Racist Test

Quick, what was your first reaction on seeing this Russian ad for a new ice cream?

I have to admit that I thought it was cute and funny. I saw this at Comedy Central´s Indecision blog, who in turn got it from Huff Po. Some of the comments are also pretty good.

But we are aware that you americans are a bit hysterical about accidently showing your racism.--Arodo

You know what's way more offensive than a smiling cartoon Obama in a Russian ad?
The American writer imposing his own culture-specific taboos on other countries--nobodyatall

I also remember reading someone saying that we in turn have used Russians to sell blast shelters, which one would be more offensive?

In any case, the Huff Po writer Alex Leo is all offended by this. I just can't see why.

This does remind me of several conversations I have had regarding racism here in Argentina. Yes, it exists like it does in just about every corner of the world, but it is also different. We as Americans can not come down to another country and impose our own culture specific taboos on other cultures.

One case in point is that many people in Latin America use the term "negrito" or "gordita" and they are used as terms of endearment. I remember being in the States and calling my girls gorditas and a friend of mine was shocked that I might be sowing the seeds of some future neurosis in my child. Yes, she is right that if I lived in the States I should not be calling my child fatso or chubby, but gordita has nothing to do with those terms and my girls live in Argentina. If I were to move back, I would have to stop referring to them in that way.

If you are an expat, have you started to notice some of your own cultural projections? Have you been able to overcome them? Or have you wrapped yourselves in this new culture, snuggled up to your significant other, slapped them in the ass and called them "mi gordita(o)de mi corazon" and have gotten a kiss back instead of a slap or a cold shoulder?

Instead of it being a racist test, you have now turned it into a cultural adaptation test. Good luck, now start practicing.

Now I just hope some of that Obama inspired marketing mojo finds its way over here.

Tickets? Update - Novedades

One of my favorite bloggers in Argentina has asked me, pretty please with cherries on top, to print the letter that I left on the windshield of the idiot that parked in front of my garage.

Yep, that is the only thing that I did. I wrote a letter in Spanish. I was in the middle of an interview when she came out to her car so I could only see from a distance that she actually read it.

I could not confront her. I don´t feel too bad about that though since I will have other opportunities, and so I should have plenty of practice in the art of confronting some of these people. In fact, I could make it a project and try different approaches.

Anyway, this is from memory and translated, but it is very close to what the actual letter stated:

Dear Medical Professional,

I see from the sign in your car that you are a doctor or at the very least, have some medical training. From that I gather that you managed to receive a privileged education. In spite of this superior education you managed to park your car in front of a driveway with a "no parking" sign in clear view. Your car obstructed the entrance to my factory for the whole day. Clearly, from your education it can not be ignorance at play. Is this that famed "I could care less of others" attitude that is attributed to Argentines? Seeing your vast history of traffic violations, I can only guess that it is. In that case, congratulations! You now know who to point the finger at when people wonder what is wrong with this country. You are one of those that just does not care.

If you would like to start making your own country a nicer place to live please start caring a bit more about those around you. Change starts with one´s self.

Your inconvenienced neighbor,
Frank E. Almeida
Guatemala 5415

So it wasn´t as gratifying as stuffing her tailpipe with bananas, but I felt okay about it. That day we just worked around her car. Of course I told all the delivery people that the car did not belong to us...

*****Castellano*****

Una autora de uno de mis blogs favoritos me pidió que escriba la carta que dejé en el parabrisas del auto que estacionó enfrente de mi portón.

Ahora lo escribo de memoria pero es bastante cerca de lo que escribí:

Estimado profesional medico,

Veo por el cartel que tiene en su parabrisas que es un medico. Por esa razón, asumo que usted tuve una educación privilegiada. A pesar de esta educación, usted dejó su auto en frente del portón de nuestra fabrica impidiendo el acceso a la misma. Es claro que esto no puede ser por ignorancia, ya que nuestro portón tiene señalización prohibiendo el estacionamiento. Sera esto muestra de la fama que tienen los Argentinos por el despreció a sus vecinos y su propia ciudad? Mirando la cantidad de infracciones aplicado a su auto temo que es así.

En ese caso lo felicitó porque ya identificó con certeza, por lo menos, a uno de los culpables de cuando la gente pregunta "Que es lo que tiene mal este país?". Usted es uno de esos que no les importa al otro.

Si quisiera ayudar a mejorar su país, el cambio empieza por uno mismo.

Tickets? Who Needs Tickets?

***Spanish translation follows at the end of post
***Version en castellano sigue al pie de la nota

One of my pet peeves on living in Argentina has raised its ugly head. This particular behavior by a segment of the local population really drives me up the wall. No it´s not the one where they let their dogs shit anywhere they please and don´t pick it up. Although, that one is up there as well.

This one has to do with their cars.

When I first came to Argentina one of the things that struck me as an ugly and potential road hazard where these yellow iron bars or tubes that you would see going from the curb out onto the street. You can see an example of them in this picture.



I did a complete 180° turn on this one though, after living here a while. The reason people put them out there was to keep idiots from parking in front of their garages. I guess it just is not obvious enough that you should not park in front of a garage, let alone when they have "no parking" signs on them, the curb is painted yellow, and just the common sense that where there is a garage door normally there are cars going in and out of them just doesn´t dawn on them.

No, this little observation is just completely lost on a certain segment of the local population.

The new mayor in town has been an overachiever in road maintenance since the National Government doesn´t really let him do much of anything else. One of the things that he wanted to do was to put the police under city control and to have the revenue destined for police salaries transferred over to him to pay for them. Since he is a political enemy of the current National Government it was pretty obvious that they were not going to let him have his police.

He is going ahead with it anyway and creating his own police force. In fact, he is accepting applications right now. Meanwhile, the city has adopted tough new laws aimed at increasing control of its roads. For example, all of us start out with 20 points and depending on what infractions you are caught committing, you get points deducted.

The city inspectors have all been given Scooby snacks and they have been out in force actually doing their jobs. They visited us several times and made me take my own garage-space-saving-bars out. Since I have a business I am a very easy target for them, and so I took them down.

I immediately applied for a no parking city sign and have not heard from them yet. I also filled out the paperwork for them to come by and take an abandoned car out of the road that is in front of my store, and is currently being used as a home sans indoor plumbing. I have also yet to see them do anything about that.

And today, I arrived to see some idiot leave their car parked in front of my factory´s garage door. The first thing I did was to call the police. They showed up and tell me that they only thing they could do was to make a $37,50 ticket since the police does not have the power or ability to tow cars away. However, today they could not even do that. They said that the national police does not have any tickets (which are supplied by the city) because the city is giving them all to their own traffic control cops that are busy trying to take peoples points away.

I noticed that the offending car has a sign in it that explains that it belongs to a doctor. I went over to the hospital next door, but they assured me that their doctors park in their secured parking lot, but they were kind enough to ask around and could not find the owner.

I decided to just write a letter and leave it for this guy this time. However, I was also very curious and I just had to look up the history of this car. It turns out this guy has a three page traffic rap sheet. This guy runs red lights, parks in front of garages, makes left turns where he is not supposed to and either talks on the phone or has headphones on while driving.

Click on the picture below to see the car in question and images of his rap sheet...



What should I do to these guys the next time they park in front of my garage?

*****Castellano*******

Una de las cosas que odio del comportamiento de un segmento de la poblacion local tiene que ver con los autos.

En este caso en particular tiene que ver con gente que estaciona en frente de portones.

Una de las cosas que noté y me parecio mal y feo fueron los tubos en las calles que se usaban para proteger contra los que estacionan en frente de portones. No entendia como la ciudad dejaba a su gente instalar estos tubos en la via publica.

Con el tiempo aprendí que justamente porque la ciudad tampoco hace nada para proteger a sus ciudadanos contra conductores de autos que estacionan donde quieren. El gobierno se auto borra y los ciudadanos tratan de hacer lo que pueden.

Ahora Macri (en nuevo alcalde) esta arreglando las calles ya que no lo dejan hacer mucho mas. Una de las cosas que quería hacer era tener la policía bajo el control de la ciudad. Como el es enemigo del gobierno nacional era obvio que esto no lo aceptarían. El, igual, sigue adelante con su plan y esta formando su policía. Es mas, ya esta aceptando aplicaciones.

También iniciaron el plan de scoring para tratar de ordenar el caos vehicular de la ciudad. Todas cosas que me parecen barbaro para una ciudad del tamaño de Buenos Aires.

Los inspectores han salido a la calle y estan trabajando. Me visitaron y me pidieron que saque los tubos de la calle que teniamos nosotros. Yo los saque.

Hoy llego a la fabrica y veo que un idiota estacionó en frente de nuestro portón. Lo primero que hice fue llamar a la policía que después de una hora llegaron para informarme que lo único que podían hacer era laborar una acta de $37.50 pero que hoy ni podían hacer eso porque la ciudad no les esta dando libretas de actas.

Mi curiousidad me llevó a buscar los antecedentes del auto. Este estupido esta acostumbrado a hacer lo que se le cante. Tiene tres paginas de infracciones. Parece que a esta persona le gusta cruzar en luz roja, estacionar donde no debe, girar donde no debe, hablar por telefono o escuchar audifonos mientras conduce.

Bajé los antecedentes y tomé fotos del auto. Si quieren mirar solo hagan click.

Que debería hacer la próxima vez que se estacionan en frente del porton?

****** UPDATE ******

I was being interviewed by Para Ti Magazine so I could not go out and confront her. Yes, it was a woman--not that there´s anything wrong with that. I am just being observational. Anyway, she read the note that I left for her and she left. I am sure she was in a hurry to make a left turn somewhere while talking on the cell phone and eventually parking in front of someone else´s garage door.

"You're off to Great Places!"

I have recently made a couple of presentations to some local universities that have hosted American MBA students.

The first one came through my wife´s past involvement with EDDE. She used to be a professor in their MBA program. They were doing a series on Entrepreneurs and they asked her to present Sugar & Spice. She did not want to do it by herself so she asked me to go.

The second one came through a fellow expat who happens to work for the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella. My wife decided that one presentation was one too many for her and promptly nominated me to go by myself.

I had a great time during both presentations. Basically I was telling a story, our story of how we came to create this little gourmet cookie factory and how it has been growing and changing.

We started this back in 2002. Fresh from the economic meltdown of 2001 we decided to leave our corporate jobs and start a couple of our own ventures. If that wasn´t crazy enough, we also decided to start our own little family; in fact, the name Sugar & Spice comes from that little children´s ditty that sings about what little girls and little boys are made from. I am so glad we had a girl, if you look at it from that point of view.

As we grew from a home based business; to a small rental property with used equipment; to a state of the art 800 sq meter facility, we learned some things along the way and shared frustrations as well as some laughs.

In one of our latest hiring efforts we were looking for a salesperson. This young woman came in and stated that, although she knew a little English, she actually had been studying it for years through group classes, tutors, private schools, public schools, etc., and that she could never get the hang of the language due most likely to her dislike of Americans...

Poor girl, I couldn´t really blame her, I mean there are some Americans that I dislike myself; however, she really should try to refrain from expressing any racism or at least do a little research for a job interview. I mean, if in a Spanish speaking country you interview at a company that has an English name, there is a slight chance that someone may either be American, or would at least like Americans.

In any case, she did not get the job, but it was for other reasons.

There was also the time when another young woman came in, and my wife sort of put her on the spot by asking her "What would be the first thing you would do with the company?", and she came up with getting rid of the color orange...

Maybe it was the first color that she saw, seeing that we have it prominently displayed everywhere. She would obviously have had a very busy first day if we would have let her have her way.

She also did not get the job.

I was asked about cultural differences. Right away I was told to carry a book with me because I would end up waiting around most of the time. I imagined myself transported to the whimsical pages of a Dr. Suess book most appropriately called "Oh, the Places You´ll Go" and specifically land in the "Waiting Place.....

"...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow."

In all fairness I see Argentina represented in other parts of the book... "It's opener there in the wide open air". I am currently looking for the "bright places where Boom Bands are playing", and I know they are here and just within reach.

Although in many instances I do end up waiting, it is no longer that annoying to me. I now take my iPod with me. At first, I got reacquainted with my music; now I listen to podcasts. I love my iPod. I know, I am not the first one to express undying devotion to this little device. But, thanks to this little marvel, I was very happy and surprised to see how public radio has grown. I count "This American Life" as one of my most favorite programs. I am hooked on this show.

Thanks to this show I have learned about the chimpanzee population in the United States and how they live after they retire in the show titled "Human Resources".

I have been transported back to Chicago where the bridges smell like chocolate.

I have heard the embarrassing way that the Bush Administration has asserted its power in various small ways with big implications for the rest of us down the road in "The Audacity of Government".

I have heard countless stories that have moved me to tears as well as to laughter.

This is public radio at its best. At least now I don´t mind too much about the waiting around.

One other little gem of knowledge or experience I have picked up, that was not included in Dr. Suess's book, is to build high up or avoid flood zones; meanwhile, I am trying "to be dexterous and deft. And never to mix up your right foot with your left.".


All the quotes are taken from Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" Random House, 1990

Things that bugged me about Argentina (some still do)

Like everything in life there is always something else to every story, a flip side to every coin. Argentina is no different. I previously wrote about some of the things I liked about my new home. Now, after living here since 1999, I realized that I do look at some of my surroundings differently. Here are some examples:

1. Why can´t anyone be on time? At first I was just amazed at just how common it was for people to arrive late to just about everything. I had several jobs and most of the time I was the first one to show up. I realized that at the time that I used the bus, I was on a very frequent bus line (the number 10) and it was just impossible to arrive late for me. However, this city is very complicated and there are demonstrations, picket lines that cut-off traffic, streets that flood consistently, construction work that is unannounced--they just pop up like pop quizzes in school. One job that I had, right before I started my own company, was for a relocation firm in zona norte (north suburbs). Most of the employees lived in the south of the city and they had a very long commute. When there were strikes called they would literally panic because they would have no way of getting home. They had to not only cross the whole city but then take a bridge that unites the city with the south side and that bridge was frequently cut-off. During those times they would have to leave early and we would have to watch the news the next day to see if they would make it to work. Currently I am more and more amazed at how people manage to get to work at all much less on time.

2. Lack of choices in stores. When I first got here I noticed that the retail stores are so depressingly low in choices for just about everything. The toy stores are actually kind of depressing, any entertainment devices like stereos and televisions had so few choices and very expensive. Now I actually find it a little refreshing. Any locals who are reading this and have not gone to the United States are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about. In the States you are always surrounded by choices of things to buy: If you want a toaster, you have what seems like an unlimited number of makes, models, etc. to choose from. The same goes for coffee makers, stereos, running shoes, computer games, etc. Here, I bet you can count the different types of toasters you can buy on your fingers and then have some fingers left over to count the different coffee grinders you can get. I realize now that it´s due mostly to different customs. I mean, people still repair stuff here and not throw it away like back home for example. I really don´t mind not being bombarded by a constant sales pitch. I don´t even get catalogs in the mail here. Well, okay, I guess I would not mind at all if we could have Victoria´s Secret catalogs delivered, but nothing else is fine with me. I also have more time for other things and not so much time to ponder which toaster to get.

3. "Oh, look, they have tiles on their sidewalks. Don´t they look pretty?" Yeah, except that they become dangerously slippery when wet and after it rains and you step on a loose tile all of a sudden your pants are stained with all that dirty water that was resting underneath. I can´t stand the tile sidewalks. Although, I guess they are easier to clean and that is important since there is a stubborn small segment of the population that insists on not picking up after their dogs. Two negatives for the price of one on this one. Yeah, this one still annoys me a little bit.

4. No Refunds. There is not much to say about this one. It really bugged me and knowing that any and all purchases were final I mostly did not buy stuff. I went from a shopping paradise to no shopping cold turkey and this one was one of the reasons that helped me through this transition. So I would have one toaster to choose from and if it broke I couldn´t get my money back, but I could at least send it in to get it fixed and be happy that there was one less toaster filling up the landfills of the earth. This one doesn´t bug me as much since it does help me focus on buying only stuff that I absolutely need.

5. Parking by brail. Everyone does it. No one even tries to maneuver into a space and see if they could park without touching anything. It´s as if the motivation is placed on just the opposite. "That´s right, let´s see if I can park and make sure to touch both cars and if I can actually move one of them I could get extra points." I wrote previously about how I even saw someone go out of their way to bump into my car (the only one parked on the block) as they were parking. Amazing to watch this in action. Yep, I have had confrontations with people regarding this one and one day I hope to not care about something I would spend thousands of dollars on. Hey, it´s only money, it´s only plastic, glass and steel on four wheels. Something else that concerns me is the way people drive in general. There are some great posts by some other bloggers related to this topic.

Traffic Deaths in Argentina Imagining Taos
Porteños Behind the Wheel Un Año Sin Primavera
By Bycicle in Rosario D for Disorientation
Traffic in Rosario: Rant 1 D for Disorientation
Traffic in Rosario: Rant 2 D for Disorientation

6. Those metal poles sticking out of the sidewalk into the street could really mess up your car. I thought they were so ugly, and dangerous. How on earth could the authorities permit this to go on? This is one of those that I did a complete 180 degree turn. I love those things. They are my salvation. Everyone who has a driveway should have them. Let me explain: We bought a house in an up and coming neighborhood called Palermo Viejo. Currently this is no longer an up and coming neighborhood, it is a red hot neighborhood. Now it is so crowded and it is impossible to find parking on the block. Parking space is so limited and in such demand that people resort to parking in front of your driveway. If there was something that gave me an urge to go out and buy a gun so I could shoot people it was this. I would call the police, but all they could do is give out a $35 peso ticket. Sometimes I would get lucky and get to confront the people themselves. That was good for a little release of pressure, you know let off some steam, curse and yell at someone and eventually lower my blood pressure. I put up with this because the city had come around one day and cut the poles that belonged to the house. Mine was the only house they got to that day. Now the poles are back in place and I swear I will chain myself to those if the city decides to come back and mess with them.

That´s it for now. Maybe I could make it a yearly thing and see if I could eventually dwindle this list down to zero. It could be my Argentineness barometer. Don´t bother looking up "Argentineness" in the dictionary. It´s my blog and I can make shit up if I want to.

Now I am off on vacation. See you all in February! Besitos to all of you.

Boca, Indian restaurant, Fog, Ear Infections and Pizza

Before the Spider-Man movie last weekend, my wife and I went to a grand opening of an Indian Restaurant called Tandoor with another couple, Hernan and Andrea. While we were strategizing on how best to get a small plate of chicken ticka masala my wife asked about the Boca game. Hernan was a little depressed about it because he is a huge Boca fan and Boca had lost that game 3 to 1. I reassured him that Boca was going to win the next one. I really truly thought so and told him so. Right away he asked me if I wanted to go. My confidence in Boca must have awoken that positive spirit of his because as soon as I nodded yes he was on the phone scoring some tickets for the game. Now if only he could have worked the same magic on Tandoor... In all honesty though, the restaurant was overwhelmed. They had a bigger turnout than they expected and I am definitely going to go back on a regular night.



Game night: I meet up with Hernan on the corner of Corrientes & Pasteur. As we get into his car a friend of his said "Hey, the game might be called off on account of fog". We laugh it off thinking the guy was joking about the slight fog we saw around us. Fifteen minutes later we are sitting in traffic and in the middle of some crazy thick fog. We decided we were going anyway and luckily for us the game was delayed an hour due to this fog so we still managed to get their with time to spare. We were supposed to meet Hernan's contact at a YPF gas station near the stadium but this guy was a no show and he wasn't answering his phone.

We decided to look for scalpers. We asked everyone and no one had any tickets. We were just about to give up when all of a sudden a guy with a radio in his hands, and an air of authority, asked us how many we were. He directed us to a curb near him and told us not to move.

Me: "Hernan, are we going into the popular seats with "La Doce"? (infamous soccer hooligans).

Hernan: "Nah, La Doce are on the other side of the stadium. These guys are the 36." Or the 18th I can't remember which one he said, but he was just trying to be funny.

Anyway, I noticed a couple more guys like our guy with the radio and other pockets of groups of people. Our guy comes back and tells us to follow him. We walk up to the first turnstiles and the turnstile operators start to let everyone through in these groups. We walk up to a parking lot right next to the stadium and the radio guy sits on the hood of a car and tells everyone to cough up $50 pesos per person and to stand behind him once we paid.

We all do as instructed and then we follow him right up to the stadium where we wait again until he directs us to go through the police frisking area where we are patted down. Once we do that we go through a second set of turnstiles and we are in.

We walk up to the seats and find ourselves in "La Popular". This is where the hooligans watch the game and there are two of these sections, one behind each goal.
"La Bombonera" is actually very steep and even though we are up kind of high and behind one of the goals we can see the whole field. Well, we could see it if there wasn't any fog.

If you want to see and hear what that section looks like click here for a short 1.29 minute movie.

We could hear the chanting and the singing from outside the stadium and now we were right in the middle of it all. We were packed like sardines. The hooligans were leading everyone in song. It was loud, it was rowdy, and it was the most fun I have had watching a soccer game. Meanwhile I was starting to develop an ear infection and pink eye. By the second half my ears were ringing, my throat was soar, I was caughing, my nose was stuffy and my right eye was blurry. Boca prevailed and won the game 3 to 0. Now it's on the finals and to a doctor!

Before the doctor though we had to wait what seemed like an eternity to leave the stadium. We were even more smashed up against each other waiting to get to the stairs than during the game. What was even more amazing is that when any of the official hooligans needed to get through people just opened the way for them and somehow managed to make a path for them to walk through the crowd. Really it was so crowed I didn't think that was possible.

After the game we went out for pizza at El Cuartito. A fellow blogger, Dan from Saltshaker, wrote about his not very good experience with this place. However, I did visit once before and I did like my pizza, which was different from Dan's choice by the way. I really liked their fugazzeta. They have two flavors that are similar--the fugazza, which is a thin pizza with sweet onions on top and their fugazzeta, which is a pan pizza with lots of cheese and sweet onions. The pizza, paired with an ice cold beer, did the trick. I did not like their faina though.



How could I disagree with a local celebrity cheff? Hey, it's an opinion and there are several others that have waxed poetic on this place so I know that I am not the only one. Besides, at 1am this place was full. We had to wait for a table.

Now it was time to head home and call a doctor for the various infections that I was having. The doctor came within half an hour, left a prescription which I then had to go to Farmacity (a 24 hour pharmacy) and start taking the meds. Now I find myself with a day off at home having nothing to do but write.

What do I like about Argentina?

A while ago I posted about raising bilingual kids in Argentina and very few people read that post. Now with time, it has gotten quite a few visitors and as a result I have gotten some questions about how it is like living in Argentina. One of the things that people ask of me is for a sort of top 5 list. Well I just started writing one without numbering them in any order. These are some of my favorite things about Argentina in General.

Grilling without starter fluid and self starting coals. You might wonder why I put something that sounds inconvenient as opposed to setting up the coals and just throwing a match into the pile and forgetting about it. However I love the taste of grilled foods when you use wood and/or charcoal minus the lighter fluid. One thing I do miss about grilling in the States is that you can grill just about anywhere whereas over here you can not grill at the beach, or most parks unless they have grills there for public use. No such thing as using a Weber grill over here folks.

The Steak (click on the picture if you go to the link for an up close view of my handywork) is fantastic here. There is just no way around this one. There is no negative side to this point over here. The steak just flat out beats steak back in the States. Leave your steak sauce at home people, you are going to want to really taste the steak. No contest.

Fresh Pasta - In Buenos Aires you have fresh pasta stores all over the place. You feel like having fresh made raviolis for dinner? All you have to do is just stop by your nearest fresh pasta place on the way home. If you really want it easy you could also buy the sauce there as well.

Ice Cream - This point is similar to the earlier one about steak. This has to be the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Yes I have been to Italy, this is still better. Yes, I have been to gourmet ice cream shops in the States, this is better. The only thing I miss about the ice cream back home would be the variety of flavors. There is no Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chunky Monkey, Cookies and Cream, Rocky Road, or Cherry Garcia over here.

Restaurants and kids - for those of you who have children and thought about ever taking them to nice restaurants know that most places in the States tend not to really take them into account. Here you can go to most nice places and they make them feel like home. This is not a policy thing, it´s a cultural thing.

Maid service - I had to get used to the idea of having a live in maid but after we got one I wondered how on earth I ever even considered living without one. This is not a luxury lost to the filthy rich over here. Everyone has a maid it seems. You do have a choice of having them come several times a week or staying in. This one is life changing dear readers.

Walking - This is a walkable city. You can walk to most everywhere. The subway system is a bit limited but they are working on expanding it even further so this is just getting better. When you walk you get an opportunity to discover so many great spots. You get to know your neighborhood better. Something similar to this probably happens in New York. The only down side to this is that since traffic is a bit chaotic you have to be extra careful crossing the street. Also, there is a large percentage of dog owners who don´t clean up after fido so you have to watch where you are steppin´. Believe me, this annoys all non-dog owners and I imagine those few responsible dog owners even more.

Good looking women - Yes, I know I am happily married with kids, but who could argue that having a good looking population is a negative? It seems that the norm here is stressing having a good figure, and looking fashionable. I have never seen a good looking woman wearing sweats to go down the street to the corner store for a quick purchase. Woman here look like they care about how they look 24/7 and the only thing I am saying is that the majority are easy on the eye and that is always a good thing. Okay, so the negative side of this is that there is a high rate of eating disorders here. I don´t know the figures to this, but it is a known problem.

Small neighborhood stores - I remember having some in Chicago as a kid. Here you can have everything from a fruit stand, shoe repair, hardware store, tailor, small grocery store, hair salon, to pet food store, pasta store, candle store, newspaper stands, etc. Basically you can have an endless variety of shops just around the corner. These are mostly small, owner operated stores. Some of these will have smart competent people running them and others might be disinterested ones. Just like in life and in every where else you have good business owners and ones that would rather be doing something else.

Old world charm architecture - This place just looks cool. Argentina, at the turn of the century, was the world´s 8th richest country and it shows. Obviously, this country has been punished with unstable governments and economic mismanagement since then and currently has a large segment of the population under the poverty line. It is like a living museum though. Some buildings are hundreds of years old and they live side by side with more modern buildings.

Beautiful and varied climates and regions - This one reminded me of the United States in that both countries have such different and varied regions. I personally have visited the Glaciers in Patagonia, Wine country in Mendoza, the Amazon jungle bordering Paraguay and Brazil. Every region having it´s own unique beauty and majesty.

D for Disorientation: Sad story

There is a blog out there of which I am a fan. I mean, I like the writing style. He comes across as an intelligent, well read, and educated person. His name is Pablo Flores and his blog is called "D for Disorientation".

In his latest post, of which I borrowed the title for this post, he describes a series of events that lead to him being attacked on another blog site. I wont repeat those events since he did a very good job of detailing them. This other site, I had concluded before, that it was just a site aimed at whipping up hatred for expats or foreigners in general in Buenos Aires. The original idea of this offending site was pretty good. She would translate English written blogs into Spanish and therefore people who's English was not so great or nonexistent could get a view into what the foreigners were writing about their home country of Argentina.

As Pablo noted in his blog, they picked on several expat writers and, in one case in particular, twisted the original intent of the blog. I mean, the blog was actually trying to be complementary to Argentina and critical of the USA and they turned it completely around as if this person was bashing poor Argentina from his high and mighty perch of being from the USA. Yes, it is generalized but Pablo and I couldn't have been the only ones that read this as Ken's way of picking some things out from Buenos Aires that reminded him of HIS 60's USA and that he was actually trying to say that Buenos Aires has something that the USA has lost along the way.

I read Pablo's comments on that site trying to reason with those people on the fact that maybe they were being a little too trigger happy and that maybe they had gotten this one wrong. He did so politely and was answered with unreasonable attacks. These attacks on Pablo just reinforced my views that this offending site was nothing more than a xenophobic site, interested only in whipping up hatred and confusion and targeting foreigners in Argentina.

I have never met Pablo. In fact, never until this moment even exchanged e-mails. I am basically a reader of his blog. If you would like to follow the trail of this blogger drama you can go to his site linked above. He has the links to that offending site (I wont link to them).

If you want even a bit more behind the scenes read of this drama you can go read these in order and after you read Pablo's blog:

1. Yanqui Mike linking to the offending site and getting lots of comments. (By the way, I like his site too but don't know why he likes that offending site so much)

2.Bob Johnson speaks to Yanqui Mike and gets lots of comments as well.

3. Yanqui Mike and 99 and that offending site catch a Troll.

By the time you get to this last one and if you don't know Spanish you might be wondering who is a troll and who isn't. There is one clearly identified troll (that I have taken off of my link page by the way) and the rest I myself am trying to piece together.

What are you going to do?

I participate in a virtual group called Buenos Aires Newcomers Group. This group was started by an American expat in Buenos Aires. She started this group as a sort of support group for expats moving to Argentina. With this group the expats can share their experiences and knowledge of their new temporary home. This group has mushroomed into more than 1,600 members!

There was a recent surge in messages around the topic of dog shit on the sidewalks of Buenos Aires. I can’t remember how exactly it got started this time (there are several topics that rise every once in a while like the tides in the ocean and this is one of them). What I did find interesting was the different reactions from both locals and foreigners that participated. One expat actually created a flyer, and has the flyers inserted in the newspapers in her neighborhood. The reactions went from people saying that as a foreigner we should not try to change the local habits to various levels of support for this type of initiative. One other person also chimed in with the idea of giving your local homeless person the job of cleaning up the block in exchange for some pay.

My reaction to this situation, speaking as an expat who has adopted this country or has been adopted by it however you want to look at it, is that this one falls under the category of changeable habits. I mean, I don’t see anything wrong with complaining about this one and definitely nothing wrong with being proactive like the person who went out with flyers informing everyone about the negative impact dog shit has on the community. I mean they have been able to change the smoking experience here, why wouldn’t it be possible to change this one as well? I think it can be done.

I was coming home one day and there was this woman walking her dog and the dog and the woman stopped right in front of my door and the dog proceeded to do its thing….right in front of my door….in front of me. No readers, I did not loose my head this time like the poor dope who decided to play bumper cars with my car. This time it was a combination of me being tired, wanting to go home, and facing a cultural difference at this time just was not on the top of my priority list. I did shake my head and made a face at her. She got off easy.

I had a friend of mine visit once and we were walking home and I happened to step on some dog do. I cleaned most of it on the sidewalk and curb. When I got home I did separate the shoes and asked our maid to clean the rest of the shoes. We do periodically have our shoes cleaned. However, my friend started to ride me about the shoes and proclaimed that he would hate to be my maid. It was much funnier the way he put it but that was ages ago. Now I hardly ever step on it because I have mastered the art of walking and always scanning the sidewalk ahead. No I do not walk with my head looking down gingerly stepping around all the land mines. I feel like a local now being able to walk down the street, talking on the phone, being a little late sometimes to where I need to go and being able to sidestep the dog shit on the sidewalks and streets.

So, in the end it’s your call people; you, as in visitors, and locals. The ones who don’t mind the dog shit on the sidewalks, well that’s easy, you don’t have to do anything.

A car is just a car

I have been in Argentina since 1999. I really love it here. I went through an adaptation period, which is normal. I come from a different culture. I was able to adapt to some things quicker than others due to my mother being Mexican and my father Colombian. One of the things that I really have a problem with is the car culture.

I get the sense that to most people here a car is a piece of metal on 4 wheels that takes you from point A to point B. This is a refreshing point of view from the other side of the spectrum in the United States where a lot of people’s cars are their babies. However, coming from the United States you can’t help but having some sort of attachment to your car even if your car is not your baby. A car is a big investment; I would like to have it clean, well maintained and safe.

I have seen my car, being the only one on the block; get backed up into for example. The guy apologized and I was really at a loss for words. I see the whole block empty and this moron has to back up into the only car parked on the block? Actually I told him that if he could at least start paying attention to his driving it would be a load off my mind and it would be more meaningful to me than his apology. He kind of looked at me as if I had two heads.

I also had someone repeatedly back up into my car while I was in it and honking on the horn. I had a tirade of insults ready for him when he got out of the car. He actually responded saying that I don’t have a Mercedes, what should I be so upset about.

I could go on and on. Is it a weird car culture? Is my car a moron magnet?