la cultura cordobesa

Just some notes Cordoban culture that I wanted to tell you guys about!

First, everyone here is extremely friendly. From the moment any of us exchange sutdents open our mouths, they know we're not from here. No matter how good we think our accents are, nope! Every day when I'm at a store at a kiosko buying some water, the first thing I'm asked (after exchanging pleasantries) is "¿De dónde sos?" (where are you from?) And then when I tell them the U.S., they ask, "¿De qué parte?" (Which part?) I usually say San Francisco because more people know that city and so many have told me how much they love it. So it's nice when cordobeses are interested in where I'm from as I'm trying desperately not to sound too much like a gringa.

Second, just like the Europeans, everone here in Argentina kisses once on the cheek as a greeting and a farewell. It's so lovely. It's so commonplace, in fact, that even the directors of the exchange program go around to all 60 or 70 of us greeting us with a peck. Men do it too to each other as well when they're close friends. I think it's so endearing. I know that a lot of my stable-with-their-heterosexuality-but still in-love-with-their friends-friends (you know who you are, WILL) would love if the U.S. picked up this custom.

Gender roles are really different here too, as can be expected in most Latin American countries. First, there's the piropos (cat-calls) that are more expected than offensive. (In fact, if someone doesn't whistle at you, that's almost more offensive!) But men (Argentine and my European male friends as well) will open doors for women, pull out their chairs, pay for their drinks and cab fare. In a way I like the attention, but sometimes I want to shout, "I can help pay for the cab too!!!!"


I also noticed in my class with Argentine students, which is about 60 people or so, that all the girls sat in the front half, all the guys in the back. You never see this in my classes at USF; there's always mingling.

And the time. Oh, argentine time. I love it. Lunch at 2pm, dinner at 10pm (at the earliest), dancing until dawn...awesome. The time in the afternoon that you have to spend is so lovely. In the states, once dinner comes around, around 7 or 8, the party starts shortly after so you better be getting ready! Here you just linger. No one's in a hurry and it's just so blissful. And at all times of day you see people in confiterias (cafes) just sitting there with a medialuna (crossaint) and some cafe con leche or maybe a bottle of wine.

And the language. There are a bunch of differences between el Castellano spoken here and pretty much any other Spanish-speaking countries. In high school and college, I've been learning the Spanish/Castelleno of Spain and Mexico. There's a few vocab differences in Argentina: frutilla instead of fresa (for "strawberry"), aca instead of aqui (for "here")...they call dinero "plato" and cash "efectivo" and say "abonar" for "to pay"...it's taking some getting used to. When they talk, they swallow their "s"s, which can be difficult to get used to, too! There's also a completely different way to talk to your friends as well. In spanish in other parts of the world, when you're talking to an informal person, like a friend, you use the "tú" form. but in argentina, there's a brand new, never-before-heard-by-Kate form called the "voseo". So intead of saying "¿De dónde eres tú?" (where are you from)? it's "¿De dónde sos vos?" It's very minimal. There's not much changing of verbs, but it's hard to adjust. Thankfully, people don't cringe when I continue using the tú form.

Anyway, that was a post muy largo. Disculpenme!

Hasta luego