Would this Happen in New York?
This last Wednesday, Zelda left her wool school blazer (expensive) in the back seat of the cab we took home, a victim of the taxi-as-clown-car operation we run every afternoon. By the time I had realized it, the black-and-yellow car was several blocks away, driving off into the sunset.
Fast forward a day. The owners of the kiosko across the street rang our doorbell and presented us with Zelda’s blazer. The cab driver, knowing roughly where he dropped us off, had brought it back last night and left it with the kiosk owners, who said they knew where the little blond school girls lived.
I had tears in my eyes! I wanted to be able to thank the taxi driver, but our neighbors across the street didn’t have any contact information for him.
This is one of things I love about Buenos Aires! The people.
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The heart of any city is it’s people, and as you have found Buenos Aires has a golden heart.
In the short time I have spent there I have accumulated numerous friends, real friends who would move mountains.
Of course there are rougues, and taxistas who will rip you off, but these represent a real minority.
Of course it could happen in New York! Do you think all New Yorkers are uncaring, nasty and thieving ? I have had many positive experiences in New York – many acts of kindness performed by New Yorkers over the years. Your story is interesting and I am happy that you had a positive experience in BA however I don’t see why you have to present it in such a way that denigrates New York and New Yorkers. It is beyond me why so many Americans in Argentina insist on putting down their own country as a way of building up Argentina. Let the truth speak for itself.
What a wonderful story to relate Michele! It is always great to hear about these acts of kindness and thoughtfulness when we live in a time where thoughtful acts are few and far between. I love reading your blog, keep up the interesting posts!
Thanks tangobob. It is one of the very unique things about Buenos Aires — for a city this size, the people are very accepting and open to foreigners and our speaking crappy Spanish, helping us when we cluelessly stand in the RapiPago line at the Farmacity, and making sure we make it to field day after only being at school for a week!
Sergio, I appreciate your sticking up for New York, but I do think that your reaction is a bit strong in comparison to my rather passive title “Would this Happen in New York?” True enough, it did imply that the blazer might not have been returned in New York, but I hardly spewed invective about my own country or about New York City specifically. Incidentally, my husband is from a suburb of the city, my sister-in-law lives in the city, my father-in-law works in NY, I have family that lives in Manhattan, we know many wonderful people from New York. That does not change the fact that I would say, pound for pound, big city to big city, the people of Buenos Aires are as a whole, warmer and more helpful. Does that mean I hate New York? Does that mean New Yorkers do not extend a helping hand? Does that mean that Americans suck? No. I would also say that Argentinians are warmer and more helpful than the populations of other large cities in which I have lived, such as Madrid, Taipei and London. There, does that take some of the sting away?
It’s sort of sweet though, that you’re sticking up for the poor defenseless people of New York!
Nichole! So sweet of you to leave a comment, and I totally owe you an email!
These things do happen in NYC. Because it is the Big Apple the stuff is valuable and the people well known.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/17/nyregion/in-concert-searchers-retrieve-yo-yo-ma-s-lost-stradivarius.html?sec=&spon=
Now that’s a great story…we always knew that Zelda had a lot in common with Yo-Yo Ma!