What
is it with American expats not being friendly? Living in Mexico has
conditioned me to constantly smile and say hello to random passersby,
and whenever I do this to other fellow white people, I get a look of
"What are you doing here?". It has gotten to the point
where I just give other white people I see a "What are you doing
here?" look back.
I
have a theory that many of us think that we're special snowflakes for
packing up and moving to good ol' Meheekoh, and let's be honest here,
we get more attention from the local population because we're
foreigners. Most people in our countries wouldn't bat an eye at us,
so when we see another white person roll past us, we get jealous that
they're moving in our own "unique" dream. "Hey, they're my
people! Hey, that's my lady that I buy flautas from out of her
storefront! Hey, that's my taco stall! Hey, that's my taxi driver!".
There
just seems to be a huge amount of "hipster" cred that
people seem to lavish upon themselves.
The
other thing that caught me off guard is the complete lack of
helpfulness from gringos. I'm now accustomed walking down the street and
asking for help from random people if I can't find a place or want to
know where I can get something. I've done this with some white people
in the deeper areas of Zona Norte, Tijuana and I either get ignored,
or when people do help they look extremely annoyed.
One
would think that running into another American or Anglophone
thousands of miles away in a relatively obscure country would invoke
instant camaraderie, but this hasn't seemed to be the case. I get a
cold stare, and to be quite honest with you, I feel that I relate
more to some of my neighbors that I can barely communicate with than
some of these people. It makes me want to pack up and move to some
remote colonia.
I've
realized a long time ago that border towns on the Mexican side
attracts sullen, died in the ass grumpy fuckers who have already
laid waste to the joyful spirit of their own countries and
communities. They've made every other cunt unhappy at home and long
to cast their morbid, cynical, pessimistic, sad misery web further
afield. I think most of them are empty inside and maybe they know it.
They know they're fake, they know they're losers...hence they drink
so much and get stupid and blame everyone and everything else.
Probably.
I'll admit that I've stated many times that I prefer talking to
locals than I do my own countrymen. They just seem to care about
things that actually matter - family, daily life, etcetera. In
America, it's rare that I meet people who like to talk about things
other than themselves. Mexican locals are always interested in you
and your family, and will remember everything about you down to the
last minute detail. Maybe other gringo's have felt this way as well
and don't want me moving in on their turf. It's even like this with
people I associate with who are Americans. Whenever I make friends
with other Mexican people that my associate "knew first", I
feel like they become competitive and will brag about how many
Mexican house fiestas they got invited to, how many people they know
on their street, how many bizarre yet charming experiences they've
had, will start trying to correct my Spanish when I'm talking to
Mexicans, and will intentionally not include me in large group events
that happen between Mexican locals and Americans, and I'm later asked
by Mexican friends "Why didn't you come?" etc. I find this
ridiculous and don't understand the jealousy, and I don't even think
most people are aware they do it. I think that most expats get
wrapped up in this bizarre Messiah complex and feel like they're not
worth anything if someone is moving in on their people.
Then
again, I always remind myself that I have the privilege in the first
place of having the freedom to move to Mexico to live a "simpler
life". It's a total First World thing that is quite strange.
Meh...
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