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Hallo meine Freunde!

I write this today because I am not sure if I'll have time to write something later.

Several milestones had been happening around in my life this year. Which had made me a busy person this year.

Still, there is an interesting situation... On July 07, of 2024, I turn 15 years of existance in this place called Erepublik. And there is someting more interesting: I am 30 years old.

Even if I think I am the same person, as I was 15 years ago, I think there are some key differences that I think would be interesting to remark... And Erepublik have something to do about it, (This is why I write about it)

This Article have 2 parts, this first part was from when I was a child until I was 15 years old before I entered to Erepublik. And later (On other Article), I'll write about the other 15 years, but now inside Erepublik.

Some of those things may explain some things related to the stuff I did in Erepublik.



The 15 years old me

It was 2009, when I found this place, trying to find something related to countries and geopolitics (Yes, I was like a nerd of geography that time) Still, explaining the 15 yrs version of myself is hard to an English Speaking population, because I didn't really spoke English. 😃 So I'll be trying to explaing it... little by little...

I'll do 2 parts one explaining a little bit about me before Erepublik (To put you on context) and the other part explain the 15 years in Erepublik.

9-10 yrs old, when everything changes...

This is a little bit personal, so try to be a little bit open minded. When I was a child, I was a child very focus on things related to Math, Buildings, Football (I didn't watch Football, I just play it, if you wonder, the only 3 European teams I knew were Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Barcelona) Extended Family (As any other Mexican on that time) And of course, Granma food (If you are slavic, you will relate that because Mexican Grandmas are like Babushkas.)

Religion also was an very important role in my life at that moment, but I was in the middle of cross-fire, as my mother became Protestant considering that my mother's family is a very Catholic Family.

I was not a social person on the time (Honestly, untill I was 20 yrs old), but I was very analytical of situations, and religion was my first expose to something different from "The Normalcy".

When you are a chid, you sometimes question somethings, but if your parents are involved, you mostly go to their side, Specially if they are critizied.

Also, I was one of those child who only cared about Math and Science, I basically ignored other subjects, like the linguistic subject (Spanish) forein language (I got a huge indiference to English because I felt it was more like an imposition, so I refuse to learn English) About History, (it becames very repetitive, but later a profesor would bring me the interest towards history) Geography, I had some interest about it. (There was a time where I knew the name of the several rivers in the Mexican State of Veracruz)

Identity was still not an important subject, but it gas the begining of the definition of what I like...

on 5th grade (or when I was 10 years old) there 2 things that changed me forever:

1. I failed an test in Spanish miserably (Is not that I could not speak my own language, it was just that I didn't care about the sbject because "I already Speak Spanish")

2. This book:


Those 2 things were important, because first, I began to feel embarassment when I failed a test. As I got a 3 (of 10) and the secondd lowest grade was a 6/10 (6 was a passing grade) So something burn inside me. (Also because my elementary crush was the most academic sucessfull girl on my class). Considering that I was very good at math (I loved to do Math homework) and I was probably the mos sucess student in math, I began to consider all my subjects (Except English) as "Important".

About that book. This is a book that Mexican Students get in their 4rd of 5th grade (I don't rememebr) and is a very big book, it have a lot of statistics and information about greography, demographics, and economy about Mexicans States. (And some general information about the world)

And here is when I found a little country next to Germany that also speak German called "Austria" (That was strange to me because usually any European country had their own language). Still my real interest on Austria start when I had 10-11 yrs old as I found Austria had it's own rich history on it's own, appart from Germany. Specially in terms of Clasical Music.

On my mind, the countries that "were not Mexico" were the USA (Becuause my father lived there), Canada, Italy, Japan, Brasil, Spain, France, Germany, Australia and the UK. (And Russia because it was huge).

On that time, I remember the USA, Spain, France, Rusia, Germany, and Japan, (And maybe China, but I am not sure) to the "common well know countries"

I got some interest with Germany beecause of their "Engineering", Japan because of their "Tecnhology" and Russia because "Of their Science".

On that moment I began to also "discover" the existance of small countries next to the ones I already know their existance. Basically, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belice.

It also called my attention, the "small countries in the Balcans" and some stuf about Poland. Egypt and Iran appeared in the scene too aside with India, China, and Central America. (About South America, I only noted the existance of Brazil and Argentina, I would get awareness of the rest of them like 1 or 2 years later) A huge country in Africa called "Congo" and South Africa too...

11-12 yrs old, more definition of myself

Here is when I passed from "Academical Distracted" to "An Academical Success" as when I was 11 years old I moved to Coahuila. (A State in North Mexico) I consider Coahuila like my second home state after Tamaulipas. here is when I discover "How industry looks like" and when I turn the most success student in a full school. Later on, I moved to Matamoros (A border Mexican City to Texas) and there it was the first time I noted the existence of flat lands (Aka, non mountanous places) And that is important because I discover I love mountains, and I also noted that Austria have mountains.

I also discoverd Astronomy and began to became a bookworm. Since I was 9 years old, I also liked to read all the books from my classes. (Well, there was not internet) And when I was 11, I remember a book that talked abour development, and economy. And I still use that information as my understandings of economies in the world (First Economic Activities, Second Economic Activities, and Third Economic Activities)

Most of the people I know, do not really get what I said, but I just tell them that this was on a Mexican Middle School Public Education Book.

So, in a way, excluding History, (Because I found that Mexican History books were very bias) I based my reality on what I read on Mexican books from the Public Education. There I began to construct my views of the world, all in Spanish.

If you wonder, the academic curriculum in Mexico on that time "was to be secular, free of religious doctrine, and based on scientific truths."

Yes, Mexico have some serious education problems, but in my own perpective, the problem was not the content of those books, but Pedagogy and a terrible preparation for teachers, because on Mexico (As far as I know) the Education Syndicated are corrupt as much as they can, abd if you want to became a teacher, you need to "own a place" not studdy for that. So the quiality of teachers in Mexico is very random, Some are the best teachers I had in my life, and some others, were probably more ignorant compared to me. Teachers Salary in Mexico is bad, (Terrible bad) so I can see why there is no motivation to became a teacher.

So Academic Sucess in Mexico depends mainly from autodidact education and Parents. You have the tools (Books, Curriculum) but you need to learn how to fill the lack of good instructors. And you are very lucky if you have a good teacher with passion (As my History Teacher, which I'll talk about him later)

Btw, I also became more into religion on that time, but mainly into my mother's religion. That will be important later on.

12-16 yrs old, Cultural Shock in the USA

So, when I was 12 yrs old, I was in the first year of Middle School in Mexico. Honestly I care more about my Football Team that Girls (I had some romantic crush on some girls, but my thirst for knowledge was huge) so something I did in my luch time, is go to the library. As I found my passions to Austronomy in the last year of Elementary, I felt I have a lot of onformation and I wanted to know more 😃 I wanted to know more about the science about it (Physics) and began to read everything related to Astronomy.

I rememeber that my concepts of Atoms began to appear as I also was in an Electicity Course. (I wanted to learn to Cook, but well, Machist culture arrived)

Now, when January comes, I arrived into the USA. As my father wanted us to live in America. That's was a huge change for me.

First, schools are very different. The teachers were more prepared, the students more distracted, and everything was less formal.

I also began to note some kind of bias from students against Mexico in terms of tecnology and economy, which for me doesn't really made a lot of sense on that time (Now I understand that they might come from very poor families, which in my case was not true as I come from a midddle class family)

Now, I also remember to be more emerged to the libraries of schools. So, at the time of 12-14 years, I was a library rat. And that is the time when I expand my knowledge of almost everything (Except English of course) considering that in the libraries, there were several books in Spanish.

On my academic stands, anything related to Math and Science, was very easy to me. (Math is math either in Mexico, the USA, or China) I rememeber my Math Teachers to love me because they didn'really needed to explain me the subjects on Spanish. Science on other hand, was a little bit strange for teachers because me, someone who doesnt speak English, had better grades that those who speak English. In High School, I joined to Graphic Design (AutoCAD) with American Teachers who doesnt speak Spanish at all, but they also noted that I could do all the work with no English in my vocabulary.

For History, as a greographic person, and with an hability to memorize dates, and with some previous knowledge related to Colonial USA, I also sucess in my History Class (That made my history teachers to love me considering my poor English on that time)

Basically my reputation as a student was good but on things related to myself that is when it began to shape around...

In terms of language, I was a little bit slow about learning English, for a mix of things. But some of those reasons were basically bias I saw on people.

For example, I remember some hispanic teenagers being despective to things related to Mexico, considering how "good their life was in the USA" still, they suck on Math, and Science. I was told to "forget Mexico and Assimilate to the USA". But honestly, they were not the peak of assimilation. They only could speak a language I cannot. Still, their knowledge on stuff like Science or math, were very low. Even their history knowledge was very bad.

Also, because their "despective vision on Football from some people (Soccer for them as they considered as an "inferior Sport")" and their "love on American Football" I got a very strong interest in Football, and a intense disinterest on American Football. (After I discover that I hate being around Hispanics when is about American Football, White Americans are so much less toxic about it)

Basically my sence of "Mexicanity" (Or Mexican Identity) born in the USA as a response to the hostility I saw and experience towards whatever Mexican by hispanic population in the USA. Until this day, I still try to "separate myself" from the Hispanic population in the USA and some terms, such as "Chicano", or "Latino".

I still would consider myself as Mexican-American (Because I became an American this year) but I a not the average Mexican-American I am my own version of that.

I mean, I was one of those people who with 10 years, was 10th place in a local chess tournament in a big city (I learned to play chess before I would talk or write) and I played on regional tournaments in Texas. I would not accept any kind of minimization from someone who would not their own math.

So, I took another way: I wanted to know the "American stuff" but appart from Hispanics and religion here played an interesting role, as being in a Protestant Family, I thought "Maybe I can understand the USA better by an American Religion"

But that created another problem, as "Religion and Science" do not get well along in the USA. ( I would not see problems, but for people, there was)



Now, Religion was another topic...

For the non-protestant readers here (I asume, most of them) I think that the United States is a country that have it's roots on how the protesants from Europe organize their life in the USA.

How I understand the United States(This will be very long)

If you know me from the begining in Erepublik, you will note that I had never played in the United States, or even interacted with someone from the US if you had not been in Austria, considering that I had been living 10 years on my life in that country.

I would not have an answer several years ago, but I think now I have it but I needed to fill the dots with information and ways to interpet that information along the years...

Just some information about my Life Experience, History, Anthropology, and Data

American influence on my early life

I can say without any doubt on my mind that until I was 12 years old, the USA was just an illusion to me. As it was not part of my reality. I only knew how the USA was because of cartoons and movies, some stuff about they being a global power, and that they took half on Mexico and that's it. I really didn't care about English, American Music, or even the geographical space on the country.

But I had an American Father by birth (My father is not currently a Mexican Citizen btw, considering that hed had been living in Mexico in all his life), so he decided to move us there. I really don't like changes, but because on most of my life I dealed with changes, I learn how to adapt fast, so I this the same thing in the USA. I am good following rules, so that was not a problem. I needed to learn the language, It was from nothing and slowly, but I learned how to read English very fast (I would write very simple sentences and very broken, I would get a little bit of what you say, and I would not speak it at all). I learned American History in a superficial way (It would be until I was 20 when I was going to get deep inside that). On that moment I was very bias about Texas (I saw Texas in the way Serbians see Kosovo) And I had a very hard time undestanding the Racial Stuff on the USA (In my family there is race mixing from generations ago Between Spaniards, French some other European root, Mexican Natives and Afromexicans, so I did not understood the big deal about it)

So even if when I was 12 yeard old on that time, with some stuff with me creating "my identity and my interests", I was also getting some of that American stuff (The things I selected). Also, this is the time, when I began to had interest in Learnign German. (But well, I was in an American School, I didn't was allowed to learn German as I would not speak English at the first place, even if they had German classes in High School).

Now... my interpetarion of the USA

Many people come to this country for economic reasons. And basically are adults or people who care about their economic situation. People in poverty. The reason of that is because, even with some hardness, it is relatively easy to make money in the USA. Many inmigrants came here, work a lot of hours (Just like in their home countries, they work 12 hours per day, 6 days per week) and then they make tons of money because of overtime. Mexicans in the USA have a reputation of being hardworkers. The thing here is that if you look towards history, not just are Mexicans. Many Europeans did the same thing. Many of those people see the United States as their economic boost, the place where your economic dreams come true...

And I know that might be true for many peoplle, but not for me, as I was brought to the country as a Child, I barelly cared about those things, so I was goung to build my idea of the USA over time... And here is where religiom had an important role on me understanding this country.

In the colonial times, wheen Austria was an Empire, Spain was colonizing everything they can and the British and the French were fighting on ome of their wars, there were religious protestant groups which came to the Eastern Coast of North America for the merge reason of being far from authorities and the established civilization, so they could began their new societies.

This is how many people came here at the first place, having a place where they can practice their religion in the way they understand is the best. And churches where he central life of organization on society.

Something I saw in my teenages years: Any protestant church well established in the USA (And Mexico) will have a social enviroment, where people do celebrations, activities, volunteering, and sometimes date someone from the same church. They have Dominical School (They learn about religion and use the Bible as reference, not just in the methaphorical way, but also to narrate stories) Some of those classes have maps of the places where the events of the bible occurs (Basically from Egypt to Israel-Palestine). And they also had their summer camps. They have their music. (I growth up listening religious music)

And this explain a lot of things about how everything is build in the USA. (Mainly the religious influence, but also a lot of the "American Values" as volunteering, community services and so on.)

Americans are also more focus in their local communities.Many people around the world say tha they doesnt care about any other country, but the reality is that some of them do not even care about other states in their own country. That can also be explained by how American colonist settle.

Instead, your community is important, you want your community to growth and thrive. Volunteering is quite common in the USA.

People in California, Texas or New Your might ignore each other, or they may even try to avoid themselves, but they care about their states and communities.

Well, this is how things works in the US.

At least this is how I understood the country by understanding it's religion. Now the USA of today is so much more complicated, but this is how it begins...

Now, "you will note that I had never played in the United States" and this may be explained as the following:

The USA is the second most Spanish Speaker country of the world, but Spanish is not an integral part of the country.

More Americans speak Spanish, that Argentinians, Spaniards or Colombians. Still, Spanish is not the language of Government, Science, or Academia in the USA. Still is a language to do business in the country...

You cannot do Science in Spanish in the USA, either get an education in Spanish. You don't see Spanish usage in School or the Universities ar the same level in English. Spanish is very irrevelant there. Therefore, there is not conversations about those topics in Spanish in the USA, making Spanish a "language of ignorance" inside the USA. There are some actions being done to try to reverse this, but it is very hard. The most common idea of success in the USA, is to learn English. Doesnt matter how smart you are in Spanish, you will have less opportinities that an average people who can speak English. This is why Spanish in the USA had a terrible reputation. When I found myself in that situation, I isolated myself from other people, as Spanish speakers would not talk about those stuff in Spanish and someone who could do it would not really undertand me. So Internet became the Space I had for get into the conversations.

Eventually, I found that people who speak Spanish in the USA that comme from Latin America, were population that came from the poor part of their societies, which means, their education was also very deficient. So that population had not intelactual stimulation on their language, bringing the problem into the USA, which they or their children would have it, but in English. (This is why it is hard to make Spanish an "intelectual language" in the USA)

So, Spanish is used mainly on other fields... Fields where people do their services or have their bussiness.

People learn Spanish in the USA, not because of Science, but because of Capitalism or Services.

In Texas many government facilities use Spanish (Even federal facilities), Same in Airports, in several stores, Hotels, Museums and Restaurants. Whatever places with services.

If you only speak Spanish, and go to New York, you can be there and not speak any English at all if you to some tourims. Just don't involve in Science, because most of the people who do Science here do not speak Spanish.

If we come back to the religious perpective about community, you also need to know, segregation in the USA was quite common in the past until 1960s, so many minority groups, as Blacks or Hispanics, needed to build their own community structures from scracht. And Religion was also very important on helping that.

And remember, many Americans focus on their communities before anything else, and if this involves religion, well, you can see how this envolves. Hispanics tend to be with Hispanics, and so on with other groups. And the linguistic stuff also establish it's influence.

Most of the things you see as "American Culture" (Except Texas) came from the part that Speaks English. Not from the part that "Speaks Spanish". Texas is mainly the exception as Texas cannot be explained without Mexico.

The "interaction" between hispanics and other populations in the USA, is something that is very recent. Which gives the idea of "2 societies emerging into one" and that is a proces that needs a lot of time to be.

And that being said, you will found that the "American Standard Culture" is quite different compared to the "Mexican-American Standard Culture of the USA"

You can even see the USA Football team. No Mexican-American Players. Even if they represent 10% of the population.

Interesting enought, Baseball is different. Mexico is also a country where Baseball is quite common, so I see a huge integration between Mexicans and Americans (And Cubans, Dominicans, and Puertoricans) when is about Baseball.

Most Mexican influence in the USA (Right now) is mainly on the labor force and economy. Not really on other fields. They usually have a huge presence in the Primary (Agriculture) and Terciary sectors (Construction, Services) of the American economy.

Mexican-Americans are also very discrete and non-participant when is about political stuff on the USA. Many have an opinion, but they do not really participate in elections. This is also why Mexicans have not really a political presence in the country. Considering that they basically have 30% of the population in California or Texas and can influenciate elections on those 2 states. (And therefore the country)

So in my conclution, they are very discrete in the USA. I am not sure of the number of people playing in the country.

Now, me inside the country, as I had not really any political voice in the country (Until this month) and am more like an observant person, also as I was basically only lived in Hispanic Areas. (Still, I had visited some places in the country) I consider that I know the country, but for a life greografical situation, I was not very able to "experience" the "American Culture".

I can understand the economics, the rules, history, and all those things about the country. But the America "I experienced" is not the "Standard America" people usually know. South Texas is the American space I know. And we speak Spanish here quite often.

All this have implications about how I began to play Erepublik.

When I stepped in Erepublik in the first time

I rememeber I found this game for the first time. I created an account, I hardly interacted with Americans as I lived in a region where most people are Mexicans so I created an acount in "eMexico", and then I appear in Mexico, it was very empty, some group of PTOs other countries were controlling the country... And they did not speak even English.

There is when I remembere😛 that there was a country I was curious about it when I was a little bit younger. And here is where everything begins...

My interactions, my desicions, my adventures, and interests... How I view the economy, the structures, the roles in the game. Diplomacy, and the self-perpective of myself.



On the second half, I'll explain about the others 15 years which are my time in Erepublik.

This first part was deep about the origins. But the second time will be more like the construction and consolidation.

(Yes, I'll do the second part of "A trip to New Orleans" but I had been very busy)