Warning: Explicit Material Ahead!-Part 1

Ok, so that´s not really true, but this blog is slightly dealing with that forbidden fruit which we all crave-sex. Or rather, what it´s like being away from your significant other when living abroad.

I have been shocked at people´s attitudes towards my having a boyfriend here in Chile. Those people who I call my friends for the most part have all offered to sleep with me, some subtly, some not so subtly. At first I was flattered, but now I find it merely annoying. Because I am from the U.S., people tend to assume that I will be slutty, and I think the blond hair in a spanish country doesn´t exactly help. People assume that my boyfriend and I aren´t serious, and that I would be more than willing to cheat. Once I explain our situation, people may realize we´re relatively serious, but they still assume I would be more than willing to cheat. They just don´t understand that I don´t consider that an option. I consider it a waste of time for nothing but small gratification at the expense of someone else´s heart.

I went to a party on friday night, a housewarming party for J. He finally moved into a real apartment after living at the Mariott for months. That´s P&G for you, no time for apartment searching! Anyway, I had a great time, but as usual I got little attention from the girls and a lot from the guys. Most of the people there were married, but that didn´t stop the ambush. Later in the night, when most people were a bit intoxicated, I was outside and suddenly surrounded by five men, and one of them asked, ´what is this about your boyfriend, why are you having fun´. I HATE when people ask me if I´m still having fun. As if because I can´t make out with every latin guy I meet this means I´m not having fun. Did it ever occur to them I wouldn´t do that if I was single? That maybe I´m a good girl? No, of course not. When I tried to explain that I would never cheat on my boyfriend, they say, we´re not talking about cheating, we´re just talking about experiencing latin flavor. No you are not! You´re talking about cheating, and I am not going to be somehow fooled into doing it. Good lord, I´m a human being, not a monkey. I do have some ounce of logic in my light haired head. The one guy who actually supports the fact that I am not like others, kept quiet. And his defence was, I´m a friend, I still want him to have fun. Great, glad to know relationships are so respected.

I think the most annoying part was when they said, when you´re so far away, it´s ok, you don´t know what your boyfriend is doing. And of course, I actually do know my boyfriend, they´re the ones who´ve never met him, which is what I said. And they all gave each other knowing looks. To which I replied, fine, let´s say he is cheating on me. That doesn´t mean it´s ok for me to cheat on him. It doesn´t work like that. This was met by shocked silence.

At the time I was pretty upset about this, but in retrospect, I have to wonder if it´s just the way it is down here. Do people really consider relationships so open? Are women really considered so indespensable? The next day I recieved a long apology text from the guy they were all trying to get me to hook up with, saying he always respected my relationship and it´s just hard for his friends to understand. I don´t blame him for his friends, and he has been nothing short of a gentleman, but to his friends I say: bullshit. Regardless of my relationship status a no is a no. I wouldn´t hook up with him is I was single, much less now when I´m taken. So stop pushing.