Cows and more cows

A couple weeks ago we went to the school commencement ceremony for Rosana's little brother. It wasn't a graduation so much as a end of year show for the parents, in which the kids from each grade level put on a dance or skit. The school, which is public, is essentially a big, sky lit atrium with a half dozen or so small classrooms along each of the walls. There are about 200 students in the entire school, but because it isn't big enough to hold all of them at the same time, half attend classes in the morning and the other half attend classes in the afternoon. All of the kids are from the neighborhood, and a parent or relative walks them to and from school each day. At the end of the morning or afternoon you will see groups of 10 - 20 women mostly congregated outside a school waiting for it to let out. The doors are closed and locked during school hours, so the parents have to wait outside for the kids to be dismissed. The students all wear white lab-type coats and the teachers all wear frilly aprons that look like something that would have come with a Betty Crocker baking set for adults. All in all the schools seem to be well-cared for. The teachers seem to be very committed to the students and to know all of their parents, and the parents in turn seem know the school and teachers, because they are there everyday to meet the kids (and almost all of them are on foot - relative to the U.S. very few people drive in Buenos Aires, eventhough there are a ton of buses, taxis and cars on the roads). They also chip in to support the school financially with money for things it doesn't get from the government. This is a pic from the first or second grade skit, which was about a cow, and is an homage to everything that comes from cows ... there was yogurt, milk, cheese and the cow. I didn't see a side of beef. Cows are central to the Argentine diet and culture, and people eat immense amounts of beef and milk products. They are cheap, a good source of protein and fill you up. I'm not quite sure how it is that they don't all end up weighing 250 pounds. There is obesity here too, but far less than in the U.S. if you go by people you see on the street. I don't think they eat 'as much' as we do at home. For example, in Rosana's house we have only one big meal a day with meat, veggies or salad and potatoes or pasta. That's in the afternoon. In the mornings we just have tea with milk, bread, cheese and yogurt, and in the evenings the same or ham and cheese grilled sandwiches or pizza. Also, the cheese we eat is called 'queso cremoso' and its soft and flavorful but isn't is fatty or greasy as cheddar or mozzarella or the cheeses I'm used to. It melts, but doesn't exude a lot of grease or fat. I'm not sure what they do to it. But my pants still fit. The other pic I've posted to the right is the park in Parque Chacabuco, with a view of condos along Avenida Asamblea, one of the main streets in the neighborhood, and representative of many of the avenues in many of the neighborhoods of the city. Here you find people jogging the block around the park, toddlers with parents - there are babies everywhere here - and people just hanging out and strolling in the early evenings or on the weekends. This afternoon we leave for Salta by bus and will arrive sometime tomorrow.