My own individualistic nature.

I never necessarily thought of myself as an extremely "over-Americanized" person. When I think of the stereotypical American that the world thinks of, I think of a narrow-minded person who has no concern for anything outside the borders of the U.S. This is not the kind of American I am and I am very proud of that, but I have found that this does not exclude me from having been raised in an individualistic culture filled with individuals who don't care what other people think. Some people may know that I got my ear pierced a few days before I left for Chile, a little over 2 weeks ago. Why we get piercings I don't honestly know. I just like them. I think they're cute and honestly, it may be that I like to feel that I'm a little bit edgy. Piercings in Chile, even on the ears, have a very different meaning and my earrings have been the subject of great debate for the past couple days. Young people in Chile are forming what they call tribes. It's basically groups of kids who dress the same way, are extremely promiscuous, and are basically social rebels of the worst kind. It is typical of these tribes to have piercings similar to the ones I have. My aunt and I have had numerous conversations regarding this issue, and by conversations I mean her lecturing and me trying my best to not burst out into tears. I have not always been successful and have been crying on and off all day. It comes down to this. If I do not take out my brand new piercing I will not be allowed to be involved in the girl's clubs, I will be left out of the leaders retreat this weekend, and I will not be allowed to teach my English class in the private Baptist school. This is basically everything that I came here to do. I may as well just go home if I refuse to take out my earring. My own individualistic nature caught me by surprise when my aunt was explaining to me what my earring communicated here. Basically it tells people that I'm rich, promiscuous, and don't care about anyone. Ironically, I didn't, and still don't, care. I don't care if people get the wrong impression of me, especially when I can't even talk to them. I know that I'm not trying to communicate those things and I felt that other people would just have to deal. I know this makes me sound very shallow and self-absorbed, but I have nurtured this thing for 2 weeks. I have cleaned it, dealt with the pain, and even changed my sleeping positions for the sake of this stupid thing, and now all of that is going to be in vain. I will have nothing to show for it. It came down to me having three options. One, I could refuse to take it out and, for all intensive purposes, go home, I could take it out on my own, or I could have my aunt take it out for me. Well, trying to remove those things is like trying to impeach a president. It does not happen easily, and with all the pulling, my newly pierced ear swelled up and refused to let go of it at all. That is how I ended up being forced to choose option number three. My earring was removed, against my desire, by my aunt and two pairs of needle-nose pliers with our maid supervising and holding my hand. Now, where does this leave me? Basically, pissed off. Trying to get over it, but pissed off all the same.