I am in the midst of planning a trip to Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile for the weekend of the 16th. Mendoza is famous for their wine and vineyards and the beautiful surrounding Andes Mountains. Then I am going to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay the following weekend.... I cannot wait!
The situation with my host mom is ...well there is never a dull moment. At first it was really cute, having someone who cared so much always looking out for me, not so much anymore. She NEVER leaves the apartment or leaves me alone for that matter, and every night at dinner she tells me how sad and lonely she is. That is the thing about Argentines, they LOVE to talk about their problems. They all have therapists. This is not an exaggeration, we were warned of this during our orientation. It is completely normal for people to talk to you about their therapists and problems, and they all try to access each other's problems. It is a cultural thing.
These are things I will never understand about Argentines:
1. How they say people from the United States eat so poorly, when their main food groups are bread, salt, beef and mayo. They put mayo and salt on EVERYTHING. It is beyond me. The other night I walked by the kitchen before dinner and Ivette had made milonesa. Milonesa is like the main thing these people eat. Basically it is breaded chicken or beef. She made that and on the side were sliced tomatoes and a hard boiled egg. It looked great...I went to sit down....she had put mayo all over the top. I wanted to die. In that moment, I thought "what would Sydney do!?" and i decided she would scrape it off, even though we have been advised to eat everything. Argentines find it particularly rude if you dont eat food that is offered. But this, I could not do, so I wiped it off, and told Ivette she had to ask me before putting mayo on my food. When I asked her if I could have the extra hard boiled egg for breakfast (they dont eat breakfast here, let alone eggs) ...she proceeded to tell me how bad eggs are for you....while she is stuffing her face with breaded chicken slathered in mayo... Sweet.
2. Why they get so offended when we refer to ourselves as American. By saying that, I did not say you weren't. You can be American too if you want, I could really care less how you identify yourself. Also, we are called The United States of America. It is just convenient to shorten it to American. You call urself Argentinian, that is the name of your country, not your continent. But you want me to call myself North American? Sorry, I stand my ground. I am an American. But hey, you can be too.
3. Now I understand and accept, that maybe Americans live a really paced lifestyle. But for god sakes, why in the world is it so painful to get restaurant service, but the second you are paying they stand over your shoulder like a hawk and ask u every .5 seconds if you are ready. Like it took me 30 minutes to get you over here, give me a minute to count my money and tip you in peace.
4. How a whole race of people can detest spicy food. It is the WEIRDEST thing. They ALL hate spicy food. You cant find hot sauce anywhere. They dont cook with it spice, they like shutter at the thought of spice. It is so weird. Like you would think it is a personal thing, not a cultural thing. But hey, I dont mind it. Big Jim might have a problem if he comes to visit.
So in interesting news, the Subte (Argentine subway) workers have been on strike for over a week. Imagine if all of the T workers went on strike, and the T was out of use for a week. I cannot even imagine. It is so normal here, everyone strikes.
Oh more interesting news, one of the girls in my group is from LA. Her dad is an actor on desperate housewives, and her step mom is Hana's mom on Pretty Little Liars.
Welp that is all for now. Miss you all. Love you all.
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