There is a scene in one of my husband's favorite movies, where the young daughter of a Mexican woman uses a very common American phrase " not right now I just need some space". Her mother's response? She gets right in her child's face and tells her in a thick Spanish accent " there is no a space between us."
The concept of "personal space" is one that seems perfectly normal to me, having grown up here in the states,but when I saw that scene I began to think about just how that concept is truly an American way of thinking.
Imagine living not only with your immediate family in an apartment or small house, but then add an or two aunts and some uncles, a few cousins,perhaps a grandmother; and suddenly you do not have much space at all..let alone "personal space".
Being alone is really not an option...I can appreciate the differences, and I can see why it sparked fear in the young girls' mother, seeing and hearing her daughter's assimilation into a foreign culture that was so different from her own; and the one she was so desperate to pass on to her child.
I can see it and appreciate it, but sometimes...I just NEED to say " not right now, I just need some space".And I am perfectly fine with the fact that it is a very Gringa thing to say!
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