Personal space is a funny cultural phenomena. As an American, I know I have a larger than normal personal space requirement, but I don't know what to do about it. I've been laughing a lot at invasions of my space which border on the ridiculous, like when I am walking down the street and a person is approaching from the other direction and they are on the opposite side of the sidewalk and there is no reason for them to change, but they do, and they walk directly into the space that I am about to occupy and I have to walk around them. Por que mierda...?!!!
Today at the gym I was getting irritated. It seems that men at the gym are especially fond of invading my space, it's almost like some kind of macho head trip or something, or else there is another reason that I am not seeing (like maybe they are flirting with me?) I like a nice space to work out in, which is why I've developed a workout routine that lets me claim a space and not have to move around the gym a lot. I start off on the eliptical trainer for some cardio. Little chance of anyone getting in my way there, right? Well, actually, no. Because the eliptical trainers are right in front of the TVs and people, (usually men) like to come and stand right where the little arm things swing forward and back to watch TV. I've hit people a few times.
After that, I go and use a chest press, and watch for an opportunity to move over to the cables that are in front of a mirror in the corner. I can do pretty much a full body workout with the cables, and I do it as a circuit, so I don't spend a lot of time resting (I move from chest to arms to back, etc., with no rest). And it's a nice little isolated corner, so I don't have to walk around people and they don't have to walk around me.
Today when I went over to use the cables, another guy came and used the cables behind me, but he wanted to look at himself in the mirror, so we were playing this little game of me moving out of his way and then him moving over to where I was so he could see himself better. It was ridiculous and I eventually left and went over to use some dumbells on a bench in front of another mirror in a different corner. There was a guy using the leg press next to me and he got up and moved directly in front of me and did some weird kind of lunge thing with a towel in his mouth that just went on forever and ever. It wasn't just that he had moved into my space, the exercise he was doing was so ridiculous I just couldn't take it. I couldn't finish the workout I was doing there because he had moved right into the space that I was standing. I eventually gave up in frustration. I'd had a good workout and I didn't want to play these macho space invading games.
Walking home, I was debating on whether or not I wanted to cook something for lunch, or eat in a cafe outside. When I passed Pertutti, the place I had in mind to eat, the outdoor area was full, and I was too hungry to go to the supermarket, decide what to buy and then go home and cook it. So, I went to Burger King.
I have to confess that this is my 2nd time to eat at Burger King this week. I had a Bacon Cheeseburger last time and it was really good. The meat is Argentine beef and it is very tasty. Today I got a Churrasquito Pampeano. It was a cheesesteak sandwich - a nice piece of thin steak folded in half on a delicious baguette with tomato, mayonaise, cheeze whiz (or something like that), and a piece of ham in the middle of the steak. It was really yummy. I was sitting there enjoying it when I heard this horrible loud squeaky, crackly kind of noise. I realized it was the two girls sitting across from me playing with the ring tones on their cell phones. They both went through the whole 250 ring tone possibilities on both of their phones, at the same time. Then one of them switched to the radio on her phone and played music through the tiny little cell phone speaker. It was sooooo annoying! I was trying to think of something I could do other than shoot them daggers (which is what I was doing) that would invade their space in the same way mine was being invaded....like throw french fries at them. Instead, I got up and left.
Speaking of cell phones, another annoying thing that people do in restaurants is talk on those little walkie talkie things that some cell phones have. You can hear the other person talking, again through the little speaker, and then the beeping noise as they switch over to the other person. It is a hundred times more annoying than a regular cell phone conversation (which are actually rare here since people have to pay for each call and they don't talk endlessly like folks in the US who are trying to use as many minutes as possible to get the most out of their plans it seems). I think this little walkie talkie business is either free or very cheap, because it seems to be pretty common, unfortunately.
When my personal space gets invaded I get very grumpy. This is not good. I don't know what I can do to adjust to this cultural difference. Maybe dancing close embrace tango will help, since it involves having another person pressed up against your chest as you try to walk, but I think it's going to take more than that.
For all of my friends back home, you're going to have to keep an eye on me when I get back. If I truly do adjust to this space issue it means I am going to be driving into oncoming traffic and bumping people with my shopping cart in Trader Joe's. Both situations are potentially deadly!
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