Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_K]

[MELEE]

I enjoy visiting DF, and I do believe that there are nice people everywhere.

As to the ones who love Oaxaca--they usually come off as considending too. You can't win with me today!

I had a laugh at a cousin from Mexico City talking to his 11 year old Oaxacan niece--tellling her how great life in Mexico City is. Among the virtures he extolled was the zoo-where you can actually SEE animals. I nearly choked on my beer. This particular niece has dogs, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, goats and cows! Oh right, a zoo is better.

[Phil_K]

Actually, the first time I went to Chapultepec Zoo I was amazed. Mexico being the country it is, I expected to be annoyed by the conditions for the animals, but no, all the spaces are enormous and as natural as they can possibly be. I came away with a good feeling.

And.... there aren't too many tigers, polar bears or gorillas in Oaxaca.

[MO39]

[Samantha]

There seems to be more to the whole notion than that, because not all visiting Chilangos are wealthy.

[sweeney66]

I feel compelled to add my two cents...I love D.F and N.Y.C.,both. Just sayin'. And yes, I do find the people somewhat similar. And yes, both can be weirdly provincial at times, but think about it, with this size population, some of the people have got to be cool, right?

[MO39]

[Prof.Gringo]

[Prof.Gringo]

[Samantha]

My, aren't you on a roll? Woo-hoo!!

You wrote:

[M@tt]

is there seriously a rule that you can't bash nationalities on the forum?
how do you define bash?

i see very little in common between NY and DF. NY includes maybe 4% of the total US population, and half of its inhabitants are foreign-born. it is not representative of the general population of the US.
greater DF makes up over one fourth of all mexicans living in mexico. i would guess that 98% of the people living in the area are mexicans either born in DF or relocated from other parts of the country. whenever people complain about "chilangos" (chilangos are actually people who have moved to DF from provincia), they are complaining about mexicans as a whole. having lived in a village in veracruz AND DF, i can say that all the things i despise about mexicans are identical in both places.
and, all the things i like about mexicans are found in greater quantities in mexico city. prof.gringo mentioned some of them but i wouldn't have put it exactly the same way.

also, when i lived in veracruz people loved to demonize DF and chilangos. the main complaint about the city, of course, was crime. but in our little village where everyone knew everyone, theft, vandalism, corruption, the occasional murder, were all part of life. everyone's houses had huge walls around them or bars on the window, and although the general state of paranoia was toned down a little bit, it was just a matter of HOW paranoid everyone was, not WHETHER they were paranoid.

the main complaint i heard in veracruz regarding chilango tourists was essentially that they came to the beaches on weekends and carnaval and left trash everywhere. the locals hardly go to the beach, but the rest of the city, although charming in many ways, is run-down and full of trash year round.

my point is not to bring up the negatives of these two places--i actually enjoyed many things about them both--but to say that these ridiculous comparisons between chilangos and all other mexicans are not supported by my personal experience. in terms of negatives, i saw no difference. and in terms of positives, i found nice people in both places but more interesting and open-minded people in DF.

oh p.s. i make more money than all of you working fewer hours so nyah nyah!!!

[Prof.Gringo]

[Samantha]

My comments were not directed at you, or this thread, in particular. To make it a little clearer, I was initially referring to a general trend of belittling Mexican people for how they do things (yet, again). I suppose it takes a certain maturity level to refrain from pointing out (in such a derogatory manner) the many differences in this culture vs our own.

Nothing is perfect in this world; I think we can all agree on that. As the long as the good outweighs the bad, then great; stay on and enjoy the differences and the adventure we sought in the first place. That's where I am with Mexico. I get to "people watch" tourists and winter visitors quite often living where I do. Things foreigners do and say, which used to seem like normal behavior to me, come across as strange now, and not necessarily acceptable local behavior. So it works both ways.

[GueroPaz]

I finally voted, "fairly collectivist," and see that I am not alone in that vote.

You taught me something. I thought Chilangos had to be natives of DF, but I checked three dictionaries. Only one dict. had an entry, which said they are residents of DF, not that they are natives.

Capital cities or largest cities of a country historically attract detractors who live elsewhere in the country. It is so easy for natives to bash their own countrymen who live elsewhere. I sometimes do that with NYC, but have no basis to do so. But I have no qualms with Des Moines, and know a teacher from there. I guess now, I know two teachers from there!

[MO39]