Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Che, Palos, y Yankys
So this won't be too long of a post, but it was a pretty big deal. Today after Spanish class, while me, Jessie, Mark and Emily were sitting in a restaurant enjoying some lunch, something happened that I had never really expected to see. We were all on the second floor of the restaurant sitting at a table right next to the window. Emily glanced out the window, looking down at Avenida Corrientes and said "Hey look at that cop smoking a cigarette." Mark and Jessie began snickering, thinking that it was another one of Emily's funny observations and kind of poked fun at the fact that she thought a cop smoking a cigarette on a motorcycle was so weird. Within the next minute, the cop was joined by about five others, and at this point it actually seemed like a noteworthy sight. The next thing we know, there was a large procession of people walking down Corrientes. Nearly all of them were wearing bandanas, covering their faces. They held signs that said things like "Down with Israel" and "Get out Yankees". Most interesting of all was that nearly all of them were carrying wooden sticks, basically little clubs. As the procession continued, more anti-American posters and large flags bearing Che Guevara's face passed by us. The protesters were also chanting something we couldn't hear from inside. Needless to say, it made us feel a little bit uncomfortable. I had never seen anything like it in person before. Before we left the restaurant, we decided not to speak while we walked back down Calle Florida towards our Subte stops. The last thing we wanted, after seeing that, was for people around us to hear Emily's strong Virginia accent.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Que pasa en la UCA y la primera semana
So it's been a while eh? Sorry folks, just kind of been taking care of schoolwork and all that. I guess it just seems like there hasn't been anything too noteworthy to talk about, but obviously you guys have no idea what's been going on. Monday I started my spanish course at UCA. Me and the girls woke up at about 7:30 in the morning. ABSOLUTE TORTURE. I haven't had to get up that early for a class since high school, not to mention the fact that 7:30 here felt like 4:30 in the morning due to that oh, so helpful time change. We took the #2 bus down to Puerto Madero, where UCA is located. First of all let me say that even being the most advanced country down here, safety really is not that much of a priority down here. The buses are packed every morning. There literally is no room to move at all. There's no "line" to cut off where people can stand or anything. You just stand on the stairs, not even able to get to the machine to pay for your ticket until the bus has made at least 4 stops.
Anyway, we got to UCA very early and had no idea where to go. The school had sent us nothing about where and when to meet. First, we walked around outside and saw a lot of kids standing outside the third building and assumed it was what we were looking for. Unfortunately when we got closer, we realized they were all argentinos and still being new to everything down here and didn't want to ask any of them anythings. There's one thing I've noticed about the kids here. And I don't mean the city in general, but just at the school. They won't stop staring at you like you're an extranjero. I mean, I know I'm American and I speak English. That merits a slight glance. But whenever you walk by anyone here you just get this lingering stare like we're freaking lepers. At home I could care less if someone from another country walked by me speaking another language or whatever. Just stop staring, we're not that weird or different!
Ugh, anyway, after asking someone who worked in the building where we should go, we finally made our way through the basement , which connects both buildings. Along the way we met another American kid that goes to school in Arizona and together we found the auditorium where we were supposed to meet. We were the first to get there and Emily showed up a couple minutes later, so we just passed the time with some cafe con leche (soooo good) and croisants. Eventually a large group of American kids showed up and the leader of the program gave us a whole speech. The majority of these kids are all part of some exchange program, I think it's call AIFS or something. It felt a little comforting to see other American college students although we didn't really talk to too many of them. A few of them are nice, but honestly I feel like most of them are just here to vacation because Daddy didn't want to take the family on more than one big vacation trip this year. At least half of them speak Spanish with horrible American accents, which is grating on the ears. Overall, they don't seem too bad, just definitely not like our little AU group. As Brittany said, we made out pretty well with the group we have. I will say this however, knowing that a lot of different people read this blog, there are some FINE bitties in the group haha.
Anyway, we took our placement test, which was ridiculously hard. I think I got a total of 4 questions out of the whole thing correct. After that me, Mark, and Kim waited at least an hour and a half to do our oral test where you were just supposed to have a short conversation with a profesora. There were only two women doing this, making it much longer than it should have been. Since Monday we've just been having class every morning at 9 until 1PM. Me, Emily, Jessie and Mark are all in class Intermediate 1 together. The class has been going along fine so far, its just sooo boring. We are in the smallest classroom I have ever studied in and the time seems to pass by so slowly. The only nice part is our recreo for 30 minutes. Our teacher is really sweet and nice, and says either "Barbaro (perfect)," "perfecto," and "bueno" ever 2 seconds, which can get a little annoying but it's all good. On Thursday we went on a bus tour and I got to see a lot of historical areas and monuments. The tour itself was a little boring, but I was able to learn a little bit about where things are situated in relation to each other for when I actually go out and do some tourist stuff. We did stop at La Plaza de Mayo though, where the government building La Casa Rosada is located. We also went into the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was beautiful and is where the remains of General Jose de San Martin, the national hero, are located. i actually took some pictures and actually got to see the Madres de La Plaza. They are the mothers of people that were kidnapped, tortured, killed and what not during a time in the 70s known as El Proceso when an oppressive military regime was in power. They walked around a monument every Thursday wearing white bandanas as a sort of demonstration because to this day the government has not taken credit or apologized at all for El Proceso.
Well I'm gettin a little tired of writing, so I'll keep the rest kind of short. Thursday we finally got our rent situation figured out because i had been running around the main shopping center, Microcentro, all week looking for a bank to get US$350, which are impossible to find. We talked to Zulma and she told us that we could just send the money through Western Union. Bueno! I went out two nights ago with Mark and Kim and we hung out with some people from Mark's hostel in a little hole in the wall. And when I say "hole in the wall," I mean exactly that. The place didn't have a name, decorations or anything. It was just a grill and counter with some chairs and bathroom with no lights. I ate the best sandwich I've ever had that night, choripan. It's basically just a sandwich consisting of sausage and bread, but it was absolutely delicious and only 4 pesos. Perfecto. Last night we went out with the two Costa Ricans and the Korean girl that live in our house with us, with Kim eventually meeting up later. I went to my first boliche, or dance club. A lot of techno, a lot of bass. No luck with the chicas to dance with, but there will be more opportunities. God knows if there's anything I need out of this trip, it's to meet some new people and move on from this past year. Anyways, that's all for now. I'll let you guys know more soon!
Anyway, we got to UCA very early and had no idea where to go. The school had sent us nothing about where and when to meet. First, we walked around outside and saw a lot of kids standing outside the third building and assumed it was what we were looking for. Unfortunately when we got closer, we realized they were all argentinos and still being new to everything down here and didn't want to ask any of them anythings. There's one thing I've noticed about the kids here. And I don't mean the city in general, but just at the school. They won't stop staring at you like you're an extranjero. I mean, I know I'm American and I speak English. That merits a slight glance. But whenever you walk by anyone here you just get this lingering stare like we're freaking lepers. At home I could care less if someone from another country walked by me speaking another language or whatever. Just stop staring, we're not that weird or different!
Ugh, anyway, after asking someone who worked in the building where we should go, we finally made our way through the basement , which connects both buildings. Along the way we met another American kid that goes to school in Arizona and together we found the auditorium where we were supposed to meet. We were the first to get there and Emily showed up a couple minutes later, so we just passed the time with some cafe con leche (soooo good) and croisants. Eventually a large group of American kids showed up and the leader of the program gave us a whole speech. The majority of these kids are all part of some exchange program, I think it's call AIFS or something. It felt a little comforting to see other American college students although we didn't really talk to too many of them. A few of them are nice, but honestly I feel like most of them are just here to vacation because Daddy didn't want to take the family on more than one big vacation trip this year. At least half of them speak Spanish with horrible American accents, which is grating on the ears. Overall, they don't seem too bad, just definitely not like our little AU group. As Brittany said, we made out pretty well with the group we have. I will say this however, knowing that a lot of different people read this blog, there are some FINE bitties in the group haha.
Anyway, we took our placement test, which was ridiculously hard. I think I got a total of 4 questions out of the whole thing correct. After that me, Mark, and Kim waited at least an hour and a half to do our oral test where you were just supposed to have a short conversation with a profesora. There were only two women doing this, making it much longer than it should have been. Since Monday we've just been having class every morning at 9 until 1PM. Me, Emily, Jessie and Mark are all in class Intermediate 1 together. The class has been going along fine so far, its just sooo boring. We are in the smallest classroom I have ever studied in and the time seems to pass by so slowly. The only nice part is our recreo for 30 minutes. Our teacher is really sweet and nice, and says either "Barbaro (perfect)," "perfecto," and "bueno" ever 2 seconds, which can get a little annoying but it's all good. On Thursday we went on a bus tour and I got to see a lot of historical areas and monuments. The tour itself was a little boring, but I was able to learn a little bit about where things are situated in relation to each other for when I actually go out and do some tourist stuff. We did stop at La Plaza de Mayo though, where the government building La Casa Rosada is located. We also went into the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was beautiful and is where the remains of General Jose de San Martin, the national hero, are located. i actually took some pictures and actually got to see the Madres de La Plaza. They are the mothers of people that were kidnapped, tortured, killed and what not during a time in the 70s known as El Proceso when an oppressive military regime was in power. They walked around a monument every Thursday wearing white bandanas as a sort of demonstration because to this day the government has not taken credit or apologized at all for El Proceso.
Well I'm gettin a little tired of writing, so I'll keep the rest kind of short. Thursday we finally got our rent situation figured out because i had been running around the main shopping center, Microcentro, all week looking for a bank to get US$350, which are impossible to find. We talked to Zulma and she told us that we could just send the money through Western Union. Bueno! I went out two nights ago with Mark and Kim and we hung out with some people from Mark's hostel in a little hole in the wall. And when I say "hole in the wall," I mean exactly that. The place didn't have a name, decorations or anything. It was just a grill and counter with some chairs and bathroom with no lights. I ate the best sandwich I've ever had that night, choripan. It's basically just a sandwich consisting of sausage and bread, but it was absolutely delicious and only 4 pesos. Perfecto. Last night we went out with the two Costa Ricans and the Korean girl that live in our house with us, with Kim eventually meeting up later. I went to my first boliche, or dance club. A lot of techno, a lot of bass. No luck with the chicas to dance with, but there will be more opportunities. God knows if there's anything I need out of this trip, it's to meet some new people and move on from this past year. Anyways, that's all for now. I'll let you guys know more soon!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Que tengas un buen fin de semana
Hmm, where to begin. These first few days have been a series of unfortunate events. I guess nothing too bad, but definitely very different. The city feels like New York a lot of the time, but the only difference is that wherever an extranjero goes, people are speaking a different language and using an accent that is very hard to get accustomed to. Because the last few nights have involved bar hopping until at least 5AM, I'll do my best to recollect everything appropriately.
Viernes
We tried to get ourselves together and go out to try and do stuff, but the day got off to a shaky start. Zulma told us that we have to pay our rent in American dollars, so we tried going to a bank that had an ATM that could exchange it for us. Unfortunately, the ATM was broken and we didn't think that we could do it with the teller, or at least that we weren't prepared for that experience haha. Also, we needed monedas because they are extremely hard to find. No one likes to give change, and it usually involves pulling some teeth to do so. Jorge and David tried to tell us about a train station where we could get it, but we didn't know the exact address or how to get to it, so that was another bust. We walked down La Rioja for what felt like forever and when we tried asking a police officer, he didn't speak a word of English and told us that the place we were looking for was at least 20 blocks away. We were not making that walk. Because we are still getting used to hte time difference and getting up a bit late, we've also had trouble actually making it to stores before they closed, so we still don't have usable cell phones. The lack of cellphones has also made communication with the rest of the people from AU very difficult. We tried to meet up with Mark and Kim for dinner, but apparently they didn't know that we were definitely coming and left the Palermo Subte before we could meet up with them, so after waiting 45 minutes at the stop we just decided to go to a cafe and get some food. I had Milanesa a la napolitano, which is basically like Chicken Parm, except with beef. It is my new favorite food of all time. If there's anything about this place that I actually love so far, it is the delicious food they have wherever you go. We walked around Palermo a bit and actually felt like we were in a nice part of the city. Our neighborhood is definitely not up to par with that barrios and it was interesting to see a bunch of modern shops, bars and large busy streets. When we got back, we decided that we actually wanted to go out for the evening, so after hanging out for a bit at the house, we went to Shoeless Joe's, an American owned bar. However, the place was filled with Argentinos. All the bartenders were American though and very nice. We met one really nice guy, Boli, that started flirting with Jessie and Brittany as soon as we got into the place. He was pretty cool the rest of the night and we bonded over our love for Metallica. At the end of the night he told me that I spoke Spanish very well, which was great to hear after all the trouble we went through. We ahd a great time and eventually met a guy from Texas named George who couldn't speak any spanish. He was there by himself because apparently all his friends had left him to go to a whorehouse. How lovely. We hung out with him the rest of the night and he even gave me the nickname "Good Time Charlie" after a series of Tequila shots and glasses of Quilmes. We went to two other bars after that, but it was pretty late at night and by the end of it I had to translate for George and help him get a taxi ride back to his hotel.
Sabado
Today we slept very late and, once again, missed the opportunity to get our American money and phones. Oh well, que será, será. We got some dulce de leche ice cream and had a little trouble there because we had been up late and were a bit out of it, so when the lady behind the counter started talking to me very quickly, i didn't know what to do. After a series of sighs from her, I was able to talk to her manager, who explained to me that all she was asking was whether I wanted my two scoops of ice cream to be dulce de leche, or a mix of that with another type of ice cream. I kept it easy and just got one kind. After that we hung around the house for a bit and finally got in contact with everyone else from AU. We met in Palermo at 9 and all went out for dinner. Afterwards, Harris and Jenelle left to go somewhere with his host sister, so all the rest of us started walking around the area looking for something to do. We ended up at a bar called "El Taller" which was packed and got ourselves a table inside and ordered some drinks. The waitress was real understanding and spoke some English, so it was easy. After that we went to another bar just across the street and chatted over some more Quilmes at a table outside. Once were done there Emily went back to her house and me, Jessie, Brittany, Mark and Kim ended up finding another bar and had a great time. The funniest part of the night was when I decided that I'd try a random drink out and ordered one called "Hot Sex," which unbeknownst to me just ended up being a daquiri, so I made sure to hold it very low and out of sight to keep from losing my man card. i got the chance to speak to a lady there, but our conversation consisted of just a few short questions and her asking me how I liked the music down there. We left around 5.
Domingo
We basically just stayed at the house during the whole day because we were so exhausted from the night before. I watched Gattaca, Law and Order, and the music channel Q. We went out for dinner to a small cafe around 630 and later returned to good ol' Shoeless Joe's for SuperBowl night. The place was packed with Americans, and was pretty refreshing to see and hear them. Great game, but too bad the Cardinals lost. It was damn close. The only problem we had there was that by the end of the night, two guys were once again aggressively going after Jessie and Brittany. I stayed out of the picture frustrated and annoyed because it was 1:30 and we have class tomorrow. The one guy just would not let up and i finally had to step in and explain that there was no way we could stay any longer. I swear I can't wait to speak well and be able to venture off on my own every once in a while so I can meet some chicas and not have to stand around waiting for guys to stop flirting with the girls. Anyway, it's 3:23 AM and I plan on getting up at 8 to get ready for class. Night y'all and wish me luck!
Viernes
We tried to get ourselves together and go out to try and do stuff, but the day got off to a shaky start. Zulma told us that we have to pay our rent in American dollars, so we tried going to a bank that had an ATM that could exchange it for us. Unfortunately, the ATM was broken and we didn't think that we could do it with the teller, or at least that we weren't prepared for that experience haha. Also, we needed monedas because they are extremely hard to find. No one likes to give change, and it usually involves pulling some teeth to do so. Jorge and David tried to tell us about a train station where we could get it, but we didn't know the exact address or how to get to it, so that was another bust. We walked down La Rioja for what felt like forever and when we tried asking a police officer, he didn't speak a word of English and told us that the place we were looking for was at least 20 blocks away. We were not making that walk. Because we are still getting used to hte time difference and getting up a bit late, we've also had trouble actually making it to stores before they closed, so we still don't have usable cell phones. The lack of cellphones has also made communication with the rest of the people from AU very difficult. We tried to meet up with Mark and Kim for dinner, but apparently they didn't know that we were definitely coming and left the Palermo Subte before we could meet up with them, so after waiting 45 minutes at the stop we just decided to go to a cafe and get some food. I had Milanesa a la napolitano, which is basically like Chicken Parm, except with beef. It is my new favorite food of all time. If there's anything about this place that I actually love so far, it is the delicious food they have wherever you go. We walked around Palermo a bit and actually felt like we were in a nice part of the city. Our neighborhood is definitely not up to par with that barrios and it was interesting to see a bunch of modern shops, bars and large busy streets. When we got back, we decided that we actually wanted to go out for the evening, so after hanging out for a bit at the house, we went to Shoeless Joe's, an American owned bar. However, the place was filled with Argentinos. All the bartenders were American though and very nice. We met one really nice guy, Boli, that started flirting with Jessie and Brittany as soon as we got into the place. He was pretty cool the rest of the night and we bonded over our love for Metallica. At the end of the night he told me that I spoke Spanish very well, which was great to hear after all the trouble we went through. We ahd a great time and eventually met a guy from Texas named George who couldn't speak any spanish. He was there by himself because apparently all his friends had left him to go to a whorehouse. How lovely. We hung out with him the rest of the night and he even gave me the nickname "Good Time Charlie" after a series of Tequila shots and glasses of Quilmes. We went to two other bars after that, but it was pretty late at night and by the end of it I had to translate for George and help him get a taxi ride back to his hotel.
Sabado
Today we slept very late and, once again, missed the opportunity to get our American money and phones. Oh well, que será, será. We got some dulce de leche ice cream and had a little trouble there because we had been up late and were a bit out of it, so when the lady behind the counter started talking to me very quickly, i didn't know what to do. After a series of sighs from her, I was able to talk to her manager, who explained to me that all she was asking was whether I wanted my two scoops of ice cream to be dulce de leche, or a mix of that with another type of ice cream. I kept it easy and just got one kind. After that we hung around the house for a bit and finally got in contact with everyone else from AU. We met in Palermo at 9 and all went out for dinner. Afterwards, Harris and Jenelle left to go somewhere with his host sister, so all the rest of us started walking around the area looking for something to do. We ended up at a bar called "El Taller" which was packed and got ourselves a table inside and ordered some drinks. The waitress was real understanding and spoke some English, so it was easy. After that we went to another bar just across the street and chatted over some more Quilmes at a table outside. Once were done there Emily went back to her house and me, Jessie, Brittany, Mark and Kim ended up finding another bar and had a great time. The funniest part of the night was when I decided that I'd try a random drink out and ordered one called "Hot Sex," which unbeknownst to me just ended up being a daquiri, so I made sure to hold it very low and out of sight to keep from losing my man card. i got the chance to speak to a lady there, but our conversation consisted of just a few short questions and her asking me how I liked the music down there. We left around 5.
Domingo
We basically just stayed at the house during the whole day because we were so exhausted from the night before. I watched Gattaca, Law and Order, and the music channel Q. We went out for dinner to a small cafe around 630 and later returned to good ol' Shoeless Joe's for SuperBowl night. The place was packed with Americans, and was pretty refreshing to see and hear them. Great game, but too bad the Cardinals lost. It was damn close. The only problem we had there was that by the end of the night, two guys were once again aggressively going after Jessie and Brittany. I stayed out of the picture frustrated and annoyed because it was 1:30 and we have class tomorrow. The one guy just would not let up and i finally had to step in and explain that there was no way we could stay any longer. I swear I can't wait to speak well and be able to venture off on my own every once in a while so I can meet some chicas and not have to stand around waiting for guys to stop flirting with the girls. Anyway, it's 3:23 AM and I plan on getting up at 8 to get ready for class. Night y'all and wish me luck!
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