One Size Fits All.

Well, this weekend is a double whammy because today is Father's Day and tomorrow is Dia de la Bandera...lots of celebrating, and nothing is open. Well, almost nothing, anyway.

Yesterday, Aidi and I went shopping at Calle Florida. It's probably my favorite place in Buenos Aires...there is so much shopping. Street vendors, clothing retail stores, food, coffee, ice cream, jewelry stores, high end fashion, and also less pricey apparel stores. We first stopped at Burger King for a little taste of home before our shopping spree. I ordered a bacon double cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke. Burger King here, however, serves Pepsi...they also only put about 2 ice cubes in your drink. Despite that, this was probably one of the most delicious meals I've ever had in my life. I've been craving a real U.S. style burger for about 2 weeks now. They have tons of burgers here, but none of them are with American cheese, ketchup, mayo, pickles...it's just not the same. Also, their hamburgers have hardboiled eggs and ham on them. So, this particular choice of meal tickled my tastebuds...it was almost just like home. Now, I have to go to McDonald's to see which one is better...I'm generally a McDonald's girl, so I hope it lives up to my expectations!

After lunch (which was really somewhere closer to dinner as it was 5 o'clock by the time we ate) we went in search for some clothes. As stated previously, this place can get pretty chilly and I didn't bring enough warm clothes. So, I went in search of some deals on longsleeved shirts. I also found some very nice scarves that I bought from the street vendors...a green one, gold one, and burgundy one. I did find some reasonably priced clothes...a long sleeve black shirt, and two shrug/sweatery things. Their very functional and I can wear them back in the states, too. :) I was very happy to find these, and they were all on sale!!! One weird thing about shopping Buenos Aires is that everything is one size fits all...that's right there is no small, medium, large...even leggings are one size fits all! Jackets, skirts, shirts, sweaters...it's all made in one size and you better hope that you fit! It's crazy to me. Like most everyone is anorexic skinny around here, so odds of finding things in American size are slim to none, but if you look in the right places I guess it's possible.

We also found the Argentinian name brand TOMS...they are called Paez. They don't sell TOMS down here because the idea for TOMS came from here and these shoes were started before TOMS started his shoes. Also, Paez are made in Argentina...TOMS are made in China. The objective of Paez was to bring more attention to Argentina and they wanted to do so with these shoes. The style was born here, as Argentinians have been wearing canvas style shoes for hundreds of years. However, once TOMS started selling his version all of that got overshadowed and Paez weren't successful globally because TOM stole the market for this style of shoe. So, they are sold here. I found the whole story very interesting...I looked it up online, too. The styles and everything are identical...and Paez is also committed to being green and not using sweatshops. I bought a pair of black ones...they are also substantially cheaper than TOMS. Like 20 bucks...compared to 45-50 dollars.

I had leftover pizza for dinner as Jorge and Mercedes had already eaten at his mother's 93rd birthday party. Banana and dulce de leche for dessert.

Today, I woke up at like 11:30. Jorge and Mercedes think I am a big bum...they always comment on how late I sleep...but I'm tired! I met some girls at the subte station and we went to a little feria in Recoleta...it was nice, but the rain and Father's Day kind of puts a damper on things. We had California Burrito Company for lunch...it's basically like Qdoba. We stopped in a few shops...I bought another long sleeve shirt. It's black with some sort of print...it's nice and it was like 10 American dollars. At the feria I found a mate kit for Dr. Eipper for 30 pesos...I figured that would be a kind of cool gift for him. It comes with the cup (which is engraved with Argentina), the bombilla, and a bag of yerba mate leaves, along with instructions on how to drink/make mate. A few stands away I found the mate cup of MY DREAMS. It's zebra print...and it has a matching straw. I fell in love and that is clearly the buy of the day. I'm going to look so cool using this mate cup and drinking my mate.

We found the HardRock Cafe and considered going in for some dessert, but it was really busy. I am going to go back another time and buy some souveniers and eat there.

I walked all the way from the Juramento station to here because I needed the exercise. It's like misting today and it is super humid...it's just really gross. When I came home, there were about 20 people in this house...I forgot that it's Father's Day...and all of Jorge's children are here for the party. It's strange because I don't know if I should hang out with them or let them spend the holiday with their family. No one really gave us the protocol on this. I was sweaty and gross and had to put my things away anyway, so I came to my room, but decided to leave the door open so it didn't look like I was being rude. This one little brat, however, came into my room to ask me who i was and i asked him his name and age and he left mid sentence and slammed the door! So, I guess that's how it is. I feel really out of place because they are all family and celebrating a holiday and I am just kind of like an alien...I don't understand most of what they say (they talk so fast and there are about 8 of them talking all at the same time), I don't know who they are, and it's all just a foreign concept for me. So, I'm just awkwardly hiding in my room...but I'm not hiding, I just don't know what to do!

I hope dinner is good tonight because I'm starving and lately it hasn't been anything too impressive. I don't know if all these strangers are staying...if they are God help me because it will be one crazy dinner! I don't have any big plans for tomorrow...maybe I will go to a movie or something like that. I guess we will see!