the bidet you can't take it away you

were to get something on your face would

you rather have it wiped off would you

rather have it washed off sometimes I

wonder if it's a bit of an addiction

because it is shocking to see people

with the mate all day long it was an

acquired taste for sure the ease of

making friends here in Argentina they

take you in and they embrace you as part

of the family and it's like once you're

in you're in at the first Sound of

Thunder people start running around

unplugging all of their Electronics yeah

it's almost like

time is fluid you don't have to be there

on time but you don't have to be that

precise

well well hello hello guys welcome back

to another video good morning how are

you all doing uh for this week's video I

thought we would try something a little

bit different and talk about some of the

cultural differences between Canada

where Sam and I have lived most of our

lives and Argentina where over the past

few years we have been spending a few

months out of the year and well this

time around because we're doing a bit of

a longer stay a longer stretch there are

certain things that we have been

noticing that are very different

cultural shocks cultural differences

whatever you want to call it so I've

been keeping a little list and today

we're going to be covering that let's

begin so difference and number one that

I want to talk about is the meal times

here in Argentina which to me are just

ridiculously late because maybe I'm used

to eating ridiculously early in Canada

but basically one of the biggest

adjustments has been going out to dinner

in Argentina a lot of restaurants don't

even open until 8 pm and they don't

really get going like they don't get

full until 9 or 9 30 onwards I would say

10 p.m is like peak time in an Argentine

restaurant and well in Canada I'm used

to having dinner at 5 PM I feel like

that's the norm for the majority of

Canadians maybe five or six which is

pretty early 5 p.m here is afternoon tea

time or merienda when people will drink

like a tea a coffee some media Lunas

which are croissants or facturas that

type of deal lunch is also much later

here I have been invited to lunch where

we eat at like 2 p.m 2 30 3 and I'm like

really that is my day time I've usually

eaten much earlier I'd say in Canada 12

noon is the standard but Sam and I are

also used to eating our lunch at like 10

30 11 just because we wake up really

early so yeah that's been another

difference this past week we got invited

out to dinner

um at 9 00 PM so now we know to have a

little siesta take a little nap and

obviously eat a first dinner before we

go out to the invitation dinner

difference number two would be the mate

Obsession here in Argentina and what is

matter you ask well it doesn't exist in

North America we don't drink it in

Canada so the best way I can describe it

is as a green tea that is very bitter it

is served loose leaf in a gourd with a

metal straw and this is something that

argentines drink all day long like you

will see people walking around with

their little thermos with hot water so

they can make mate any time of day and

they even sell mate kits like little

materos where you can carry your thermos

your bag of mate your gourd your straw

it's almost like a little purse just to

carry around mate and people do carry it

around everywhere like people really do

walk around with this

um like not just if they're on vacation

not just if they're going out for a

picnic or to the park like they could be

going to work and as they're driving

they're drinking mate or they could be

in the office and they're sipping

and the other unique thing about the

mate is that you share it so basically

there's one gourd with one metal straw

and it gets passed around and shared

with whoever's there it's not that each

person has their own individual mate

with their own straw this is

um I would call it like the great

equalizer because you just you just pass

it around doesn't matter who you are or

whatever and you just drink mati

together so fun fact kettles in

Argentina have a separate setting for

mate

can you see that there

because you don't need the water to boil

for mate

so there we go

it is Mata time friends I'm living my

best campho life in Argentina oh

Countryside I've got my mate in the

gourd uh-huh the bombisa yeah right oh

you know the name I know the names I'm

surprising are you

um it was an acquired taste for sure at

first it wasn't like love at first bite

like for uh dulce de leche or Asado

I mean I've gotten used to this sort of

it's it's a very social drink it gets

passed around when you meet up with

friends you you all share it and that's

sort of how uh my taste buds got

acquired to it over time

oh yeah apparently it's supposed to be

an appetite suppressant too so you carry

this around and you drink it and you

don't have to eat as much food that

might be a good thing for me

and it would have out the The Taste

um yeah it does have a it has sort of an

earthy a little bit more of a bitter

taste I guess comparable it sort of

similar to certain types of green teas

but not not really it really does have

its own unique flavor

um it's very Argentine if you come to

Argentina I highly recommend trying it

you can also just get it in the tea bag

form that's not the the authentic way of

having it but if you don't have the kit

like we do that would be an option

some people like to add sugar to make it

a little bit sweeter but I would say the

traditional way is just bitter green tea

it does energize you and sometimes I

wonder if it's a bit of an addiction

because it is shocking to see people

with the mate all day long I do like it

I do find it tasty you can actually also

get it in little tea bags so I've been

drinking my mate in the morning for

breakfast with a tea bag you can add

milk to it and then it's known as

maticosido but yes if you're ever

traveling around Argentina and you see

people carrying a little gourd around

with a metal straw sipping on it

wherever they are that's what that is

all about and you'll probably be asked

like hey do you like mate I want to have

some

um because they are very very good about

sharing and after you've drank the whole

thing they fill it up again and on to

the next person okay Point number three

third cultural difference I would say is

the ease of making friends here in

Argentina like people are just so open

and so welcoming that they take you in

and they embrace you as part of the

family and it's like once you're in

you're in

um and that shocked us because Sam and I

made so many friends during our first

few trips in Argentina like we would

just meet people and we would click and

then they would be inviting us over for

meals at their home and family outings

and like we just immediately became a

part of their group in a matter of days

and like these are people that we are

still friends with to the to this day

people that we keep in contact people

that we visit uh stuff like that and

like even moving here now that we're

working on the hotel renovation project

we have made a lot of friends in the

village rather quickly just with

neighbors and mutual acquaintances and

things like that and we have a very

active social schedule which is really

strange for me because in Canada we're

not used to going out this much at least

us personally I'm sure it's different

for other Canadians who are probably

super sociable and maybe they just have

like specific Circles of friends that

meet more often but in our case here in

Argentina we get invited out two to

three times a week which is unheard of

for us like two to three times a month

would be a lot of activity but there's

always like a barbecue or a dinner or

like let's go get down to the river

let's do a picnic come on over and watch

the football that type of thing so we

have felt very very connected in our

current Community like we don't feel uh

like Outsiders or like we don't know

anyone we do feel very connected and

yeah it's just it's just shocking how

easy it has been to make friends because

I just think back to like some of my

friendships that I made in in University

in Canada so I went to University in

Toronto and I went to school with some

people for four years like we had

classes together for four years and I

was never invited over to to their house

or like I never met their parents or

like we would rarely get together

outside of class I don't know if maybe

that's because I didn't live on campus

so maybe there was that disconnect but

yeah it was just very different uh so

like here we have people that we've

known for a relatively short amount of

time and we've met their families we've

been to their homes things like that

whereas that's not the case in Canada

but again that's just been my experience

in Canada I'm sure other people have

very different experiences but for the

most part we've noticed that here in

Argentina people are very sociable love

getting together and they love inviting

people and like introducing you to their

friends and like connecting you so

that's been really cool okay so since

we're talking about getting together

with friends going out like continuing

along that same train of thought I would

say another major cultural difference is

the spontaneity argentines are very

spontaneous people who will invite you

places uh very last minute and we're

cool with it we're getting used to it

but like it's happened to Sam and I

where we'll be like walking through town

going for a little stroll maybe like