Hello, my name is MEGAN

One of the biggest problems I've been having in Chile so far has been my pronunciation of Spanish words.  People are constantly asking me, "Oh, where are you from?" (usually in English) after I say one word.  One guy asked me before I even opened my mouth... is it really that obvious that I'm not Chilean?  I feel like I should be having less problems than my super white and blonde friends, but that's not the case at all.  Chileans are said to speak the worst Spanish of Latin America because most of their words are slurred together and they often drop the last letters of their words (for example, "cómo estás" becomes "cómo estai") and they speak faster than I have ever heard anyone speak before.

Also, my name is no longer Megan.  People ask me, "What is your name?", I say, "Megan", and they say, "Megan Fox?".  No lie, someone says that to me every.single.day.  I have just gotten to the point of replying, "Yes.  Megan Fox." because I am tired of giving disapproving looks and correcting people.  I am now either referred to as "Megan Fox" or "Meh-gone" because most people can't actually pronounce the hard G sound (another consequence of people slurring their words all of the time).  It's not that big of a deal that people can't fully pronounce my name, but it can become a problem because many times I can't understand whether or not I'm being spoken to. 

Sometimes, I just make up a name to tell people... I've been liking Maria lately.  It has a nice, Latin-yet-still-possibly-gringa spin to it.