I’ve always surrounded myself with really smart people. As if all their intelligence would rub off on me somehow. Last night I was sitting around with my Lima friends while one of them played Scrabulous with her father back home and the topic of words and the English language came up. My friend playing scrabble online admitted that she had received an 800 on her verbal SAT. This is an amazing feat for most people, but my friend is not a native English speaker and therefore an 800 on her verbal just reconfirmed what I already knew. She is brilliant. I then turned to my other friend and demanded to know her SAT score. She refused at first but finally confessed that she got a 1560 overall. This is not so surprising to me. When I say I hang out with smart people, I mean it.
Maybe I’m a freak, but one of the most attractive things to me in a guy, is intelligence. I think this is another big reason I am not, on the whole, attracted to Peruvians. I am not saying that Peruvians are not intelligent. Far from it. For one thing, where I live the vast majority of people in town do not have a college education. Again, I don’t believe one has to have a college education to be intelligent, but hear me out. The overwhelming majority of Peruvian men I have met, have no idea what’s going on in the world. They probably can’t even pick out Russia on a map. There are different kinds of intelligence. I guess I’m attracted to a specific kind of intelligence though and that kind of intelligence isn’t culturally all that important where I live. A Peruvian man trying to woo me will likely whistle and say “hello baby” as I walk by instead of asking me what I think about the recent US-Peruvian free trade agreement.
This week is a huge international summit in Lima. Heads of states from Europe, Asia and Latin America have taken over the city. A four day holiday was declared and streets and businesses are shut down all over . The Peruvians in my community are thrilled they have four days off of work. But when I tried to talk to them about the economic polices these diplomats will hammering out, they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. I had to go out to dinner with my Lima friends to get my intellectual stimulation on. One of my friends got in to Lima two days ago and was seated next to a diplomat from St. Tropez and told us all about the amazing conversation she had with him
I like having friends that are smarter and better educated than me. I don’t claim to be the brightest crayon in the box and therefore really take advantage of the brain power that’s around me. I like to have things explained to me and I like to have my opinions and thoughts challenged in an academic way.
I look at this as a positive not a negative thing at site. While there are a few people who challenge me in my community, mainly the psychologists at the home where I work, for the more part I am the one who is enlightening others. That’s my job in a way. I challenge the people I live with to think about things in a way they never have. This comes mostly in the form of breaking down stereotypes. One of my favorite things to do is to take out a map or a globe with the kids and just start taking. I’ll quiz them on geography and the questions just start coming. We talk about things like plate tectonics, which they have never heard of even though there are 5 earthquakes a year in Peru. We talk about what kind of food grows in which regions. I explain to them other religions besides Catholicism and which areas of the world pertain to which religion. We talk about our dreams and our fantasies of where we want to go and what we want to do.
I make it a point to be the friend that all my Ivy league, 1600 SAT friends are to me. I try to stimulate them and make intelligent discussion fun. Regardless of the topic, whenever I am talking with kids they always end my explanations with “But, Peru is still the best , right?”.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Posts
5 comments:
Hello. You said: "The overwhelming majority of Peruvian men I have met, have no idea what’s going on in the world. They probably can’t even pick out Russia on a map."
What kind of peruvian people are you talking with? Imagine I tell you that americans can't pick out Argentina, Sweden, Argelia or Iraq on a map.
I think you have to meet more people before making those afirmations. Well, try going to a library, a museum, a university, or an some interesting place. It's difficult to find smart people and get a nice conversation, i know. Bu try.
Men saying 'hello baby' are in all countries.
About US-Peruvian free trade agreement, i think there are a lot of points perjudice our economy like price of medicine, textiles and farming products. In fact, i disagree with your government in a lot of topics. In other hand, the free trade is a big chance for our some industries and a lot of professionals. So, my mission is get those opportunities =P
I hope you found someone who can say more than 'hello, baby' or 'everything is nice' or 'let's go to a party'. Bye.
PD: My english is getting worse... i guess.
Okay, I knew I would get some negative feedback for generalizing like this. keep in mind that I am Peace Corps volunteer and I live in a very poor, rural area which comprises the vast area of Peru. These complaints are not only mine but those of my male and female friends in Lima as well. But I will agree with the comment that most americans can't pick out sweeden or argentina on a map either. Touche.
Hi, don't take it as a 'negative feedback'. I was only trying to show you another point of view. Finally, you also give a good feedback and the opinon of tourists are important ;) Good luck.
I agree with you, Ali, on the attractiveness of intelligence. I love learning from my friends. The point is not that I am attracted to all of my friends, but that what I enjoy very much about the friendships I have is that they are with people who can always teach me something. History, Engineering, Biology, Art,...Life.
But can I also say that I am very confident I could pick out Sweden on a map. =P
Miss ya, fatty.
Hi, I was planning on leaving a long criticizing comment on your post but after reading zajnostiko's i think he hit on most of my points. Can't judge all Peruvians because of your experiences with some of them. I've lived most of my life in the states and you can find ignorance everywhere, even universities and masters programs. The question is what should we do about it? In that I admire what you do. You really are trying to make a difference. You are giving 2 years of your life to a country you probably barely knew before joining the Peace Corps (and that most Americans can't probably find in a map either) and enduring many hardships doing it (although not necessarily considered hardships by the Peruvians u live with). Best wishes. Hope all your experiences are for the better from now on.
Post a Comment