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