I am now HALFWAY through my time in Argentina--I can't believe it's going by so fast! There have been lots of ups & downs but overall I've had an incredible experience so far, and I'm sure that the next three months will be just as exciting!
One of the highlights of my week was Saturday, when my study abroad program went on a "día de campo" excursion to an estancia (a ranch) about an hour and a half outside the city, where we spent the day hanging out with gauchos, the Argentine version of cowboys. Here they wear Aladdin-style pants, berets instead of cowboy hats, and carry daggers instead of guns!
There were tons of peacocks everywhere--apparently the estancia uses them like guard dogs?
We also feasted on asado, which is meat grilled on a parilla--like having a barbeque. The meal started with empanadas, salad, and fresh bread, then got into the real deal with chorizo, or spicy sausage, morcilla (blood sausage--I tried it for the first time & it was very strange), chicken, and steak. Afterwards we saw the gauchos do cool tricks on horseback, watched traditional Argentine dances, and got to do some dancing ourselves! We finished the day with an afternoon snack of pastelitos (flaky pastries filled with dulce de leche or jelly) and mate. Mate is a traditional Argentine drink made by pouring hot water over the dried leaves & twigs of the mate plant packed in a special gourd, and sipping it through a metal straw--passing the mate gourd around in a circle with friends is an important cultural ritual here, especially out in the country.
Unfortunately, reaching the halfway point also means that I have midterms to study for--three of them in a row on Monday! But I've also been learning a lot outside the classroom, and some of the things that you hear people say every day aren't found in your typical Spanish-English dictionary. The slang of Buenos Aires is known as
lunfardo, and to get by in this city there are a few important words you need to learn:
- Che- hey/hey you -- can be a way to get someone's attention, something to call someone when you forget their name, or a meaningless interjection in conversation
- Boludo- stupid/dummy -- a fool or an idiot, but can also be used in affectionate joking among friends & is often used with che, ¡che boludo!
- Dale- okay/let's go -- expression of agreement
- Quilombo- distaster, mess
- Onda- vibes -- a person, place, or thing can have buena or mala onda (be cool or uncool)
- Yanqui- American
- Chorro- a thief or pickpocket
- Boliche- dance club
- Chamuyero- smooth talker or bullshitter -- a guy who knows how to talk to women, but can also mean someone who will tell girls anything trying to pick them up. There are lots of these in Buenos Aires.
- Telo- sex hotel -- has rooms that rent by the hour, if anyone asks you to go to one with them say no!
There are lots more, but these are some of the ones you'll hear repeated most often. Hopefully learning all of this means that some of what I've been studying in class has stuck with me too!
