OK, so you've moved here to Puerto Rico, and you're enjoying the weather, freaking out a bit about how complex things seem, and trying to get used to this place. I've only been here for about a year and a half as I write this, but I've noticed something in the Norte Americanos that live here, and that is that they complain a lot about how this or that could be better in this place. True, Puerto Rico is not a perfect place, but what you must realize is that you have literally moved to a whole different country, with it's own traditions, it's own holidays, it's own culture, and it's own way of doing things. Don't expect it to be like the USA because it is NOT the USA. It is Puerto Rico.

I had the advantage of coming from New Mexico, which has a culture so unique that many Americans don't even realize that it is part of the United States. We dealt with people coming in from all over the country, and doing all that they could to try to change our culture to what they were used to, and our attitude was basically, "If you don't like it here, and want things to be the way they were where you came from, go BACK to where you came from." We did not allow outsiders to change our culture and ways of doing things, and Puerto Ricans feel exactly the same way. They have their own culture and ways of doing things that seem strange to most people from the states, but it works for them, and as the saying goes, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

One of the first things you will have to get used to is the way Puerto Rican's drive. Some of the things you will see here on these roads will seem amazing to you, but trust me, before long you will be driving just like a Puerto Rican, or else you will never get to where you want to go. It may seem pretty crazy at first, but there is a sense and pattern to it that you will get used to before long.

Another thing you will have to get used to is that Puerto Ricans are American citizens, but they are Puertorriqueño first and foremost, and Americans only as an afterthought. They take great pride in their Patria and in being Puerto Rican, but have grown so used to the Yanqui's looking down on their ways and lifestyle, and criticizing so much about this beautiful place that they are extremely sensitive about it. You must also understand that Puerto Ricans live in a sort of ambiguous status as SORT of American, but not REALLY American, because of the commonwealth status of this country. Yes, I called it a country, because it truly IS it's own country. It just exists in the middle ground between being part of the U.S. and being an independant nation.

Everywhere you go, you will find that Puerto Ricans will do their best to accommodate you in every way if you are respectful and considerate of them. I've been all over the southern U.S., down to Mexico, and all over Western and Southern Europe, and Puerto Rican's are by far the nicest people I have ever met anywhere in the world. When they learn that you do not speak Spanish well, they will automatically switch to their best English, but this is out of respect and courtesy to YOU, and you should learn your Spanish as quickly and fluently as you can out of respect and courtesy to THEM. Spanish IS the language spoken here, and just as a foreigner moving to the United States should learn English, so you should learn the local language as a foreigner having moved here.

There are more cultural differences than I can possibly cover here, and to many North Americans, Puerto Rico seems like a place of extreme opposites that just don't make any sense. Realize that you come from a place that would be equally confusing to a Puerto Rican in it's cultural differences. Add to that the Puerto Rican's many fully justified resentments with 100 years of U.S. policies towards Puerto Rico that have kept it basically a colonial possession with no rights under the U.S. constitution, but demanding of it's people many of the same responsibilities of any other U.S. citizen.

The Puerto Ricans are fearful of losing their cultural and national identity to Americanism, (although if they will be as stubborn about protecting and preserving it as we were in New Mexico, they will not,) and have seen too many North Americans move in here and rather than try to assimilate into the existing culture, attempt and expect the culture to change and adapt to them, (a bad habit that has earned U.S. citizens the title, "The Ugly American" around the world.) Don't expect the Puerto Rican's to think the U.S. is the greatest nation on earth, or to think you are something special just because you are an American. You are just another person here, and how you are treated is a mirror image of how you are treating others. (This tends to be true anywhere.)

The best advice I can give is to start to learn your Spanish as quickly as possible, (you'll find Puerto Ricans appreciative of your efforts even when your Spanish is as bad as mine is at this point, but I'm learning.) Get as many books on Puerto Rico as you can and read, read, read. Try to find books written by Puerto Rican authors and get THEIR perspective on things, rather than just books written from the U.S. point of view. LISTEN to what the locals have to say, rather than arguing the history you learned with a closed mind. These things will give you a whole new perspective on the Puerto Rican viewpoint, like looking at the same statue but from a totally different angle.

If you assimilate yourself into the local culture and language, and are respectful and considerate of the local people and land, you will find your stay here an amazing and beautiful one indeed. I came here not really knowing much about this place, and the more I learn, and the more I grow into the local culture and language, the more I believe that I will end up staying here for good. I can't say for sure, of course, because if you had told me two years ago that I would be living in Puerto Rico right now, I would have laughed at the idea, but now, my love for this land and these marvelous people is growing to the point that the idea of my living anywhere else seems like a very remote possibility. Puerto Rico has begun to become my home more than any other place ever was...

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