Thank God There’s Only One Grumpy Expat in Antigua

Forgot to mention, I would love to know what El Blogador's neighbors think of him? I wouldn't even want to ask my neighbors what they think of me. We have already had some pretty major dog issues. I am just glad I am not living in Jardines de Antigua and getting pot shots by El Blogador.

Thanks for sharing that post. That was a great blog post by El Blogador. I was laughing out loud. What a tirade. Everybody got some: locals, Europeans, Americans, etc. I have heard that phrase too, "you don't know who you're dealing with, yada yada!" Hey, I've had days like that myself, I guess, where I cuss everybody out. Moreover, that place "Jardines" in Antigua seems like some kind of hell version of Mr. Roger's neighborhood. Where is that??? When in Antigua I usually hang at pubs, eateries and the occasional concert. But I don't go often anymore.

Re slotting people into places. I don't know where you would fit in, really, behind your blog persona. I don't know where I'd fit in myself, yet I remain assured there are some sages out there who've already assigned me into some neat little cubby. I do see that many expat blogs like to play that game. It IS an amusing game, I usually chuckle upon reading them. Unfortunately, I'm way too mentally lazy/feeble to even try. In order to hang on to some semblance of sanity these (holi)days, must spend my scant mental energies on more primordial stuff. Such as sleep. So will now go to my well-deserved rest for the day. Thanks for the laughs! Be well.

I think there is something fundamentally wrong with people who call themselves expats. It is an easy way to automatically segregate yourself from the culture around you. Most Guatemalans avoid Antigua because of its no longer pleasant. I find it hilarious that so many expats consider themselves aristocrats because they have maids for the first time in their lives and are comparatively wealthier than most people around them, the only benefit of living in a third world country. I wonder why they left their country. Do they have any family, friends? Why don't they want to live near their family and friends? Why do they need to feel superior? Are they failures in their own countries, or is the need to put on airs more important than first-world comfort? Are they pedophiles? etc.

Even though I have residency in Guatemala, have two Guatemalan daughters and have lived here 15 years, I still refer to myself as a foreigner, because that is how I am referred to in Guatemala. I have never used the word expat to refer to myself. But, then again, I work and live in a Spanish speaking world and am referred to as an extranjero (foreigner) and no matter how long I live here I will always be an extranjero. Once a foreigner always a foreigner. Geez, even my kids see me as a foreigner. However, I am often asked where I am from (people don't assume the US, and then when I say the US most people want to know where.) Unless asked I don't refer to myself as from anywhere.

I agree, elgordo, that occupation is not important in Guatemala like it is in the States. When I first came to Guatemala I was shocked that nobody asked what kind of work I did in the States and my work defined who I was. It is almost the first thing that is asked in the States when people meet. I found that family name here is more important than occupation. And since I am a foreigner and don’t have a “family name” I don’t fit any real class hierarchy. I have never liked being called a gringo, feels like the “N” word to me. And I will correct people who call me that. Although I find I am called gringa less and less now. I have taught the children in our children’s home not to call volunteers, who come to help, gringos. They call the volunteers by name of just volunteers. I really find people, in Guatemala, are far more interested in my family and my life before and in Guatemala than they are in what college I attended, how many university degrees I have and what “impressive” jobs I held.

I use the gringo word here like blacks in the US use the N word among themselves. I know it is a term of derision for locals, but I kind of use it mockingly, like, "I know this is what they really call us so I'm going to appropriate it myself".

[...] do in the US once they learned this was how some people in Guate referred to me.  Despite what some readers think, the idea of my being an aristocrat, given my origins and worldview, is laughable.  However, I [...]