Just a reminder....

So I'm in the process of adding more pictures as I type this post. Just a reminder, this is the link to my pics (and there's a nice little slideshow of some of them on the blog):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsnider88/

An amazing day

Yesterday, Saturday, I went on a day trip with the school to Isla Negra, Valparaiso and Vina del Mar - it was amazing. Isla Negra is a tiny little cost town with amazing scenery. Many Chileans head to Isla Negra for the summer so it's not too touristy, at least not for forgein tourists. After touring the house of Pablo Neruda, a very famous Chilean writer, which is right on the cost and very very interesting we headed to another site just to see the beach. There we hiked the rocky cost line which was tons of fun. Next was lunch at a place right on the cost with amazing food. We hiked around a little after lunch and then headed to Valparaiso (Valpo). Valpo reminded me a lot of Buenos Aires in that it's a little on the dirtier side and more dangerous than other Chilean cities. There wasn't really that much to see on any day, but espeically no on Saturday as it was extremely foggy. We did a little walking tour and then headed out for a tour on a lancha (small boat). Valpo is first and foremost a major Chilean port city, which is very obvious in the photos on Flickr. Next we headed up the "acensores" which are rather ancient (they were built in the late 1800's) but still somewhat fun. They took us to the top of the city, which had it not been so foggy would have made for great view. After that we all, all 15 of us, got back into the minibus (think a little bit larger than the "Lil' Miss Sunshine" bus...but still bright yellow) and headed to Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is extremely touristy and very expensive. We really didn't do too much there but it was fun to see. After the two hour bus ride back to Santiago I went with a couple other people and got some sushi, which is extremely cheap and good in Santiago. What would normally cost $60 or so in the US costs about $20 (including tip) here. Next was bed. Yesterday was probably my best South American experience to date and was definitely worth the $50.

Being chilly in Chile

So while I love Chile I do miss one thing - heat. The concept of central heating hasn't caught on here. As a result, the houses are cold all of the time. Sure, they have little propane heaters and such but they don't really help much. I sleep with about 5 blankets and in long sleeves and sweatpants - something very very weird for me. On the brigher side of things, the school here is amazing. Right now I have afternoon classes which means I don't have class until 1. At 1 I have one hour of private class during which we talk about anything and everything and he points out my mistakes; something that's been extremely helpful. My "group" class is from 2-6; however, I'm the only one in the class so it's four more hours of conversing, reviewing grammar, writing, etc. Next week I'll have morning classes and I'll be able to see more of the city and participate in more activities - with afternoon classes you sleep in (not to much to do in the morning and most places don't open until 9 or 10), eat breakfast (well more like lunch), go to class and then it's dinner time. I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing this weekend but I'll probably end up going to Vina de Mar, Valparasio and Isla Negra with the school. Next weekend I'll be in Temuco with a trip to Pucon - I bought my bus tickets last night.

Apparently I'm American

So I had my first experience in defending my country and my goverment to someone from another country. Tonight after dinner I began talking to Walter (the "father" of my house who is about 70 and is Dutch but has lived in South America for around 40 years but still doesn't speak Spanish extremely well) about 9/11 - to be honest I don't remember how the topic got started. After a few minutes of discussing he proceded to tell me that planes didn't crash into the Pentagon that it had to be missles and that my government was orchestrating some huge cover up. Furthermore, that Arab terrorists, in his mind, are incapable of planning something so complicated. He didn't say that 9/11 didn't happen (although it was implied once and I surely jumped on that one.....in Spanish actually) but that our, the US government, had something to do with it and now the government was involved in some huge cover up. Yes, he actually believed this and had his "facts" from the internet to prove it. Of course I, and the other US girl that lives in this house were pissed. We proceded to argue for quite a while about this topic in a rather heated discussion. It was the first time I've ever even thought about defending our current goverment as I typically have a very "un-American" mindset about internationl things. Let's just say it was an experience and if I didn't live under his roof for the next few weeks the argument would have been much more intense and he would not have won. I have to say that this was surely an experience for me as I've never had someone talk about 9/11 like that (and it's been brought up a lot since I've been in South America). Furthermore, I told him it was a sensitive topic for an American and that he was pissing me off yet he continued. I don't talk about hot topics in other countries, especially topics I know nothing about. If asked my opinion I might, keyword being "might", give a little of my opinion but I would certainly qualify it by saying I don't know much about the topic and stating that I was talking in generalizations. It was certainly an experience that I will remember.......and for those of you who are interested, after this conversation he brought up Chavez and proceded to tell me he couldn't understand why people didn't like him. Ah, and I just remembered this, during the conversation we talked about internet credibility (as his sources were from the internet). I told him you can find anything you want on the internet, and if you can't for some reason you can type it yourself on wikipedia and claim to be an expert. He brought up a PanAm flight that was shot down going from NYC to London in 1988 that he thinks we know all the facts about. I said I'm sure I can find something on the internet that disagrees; to which he responded would be impossible. Hmmm, why don't you click this link: http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com/keytopics/PanAm.shtml

Day 2 in Santiago

So I'm sitting here after waking up at 7:30 to be in class at 8:00 with a few hours of free time - in Santiago I don't have class until 1:00 (noramlly a good thing as I can sleep in). The school here is much nicer, it's larger and newer (not that the school in Buenos Aires was bad). My family here is amazing and I feel a bit more at home here than I did in Argentina. I miss living with Nikki (the girl from New Orleans) and Dani (the girl from Venezuela) but here I live with a girl from Miami that goes to NYU. Basically here the meals are a bit bigger and more American like (meaning there are vegetables and such, not just meat and potatoes) and I can sit in the living room and just hang out - again, it's not that my Argentine family wasn't welcoming it's just that my Chilean family is more welcoming. I have no idea what I'm going to do in Chile, largely b/c I haven't seen the activities schedule for the school. However, I'm rather sure that I'll be in Temuco, Chile for the 4th of July. There is a recent Georgetown grad in Temuco right now that I'm going to visit and it's where most of our Chilean students at Georgetown come from - so I'll get to see the city and I'll get to celebrate the 4th with an American.

Santiago de Chile

The day didn't start off too well. I woke up a little later then I wanted to. Next I sat there waiting for my ride to the airport - which was supposed to pick me up at 12:30. At around 1:00 my house mom called the company and they said they didn't have a reservation for me. We tried to call the school but no one answered. I only had 30 pesos left and couldn't pay with a card - I couldn't pay for a taxi or something. We finally got a hold of someone at the school and I finally got a ride but it was nearly 2:00 and my flight was at 3:30 (and it takes nearly an hour to get to the airport). I get to the airport and have to pay $70 for my checked luggage b/c the allowance was only 20kg (roughly 44lbs). Next I had to pay the airport tax, pass through immigration, pass through security and make it to my gate. Luckily I made it on the plane (the last person to board actually) at about 3:20.

On a better note, I flew LAN airlines which is by far the nicest airline I've ever been on. The plane itself is huge and is very comfortable. Everyone has their own screen which has its own entertainment system - you can choose from 50 or so movies, 100 or so TV shows and thousands of CD's (very much like on demand with digital cable except free). The meal, which they called a snack but would have been deemed a meal on a US airline, was served on real plates rather than disposable plastic. You couldn't even feel the take off or the landing - seriously, I didn't realize we were taking off when we did b/c the plane was going fast but it didn't feel as fast as a delta plane. Bottom line - if you are flying to Latin/South America, fly LAN.

Santiago's airport is very similar to a US airport. When you first land it's amazing to see the city in the middle of the Andes mountains, which are huge and snow covered. It's much cleaner than Buenos Aires and while I loved my Argentine family I think I might like this one more. First it's closer to the school, a lot closer and second, when I walked in the door their whole family was here and we sat down for dinner - which was sushi!! (The nephew of my Chilean house mom is in culinary school and made sushi - it was amazing). Afterwards we talked Latin American politics had some sandwhiches and drank some coffee. Before heading to bed my house mom showed me where the school was and showed me around the house.

More or less, the day started off terribly but ended amazingly and I'm 100% sure I'm going to love Chile.

Last Day in BA

So today was my last day in Buenos Aires (well technically Sunday is but I have to head to the airport at noon). I spent today doing the last couple of things I wanted to do. First I went to MALBA. I loved it. Basically it's the MoMA of Latin American art. There was a special exhibition that dealt with Mexican art from 1968 until 1997 - I'm pretty sure it's my favorite exhibition of all time. I wanted to buy the catalog for the exhibition but it was aroun $120 - outrageously expensive - so I didn't buy it. The rest of the day consisted of walking around Palermo, which is full of parks and cafes, and buying a few things last minute. I'm sitting here packing now then I will have dinner with my Argentine family for the last time and head out with my friends here for the last time. The next time I post, I'll be in Chile!

Oh! And I also had my first Alfajor today....if you ever come to Argentina you have to try one. Be sure to try the Dulce de Leche one though, it's by far the best. Havanna's, there's one on every other corner it seems like, has really good, and cheap, ones.

Rain rain go away

So it's been raining all day today. It's a cold, wet, gloomy day here in Buenos Aires. I woke up this morning feeling sicker than I did yesterday and it was gloomy outside so I decided, like any responsible student would (right?), to stay home today - I didn't go to class. Basically I've been a lazy bum all day as I don't feel well and the weather doesn't exactly make you want to go out and walk all around the city. Instead, I've done reading I need to do for my classes and blogged a little. I've also looked back over some of my previous posts; after doing that I feel that I need to share this with everyone: my internet has been messed up and it never lets me use spell check on my posts - yeah, I noticed many many typos. I've got two more days here (I'm not counting Sunday since I have to leave for the airport around noon) and I can't decide what I want to do in those two days. MALBA is on the agenda for one of them (probably Sat) as is eating at a parrilla in San Telmo again (I'm thinking Fri night) but other than that I have no clue. I should probably do some shopping as I've yet to really by anything for myself or others, but then again I have no clue what I should bring back for people and I don't have much cash left (which is necessary to shop at the markets here) - yeah so any souvenirs I bring back will probably be from Chile.

A Gringo's Guide to Argentina

Yeah so the title is cheezy but I had someone ask me what they should do while they are here in Buenos Aires and I feel like I should share some of these things anyway so here we go.

Argentine Beef - You have to try it at least once while you are here. You can get good beef nearly anywhere but for excellent beef head to a parrilla in San Telmo. The best I had was at the intersection of Denfensa and Independencia, although I don't remember the name. This place was packed and the food was amazing. As if that wasn't enough it's very inexpensive. From the street it looks like a little shop, but inside it's more "restaraunt like." For a nicer dinner head to La Cabrera in Palermo. This place gets so busy they have two locations on the same block. In my opinion the place in San Telmo has better steak but my friends here disagree. If you head to La Cabrera know that you don't need to order sides as each steak comes with a sampling of 8 or so of them; also, their food is meant to be shared as the portions are rather large. Anywhere - if you want a filet get the bife de lomo but the most famous cut here is the bife de chorizo (which at La Cabrera probably weighs about 2 pounds).
Apunto - medium to medium well
Juzgado - medium rare
Bien (although this term seems to be different in every place) - well done
When you get tired of beef, bread and potatoes (the 3 staples of any meal here) and want some vegetables or something remotely healthy head to Tea Connection (corner of Uriburu and Junin more or less) or Pura Vida (withing a block of the other place) both in Recoleta. Tea Connection has anything and everything from homemade fruit extract sodas, to stir fry to many types of tea. Pura Vida has wraps and smoothies and is more of a take out kind of place. It's hard to find vegetables in restaraunts here, just fyi.

Palermo - Palermo is the hip and "happening" end of town. You'll find art galleries, pubs, shops and bookstores (amazing bookstores in my opinion) all over. One of my favorite streets is Costa Rica as nearly every place I've gone to in Palermo is at Costa Rica and another street. Although you should know that Palermo is huge and has been subdivded into Palermo Viejo, Palermo SoHo, Palermo Hollywood and more that I don't know so get a decent idea of which part you want to go to before you head out.

Plaza de Mayo - This is the city center where you'll find the Casa Rosada (their Whitehouse) among other things. But the more important thing, at least for me, is that you are almost guaranteed to experience something very important to Argentinos - protesting. There's always some type of protest in the Plaza de Mayo.

La Boca - Ok so every tourist has to go to El Caminato in La Boca. It's cheezy and touristy but you just have to take a picture of the colorful houses if you go to Argentina.

Las Ferrias - Ferrias are open air markets here and they are everywhere. The most famous is in San Telmo's Plaza Dorrengo on Sundays. While it's technically an antique market you can find just about anything there. There's also a big market next to the cemetery in Recoleta which I highly reccomend (although you'll notice that the prices are a bit higher at this market). Those are the two I'm most familiar with but any market is good here.

Cemetery in Recoleta - For me this is a must see. It's a rather large and very famous cemetery that looks like it belongs in Paris and not in South America. Plus you can visit Evita's (Eva Peron's) grave.

MALBA - I've yet to make it here but every tells me it's an amazing art museum.

La Bombonera - This is the futbol stadium. While I've yet to start following soccer it was still cool to see the stadium and such. If you're really adventerous go to a game on Sunday - but if you do you should go with an Argentino or book with a travel agency (let's just say the games can get violent sometimes).

Hotels - From what I've seen of the city and the hotel choices you want to stay in Recoleta or in Palermo. If not those two, then maybe Belgrano. If you are on a business trip you might end up in the Microcentro which will be fine for business but very busy if you're here for fun. Puerto Madero is also very very nice but it's the extremely expensive area in town and it's not exactly close to everything else like Recoleta or Palermo.

Taxis - Taxis love to drive you around for an extra 10 pesos and take the long way. They also love to give you fake money (nearly always small bills) and try to screw you over on your change. While most of them are very nice and want to chat with you, you should always keep an eye on where you are going, pay with nothing larger than a 20 and check your change as it could be fake. Out of the 10 or so people that I hang out with about 7 of us (including me) have gotten fake money from a taxi driver.

Other transportation - The Subte is amazing but crowded. The Green (D) and Red (B) line are said to be the safest. The colectivos (buses) are everywhere but are very confusing. Don't take one unless someone trustworthy told you which one to take and where to get off. You have to wait at the stop and put your arm out for the bus to stop. You pay either 90 centavos or 1 peso and only coins are accepted. You have to press the button before your stop for the bus to stop. They are very crowded and you'll probably have to stand. The drivers are usually rather nice and you can always ask them where to get off. If you're here for a little while buy a Guia T at any newstand - it's the bus schedule (rather, guide as they are no times for buses they just arrive very 10 mins or so during the day and ever 30 or so at night). The train can be great to get from one end of town to another but only take it during the day. The Mitre line is said to be safest.

Other - You should know who Che Guevara is before you come here as he's pretty much considered a national hero. Be ready to discuss, and sometimes defend, American politics. Argentinos love to debate and practice their English. It wouldn't hurt to wikipedia Argentine history to learn a bit about the dictatorship (which just ended in the 1980's) and Peron as well as what's happening now. Argentinos are late for everything - up to 30 mins late is considered normal. This also happens with the public transportation system as the schedules posted are typically only suggested times (the Subte is the exception to this). You tip 10% and only in restaraunts - don't tip taxi drivers although you always round up to the nearest peso and never ask for centavos back. You can pay with credit cards (Visa is most popular here) but can't tip on them. Lastly, don't drive here, it's impossible.

And a side note - here "gringo" refers to a white person from Europe, they will call an American "americano" or "norteamericano" if they call you anything at all

Leyes......que son esas?

Yeah so the title translates as "laws...what are those?" Basically the law doesn't exist in Argentina. The best example of this is traffic law. Red lights and the lines on the road are merely suggestions, not laws. The same goes for speed limit signs. There really is no real method to driving here it's merely every man for himself and they get quite crazy. Cars cross over into opposing traffic and pass through the middle of lanes. The buses are the worst as they get within centimeters of other buses. Although within all of this craziness I have to admit that I've only seen one car accident and it was only a little fender bender. But this "screw the law" attitude carries over into many aspects of Argentine life - again, lays are merely suggestions.

Other than that today is a major political day here as the president is addressing the people over the whole farmers on strike issue. After a few days of constant protesting she is going to speak. However, her supporters are meeting the in plaza de mayo to hear her speak which means that all of those against her (the majority) will also head there to "counter-protest" - yeah, let's just say it won't be a polite, peaceful discussion. That's really about it for now. Tonight I'll head to El Museo and then I'll get up and go to class.

Blogging creeps me out....

So this whole blogging thing is really new to me. It's weird that anyone, literally, can see what I write. And yes, I know I can make it private and such but then all of my family and friends have to join and I have to accept them - that's just too much trouble.

In short, if I don't know you thanks for reading. If I should know you (and your profile name doesn't spell it out) feel free to tell me who you are. Or feel free to tell me who are you anyways, especially if you leave a comment.

Mystery Solved

So I did finally ask the other girl I live with (the one from New Orleans) if she had any clue as to what it was I ate. After describing it to her she still didn't know; after our chat she casually asked the dad of our house what it was. After talking with him she discovered while it wasn't stomach it wasn't much better. It's some cut of meat from in between the ribs. Regardless it's still a think tough piece of meat in between two thin membranes - and yes you are supposed to eat the membranes.

On another note ... while I've enjoyed my time here in Buenos Aires I'm ready to move onto Santiago. One of the people I hung out with the first two weeks here is already in Santiago and from what he tells me I think I'll like Chile a bit better. I love the big city vibe here but sometimes it's too big of a city and the constant littering, pollution and protesting is starting to get to me. I can't wait for a tiny bit of piece and quiet and to be able to clean out my ears at night without having the Q-tip turn black. I'm also looking forward to living close to the school and not having to pay a minimum of 22 pesos for a taxi ride.

The Plague

Ok so obviously I don't have the plague but I am sick. I haven't felt great for a few days as I've been waking up with a sore throat and such but it has normally gone away (I just thought it was allergies due to the pollution here). But yesterday I woke up feeling terrible; although I still went to the market in San Telmo. It was freezing outside and I was out and about in town, outside, for a good 8 hours. I came back home feeling terrible. I did stop at the Farmacity (like a Walgreens) to get some medicine - just FYI Argentina has socialized medicine and you don't need a prespcription for most drugs. I bought a cough/throat drop that had an antibiotic in it. Basically I took a ton of allergy medicine and Advil Cold/Sinus and went to bed. A good 14 hours later of tossing and turning (as well as literally a few hundred tissues) I woke up feeling somewhat better. Then I walked to the grocery store and returned with a fever. After more medicine and hundreds, if not thousands, more tissues I do indeed feel better and I'm 99.9% sure I'll be fine tomorrow. Personally, I'm just glad that today was a national holiday and that I didn't have class.

So I was supposed to go to Uruguay today but when we went to buy tickets on Sunday all of the return boats were full. Therefore, we couldn't really make the trip (which turned out for the best with me being sick and all).

Beyond being sick and my plans for this long weekend changing yet again something else interesting did happen. Tonight was the first night I had no clue what I was eating for dinner. While I was afraid to ask I think my guess is pretty good - it was a thin layer of tough, dense meat between two thin layers of what looked like some type of lining; yeah, I'm rather sure it was stomach of some type. Again, I could be wrong but I was scared to ask. I just took a few bites and always took a bite of potatoes or bread with them. Yeah, it wasn't a great experience. Even if it wasn't what I think it was, it was surely a piece of meat I had never seen in a US grocery store, let alone on a US table. Considering the numerous parts of the animal they eat in Argentina and the many meals I've had here I consider my odds of encountering weird meats quite good.

I think that's it for now. I have exactly 200 Argentine pesos left (about $65) for the next 5 days; which should work if I watch my money. If not I guess I'll be asking mom to wire me some money. I leave for Chile on Sunday; until then I have a few more things I want to do here in Buenos Aires.

Pictures

Ok so to add pictures I'm going to start using Flickr. Here's the link to all my photos there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsnider88/

An interesting day to say the least

So my day started off at around 2 when I met some friends near a Subte station to do some shopping. When I got out of the Subte station all I could hear were car horns and people banging on pots and pans. After wondering what was going on we finally stopped someone and asked. The police had arressted an important figure. Here in Argentina the farmers of the country were on strike for just at 90 days. During this time the interior (the rest of the country besides Buenos Aires) experienced food shortages and the grocery stores were literally starting to become empty. The main problems were with meat and milk shortages as the farmers were blocking off the roads into the city and milk was spoiling on the highway. Buenos Aires was starting to feel this shortage as well but then the strike ended. After the President spoke about the issue the strike started again. Today, the police arrested the leader of the farmers and Argentines went to the streets to protest. While they want the strike to end, the right to protest is a major thing here that no Argentine wants to loose. As a result, many many people took to the streets.

Beyond all of that comotion we just walked around and did a little shopping. Tomorrow we are going ot the market in San Telmo and Monday we are going to Uruguay. Uruguay is only about an hour or so away by ferry. That really sums up the day and most of the plans I have until I leave. I'll let you know how everything goes.

Lo que pasa

So I decided not to go to Iguazu Falls this weekend; for one thing it wasn't exactly cheap, it also was a 17 hour bus ride each way and lastly I would leave on Friday and not get back until Monday night - I'd rather spend that time doing things in Buenos Aires than in a bus. I'll save that aventure for my next South American trip...yes, I'm nearly 110% sure that in my life I will travel to South America at least one more time. That being said, a few of the people I've met here are leaving, some for Chile and others for good (although the ones going to Chile I'll see in just a week). I leave for Chile next Sunday in the afternoon. I'll be living with Marcela, Walter and their daughter Maria. However, the best part of all is that my info sheet tells me they only live 10 mins away from the school...that's 10 mins in walking distance (yeah, I live quite far away in Buenos Aires, it takes me 45 mins at the best to get to school and any taxi ride home I take is at least 20 pesos while everyone else pays around 10). While I'm starting to mentally part with Buenos Aires I'm here for another week and still have stuff I want to do. I will definitely go to MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) and the Museo del Arte Moderno. I'll also go to the huge market in San Telmo on Sunday and on Thursday I'll head to the Plaza de Mayo to see the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Other than that, the school has some interesting activities going on including salsa lessons, although hardly anyone dances salsa in Argentina. That pretty much wraps up my time here, it's gone by super fast and I have a feeling that next week will go by even faster. Monday is a national holiday so I don't have class.

Wednesday I went to a tango lesson with a group from school. I have to say, tango is by far the hardest, most complicated dance I've ever seen. While the lesson didn't last long we did go see a tango show on Thursday night. It was at Cafe Tortoni, a hugely famous place here. Upstairs it is a coffee bar but downstairs it's a dimly lit, sultry tango bar. We saw a tango show they put on there; while it was very touristy and highly scripted it was still fun. I hope to see more tango on Sunday in San Telmo.

Palermo -
So Palermo is by far my favorite part of Buenos Aires. In all honesty I'm not so sure I'd live in Buenos Aires; however, I would probably live in Palermo -especially Palermo Viejo, Palermo SoHo or Palermo Alto. Basically Palermo is the trendy part of town with tons of shopping, art galleries, bookstores and restaurants. I've only been there once thus far but I'm heading back out that way around 9 or so tonight.

I really can't think of anything else that's going on right now. I'm still working on getting some pictures up....surely with the long weekend I'll have some up soon.

An update

So I haven't blogged in a day or two because I haven't had the time and the wireless signal in my room really likes to go out while I type blog posts. So now I've decided that when I blog I'll go down to the first floor of the house and sit in the living room right next to the wireless router so this doesn't happen. But onto more interesting things....
Tonight I'm going out to eat in Palermo with some friends. I have really high hopes for Palermo as, according to what I've read, it's clearly the end of town I should like the most. Afterwards we are going to a milonga (a tango show) sponsored by the school. After that we are going back to the club we went to on Saturday as it's free to get in on Wednesdays thanks to an agreement at the school - we just have to say "Natasha" at the door. Tomorrow there is a city tour sponsored by the school. After that I'm going to an actual tango show, as in a well known one, at around 10. This weekend I'm headed for Igauzu Falls. (for pics and info on those go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls )It's about a 12 hour bus ride, but I'm told it's worth it. There is no school on Monday as it's a national holiday so I should have time to figure out a new way to put up pictures and write more posts.

In response to a comment....

So I was asked in a comment more about the Argentino clubbing attitude. During the week they have "after works" which are like our normal clubs. People head to them after work around 8ish and they close at 2 or 3 am. These are pretty much just like any other club/bar in the US. Now on the weekends it's a different story. They head to dinner around 10 then to a bar around 11:30 then to a club around 3 or so. The club closes around 7 or 8 am so they then head to an after club until noon. Then they go home and sleep and start over for Saturday. That's pretty much it; they say if you party in Argentina you should bring sunglasses for the next day (yes my guide book says that but they say it here too), and yes, they actually do that.

River Won!

So futbol is what runs life here in Argentina. River, one of the two main teams, won the championship. As a result, the city is partying as a whole. People are blocking el 9 de Julio (the huge 15 lane boulevard) and partying in the streets. You hear yelling, horns honking and tons of salsa and Spanish rap. Even my rather quiet end of town is booming right now. It's fun hearing all of this is seeing the city really come alive - especially on a Sunday night.

About those photos....

So photos take forever to upload, as in to add 3 or 4 I have to sit here for a good 30 mins at minimum. I'm looking for another way to do photos. They should be up soon. So for now, just imagine those places....

Living like an Argentine

Yesterday was a jam packed day. I woke up at 8:00 in the morning and headed to the school to meet up with some other students. We went to La Boca (a neighborhood here) to see the famous colorful houses. It was fun as we strolled down the overly decorated touristy streets but wasn't something that took up much time. We headed down a few other streets filled with shops and markets which seemingly all sold the exact same things for the same price. Next we headed to the futbol (soccer) stadium. Quick Argentine soccer lesson - there are two big teams here La Boca Junior and River. La Boca Junior is the team of the working class which is why their stadium is in the center of La Boca. There are some pictures below. The stadium was very small for a soccer stadium but was still cool. Lastly we caught bus 29 which is known as the "public tour bus" as its route goes around all of the big sights - all for only 1 peso.
We got off of the bus at the Plaza de Mayo, I had already been there but everyone else had not. Next was La Catedral de Buenos Aires (the BA Cathedral) which there are some pictures of below. It was very interesting b/c on the inside it was just like any other huge, old Catholic cathedral but on the outside it was somewhat simple and looked very much like a replica of the Parthenon. Next was the Obelisk which sits at nearly the heart of the city and right in the middle of the 9 de Juilo - the huge 15 lane boulevard (yet again, pictures below). Next was lunch at a pizza place and making plans for that night. After lunch was a trip to the Museo Nacional de las Bellas Artes (National Fine Arts Museum). It was decent as far as museums go but not what I expected. The first floor, which was quite small, housed purely European art mainly from the Baroque period. The second floor, which was even smaller, housed modern art (they did have a Rothko, that made me happy) as well as Precolombian art (a room about the size of a high school classroom) and a decent size room of Argentine art from the classical periods to comtemporary art. The last room was what I expected - Argentine art in the National Museum. All together the museum only took about an hour.
After that I headed home, showered and took a short nap. We all met up again at 9 at the apartments some of the other students live in (the school owns an apartment buidling which is the other housing option). For dinner we went to a parrilla (the are about as Argentine as you can get - literally a place that grills meat very well at good prices). It was in San Telmo -on the border between San Telmo and Recoleta so still a good part of town- and was a place for the locals, at least it seemed so, and had amazing food. An example of prices here: I got a tenderloin steak, close to a filet as it was just a slice of the beef tenderloin, that was probably around 18oz (you don't choose a size here, only a cut) with fries (every steak comes with amazing french fries here) for 30 pesos which is just under $10. In the US this meal would have easily cost $35 b/c of the quality and cut of meat and of course because of its size. I'm not a huge steak eater, but this steak was absolutely amazing.
After dinner we headed back to the end of town we knew and stopped at a bar or two. At around 2 we decided to head to a club. At around 3 we arrived at El Museo, one of the biggest and most popular clubs here (also one that works with ECELA - my school). We had to wait in line of course but once we got in it was amazing. 4 floors and tons of people with a mixture of American 80's rock, 90's rock, disco, hip hop, salsa and Spanish rap. If you were to imagine your typical huge club scene in say any action movie set in Europe, this would be it. It was a lot of fun. I'm not sure what time the first people I was with left, but Alex -she's here from Texas- and I decided we wanted to stay longer. We ended up staying until they were about to close. After getting our coats and everything we left about 7 am. After that was the cab ride home which was fun as I told the driver I only had 20 pesos left (which is plenty to go where I needed) to make sure he wouldn't try to drive around aimlessly or take a longer route. However, because of a little traffic it did go over. He didn't really care, I just paid him the 20 pesos and he was fine (this mainly happended b/c I talked to them the whole time and we actually had a conversation he was interested in; that tends to happen here, if you talk to them about something they want to talk about the tend to turn off their meter and negociate a more general and vastly cheaper price). So I got home at around 7:30 and went to bed. I woke up around 4 and know I'm wirting this. That's pretty much everything, which is a ton of stuff in just a little under 24 hours. My wallet is also reflecting this as I have just enough Argentine pesos to get to school - I need to change money tomorrow.

La Argentina Real

(This was typed yesterday -Thursday- but b/c of internet problems I couldn't post it until today -Friday-)

So in looking over my previous posts I would like to qualify some statements about Argentine government. While I didn't say anything incorrect, that description is merely a brief (very brief) intro to their government. Furthermore, it's full of sweeping generalizations. Just thought I'd share that.

So in all honesty, today was absolutely the worst morning I've had here in Buenos Aires. As I've been late to school the past two days I did my best to arrive on time. I left my house extra early, caught the earlier train and arrived at the train station (Retiro) at 8:20. As the bus ride would only take 10 minutes I was going to be 30 minutes early....right? Of course not, you see here the buses are all different as different companies run different lines (here public transportation is a mix of public and private corporations - private corporations that receive support from the government); they are all different colors and all marked slightly differently. In leaving the station I saw "101" one the back of a bus - perfect, I needed bus 101 so I got right on. I sat there for the first few stops not really recognizing where I was going, but I was still around where I needed to go. Then a few more stops passed, then a few more. Finally I realized I was on the wrong bus (the 101 was the ID number for the bus while the route/line number was 70, which on this bus could only be found on the front - while I should have checked regardless, other buses I've been on have the route/line number in this place). Well this bus went to perhaps the worst area of Buenos Aires - near the river on the southern border of the actual city and the "roughest" part of La Boca. I passed through places where there were no houses, only shacks and packs of dogs running loose. There where also no more "white" people (here in Buenos Aires there's an almost equal mix of "white" people and more "hispanic" looking people due to the extremely heavy European influence) in this part of town. Needless to say I was extremely uncomfortable (borderline scared) in this part of town. Once the bus started to get out of this neighborhood and into San Telmo (still not the best place but certainly better) I felt safe enough to get off the bus and catch one that would take me back to Retiro, I asked the driver (who was as nice as could be) and he told me to cross a little intersection and take the same route (line 70) back. This worked just fine and I eventually made it onto the right bus and to school; nearly 2 hours late, but at that point I only cared that I was in a place I knew. So while I was extremely stressed this morning and was way way way out of my comfort zone (and to be honest would have been very unsafe had I not been on a bus -the buses are extremely safe here 24/7-) in looking back I'm glad I took that bus. I'm sure my parents are freaking out right now in reading this, imagining me in that part of a foreign country, but hey, things happen. I got to see the real Buenos Aires. After 2001 literally half of the country fell into complete poverty. I live in an upper-middle class "barrio" and go to school in the richest part of town; neither of which represents the true Argentina that its citizens live everyday. It was a very humbling experience and allowed me to put many things into perspective (including many of those political problems I talked about in other posts). It also explained the crime level here; I'm not so sure I could say I wouldn't resort to petty crime while living in those conditions, trying to keep my family alive and living in a government that doesn't work a lot of the time. In order to make this post a bit more positive and cheerful I'll talk a little bit about the rest of my day even though it was quite uneventful (the super stressed out morning really made me tired and I had homework to do). My instructors where fine with my being late for that reason (of course) and were just glad to see I was ok. After they were sure that I was fine they told me a bit about the area I went to (which the admittedly say they would never go to either) and explained to me pretty much what I explained to you - that it's the real Argentina and while I should never do it again, it's truly a good experience (in thinking back a bit more, I'm honestly pretty sure that towns made from shacks quite this bad don't exist in the US). We debated environmental problems (mainly global warming) and talked about the differences between environmental issues and awareness between the US and Argentina (there are TONS). Next I went to McDonalds - yes again, after that morning I need a place I knew everything about. Then my private class started at 2:30, which just as it was yesterday, was amazing. Then I took the bus, yes the correct one, to the train station and headed home (on a side note directed to my Mom - I had to wait about 20 mins at the train station so I bought a Coke Zero - here any time you by a 20 oz drink, no matter where you are, they always give you a straw. Like my mother, Argentinos drink from cans and 20 oz bottles with straws). That's pretty much the end; now I'm typing this, then homework, then dinner, then bed. Tomorrow I'll be on time to class then tomorrow after school I plan on going to see "La Avenida 9 de Junio" - the main boulevard here that's 15 lanes wide and nearly exactly resembles a huge Parisian boulevard. Tomorrow night I'm not sure of yet, the school has an event at PACHA (a club here) that I might go to, but if I do I will have to take a nap before hand as porteños don't start going to clubs until around 2am (they leave around 6 or 7am and head to "after clubs" until noon or so on the weekends). And don't worry; if I go to PACHA I'll take a cab.

Dr. Juilee Decker and Argentine Government

Today started off quite terribly but ended well. As I was late for school yesterday I left the house extra early this morning. I left at about 10 till 8:00 this morning to catch the train (about 1/2 block from my house) at 8:04. I took the train to Carranza and got on the Subte. I was on the Subte for a while then the lights on the subway all went out. At the next station (Aguero) we were told our train had technical problems so everyone had to get off. This meant that tons of people were all waiting for the next train (literally, people jam themselves into the subway cars, it's very typical to have an entire body against you for the whole ride during busy hours). The next subway came but there was no way I could have fit in it as many of the other people that had to exit the first train crammed themselves inside. The next subway came but it sat there for a while, which was very unusual. Then an announcement was made saying that the D Line was down. Just great, I was stuck in a substation and had no clue how to get to school from there. After about 20 mins there was announcement that only two stations on the line (there are about 13 or so total) that would be actual stops, neither of which were my stop; however, the subway still didn't leave. 10 mins or so later they announced that normal service would continue. Long story short, I was still about 20 mins late and was in the Aguero station for about 40 mins - not fun. I'm told that problems like this happen all of the time and I just experienced what being a true Argentino feels like.

But the day did get better, a lot better; I met the Spanish-speaking version of Dr. Juilee Decker (minus all of the invites to speak at national conferences and published articles of course!). Her name is Susana and she is the instructor for my private classes, which started today. She's currently working on her thesis for her Master's in Latin American art. She knows a little bit of everything and a lot about most things, she also asks me the exact types of questions Dr. Decker asks me. Today we talked about the idea of public art, the academies, Guernica, Las Meninas, "Las Senoritas d'Avignon," El Tres de Mayo, methodologies of art history, precolombian art, The Armory show and The MoMa exhibiton entitled "Abstract Art" in 1936 (these two were brought up as she told me how Latin American's define modernism in art history and I described how the modern movement began in the US) - more or less, it was awesome. The class will become more of a history/civilization class over the next two classes or so, but to start in art was amazing.

In my group class we talked about the Argentine Government and its numerous issues. First and foremost, los Argentinos are required to vote. In the last election there were about 30 presidential candidates. However, the process is very corrupt as the major candidates have powerful people in each neighborhood (many in the poorer neighborhoods) that trade cash and/or food for votes. In the last election, Kristina de Kirchner (wife of a former president) won. At first the people loved her, but now she's not the most popular person. Some say she tries to act like Evita (Eva Peron - a national hero for the people), this really makes people angry as Evita is someone you don't try to act like nor speak badly about - Evita is Evita and no one can be like her. Second, she has a very "I'm the president, I'm better than you" type attitude which no one cares for. She, at least from what people have told me, wasn't like this during her campaign. Unlike in the US, there are no debates - it's more about political connections. It also suprised me that US politics are widely popular and are major news here. Many people love to watch our debates, and the current political news is front page news here (I found out about Obama on the Argentine news). Back to the Argentine government, it has its share of problems. For one, moneda (coin money) is scarce. This is a problem b/c to ride the bus you have to use coins; most people here travel by bus (there are about 600 different bus lines and each line has multiple buses, literally thousands of buses!). In order to control the economy the government stopped adding money to the economy (a good thing); however, they just stopped making coins to do this (very bad idea). In a nut shell, there is a major shortage of coins. Next are politics between the city of Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. For example, there is a huge strike right now. Many farmers are blocking roads into the city and this strike has gone on for about 2 months now. It has to do with taxes and the government regulating incorrectly. The public schools are also bad here as many are without heat right now and in very very very poor condition (students closed a major intersection just yesterday to protest). Another issue is healthcare. Here all healthcare is free for everyone (both Argentino and forgeiner alike). But anything that's not an emergency takes forever (you typically have to wait at least 6 months for a non-emergency surgery). A great city and country but certainly with problems (not that the US is perfect by any means). This situation leads to strikes and protests on a daily (literally) basis.

Cemetario de la Recoleta

So yesterday before lunch I went to the "Cemetario de la Recoleta" with the guy from Texas (Taylor) and the guy from Holland (Uri). It's an extremely orante cemetery that is nothing like those in the US. Frist and foremost it consists solely of mosuleums and looks like something right out of a movie. It started out as public cemetery but was eventually reserved for imporant public figures (i.e. military heroes, generals and presidents) and the wealthy. Perhaps the reason why most people come here though is to see Evita. Remember that movie with Madonna called Evita, well it's based on Eva Peron (Evita), the wife of an important Argentine president, and her remains are here. There's tons and tons of history that goes along with the Perons and even today the political parties are the "Peronistas" and the "Anitperonistas." Google "Peron" or "Eva Peron" if you want to know the entire history (let's just say it involves the loss of hands, politics and even necrophilia). Below are some pictures from my visit there:

These last three are of Eva Peron's grave:

(Durarte was her maiden name)

Mate, Steak and McDonalds

So I've noticed that I walk a ton here, quite literally about 75-100 blocks per day at the very least (40 just for school). I'm not really complaining, it's just rather different for me as I drive when I'm at home and I go to a college where you can get from one corner of the campus to the other in about 5 minutes. This thought really doesn't have some deep meaning, I just thought I'd share that with you.

So to the title of this post "Mate, Steak and McDonalds." Mate is a huge ordeal here, it could be compared to the Native American "peace pipe." It's a drink similar to green tea (well to be honest I think it tastes just like green tea) that is served hot in a special cup that I don't remember the name of. There is a strict process for preparing it and it is shared; meaning you drink all of the mate from the cup, pass it back to the person that refills it (the "servador/a") and then it goes to the next person. That doesn't sound complicated but trust me, it is. Argentinos drink mate as a social activity. While mate is also found in Uruguay (what many people hear seem to call "mini-Argentina"), they drink it cold and each person has their own cup (which isn't necessarily the special cup used here).

When you think of Argentina beef is sure to come to mind. Argentinos eat it quite often. The food here is rather heavy and consisits largely of beef and potatoes. For breakfast you drink coffee (typically a high quality instant coffee if at home yet super high quality coffee is demanded if getting it out somewhere) and eat crackers/cookies with cream cheese. Lunch is eaten around 1 or 2 and is a lighter meal. Argentinos have a light snack around 5 or so then dinner is eaten around 10. In my house dinner always consists of a soup (remember, it's winter here). These soups have been great so far, but I couldn't even begin to tell you what kind of soup they were; nonetheless, they are good. Then comes the meat and potatoes. The first night we had potatoes, some type of roast and some type of grilled meat along with a pickled eggplant type thing. This eggplant is homemade and is supposed to be eaten with meat. It's actually quite good and tastes nothing like pickled things from the US. Last night we had lentils, which are not my favorite food by a long shot; however, for lentils, they weren't bad. For lunch I've had random things. Yesterday I went to a restaurant with two guys from school (one from Texas the other from Holland) and we had a steak, it was great. Here steak isn't seasoned and it grilled to perfection (just fyi, Argentinos tend to eat their beef on the more done side). Here a big "steak dinner" will cost you about 30 pesos ($9-10 US) - and that was in the expensive part of town. Today I went to McDonalds, which is quite a different experience than in the US. It's two huge levels. The first houses a small McD's ice cream stand and a coffee shop, yes it still says McDonald's and everything (it's called McCafe). It looks like any other big coffee shop, with espresso and all. Also on this first floor are modern tables and black leather sofas. Upstairs is the "regular" McDonalds and the menu was about the same as it is in the US. The place was gigantic, about the size of 8 or so McDonalds at home, and yet again, modern-style tables and black leather sofas were everywhere. There were also computers with free internet access. All of this overlooks the Cemetario de la Recoleta (more to come on that in a few) so it even has a nice view. I think that sums up all of my food experiences thus far.

Escuela

So school is going good. Yesterday was the first day and I had to be there at 8:00 in the morning for a placement test. I was placed in "advanzado 2" (advanced 2) and classes went on as scheduled. In class we usually start out with conversations about random things. Then we go on to a reading and discuss it. Later is a more creative activity and finally some type of game. Within all of this we write short things and go over grammar as our weaknesses become apparent. Class if from 9 until 1 but it doesn't seem anywhere near that long. There are only 4 people in my class, one from Chicago and two from South Dakota. The students are from all over the world; I've met students from Switzerland, Germany, Holland and England as well as students from Michigan, Texas and California. However, I was 20 minutes late to school today as I was told it would only take about 30 mins to get to school but it took me just under and hour. To fully understand this you have to know a little more about Buenos Aires. The city is huge, both in population and size. It takes about 30-45 minutes to ride a subway from one end to the other, which still isn't the whole city. In a nutshell, everything is spread out. I live in Belgrano, an upper-middle class northern neighborhood (just fyi pretty much any neighborhood in the north is "safe" while the south of the cityis considered more "dangerous") and my school is in Recoleta, the ritzy upper class part of town. In order to get from my door step to the school I must walk 12 blocks (power walking takes about 10-15 mins) then I must get on the Subte (subway) from Congreso de Tucuman (the first station) to Falcultad de Medicina or Pueyrredon (both stations about 3/4 of the way to the end of th line) which takes about 20 mins. Then I have to walk up Junin (a road) for another 8 blocks. To recap, 20 blocks plus a Subte ride. I don't mind walking at all, it just takes a while. Especially when you consider how crowded the sidewalks are and the fact that the Subte is literally packed full of people in the morning (it's perfectly normal to literally climb over someone to exit or get in the subway car; you can't have issues with small spaces and ride the Subte). Other students live in Recoleta, about a 15 minute walk to school at most. But I do happen to like where I live more as it's cheaper to buy things in my part of town and I live in what could be considered "real" Buenos Aires while other students live in the super wealthy and tourist crowded part. I also have a great family, that helps as well. That's about it as far as school goes, at least for now.

Otra cosa mariposa....

So today was my first "real" day in Buenos Aires. First of all, I feel right at home as I slept until about 1 this afternoon to find that everyone else in the house didn't get up until 3 or so....porteños (people from Buenos Aires) stay up very late and sleep in. Afterwards I talked to Nicki and Dani, two other students staying here. Nicki is from New Orleans and has been here since September. She was teaching English but now she is looking for a job. Dani is from Venezuela and is taking classes, but not at the same school as me. After planning our night, we left about 7:00 for the movie theatre to see "Locura de amor en Las Vegas" (What Happens in Vegas) which was actually a good movie (the movies here are in English with Spanish subtitles, just fyi). Before that we walked through and open air market and went to an ice cream place. Ice cream is a huge thing here, there are places everywhere and nearly all of them deliver. The one we went to had about 50 or so flavors to choose from, it was great. After which we want to the movie, which as I already said, was pretty good. Later we headed home. However, this night was extremely important for me because I got to chat with two students that have been here for a while (and one even spoke English!). I learned how to use the bus and just some general things to do and/or watch out for. Know I feel like I can get where I need to go and back just fine. It was an amazing feeling to ask important questions (i.e. how do I use the bus) in English to an English speaker as there was no "I think I understood what they said" afterwards. The title of this post comes from the name of a store. Earlier, Nicki and I saw the store's sign while waiting on Dani as she used the ATM. Then we had a conversation about it's meaning. Dani told us it can mean just about anything, but this was a good 20 minute conversation and, if nothing else, made for an interesting title (otra cosa mariposa literally means "other thing butterfly"; it's used to change the subject or when talking about something and another topic comes up that you don't want to elaborate on -i.e. "that's another story"-). Tomorrow school starts, I'll fill you in on that later.

A word about Argentine Spanish...
It is by far the most difficult part of this trip. It's been a long time since I've had to concentrate so much on someone's words to understand them, even in Spanish. In all honesty, if you just sit back and listen it doesn't sound like Spanish, it sounds a lot like Italian because of the intonation patterns and such. First and foremost, they pronounce everything in a radically different form. For example, in Mexico you'd hear "Me llamo" (where "ll" = "y") but here it's "Me llamo" (where "ll" = "sh"). While that might not seem like a huge difference, it seems that every other word is pronounced like this, so it takes a minute to hear "me shamo" and think in my head "me llamo." Furtheremore, it's a very harsh "sh" sound; I knew of this pronunciation difference before I got here but I didn't know it would be so harsh. Second, they have their own verb form in Argentina - the wonderful "vos" (you). In most places they'd use "tu" or "usted" but here it's nearly always vos. I can understand this form but have no clue how to use it, or conjugate it for that matter (hopefully this will change with school). Lastly, there is a different set of vocabulary. For example, when I headed out to explore the city yesterday Adrianna (my "mom") said, "Si tomas [she used the vos form but I don't know it so I'm writing the tu form] algo en la calle, llevas tu mochilla en frente." To me this means, if you drink something (alcoholic) in the street be sure to put your backpack in front of you. Yeah, here "tomar" means to drink but in Mexico "tomar" means to drink (alcohol); here to drink alcohol is "chupar" which has a different meaning in Mexico.....a very sexual meaning so it's very weird for me to hear people use it in daily conversation. I've deciphered accents before (Adela's Spanish accent, Sara Maria's Puerto Rican accent, the Mexican accent, etc) but this one has me largely dumbfounded. While I'm sure I'll understand it much better over the next couple of days, I'm about 99.9% sure I will not be incorporating "sh" or "vos" into my Spanish....it's just too weird for me.