getting wild down here
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009last week i arrived to austin. multiple farewells in cambridge reminded me of what does it mean to live for more than a year in a city. everyday life and its meaningful routines, trajectories, displacements, sights, noises, landscapes, venues, friends, neighborhoods, coffehouses, restaurants. now is gone. however, i will be back in this town. i know it for sure.
the initial settlement in my new city has been quite smooth. it has been very useful to know people down here before i moved. to have friends who can welcome you, host you, introduce you to their networks, invite you to places.
the south is wild. southern north america is another country. as i have realized, this country of the north is in fact many different countries. texas is wild, and everything is slower, the bureaucracy is alive and manage tons of paperwork, the public transportation system does not work eficiently, popular culture depends a lot in a sort of farmer imagery based on horns, cows, guns, shouts, football, bulls, beers.
somehow the wildness and hot weather makes me feel in a place more related to southamerica. the animals for instance remind me of the fauna of my country: armadillos, chicharras, mariamulatas, many birds, bugs. the flora as well, oak threes, eucaliptos, bushes, wild weeds, yellow flowers.
it is a challenge to overcome the stereotypes that surrounds the culture of this state. but i am sure will be a nice exercise of understanding a new world. so far i have liked the bilingualism that a big part of the population performs. it has been very interesting to get to know the tex-mex community which people is able to combine spanish and english in creative ways, switching between both languages while they speak, mixing them, developing new codes. i have also liked the way people interact to each other, they chat a lot, talk to strangers, and seem to be pretty up to mixing with others. or maybe they are just already mixed.