Small Talk and Strays

I always find it interesting when people tell me about their pre-conceptions of Americans and when I hear about/learn of common conceptions of Americans.  So far, I have encountered two instances of this, and I thought both were kind of interesting.

The first was during my training when I was informed that Americans are good at small talk.  We are able to open up and talk to anybody about anything at any given time.  Carlos was saying he found it facinating to watch the Americans interact during our training sessions because we would act like friends.  We would chat about what we did that day, the weather, exchange numbers, how long our flights were, where we were from, go get lunch together, etc.  This is apparently something that Chileans don't do, and they find it really interesting when Americans do it.  They like to see it, and they want to learn how to engage in small talk.  During training we were told that it was important to be ourselves, including engaging in small talk, because 1. It is culturally relavent to the language the students are learning; and 2. They want to learn more about it and see it in practice.

I find this conception of Americans really facinating for a couple of reasons.

First, I am not good at small talk.  I am awkward and weird, and I never know what to say.  (However, I will say that as soon as I got on the plane to come here (and maybe even before that) I told myself I would be more outgoing.  I told myself I needed to be more proactive in my socializing in order to not spend the next six months completely isolated from everybody and everything in Santiago.  I think I have done pretty well for myself since my arrival, considering how terribly self conscience I am when meeting people, and even after meeting people.) 

Second, I feel like this is a strange idea to have of Americans.  It is not something I have ever really thought about, and I still don't know if I really agree that Americans are really that good or participate that much in small talk.  I could easily be wrong.  I guess I hadn't thought about it much, so when I was told that Chileans have this conception of Americans, I thought it was strange.

I don't know- What do you think?

I don't know if you have heard, but Santiago is full, and I mean full, of stray dogs (and a few cats here and there).  I have decided to occasionally include pictures of some of the strays I find.  I feel like it is appropriate because strays are popping up all over my life in Santiago, so my blog about Chile should have strays popping up in it  now and again.  

Strays (and pigeons!) by Palacio de la Moneda