Cameron forwarded this. These are observations from some of the missionaries...
Things that are different about Argentina
1. Milk in a plastic bag
2. Whole family on a motorcycle
3. Coke in a glass or plastic refillable bottle
4. Squeegee the floor after showering
5. More dogs than people
6. Facturas
7. Chipa
8. Kiosko on every corner
9. Sidewalk cleaning every day
10. Uniforms (aprons) for school
11. Flip flops in the shower
12. Plaza in every city
13. Street venders that sell anything you could ever desire, often announced by megaphone from the 50´s that you can´t understand
14. Clapping hands instead of knocking
15. Shaking forearms, shaking elbows
16. One room cement house, but still the best electronics in town
17. Liquid yogurt – to drink
18. Little peek doors in the middle of a big door
19. Alfajores
20. Empanadas
21. Dulce de Leche
22. Mate
23. Ñoquis
24. Liver attacks, baja presion
25. Dogs on the roof
26. Dogs so sick they don´t have hair
27. Water tanks on top of each house
28. Street names the same in every city
29. Eat the whole cow (tongue, udder, stomach, heart, intestine)
30. Police that either do nothing, or promote illegal activity
31. Houses with names
32. Any animal you can imagine, loose in the street
33. All ítems gift wrapped at pharmacy, bookstore, etc.
34. Publicity cars with huge speaker on top
35. Publicity airplanes with huge speakers
36. Limited list of possible baby names
37. No right on red
38. Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light, GO!
39. Driving without headlights at night to save battery
40. Throw used toilet paper in garbage instead of flushing it
41. Peugeot, Renault, Fiat, New Ford Falcons
42. 220 volts
43. Tiled sidewalks
44. Mud ovens
45. Candy used as currency substitutes
46. “Only good meat exists in Argentina”
47. Trash baskets on a stick
48. Broken glass on top of walls
49. Honking your horn instead of stop signs
50. Sit outside and watch TV inside
51. Cars parked and left in neutral and running
52. No carpet
53. Huge flying cockroaches
54. Four hundred year old buses and trains
55. Coughdrops used as candy
56. Women sweeping dirt streets every day
57. La ciesta – when the World closes
58. One 40 watt light bulb used to light entire house
59. People saying “ch ch ch” to get your attention
60. Stores that never have change for anything bigger than a 5 peso bill
61. One electric line with 30 other lines illegally attached to it (“enganchado”)
62. The family towel, used at the table, on the floor, in the bathroom, wherever!
63. Sidewalk polishing
64. Selling home made bread in the streets
65. Saying “viste” after every sentence…¿viste?
66. Washing clothes by hand.
67. Wagon tied to the back of a scooter going 30 mph down the road with 2 kids in the wagon
68. Riding a scooter or motorcycle with your helmet on your arm, not your head
69. It´s normal to have bugs living in your mattress
70. Anything available in original quality is also available in trucho quality
71. Smiling in pictures is not cool
72. Kids shoot birds with slingshots everyday, and often for food.
73. If you don´t want something…burn it in the street
74. Cashiers don´t know how to bag groceries
75. Roller deoderant
76. Dog footprints in every slab of cement
77. Cut down trees with a table saw
78. Instead of the government taking your money for working, they give you money for doing nothing.
79. Flush a toilet with a bucket of water
80. Burnt cars stay in the street for years
81. Insult your friend to start a conversation by using the word “Boludo”
82. Fried eggs for breakfast is crazy
83. Throw eggs and flour on your friend to tell them Happy Birthday
84. Pierce your face everywhere. It´s cool
85. If your clothes have 3 stripes, it´s cool
86. Ketchup flavored Doritos
87. Only good food are galletitas
88. Cyber – often runs off Windows 98
89. You have to filter the tap water
90. Bikes are so bad that you need bike shops on every street
91. Shave your head except for the top
92. If someone moves on your property without permission and has little children, you can´t kick them off
93. Breaking the law is ok, actually encouraged
94. Cut all the limbs off of the trees, it looks nice
95. …Then plant the cut off limbs to make new trees.
96. La Chicharra – the loudest bug in the World
97. Mailing a letter and putting so many stamps on it that they have to weigh it again and charge you extra
98. Muddy streets flooded for 3 weeks after rain storm
99. Putting a pool of oil on mashed potatoes instead of gravy, or on salad instead of dressing
100. Raw crunchy peaches
101. Packing 150 people on the bus
102. Hanging on the outside of a bus or train is safe
103. Jumping off a moving bus because it won´t stop to let you off
104. Bidet
105. Kissing everyone in the room to say hello or goodbye
106. Any flavor of tang available
107. Feriados every Monday
108. Concrete telephone poles
109. Everyone named “che”
110. Skeleton keys
111. Strips of plastic instead of a screen door
112. Half dozen eggs wrapped in newspapar
113. The Zanja
114. Dirt roads in an urban area
115. Villas
116. Cutting the grass with a machete
117. Glass, cardboard, tin collectors – collect garbage for a job
118. Diesel and electric trains
119. Fireworks on Christmas Eve
120. Cumbia
121. Ceramic tile for floors, walls, shingles, porches, etc.
122. Decorated buses
123. Graffiti political campaigning
124. Putting bottle of water on top of cars, horses, etc. if they are for sale
125. Littering is not a crime, but it´s encouraged
126. Wine and beer cheaper than water
127. “Lick-n-Stick” Bricks
128. Argentine architecture: Wood? What´s Wood?
129. Bars on windows, doors, peep-holes, etc.
130. Meat and cheese not refrigerated
131. Eight lanes of traffic on a 5-lane street
132. Asking permission before praying
133. Standing in lines that are a block long so you can pay your bills
134. “Sientensen, callensen, disculpenmen, hagansenlon”
135. Breast feed your baby anywhere, anytime
136. Trucks/cars/motorcycles dragging steel re-bar down the streets
137. Everyone is a handyman – lo atamos con alambre
138. Every house has a 6 foot high fence lined with barb-wire and glass
139. Pizza – cardboard with cheese
140. When there is grass in parks, you´re not allowed to walk on it
142. Gated windows, gated doors, gated yards, and a bienvenidos sign.
143. Put a glass of water on your head, it cools you down
144. Garlic in braids
145. No electric stoves nor ovens
146. “I´ve lived here for 30 years, and I´ve never met my neighbors.”
147. Playboy next to kids magazines
148. Porn in public
149. No fire hydrants
150. No public trash-cans
151. ATM-in-a-room
152. No receipts unless you ask
153. No sales tax
154. No painted street lines nor markers
155. Cut the lawn with a weed-wacker
156. Mayonaisse on everything
157. Privately owned sidewalks that change every 10 yards
158. Stick your arm out to stop the bus
159. Store overhangs at forehead level
160. Mufflers are an option
161. The produce guy chooses your fruit, not you.
162. Batteries sold individually
163. Puppies made in public every day
164. Dogs eat dirty diapers
165. Wooden or plastic blinds outside the window
166. Street lights run on normal city power and go off when the power goes out
167. Lingerie shop on every corner
168. Remisería on every corner
169. Lotería on every corner
170. English t-shirts with grammatical errors
171. Don´t replace the window, tape it
172. Unpitted green olives on pizza
173. Wooden playground slides
174. People weld without masks
175. Breast feed your toddler (2-5 years) when he/she asks for it
176. No air conditioning, just fans
177. Trees that are impossible to climb due to thorns
178. 3 year olds buying beer and cigarettes “for their parents”
179. Every car stereo is more expensive than the car
180. Play the radio loud and out your front door so the whole neighborhood hears it
181. 30-year payment plan for anything
182. Every person is still building their house, adding on to it, or building around it, and they never stop
183. The whole family sleeps in the same room
184. No sewer system, just dig a huge hole in the ground to store your fecal matter
185. “Juntados para siempre”
186. Sinks and showers drain into the streets
187. Buy prescription drugs without a prescription
188. Buy anything you want in the train, including medication
189. Chapa
190. Weird cheese
191. Hay pan pero no hay monedas
192. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber…Super Stars
193. Kids become neighbors of parents when they grow up
194. 15 year old girl has a baby at the same time as her mom
195. “Si Dios quiere”
197. Snows once every 50 years, if that
198. Long complicated directions to nowhere
199. Argentines always win and are always right
201. Rich or poor, no in-between
202. Argentines are experts on everything about America
203. Playboy bunny stickers and logos everywhere
204. Genie pants (poopie-pants)
205. Argentines think the Falkland Islands, digo, Las Malvinas, still belong to them
206. Prices always go up
207. More complaining than actually doing something about it
208. Los Simpsons
209. Argentine T.V. is pornography
210. Streets are empty during soccer games, rain, or ciestas.
211. All pizza and empanadas are the same no matter where you buy them
212. All guys check girls out without shame
213. Salt used for everything, Pepper – spicy
214. Use your gas stove and oven to heat your house
215. Protests for anything, and nobody stops them
216. The best worst drivers in the world
218. Manu Ginobli is a Super Hero
