So much to say... so little time

una nota de la desaparecida... todavia vive...

I've been enjoying my stay here at the hostal in M. It is incredible how at home one can feel in a dormitory atmosphere among strangers. I´ve befriended a few - unfortunately most do not speak spanish - and they have proven themselves to be fun adventurous people like myself and very friendly to everyone.

I suppose I've left out my New Year´s party experience. It was smashing. Meli has some friends in the city so we were invited to spend new years with some exchange students from Brazil. This party ended up being one long lesson in Portuguese and the dinner was served Thai-style. Someone's mother was there and for some happy reason forced the entire party of around 25 people out on to the tiny appartment's tiny balcony for the countdown and needless to say, although there were several languages represented we ended by counting down in Portuguese - which I pretended to know how to do. All in all it went over very well and again, we arrived home very near to U.S. breakfast time.... Now that I'm on the road it is not so difficult to adjust to the Argentine schedules since I get to pick my own schedule.

Another thing I would love to point out is that I read somewhere that culture shock comes from initially trying to associate everything you see to something familiar (oh hey, that's just like we do at home!). So my mission, to avoid this emotional and psychological rollercoaster is to seek out the differences and embrace them.

Difference #1: about half of the female population deems bras unnecessary. I have now embraced their way of life and discarded my bra in order to fit in.

Difference #2: the whole male population considers it rude NOT to whistle, holler, honk, or hiss at a woman. I now say a polite ´gracias´each time I pass by a gentleman who ogles.

Difference #3: it is considered rude not to accept an offered doobi in this culture so I have also taken to the occasional puff now and then... and that sort of crosses over to cigarettes too.

Difference #4: it is normal to be offered wine or an alcoholic beverage at any hour (even 10am) so I have also become accustomed to much alcohol intake.

Difference #5: if water has run over a dish it is considered clean, so I have followed suit as well as ceased my quest to avoid herpes or hepatitis and accepted any food beverage or potentially germy product offered me.

I hope that everyone enjoyed my little cultural lesson and that you can appreciate the humor in a fine joke and have a laugh and consider it good fun to banter about (many folks at my hostal are english - it rubs off pretty easy).