Shocked

Yesterday was probably the hardest day i have had since i arrived here, not because it was Halloween and we did absolutly nothing (dont you know, its a demonic holiday where people worship satan, safe to say that with all the religious influences here it is not celebrated or approved of) or because i  missed my friends and my family but because of an activity that we did at school.Some students from the Psychology department in the university came and did some exercises to promote their department in our school. I learned more about my classmates and Bolivian Culture in the 45 minutes of exercises we did than in the entire 2 months that i have been here. We were told two statements and you would choose which statement was best suited to you and you would move to that side of the class. they started getting more specific and i started to see the reality of what people believe here. There was a question that asked us to go to the right if you supported Homosexuals and thought they deserved the same rights as everyone else, then you were to go to the left if you neither approved nor respected homosexuals. I was among six of the peoplee who were on the right side of the class. there were around 50 in the class yesterday, i was absolutly horrified and shocked, but what caught me most off guard was that people were more shocked at me! This was by far not the worst reaction i got. when they asked us about believing in god, i was THE ONLY person in the entire class who doesnt believe in god, people were yelling at me saying that im going to hell. then when i was once again the only person who said that i was pro choice when it comes to abortions people were horrified. i took this day as aHUGE learning experience. i learned that religion and the rules that come along with it are the most important thing here, its just part of the culture. its like everyone is brainwashed by (in my oppinion) archaic ways. It was really hard for me to see how everyone reacted to me and my opposite beliefs and ideals. i was among one of the only people who thought that living with someone before marriage was ok, that is a big no no here because it implies that there will be sex before marriage and that is considered HORRIBLE. i had to explain that it is a normal thing in my culture and that was hard for them to wrap their heads around!

Every culture is different and i know that but the culture here is VERY different from that back home, religion and god are the basis of everything , what they are told in the bible and in church is what is correct, i tried explaining my reasoning for not believing in god and i was straight up told that i was wrong. there was no compromizing or agreeing to disagree, there was not even an opportunity for me to ask questions, i was just wrong. Defending myself and my beliefs in spanish is really difficult, especially when you have 50 people looking at you like your satan. It got to the point where i just yelled at everyone to shut up so i could explain myself. I did a good job of hiding it but i was really hurt about the fact that no one supported the fact that i could believe in something different. 

I finally was able to talk to everyone and explain, i explained that i have no problem with religion or religious people i just wasnt on and that i hoped they could respect that. i explained the differences in the cultures in Canada and was able to explain that things there are alot more easy going than here and that i was not raised with a very religious back ground so i grew up with different morals and beliefs. i told them that just because i support the decision to be able to choose whether or not you can have an abortion doesnt mean that i like the idea of them or wish they wern't necessary for some people. by the end of my little rant, i asked them that if i can accept them and their different beliefs, why cant they accept me?

despite how hard and shocking and horrifying and terrifying and upsetting yesterday was, i am really proud of myself for being honest and for defending what i believe in and for making them understand where i am coming from. yesterday was a learning experience that is for sure but i know that it made me alot stronger!