Around the Zona Sur where I live, it´s fairly common to find people driving around at night with just their parking lights on. Apparently, driving without headlights causes your car to run on less gas (nafta, as it´s called here) than if they´re on. Even the buses do it.
Of course, if you drive or walk by them, they´ll flash their lights at you just to let you know they´re there.
One imagines them singing to themselves as they drive along:
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
PLEASE DON´T HIT ME!!!
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
I´m saving gaaaaas...
Monday, June 25, 2007
Carne, pizza, y empanadas
If you sum up the number of meals I´ve eaten here that haven´t primarily consisted of beef, pizza, or empanadas--meat & cheese wrapped in bread--you will not come up with a very large number.
The meal closest to an Argentine´s heart is an asado. Asado is a fatty cut of beef slow-grilled over hot coals. It is usually eaten with bread, to make the fat go down more easily, and is sometimes accompanied by a small salad.
Pizza is a surprisingly popular. I attribute this to the large population with italian roots.
The meal closest to an Argentine´s heart is an asado. Asado is a fatty cut of beef slow-grilled over hot coals. It is usually eaten with bread, to make the fat go down more easily, and is sometimes accompanied by a small salad.
Pizza is a surprisingly popular. I attribute this to the large population with italian roots.
Mate
"Mate is not a drink that someone gives you; it is a shared experience." This is how the phenomenon of mate was explained to me.
Mate is a type of strong, bitter tea drunk originally out of a hollowed out gourd with a wooden straw, and now more often out of a metal or wooden cup with a metal straw. First, the mate, as the cup is called, is filled with herbs and perhaps some sugar. Then, the bombilla, a filtering straw, is inserted in the cup. Whoever is serving then pours enough water into the mate to fill it, and drinks it dry. He refills it with hot water and passes it to the next person, who drinks it dry and passes it back.
The mate is passed around like this to whoever desires it, continuing around the group as long as people want more. When someone has had enough, he thanks the server when he gives back the cup, and the server understands that he will not drink any more.
When you drink mate with someone, you are saying that you are willing to share with them. You are willing to share warmth on a cold day, to share conversation as you´re drinking it, and to share germs (yuck, but oh well).
The social aspect of mate is, to me, just as appealing as the drink itself. Be warned, dear Virginia Tech friends: if you come by my place any time in the fall, you will be offered mate.
Mate is a type of strong, bitter tea drunk originally out of a hollowed out gourd with a wooden straw, and now more often out of a metal or wooden cup with a metal straw. First, the mate, as the cup is called, is filled with herbs and perhaps some sugar. Then, the bombilla, a filtering straw, is inserted in the cup. Whoever is serving then pours enough water into the mate to fill it, and drinks it dry. He refills it with hot water and passes it to the next person, who drinks it dry and passes it back.
The mate is passed around like this to whoever desires it, continuing around the group as long as people want more. When someone has had enough, he thanks the server when he gives back the cup, and the server understands that he will not drink any more.
When you drink mate with someone, you are saying that you are willing to share with them. You are willing to share warmth on a cold day, to share conversation as you´re drinking it, and to share germs (yuck, but oh well).
The social aspect of mate is, to me, just as appealing as the drink itself. Be warned, dear Virginia Tech friends: if you come by my place any time in the fall, you will be offered mate.
The next few entries
In my next few blog entries, I will be telling about interesting and peculiar aspects of life here in Argentina. I will gradually move, however, toward more entries about the work I´m doing.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Inicios
¡Les saludo a todos desde el gran país de Argentina!
We arrived in Argentina Wednesday two weeks ago, and yesterday we finished our vacation in Buenos Aires, the capital city; we visited an art museum, walked through a famous graveyard, the Recoleta, toured a couple big soccer stadiums, and took a day-long trip to visit Colonia, Uruguay on the other side of the (quite large) Río de la Plata.
My sister and her student flew out yesterday to return to the States, and I said goodbye to Ricardo and Yolanda and to the capital city this morning before going to Wilde (weel-day), where I will most likely be living for the next 7 weeks. This marks the end of the vacation and the beginning of "work."
Steve Bailey, my boss, has shown me (and promised to give me) a schedule of what I will be doing weekly. It involves lots of youth meetings, children´s church meetings called horas felices, and early morning prayer meetings with missionaries here from the States. I will post about how they are going once I start them.
I am living in the house of a friend of Steve´s here in Wilde named Meche. Two Colombians, whose names I´ve forgotten, Meche´s uncle Carlos, his mother Mariela, and their dog Mateo are living in a smaller house behind the main house.
I will write later about my experiences with the people, with the food here, and some other things. For now, though, ¡ya está!
We arrived in Argentina Wednesday two weeks ago, and yesterday we finished our vacation in Buenos Aires, the capital city; we visited an art museum, walked through a famous graveyard, the Recoleta, toured a couple big soccer stadiums, and took a day-long trip to visit Colonia, Uruguay on the other side of the (quite large) Río de la Plata.
My sister and her student flew out yesterday to return to the States, and I said goodbye to Ricardo and Yolanda and to the capital city this morning before going to Wilde (weel-day), where I will most likely be living for the next 7 weeks. This marks the end of the vacation and the beginning of "work."
Steve Bailey, my boss, has shown me (and promised to give me) a schedule of what I will be doing weekly. It involves lots of youth meetings, children´s church meetings called horas felices, and early morning prayer meetings with missionaries here from the States. I will post about how they are going once I start them.
I am living in the house of a friend of Steve´s here in Wilde named Meche. Two Colombians, whose names I´ve forgotten, Meche´s uncle Carlos, his mother Mariela, and their dog Mateo are living in a smaller house behind the main house.
I will write later about my experiences with the people, with the food here, and some other things. For now, though, ¡ya está!
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