Why do you live in Argentina?

[charly]

At first sight, Argentines may seem great people. Nonethess, if you've lived here long enough you realize that isn't always true. Being an Argentine myself and having traveled to several countries, I don't find my fellow countrymen particularly great... To begin with, Argentines are not as friendly as foreigners think. The kiss on the cheek is just a way of saying hi. It doesn't mean that people love you more. Even enemies kiss each other on the cheek so go figure... It's just an automatic, unconcious act as well as shaking hands is in other countries. Some foreigners confuse it with affection and therefore get the impression that Argentines are more affectionate. I'm sorry to say but that isn't necessarily the case.
By comparison to other countries I've visited, my fellow countrymen are in fact rather distant and aloof. Contrary to what some think, I find Americans to be friendlier. They have a certain charm that Argentines lack. Also, they seem to be more open to strangers and smile more easily. Let's face it, friendliness is not a strong Argentine point... My fellow countrymen reserve their warmth only to people they know very well, but in general they are not friendly to strangers.
As for them being open to Americans, I also disagree. Many Americans have a hard time making friends here. This is specially true for expats trying to adapt to the local youth culture. Man, young Argentines can be nasty. Most of them are really closed and unfortunately they don't show much interest in meeting foreigners. Sorry if I offend anyone but I'm just being honest.

 

[Grazie]

charly, what a perspective you have put in. I think honesty and not sugar-coating things that are glaringly apparent here gives the rest of us more knowledge of what the real deal is. Thank you for saying what you said.
I think you never have to apologize for saying what you observe. People will bully you in this forum into changing your mind so you conform, and those that look at BsAs without their rose colored glasses see more and clearly, and I think that is why we are all here in Argentina, to see and experience life here, as it really is. Thank you again charly.

 

[TatanBsAs]

At first sight, Argentines may seem great people. Nonethess, if you've lived here long enough you realize that isn't always true. Being an Argentine myself and having traveled to several countries, I don't find my fellow countrymen particularly great... To begin with, Argentines are not as friendly as foreigners think. The kiss on the cheek is just a way of saying hi. It doesn't mean that people love you more. Even enemies kiss each other on the cheek so go figure... It's just an automatic, unconcious act as well as shaking hands is in other countries. Some foreigners confuse it with affection and therefore get the impression that Argentines are more affectionate. I'm sorry to say but that isn't necessarily the case.
By comparison to other countries I've visited, my fellow countrymen are in fact rather distant and aloof. Contrary to what some think, I find Americans to be friendlier. They have a certain charm that Argentines lack. Also, they seem to be more open to strangers and smile more easily. Let's face it, friendliness is not a strong Argentine point... My fellow countrymen reserve their warmth only to people they know very well, but in general they are not friendly to strangers.
As for them being open to Americans, I also disagree. Many Americans have a hard time making friends here. This is specially true for expats trying to adapt to the local youth culture. Man, young Argentines can be nasty. Most of them are really closed and unfortunately they don't show much interest in meeting foreigners. Sorry if I offend anyone but I'm just being honest.

That is your opinion and I respect that. But....


Try asking any Argentine who lives in the United States how many American friends they have, and how many times their American co-workers have invited them to their house. Have you been to an American high school, I presume you have not. Do you know how hard it is for someone to insert him or herself into an American high school? Once you have answered this question talk to me about argentines being nasty.
The only reason I compare with the US is because you did. Do you know what a clique is? Does Columbine, Jena, etc. ring a bell?


I have experienced both, and can give a first hand account on both experiences. Argentines are friendly. I particularly dislike people like yourself (no matter what nationality), who look down on their fellow countrymen, as though they were superior.


Kissing on the cheek is NOT automatic, and NOT an unconscious act, in fact, some Argentine men don’t kiss on the cheek at all and others wait until they get to know the other person to do so.


Young argentines show as much interest in meeting foreigners as a typical American would. They are in their own world, and meeting foreigners is hardly a priority. Concerning the difficulty of foreigners inserting themselves into local groups of friends, there are logical reasons, cultural differences, language barrier, etc.


Tatan.

 

[igor]

Kissing on the cheek is NOT automatic, and NOT an unconscious act ...

People beware! Zombie-like Argentines are wondering around the streets kissing everybody unconsciously.
As to the Argentines being open to foreigners I think it would be a good poll question.

 

[galalita]

About what Tatan said, I think I was extremely lucky in the States. I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for five years. I know what is it to be an inmigrant. I know what it is to: open a bank account there, have a social security number, go to the university, get a job in my field, rent an appartment, go to a gym, have a therapist and the most important, have wonderful friends who invited me to their homes in a regular basis, who invited me to stay at Christmas with them and had lots of presents for me, others who invited me for Thanksgiving, others who hugged me when I was sad and scared, the company itself made a party with gifts for me when I quit and came back to Buenos Aires... the list goes on and on.

There's no 100% good people or 100% bad people. Sometimes what comes around goes around. Sometimes life is very generous with us but it can come disguised as a not so pleasant experience.

I welcome inmigrants, I know it's not easy.

 

[chris]

Someone here wrote of a bad experience living in the US. I've met many Argentines who have studied or worked in the US. The people I know have all had positive experiences. They were treated graciously, welcomed into people's homes and helped to get set up in a new country. Even the people who had negative views came back with a more positive image of the US. I'm sorry to hear of an unhappy experience however from what I have observed over the years, Argentines who live in the US are treated very well.

 

[TatanBsAs]

Someone here wrote of a bad experience living in the US. I've met many Argentines who have studied or worked in the US. The people I know have all had positive experiences. They were treated graciously, welcomed into people's homes and helped to get set up in a new country. Even the people who had negative views came back with a more positive image of the US. I'm sorry to hear of an unhappy experience however from what I have observed over the years, Argentines who live in the US are treated very well.

I was not talking about bad experiences in the US, I was referring to Argentines being friendly. Johny -juancito- compared it to the US. For the record, I had a very positive experience in the US, but because I did -i went at a really young age- does not mean that everyone does. This could also be said of some expatriates in Argentina.

 

[chris]

Sorry if I misunderstood what Tatan was saying. I was just trying to point out that all the Argentines I have met who have worked and studied in the US have reported very happy experiences. Of course there are going to be some who were not happy - that's inevitable. One thing that I have noticed is that there are quite a few Argentines who go to the US with negative preconceptions about the country and the people but they often return with more positive views. A good friend of mine in Ohio invited a family from Cordoba to visit her family in the US. The father of the family was a student activist in the 70's and remains ideologically opposed to the US. My Ohio friend told me that the ex student activist arrived with a predisposition to dislike everything and everyone he encountered (he always said that my friend Patty was "an exception"). As it turned out the neighbors in the town in which she lives, Blanchester in southern Ohio, were very welcoming. They invited the Argentine guests to barbecues at their homes, offered to take the family to historical sites, invited them to be guests at their swim club and in general showed the family warm hospitality. My friend Patty commented that it was tough for the father to acknowledge the kindness of the people in the town because he had long ago made up his mind that Americans are cold and unfriendly. I suspect that there are many others in Argentina who would change their minds about the United States if they had the opportunity to live there for awhile instead of just visiting Miami, "Disney" and New York!

 

[ppab]

At first sight, Argentines may seem great people. Nonethess, if you've lived here long enough you realize that isn't always true. Being an Argentine myself and having traveled to several countries, I don't find my fellow countrymen particularly great... To begin with, Argentines are not as friendly as foreigners think. The kiss on the cheek is just a way of saying hi. It doesn't mean that people love you more. Even enemies kiss each other on the cheek so go figure... It's just an automatic, unconcious act as well as shaking hands is in other countries. Some foreigners confuse it with affection and therefore get the impression that Argentines are more affectionate. I'm sorry to say but that isn't necessarily the case.
By comparison to other countries I've visited, my fellow countrymen are in fact rather distant and aloof. Contrary to what some think, I find Americans to be friendlier. They have a certain charm that Argentines lack. Also, they seem to be more open to strangers and smile more easily. Let's face it, friendliness is not a strong Argentine point... My fellow countrymen reserve their warmth only to people they know very well, but in general they are not friendly to strangers.
As for them being open to Americans, I also disagree. Many Americans have a hard time making friends here. This is specially true for expats trying to adapt to the local youth culture. Man, young Argentines can be nasty. Most of them are really closed and unfortunately they don't show much interest in meeting foreigners. Sorry if I offend anyone but I'm just being honest.

Hi people, I'm new in the forum, I'm an 18 old local. What Charly said and Grazie then agreed. I really agree too. I have family in Boston, Ma. Until being there, few years ago.I guided myself with the common local comments about people from there, I said i just have to try how's the thing work. I realized that yes people here is extremely mistaken and sometimes arrogant. I felt a lot more comfortable there than here (I'm not referring to economical conditions), I was invited to the cinema, a lot of dinners at home, very warm and friendly.I recommend everybody to take out the pink colored glasses and see the reality. This place might be very seductive at first sight due to a bunch of reasons. For the ones that came here for girls: The girls here might be very cute, but if you can support them for a week tell me i give you a prize. Good luck everybody!

 

[beto1088]

I'm a 19 year old guy from Canada...

And well i see the complete opposite, I've made a shitload of friends here and they all seem to be geniune (after being here for a year)

Maybe it's because Americans are generally unliked all around the world, well as soon as I said i was Canadian people here warmed up (no need for pink coloured glasses)

As for they youth being "nasty" I'm from Toronto a very urban city and the youth here are not even HALF as close as being as unfriendly as some of the folk from back home...it's just a matter of sticking to the "in" crowd and such..i'm always making friends and hittin up a new club everyweekend cuz of it!!

Perhaps it just depends on YOU in the end, kids are nasty everywhere you just need to know how to hold your head up and roll with the punches...