The Big Question

Like all longer overseas immersions, this has been an emotional time with significant highs and lows. As some of you know, a painful point for me has been the lack of connection with my co-workers. Though everyone is cordial with me in the office, no one has invited me out for a meal, introduced me around the office, or really initiated any contact outside of saying hi in the morning. It's been lonely and - especially in the context of Latin culture - quite surprising to me. I couldn't understand what was going on.

Now, on the eve of my departure, I think I have figured it out, so now I'll tell it the best I can, in the only way I can.

I'll start with some snapshots that reveal one way that Americans are perceived by Argentinians:

• In Argentina, when a person arrives at the office, they go around and kiss all their friends and co-workers on the cheek. Sometimes they exchange a few sentences; other times they have a longer conversation. In either case, it's a lovely way to acknowledge each other's presence. Once when a co-worker and I were exchanging our morning kiss, she made the off-hand comment: "they don't do this in the US, do they? That's so cold!"
• I really like to chat with cab drivers in Latin America. They often have interesting things to say, and it's a great way for me to practice my Spanish. On several occasions, cab drivers in Argentina have told me "you're so friendly! Usually Americans are so cold. They just want to go somewhere; they don't want to talk."
• Finally, my last weekend here, a co-worker invited me out for lunch. We had a lovely time eating asada in a traditional grill restaurant and chatting. At one point, I told her that I want to use my Spanish to do volunteer work when I go back home - probably in a hospital where I can help patients who don't speak English. She said, "I hear volunteering is really common in the US. That's not a tradition in Argentina at all. You know, they say Americans are so cold but on the personal level they can be so kind."

Now to share some history: in the 1990s, Argentina emerged from dictatorship to experience spiraling inflation and a growing debt with the IMF. Enamored with neoliberal economic policies and heavily influenced by the IMF and US government, president Menem sold off state-owned entities, primarily to foreign investors, to the point where the state virtually ceased to exist.

As the crisis reached its peak in 2001, bank accounts were frozen to prevent a run on the banks; a new currency, the Argentino, was introduced in an effort to combat inflation; and stores were looted as people reached a point of desperation. With its advocacy for neoliberal policies and its leadership at the IMF, the US was viewed as a major player in causing this crisis. It appeared we had pushed neoliberalism on Argentina and then stood by as a society imploded.

In the US, we have a remarkably efficient society that can also be viewed as ruthlessly efficient and cold. I think this perception has in some instances impacted how people received me here. I wasn't included because people assumed that knowing them simply wasn't that important to me. During lunch with my co-worker, I finally got up the nerve to ask her why my companeros hadn't reach out to me more. She said, "oh we figured you were just here to study Spanish and that was your focus." Well - yes - but that didn't rule out wanting to make friends too.

In my new job with Latin America, I've encountered remarkably little anti-American sentiment, but I think this more subtle undercurrent is probably often there, invisible but real. To some extent, it's a logical reaction to the history of the region and the role developed economies have played here. Now that I know the attitude is there, I hope to work against it with my own personal diplomacy. In a goodbye note I sent to my co-workers here, I said "En Buenos Aires, he tenido una gran oportunidad de mejorar mi español, pero las personas son siempre más importante que un idioma" (In Buenos Aires, I've had a great opportunity to improve my Spanish, but people are always more important than a language). I hope this is the beginning of a better understanding between us all.