However, in Chile, people are very accustomed to describing people exactly how they perceive them. I learned this early on when my host mom told me I was grande (large). Initially, after she said that to me, I felt slightly offended, because before coming to Chile, I had only been exposed to our American culture. For that reason, I initially perceived the comment as if an American had told me this in English. However, after some time I realized that this practice is widely accepted and that it is not considered offensive to describe the physical attributes of someone directly as you perceive them.
Understanding the direct manner through whch people view one another here has allowed me to further understand another culture. I have come to realize that keeping an open mind and reserving judgement is the best thing that you can do when understanding a perspective different than yours, which in turn allows you to learn about another culture.
Understanding new perspectives also allows us to understand new cultures because it enables us to reflect upon the history within a country or culture. Let me give you an example to show this. Chile used to have a dictatorship in the 1970's. During this time, the people of Chile were very repressed and lacked basic human rights. Due to the past repression, the people of Chile are far more liberated and are passionate about standing up for their own beliefs. The attitude of standing up for your own people and beliefs is a little bit more prominent in Chile than in the United States. For example, there are a lot of student led strikes at the university I attend. When something happens at the university that people do not feel is fair, the students band together and stand up for what they believe in.
