Comments on: Where Are You From?

By: Eileen Smith

Eileen Smith — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:46:54 +0000

I try to turn it around and make it seem like I think it’s a normal question for me to ask, too. And you? From Santiago? Thoguh I have to say, I don’t get it that often, or it doesn’t bother me that much anymore, one or the other. But in taxis it’s practically a must. Another reason I don’t like taking taxis!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 05:56:08 +0000

I’m only a year and a half in, so haven’t yet grown sick of the question. Although, I seem to get it much more living in a small town in Chile than when I lived in Buenos Aires. I like the suggestion mentioned above of listing a different country depending on my mood – I’ll have to try this out next week.

Truth be told, I much prefer Chileans to ask me where I’m from then for them announce, after several minutes of conversation with me, that I can’t speak Spanish. Yes, it has happened twice (delivered with a straight face, in Spanish.)

By: Olivier Travers

Olivier Travers — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 00:27:29 +0000

My answer to that obligatory question is “Iquique poh”. Nobody buys it but it gets laughs.

By: Gayle

Gayle — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:28:08 +0000

Hi, Liz…I married an Argentinian and have lived in his very provincial native city for 8 years…and the routine here is similar, and it goes like this:
Local: “Where are you from?”
Me: “Barrio Parque Avambae” (well known neighborhood here)
Local: (pause, smile breaks out) “But really where are you from?”
Me: “California”
Local: “Wow–are you here for a vacation?”
Me: (surpressing a laugh at the idea that a foreigner would choose this small town for vacations) “No.”
Local: “Oh does your husband work for the steel factory?”
Me: “No, he is a native of this city; he’s an architect.”
Local: “You mean you moved here for LOVE?”
At that point the local is really smiling and usually calls to a coworker: “Look, here is someone who moved here for love! Isn’t that amazing” or some other rather felicitious phrase. (If it is a guy, I add “Yes, they tell us that the men in this city are the best!” And wow, the chests puff out!)

Sure, this routine takes five minutes, and at the end everybody is bursting with smiles, including me, as I am being reminded again why I came here.

Btw, I was an honorary member of the Chile spouses group as there was no similar group here…hello to all of them! It really is amazing how powerful love is!

By: Ignacio

Ignacio — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:27:42 +0000

So, if you’re a gringa Chilena, then that makes me a Chileno gringo here in the United States. I’ve been here many years now, and I still get that where are you from? from people. A lot! Slightly more annoying is the other question: What do you do?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 19:49:40 +0000

Same thing happens all day long here in Buenos Aires. I usually just answer with “I live here” or “Recoleta”, which is my neighborhood and leave it at that. Some won’t let it go, but most do.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:55:02 +0000

Good for you, Angela! 🙂

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:57:38 +0000

I guess the question doesn’t bother me that much. When I lived in Egypt, people stopped me on the street all the time to take a picture with me. Girls wanted to touch my hair. Fathers asked if their kids could stand next to me while they took a photo. It’s not like I was in some remote place either. I lived in Cairo where in some areas the tourists certainly outnumber the locals.

But I was also curious about them. I love photographing people. I remember walking around with a friend from Spain taking pictures of everything we saw and then a two guys asked if they could take our picture. My friend got offended. He asked me why on earth they’d want to take our picture not realizing that he’d been taking pictures of Egyptians all day long for exactly the same reason. People are interesting.

Anyway… I used to love to pick a different country each time someone asked me where I was from (which happened about 10 times a day). It’s fun to see how the reaction changes depending on the country you say. I do that here in Argentina, too. My favorite is to say that I’m from Egypt and start speaking bad Arabic. Great looks of utter shock. Fun for me.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:32:57 +0000

I was born and live on the other side of the Andes, but to US parents. I also am of European lineage, like the rest of this country but northern Europe. I don’t have an accent, so I don’t get this question as much as my parents do, but I do get the looks. I don’t “look” Argentine, but I sound it. So, once in a while I get asked if I’m from Mar del Plata, and I simply say “yes”.
I do see this happening to my parents a lot and it can be frustrating. My dad says he’s from Tucuman. 🙂

By: BrophyWorld

BrophyWorld — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:25:54 +0000

The government ought to shed the island mentality by adopting open borders, or at least extending the 90 day stay to 180 days, as in Mexico. They’re not serious about enticing foreigners, so I doubt it will change.