I know exactly what you mean when people stuff food down your throat even after you’ve told them that you had enough. It can get extremely annoying, but meh… to the least I think of it as their intentions weren’t bad.

Hope you have a wonderful time enjoying your last days in Argentina!

I think it’s a cultural thing..we’re just not used to it b/c in America everyone is always “on a diet” and nobody really pushes anyone to eat. In fact, it feels like people are discouraged from eating sometimes.

I agree with you that she took it a little too far by putting food in your plate, but you have to take into consideration her age (I’ve read that people’s rationality diminishes as they age) and that she probably thinks she’s being a really good hostess. I can imagine the same situation happening in any of our South Asian countries. It’s annoying, but you kind of have to bear it because she’s only trying to make you feel at home.

Either that, or she’s trying to fatten you up…like that witch in the fairy-tale “Hansel and Gretel”…

sillybachi: I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing here, at least in my experience. I think it’s just my host mom. She even forces her 60-something-year-old sister to eat, and she makes it very clear that she doesn’t want to eat anymore. I’m trying not to be so hard on her, but I can’t deny that being forced to it annoys me. Oh well. At least she has the best intentions! The whole dieting thing here is pretty big, especially for women. You hardly see any obese people here, and so many women are thin as a stick. I’ve heard from a lot of American students living with Argentine families how the females in their host families hardly eat anything. In fact, Argentina has one of the highest rates of eating disorders in the world.

Happy belated birthday! Umm…as far as your host mom goes…don’t all Desi moms do the same thing??? I thought they did!

I randomly stumbled upon your blog after doing a Google image search for mosques in Argentina (I was curious to know whether or not such a thing existed…plus I have a test tomorrow, so the oddest forms of procrastination can be expected) and decided to give into my inner stalker by reading up (again, anything but studying). I think what you’re doing with regard to your thesis is pretty sweet, especially since Latin America is probably the last place one would think of when envisioning the diaspora of Muslims across the globe.

Anyway, insha’Allah I’ll be spending the next semester abroad in Barcelona, and although I’m not the most religious of people, it’s great to see that keeping up with one’s faith is do-able while in such a situation. I can only hope that my experience is a similar one.

Hope your trip ends well.

Usman: Sometimes procrastination leads to the best Google searches! I don’t know why, but I’ve found many interesting sites when I was supposed to be studying.

Yeah, there are definitely Muslims in this part of the world. Unfortunately, the Internet has very little information about Muslims in Latin America (in both Spanish or English). Before I came to Argentina, I did a lot of searches about the Muslims here, but I didn’t find much. After being here for so long, I’ve realized that the community does a bad job of documenting their activities and sharing their culture with others. There’s a lot going on in the Argentine Muslim community, but you wouldn’t know about it unless you were here. I hope to share what I’ve found about Argentine Muslims to the rest of the world so that more people will be aware that there are Muslims so far south.

And I guess your host mom just has behavior problems lol maybe she just likes to force people to eat because it gives her a sense of power or something..I know some desi women feel really empowered when people eat their food, as strange as that sounds.

P.S. why do you always make us do math before posting?? why can’t we have vocabulary words or something…i hate math

Sillybachi: Looking good is all about being (ridiculously) skinny these days. But there’s just so much good food out there that has to be eaten…

Wait, some desi women really feel empowered when people eat their food? I wonder if there are psychological studies done on this.

You have to do math to keep your adding skills sharp!

Have you ever tried to insult a desi woman’s food? She’d probably hit you with a frying pan. I swear aunties have cook-offs to see who can get the most compliments. Don’t mess with those aunties..

BTW…I tagged you for a meme 7 random/weird things about you…you can check out the rules on my blog