Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmikkah

Christmas is quiet in B.A.; eerily quiet. There aren't a lot of Christmas decorations adoring the city, but Argentines take Christmas very seriously closing down everything so that everyone can be with their families.

At 2pm I walked to the park to meet a friend for a picnic. She brought a blanket to sit on, some fruit and some peanut-butter, which you can't get here. I brought two types of cheese, crackers, olives and water for us. It was a beautiful sunny day (82 degrees). There were people in the park. A group of boys played soccer next to us and an older couple sat on a bench near by.

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Then this scary 'homeless' looking 20 something came over to our blanket. He wasn't wearing shoes or a shirt and he was very stinky. So he came over to our blanket and sat down and just started eating our food, which included the expensive peanut butter and drinking our water. I was pretty scared, I didn't know if he was going to mug us (which is kinda common), but after 5-10 min. we just got up and left and it was fine.

In the evening I went to dinner at a friend's apartment. Her roommates parents just arrived from the U.S., so they were cooking a traditional Jewish meal. They also invited one of their Argentine friends. It was a really nice dinner and I ate A LOT.

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When I was leaving their apartment, which is only 6 blocks away, we conversed which was the safest way home for me. Since there aren't many people on the street because of Christmas, we decided walking home wasn't a good idea. Their Argentine friend (guy) walked me to the bus stop and then asked how far from my apartment I was. Since we were so close he offered to walk me home, which was very kind. He also pushed me to speak Spanish, which I also appreciated.

I had a very nice Christmikkah in Buenos Aires.

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