Mi primer semana: my first week
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2008
1
4
15
Trip End
Dec 02, 2008
Rosario,
Argentina
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My mom here has been making some excellent meals for us-- she made milanesa, gnocchis-- I think I already wrote about those two. Then she made cannellonis filled with a spinach paste and covered in a tomato-cream sauce. YUM. Then a couple of nights ago she made homemade pizza, with a tomato-garlic-basil sauce, big slices of mozzarella cheese, and slices of tomato. Then she drizzled vinegar over it. YUM again. She makes fabulous desserts like frutilla cheesecake and chocolate mousse. Frutillas, by the way, are strawberries. Never mind what an Argentinian tells you. Theyīre strawberries. Fresas are also strawberries in Spanish. But they say that frutillas are larger and less sweet, and so theyīre ĻnotĻ strawberries. Um, I disagree. Large strawberries in America are usually less sweet, but nonetheless still strawberries. Whatever, Argentina. We also eat this salad at every meal with a type of green leafy thing called ĻruculaĻ , spelling unknown. The thing weīre eating is spinach, though my family tells me itīs not. I disagree. Itīs spinach. They maintain, though, that itīs not what Popeye eats, and so is not spinach. Whatever, Argentina.
Iīm glad my family eats. My friend Sammie says that her mother and sister (whoīs 22 years old) barely eat anything, although they make a whole meal for her. Her sister is on a diet, and eats an apple for dinner each night. One thing Iīve noticed is that Argentinians are overly obsessed with their looks and appearance. There are mirrors everywhere. EVERYWHERE. In the elevators, in the bathroom stalls, on the walls in random areas, everywhere. Public education is free here (and so college is free to Argentinian students..
part of the kitchen
how nice) and so is public health. Included in public health is cosmetic surgery, and so there are many many many Argentinians who have gotten surgerized throughout their bodies. Argentina has one of the highest rates of anorexia and bulimia in young women, and itīs obvious. All the girls here weigh like 92 pounds, and itīs rare to see an overweight Argentinian. If they all eat only apples for dinner, itīs obvious why they weigh what they do. So Iīm glad my family eats a lot. And they eat a lot. And quickly too. I take almost 4 times as long to eat as they do... and I donīt know why. And last night, we had a steak. And a sausage. The steak was fabulous, and the sausage was great. And then there was this other thing. It was wrapped in the same material as sausage is-- that hard shell thing. And then I took one bite of the inside and thought it was beans. Nope, some kind of meat, my host mom said. I asked her what, and she said she didnīt know. Some insides from a pig. GAG!!!!!!!!!!!! She said it was good for anemics. I donīthave anemia, thank you. Iīd rather eat a piece of bread. But I think it was some kind of ground liver. It was purplish-maroon. It was NOT meat.Anyway, so Argentina is among the top countries for anorexia and bulimia... in addition to automobile accidents. For good reason. There are NO stop signs or stop lights, and cars do NOT yield to pedestrians. One kid in our program got hit by a motorcycle the other day. Heīs okay, donīt worry. I donīt know how the cars take turns-- one professor told me that the bravest go first. I choose timidity over bravery in cases like that.
Thereīs a great place here that we hang out sometimes--called Rock&Fellerīs. Itīs a pub with lots of cool tables with the beer taps right on the tables. They have good food there, and way overpriced drinks. But the atmosphere is nicer than a lot of the clubs here. A bit of history: a while ago, in the 70s, the government was very corrupt in Argentina, and many young citizens began to protest against the corruption. (Protests continue every day, STILL...
Puppies!
they line up tires in the roads and set them on fire to protest ANYTHING) Not long after, nearly 30,000 young people disappeared one day and were never seen again. People obviously believe that these university students were tortured and killed by the government. In any case, they eventually found this building that had been a torture chamber in Rosario where the government had taken and kept many of these Ļdisappeared.Ļ This building was left alone for a while, perhaps to be turned into a museum. Not long ago, an American came down and turned it into a sports bar called Rock&Fellerīs. And people donīt think anything of it. Itīs kind of weird. The bathrooms are in the lower level, adn you have to go down this spiral staircase and pass all these small rooms with tiny doors just to get to the bathrooms... gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. But they have good food there...Today I went to the gym which all students in my program are allowed to use. Itīs very cool-- thereīs a pool, and 3 levels of exercise equpment. On the top floor is a room with no walls, just windows, and they have spinning classes in there (fun!) An Argentinian gym is deceiving, however... youīre not running 14 miles an hour (I thought the beef here had beefed me up into a Supergirl); youīre running 8.699 miles per hour. And finding free weights is ridiculous... what gym in America has 27 and 32 lb free weights? I just sat in front of the free weights for like 5 minutes trying to find what I needed. The Argentinian guys behind me were saying Ļlook at the gringa... she doesnīt know how to lift weights.Ļ Um, I know how to lift weights. Itīs just this blankety-blank metric system!!! I translate all day long. Do I need to convert too? Yuck.
Thereīs a lot of Argentinian girls at the gym-- all 92 lbs of them. They donīt actually work out, though. They fix their hair and walk on the treadmills and sometimes move from one bench to another. My family said that a lot of people go to the gym just to say they go to the gym. Whatīs the point, Argentina?
Anyway, itīs almost 9:00 and I have to get home and shower before we eat dinner at like 10:30. Iīll post pictures tomorrow!!! Bye, all!
Comments
whatever, Argentina
Melanie, writing is your thing, you know that, yeah? You are so funny and entertaining. I love to read your 'stories' of confusion and crazy experiences in 'far, far away'. I'm glad you're eating well,(whatever it is that you're eating...), I'm glad the torture chamber is more like a chamber parlor now, and stop running so darn fast! You're likely to hurt yourself! :~)
God bless and please stay well,
Love Pablo
arugula?
i don't know...maybe
pablo's right...slow down! that's a bit fast, mel. thanks for tip on foods for anemia...i'll remember that -- NOT (by they by, does blood sausage ring a bell?)
yuck