Now With 17% More Culture!

As I didn't do anything too exciting this week, this post will be a delightful little lesson in Argentine culture, given by a person who probably doesn't know much more about it than you. I also did a little photo-scavenger-hunt to supplement these lessons with pictures, so soak in the glorious colors (soak 'em in good, I TOOK THESE SPECIFICALLY FOR YOU. YES, YOU.).

Lesson 1: Sidewalk washing.

If one wakes up early enough (7 am, haha) and goes a-gallivanting through the urban streets of La Recoleta (my neighborhood), he or she will come across a unique phenomenon. Each morning, out of dozens of buildings, pops many a little old man with a broom-like squeegee who goes to work washing the sidewalk.

I have never seen this before. Does the sidewalk really get THAT dirty during the day? I mean, they don't just SWEEP, they take hoses and rags and CLEAN the suckers. It's quite normal to walk down the street and pass two or three squeegee-ers per block. (They are very courteous and turn their hoses aside when we walk by.)

I got out too late today and missed most of the washers...

 

Here is a bonus picture of a man sweeping a tree



One attribute of the ground that aids in its washing is that the sidewalk is composed almost entirely of tile. Very often the pattern and texture of this tile changes completely from storefront to storefront. My guess is that the sidewalk in front of each store is not maintained by the government, as in the U.S., but belongs to the property owner. For this reason, walking down the street is like skipping delightedly across a patchwork quilt dotted with dog doo-doo (maybe that's why they wash it every day.)

Really I just want to make you look at pictures of my shoes

Lesson 2: Platform Shoes.
 
Speaking of shoes, let me tell you about this one thing that I thought went out with shag carpets and mustard-yellow-rust-orange-olive-green color schemes: DISCO SHOES! In my imagination, only people with shiny silver jumpsuits and poofy afros wear platform shoes. This is, contrary to popular U.S. belief, not the case. Platforms are SO, SO popular here. I did a sneaky photo shoot where I tried to take pictures of pedestrians' feet as they walked by me, and I was at no loss for photographic material. I repeat, PLATFORMS ARE REALLY, REALLY COOL HERE. For your enjoyment, the results of my endeavors:

 

 

 

 Guys can you BELIEVE National Geographic turned down these pics???

 

And the THIRD lesson for the day is:

 

Lesson 3: English Rocks.

 

In some Latin American countries it is Not Awesome to be from the U.S. In Argentina, it is "top." English words are used in advertisements where Spanish would function just as well or better, because it's cooler. Some English words have been completely assimilated into the language here; for example, "delivery." Even though it is zero percent a Spanish word, if someone wants takeout they would say "Voy a pedir delivery" instead of using the ACTUAL Spanish word for takeout. (Let's practice our Spanish accents: say "day-leev-air-ee." Congratulations. You just spoke Spanish.)

 

Out of simple amusement, I'm going to quickly go over several other English words that are commonly used in Spanish and provide their respective pronunciations:

 

T-Shirt ("tee-shairt")

Burger King ("Boor-gair keeng")

Mall ("mole")

 

I can't think of more right now. But IF I DO I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED.

 

Some pics to support my research:

Not a Spanish word. I kind of wish it wasn't a word at all... IT'S CREEPY

 Not a Spanish word.

 

 I guess "&" might be bilingual.

 



Teaconnection= strictly speaking, not a word at all. I will just assume there is an imaginary space in there.

"Triple"= Spanish.

"Italiano"= Spanish.

Why pick "bacon" to stay "bacon?"

 

ANSWER: BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME

 

 

BONUS PICS

I.... I...... me quedo callada, las palabras no me salen

 Also we visited Diagon Alley FO REALZZZ

 

A little reunion with some students and workers from the foreign exchange department. We were provided with a lovely supper. I ate altogether too much, and was rewarded several hours afterwards with an unexpected bout of diarrhea. TAKE THAT, McDONALDS BATHROOM

 

 Meditate on this photo

 

 

Now you are17% more cultured. YOU ARE WELCOME.