A long line of Argentines at the local Chinese grocery store, baskets in hand loaded with food in preparation for — you’d never have guessed it — National Census Day.

Tomorrow, nearly everything will be shut down in Argentina, from grocery stores to restaurants to pharmacies to kiosks, and public reunions are prohibited, from sports events to classes to weddings. Only the bare essentials will be running, which includes such services as public transportation and hospitals. This is to allow at least one person in every household to await the arrival of one of 600,000 census workers, who will conduct interviews and fill out a questionnaire of typical census questions that involve age, level of education, marital status, etc.

So with the whole country on hold — gasp! — people need to prepare. And it felt great to be alongside my fellow residents, waiting in line to pay for my groceries, preparing for the national holiday.

On a related note, I finally feel accustomed to measurements in the metric system, at least when it comes to ordering from the deli. The people in line tonight had a good laugh when I ordered 1.5 grams of ham.

Some businesses took today off, too, effectively giving them a mini vacation.

As for me, I’m looking forward to catching up on some homework tomorrow while buckling down with my census day supplies.

P.S. I’ll be back to talking about the Argentine student movement shortly.

Location: Avenida Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Argentina