Reflections on Culture Shock and Cultural Fluidity

I've been reflecting on what it means to be living in another country and what multiculturalism is really. San Miguel de Allende is unique because there are (relatively) so many Americans here--the second-highest concentration in all of Mexico, Miguel tells me. The notion of 'culture shock' or losing one's bearings because the environment is so culturally different, does not exactly apply to me in my job or place of residence.

I'm grateful to have grown up in the Seattle metropolitan area, because it primed me to just expect diversity basically at all times. So now that I'm here in Mexico with Mexican co-workers and living in a house with Danish, British and Israeli volunteers, it's not so much a cultural 'shock' as it is an extension and continuation of learning to live in an increasingly multicultural environment.

It's been interesting to note that due to my 'uniqueness' as it were (as an Asian American), I'm basically shattering the stereotypical notions that volunteers and Mexicans have of what it means to be American. I am so perplexed sometimes at the ignorance of people that I meet here, like Mexicans that cannot and will not accept that I was born in and lived in America all my life, and insist that I must be from China or Korea, despite my persistent urging that I am not. And when they pull their eyes back into slits, telling me that I have Asian features, I just really don't even know what to say, I'm so appalled. Not that they're doing this maliciously, but nonetheless I am rendered speechless.

Being here is an opportunity to continue to explore and embrace the complexity of personal identity, rather than relying on cultural generalizations to 'understand' others. I feel as if I've already learned volumes just by chatting with the teachers and volunteers about my family, my church, the food that I eat and the holidays I celebrate. I know this is only scratching the surface of meaningful transcultural dialogue, but this is seriously the stuff I live for.

Breaking stereotypes, revising old ways of thinking and growing into more complex, sophisticated ways of understanding the world--it's just so sexy, what can I say? Just one of the many reasons that I'm so thankful for my job.