阿根廷版的微型世博

昨天我和朋友去了Tecnopolis，一個展現阿根廷科技發展的園區，概念有點類似去年的上海世博，當然規模就完全不能相提並論。

其中，我實在想不通為什麼要選在冬天辦，也不理解明明是個能收門票的活動卻讓民眾免費入場。問了我的朋友後才知道跟選舉有關。這在和台灣同一個時代脫離軍事戒嚴並逐步邁入民主的阿根廷，也就不讓人意外了。

算一算時間，現在離10月23日的總統大選還有兩個月的時間，所以現在辦一個彰顯政府功勞的展覽，的確是個好時機（阿根廷很多科技方面的發展不是政府直接推動就是國營企業主導）。尤其是現場的眾多低收入戶，在領了免費的衛星電視小耳朵之後，難免拿人手短，應該不選執政黨也難吧！

阿根廷大大小小的選舉，感覺上比台灣的還要多，因為只要候選人的票數不過半就得重選，而且重點是還不能不去投票，要不然要罰錢！雖然這個硬性規定有點違反民主精神（放棄投票權也是一種權利啊，不是嗎？），我還是很欣賞這麼高的社會參與度。

我在Tecnopolis最快樂的事，就是到有照相活動區的館去照相（連照4張到臉部僵硬～）

First day of public school

My first day of school at Lenguas Vivas Juan Ramón Fernández, a public school in Buenos Aires, started in typical Argentinean fashion - half an hour late! My teacher is a sweetheart, and when she explained she was tied up with administrative duties on the first day of school, for once, I was neither surprised nor upset.

I take my new-found calm as a sign that I'm acclimating. Two and a half months after moving to Argentina, I've finally reached the point where jaw-dropping tardiness, and people's laissez-faire attitude about it, doesn't infuriate me, but rather amuses me.

For all that I poke fun at Argentinean ways of life (all in good humor), the country has obvious merits for which I feel justifiably smug about intuiting before coming here. Apart from the world's best beef and ice cream, free Spanish classes taught by top-notch public school teachers is no laughing matter, for which I am grateful to take advantage of during my year of no gainful employment.

The view from my classroom at Lenguas Vivas