2. The city held its first ever St. Patrick's Day parade this year. 90% of the attendees did not look remotely Irish :)
3. Foods Argentines like: ham and cheese (I was thrilled to find turkey in the grocery store today because usually all they offer is ham), beef, pumpkin, milanesas (breaded chicken or veal cutlets), crackers, ice cream, alfajores (a sandwich cookie with dulce de leche in the middle, covered either in chocolate or merengue)
4. In lieu of coins, change can legitimately be given in hard candies. As in, I don't have 50 cents to give you, so here's a couple Werther's.
5. They employ more people down here to do things that either would be done automatically at home, or just done by one person. Case in point: I was sitting outside a cafe yesterday, and a man came by and removed the trash can that was anchored to the street sign. A second man came by ten minutes later and jotted down in a notebook that said trash can had been removed. A third man came by, another ten minutes later, to replace the old trash can with a new one and take the old one away.
6. The people here, especially the women, are quite concerned with staying thin. Their ideas of what will maintain their figure and what will make them "engordar" are rather strange, however. My host mom refuses to eat bread even in small amounts, but insists that dulce de leche (basically milk cooked with sugar until it becomes really intense caramel) does not do anything to you. Obvio.
7. Just about anyone you start talking to you would be happy to engage you in a political discussion. As I left for class this morning, the woman who was manning the door to my apartment building (who has never said anything to me beyond "no, thank you" and "I'm well, how are you?") yanked the headphones out of her ears and began lamenting both the stupidity of the voters who elected Cristina, their unpopular president, and the Iraq war.
8. Dogs are everywhere!!! It is a common sight to see a professional dog walker crossing the busy city street with 8 to 10 dogs on his/her arm. These dog walkers can make $800- $1000 per month, per dog. Having dogs all over the place is a good thing for foreigners like me who miss their doggies back home, lots of substitutes to pet :)
9. Everything, and I mean everything, is closed on Sundays.
10. Approximately 80% of the Argentine population, at least here in the city and by my estimates, is of Italian descent. This is great for those of us who also are, as it gives you an instant point of commonality from which to start a conversation with pretty much anybody.
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