The food just kept coming...

Today we had lunch with people from church. They had arranged it awhile ago and it was quite a big deal since they had invited us and two other families with children. There were 8 kids in all.

And we were spoilt. Entree with salame and cheese, humous and vegetables.

Then the main course with empanadas arabes- a pastry with meat on top, then 'niños envueltos' (which translates as 'wrapped up children'!- meat and rice wrapped up in leaves) and kipe (not sure how to spell it). It is mince meat with wheat.

Followed by ice cream and baklava, then coffee and biscuits.

Now you might notice that this doesn't sound Argentine. And most of it wasn't. The Dad, Ricardo, has Armenian background (there is quite a large Armenian community in Córdoba). He was keen to share part of his culture with us. He also shared with us some of his personal history... his father came to Argentina at the age of 14, alone, after having seen most of his family die in the Armenian genocide in 1915. He made it alone in Buenos Aires until the wife he 'sent' for arrived from Armenia. He then contracted TB and had to spend 6 years in a Sanitorium in the hills of Córdoba. He sounds like an incredible 'survivor', having suffered much and yet with a capacity to keep moving forward, taking hold of whatever opportunities he could.

It was a real treat for us to enjoy some of the things we had grown to like living in Lidcombe, like Baklava, which is not so easy to come by here in Córdoba.

Before going we were nervous. We had been invited by Andrea, the adult daughter, but we had no idea of the names of her parents, even though we had met them a number of times. But we needn't have worried too much... we soon worked out their names, and besides, they had no idea of our names.

People use names a lot less in Argentina. The Dad just used 'hermano' and 'hermana' (brother and sister) with us throughout the afternoon. He wasn't phased by not knowing our names... it didn't reflect a lack of interest- he knew who we were and was very interested in what we were doing and our cultures. He just didn't feel the need to know or use our names.