Gee this is hard...

Well, I've traveled on several continents and studied for a year in Ecuador but have I really lived anywhere but the US before? I'm realizing that the answer to that question is no and that it's a whole hell of a lot harder to live and work by yourself in a foreign country than it is to visit one...

It's a rollercoaster of ups and downs. In the morning, your in love with the experience of making it in a foreign country. Then a couple of hours later you find yourself wondering why the hell you left your friends and family so many thousands of miles away and really, I mean really, why are you here? Then something happens and you are back on cloud nine. Don't try to fight it; just accept it. This is the way it is.

The other day I was having a chat with an English fellow. Our conclusion was that you can feel comfortable in a foreign country, learn the language and customs, etc. but you will never truly assimilate. Look to Chinatown, or communities latinos, italians, pakistanis, etc. embedded in foreign countries around the world. There is a tendency to look at these people as somehow not willing to become a part of the country they visit. How many of those who chastise latinos for not 'becoming Americans' have ever walked in their shoes.

Yes I speak Spanish. Yes I drink Mate. Yes I'm familiar with the history and culture of South America. Yes I'm fairly well disgusted with so many aspects of America and american culture. But in the end I will never escape the fact that I am American and I shouldn't be ashamed of that...

Well I guess this actually turned into something more of a rant than an entry... Tommorrow I will put some photos of Cordoba up... Why? Just because...