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[dduck]

Hi,

I'm thinking, long term, about visiting Argentina. I'm curious to know what characteristics Argentinians have, and how they compare / relate to other Latin nations. Generally, stuff like that.

Iain

[Albulbul]

Just keep repeating this mantra :
"Las Malvinas son Argentinas"
or if you can't handle Argentinian Spanish:

"The Falklands are Argie."

[Marcethebest]

Hello there
I am argentine. Let me give you some hints about it. Contrary to what Albulbul said, we, argentines , are not obsessed about the Falklands/Malvinas thing.
We are very friendly people (ask any foreigner who has been here), we are always ready to help foreigners, and I am sure, more than one would invite you to have a beer.
Don�t hesitate to contact me if you need any extra help.

[carlos-england]

I'm British and Argentine people are massively
friendly, everyone while I was there was top!

Also about the decreto about Argentine residency
they had no idea what I was talking about....

[Marcethebest]

Hello Carlos,
Let me tell you that I had to be in charge of getting the permanent residence for my husband, who is american, so I think I know some.
Do you live in Argentina?
If I can help some please drop me some lines!!

[Rebekah]

Hi Dduck,

I've been living in BsAs for a little over a year now and I love it here. Of course living abroad always carries with it certain peeves of the local people's way of life, but overall I think you will find Argentines a lot of fun.

They can be extremely helpful when they actually follow through on their adamant offers to help (these are frequently the argentine way of being welcoming and friendly and more often than not don't materialize into much). When my finacee and I first arrived here after working in Asia for three years we were living in a roach infested hotel in San Telmo living on five hours of teaching work a week for which we were being paid a pittance and fighting hard to survive. I almost packed it in and left it all (including the fiancee whose bright idea it was to take me here in the first place) and then through the kindness of one student who quite unexpectedly lifted us up out of our despair and gave us a reccommendation for an apartment we found ourselves not only living ina great neighborhood, but I found work at an international school and my fiancee got classes at some of the top firms in the city. Overnight our lives went from dismal to truly enjoyable.

We have a real community of friends (who are ever so patient with my horrific Castellano) and in fact I've just signed a three year contract with my school. We are moving into a house next month, getting married here, having a baby, and even considering getting a car and dog and the whole deal. Suffice it to say we like it here.

That's not to say that Argentine life doesn't have it's draw backs, and these have been brought to the forefront of my mind quite recently as my fiancees brother has come to visit us and is full of complaints over things I have long ago assimulated into my daily life:

They are usually late. Being ten to fifteen minutes behind schedule is not considered late. Friends will leave you waiting in a bar or restaurant for up to thirty minutes and offer no explanation of this upon their arrival. If you invite them to a party, don't expect them to arrive until at least an hour after the suggested arrival, and if they invite you to a party at 8pm, don't be surprised if they are still in the shower should arrive on time.

They love food. They talk about it all the time, and they have every right to. The food here is fabulous!

They love their beef. I'm a vegetarian personally (no, I don't have to starve, there is plenty of veggie fare for us freaks), but from what I hear it is the best beef in the world and they are not shy about telling you. Try it all and be forewarned that they do indeed eat it all and what they don't eat is made into lovely leather goods and Mate cups. From the tongue to the intestine to the blood, nothing is off limits. They eat pork and chicken too, and occassionally (especially at the seaside) they even eat fish, but they will push the beef on you until you think you are going to turn into a steak.

They eat late. They eat dinner very very late. I like to eat my dinner around 7pm. They eat closer to 10pm. It is hard to find a restaurant that will do a proper meal at 7pm. The reason I discovered for this incredible willpower to not eat dinner sooner is actually quite simple. They have a light continental breakfast (if you like a big fry-up you'll have to do it yourself or wait until noon), a big lunch around 1pm (sometimes three courses), a snack/light meal for "tea" at about 5pm and then finally a big dinner at about 10pm. This may account for why they can eat such HUGE meals and still remain relatively trim.

Night clubs and bars get going around 2 or 3 am. You can find dancing open earlier at the bars down town, but it's not the same.

They don't get fall-down-drunk. In fact they quite frown upon public displays of drunkeness. Argentines like to maintain an elongated buzz state and do so by often mixing drinks with water or simply nursing one beer for well over an hour. The only exception to this rule seems to be at the end of year graduation parties in December when highschool students traditionally imbibe in the entire content of their parent's liquor cabinets, dress in silly costumes and parade around the streets until they have to be in class the next day. You can get drunk like we do in North America, the Uk and Australia if you go to the expat bars downtown, but they soak you with the price of drinks for the pleasure and secretly sneer at you behind your back.

Homosexuality is tolerated but not terribly open. They have their own clubs and their own communities it seems and so long as they stick to their areas no one bothers them. Barracas and Palermo Viejo are prime spots for sighting the lady-boy prossies and they can be quite daunting.

Don't expect people to speak English. Not many people do. Of course those that do LOVE to speak it, but they are few and far between. In fact overall, it has been my experience, that aregntines rather resent the fact that it may be implied that they need to speak English in order to participate in the international community of the world. The adults often go to lessons as though their arm has been twisted behind their backs and they want everything translated into Spanish (counteracting any English absorbtion that may be going on).

And speaking of resentment, I give you no more than two weeks before you hear the phrase: "Before the devaluation..." or "When we were one-to-one..." Take this time now to brush up on the golden years of Argentina before the crash of 2002. They are still very sensitive about this time, and truthfuloly they should be. It was awful for many many people and a good reason to keep your money in a sock drawer for the rest of your life. However, as an excuse for not paying people what they deserve, as an excuse for renigging on debt, as an excuse for asking teachers to pay for their own photocopies, purchase and bring their own taperecorders to class, and otherwise be cheap and chintzy, it loses it's sympathetic edge after a while. It also gets really boring listening to how great things used to be, how much people used to have, where they used to go, and how great they used to be. They have been swept from their first world pedestal in South America (regrettably to be replaced by Chile) and the bruise still smarts. Be gentle with them. It is a matter of pride. However, if you are seeking work, do not let this suffice as an excuse to pay you less than you would make as a sales clerk in Walmart/ASDA.


Some facts of indisputable information as taught by the Argentine school systems:

1) North and South America are one continent. People from the US are not called Americans; they are called people from the United states (or united stateians is Spanish). They will be quick to remind you here that they too are Americans.

2) The Malvinas (by laws of ocean depth and distance) do indeed belong to Argentina and will be theirs again someday.

Do not try to argue these points. It will only leave you feeling frustrated and them smiling smugly. It's not worth it.

If you need any advice or just an expat bar to meet some friendly faces, give us a shout!

Rebekah

[amy1982]

Rebekah-

that was a FABULOUS analysis of the argentine way of life. just about as good as you can get with generalizations. although, i must say, giving them two weeks to hear "before the devaluation..." seems quite generous... a conversation or two is probably a safe bet!

congrats on the new baby to come please post some pics when you get them!

[eo-nomine]

Hola!

Good observations! I've only been here for a short while, so I havn't met many Argies or seen much of Argentina... but I do agree with all those comments about how friendly argentines are. Just one example: when I arrived at Ezeiza, I took the bus (86) to get to BsAs. I was tired, so I started to doze off to sleep, but a young lady woke me up and asked me where I was getting off - so that I didn't miss my stop! I soon revealed myself to be a gringo, and she was full of questions, etc. It wasn't long before I was invited to a house party for the following day. Several other people came up to me later on the same bus and asked me where I was from, and none of them seemed to be after anything - except conversation. I must say I've never felt so welcome in a city in my whole life.

I've heard more people pest against the government closing down the nightclubs in BsAs (following that fire on New Years Eve in a disco where heaps of people where killed) than against the devaluation, though. And I've never heard anyone make even a vague allusion to the Malvinas, which is quite surprising given the comments here... but well, every single nation has its own little touchy spots like that, so whudjawant?

All the best,

EN

[nomadamericana]

Argentines� what to say?
I love Argentina and most all of the Argentines I met while living there. I think the previous posters have had good input� I will try to add to it here:
Argentines are nice people and tend to be very passionate. They love to speak with there hands and upon arrival you will quickly find out what the most popular hand signs are. They love to talk and family is very important to them. They are often very close to their family and the girls tend to daddies girls.
Food is a very important concept of Argentine culture. One of my argy friends half joking told me once� �A day without beef in no day at all�. I think this is a very important statement as they are very proud of their cows and their asados (BBQ�s) are to die for. They talk about food a lot� always compliment the cook if eating at someone�s home� they will appreciate it� and often times expect it!
Many are stubborn and like Rebekah said in her post� they are taught things in the schools that may not be what you or I were taught in a different nation� or consider common knowledge. I did get into arguments about things with friends� and many would not back down from their previously acquired knowledge and listen to your reasoning. This was tough at times� but I can understand and most were willing to listen and tell you their opinion.
Tolerance IS something that most argentines need to work on (tough I do think that it needs to be worked on in most cultures). Gays and people of different races often receive much unwanted attention. I think this is partly because of machismo� but it is kind of bad at time� especially among young people 17-25. Intolerance of other races, is just due to the fact that Argentina is a homogenous nation. Therefore they have not been forced to hard to assimilate many from other non-anglo races. They also have issues with the indigenous people� and have many derogatory names for them and use these names on other people.
Most argentines are honest�. In regards to things we lie about in other cultures. They don�t try to flatter people and don�t tend to be superficial in the ways that many are in the US.
They tend to still have a more traditional society but that is changing over time. Women and men are not commonly friends� like they are in the US. There are more examples� but I can�t think right now.

Over all the argentines are very lovely people and are a delight to spend time with.

[Marcethebest]

Thanks for the accurate comments about US , the argentines, nomada !

[carlos-england]

Hi Marcela

No, I now live in England, but I contacted
the Argentine embassy and one of their
attaches had no idea what I was talking
about... but the derecto is on the immigration
page so maybe you can read it!

All the Argentines who i spoke to were more
intrested in Juan Veron at Manchester United
and how Michael Owen is 'el pibe'

And for the Malvinas they can have it back tommorow

[carlos-england]

http://www.mininterior.gov.ar/migraciones/decreto1169/decreto1169.asp

Marcela, thats the derecto you are interested in...

[Marcethebest]

Hello Carlos
I don't understand why you are sending me that website , do you want me to have a look at it for you? if it is so, let me know what exactly you want to know.
Regards!

[Veritas_Aequitas]

Argentines, general impressions...

I have only spent a week in BA, so the majority of my impressions come from Argentine tourists I met in Brasil, and Argentines I know from the States.

First of all I admit I only know Portenos, so I cannot speak of los del campo so I don't think my impressions emcompass all of the culture.

I know that the general impression of Argentines from other S. American countries are that they are arrogant and obsessed with their own European cultural roots. I personally have found Portenos to be a lot like New Yorkers: fast talkers, very street smart, and agressive in their walk. I think that can often be misinterpreted as arrogance, but its just a part of living in the big city. At first I have found Argentine men to be standoff-ish and proud but then they warm up and are cool after a short while. The women are some of the most beautiful in the world.

I have gotten along with with most Argentines that I know, and I hope to visit the country very soon on a more lasting basis, as it's culture interests me more than almost any other at this point in time.

[Weona]