How Foreigners Behave Abroad and With Each Other

How Foreigners Behave Abroad and With Each Other

Oh, believe me when I say I’ve seen it all. If not, I will soon-

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

When in Rome, do as the Romans, right? For those of you who are not familiar with this saying, let me decipher it for you: “When in Rome” is said to mean that people should follow the customs of the people they are visiting or living with.

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Photo by Andrei Mike on Unsplash

Anyone who knows me will know that I am a huge proponent of learning the culture, local customs, traditions, and whatnot, especially the language of the local people. If you don´t take the time to do this, how will you truly understand the place where you´re living? I could go on and on and on for days about this. However, it is not the purpose of my writing at this time.

**The Ugly American**

Since I´m an American myself, I consider myself fair game and I am willing to take the brunt of any attacks that may come my way, just for the fact that I was born in a certain country that is either loved or hated around the world.

According to the Collins Dictionary, an **Ugly American** is an American who travels to a foreign country and gives the United States a bad reputation by acting in an offensive way.

The term “Ugly American” comes from people traveling with the attitude that people are, or should be, the same everywhere.

However, in my experience, I have been mistreated or judged by many other cultures, the worst one being Canadian. My first negative experience with a Canadian-based individual came from my Portuguese tutor who was originally from Brazil but is currently located in Vancouver. He went off on how he never wanted to set foot in the US because he was afraid of safety concerns and would also never go on any US-based sites on the Internet for the same reason. I thought that was a bit extreme but to each his own-

My second one was when I made a friend in Mexico who was from Quebec. My sons and I were going on a short vacation to another state in Mexico. At the airport, I made a small observation about the boarding process that was different from what I considered the usual protocol. She immediately took the chance to attack me and say that all we Americans did was criticize and that I needed to “act more Canadian”. What did that even mean?

The third and most recent one was from someone who I considered one of my best friends here in Mexico. She would always tell me that “she was just another friendly Canadian” yet she would passively-aggressively attack my culture whenever she could. That was not cool in the least…

So what’s up with Canadians and Americans or the feelings they have towards us?

**Expat snobbery at its finest**

I currently live in one of the biggest foreign retirement enclaves in central Mexico. There are many different types of foreigners but suffice to say that they mostly consist of Americans and Canadians as well as other nations from around the world. In the high season which begins in November and goes until April, our foreign population nearly doubles as the “snowbirds” come in flocks to spend a warmer winter in our area than in their lower temperatures in the north.

There are so many foreigners here that the poor locals have had to adapt to them to cater to their lack of Spanish, which is another topic for another time.

This lack of learning Spanish has also translated to other undesirable behaviors like mistreating the locals and expecting them to cater to them by asking questions like “Why don’t you speak English?”

Credit: cali_wolf

When I commented on this to someone in a public place, a very rude and entitled woman made the snarky comment, “But we’ve brought a lot of money to this place!” as she smiled an evil smile. I thought to myself ‘WTH, lady?’

This type of behavior makes me crazy. Don’t they fail so horribly in realizing that we are a guest in their country?

Entitlement

I have seen some pretty unacceptable behavior from foreigners in my 22 years of living in Latin America. When I was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I saw lots of bizarre behavior like tourists flashing their dollars and being loud. That’s just pure stupidity at its best.

I see it here in Mexico where I currently live. I’ve seen it in public and private places, business transactions, and while being out and about. There are times when it is simply embarrassing to me and oftentimes disgusting and deplorable.

A few years ago, I made a video and posted it online about a foreigner who had hired some locals to do his roof. After several changes and redos, he told the supervisor that he didn’t like how they had done the job and that he wanted a refund. And guess what? He was told in no uncertain terms in English that he was not going to get a refund for the work done.

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In plain terms, criticizing the local culture, its people, its customs, and even shaming other foreigners is not a cool thing to do and it only makes you look like a complete arse yourself. Need I continue?

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I am a memoirist who calls a spade a spade and spares nothing when it comes to telling stories. I live in Mexico with my awesome son Dylan.