busy times

Dan: I don't know exactly what we've been busy with, but apparently we aren't finding much time to devote to our faithful readers. I suppose apartment search, job search and spanish classes for both of us have been a bit time-consuming. though i believe that soon we'll be without an in-house internet connection, i hope we'll be able to keep the blog going. I remember hearing something like half of all blogs are abandoned in the first six months. (see http://danjapan.blogspot.com/)

Hopefully my next entry will be a report on my first gainful employment in a foreign land, and an invitation to our housewarming party.

Food: Whereas the coffee I had in Chile was instant Nescafe everywhere we went, the coffee over here in Argentina is a marked improvement. Real coffee. Espresso actually. But grabbing a cup of coffee isn’t like at Starbucks back home, or filling up one’s 32 oz travel mug at the gas station. One generally sits down in a café and orders a single or double café espres, with or without milk, and sits down and drinks it. For some reason coffee is always served with an equally short glass of soda water, and maybe a cookie. Any time of day you can see people hanging out at sidewalk tables in small groups, chatting and drinking their tiny coffees. Probably more Italian influence and reflects another difference between our go go, hurry up culture and the slower, more relaxed culture that naps every afternoon. On a related note, talking on a cell phone while driving, even with a hands-free phone, is illegal in Argentina.