Cool

Today we got a refrigerator at work. A brand new one. Some funds had finally been given to us and improvement of the kitchen was a priority. Seriously, you should have heard the applause, laughter and happy shouts that the arrival of the refrigerator caused. Because there is no shop anywhere nearby the Campo de La Ribera, all food we have eaten sofar has been anything that doesn't get bad easily. Modern technology came to the rescue.

The refrigerator not only caused happiness but also yet another reason to admire the locals. The refrigerator cost 2800 Argentinian pesos, equivalent to around 500 euros. For many people, that is one months salary. In Finland a machine like that costs about 350-400 euros and it would take on an average about one week to earn that money.

For us a refrigerator is a necessity, something everybody is entitled to. Like a freezer, a wash machine, a television, the Internet... In different countries the different "qualities of life" dictate what is expected. Yet I wonder, if it is so much easier to buy these machines in Finland, would an Argentinian voluntarily move to that cold country given the possibility?