Blog Post #1: Pre-Ecuador

My beliefs about the socioeconomic status of Latin American people is potentially ethnocentric because the impressions and data about Latin America that I've been taught and have always seen involve citizens that are poor, live in shacks, and barely survive. This is not true, as I know. Other potentially ethnocentric attitudes could include beliefs about the type of food served or the religion(s) practiced. 

Stereotypes I have heard about Latin Americans revolve more around the danger they can inflict on visitors I s, including mentions and comments of kidnapping, rape, theft, dirtiness. My mother herself has warned me against going places alone despite "being strong able to handle myself." This ties into the comments on kidnapping and rape as well as theft. The dirtiness is, what I perceive to be, a societal belief in Western culture that other cultures are less refined and are therefore dirtier. 

Latin Americans, on the other hand, may have beliefs, based on stereotypes, that Americans are all rude, in a rush to get places, and all voted for Donald Trump in the most recent election. They may think we are insensitive to their culture and its values and practices as well, considering our frequent habit of culturally appropriating their traditions and our insisting that they act and speak in ways like we do. 

I anticipate encountering a challenge in the language department. Even though I have studied Spanish for nearly 4 years and speak it at the intermediate level, I know that I will still struggle to speak it correctly and consistently. I know I will forget vocabulary that is critical, but I know I'll also learn new words and remember old words when I'm using the language regularly. I think that living with a host family could also be challenging. Learning their routines and family practices will be fun, but they could be very different from the daily living in used to. 


I know that learning the language and spending time getting to know my family will be incredibly rewarding. I also know that spending time with the children at Neque y más Neque will be fulfilling and I will probably cry. 

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