As I already stated in one of my previous posts, I was born in Colombia and raised in this country for seven years. A few months before my ninth birthday we moved to this little island very far away from what I thought was my home. I had no idea how a Puerto Rican looked like, spoke or what was that "thing" so unique that made them be different from myself. As time went by, I got to know and live in this whole new culture, and I realized that it was going to be my identity that was going to be constantly questioned.
The first barrier I had to overcome was the language. Even though I spoke Spanish, some words seemed to have completely different meanings in both countries. This made some of my classmates become defensive towards me (I was different) and I had to learn how to incorporate these new words into my daily vocabulary. As I did this, I started to have more friends around school, but my parents became worried that I was losing my patriotic identity. In my rush to fit in I lost my accent, idioms and necessity to use those words my parents kept speaking at home. I started using words like: "mahones" instead of blue jeans, "tu" instead of "vos" and "brutal" instead of "chevere". My idea of sameness shifted towards the point of view of "lechon" and "pasteles" for Christmas, and that typical Colombian food became different and strange, for example.
Now I realize that I didn't lose my Colombian roots I just made a mixture of both cultures in my likes and dislikes. I am a true Puerto Rican when it comes to eating bacalaitos or rice and beans, or loving salsa music; but I'm also a Colombian when it comes to the way I dance this music or eat my mom's empanadas (the colombian kind). For me being a Puerto Rican is more than fitting into some general characteristics of looks, language or place of birth, it's about loving this island making this place your home, loving its food, music and people no matter where they were born, it's all about working for its future. As I feel I've become a little more Puerto Rican each day, I also never lose sight of where I was born and how my parents raised me. Being a Puerto Rican is all about your definition of identity and how narrow or integrative it is. For me anyone who appreciates and lives this island and its culture can be more Puerto Rican than the person who was born here and then fled to another country leaving his or her roots behind. The identity is something we work on throughout our whole lives. It's not where you were born and what your speak or eat; our identities are alive and constantly changing and evolving just like every culture or language.
The first barrier I had to overcome was the language. Even though I spoke Spanish, some words seemed to have completely different meanings in both countries. This made some of my classmates become defensive towards me (I was different) and I had to learn how to incorporate these new words into my daily vocabulary. As I did this, I started to have more friends around school, but my parents became worried that I was losing my patriotic identity. In my rush to fit in I lost my accent, idioms and necessity to use those words my parents kept speaking at home. I started using words like: "mahones" instead of blue jeans, "tu" instead of "vos" and "brutal" instead of "chevere". My idea of sameness shifted towards the point of view of "lechon" and "pasteles" for Christmas, and that typical Colombian food became different and strange, for example.
Now I realize that I didn't lose my Colombian roots I just made a mixture of both cultures in my likes and dislikes. I am a true Puerto Rican when it comes to eating bacalaitos or rice and beans, or loving salsa music; but I'm also a Colombian when it comes to the way I dance this music or eat my mom's empanadas (the colombian kind). For me being a Puerto Rican is more than fitting into some general characteristics of looks, language or place of birth, it's about loving this island making this place your home, loving its food, music and people no matter where they were born, it's all about working for its future. As I feel I've become a little more Puerto Rican each day, I also never lose sight of where I was born and how my parents raised me. Being a Puerto Rican is all about your definition of identity and how narrow or integrative it is. For me anyone who appreciates and lives this island and its culture can be more Puerto Rican than the person who was born here and then fled to another country leaving his or her roots behind. The identity is something we work on throughout our whole lives. It's not where you were born and what your speak or eat; our identities are alive and constantly changing and evolving just like every culture or language.
After reading your post, I realized that I used the Colombian word "chevere" a lot. It was nice to read your truth about what it means to be a Colombian-Puerto Rican.
ReplyDeleteI think your story is interesting. Being Colombian and being Puerto Rican, it must be confusing sometimes. I can't even imagine.
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