So I met Shira's new boyfriend today. Kiril is here temporarily from Israel. He is leaving next month when his work visa expires, but will be returning this fall on a tourist visa.

Of course this immediately got my attention, as he is a young, single, property-less male. When I asked him how he pulled it off he seemed genuinely puzzled as to why I seemed to think this is difficult. He said he just had to fill out some paperwork. No interrogations to make sure he would return at the end or nothing.

So basically, Nahuel can't come here because he's Latino.

Kiril is young and still drifting. He takes short term jobs that have him travel.

Nahuel has two degrees and is a year away from a third. He has a secure job as a public school teacher.

I've been to both countries. Israelis
(who have good jobs) earn more, but the cost of living is so outrageous that adjustedly they don't.

Argentina has an unstable economy (not that Israel's is so hot) and is full of people who speak spanish. The two places are comparable in most other areas (literacy, health/life expectancy, technological development). But most Argentinos are fairly secure that their favorite lunch spot won't be bombed when they're there.

At any rate, neither country is more likely to produce illegal immigrants to the united states than the other. The inequity in their treatment is 100% racism. And that's not even correct, as Argentina is one of the whitest countries on the planet. It's prejudice against spanish speakers. It's the mindset that everything south of the border is the same. When I told Jackie (who is a teacher and thus allegedly educated) that I was going to Argentina, she told me "Drink a margarita for me".

Sometimes I am ashamed to be an American.