Why are you living here? Why did you come here? Did you come here for a man? These are the questions Argentines ask me 50 times a day. I get so sick of these question I think I should just print the answers on a card, not answer, and hand them the card just like the children in the subte begging. I would be begging too, I suppose. Begging not to be asked. Or at least not barked at.
Yes, I understand..I am a foreigner. I might have an interesting story about why I moved to Argentina. It is just the way it is is asked. For example, I am in a store, I want to buy something. I ask for it. The person doesn't answer me about the product I want to buy, they blurt in my face "Why did you come here?" Before I can answer, they answer for me, "Did you come for a man?" Of course this has to be the logical reason. Why else would a woman move to Argentina? It would have to be for those hunky Argentine men. (eyes rolling...drum roll please.)
I suppose the "Why did you come here?" are a little better than the "I don't understand you because you are a foreigner." responses. "Como? Como?" gets screeched in your face like mynah birds who have eaten some bad seeds. Some days it is better not to go outside. Unfortunately Argentina is not like the U.S. where you can do just about everything on the Internet. At some point you must interface with people and try to get something done. Right. Getting something done. Another blog topic.
There are times I think that I am here because it is not boring here. If there is one thing I really don't like, it is to be bored. I do not like being bored. I have never liked being bored. Argentina is anything but boring. Just when you think you have things figured out, or when you have finally accepted or gotten used to something..it changes.
Take today. There has been a garbage strike for 72 hours. The collectors are not on strike. It is the people who work in the processing plant. Sort of. No one is quite sure. The only sure thing is that the garbage is not being picked up in the city or in the province. Two places where the President is not exactly thrilled with the two guys who govern...Macri and Scioli. (Macri is Mauricio, the mayor of Buenos Aires, and Scioli is Daniel the battered governor of the province of Buenos Aires.)
Bueno. The Mayor's office has been asking people since Sunday to not take their garbage out to the street. Does anyone listen? Nooooo. Sigh. It is part of the Me, Me, Me, syndrome that permeates society here. It is like "I don't want my garbage in my house and I don't care about anyone else." Of course since people do this in the dead of night, there is no one around to see them. Even if there were, who would stop them? People just look the other way.
Great. This morning I went out with Maxi for her walk. Garbage piled 2 - 3 feet high in the street on the corners. People don't want it piled in front of their buildings so they just take to the corners. We are building sacrificial alters to the rats and bugs who will come to inhabit them, not to mention the stray dogs who like to make environmental art work with some of the garbage. I am just glad it isn't summer or we could add a new scent; Au de Peron or something.
The department head for the city says he believes that this has been a political maneuver. Probably. This is the only place where the federal government wants local governments to fail and look bad so they look better. I still have a difficult time understanding this logic.
You would think the federal government would want the local and state governments to excel so that they excel. But no, it doesn't work that way here. It's every man for himself and to hell with the rest of you. The only problem is..the rest of us are stuck with the garbage. Politicians..you gotta love them.
I used to hear that "Why are you living in Mexico?" questions over and over again, and then one day it stopped once I became a Mexican citizen. Zap, just like that. Maybe it's time for you to look into Argentine citizenship>
Posted by: jennifer rose | July 20, 2012 at 12:27 AM