Monday 31 July

Ok, so I'm pretty sure my host my thinks I'm absolutely crazy. She can't understand how I can eat grapefruit without coating it in sugar first. Grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits and I eat it like an orange: I peal it and eat it section by section. Every time I take a grapefruit out of the fridge she makes a face and wrinkles her nose.

So, getting past the food....which is fabulous....I think I have empanadas for lunch every other day...when I'm out, they're just so cheap (and fantastic).

This weekend, I went to the 120th Argentine Rural Society's exhibition. A few blocks from where I live, in the middle of this huge city, there is an exhibition of cows, sheep, chickens, pigs, and more. It was great. There's so much tradition behind it. The Argentine Rural Society is made up of all the rich, city folk who own the huge amounts of land that surround the city. They bring their prize winning cattle to the city to display them for the city people. The president of the society is elected during the exhibition and the president of Argentina is expected to attend the innaguration ceremony....this year, Kirchner (pres of Arg) did not attend, which means there could be problems between the government and the people that control the beef.

After the Rural, I walked down my street to the huge bookstore that used to be a theater. They left everything set up, pretty much. You can tell where the stage is and the balconies are all still there. It was really cool, but really overwhelming and hard to pick a book to get.

Saturday night, I went and ate some of that beef. In true Argentine fashion, I had dinner at 10:30 and then went out. The people here go out at 2AM and return at 7AM (I haven't tried that yet).

Sunday, I wondered my neighborhood and went to a few markets. There are three really close to me. Then I did a lot of laundry. Last night, my host mom and I watched this ridiculous game show where each province sends a team to compete. The participants have to wear ridiculous fat suits for 1/2 the games and play musical chairs (where the floor moves). or go through an obstacle course, or they use the other team as targets in certain games. It was rather humerous and completely nuts.

I don't have classes yet this week, but I have a bunch of meetings and I have to sign up for classes later today. I'm going to try to post pictures on this blog, otherwise I might post some on FaceBook.