BajaNomad

Cross-Cultural Confusion

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Dave - 5-11-2010 at 10:05 AM

Memin Pinguin's favorite treat. :rolleyes:

zforbes - 5-11-2010 at 10:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Nan&;D
PJ's outside in the morning is another habit I happily adopted from my neighbour amigas. :yes:


And to think I was feeling sneaky about going outside every morning in nightgown, coffee in hand, to inspect the tomato seedlings. Thanks for the cultural update!:tumble:

shari - 5-11-2010 at 10:35 AM

tripledigit....I have lived with indigineous people in canada and i find living in baja remarkably similar in so many ways and customs which made it easier for me to adapt here.

DENNIS - 5-11-2010 at 11:50 AM

Shari....How long do you think this would last up north?

http://www.lacochinita.com.mx/

BajaBlanca - 5-11-2010 at 01:20 PM

people here love our doorbell !!!! but you are right about the knocking ....however the dogs ALL give the alert waaaaay before you get to the front door

do women in asuncion or anywhere else rake in their pj's or is this a Bocana special ??? I have even seen a few in the grocery STORE in pj's :)

personally, one of the most fun traits is how everyone gets a nickname, which sticks to the point that NO ONE can even remember some people's real name :lol:

second great trait here is that everyone acknowledges you as you drive past them. a quick movement of the hand - always

shari - 5-11-2010 at 01:27 PM

oh no Blanca....PJ raking & dirt sweeping is very popular here as well. And the nicknames are too...always a bit embarassing when someone asks if I know so and so....and I dont recognize the name even if it's a good friend, as we all know each other only by the nicknames!!

Like native people, we also greet each other sometimes only with eyebrow raising or a head raising motion.
WOW...you have a doorbell???? pretty uptown amiga!

tripledigitken - 5-11-2010 at 01:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca

second great trait here is that everyone acknowledges you as you drive past them. a quick movement of the hand - always


How true that is....We were sitting on a bench in San Javier and this guy waves at us.

Ken

(Turns out to be one of my favorite shots of the trip.)


BajaBlanca - 5-11-2010 at 02:13 PM

hahaha Shari - Les just put it in and it is one of those deep mansion like doorbells which scares the heck out of me every time it sounds !! The dirt raking is something else, but I tried it while cleaning up about town and I can see how it is addicting. Thank goodness we have shells all around our house - NO RAKING :bounce:

Ken - that really is a nice picture. spur of the moment wave from a complete stranger

Shari - and your nickname is ???????? Les's is sometimes Guero and sometimes Guapo and a few people call me Blanquita, but Blanca mostly

Pescador - 5-12-2010 at 10:51 AM

Oh, the nicknames are so much fun. We had a fisherman at San Lucas Cove who had really long hair and body hair as well and the fisherman all called him El Lobo and would howl like a wolf whenever he came by.
The guy who does my palm trees is called El Venado (the deer) cause he looks like a deer in the headlights.
Then we had a guy they called Mosca (fly) because he had a birthmark on his nose that was small and pronounced and looked a little like a fly. He got so upset that he committed suicide.
My friend Ed Hogan, a norteamericano fisherman who wears a hat with a sun cloth is called Osama Bin Laden.
My friends wife is called Winnie from Winnie the Pooh, even though her name is Carmen.
Several are hard to repeat on a family oriented website, but they are pretty funny. Everyone has one and sometimes they are good and sometimes not so hot, but they stick. Since they called my mother Cricket (she was always hopping around and doing things and never set still) I find the custom very fascinating and probably speaks to the close interweaving of everyone.
Mine is Sonrisa or Chistoso

Skipjack Joe - 5-12-2010 at 04:07 PM

Pescador,

One summer, in my 20's, I went back to visit my relatives in europe. Anyway, I was in the uncle's boat in the early hour of light one fine morning trying to get bait when he got too close to his neighbor's boat and rammed it with considerable force. The guy in that boat glared at us and from somewhere I heard the phrase - "Anton Dupe" (doopeh). Translation: Tony the kulo.

It took a few days of questioning on my part to find out that he had been anointed with this nickname eons ago as a school boy for not being too bright. Strange thing was that he was smarter than most of the villagers - but once you're labeled it sticks.

Pescador - 5-13-2010 at 12:32 PM

Yeah, that is the problem with the nickname thing. One guy who is missing all of his teeth is called (pool table pockets) which refers to the missing teeth I guess. He almost tears up when people call him that. So the nicknames can be very descriptive but they can be downright cruel.

The guy named Venado (deer) who works to trim my palms borrowed my wheelbarrow when I was gone, and everyone told me first thing when I got to town that he was using my wheelbarrow so that I would not think they had given him permission, I guess. So when he comes by the house to see if I wanted any work done, I said that I had a lot of work, but some little mouse took the wheelbarrow in the night, and he looks at me with a big smile and says no, it was during the day that I took it.

torch - 5-13-2010 at 12:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Pescador


The guy named Venado (deer) who works to trim my palms borrowed my wheelbarrow when I was gone, and everyone told me first thing when I got to town that he was using my wheelbarrow so that I would not think they had given him permission, I guess. So when he comes by the house to see if I wanted any work done, I said that I had a lot of work, but some little mouse took the wheelbarrow in the night, and he looks at me with a big smile and says no, it was during the day that I took it.



man that hits home. All of my yard tools are sprayed with green paint and are not locked up and no probs. before I painted them I'd have to walk around and repo them. not that I mind but it was an excuse for me not to do the work (not the right tool = no problem I'll do it later)

DENNIS - 5-13-2010 at 01:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by torch
man that hits home.


Here too. We have in the neighborhood a man who landscapes and gardens for everybody. He works for me only four hours each week and it would be more, but his time is taken by others. He is amazing for what he can get done in such a short amount of time.
Problem is, I let him use my tools since his are older than the dirt he digs and at the end of the day, he'll throw my farming tools along with his in the back of his truck and he and my tools are gone for a week.
I finally decided that, each week, until his tool inventory is built up, to buy for him the best tools I can find. One week a shovel....the following week a rake etc and before his day at my place begins, I
give him his new tool and tell him the price comes out of what I pay him for the day.
He has gotten used to this arrangement and it works out well for both of us.

BajaBlanca - 5-13-2010 at 01:51 PM

my neighbor came up with a good solution. We are always about town and cleaning and raking trash and getting confused as to whose rake is whose....so, on her rake she wrote:
PERTENESCO A LINDA ... which means: I belong to Linda
nice way to put it, I thought.

toneart - 5-13-2010 at 02:34 PM

In Mulege I am know as "Hermano de Paco (or Perro)", my dog. It used to be an inside joke that I was not aware of, but a Mexican friend finally clued me in. The "brother" of a dog is a mild insult, but not uttered with malice. It is what it is. :)

Osprey - 5-13-2010 at 02:34 PM

I don't own anything with a handle.
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