You Might Be a Long Term Expat if You . . .
Posted on June 30, 2010 - Filed Under Culture Clash, Guatemala | 17 Comments
. . . . . . use your lips to point at things
. . . . . . whistle back when someone whistles at you (signature whistles, not a catcall)
. . . . . . actually enjoy tortillas with your beans now
. . . . . . don’t think twice when no one gives you cutlery at an event and you need to eat with your hands . . . that’s what tortillas are for, right?
. . . . . . think salad dressing is dull, pass the salt and lime!
. . . . . . answer your phone with “allo?” or “si?”
. . . . . . sometimes forget a word in English, but remember it in Spanish
. . . . . . are no longer phased by the traffic that once horrified you
. . . . . . ignore most stomach aches because they’re probably just amoebas
. . . . . . have long since stopped looking for cream of chicken soup, molassas and other first world ingredients
Got your own? Play along in the comments!
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17 Responses to “You Might Be a Long Term Expat if You . . .”
Talk to Me, People!
I think this applies to those who still live in the US but with a Guatemalan!!!! ha ha ha Yes, I definitely point at things with my lips and a few others on this list. I still can’t do salt and lime on a salad though. I had a refried black bean sandwich for breakfast this morning! ha ha ha If I could find that Fern cream here in the US life would be perfect!!!!
Love it! All from personal experience I’m sure – even the stomach one I bet. I could write a list like that for those that have come to live in Australia. My husband is slowly being converted to becoming an Aussie so I might have to think up a list for an upcoming post myself!
Haha!
How about these: you feel like something went wrong if you met someone on the street and they didn’t kiss you on the cheek.
you don’t get pissed off anymore when your friends show up 30 minutes late to everything.
you can fall asleep to the sound of car alarms (this one applies in the city!).
you kinda miss the cat calls when you go back to your home country.
Here’s some:
…it takes you less than 2 seconds to roll up your window when the bus in front of you blows out black smoke, and you don’t complain anymore.
…”Que busca chula” is promptly answered by “Perejil Mamallita, la mas bonita, un manojo for favor”.
…brag to your friends about this great deal you got from “MegaPaca”
…husband finally allows you to drive to the city without him. (I’m not quite there yet, but close.)
Good ones, Ann and Kathleen!
Melissa, interesting that it gets those of you who are only living with Guatemalans in your own culture, too!
Leiani, I’d love to see a post on becoming Australian. I have a number of friends there, some expats, others natives. And yup, all personal experience. Yesterday I realized that I wasn’t even thinking about my stomach even though it hurt and that back in Canada, I would have been pretty concerned with the level of pain because it could have been something serious.
Ha ha ha, these gave me a good laugh.
I totally agree with Melissa! I live in Wisconsin with mi esposo Chapin, but I point with my lips all the time, make black beans once a week in my pressure cooker (or buy the Ducal frijoles colados), eat corn tortillas (not wheat), and use salt and lime for everything from cabbage to zucchini.
How ’bout these:
…..think that super-sweet, weak coffee doesn’t taste so bad
…..can conjugate all tenses of “vos” (this one I never bothered to do; I still use “tu”, which is now becoming an issue since I have a baby boy)
…..can make sexual innuendo jokes on the fly (oh how far I’ve fallen)
…..think it’s perfectly normal for friends and family members to stop speaking to each other for months at a time over petty arguments (bonus points if you yourself have done this).
I love your list! While I have only visited several times, we have good friends who do live there and have made some of these same comments!
Oh, Sonia, those made me laugh out loud, especially the not speaking one! At any given time, there is at least one person in Irving’s family who isn’t speaking to anyone else for some reason or another. And they all live in the same house!
Those were funny. All I do of all that list is eat tortillas with everything I can. Loved the pictures on your previous post, with the kids at the fair on the town square.
I think I would add
-start enjoying seeing every member of your family daily
-start thinking that alka seltzer and lime can cure stomache pain
-stop taking people calling you fat personal
Good ones, Jeremy!
I like tortilla with beans and I’ve never been to Guatemala! ;D
- Add to the stomach pain/amoebas requirement the fact that you never feel self-conscious about carrying a little sample cup to the clinic, because you know you’re not going to be the only one, and you will likely be meeting up with someone else who attended the same dinner party, who is likely experiencing symptoms at the same time/pattern as you are, and you’ll compare notes and casually exchange disgusting disease stories with other expats in the waiting room, like some people discuss the weather, so that by the time the nurse comes back with the official results, you and your peers will likely have already guessed the correct diagnosis.
and as for traffic…
- When you see someone freaking out about a fender bender or an itty-bitty scratch in their paint, you either shake your head in pity, or laugh, or both.
If you say mamaita and papaito, point with your lips, make sexual innuendo jokes off the top of your head, use lime on everything and drink some watered down coffee with your sugar, you are an honorary Guatemalan.
This sounds a little like reading “Nostalgias Guatemaltecas”.
Lol, Connie, the stomach ailments thing is very true. I’ve found that travelers in general tend to discuss their bowels a lot more than we would consider polite back home.
Cristina, I think I qualify then! heh.
Mine, with the Australia twist:
You wake up and the first thing you want for brekkie is a Vegemite sammich. It’s just so easy and yummy.
You can’t remember the last time you said the word “afternoon”, because it’s arvo around here.
When asking small favours from tradies (tradesmen), it is understood that you never pay them cash, one reason being they’d be earning way more than you do per hour anyway. Instead, “So, what do you reckon Gazza? How many crates you want for them lots?” (How many box of beer would you like for this favour you’re doing for me, Gary?)
Grammatically strange and hanging sentences are not…strange and hanging. “Yeah, it was good, but.” and “It was hot as!”
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enjoyed reading your post and the comments. they made us laugh!!