MULIER ENOJADA
"I AM NOT A FUCKING GRINGA"
One of the things I hate about being in Mexico is that a vast majority of people takes me for gringa. Perhaps I’m not a great patriot, and perhaps I’m a vagabond girl, but I deeply appreciate my European roots (my heart might beat latino, but my feministic and libertarian mind is purely European).
Last year I was considering making myself a shirt that would shout: I am not a gringa. Perhaps I should reconsider it now. Because whereas it is inarguable that the US is a military and economic superpower, I daresay that an average European is far more educated and open minded that an average American. Moreover, after thousands and thousands of pages I have read in my life, it deeply insults me to be compared with Californian dolls.
After tens of people saying to me: Hello, My darling, How are you?, etc. I decided that the next person who starts talking to me in English will be treated with a sermon concerning the fact that the world is much larger than Latin America and Gringolandia.
About two hours ago, I entered a small pasteleria on Àvila Camacho Street to buy some coffee and a chocolate cake (sorry to disappoint you, my healthy lifestyle’s gone to hell in the last days). And there’s this guy talking on the phone that says to me: Just one moment, please.
My patience (for which I am not famous for anyway) has reached the bottom. I immediately started my not-pre-prepared speech about my pride of being European (not all blonds are American, the world is large and multicultural bla bla bla) but, surprisingly, it turned out that this guy loved gringos (unusual for Mexico, particularly now when the wall between the two countries is to be constructed). He asked me why I hated them and said that if it hadn’t been for the gringos, all Europe would be working for Hitler!
And now eating my Brownie cake I am thinking that perhaps a T-shirt would have done better….
About Me
- Maja Zawierzeniec
- Presidenta de la Asociación Cultural Polaco-Mexicana BOCIAN&NOPAL www.bociannopal.wordpress.com Doctora en Letras por la Universidad de Varsovia, autora del proyecto México Joven
2 comments:
But here we are, writing in English! :D
Being mistaken, if people takes you for a "gringa", that's no that bad, I think... I mean, in my own country people thinks I'm Nicaraguan or Cuban, because we people in Latin America have resemblances.
Don't get angry. :)
Hol Maja, me parece genial la idea de la camiseta, por muchas razones, en primer lugar porque es cierto lo que mencionas, el mundo es mucho más que latinoamérica y gringolandia (y me da un gusto enorme), y en segundo lugar, me remite al equívoco mismo que los gringos tienen al llamarse "americanos", América es un continente, lo que incluye a los rubios y a los que no somos rubios, sino indígenas morenos y gente de ascendencia negra, y por supuesto, a los inmigrantes europeos y asiáticos y etc... Viva la diversidad, y el respeto -por eso también me fascinó la leyenda de la parte posterior.
Ahora, coincido un poco con el comentario anterior, la referencia más cercana que los mexicanos tenemos de lengua extranjera -desgraciadamente- es el inglés, y es el idioma que muchos extranjeros hablan cuando llegan a México (y a muchas partes del mundo). Es triste porque en México contamos con más de 50 idiomas, aparte del español y el grueso de la población no habla ni 2 de ellas. Pero no nos enojemos, eduquémonos, por eso vuelvo a estar de acuerdo con la camiseta.
Saluditos.
Arturo Luna
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