Sunday, November 30, 2008

Babies?

I'm not going to lie, Argentina makes me want to have babies. Ok- not really but it's hard not to feel surrounded by pregnant women and little kids in Buenos Aires. You get the feeling that people really love their mothers and value everything that they do. Mother's Day didn't feel like another excuse for mom to get out of cooking or get some new toy or bouquet of flowers. It felt like they really wanted to celebrate these women and show them lots of love.

But I didn't notice this just on Mother's Day. I noticed it from day one. And I remembered today while I was waiting in line at Zara to pay for two lousy things. Lines in Argentina are insanely inefficient and slow and so while I've become more patient, I can't say I'm used to it yet. Regardless, my point is... Some woman asked another woman if this was the line (no, we're all just standing here for fun) and the woman said yes, why don't you go to the front. At first I thought I heard wrong- why would you ever let anyone in front of you?? It's already so slow! And then the lady turned around and I realized she had a HUGE prego lady belly. And even the girls behind me were like, ooooo, that's why, she has such a belly. I'm sorry, but you hardly ever see that level of kindness (or common courtesy?) in the states.

Everywhere you go- there are special lines and special treatment for pregnant ladies or mothers with children. EVERYWHERE. So much so that Woong and I have joked about giving me a fake pregnant belly to get through our shopping days faster. It really does make you want to be prego just so you can get to the front of the line. But also there are so many cute little kids around that you can't help but smile at the (often screaming) tykes. But seriously- is it in the water? I've never seen so many pregnant women in my life.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Why do people think I look Chinese?

Walking out of my building with my Korean bf.

Kid #1 to Kid #2: Mira, un chino y una china.

What's amazing is that I hear this all the time...