Baby Duckies!

Things I did this week:

Went for a run and discovered the most amazing park with a track, baby ducks, rollerbladers, and paddle boats. A man saved a baby duckling crossing the street and reunited it with his Mama Swan. So cute!

Fixed my laptop. It must have fallen (even though I don't recall dropping it) and my ethernet cable snapped. You should have heard me trying to explain this to the computer shop guys in spanish!

Went to an electronic tango concert with a Venezuelan friend I met through frisbee.

Hit up Barrio Chino after our game for my very first chicken and rice in this city. The Chinese lady gave us a much needed chopstick lesson.

Les and the chopstick teacher

Lionesses!

Papita's first time ever using chopsticks

Joined Sarah, her Argentine boyfriend, his friends and exchange student for a quiet afternoon at his family’s Jewish country club-like isla. I had my first kosher hamburger.

Field of a Thousand Mosquitos

Tigre!

Sarah's boy and his friend hard at work...well one of them is!

Kosher BBQ (Chairs are empty because everyone's to the right eating)

(Drum roll please…)

Bought my ticket to Colombia! There’s a huge international Frisbee tournament in Medellin and I’m going to spend my birthday there. I’m leaving Nov 24 and returning Dec 10 to Buenos Aires. SO EXCITED! http://www.tepmedellin.com/web/ingles

Cultural Differences Part I

Argentina is a third world country. Let’s just throw that out there before I start talking about cultural differences. Anyway, I’ve been here for 3 months and I guess it’s time for a brief compare and contrast. Here's Part I:

Portenos use a different clock.

Literally. Everything here is on the 24 hour clock. You would never, for example, say “Hey let’s meet at 18 o’clock” but when you write 6 pm, it’s easier to say 18 instead.

Expect your Argentine friends/colleagues/teammates/professors etc a half hour later than scheduled. This usually works out in my favor, but not when I show up to my 8:30 am class and wait around for the professor to come in with the test an hour later.

They also eat LATE! You will not find a restaurant open at 7, when we usually eat dinner. Most families eat at 9 or 10 (excuse me, 21 or 22). This is one custom I don’t think I’ll adopt- I really hate sleeping on a full stomach!

The American Eat-and-Run

When you go to a restaurant, café, or bar, you have to practically hunt down the waiter for the check. They will not give it to you because they don’t want you to feel rushed, even if there’s a line around the corner. I remember Sarah and I got ice cream with David and we finished and got up to leave. He didn’t understand why we were leaving since we were mid conversation. It was just reflex. We order, we eat, we go.

Lines

I’ve only eaten fast food in BsAs twice, and twice I got cut in line because I stood too far away from the cash registers. The ATMs are the same way. People stand on top of each other!

Showing skin

I’ve found the dress code to be relatively conservative for a city. Girls do not wear shorts. When I wear knee length dresses, I get looks. There is generally no cleavage and definitely no tank tops. But (no pun intended) there is an abundance of lingerie ads, naked massage flyers handed out on the streets, and porn magazines in FULL view on newsstands.

When I first came here, everyone said portenos dress up. I’ve only found that true in the sense that it is very sloppy to wear sweatpants. I think a better term would be “overdress,” because it’s 75 degrees, sunny, and I saw a woman with a winter coat, scarf, boots, and gloves!