Ay Dios!!- CHANGES

´AY DIOS´ I exclaimed as I stubbed my toe against the concrete sidewalk. ´Why do you keep saying that? and where the Hell did you even get that from?´ was my boyfriend´s response to my now bleeding toe.
My boyfriend came down to Mexico last week and we met up in Sunny (extremely hot) Puerto Vallarta. By the second day that we were together he had noticed that I had kept repeating that phrase of ´Ay dios´ as a response to almost anything- from a stubbed toe to some news or gossip he would tell me from back home. And the thing was I just couldn´t help; by now it came out naturally. And so after thinking about it for a few seconds my only response to his question was: ´I got it from the people of Sayula´.

I have been trying really hard to ´dig down deep´ and ´not reach for the hanging fruit´ but I feel like there hasn´t been any drastic changes I have had to make in order to adapt to Mexico. After the first two weeks here- in which I found to be the hardest- I began to adapt fast. It was almost like putting on a pair of jeans that just came out of the wash- really tight and uncomfortable at first (so tight infact you feel like you can´t even breathe!) to then having them feel comforatble and fitting like a glove.

However, there is one area that I have noticed a change and that is in Language. I have come to adopt many popular phrases that Mexicans use, and more particularly the phrases that are commonly used here in Sayula. In fact, I have even forgotten some words used in Colombia and have replaced them with the Mexican version!!! AY DIOS!- I am turning mexican!

It may not seem like a drastic change, but I feel like I am communicating with my friends on a more personal level- the way one does in Toronto with friends using slang and joking around. I am able to understand jokes and even attempt to say jokes myself. Its a nice feeling; kind of like I am getting integrated. I don´t hold back in anything I want to say and its a comfortable feeling.

Hmmm, after rereading the paragraph above in retrospect then, maybe it is a deeper change than what I thought!

I am one accent away from sounding almost Mexican- But My sort of Colombian accent still gives away that I am not from here!

Some words I have adopted:

The English// The Colombian (or what I have always used)// The Mexican

Beer// Cerveza// Chela
allnighter// Trasnochada// Desbelada
I beg your pardon// Perdon// Mande
Go on// Agale or Dale// Andale
Neighbourhood// Barrio// Colonia
Hungover// Enguayabada// Cruda
Homie// Parce// Cabron