Mexico City: Furthermore

By Ed Piper, Jr.

One of the perks of being a foreigner in a foreign country is that you can end up being a kind of celebrity.

You enjoy a different relationship with others than what those around you have, and you can get away with things--I don't mean malicious things--others can't.

To give you an instance: When I lived for a year in Mexico City, my first basketball coach in a men's league was Jaime. He was nice to me, because he was a kind person and because I was his tallest player at 6'5" in a country that doesn't have many people that size.

I found out as time went on that Jaime was a nationally-known sports figure in his country. He was athletic director at UNAM, the University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), as well as basketball coach. (Keep in mind that high school and college-affiliated teams are not the big deal in the rest of the world that they are in the United States.)

Anyway, I was talking to Jaime one time as a teammate stood nearby. The teammate stopped me and said, "Lalo (Ed in Spanish), you can't address our coach informally. You have to speak to him using usted."

I heard what my teammate said, then returning to my conversation with my coach, completely ignored what my teammate had just told me. I continued speaking to Jaime in the familiar tu form. He showed no signs of displeasure, and our relationship continued in that positive vein for the duration of our knowing each other.

If I had followed my teammate's well-intended advice, backed by wisdom and technically being correct, I would have lost that special relationship I enjoyed with my coach from the first time I met him.

I'm sure, from Jaime's perspective, that in some ways it was refreshing to have an informal, friendly relationship with someone from outside his normal circle of professional and personal contacts.

The normal rules for etiquette were suspended for the gringo from up north.