Here and There

 

As we were walking in to church last Sunday it was so beautiful I just had to stop and take a picture. It had been so hot the week before.  One day it was 104 degrees.  For those of you who have your mission call to come here..please bring clothing for hot weather as well as cold weather.  Many missionaries see how far south we are and only bring things for the cold weather.

Toward the end of the week we had some good rain storms that broke the heat cycle.  It can rain very hard here.  Sometimes they have to block off certain streets because there is too much water to drive through!

This is the fruit season here in Neuquén.  We have really enjoyed the apricots on the tree at the mission home and office. 

 

Last month we ate delicious peaches from our peach tree. President picked fresh peaches so we could have peach crepes on his birthday.  Since his birthday is on December 29th this is the first time he has ever picked peaches on his birthday.  In Utah our peach season is in July and August.

There are beautiful flowers in bloom.  These flowers along the road remind me of the flowers my mother loves in the mountains of Idaho but they are blooming in Idaho in June, July and August not in November, December and January like they are here in Argentina.

Then later in the week we received some pictures from our daughter, Jamie in Utah, of the snow they received this last week.

Along with the snow, it has been very very cold!

Seeing the differences in the weather right now between Neuquén and Utah made me think about some of the other differences we have noticed here.

Here in Argentina the children are on summer vacation.  The stores are gearing up for the starting of school with their "Back to School" sales.  School Starts again in March. Families love to go to the river to cool off and are going on vacations just as we do in Utah in June, July and August.  When I tell the children here that in Utah our summer vacation is in June, July and August, they think it is very strange!

Another difference I see is in how the food is packaged here.  Instead of using as many cans, much of the food is packaged in bags or pouches.

I called my grandson, H.T. in Utah and asked him to take some pictures of how food is packaged in Utah. (H.T. stands for Hyrum Thomas.)  He and his mom Jamie, had a fun time taking these pictures for you.  Isn't he cute!

This is how H.T.'s mom buys their milk in Utah.

Many of the people here in Argentina buy their milk in these bags.

You can also buy milk in these cartons and they don't need to be refrigerated until you open them.

In Utah...Most soup come in cans.

This is what a soup isle looks like here in Argentina.  I can find Campbells soup in cans in a few places but it is quite expensive and not common.

They do have many kinds of soup and I think it takes up less room to be in these bags than in the cans.  You just add the water or milk!

Here is what the ketchup looks like at H.T.'s house in Utah.

This is the common way you can buy ketchup here.

 

This is how it looks on the shelf at the store.  The price is in pesos not dollars!

  

This is how H.T.'s mom buys Mayonnaise in Utah.

We have many varieties of mayonnaise here in Argentina but it commonly comes in these bags.

This is how yogurt looks at H.T.'s house.

In Argentina, you can buy the cartons of yogurt but it is also very common to buy this thinner yogurt in the bag and use it on your cereal for breakfast.  One of the missionaries thought it was strange that I was going to have milk on my cereal because she just always uses this thin yogurt.  It is very good that way! 

Here is tomato sauce in Utah.

Tomato sauce in Argentina.

I like to cook Thai foods that use Coconut Milk.  This is what a can of it looks like in Utah.

It took some time to find coconut milk here but it is just the same...just a different package.

There are some things that are hard to get here.  The space on the top shelf is where there has been peanut butter in the past.  Hermana Ehmke and I have looked every time for several months to see if any has come in. We are excited to have peanut butter when we can.  It reminds us of home and it is fun to share with the people here who have not tasted it.

One thing that is sooo delicious here is Dulce de Leche.  It is like caramel and is used in many deserts.  It is even good all by itself!!!

Another thing I really like to use as I cook here is Casan Crem.  It is sort of like cream cheese but also a little like sour cream.  I use it in many recipes and I will miss it after I return back to Utah.

Well...here we are back to where I started this post.  There are some things that are different here in Argentina than they are at H.T.'s home in Utah and there are many things that are the same.

 

One thing that is the same is that there are wonderful families in both place that love each other and are trying their best to live the gospel.

Here is H.T. with his parents, Rich and Jamie and his brother Kaden.  Thanks H.T. for helping me do this post.