Live From The Field

Gringo Power
Ladies and gentleman I am here to tell you about gringo power. It sounds dumb and made up yes but let me tell you that this shit is real sis. I came to Brazil nervous as hell like how am I going to make friends in a language I don’t know but I was stressing for no reason. So I little to no Portuguese at the moment like my conversation skills just aren’t there yet so when I go out and people say something to me that I don’t understand I say “no fala Portuguese” which translates to no speak Portuguese. You expect the conversation to be done there but NO these peoples eyes get big and light up with excitement. They then blurt out GRINGO! What follows next is the same series of questions every time in broken English “where are you from”, “how long are you here”, you want to go to the club sometime”, and yeah depending on the person I sometimes get “you have a girlfriend”. I was blown away at how much people out here like gringos I mean back home I’m an average joe but out here when people hear me say I’m from California they literally ask to pictures with me. Sure it’s not the best way to make friends but I have made friends with genuine nice people that just understand the struggle of living in a whole new place where the language spoken you don’t understand at all. I got a gym membership and then I got a Crossfit membership too and man that is how I’ve met most people. Especially at Crossfit because you have to talk to get through the class and so every day their are new people and some speak some English so when they realize that I’m a gringo and that I’m extremely lost from my blank stare after the trainers instructions they come up and talk to me and then boom a friendship is born because they want to continue talking and hangout. And once you hangout with them you meet all their friends like this girl from Crossfit invited me to the club with her husband and their family. Bruh I met the whole damn family like straight up thirty people it was awesome and they are all intrigued and excited to meet you. I eventually figured out why it works like this and it is because Brazilians love American movies so they love three specific types of gringos. New York, Florida, and California gringos are like celebrities out here due to the movies they watch. It’s amazing and it really helps and well of the point of these is to embrace it. At first I was embarrassed and extremely nervous to be the gringo but I learned to to start embracing it I mean these people love it and don’t give two shits that you are different than them they actually like it and enjoy your presence. So yeah gringo power is real and whoever reads this thing if you travel one day totally use the gringo card because it’s beast.