Feature Photo: fleno Photo: TheAlieness Gisela Giardino
In travel, the little things can have a lasting impact.
I saw them before I set foot in the pharmacy. They had the bunched up foreheads and overly neat appearance of lost tourists in Mexico, and they were stopped in the middle of the street, staring vaguely off in opposite directions. I gave them a sidelong glance and stepped into the pharmacy to use the ATM. It was broken.
I tried again and again to jam my card in while the man stepped gingerly inside the pharmacy and said in French, “Banque? Banque? La banque?” It was the standard technique of repeating something over and over in the hopes that the person who doesn’t speak your language will spontaneously understand. The girl at the counter shook her head and the man walked out shrugging.
I am sometimes skeptical of offering help to tourists because half the time they look at me as if I’m insane, or as if I’m one of those know-it-all expats who says smugly, “Oh, you don’t know where the bank is, you poor things? Well, I speak fluent Spanish and have lived here for years, so let me just share my expertise with you.”
But I know I am always so grateful when I’m standing on a street corner in some distant country and someone, anyone, steps up with a little guidance.
“Vous allez à la banque?” I asked in French, using my rusty French skills for the first time in four years.
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oui!” she replied quickly.
“Follow me,” I continued, “I’m going there too.”
They fell into line behind me on the narrow Oaxacan streets, and I slowed my serious dog-walking pace a bit for the two blocks it took to get to the bank. We paused at the light across from the bank entrance and chatted a bit. They were from Paris, on vacation for a week in Mexico. I told them that I’d studied in France seven years ago and that my husband was Mexican and I lived in Oaxaca now.
It was one of those brief, street-side exchanges that is sometimes so much more illuminating the the long regular conversations you have with people you see everyday. One of those little exchanges that seems to reaffirm who you are in two minutes.
When I said goodbye to them outside the bank, I heard the woman say, “C’est une américaine très gentile”: she’s a very kind American. It reminded me that for as absurd as it may be to think one person can represent a country, at least these small interactions and gestures can do something to alleviate resentment against the U.S and perhaps sow affection where once there was scorn.
Walking home that old why-I-travel question nudged itself to the forefront, and I thought, as usual, it’s about the little things. Two-walk blocks to the bank. Brief swaps of who-are-you? And perhaps little seeds of curiosity and compassion, planted.
Community Connection
What do you think, Matadorians? Do you feel the responsibility to represent your country when you’re traveling? What are your stories of brief encounters from the road? If you’ve got a good story of such an encounter, send it along to sarah@matadornetwork.com with “brief encounter” in the subject line. And please sound off below about the little moments and interactions that have changed you on the road.
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13 Comments... join the discussion!
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Absolutely! People will open up to you more, ask questions about your own experiences, what brought you there, etc.–sometimes in very unexpected situations even!
In Tunisia, cab drivers were always asking us if we thought Obama would win the election–they were incredibly enthusiastic; it was so great and welcoming.
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Like it or not, we all represent our countries. With that burden there’s always a sense of pressure to dispel stereotypes.
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yes, i think it’s more of a question of HOW we represent our countries than whether or not we do – we can’t help representing where we come from, but we can help how we portray that place and its people.
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I’m surprised they didn’t think you were Canadian
Kidding of course. I don’t think travelers necessarily represent their home countries. The fact is, most people do not travel (maybe with a few exceptional countries like Israel where everyone pretty much does before they go into the army, from my understanding), so the few that do won’t be representative of the population at large.
Here’s an example: I had a definite idea of what Australians were like based on meeting so many abroad. After living in Oz for two years, I can safely say that the Aussies I’ve met while traveling are not representative of their country. They’re not all happy-go-lucky/funny/silly/crazy. For the most part, they’re just like people in the US or Canada.
Travelers are travelers and have more in common with other travelers than with the mass population back home, in my opinion.
Saying all that, when you do travel you are going to be an ambassador of sorts of course, that’s just the reality.
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I totally agree when you say “Travelers are travelers and have more in common with other travelers than with the mass population back home, in my opinion.”
I’ve felt this a lot, but never quite put it so succinctly. Perhaps an amusing example, I’m an American and was was on holiday in the Philippines last week from teaching in Korea. I befriended a Parisian woman who coincidentally is also working in Korea. After some time of swapping stories and opinions, she said to me laughing “well, you’re not like any Americans I’ve met.”
In some ways I took it as a compliment, like I’ve arrived to some place in my life as being a global citizen and continued to do my part to breakdown stereotypes with real life interactions. It’s definitely part of why I travel.
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When it comes to India, apart from representing their country while traveling in foreign countries, they also have to put up with being identified as a their state’s stereotypes while traveling through India, each state having a different mother tongue and culture.
For example I am a Bengali (belonging to the state of West Bengal). So when I travel in India I represent the Bengali’s, the moment I say that I am one, no matter whether my behavior or attitude are on the same lines of the Bengali stereotypes.
Recently I went to Sri Lanka…I did represent India. However, most Sinhalese know, of all the Indian States, about Tamil Nadu (one of the State in South of India). Also they had the slightest idea that India has such varied mother tougues as well as culture. Hence we were asked everywhere whether we were from Tamil Nadu, and when replied no, a lot of questions followed.
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I find that traveling is when I become most confused about my identity. I was born in the United States so I’m an American, but my ancestry is Mexican, Cuban, and Spanish. How people regard my identity seems to change with location. Within my home country, I’m part of that conglomerate of hyphenated Americans that because of our physical appearance will always be hyphenated. Yet, when I travel to Cuba or Mexico I’m regarded as a definite outsider, a gringa. In Spain, I can speak spanish but I’m definately not pureblood Spanish so I’m regarded as a “Latin America.” In Africa, I’ve been told I’m definately a white American, because race seems to trump all other notions of ethnicity. Explaining who I am never feels so complicated as when I travel. And at the same time this is why I love traveling–because it makes me question who I am, while realizing the absurdities of the borders we draw around ourselves.
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The thing with being in a foreign land is that when you leave an impression, you are leaving one for everyone who fits in your box (nationality, race, religion, gender, whatever).
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I think we all represent the country of our origin when we travel abroad. The way an Ukranian couple acted in Burma must’ve left a very bad impression on the friendly Burmese people. You can read about it in my Reminiscences of Southeast Asia.
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I think that being a New Zealander and travelling is a great experience. I think because we are so far away from everywhere in the world it is only the fun, interesting, spontaneous, up for anything and hard working New Zealanders who do travel. I have been really well received everywhere I have been and I love the great reputation that other kiwis who have travelled before me have given our country and our people. I hope I am continuing this positive representation
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