One nice thing about numbering all of the Random Observations is that we know exactly how long we’ve been here, and wow, 12 weeks goes by really quickly. Some of our new and improved random observations now include photos! Enjoy…
Random Observations: Week 11 & 12
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Spring is definitely in the air here. The weather is getting hot, the sidewalk cafes are full, trees are blooming and there are kids making out everywhere. I guess they don’t really have a house to go to, so they take to the parks, streets, etc. Sorry, I only have a picture of the flowers, not the kids making out.
- This picture pretty much sums up the Argentine attitude towards salads and vegetables with your dinner. Yes, it does say “Salad Bar,” but do you see any salad? I see a bowl of olives, but everything else is pretty much the garnishes for the meats.
- Maybe to make up for the lack of salad here, we’ve found that portion sizes at the stores are much smaller than in the U.S. This picture shows the biggest possible bag of M&Ms that you can buy at the grocery store near us – the “GRANDE” bag. Compare this to what they sell at the grocery stores back home (the XXL bag is 52oz – over 15 times larger) and you can see why we have an obesity epidemic.
And a few other random observations:
- There are not very many people of color here. Argentines themselves are for the most part fair skinned, probably stemming from the many European immigrants here. There seems to be very few African immigrants in Buenos Aires, so they are more noticeable when you see them. (Something that you would never even think about in NYC because it’s such a melting pot of people and cultures.)
The strange thing is that I saw an African immigrant on Santa Fe street selling fake watches out of a briefcase. This scene could have easily been taken directly from mid-town New York. What is with African immigrants selling fake watches? Is this a universal thing?
- I’ve seen limes in grocery stores, so I don’t think there’s a problem getting them here, but don’t expect one in your drink at the bar. They have some lemon slices, but I have yet to see limes. Even when I ordered a Corona, it came sans-lime…just not the same.
- Happy Halloween! While it may not be an officially recognized holiday here, the kioscos all sell Halloween candy and you can find a good number of costume parties (although it is still impossible to get a real pumpkin). I’ve heard that the celebration of Halloween in Argentina has especially picked up in the last 10 years, which is good for candy and costume sales. (Halloween generates $5.77 billion in sales in the U.S.) Plus, it’s my second favorite holiday after Christmas…