyes are immediately drawn to them. I knew that Colombians were prone to do this but I never imaged I would fall into this too. But alas, monos grab my attention.
6) English: In my city I don't hear a lot of English. It is rare to come by, so when I do it immediately stands out. What?! You know my language too. I just want to go hug that person. I'll just call it my gringo radar.
7) The man selling aguacate: I cannot tune out his voice. "Aaaaa - Guuuuuaaaa - Catttayyyy". There are several that walk throughout the city selling avocado and they have the exact same loud bellow of the word. If I could insert a sound clip I would. I could probably mimic it myself. Maybe I'll change my day job.
8) Homeless people: I'm not certain I'll ever become "desensitized" to the number of people who live on the streets. It breaks my heart and it's impossible to ignore. It's hard knowing how to process it though and thinking about what I could possibly to do help does nothing. It seems hopeless and it's something I cannot get used to.
9) Hand holding: When I see a teenager holding hands with their mom/dad I can't help but stare. I think about teenagers in the United States and the idea of them holding their parents hands just makes me laugh. They wouldn't be caught dead doing that in a million years. And yet here I see mom strolling hand in hand with their teens. Girls hanging on their fathers arms. I even once saw a teenage boy holding hand with his mom while walking with his arm what appeared to be his girlfriend. What? Ha! Attention grabber.
10) Men releaving themselves where/when they need to: It is not uncommon to come across a boy, man, or old man peeing in public. I guess it is acceptable? This is just confusing to me and always causes the side-ways-head-tilt that accompanies the though: Really bro? Really?
So there we have it: 10 things that will never seem "normal" to me and will always strike me as interesting.
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