My problem stems more from cultural (since I grew up watching US television and adapted a lot of their customs to my own) and religion. My family was the only protestant with my aunts and uncles and grandmother catholic.
Sigh, I haven't had that problem, quite the opposite. I have dark brown wavy hair, white, and green eyes. I'm also very tall. Most people thought I was Russian or German because I have a mild speech problem which gave me an accent even in spanish. Let me give you a little background so you can understand the mexican culture in Mexico. Way back when the spanish colonized Mexico, the had to deal with the natives. So they adapted the Catholic religion to fit their own. It was also a matter of race that mattered and color of skin. If you were spanish that came over, you were practically royalty, born in the colony, still high up but snubbed by other spanish born in spain, mixed race still had rights but were considered at the low end. Native, you were a slave. So even now lighter skin is treated better, though it's not as bad as it was in the US. Mostly, though, it's about money and social status.
For me the main problem was my ideology. I thought differently than most of my peers. My interests were different and thus I was different. I didn't treat people like they were lower than me because of the color of their skin or social economic background. That set me apart. We lived in a nice neighborhood but weren't rich or anything like that. But here in Mexico, it would be upper middle class or lower upper class. People expect things from you. How you are, your interests. It may not seem like much, but we were social outcasts and they let us know it. People were nice enough, but when the teacher has to threaten the class with doing a lottery for who got to take me in their group, well . . . you can imagine.
Re: Continuation: Azula’s lightning strike on Zuko has something far more serious consequences
Date: 2011-01-11 06:54 am (UTC)Sigh, I haven't had that problem, quite the opposite. I have dark brown wavy hair, white, and green eyes. I'm also very tall. Most people thought I was Russian or German because I have a mild speech problem which gave me an accent even in spanish. Let me give you a little background so you can understand the mexican culture in Mexico. Way back when the spanish colonized Mexico, the had to deal with the natives. So they adapted the Catholic religion to fit their own. It was also a matter of race that mattered and color of skin. If you were spanish that came over, you were practically royalty, born in the colony, still high up but snubbed by other spanish born in spain, mixed race still had rights but were considered at the low end. Native, you were a slave. So even now lighter skin is treated better, though it's not as bad as it was in the US. Mostly, though, it's about money and social status.
For me the main problem was my ideology. I thought differently than most of my peers. My interests were different and thus I was different. I didn't treat people like they were lower than me because of the color of their skin or social economic background. That set me apart. We lived in a nice neighborhood but weren't rich or anything like that. But here in Mexico, it would be upper middle class or lower upper class. People expect things from you. How you are, your interests. It may not seem like much, but we were social outcasts and they let us know it. People were nice enough, but when the teacher has to threaten the class with doing a lottery for who got to take me in their group, well . . . you can imagine.