Hola Chicos,

So tonight I went to services. I'm not that religious, and I rarely go to services at home. However, I do like services because they are familiar as I I grew up going to them. Also, I was interested in seeing how they practice judaism, and I wanted to to meet other Argentinians. The synagogue is in the center of the city, and for some reason, I didn't know that it was orthodox. The services lasted 50 minutes. I was lost 50 percent of the time. The rabbi spoke for 10 minutes about how you shouldn't lie or talk badly about others. Somehow, he managed to send a very politically charged pro Israel message.

Anyway, services were services, but at the end a guy invited me to his house for Shabbat dinner. It's a custom to welcome strangers into your house for Shabbat dinner. I had already rsvped to dinner with another guy and his friends way earlier. This new guy went to the old guy and told him I was coming with him and his family…I felt kind of awkward, but whatever.

The guy had three sisters (6, 11, and 19), and two parents in their late forties. They identified as ashkanazi orthodox jews. They identified as Syrian as their grandparents had immigrated from Syria right before the First World War. They spoke a little bit of Arabic, and seemed to identify more with being Syrian than Argentine.

The dinner was quite special in that center city apartment. It was very white and modern, spacious. We had an ashkanIt even had a large secluded garden. We ate three wonderful Sephardic influenced courses that the mom prepared, and then feasted on dairy free desserts(they are kosher), which please my lactose intolderant stomach. You've gotta try ice cream made of egg yolks, sugar, and whiskey. I definitely spent the night chatting with a family from the 1% here in Argentina.

So, they all had some practice with English. The university girl was probably the most well versed in the language. The two little girls were learning past tense, and were working on their accents. The parents didn't speak well, but they wanted to practice. Everyone jabbed at the mom who apparently, after studying English for 15 years, nods and says "yes" all the time whenever a native English speaker talks to her. Even when she doesn't know what's being said to her…is this familiar…I think so…amerians do it all the time when Spanish speakers talk to them!

I wanted to practice Spanish (afterall, that's one reason I came here), so we spoke some in English and some in Spanish very casually. One sentence would be in English, and I would respond in Spanish. When I chose to speak in English, I sounded like an Argentinian learning to speak English. I had picked up the Argentinian accent! Seriously though, I felt my confident in speaking the language without much effort, and I detected a lot of improvement in all their English. It was a good tradeoff, for sure.

Tonite, I kind of came to see how "strange" the U.S. Culture might seem to people outside of the U.S. For example, when I explained how university housing works in the states, I realized just how independent we U.S. college students really are. When the Argentinian children thought about not seeing their parents for months, they broadcasted amazement and terror. Their comfortableness with this system is in part because because they are more family oriented here and collectivist. In part, it is because it is just not done here. Argentinian students live with their parents throughout university and perhaps even afterwards.

I noticed something about development of children here... people have told children are given more independence and treated more like adults, but I didn't notice it for myself until tonight. The 11 year preteen girl acted like she was 18, and added her two cense in discussions when we talked about the legalization of marijuana and gay marriage. The parents were not shocked. The parents didn't feel the need to talk differently to or in front of the six year old.

As a reform liberal American at a relatively conservative orthodox household, the dinner did have its awkward parts. The dad asked me why I am a reform jew when I could be orthodox. Also, asked me what I thought about Gay Marriage, and after my explaining my pro stance, he countered with one of the lamest excuses for gay marriage I've ever heard. "What if certain cities with only gays might emerge, and they won't be able to recreate" I'm serious, that's what he said. Whatever, he let me have my opinion,.. He was a real estate developer, not an academic or intellectual, so I let it go. After all, he was nice and extremely generous. He also told me that he wanted to buy dollars from me not for himself or his family, but because he wanted only to help me afford Buenos Aires better. He said that after this week's torah portion lent a message that lying keeps life from reaching its full potential. Ironic. Other than that, the guy was very nice, and generous, and I liked him.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed tonight and I feel like it was a very unique cultural experience. Luckily, they invited me back numerous times, and told me I'm always welcome. Maybe I'll go again, and I'll definitely see them another time. Perhaps I can tutor one of the younger girls in English…mmmm.