i hope this is a cultural difference

So, I realize that studying abroad is supposed to give me new perspectives on how I view the world around me, the United States and its relations with this world, myself as a citizen of this country with its bad relations...I mean, relations; myself as a person, how I think, how I interact with people.

But I didn't realize that this would involve how I view myself, as in my own self-body-image. The other day, in the house, I was walking through the living room to put away some shoes and my señora asks/tells me "estás engordando". Translation: You are getting fat. In reality, it's probably more like "you are gaining weight, eh?", but to my english-speaking ears it was YOU ARE GETTING FAT. I stared at her blankly, sputtered out a "que?" and continued on my path to the closet. She asked "you agree" and I weakly said I didn't know. And slunk into my room. and felt like shit.

Mostly because in my mind this was the first time that someone other than myself had commented on my own (possible) weight gain. And while it may be true (due to the whole milk and such), it still seemed so wildly inappropriate. Sidenote: what came to mind was anger over the fact that she didn't even consider that I may have an eating disorder and that comment could throw me into a downward self-hating spiral, or something similar. Luckily, that isn't what happened because I don't have an eating disorder, but ya never know.

This happened about a week ago, so I don't really have any embittered comments to add. I gave it this much time to write about because I wanted to cool off and regrain that self-confidence I usually have. And this task has been accomplished. But I still thought it was something I should make note of.