SELL ME on BA .... please :)

[steveinbsas]

Katti, your comment was a joke, right? i dont read enough of these threads to know when someone is joking around.

Ive lived in BA for years and I can say calmly and seriously, I have never met so many horrible human beings in my life! I dread leaving my front door. I just typed some examples from my week, then deleted them. why bother! I know what happened. I know when I leave later, I will have to encounter petty cruelty, selfishness, brutishness, nearly being run over as I cross the street. This is BA and its a dog eat dog society here where they are paranoid, on their guard, untrusting, and all too often, unkind.

And as they eat you alive, they say, "Que rico!"

"Winston tastes good, like a foreigner should."

And do they light up afterward?

(Sorry, I just couldn't resist this one.)

 

[Kyra]

Winston: where are you from? I just need to know what you are comparing BsAs to. Ans what barrio do you live in?

And yes: people drive like aggressive maniacs here, but face to face people are always nice to me. They smile and make pleasant small talk. The service in supermercado's etc isn't always given with a huge smile, but it's npt unpleasant either. And:have you ever been to eastern Europe? After visiting the trainstation i Prague, or even a 5star spabreak in Riga, you would think Argentines are the jolliest people on earth.

I may not have been robbed or forced to pay bribes (yet), but even if that happens it doesn't change the fact that 99,9% av the people I meet everyday are great!

 

[John.St]

I have NEVER ever, met an unfriendly Argentine!

I have - some 20 or 25 in a year and a half.

The basic problem seems to be the classic, that where some people see a 9/10 full bottle others see a 1/10 empty one + the guy who scowled at you three weeks ago counts as much as the four hundred who have smiled at you since then.

 

[John.St]

...And yes: people drive like aggressive maniacs here, but face to face people are always nice to me. They smile and make pleasant small talk.

Kyra, I get the unpleasant feeling that Katti and you are both cheating!

You probably both smile and nod at people and say "¡Hola! ¿como le va?" and that sort of ugly things , don't you?

Thus forcing the mean, dreadful, horrible, grumpy Argentinos to smile back and say e.g. "¿como anda?" and "¡se vaya bien!" - that, of course, is not because they like to smile or are friendly - no! they really want to stab, burn, shoot, rape and beat you 48 hours a day. [irony off]

That at least, is how they react (smile etc.), when I "cheat" - if you behave like one, you are treated like one.

Forresten -
Du er fra en lille kystby i Norge, hvilken?
Selv er jeg fra en mindre by, Bagsværd, nord for København.

 

[John.St]

And as they eat you alive, they say, "Que rico!"

"Winston tastes good, like a foreigner should

en salsa a la pimienta".

 

[John.St]

Of course it was a ripoff, but as I noted it was at a mercado chino and my post was in response to HYT's post that she paid 12 dollars for a four pack of AA batteries (but she didn't say where). Last month I saw that a four pack at Easy was priced at just under 12 pesos.

Yo sé, he leido unos de los correos venenosos de HYT, pero no entiendo nada de los chinos - the mercado chino two blocks away is considered one of the cheapest shops in town, although when it comes to Duracell AA, they do charge AR$ 5.25 for a 2-pack.

 

[katti]

I am sorry I am not joking. (I am not sorry).
If you think the people are horrible here you should go to Belgium. THAT is a country with unfriendly people. I absolutely LOVE the Argentines! That is in fact one of the main reasons why we are moving here.
How can you live here if you don't like the people?

 

[katti]

If you are nice to the Argentines, they are nice back. You should all try that. Let me know the results!

 

[John.St]

If you are nice to the Argentines, they are nice back. You should all try that. Let me know the results!

Are you actually implying they are ordinary human beings?

 

[sesamosinsal]

There have been a lot of comments about the people in Argentina. I'm from the U.S., and I really don't see how it is all that different. People are people. Some are nice, some are rude. I don't think nationality has anything to do with it.

I can't say enough how much I love this city. I wake up every morning to loud buses and cars, make my coffee, pull open the curtains, and I smile. Life is too short.

There are a lot of things I love about the United States, and there are a lot of things that I love about Argentina. However, neither place is a utopia. When you move to a place to which you're not accustomed, you just have to go with the flow. Life here can be very similar to life where you are from, and it can also be very different. I'm very grateful for the similarities, and I try my hardest to understand the differences. Additionally, I remind myself that just because it's different, it doesn't make it incorrect.

If you can go with flow and keep an open mind, you'll do OK anywhere. Even Buenos Aires.

Best of luck!