food matters, a gnocchi tradition, and soccer practice for the first time in 2 years

Yesterday was another gnocchi making (and eating) day. Remember when I talked about gnocchi in my first post? Well this means I have now been in Mendoza for exactly a month, because in Argentina many families adhere to the tradition of making gnocchi every 29th of the month. The tradition goes that you should put money under your plate as you eat your gnocchi, and then carry it around with you that day for good luck. Although in my family here we do not put money under our plates, we still eat gnocchi every 29th of the month.

So, I guess I will let you in on some more of what I have been doing in my first month living in Mendoza. Last saturday I attended an all-day cooking class that was organized by our study abroad program. It was a blast! They bused us all out to a city next to Mendoza city called Maipu (famous for its vineyards) which I hope to tour in the near future), and we got started making an array of traditional Argentine food with our professional chef teachers. I have not [yet] found cooking to be something I enjoy, but this was a lot of fun. We got split into groups to make empanadas, fried sweet potato cakes, salads, potatoes, crepes with dulce de leche, and flan (also with dulce de leche). Dulce de leche is everywhere here (it is similar to carmel). They put it on fruit, in ice cream flavors, on cakes etc. At the end of our cooking class we all feasted on our delicious Argentine food with some Mendozan wine as well. The setting was gorgeous as we had vineyards surrounding us and the snow-capped Andes in the distance.

Here are some photos from the day. Afterwards we received certificates of "Tourist Chef of Argentine Cuisine".

In addition, this week I began going to soccer practice with a girls team from the university. This is much different than university sports teams in the US (apart from the fact that girl's soccer here is also a much different scene). To give you an idea, we have practice, both times, with a '99 boys team, most of which are as good as or better than the girls. The first practice we did mostly drills that incorporated conditioning (plyo stuff) which was fun for me but also SUPER hard because I have not worked my muscles in that way since I stopped playing soccer. I enjoyed the challenge. The next practiced we did some more drills and played a little scrimmage just between the girls. There are a few girls who are decent players, and there are other girls who can hardly kick the ball. Although I love playing soccer, it is very frustrating for me playing with very unexperienced players after playing with such an amazing team as I did all throughout high school. The fields are also basically dirt, so they are dirty and hard to play on. It really makes me appreciate the beautiful grass I had to play and train on growing up. It makes such a huge difference. I am going to keep going at least for a while, as I think it is a good way to make some Argentine friends. My friend Megan and I drank some sodas with the girls after practice - I think that is their tradition. Although, I hope I won't have to get a dreadlock rat-tail like most of the girls have in order to fit in!!

I also just met someone from here who goes out mountain biking with a group several times per week, and he said I can start coming next week! I'll have to let you all know how that goes!

Hasta luego!