When my friends and I left United Center on Monday, it was windy and snowing viciously. We all know I'm too cheap to call a cab, so of course we waited for the bus to take us back downtown, to then take the subway back north.
On the bus, I saw a family struggling to communicate with a young couple, as they all stared blankly at the Chicago Transit mobile application. Taking a quick glance at the family, something about their image just looked South American. I couldn't determine if it was the father that looked like he just smoked a pack of cigarettes, or the mismatched clothing on the sons…but didn't want to make any assumptions.
Moments later, I heard the word MICRO and knew instantaneously they were Argentine. "Micro" is a shortened word that porteños (Buenos Aires residents) use to describe their buses. I had to help these people out; my roommates and I had plenty of lost moments on buses in Buenos Aires.
I had to laugh at all of my immediate thoughts. Why are they here during there summer, when it's hot and sunny in Argentina and cold and snowy in Chicago? Oh, because it's their summer vacation and they have off of school. Why were they taking a bus in a city they barely know? Because that's what everyone does in Argentina. Why didn't they look up directions on a phone? Because they don't have unlimited data in the US or WiFi on a bus, idiot.
They were asking me directions not to their hotel, but to Pizzeria Uno. Why did they want to go to Pizzeria Uno at 11:30 p.m. after a long night at the Bulls game? Because that's normal dinnertime in Argentina.
I talked to the bus driver, used my iPhone maps and told them exactly where to get off (and how many blocks it was from the stop I got off at, so they wouldn't be lost alone). After chatting a bit, it was comforting immersing myself into conversation with a family from Argentina. They were from Belgrano (outer skirts of Buenos Aires), taking a "vacation" to Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas & LA, and the son and I shared a birthday. They even felt comfortable asking me to look up the weather for their flight to Boston the next day.
One of the more hilarious questions they asked (after we converted Fahrenheit to Celsius together so they could understand the weather) was why everyone in the US has iPhones instead of Samsungs. They seemed to be very perplexed by something as small as this!
Lesson of the day: You are a reflection on your country, and represent not only your family or city, but the United States. If no one helped these Argentines with directions, they would have talked about how rude Americans were, not necessarily how rude Chicagoans were. I'm still thankful for people that helped us with directions in Argentina, and can remember what the group of kids look like who told us to get off of a bus at the wrong stop because they thought it was funny.
A little bit goes a long way!
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