Reflections on Knife Sharpeners and Shrimp

So my last few days have been pretty normal. Five hours of Spanish class, studying and homework, running errands with friends, visiting attractions, shopping. Instead of boring you with the needless details of how long my class seems when I´m watching the minutes tick by or what dress I wore today, I have two purposes for this blog.

1) To let you know that I am planning on traveling to the Falls of Iguazu at the end of January. As it is one of the seven wonders of the world, I want to make sure to experience it while I am here. I am planning on going to the Argentinean side, Brazilian side possibly up into Paraguay if I do not need a visa.

2) I want to share with you a couple of anecdotes. It´s so interesting to learn about the little differences within each culture.

The first anecdote is more of just an interesting difference. In Uruguay, I was sitting on the beach. My friends and I were talking about how we would become ¨tomatoes¨if we sat out on the beach for too long. An Argentinean visiting the beach for the day overheard us and came to talk to us. He said (in Spanish) ¨We don´t say that you ´become a tomato´ in Spanish. We say you ´become a shrimp!´¨ It was amusing so we chuckled for a few moments about it. It´s interesting to learn some of the sayings in Spanish that are different from our own.

The second anecdote is the one truly worth sharing. Yesterday, I was sitting on the fourth floor in the University of Belgrano and this sweet music started wafting in from outside. It was a higher pitch that almost sounded like a lullaby. Everyone in the class started whispering, trying to figure out what the sound could be. In Brazil, we have a very similar sound that the trucks carrying gas and oil in their truck beds play as they make their way through the streets. I think they play it as a safety precaution so that other drivers are more alert as there are very hazardous and flammable materials in the area.

As our teacher heard us whispering, she asked ¨Do you know what that sound is from?¨ We responded with ¨No!¨even though I had a suspicion it was the same as in Brazil. It turns out I was completely and totally wrong. The story of what it is actually made us laugh until we cried. Here, in Buenos Aires, there are knife sharpeners that ride around the neighborhoods on bikes. They play this music on the back on their bikes so that people in the area who want their knives sharpened will know the knife sharpener is nearby. Apparently, people run out from their homes and restaurants chasing this man until he stops his bike and sharpens their knives. What a dangerous idea! The man has his knife sharpening equipment on a bike while people run out of their houses after him with knives in their hands. Incredible! Hahaha. I still laugh about it when I think about it.