The day on which I learn the meaning of 'medialuna'

The medialuna, apparently a staple of every self-respecting porteño's diet, literally means 'half moon'. The reality is much more delicious. They are croissants, small croissants, that can be either sweet or salty but are delicious either way. And for a mere A$6.50 (that's Argentine pesos, they use the dollar symbol, go figure) which equals approximately $2.20 in the States you can get a cafe con leche and 3 medialunas. Take that Starbucks.

Aside from medialunas, I have encountered another interesting cultural phenomena. The staring. And when I say staring, I mean staring. This is not the Polish moment of eye-contact and immediate glance away with a possible second glance, this is 20 ft. away staring until you pass. Apparently it is common practice among los sudamericanos, and they find that los norteamericanos tend to be very unaware of what is going on around and very focused on their destination. Okay, I can agree with that, but something tells me that my stature and general appearance aren't really making me inconspicuous. At the moment I'm not sure if I should be staring back or haughtily pretending I don't see them. I'll have to stop some absurdly stylish porteña and ask her.

I am happy to report that some of my favourite eccentricities of Warsaw are wholly intact in Buenos Aires, though with somewhat more flair. For instance, the bus hierarchy that never fails to make me smile. The scolding the colectivo (bus) driver got this morning when starting to pull away before a woman with a baby got off made me feel right at home. As did the scolding I got when I only had a A$100 at the farmacia. In fact, I felt so at home that I replied with "nie". This was obviously not an acceptable reply, and thus the helpful clerk repeated her question which, much to my dismay, I continued to answer in Polish. Eventually the clerk, now exasperated, said, "Do you have any change?" I apologetically shook my head no.

This afternoon we were led on a walking tour of Retiro, the swankiest district of Buenos Aires which is the cause of the nickname, "The Paris of South America". Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of our guide's outfit because it was pretty extraordinary. This man had managed to match his sweater (dusty rose and brown), his striped button down shirt underneath (white, dusty rose, and brown), his tie (dusty rose), and his pants (brown). Whoa. I would love to see the Minnesota man who would dare to wear that ensemble and manage to pull it off. The horrifying thing is that, compared to other porteños, he wasn't really that stylish.

The tour was pretty much architectural, which was fun as I can now tell you that the building in this photo is classical French architecture. You can tell because there are three floors, the first for the social appearance, the second for the family to live on, and the third for the staff. Also, it has the steep roof tiled in black. Whoohoo, now I can impress... um, architecture majors?

Alas, I must go as Grey's Anatomy calls. I am fully aware of how lame it sounds to be watching American television in Argentina, but the hippy doctor named Pete is really attractive. If you are too disappointed in me just remember that I can now identify French architecture at a moment's notice.

Medialunas, colectives every 1-5 minutes, cafe con leche for A$4 or less, Grey's Anatomy in English, what a great country.