Pochy

In this photo you see my new friend "Pochy" Morales (her real first name is Hildegard) on the right. Pochy is a former Chilean Fulbrighter to the U.S, in Iowa, and she lives within walking distance of where I live. She is very friendly and outgoing, and it's been great to have her living so close. Her husband Jaime also happens to be in my department at the U. Today Pochy took me to the market so I could stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. I bought some of those lemons you see since I will need them when I make a trip to the "altiplano" at some point. People here swear that sucking on a lemon on the way up and on the way down from the high altitude helps to control sickness. Who knew?! I will at least try it! Pochy and I had a very interesting discussion on the way home about her experiences with discrimination when she lived in Iowa. When she spoke Spanish with some of the Spanish-speaking immigrants there, some people told her she should stop - that she should go back to her own country if she wanted to speak Spanish. She speaks English just fine, but she was just doing what we all do when we find people who speak our native language - which is to speak it! The British assistant in our department and I speak English together, even though we both speak Spanish, simply because there's an ease and comfort to it. I don't think anyone here would ever tell us to stop; I don't think they give it a second thought. Pochy also said that she felt some discrimination because of her skin color; people often thought she was Mexican. She confessed to having held some negative stereotypes about Mexicans in her own mind, until she was thought to be one of them and realized that it was hurtful. I thought she was really courageous to admit that.