i guess it's good to know native cultures before you go to where ever your foreign travels take you.

i'm reading through Rigoberta, who is talking about marriage tradition.
its going on and on about how the proposer has to go to the woman's house 3 times and get rejected by the father with a representative of the community present.
the first time you get flat out refused cuz the "daughter's too young". the second time you accept some cigarettes if there's a chance. and the third time, you get accepted. i guess you don't get rejected thrice, you just have to go to the door three times.

anyway. reading further rigo says how the woman should be pure and in this way the "community will respect the girl: they will love her becuase they know she has begun her marriage with her hands clean. That's what they say: 'She's not one of those girls who hang around the streets. She's never been seen with a boy in the street.' In [her] community, if if a girl is seen in the street with a boy, she both loses her dignity and breaks the customs of our forefathers."

now. maybe i'm reading into this and all she's referring to is prostitutes, but i feel kinda bad now cuz i walked this girl, mayra, home. twice.
it was a small community. and i am, well, white, so everyone and their brother who was aware watched me walk her home. at the time i thought it brought her clout, cuz all these girls think that if they try hard enough, one of these white boys will fly them home with them, but according to this, i disgraced her and possibly her family. although i guess her dad already ran off, so maybe she wasn't in too good of a situation to begin with. i gave her a hug goodnight and she really didn't seem down with that. thought it was weird at the time, but i guess i now know why.

fuck. i'm white. can i use that as an excuse?
wait!
american!!!
even better...