Mate

On Saturday I went with a friend to meet his English class. He takes English in school as well as at a special school two times a week. We all sat around and talked about American and Argentinean culture, the recent legalization of Marijuana in Argentina, and politics. We sat in the backyard which held a beautiful garden and pool and drank mate. It was my first time drinking mate and let’s just say I’m very glad they put sugar in the cup. I learned some important rules about drinking mate; one never stir the yerba ( the tea like item) with the bombilla (straw). Two if the mate is to hot stroke you fingers at the bottom of the cup. ALWAYS pass the mate to the right, and never place sugar in a man’s cup of mate it becomes forever contaminated. That night around two me and my brother Tomas went to a disco with his friends. The disco was full though so we went to a bar (I don’t drink) and sat around and talked to about five. Even at 5:30 in the morning the streets were packed; and when we got home Tomas and I snuck into the kitchen and ate ice cream on the kitchen floor. As far as cultural lessons go I learned the reason behind Christina Fernandez’s (the president of Argentina) scarf obsession. My brother explained to me that she wears the scarf to cover up the two times she had liposuction done on her neck and chin. If you thought President Bush had a low approval rating you should come to Argentina; I haven’t heard a person talk fondly about her yet. There are also two types of taxi’s here, the yellow taxi’s pick you up on the street and the green tax’s called Remy’s pick you up directly from your home and are not allowed to pick up passengers on the street. There is a big controversy in the city between the Remy drivers and the taxi drivers because the Remy drivers now want to be able to pick people up from the curbside. Politics are always being discussed here. Lately there has been an almost 50% tax on milk essentially the stores pay 2 pesos for a litter of milk and one of those pesos goes to the government. Many of the farmers have gone on strike. I also learned that here when you get pulled over for speeding you don’t just get a ticket you have to wait in your car on the side of the road for an hour, the whole time is money concept. I think this is a great idea and should be applied in the States. Lastly I learned about the Afilador man. One morning while having tea with my family I thought I heard what sounded like the ice cream man. My mom explained that the man ringing the bell walked the streets and people would pay him to sharpen their kitchen knives. That’s all for now!
¡Chau!