1) La moda: as a general rule, Argentines are extremely fashionable. There is however, one exception:
These shoes are very stylish here. They kind of remind me of Crocs, except that I'm pretty sure people recognize that Crocs are ridiculous. Argentines on the other hand, consider these shoes to be high fashion.
2) Los Deportes: There are a lot of things that can be said about fútbol, which if we’re being honest is really the only sport in Argentina. One interesting cultural difference is that women do not play fútbol. Every time I tell someone that I play soccer, they almost always think that I am joking. I actually shared this difference myself during the discussion, to which the anthropologist responded, “Para mí, una mujer quien juega el fútbol es como un asado mal cocido.” Translation: for me, a woman who plays soccer is likely a badly cooked barbeque. Yes, from the mouth of the anthropologist.
3) Una Cultura de Café: In Buenos Aires, going to tomar un café, or getting coffee, is as much a part of the daily routine as sleeping or eating. Cafés line the streets, and are teeming with porteños, who will spend hours chatting over a café con leche and media lunas (delicious Argentine version of a croissant.) More than anything, going to tomar un café is an opportunity to spend time with friends and to talk, talk, talk. As the anthropologist said, “La discusión es un deporte nacional,” or discussion is a national sport. To give you a sense of the café culture here, note that there are only three Starbucks in the entire city of Buenos Aires. Three. The reason is because it doesn’t make sense to the porteños. While they have undoubtedly embraced McDonald’s and Burger King, they continue to reject the idea of to-go coffee. Coffee without conversation to go with it is practically unthinkable.
4) El Beso: Argentines always greet with a kiss. Until recently, I always considered this to be a more personal greeting than in the US. As a general rule I guess it is, at least between strangers, but the other day I realized that I really miss big, tight, it’s-hard-for-me-to-breathe hugs. Kisses here, while on the surface imply a lot of physical contact, are in reality very delicate. I’ve gone into huge withdrawal, and the other day I think I frightened Natalie when I gave her a huge, fuerte abrazo.
5) Lo Politcamente Corecto: I may have mentioned this earlier, but the term political correctness does not exist in Argentina. After talking about ethnocentrism and race as a social construct, the anthropologist (an anthropologist!) went on to refer to los chinos, pulling his eyelids and bowing down in a stereotypical, and what we would consider a pretty racist way. In Argentina anyone who is Asian is un chino, including Japanese and Koreans. The class was flabbergasted, but the crazy thing is that they don’t see anything wrong with saying these sorts of comments.
6) La Comida: What would you like on your sandwich? Jamón y queso o jamón y queso (jam and cheese)? Apparently turkeys do not exist in Argentina.
7) La Cultura Pop: Argentines are obsessed with the Simpsons. I watched an episode, all of which are dubbed over, and Homer’s voice is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. There were hundreds of Bart dolls at this feria:
They are also really into Spongebob Squarepants, or Bob Esponja. My Brazilian friend asked me once, “Do you like Bobby Sponge? Do you like Bobby Sponge?”. It took about fifteen minutes to figure out what in the world he was talking about.
8) Los Conductores: drivers in Buenos Aires are insane. Fact: Argentina has the highest number of road deaths, at a whopping 8,000 per year. Swerving, honking and shouting characterize a typical taxi ride. The drivers here make LA drivers seem like sweet little old ladies. In response to a comment about the apparent disregard for lane divisions, the anthropologist said jokingly (but not really), “oh, those are there for a reason?”. Here is a picture of my taxi driver the other night, who did a lot of shouting during the drive:
9) El Ojo: It took me weeks to figure this out, but in Buenos Aires there is something called “El Ojo,” or The Eye. What people do is they will say “ojo,” and then grab the skin under their eye and pull it down. I never knew what this meant, and would usually just look at people and smile when they did it, figuring it was some random gesture. I discovered however, that it actually means be careful. Good to know.
The same taxi driver pictured above was so into El Ojo that he actually had El Ojo in his taxi, so that he could simultaneously pull underneath his eye and point to the glass Ojo, for extra emphasis I suppose:
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