A reflection halfway through my Fulbright

Oh, how time flies.

I remember it was just late July that I arrived in Mérida. On a whim because Fulbright did not permit me to conduct my research in Oaxaca due to political protests and road blocks at the time. Now, I have been in Yucatán for about 6 months now, and want to take some time to reflect on my personal experiences here in this blog entry.

Some changes for me were attire, hygiene, and interpersonal cultural differences. I prepared my luggage with various traditional shirts from Oaxaca, and while I did not presume that there would be identical styles, the traditional clothes in Yucatán were very different (embroidery, longer traditional dresses more common, etc.). I was slightly surprised that Mérida culture was a lot more modern than I expected. The majority of people wear western clothes, and while the local bazaar supermarkets still exist, there are a couple of Walmart’s and other chain stores encroaching from the US. With American clothes, to English music in restaurants, Uber, and Starbucks available, the local culture felt more global; I had to adjust from my nostalgic expectations for what México should be like.

Another attire-related change is not wearing shorts, as advised by COMEXUS during orientation, and I find that the school setting here is slightly more formal than in the US. In terms of hygiene, I needed to be careful of the water source I use and to disinfect every living thing from the supermarket. The latter is a hard-learned lesson from two weeks of diarrhea. D-: In addition, I learned to not label households as dirty or unclean based on appearance because people have greater priorities than making uncluttering their house. Rather than westernized judgements, I have a better appreciation for people’s hospitality for inviting me into their homes.

In terms of interpersonal cultural differences, I find that the work place is professional yet more personal in my Mexican institution.

At first, I was taken aback by male professors kissing their female students on the cheeks or professors inviting students to their homes...

But really now, this mix of personal and professional has become endearing to me and challenges my perspective on whether one really needs to have such hierarchical separations between students and professors. It is culturally appropriate, if not encouraged, to get to know people and exchange numbers; students and professors alike are very accessible to me, and am now more familiar with this amicability and more willing to give out my number. I appreciate that the professors in CINVESTAV and I get to know as a people and that I can easily reach out to them.

The most difficult adjustment for me was the hot, tropical weather of Mérida where which I experienced giant, itchy, heat rashes (hives) - as described in my "Dengue diaries" blog. Thus I now have a preference for loose clothing and use the fan or AC whenever available. I brought my cooling cream with me to everywhere so that I can apply on my skin immediately upon sensing itchiness.

A social adjustment is my position as a foreign female student attracts more attention than I expected, and I am more careful about how to carry myself as to not confuse friendships. Another adjustment is my higher socioeconomic position, even though I come from a low-income background in the US. As a Fulbright grantee, I have a reasonable budget (though certainly not excessive- I'm just pretty low maintenance) for a comfortable lifestyle, and COMEXUS allowance in pesos is much than what my friends from other becas such as CONACYT receive. I have to be aware of our economic differences regarding social outings to respect everyone’s budgets.

Well, regardless of wherever we go, I almost always love the food. Will definitely miss this (and oh, of course the company :P )

Last but not least, I am very grateful for the time that people are willing to share with me here. Be it from my mentors at CINVESTAV who provides detailed feedback on all my documents, to the people in San Crisanto who happily take the time out of their day for my interview, to my local friends helping me in Mérida, I find that people here are very generous. I begin to dismantle the concept of time as a commodity, and instead think of it as a gift that can receive and happily give to others. In my experience with academic settings in the US, the clock rules our world to the point that we are not only stingy with time for others but also time for ourselves. I hope to bring back this sense of tranquility and generosity concerning time when I return to the US.

Until next time,

Vy