Cultural differences

Having been here for over a month, certain cultural differences have really started to stand out. For example:

-Tap water is never given in restaurants, even though for the most part tap water is safe to drink here. When we (American friends and myself) ask for tap water in restaurants, the waiter either gives us a dirty look and reluctantly gives it to us, or they tell us they don't have that.

-Mate, basically the national beverage of Argentina. It's a very strong kind of tea that is a huge part of Argentine culture. It's traditionally served with a group and comes with a set of rules for how to serve it, as well as very specific Mate equipment, such as a special mate cup/straw, for serving. From what I've seen, Argentines drink Mate all the time and often bring it with them places, complete with a thermos for hot water and the fancy cup/straw. It's pretty amusing seeing people on the subway juggling their mate equipment. Also, if you go to the beach or a park in the middle of the day, literally every group of people will be drinking mate. I don't think there's really an equivalent custom in the States. Here's what it looks like:

-You don't tip in taxis.

-When greeting someone, everyone gives kisses on the cheek (or more like touching your cheek to someone else's and making a kissy noise). For example, if someone is meeting up with their group of friends, that person will go around and kiss everyone in the group. Although this is sort of time consuming, I think it's a really nice cultural norm because it's an obvious and friendly way of acknowledging and greeting everyone on the group.

-Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Cars never yield for pedestrians. Ever.

-Traffic lanes might as well not exist.

-People go to the gym but they don't really work up a sweat. They walk on the treadmill or do some light weight-lifting. This is a little more true for girls, but also applies to most guys. When I go to the gym and do my usual routine (which naturally makes me sweaty, as going to the gym should), I can't help but feel awkward when I leave after working up a sweat.

Anyway, this past week was a lot of fun and I think I've figured out what classes I'm going to take. They are:

-Taller de Radio at UBA (Radio Workshop - It's in the Communications school and I think we make our own radio shows in groups)
-My mandatory Spanish class through my program, but I'm in the section focused on theater in Argentina.
-Sociedad y Estado de Argentina (Argentine Society and State), an optional class through my program.
-Psicología de la Interacción Social y los Pequeños Grupos (Psychology of Social Interaction and Small Groups) at USAL.

Other highlights of the week included:

-We have another girl that's living with my family! She's Venezuelan and is going to be here for two months working. She's 24 and is super friendly. It's really nice having someone my age to talk to in Spanish and to hang out with. We went to the movies the other day and she came out to dinner with my friends on Saturday.

-I tried out for the choir at USAL and I think I got in! I say I think because at the end of the audition she told me that I can start next week, but at the same time, I'm supposed to have an interview with the coordinator of the music program. I'm not really sure what that's about, but from what I can tell, I can join! I think that would be really fun and hopefully a good way to meet Argentines.

-On Saturday, I went back to El Tigre, the cute river town about an hour away from BA. We went kayaking!

-On Sunday, after a delicious brunch of savory and sweet pancakes at a famous pancake place, my friends and I went to Tierra Santa - a Bible-themed theme park. Yes, that's correct. Kitchy is really the only way to describe it. There weren't any rides but they had shows and lots of exhibits depicting Bible scenes with figures. The shows included some that were just fun music and dancing, but then there was one about the birth of Jesus. They also have a giant Jesus statue that gets raised up every half an hour that's supposed to represent the resurrection. The whole experience was bizarre but pretty funny at the same time.

Since this week is Semana Santa, it's a long weekend and I'm going to Patagonia tomorrow! I'm super excited because from all the pictures I've seen it looks absolutely gorgeous. There are a lot of glaciers there and you can go walk on them and do "ice-trekking," which makes me sound super outdoorsy and hardcore. Yep, that's me...

PS. I wanted to upload a picture of mate and some pics of Tierra Santa but for some reason, Blogspot is being weird and it's not working. Hopefully I can put some up later.