The things I've gotten used to --

DISCLAIMER - the photo uploader has been acting up the last week or so, so there are limited pictures here and in my last few posts. Here's hoping Blogger will fix this bug soon? :(

The first time I traveled abroad, these things blew my mind. Now, they have become standard to my life outside the US, but it is still interesting to see how each of these things plays out a little differently in different parts of the world.

Argentine Peso Bills

• Change is hard to come by. It's not weird if you buy something (at a store, a market, whatever), and the grocery store clerk asks you 3 or 4 times if you're SURE you don't have anything smaller than the equivalent of a $5.00 bill because she can't make change. It's also not weird if someone at a market takes your 100 and disappears for 5-10 minutes before coming back with your change. They'll come back, they just have to go find someone at another stall that can make them change so that they can make you change. This is particularly annoying since ATM machines only give out large bills. Tip: Take out an awkward amount, like 740 pesos, from an ATM...the 700 will be in 100s, but the 40s will come out as two 20s, which you can use if someone refuses to break the 100 pesos (which is really only equivalent to a $20 bill). In Argentina, in particular, there was a run on coins in 2008, so they're easier to come by now, but people can still be stingy with them. I hate change 99% of the time, but when local busses and \ the laundry machine in our apartment building only take coins, that sometimes makes things challenging. Sometimes all you can do is go buy an 8-peso candy bar to get change...these things happen!

• Skim milk, peanut butter, popcorn, and pretzels are a luxury. Chances are, you won't find these things. If you do, 1) you're probably in a very touristy area, 2) you'll pay an outrageous amount for these things, and 3) you'll probably be left feeling disappointed because the taste isn't quite the same. I'm still not completely over the fact that other countries don't refrigerate milk, and I refuse to leave home  without at least one jar of PB packed in my suitcase. But this makes for a great excuse to try new foods.

• When I'm outside the US, I will, without fail, be the only girl wearing shorts in the gym. I don't see why I'm the weird one in this situation. I'm also weird for being the girl who lifts weights. And for being the girl who sets the treadmill above 5 kph. I'm also the awkward girl who has to calculate kilometers to miles and kilograms to pounds.

A flag at the weekly Plaza de Mayo march

There is also a group of mothers who participates in the weekly plaza marches. 

• There will be protests/strikes that get in the way of your plans. The first time I encountered this was in Chile, where the students had taken over the University and were not letting any non-students on school grounds. They were protesting increases in university tuition, and I was shocked that students took action. Everyone complained about college tuition in Iowa (little did I know, that was a great bargain and that tuition in New York would be a whole new battle..), but students weren't going to stack chairs around the entire perimeter of the campus and have students on guard at the entrance 24 hours a day. Since then, transportation protests have foiled travel plans a few time, but I've seen some kind of protest almost everywhere I've gone. The big one here is the truckers union fighting the fact that inflation and income taxes are devaluing their earnings to the point where their income is no longer "a living" for the workers and their families. Here, I also went to see the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo do their weekly march around the plaza outside the Casa Rosada. They have been marching EVERY Thursday for 35 YEARS, asking the administration for answers as to what the government did with their children. This dates back to the dirty war when over 30,000 Argentines were "disappeared," taken from the streets or their homes, placed in torture centers, killed, bodies dropped into the river, and children were adopted by government families, never made aware of their true identity. The grandmothers have worked to find the truth, to identify some of the lost grandchildren, and continue to ask the government why their children were taken. The government has  really not adequately acknowledged any of this, though a former dictator was sentenced within the last week for being involved in the kidnapping/disappearances. It was moving to see the old women get assisted out of a big white van and gather in the plaza in the midst of hoards of people chanting their song with them, their work has also been a huge step for women in this country, allowing them to form groups within civil society and work toward goals, protest, and make change. Watching the women was heartbreaking in two ways; first, they have dedicated nearly their entire lives to this cause, and while some have found their children or grandchildren, many many others have not. Their questions have not been answered, and they will probably never hear the truth about their family members from the government. There are a lot of really amazing books out there about their story, I just finished Searching for Life: the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and the Disappeared Children of Argentina. Highly recommended. Second, the grandmothers are in their 35 year of motion, and, remember, they were grandmothers before all of this started. They're getting old, their movement faces a challenge as the original women will no longer be able to march within the next few years. Who will carry this movement into the future?

• Banks will have Disney World-like lines. Banks are a difficult thing. Generally, banks are only open a few hours a day, maybe 9-12 or maybe 9-11 and 1-3. Either way, limited banking hours results in lines and lines of people waiting outside banks. While people have credit/debit cards here, they're not very widely used. Cash is about a thousand times more common/more accepted. In certain cities, ahem, Buenos Aires (though this may just be my area of town), it is also really difficult to find an ATM, too. So when you do come across an ATM, you'd better take money out, even though you may have to stand in line for 45 minutes to wait your turn, because you may not find another ATM ever again. Also, there is a standard 18-peso fee any time you take money out of any company's ATM, and this is on top of any ATM fees or bank fees or international with drawl fees. Taking out money can be expensive, yo.

• Store hours are negotiable, and even if the door is locked, they'll probably come in if you knock. While the sign on the shop in Italy stating "I open sometime" can't be beat, it's worth being aware of the fact that store hours are loose. In Buenos Aires, it's also quite common for a store to be open but the door to be locked. They generally have a sign on the door that says something like, "we're open, just knock and wait!" I'm not sure whether this has more to do with security or laziness, but it makes me think very seriously about whether I actually want to go into a store.