How Argentina changed me
If I would tell a younger me 8 months is a long time, my past self would’ve scoffed. In my small young brain, anything that’s less than a year is nothing.
After staying in Argentina for more than half a year, I definitely noticed a lot of differences from the way I live life right now as opposed to how it was before I left.
Here is a list of changes I’ve noticed:
1. I now drink coffee - no sugar, no creamer
My friends can attest how much I avoided coffee all my life. I was always drinking tea, oolong and earl grey to be exact. The effect coffee had on me before was concerning, and I didn’t like how bitter it was, so whenever I try coffee I always go for a diabetes in the cup option from shops.
When I arrived in Argentina, my boyfriend would always make coffee without anything, and he’d pair it with sandwiches and cookies. I was weirded at it at first, “What was the fun of drinking coffee that isn’t sweet?” I thought to myself. Fall and winter came, I was chugging on coffee because that’s the only thing we had in the pantry. The weather was too cold for my tropical body to handle, and I had to make coffee at least every 2 hours to make myself warm. I paired it with tons of facturas. That is how I got through winter. And hot showers too.
2. I don’t eat rice often anymore
As a Filipina, I have rice for every meal, and for my first few weeks in Argentina, it was a struggle. They didn’t have rice in their usual routine. They would serve empanadas, pizzas, pastas, and asado, but not with rice. I was starving during that time, and I had to beg my boyfriend to cook something with rice.
After months of eating other types of carbs, I have gotten used to the lifestyle. In fact, I shredded 4 kilograms when I stayed there. I am still doing my best to lose more weight than I originally had, and having a drastic change in my diet is actually a great head-start to my fitness journey.
I’m not going to lie, there are days where I crave Argentinian food now, especially my beloved morcilla that I am obsessed with. My ancestors are worried.
3. I walk, walk, walk
Argentina is friendly to people who likes walking, and I felt the love when I arrived. If we want to buy something from a store, we walk at least a kilometre to get there, another kilometre to get back as well with the bag of groceries we have. It was a workout.
If we want to go to the city centre, walking is a viable and often the winning option for us. While not all was perfect, the streets were wide enough for cars and pedestrians. You don’t have to think about safety whenever you go on a walk. I missed our walkathons.
Before, I would rather spent 7 dollars to get food than to get out and sweat, but when I came back here, I would reminisce how much we walked back in Hurlingham, and it would make to want to walk.
4. I feel the urge to hug everyone hello
The biggest culture shock I had in Argentina is that everyone is very touchy, very affectionate. Coming from a conservative, and distant culture, you can imagine how stunned I was when I had an entire family hug me one by one in my first hour in Argentina.
For the entire duration of my stay, I always made sure I had perfume on because I know I would be hugging people when I meet them.
When I got back to the Philippines, I always have the urge to hug people I meet them, but I always dismiss it because I’m not in Buenos Aires anymore, and I would likely be disrespecting someone’s boundaries.
5. I feel closer to my parents
Now, this is a blend of Argentina’s culture, and the saying “distance makes the heart go fonder.”
While in Buenos Aires, I can see how close everyone was, and how involved they are with each others’ lives. I never thought my boyfriend would still be close to his mom as an adult. Not that I’m judging, it’s just a bit different from where I am. They are close in a way that they still have dinner with each other every week. They often drink mate together, they go get groceries together. While we also do that, his family would spend hours with each other, and I think it’s lovely.
My family doesn’t get to spend hours with each other before, but I think things have gotten better now. We both are now proactive in inviting each party to things - dinner, lunch, random grocery run, and it’s been lovely!
Conclusion
A note to my younger self, 8 months is long enough to change your life. They say it takes 3 weeks to for a habit, imagine being in a different country with a different language and culture for at least a month, I’m certain new habits will form. Choose the ones that you’d be happy to bring home and do for the rest of your life.