Back in Baires

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog. The title, as you can see, is a wonderful Spanish word that means "to grumble or grouse" but especially when done through your teeth. It's quite onomatopoetic. Not that I have a lot of refunfuñando to do right now (though I'm sure I will soon enough). So far, all's well with the apartment and I'm well immersed in my circle down here.



I'm very fond of the supermarket next to our apartment, even though it has some corners that may not have seen a mop since my first visit to Argentina two-and-a-half years ago. But I've noticed something odd lately. One of the Asian check-out girls spits into a bucket every time I pay for my groceries. Her timing is always the same: She finishes ringing up my goods, tells me the total, and as I'm looking for the bills, she bends down slightly and spits. It's so quick that the first time she did it, I wasn't even sure it happened. And I thought maybe she was spitting out some gum. But I've tested it at least four times now.

It's somewhat alarming, yet if I have a choice between two check-out lines, I can't resist choosing hers.