Hola,
I made a list of things that I forgot to write about over the last couple of weeks. They add up to make an almost interesting post.
1. I learned a very useful Dutch word from my friend Daphne. Hangjongeren. It means "hang-youths," and is used to describe large groups of teenagers that hang around on the street doing absolutely nothing. Nothing good anyway. So next time you go to Edwards movie theater, you can try to work this word into a sentence. "Oh look, that group of hangjongeren is getting picked up by their moms in minivans."
2. I keep getting corrected because everyone from North and South America is an American, not just estadounidenses. I keep saying "In America..." and then everyone says, we're in America right now. Its a hard habit to break, as proven by the next paragraph.
3. An Argentinean person asked me why Americans eat so much at funerals. He had seen this on television. "We eat a lot at funerals?" said I. Apparently, we do. In Argentina, you just have a coffee or tea after a funeral, and no one brings you food like in the US. In the United States, once someone dies, the food starts coming and doesn't stop until the wake. "You have a PARTY after someone DIES?" Well yeah, of course we do. What else are you supposed to do with yourself after a funeral?
Since this amazing revelation that not everyone eats excessive amounts of food at funerals, I have asked a French person and an English person what they do. French people do not have wakes. English people do. Hello colonial legacy.
4. Several people have asked me if I eat marshmallows. Yes.....why?? Marshmallows aren't very popular here, but apparently estadounidenses eat marshmallows on television all the time, and thus it is a point of interest for Argentineans my age. I had no idea marshmallow consumption was a common stereotype of Americans. All I have to say about that is that you can't put dulce de leche on a stick.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Happy First Day of Spring!!!
For those of us on this side of the equator, today is the first day of spring!
Apparently this is a very important holiday for Argentina. A holiday meriting free ice cream. Well, two for one quarter kilos of ice cream. I had white chocolate and strawberry. Mine is all gone. Great success!!!
Sadly, that means ski season is just about OVER. It hasn't snowed in two weeks. This weekend, we went skiing, and half the mountain had no snow on it. The bottom half. Zig asked, "But how do we get down??"
Here we are standing in the lift line. Skis on, no snow. One of the lifts had a conveyor belt to get you on the chair since you couldn't ski to it. I know how to say chair lift in Spanish. Aerosilla. It means air-chair.
Here's a picture from the chairlift. I see the beginnings of snow!!!
Some mountains....
So we aren't still stuck on top of the mountain. They let you ride down the chair lift. It was a little discomfiting. You could also ride down in the tele-cabin. That was better.
Distinct lack of snow in that picture. And Zig isn't smiling. That wasn't even a candid photo, he knew it was coming! He was eating though.
This time skiing was WAY better than last time. First, I could see stuff because it wasn't snowing. Second, we went down blues instead of reds.
I did have one minor problem. When we rented skis, I was having trouble speaking Spanish because I don't know how to say "These boots don't fit." I think, because I didn't speak Spanish, he assumed I didn't know how to ski. He didn't ask what my level was. My bindings were super loose, and every time I hit a bump, my skis popped off, propelling me face first into the snow. Even the tiniest of tiny clumps of snow. If I went on any un-groomed parts of the slope, down to the ground I went. Here's a picture from my perspective:
My body hurts. A lot. I woke up, and my thumb muscle hurt.
We also had major problems with Beginners. Or as Zig and I like to call them, Fallers. As in, "Oh look there's a clump of Fallers, lets wait until they get off the trail or they might collide with us." I saw one Faller slam into another from behind. Her skis went up into the air and came down right on the guy's face. Dangerous.
We did learn a new Argentinean word though. It's "culipatin." It literally means "ass-skate." Its what you do when you slide down the mountain on your behind.
When I came home from Prague, I had about 100 pictures of the Astrological Clock (see Praha Blog-A for proof). When I come home from Bariloche, I will have at least 100 pictures of this giant lake...
In other news, I finished my last week of school on Friday. Here are some pictures of my school:
Nicholas was not my teacher for the last two days of class. I had a lady named Sol. It wasn't as fun, but she was nice. She took me too a museum exhibit of artisan teapots. Teteras in español.
The elephant has sparkles and rhinestones all over it. My blurry picture doesn't do it justice. No flash allowed! There were also even kitschier ones with painted flowers and macrame butterflies. I liked those first two the best.
Other than that, this week we didn't do much. The school was full of Australian hipsters who didn't want to participate in any of the activities. They just wanted to stand around and smoke cigarrettes.
We did eat a lot though. The original title of this post when I tried to write it on Friday was "I'm Never Eating Again, Ever." Here's why:
Wednesday, we went out with Ayalla and Gilad, the Isreali kids from my school. I had fish. It was pretty fun.
Thursday, Zig and I went to a parilla. And ate ALLLLL of that. All of it, between the two of us. Plus wine and some squash (for the health, you know). I just about died. I also ate some unusual cow body parts. I try not to think about it too hard.
More grocery store observations:
We found Target Argentina. Its called Anonima. Its like a gold mine of electronics and groceries.
I've been noticing that Argentina has a strange obsession with gluten. I've never seen so many labels that say "gluten free" on them. Usually that stuff is hidden in the grocery store. Here it merits prime end-of-shelf space. This is the section of gluten free desserts. Just desserts. They have other gluten free stuff in other sections, featured just as prominently. It strikes me as a weird allergy to pick out above all other allergies. What about nuts? Lots of people are allergic to nuts. I haven't seen any labels that say "nut-free."
Also, we found some tasty Mexican imports. Still no tortillas though.
Finally, Zig found this plate in a display case at his work. I like its jaunty positioning. Argentina cares not if your university seal is displayed sideways!
Next Saturday we leave for Buenos Aires. That means lots of working on applications and studying for the GRE. Which means boring blogging, so don't get your hopes up. Speaking of the GRE, I was quizzing Zig on his vocabulary flashcards. The word was credulous. He didn't know it, so I said it means gullible. "Did you know that the word gullible is written on the ceiling?" He totally looked.
After I stopped laughing hysterically, he said that his first thought when I said it was "Why would the word gullible be written on the ceiling in English?"
Apparently this is a very important holiday for Argentina. A holiday meriting free ice cream. Well, two for one quarter kilos of ice cream. I had white chocolate and strawberry. Mine is all gone. Great success!!!
Sadly, that means ski season is just about OVER. It hasn't snowed in two weeks. This weekend, we went skiing, and half the mountain had no snow on it. The bottom half. Zig asked, "But how do we get down??"
Here we are standing in the lift line. Skis on, no snow. One of the lifts had a conveyor belt to get you on the chair since you couldn't ski to it. I know how to say chair lift in Spanish. Aerosilla. It means air-chair.
Here's a picture from the chairlift. I see the beginnings of snow!!!
Some mountains....
So we aren't still stuck on top of the mountain. They let you ride down the chair lift. It was a little discomfiting. You could also ride down in the tele-cabin. That was better.
Distinct lack of snow in that picture. And Zig isn't smiling. That wasn't even a candid photo, he knew it was coming! He was eating though.
This time skiing was WAY better than last time. First, I could see stuff because it wasn't snowing. Second, we went down blues instead of reds.
I did have one minor problem. When we rented skis, I was having trouble speaking Spanish because I don't know how to say "These boots don't fit." I think, because I didn't speak Spanish, he assumed I didn't know how to ski. He didn't ask what my level was. My bindings were super loose, and every time I hit a bump, my skis popped off, propelling me face first into the snow. Even the tiniest of tiny clumps of snow. If I went on any un-groomed parts of the slope, down to the ground I went. Here's a picture from my perspective:
My body hurts. A lot. I woke up, and my thumb muscle hurt.
We also had major problems with Beginners. Or as Zig and I like to call them, Fallers. As in, "Oh look there's a clump of Fallers, lets wait until they get off the trail or they might collide with us." I saw one Faller slam into another from behind. Her skis went up into the air and came down right on the guy's face. Dangerous.
We did learn a new Argentinean word though. It's "culipatin." It literally means "ass-skate." Its what you do when you slide down the mountain on your behind.
When I came home from Prague, I had about 100 pictures of the Astrological Clock (see Praha Blog-A for proof). When I come home from Bariloche, I will have at least 100 pictures of this giant lake...
In other news, I finished my last week of school on Friday. Here are some pictures of my school:
This last picture is from an Argentinean map. The Islas Malvinas are more commonly known as the Falkland Islands. I really enjoy that Argentina is labelled as the owner of these islands on THIS map, even though they speak English there and use the Pound. Wishful thinking.
Nicholas was not my teacher for the last two days of class. I had a lady named Sol. It wasn't as fun, but she was nice. She took me too a museum exhibit of artisan teapots. Teteras in español.
The elephant has sparkles and rhinestones all over it. My blurry picture doesn't do it justice. No flash allowed! There were also even kitschier ones with painted flowers and macrame butterflies. I liked those first two the best.
Other than that, this week we didn't do much. The school was full of Australian hipsters who didn't want to participate in any of the activities. They just wanted to stand around and smoke cigarrettes.
We did eat a lot though. The original title of this post when I tried to write it on Friday was "I'm Never Eating Again, Ever." Here's why:
Wednesday, we went out with Ayalla and Gilad, the Isreali kids from my school. I had fish. It was pretty fun.
Thursday, Zig and I went to a parilla. And ate ALLLLL of that. All of it, between the two of us. Plus wine and some squash (for the health, you know). I just about died. I also ate some unusual cow body parts. I try not to think about it too hard.
More grocery store observations:
We found Target Argentina. Its called Anonima. Its like a gold mine of electronics and groceries.
I've been noticing that Argentina has a strange obsession with gluten. I've never seen so many labels that say "gluten free" on them. Usually that stuff is hidden in the grocery store. Here it merits prime end-of-shelf space. This is the section of gluten free desserts. Just desserts. They have other gluten free stuff in other sections, featured just as prominently. It strikes me as a weird allergy to pick out above all other allergies. What about nuts? Lots of people are allergic to nuts. I haven't seen any labels that say "nut-free."
Also, we found some tasty Mexican imports. Still no tortillas though.
Finally, Zig found this plate in a display case at his work. I like its jaunty positioning. Argentina cares not if your university seal is displayed sideways!
Next Saturday we leave for Buenos Aires. That means lots of working on applications and studying for the GRE. Which means boring blogging, so don't get your hopes up. Speaking of the GRE, I was quizzing Zig on his vocabulary flashcards. The word was credulous. He didn't know it, so I said it means gullible. "Did you know that the word gullible is written on the ceiling?" He totally looked.
After I stopped laughing hysterically, he said that his first thought when I said it was "Why would the word gullible be written on the ceiling in English?"
Monday, September 14, 2009
El Fin de Semana
As promised....
International Love by Fidel Nadal
Muy irritante. Also, I'm sorry if this video isn't PG. I didn't actually watch it and I don't know what the song is about. Its played on the radio at school twice in the last hour.
Fue un fin de semana muy bueno. En jueves, fuimos a una caminata a Cerro Otto. That means we went on a hike to Cerro Otto. Fue muy divertido.
I made new friends at school this week. Their names are Ayalla and Gilad, and they are from Israel. We're going to hang out with them this week (they leave on Sunday). This Friday Rosh Hashanah (New Years). They told me they were sad because they thought they would meet other Israelis here to have a traditional dinner with, but they haven't found any. So I told them they could come to our apartment and cook all they wanted! They're going to. Hopefully they can find some other people and have una fiesta. Here they are on Cerro Otto. Candid shot!
Here are more pictures from our adventure:
Muy interesante. Despues de la caminata (after the hike), Nicholas (my teacher and our guide) took us to a cerveceria!!! MUY BIEN!
Cerveceria La Cruz. They make the beer in there!! Apparently, its a popular hangout for real Barilochenses. There were lots of people there Nicholas knew. Also, the ski patrol:
I love candid photos, they're so flattering. After, we went to El Boliche de Alberto AGAIN! It was just as good as the last two times. We really need to branch out, but it was Daphne's last night in town and she wanted to go there.
My pictures of the asaderos (the manly man beef cookers) are not very good because I'm too embarrased to use the flash. I don't want everyone to notice me being touristy.
Daphne's roommate from her hostel ate with us. Her name is Miriam and she is from Germany. On Sunday she moved to Buenos Aires, and has an apartment there with a French girl. She invited us multiple times to come and stay there when we go to Buenos Aires. Maybe it was all the wine she drank, but she insisted. And gave me her email. She seems relatively trustworthy. She lived with Daphne for a week and it turned out ok. We'll see. I don't want to get chopped into itty bitty bits though. But she also told us she has a laundry machine. That's a HUGE draw.
We tried the Bife de Chorizo, which apparently means really tasty steak. AND Nicholas taught me in class how to say medium rare. "Jugoso." It means "juicy."
After that, we met back up with all my classmates at another bar. Entonces, al departamento para dormir.
En el tarde de sábado, Daphne came over to our apartment because she was leaving that evening on a bus for Puerto Madryn. Then she is going to Salta in the way north, and then home to Amsterdam. She brought us a present because when she came over to dinner last week she noticed we were lacking a crucial kitchen item:
Salt and pepper shakers!!! I never thought to buy any here because we don't use them at my house (de mis padres). They always break. You can't really see them, but they are in that box next to Zig's super-estadounidense thumbs up. Tourist.
After that, we went to a Swiss restaurant to use internet. I had ravioli de salmon ahumado. Super Swiss. I keep forgetting that "ahumado" means smoked. I didn't really want smoked salmon ravioli, but it was ok. Also, we had licuados. Tasty fruit smoothie things. It was peach. Yummy.
Entonces, Saturday night, Angel and Valeria came over for dinner. We made spaghetti and meatballs. Homemade. We have a pasta machine. Apparently, my meatballs were too spicy for los argentinos. All they had was a little hot sauce in them!! We're working on the spicy food thing with Angel and Valeria. This week hot sauce in meat balls, next week habaneros!!! Maybe. They brought dessert. Every Argentinean dessert contains mucho dulce de leche. Caramel. Muy bien.
We watched the Fifth Element, o El Quinto Elemento en español. Con subtítulos para los argentinos. It was very interesting to read the subtitles, because the jokes are NOT the same. A lot was lost in translation it seemed.
Because we were cooking dinner for muchas personas, that day we did a lot of grocery shopping. I used this opportunity to take lots of pictures for Dad, because he keeps asking about the grocery store.
First, we went to the carniceria. The meat store.
This last cabinet contains what they call "achuros." Can you guess what that means? Also, lets play "Find the Cesos". Can you guess what "cesos" means? Check out the top left corner. Here, I took a close up:
Its just like an American supermarket. Except everything's in Spanish.
Sunday (finally, this is a really long post), it rained a little, so mostly we stayed inside. That afternoon however, we took the bus to Colonia Suiza because Zig hadn't been there yet and on Sundays they have a fair. It was just as authentically Swiss as I remember. Zig was very impressed.
We got there too late to eat at the fair but I took a picture. There is a stand where they use a historical form of cooking that Argentines call araucana. The lady explained that Chile and Peru call it something different, but basically it means "cooking in a big pit on top of rocks." I was muy triste that we missed it.
Above is a newspaper article about it. Authentic Swiss patagonian for sure.
We did get to have some cerveza from the stand of cerveza artesanal (fancy talk for home-made).
Because the bus only comes every 3 hours, and it takes about 30 minutes for a slow walk around the entire town plus 30 minutes for cerveza artesanal, we spent the next 2 hours eating.
First, we went to a restaurant and had the plato del día, trucha. Trout. It was cheaper to order a whole bottle of wine than two glasses. And we didn't have any better way to spend our time. Zig and I aren't really into buying hand-crafted soaps.
We ordered white wine because we ate fish (classy, huh?). They gave us a bowl of ice to put in it. She said it was to make it colder, but I think it was to water down the crappy wine.
Then we switched venues for a hot chocolate. I liked the ceiling of this place.
My plan for after mis clases:
Semana 1- Apply to law school. I won't have anything else to do.
Semana 2- Go to Buenos Aires y Montevideo (muy bien!!).
Semana 3 y más- Volunteer for Graciela teaching los niños.
Zig is taking the GRE when we go to Buenos Aires, so this week I am helping him study vocab. I made him flashcards the first week we were here (I was really bored), and he's finally getting around to using them. His work is going very well. He's making computer models of space particles. I don't really know.
I'm hoping I can think of enough excuses to hang around the school to make more student friends. Volunteering is one of them. I think there will start being more people here because spring starts in a couple of weeks. Then there will be other volunteers too. Graciela is actually talking to one in the room next door as we speak. Buenisimo.
¡¡¡¡¡Chau!!!!!
International Love by Fidel Nadal
Muy irritante. Also, I'm sorry if this video isn't PG. I didn't actually watch it and I don't know what the song is about. Its played on the radio at school twice in the last hour.
Fue un fin de semana muy bueno. En jueves, fuimos a una caminata a Cerro Otto. That means we went on a hike to Cerro Otto. Fue muy divertido.
I made new friends at school this week. Their names are Ayalla and Gilad, and they are from Israel. We're going to hang out with them this week (they leave on Sunday). This Friday Rosh Hashanah (New Years). They told me they were sad because they thought they would meet other Israelis here to have a traditional dinner with, but they haven't found any. So I told them they could come to our apartment and cook all they wanted! They're going to. Hopefully they can find some other people and have una fiesta. Here they are on Cerro Otto. Candid shot!
Here are more pictures from our adventure:
The second picture is of Bariloche from above. Muy bien. We walked for about 3 hours uphill. It was good for me. I bought myself an alfajor for the top as a reward. Zig and I are going to start walking uphill at least once a week, because if we want to go to Peru and do the hike to Machu Picchu, then I'm really going to have to work on mis pulmones.
Entonces, fuimos a un refugio en Cerro Otto que se llama Refugio Berghof. A outdoor group called Club Andino owns and runs all the Refugios around Bariloche. They are little cabins with bunk beds and kitchens for people who want to hike for more than 1 day. You can pay just to use the kitchen if you'd prefer to camp in a tent. We will use them when they open in the summer (most are closed now because its low season). Most of the hills have them.
Refugio Berghof used to be for this purpose, but it is now used as a sort of museum of really old skiing equipment. Por ejemplo:
This machine is used to bend skis into shape:
Muy interesante. Despues de la caminata (after the hike), Nicholas (my teacher and our guide) took us to a cerveceria!!! MUY BIEN!
Cerveceria La Cruz. They make the beer in there!! Apparently, its a popular hangout for real Barilochenses. There were lots of people there Nicholas knew. Also, the ski patrol:
It has to be good if ski patrol is there. Also there were lots of dogs who ate the left overs of our chips. They were helping clean the plates. Just like Lola!
I get confused, because here, they call chips "nachos." And then I think, "SWEET. I LOVE NACHOS!" They aren't nachos at all. Luckily these did come with cheese. Also, their spiciest sauce tastes like marinara. Zig and I are triste. At least we can buy jalapeños.
On Friday, we went to happy hour at Cerveza Antares with people from my school. Happy Hour in Argentina always means 2 for 1 beverages. Muy bien!
My pictures of the asaderos (the manly man beef cookers) are not very good because I'm too embarrased to use the flash. I don't want everyone to notice me being touristy.
Daphne's roommate from her hostel ate with us. Her name is Miriam and she is from Germany. On Sunday she moved to Buenos Aires, and has an apartment there with a French girl. She invited us multiple times to come and stay there when we go to Buenos Aires. Maybe it was all the wine she drank, but she insisted. And gave me her email. She seems relatively trustworthy. She lived with Daphne for a week and it turned out ok. We'll see. I don't want to get chopped into itty bitty bits though. But she also told us she has a laundry machine. That's a HUGE draw.
We tried the Bife de Chorizo, which apparently means really tasty steak. AND Nicholas taught me in class how to say medium rare. "Jugoso." It means "juicy."
After that, we met back up with all my classmates at another bar. Entonces, al departamento para dormir.
En el tarde de sábado, Daphne came over to our apartment because she was leaving that evening on a bus for Puerto Madryn. Then she is going to Salta in the way north, and then home to Amsterdam. She brought us a present because when she came over to dinner last week she noticed we were lacking a crucial kitchen item:
Salt and pepper shakers!!! I never thought to buy any here because we don't use them at my house (de mis padres). They always break. You can't really see them, but they are in that box next to Zig's super-estadounidense thumbs up. Tourist.
After that, we went to a Swiss restaurant to use internet. I had ravioli de salmon ahumado. Super Swiss. I keep forgetting that "ahumado" means smoked. I didn't really want smoked salmon ravioli, but it was ok. Also, we had licuados. Tasty fruit smoothie things. It was peach. Yummy.
Entonces, Saturday night, Angel and Valeria came over for dinner. We made spaghetti and meatballs. Homemade. We have a pasta machine. Apparently, my meatballs were too spicy for los argentinos. All they had was a little hot sauce in them!! We're working on the spicy food thing with Angel and Valeria. This week hot sauce in meat balls, next week habaneros!!! Maybe. They brought dessert. Every Argentinean dessert contains mucho dulce de leche. Caramel. Muy bien.
We watched the Fifth Element, o El Quinto Elemento en español. Con subtítulos para los argentinos. It was very interesting to read the subtitles, because the jokes are NOT the same. A lot was lost in translation it seemed.
Because we were cooking dinner for muchas personas, that day we did a lot of grocery shopping. I used this opportunity to take lots of pictures for Dad, because he keeps asking about the grocery store.
First, we went to the carniceria. The meat store.
Mmmm, tasty tasty brains.
Next, we went to the verduleria. The vegetable stand.
We go here a lot. The vegetables are much better than at the supermercado. And the guys are nice and tell us how to say different vegetables in Spanish. For instance, do you know how to say zucchini? Zucchini. I'm sure its spelled differently though.
Next, we went to the supermercado for el resto. Thats where I found hot sauce! There was a tiny shelf next to the ever important mayonnaise containing hot sauce, soy sauce, and what I think is Worchester sauce. Its called Salsa Ingles. It seemed the same but I'm not sure. I used it in the meatballs anyway.
Sunday (finally, this is a really long post), it rained a little, so mostly we stayed inside. That afternoon however, we took the bus to Colonia Suiza because Zig hadn't been there yet and on Sundays they have a fair. It was just as authentically Swiss as I remember. Zig was very impressed.
We got there too late to eat at the fair but I took a picture. There is a stand where they use a historical form of cooking that Argentines call araucana. The lady explained that Chile and Peru call it something different, but basically it means "cooking in a big pit on top of rocks." I was muy triste that we missed it.
Above is a newspaper article about it. Authentic Swiss patagonian for sure.
We did get to have some cerveza from the stand of cerveza artesanal (fancy talk for home-made).
Because the bus only comes every 3 hours, and it takes about 30 minutes for a slow walk around the entire town plus 30 minutes for cerveza artesanal, we spent the next 2 hours eating.
First, we went to a restaurant and had the plato del día, trucha. Trout. It was cheaper to order a whole bottle of wine than two glasses. And we didn't have any better way to spend our time. Zig and I aren't really into buying hand-crafted soaps.
We ordered white wine because we ate fish (classy, huh?). They gave us a bowl of ice to put in it. She said it was to make it colder, but I think it was to water down the crappy wine.
Then we switched venues for a hot chocolate. I liked the ceiling of this place.
Oh I almost forgot, apparently they sell authentic Swiss-New Mexican-Native American dream catchers in Colonia Suiza.
I think thats finally it. Thank goodness.
This is my last week of classes. Luckily the teachers here are nice and I don't think they would mind if I came to visit/use the internet. Also, Nicholas and I are exchanging movies, so I'll have to come back to trade anyway. I'm lending him Monty Python tomorrow, and he gave me 8 episodes of The Tudors on the computer. I told him I'd lend him as many movies as he wanted, but he said because he's a masters student it would be better for his studies if he only took one at a time. Next he's going to bring me some Argentinean movies. I enjoy lacking studies.
Also, if you want a spanish translation website para traduccir mi español bueno, usa www.wordreference.com.
My plan for after mis clases:
Semana 1- Apply to law school. I won't have anything else to do.
Semana 2- Go to Buenos Aires y Montevideo (muy bien!!).
Semana 3 y más- Volunteer for Graciela teaching los niños.
Zig is taking the GRE when we go to Buenos Aires, so this week I am helping him study vocab. I made him flashcards the first week we were here (I was really bored), and he's finally getting around to using them. His work is going very well. He's making computer models of space particles. I don't really know.
I'm hoping I can think of enough excuses to hang around the school to make more student friends. Volunteering is one of them. I think there will start being more people here because spring starts in a couple of weeks. Then there will be other volunteers too. Graciela is actually talking to one in the room next door as we speak. Buenisimo.
¡¡¡¡¡Chau!!!!!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Adventures in Empanada Making
Hola!!
Not much has happened this week so far. Here is a picture of the chocolate shop where we buy hot chocolate and sit and use the internet for hours. They don't care. Its muy tasty.
PUPPY!!!!!! Our apartment has a house attached, where the son of the owner lives with his wife. AND THEY GOT A PUPPY!!!! She's so cute. Her name is Colita, which means Little Tail. They let us pet her.
This is Bariloche's Feria Artesanal, where they sell authentic Patagonia handicrafts. I think they are actually authentic, and that people bring them in from outside Bariloche to sell. Lots of wooly hats and socks.
This week, we discovered Oreo Alfajores. My favorite cookie in three layers and covered in chocolate. As you can see, Zig enjoyed them immensely. I might go buy one right now.
The major event of this week so far was that Zig and I decided to cook our own empanadas. Three times, with varying degrees of success.
On Monday, we made our own dough and put creamed corn and cheese inside (really heart healthy). They exploded in the oven. It would help if our oven had a temperature gauge on it.
Apparently creamed corn and fried foods are really popular here. The most popular sandwhich is a milanesa, which is basically chicken fried steak and white bread. Grandma Mildred would've fit right in.
Also, another point of interest regarding food is that they cut the crust off sandwiches in cafes. There's a "Lebanese" sandwich shop next to our apartment, and as far as I can tell, they only sell white bread, crustless jam and cheese sandwiches. I've never had Lebanese food particularly, but I'm pretty certain thats not it.
On Tuesday, we bought pre-made dough at the store at Nicholas's suggestion. He says nobody makes their own dough unless its a special occasion. He also said that meat was much easier to keep inside than creamed corn, so we should try that. It was much more successful:
On Wednesday, we made more meat empanadas, but also made ones with zucchini and carrots inside. They were my favorite that we made. Daphne from my school came over to eat.
It was fun.
Thats about it for right now. We went on a hike yesterday but I'll put up pictures later. Also, there's this really annoying Argentinean pop song thats on everywhere all the time, and I'm going to try to find out its name so I can post it and everyone can share my pain. Be excited!!
Chau!!!!
Not much has happened this week so far. Here is a picture of the chocolate shop where we buy hot chocolate and sit and use the internet for hours. They don't care. Its muy tasty.
PUPPY!!!!!! Our apartment has a house attached, where the son of the owner lives with his wife. AND THEY GOT A PUPPY!!!! She's so cute. Her name is Colita, which means Little Tail. They let us pet her.
This is Bariloche's Feria Artesanal, where they sell authentic Patagonia handicrafts. I think they are actually authentic, and that people bring them in from outside Bariloche to sell. Lots of wooly hats and socks.
This week, we discovered Oreo Alfajores. My favorite cookie in three layers and covered in chocolate. As you can see, Zig enjoyed them immensely. I might go buy one right now.
The major event of this week so far was that Zig and I decided to cook our own empanadas. Three times, with varying degrees of success.
On Monday, we made our own dough and put creamed corn and cheese inside (really heart healthy). They exploded in the oven. It would help if our oven had a temperature gauge on it.
Apparently creamed corn and fried foods are really popular here. The most popular sandwhich is a milanesa, which is basically chicken fried steak and white bread. Grandma Mildred would've fit right in.
Also, another point of interest regarding food is that they cut the crust off sandwiches in cafes. There's a "Lebanese" sandwich shop next to our apartment, and as far as I can tell, they only sell white bread, crustless jam and cheese sandwiches. I've never had Lebanese food particularly, but I'm pretty certain thats not it.
On Tuesday, we bought pre-made dough at the store at Nicholas's suggestion. He says nobody makes their own dough unless its a special occasion. He also said that meat was much easier to keep inside than creamed corn, so we should try that. It was much more successful:
On Wednesday, we made more meat empanadas, but also made ones with zucchini and carrots inside. They were my favorite that we made. Daphne from my school came over to eat.
It was fun.
Thats about it for right now. We went on a hike yesterday but I'll put up pictures later. Also, there's this really annoying Argentinean pop song thats on everywhere all the time, and I'm going to try to find out its name so I can post it and everyone can share my pain. Be excited!!
Chau!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)