Life in a Fishbowl

There are boring things in my town: boring meetings, boring classes, nothing to do on weekends, etc. When people get bored, they tend to find something mildly interesting to stare at. In this case, often times I am one of the most interesting things in town—and I’m not saying this to toot my own horn, but rather as an unequivocal fact. I’m American, freakishly tall, light-skinned, freckly, I speak funny and I’m 23 years old with no kids. Therefore, folks stare.

And do they ever stare. The recent meeting with the agricultural cooperative, for instance, brought people from the surrounding area who had never met me (all men, where are the women?) and therefore considered me a SIGHT TO SEE. The man sitting right in front of me managed to turn completely around in his chair and stare for a full 20 minutes. 20 minutes, I mean come on! My days at the municipality nearly always involve somebody staring, assuming I don’t speak Spanish and asking all about me right in front of me, but never TO me. Bus rides often involve open-mouthed kids, glaring women and ogling men. Really, what can you do?

Well, what I do is, I write it in the blog, and laugh. Because honestly, sometimes you gotta laugh. Otherwise you’ll cry. And cry.