Argentina Arrival!

It's taken me a really long time to get around to writing this post, mostly because I haven't been able to make very good use of my time here yet. Mostly, I've been sleeping and going to classes because after trying to speak and understand Spanish all day, I'm just tired out. But the last couple of days have proved more eventful, so I thought I would share.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photographer taking my pictures for this trip so I'll just take it off the web though I have a couple from a friend's camera. In terms of places visited (well, the touristy ones) were mostly from the tour of the the barrio (neighborhood). We went to Plaza de Mayo and saw La Casa Rosa, where the president works and Caminita in La Boca as well. It was in Caminita that I had my first alfajores, a chocolate covered dulche de leche sandwich between crackers. I almost died. Speaking of dying, we also visited a cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. They had beautiful carved tomb houses made up of granite, marble, stone, among other materials.

Caminita, La Boca

Casa Rosada 

with cemetery cats

I also had a chance to get to know some of the food here. Dinner here is at 9 or 9:30 PM which I normally eat with my host family. So far I've had Milanesa (breaded meat) or some other type of meat or pasta. Home food hasn't been super interesting by any means but I had Milanesa Napoliana, which was what I had at home topped with tomato sauce, cheese and ham. 

absolutely fantastic

The cafe culture is really big here but so far I've only been to the local cafes really close to my house to work. I still have tried medialunes, a sweet version of croissants, and submarinos, which is hot chocolate except better. They warm up the milk for you and give you a piece of chocolate to melt it in. It really is to die for! I also had a chance to try mate, a traditional tea that perks you up without caffeine. It is very bitter and I didn't have sugar on hand, so I'm definitely down for trying it again but this time with the suger. There is a lot of pastry shops around and today I grabbed a piece of cake for breakfast tomorrow. I'll write about how that goes. 

mate with straw usually with a thermos

Another super interesting thing I've noticed about the culture so far is like "kioscos" that are like convenience stores except they really only sell drinks and chocolates. They are everywhere! My host sister's boyfriend on multiple occasions have run down to one at the end of the block for a chocolate dessert. So far I've tried a Milka bar that has white chocolate on the inside and white chocolate on the outside, Marsco, a better version of Reese's Pieces, and Bocadito, a dulche de leche filled chocolate. I think Argentines are super into sweet things which I absolutely have not objections about what so ever. 

What is difficult about being the few asian people here, traveling with a friend who is black is being stared at pretty often, and being easy target for pick-pocketing, random honking, and stares, among other things. But honestly, we do the same thing in Korea so I'm learning to not let it bother me. 

Hopefully, I can get around finishing that book... 

Until then,