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Maira’s Blog - Traveling keeps me healthy
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My trip to Chile was awesome!
Here is the link to the photos: http://mairabay.shutterfly.com/
It felt so good to be the Foreigner! I could be whoever I wanted , do whatever I wanted. Nobody had expectations from me. This was SO good. It was such a weight off my shoulders.
And because I didn’t have to worry about other people, I was free to LIVE. To explore the places and enjoy my life! That’s why I say: traveling keeps me healty, sane.
I went to the Atacama desert and it was so cool, because there were tourists from all over the place there. I heard many languages. And because I spoke most of them, I was able to understand many different people: the British, the Aussies, the Americans, the Canadians, the French, the Belgians, the Chileans, the Brazilians… it was so cool to be surrounded by all these people. And many of them spoke 2 (or more) languages too, so I wasn’t the only polyglot there. I felt SO comfortable with all those people around me. It felt really, really good.
You know when monos travel to a very different country and they hear someone speaking their mother tongue and they get all excited? That happened to me with French. I did get happy when I heard English too, but with French, I was much happier, I couldn’t help a smile coming to my face each time I heard it. I felt “at home”. It’s funny because French is my Second Language (I consider Portuguese and English my Mother Tongues).
And when I heard Brazilian Portuguese I had to control myself not to think “yuck…run, run, run away from them!” 
I did manage to make friends with some Brazilian people. I realised that as long as I don’t talk to them for more than a few minutes it’s ok.
An intersting story is the star-gazing trip I did. There were 2 options of language (Spanish or English) and I chose English (simply because my Spanish is not as good as my English). So the people in my tour were mostly British. The #1 thing I learned was that annoying teenagers are annoying in any language (luckily the group wasn’t made up of only teenagers).
But the belonging thing was very intersting. At first I felt a bit out of place: even though I told them I had lived in the UK as a kid, my British accent is all gone; and I knew I wasn’t exactly 100% like them, I wasn’t thinking or behaving exactly like them. But in the middle of the trip I got so used to the accent and to “thinking in English”, that I was already pronouncing words in British and feeling like I belonged to the group. It’s funny how this all happened in maybe 1 hour. I realised the chamaleon thing works VERY VERY fast in me.
And again, it was a comfortable position, because I was ”the Brazilian girl who had lived for a while in the UK”, I was not a ”British girl”, I didn’t have to be like one of them. Whoever I was would be ok for them.
So this is my tip for those who are suffering in their “home” country. Try to find a multicultural group or travel to a different nearby country, just find a way to get out of the Hidden Immigrant for a while. It really does wonders for your mental sanity.
About the being alone thing: at first I was a bit sad to be traveling alone, but when I started exploring the city, having fun on my own, it started to go away. I felt even better in the desert where I met many other people who were also traveling alone (and just being in that multi-cultural/multi-lingual environment made me feel so “at home”, and when you’re home you never feel alone :). And many people actually complimented me on “how brave I was” to travel alone, so that boosted my self-confidence too. In the end of the trip I was thinking “those losers who preferred to stay in Floripa missed SO MANY cool things”. 
Oh, and I saw some cats there. And since I promised to send the pics to Brice, I thought I’d share them here with the rest of you too:
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June 9th, 2008 at 3:04 am
OMG I can’t believe I almost missed this !! NICE PICTURES MAIRA!
haha
Oh and I got your invite, thank you!
I completely relate to how good it feels to be a foreigner. There are no expectations, and you can just be .. yourself!
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June 9th, 2008 at 3:17 am
I’m pleased to hear you had a great trip, Maira.
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June 11th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
KITTIES!
And like Ayako said, I’m glad it was fun.
Out of curiosity, do you feel more comfortable as a known foreigner, because I’ve discovered I do…
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June 12th, 2008 at 12:03 am
“About the being alone thing: at first I was a bit sad to be traveling alone, but when I started exploring the city, having fun on my own, it started to go away.”< —Don’t we learn to do this very early on?
Caitlin: I feel more comfortable being a foreigner until the racist remarks start getting flung at me. That’s one thing I miss about being in north Asia. Nobody would call me a ‘Chink’ or ‘Jap’ there….except the children from the British school…but you didn’t run into these kids very often.
*rolls her eyes*
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June 12th, 2008 at 2:05 am
Yeah, I prefer being a known foreigner to a hidden immigrant. But as Ayako says, sometimse you get the spit and pebbles. Most of the time it’s okay, though. You can just shrug it off.
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June 12th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Yay! I am so happy that you had a great time! I miss being in a country where they speak another lang apart from English.
Those kitties are SO cute!!
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June 12th, 2008 at 2:20 am
aww kitties!! how cute!
you know Maira, I can relate with the excitemnt of being surrounded by diverse group of people with whom you can speak the same languages and understand their conversations even if you aren’t actively engaged.
I remember my last year’s visit to Korea. Most of the time I was there, I was telling myself to avoid Korean and speak and think in English. (This mindset has become such an integral part of me over the years of living in the States, in an effort to become fluent in English).
When I hear Japanese I get excited even though it’s my second language. And once I am surrounded by international people I can relate with, I become so happy
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