2 Weeks

Today marks the 2 week mark that I have been here. Do you ever feel like time is going so fast but yet so slow? That describes my first two weeks perfectly. In New Zealand days went so fast and 2 weeks wasn't really a long time. I remember saying my goodbyes like it was yesterday and still get a bit teary when I think about them. Here in the weekdays I get up at 6.20am and don't go to sleep until 10.30-11ish so that makes the days super long. Finishing school at 12.30pm means it leaves half of the day to do whatever I please.
 Here the city doesn't come alive until about 6pm, everyone goes out to buy groceries, meet their friends and anything else in the center. This is a massive difference to New Zealand as by that time everyone is going home for dinner.
FAMILY
I still have to get to the social aspect of this lifestyle! I'm not used to being around so many family and other people all the time! Not that it's a bad thing, it makes everything more interesting! Yesterday my host family wrote down all the members of their family on a piece of paper, in total it was over 75 people, and that was only counting 1st cousins and their parents!! Then I wrote mine down and it was only 41..
Here I have noticed family is extremely important. They are always talking on the phone, going to see them or having dinner together. They are all very close and have a special bond with each other. This made me think about my family, no we aren't all as close as them and hardly have whole family gatherings but what we have is different. Neither family relationship is better, they are just different.

FOOD
Almost all the food I have come across here is really delicious. Asado (outdoor style of cooking) and the Empanadas are my favourite so far. These are not too different to New Zealand foods (surprise, surprise), Asado is very similar to having a BBQ in NZ but the meat has a different taste because of the way it's cooked. Empanadas are sort of a pastry with a type of meat inside then are deep fried. Wow, wow so yummy, must take a close up photo of them! Here the pastries from the Panderia (bakery with mostly sweet foods) are amazing! Very sweet and flavorsome, so different from anything I have tried in NZ before. I have also noticed I haven't had a decent amount of vegetables since I've been here, never thought I would miss Veges... But I do! If we do have veges it's potatoes, these little bean things, carrots or a little bit of corn. But here they aren't cooked separately so what ever vegetable it is, it is in the sauce of the food.
Also here they do not drink much water, every meal is served with a fizzy drink or juice. I find this hard but I always carry a drink bottle!
I need to take a photo but here milk is in bags and so is yogurt! The yogurt that I have had so far is very watery, kind of like thick milk! Still yummy, but it's quite different to what I'm used to haha :)
Also the other day I saw potato salad in a tin.. yup, gross :/
An amazing thing here is the Dulce de Leche. It's essentially caramel spread but so much better! You have it with everything here, the best is with peanut butter (NZ brought, they don't have it here) on crackers!