There are a number of English words that have been incorporated in Argentinian speech that crack me up. Jeans (pronounced like "sheens") for example and shopping ("showpeeng"). I spent Monday (a holiday here) doing el shopping and also discovered that stores in the mall love to use English in their signs and promotions. It's Mother's Day here on Sunday and therefore many stores had window decals saying things like "Think of Mother!" and "Mama means Love!" - in addition, there were seasonal ones like "Jump into Summer!". I wouldn't say that a ton of people speak English here, so it seems kind of odd that stores would use it so much, but I guess it's good for everyone's bilingual learning.
Anyways, I went to the big mall in BsAs called Abasto, about a 40 minute walk from my place. Abasto used to be the central fruit and vegetable market for the city so the architecture is pretty cool, with an incredibly high ceiling. In fact, the ceiling is so high that they have a mini amusement park on the top floor with a ferris wheel inside!! My goal was a dress for Katie Myler's wedding, but, since a Nordstrom or BCBG did not magically appear in the mall, I think I am going to use my back-up dress.
Also at this mall...the only Kosher McDonalds outside Israel. Very exciting! My visit to the food court was a bit of a disaster though. I decided against Kosher & Regular McDs and tried the local burger place, Mostaza. Once, I read that you should never worry about ordering beef in Argentina because everyone is so proud of the beef in this country that they would never serve you terrible meat. This did not hold true for Mostaza - one bite and I pitched my hamberguesa con queso. Therefore I had to supplement my french fries with a desert course from Freddo ice cream shop. One of my favorite things here is that even if you get the smallest cup or cone, you can select two flavors - chocolate and mint chip for me!
I mad up for my terrible lunch with my favorite dinner so far in BsAs at a place called Sarkis. I went with my most common hanging out friends Karl & Guro (a couple from Sweden & Norway, respectively) and Nina (a college professor from LA originally, but moving to Boston in January). All three are here as long as I am, which is good because many of the people I meet, especially at school, are only here for a few weeks. Sarkis was a great break from the pasta and ham & cheese sanwiches that are on practically every menu. Excellent hummus and falafel and a really nice fresh greek salad (I picked around the olives!). It is really popular - we had to wait about 45 mintues to sit and when we left at 11.30 pm there were still about 40 or 50 people waiting to be seated. I want to go back there just to buy hummus to go and some pitas.
Tomorrow I am going back to Spanglish conversation exchange, which I did my first week here. I am hoping it will be MUCH more successful, since I know about 1000% more Spanish. Wish me luck!
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