7/20/10

My Host Family:

Mom - Alina
Brother - Valentin 10yrs old
Sister - Juliana 15 yrs old

My mom works at her family store which is attached to our house. Their store is essentially a Staples of Office Depot. They sell all sorts of office supplies and my mom´s job is designing cards for all sorts of occations. She makes first communion, quince, holiday, birthday, or any other event you might want a card.




A Typical Day in Argentina:

On the weekends I wake up anywhere from 10:30 to 12. I´ll usually get a little something to eat and then take a shower. Lunch is around 12-1 so by the time I finish showering it is time for lunch. Here, lunch is like dinner in the US. Everyone leaves work and the stores close for a couple hours so everyone can go home and eat lunch together.

Lunch can vary from pasta to asado (BBQ) to soup. Beef is present no matter what the dish is in some form. I have noticed beef and cheese and bread are staples and if you don´t like them then you´re out of luck.

After lunch is siesta time. People take a nap for a couple hours while the stores are still closed. The stores open up around 5pm and everyone goes back to work. The stores will remain open till 10pm or so. Food places will stay open much later than that.

Dinner here is eaten extremely late compared to US standars. Most families in Argentina eat around 9-11:30pm. The latest I have eaten dinner here so far is 11:30. Surprisingly you aren´t starving before dinner because lunch is usually a big meal and I´ve eaten some snacks in between also. Dinner is a smaller meal than lunch and of course has beef and cheese included.