And so begins another chapter in our continuing story on life in Argentina. This is a land where the term "live your life today because you could get hit by a bus tomorrow" needs to be taken quite literally. The sidewalks here are roughly a foot and a half wide, and god help you if you need to pass someone. The buses here are all on some sort of race to the finish and will come to within an inch of the curb. So if you step into the street to pass someone on the sidewalk and a bus comes up behind you, chances are quite good that you will not survive the encounter.
Not only do the buses speed through the street, ringing the bell for the bus to stop so that you can get off is more of a suggestion than anything. For the most part, as they reach your stop, they slow down to a crawl, the door opens, and you jump out, hoping that your feet make contact with the street before the door handle hits you on the head as the bus speeds off. If you are lucky, many people will be waiting at the bus stop to board the bus. In that case, the bus will actually stop--which is good. I am certainly learning some new skills for coordination.
What I am not learning, unfortunately, are new skills of observation. That's right friends, your favorite blonde traveller had her purse ripped off at dinner the other night. About a bottle and a half of wine into the evening in a very busy place, I got drunk, lazy, and careless, and stopped paying attention to the activities of my handbag, which took that opportunity to find something else to do. Biggest tragedy of the night is the loss of my little red book, that has all the contact info for everyone I know and everything I need in it. That and the fact that bank of America says it will take 7-10 days to get me a new ATM card. Huh?? What a joke--I would be in real trouble if it was the only ATM card I had as a week is a long time to go without cash! That and replacing my NY DL will be a pain. They will only mail it to me in NYC and it will take a couple of weeks, so by the time it is received up there and sent to me, I will be somewhere in the jungle of Ecuador. Oh well, guess I have to work it out. Biggest loss number two:: the loss of my favorite, and apparently irreplacable, lip balm. Can't find it in Argentina--but Shannon will be coming to my rescue in a few days with a supply.
Small comfort that one of the Bush twins had her purse snatched in Plaza Dorrego, which is here in my hood, right in front of the secret service a couple of months ago.
In related news, apparently the police officer who made the report for me was trying to pick me up, and I was busy living up to the blonde hairdo and totally oblivious. We went to the police late Friday night here in San Telmo and they told me to go to the tourist police on Corrientes Saturday morning to make the report (supposedly for my insurance, but my deductible is too high and I really just want the police report in the event that I end up with an identity theft situation). I got there and he proceeded to tell me in a mixture of Spanish and English that I had two choices. I admit I had a moment where I was wondering if he was going to tell me that for 20 pesos he could make it much simpler.
If I wanted to list the restuarant as the place of the theft, it was in a different district and we would need to make an appointment for later in the afternoon to go there with an interpreter, etc. to file the report. If I didn't care about the location, they would take me now to the closest precinct on Lavalle calle and file a report saying some guy grabbed it from me on the street. Not giving a shit about the location, I opted for the now option. He called in another officer to take me to the police station and there we filled out the report about my "attack", which apparently now had happened at the intersection of Florida and Cordoba streets.
He asked me if I was single, and then proceeded to tell me 4 times that he was too. He also advised that I should have some Argentine friends to help me practice my Spanish. This is true, and he was really attractive :) but somehow after having a hangover and only about 3 hours of sleep this went over my head......sigh. Maybe it is time to start a new blog about my life and the myraid of missed sexual opportunities because I just wasn't paying attention and seeing the signs...sorry mom, don't read that one. :)
OK, I am outta here for now as I have no money and need to buy a handbag--although thankfully I now have a comb! Roger was nice enough to lend me some money so I could comb my hair...pathetic, I know. Worse than all this is the look of disdain I will no doubt get from my Spanish instructor tomorrow while he tries to decide if I am telling the truth about my textbook being in my handbag when it was snatched, or if I am making up a story about why I didn't do my homework.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Spanish Torture Sessions...and other observations
Hola armchair travellers! (I like that one, Joanna!) And so it is time once again folks for an update on life in Argentina...so I have now been here for 3 weeks and in Spanish class for the past two. I must say at this point in relation to the Spanish--yeah, not going well. This would mostly be because my social obligations seem to outweigh my desire to actually study since I have been all about anti-work these past few weeks. Alas, my progress has been so dismal, that I am finding I have to switch to private classes next week as the rest of the class moves on since they are all apparently buckling down and learning something. I have actually spent the weekend getting my notes in order though, so hopefully that will help tomorrow! If not, at least one can hope for a new teacher, so that none of the others I have previosly had will notice my total failure to progress.
Let's see, other news to report: My total inability to get pictures uploaded to this site. I have been trying to connnect my camera to the computer here, and thus far with no success. This could be due to the fact that the computers are a little older, or due to the fact that I am completely inept at all things technological. I will wait until Roger comes home and try to have him help me with it this evening. :) I have scheduled to stay home this evening just in order to do this, so it better work out.
In the past week, I have done some interesting things. Last Sunday we did in fact get over to the cemetary--which is really fascinating. It is a bit like the cemetaries in New Orleans with everything being in it's own masoleum. Although I guess all the people buried here are rich and important, so it makes sense that they want to have their own little house of the afterlife. Shocking though, is that all of them have glass doors and you are just gazing in on several coffins set up in a variety of ways. Bizarre and a little creepy. Very different sort of architeture on all of them though, and asthetically interesting to look at. Eva Peron is actually buried with her family (not her husband's--he is in the second class cemetary for whatever the reason) and there is a big story about how it got to be here. Apparently her body was mising for a while, and then someone held it for ransom...so on and so forth. So it is just in the house of her father here. Of course many people were gathered around and such, and eventually perhaps you all will be able to see my picture of it! On our way back, Roger and I found a great grocery store in Recoleta--it had two floors and we were so excited (the grocery stores are nothing to write home about here) that we went shopping and had to lug the stuff into the subway and 15 blocks home.....ah just like being back home!
On Wednesday night, I went to this private sushi-Peruvian fusion party thing. I guess this guy owns a buidling that he does some events and things at and has a sushi night every once in a while. It is an invitation only thing, so not a restaurant where people just come in, and for 60 pesos it was all you can eat sushi. They had a great live band and it was a blast. The atmosphere is very dark, with candes and smoking! Guess that is something you can allow when it is your own private party rather than a business. I am not sure when the nonsmoking thing went into effect here, but the Argentines don't seem too thrilled with it.
Thursday night I attended a Mate tasting class here at the clubhouse. The event was hosted by a company called Maneras Argentinas www.manerasargentinas.com.ar and they do all kinds of instructional and informational programs regarding Argentine culture, food, etc. Mate is the the traditional drink of Argentina and we learned all about it's origins, how to serve it, so on and so forth. Pretty involved and a great time. Mate is like a very strong very bitter green tea drunk hot through a specific straw (called a bombilla) out of a gourd. Very interesting and I am now hoping to introduce it to the supper club in October when I come back for a few days! Something for you ladies to look forward to!
On Friday night, I went to an amazing jazz concert here in San Telmo with some of my classmates from the school. One of the guys in class has lived here for a while, and his daughter goes to school with the daughter of a guy who is apparently considered the one of the best jazz musicians in the country. He plays the bass, and had a 12 man orchestra with him. It was wonderful, and something I am sure I never would have thought to do if there wasn't someone in the know to point it out. Afterwards we went to dinner and I had the bife de chorizo, which is the Aregentine favorite cut of beef. It was incredible, although I am still getting used to the idea of going out to eat at 1 in the morning, which is standard here on the weekends. Even the kids are out with their parents eating that late--it is all a bit bizarre, but I am getting to be OK with it. On regular weeknights people go out for dinner around 10-11. Not sure I have gotten to bed earlier than 3 in a few weeks....
So, let's see. Last night I went to a tango show with a woman I met through Lonely Planet. She has been down here travelling with her husband who had to take off for San Diego yesterday for business, so she was here one last night before heading back to England today. She found a place she wanted to try that was near me, but turned out to be 180 pesos per person! She had already been to one of the big expensive tango shows and didn't want to do that again, and I was not really looking to drop that kind of cash, so we ended up at a small tango club near the main plaza in San Telmo. The show was free and we had dinner and wine for about 30 pesos($10) each. Definately better! They had musicans and dancers and although the whole thing has a little bit of a cheese element (just like Broadway) it was still a great fun touristy thing to do!
In general, I have to say I really love Argentina. The people are great, it is very laid back (although apparently everyone is in therapy here--I think it has to do with the loss of a sense of life since the history of the country is so riddled with corruption, etc. and they get to a point where they have faith in nothing--at least this is how one porteno explained it to me) and people seem to know how to enjoy life rather than always being so focused on how to get to the next step in thier career, or how to screw someone over, or whatever it is that we seem to think we must do in the states.
The attention from men is pretty much exactly what I expeted in a Latin American country, so no surprises there. They do the whole catcalls and calling out and lots of starting, but never to a put (at least thus far, knock wood) where you feel afraid they are going to follow you or something.
The middle of the night is like the middle of the day here--anytime I am coming home at 4 am, there are people and traffic all over the streets, and I haven't gotten a grasp yet on what time of the morning most of these folks go to work. I'll have to check on that and give an update next time. They do coffee or tea and a sandwich around 5-6 PM and that is how they are all able to go to dinner at 11, I guess.
OK, I think that is it for now. It is 8:30, so I have just enough time to take a nap before having to think about dinner :)
Let's see, other news to report: My total inability to get pictures uploaded to this site. I have been trying to connnect my camera to the computer here, and thus far with no success. This could be due to the fact that the computers are a little older, or due to the fact that I am completely inept at all things technological. I will wait until Roger comes home and try to have him help me with it this evening. :) I have scheduled to stay home this evening just in order to do this, so it better work out.
In the past week, I have done some interesting things. Last Sunday we did in fact get over to the cemetary--which is really fascinating. It is a bit like the cemetaries in New Orleans with everything being in it's own masoleum. Although I guess all the people buried here are rich and important, so it makes sense that they want to have their own little house of the afterlife. Shocking though, is that all of them have glass doors and you are just gazing in on several coffins set up in a variety of ways. Bizarre and a little creepy. Very different sort of architeture on all of them though, and asthetically interesting to look at. Eva Peron is actually buried with her family (not her husband's--he is in the second class cemetary for whatever the reason) and there is a big story about how it got to be here. Apparently her body was mising for a while, and then someone held it for ransom...so on and so forth. So it is just in the house of her father here. Of course many people were gathered around and such, and eventually perhaps you all will be able to see my picture of it! On our way back, Roger and I found a great grocery store in Recoleta--it had two floors and we were so excited (the grocery stores are nothing to write home about here) that we went shopping and had to lug the stuff into the subway and 15 blocks home.....ah just like being back home!
On Wednesday night, I went to this private sushi-Peruvian fusion party thing. I guess this guy owns a buidling that he does some events and things at and has a sushi night every once in a while. It is an invitation only thing, so not a restaurant where people just come in, and for 60 pesos it was all you can eat sushi. They had a great live band and it was a blast. The atmosphere is very dark, with candes and smoking! Guess that is something you can allow when it is your own private party rather than a business. I am not sure when the nonsmoking thing went into effect here, but the Argentines don't seem too thrilled with it.
Thursday night I attended a Mate tasting class here at the clubhouse. The event was hosted by a company called Maneras Argentinas www.manerasargentinas.com.ar and they do all kinds of instructional and informational programs regarding Argentine culture, food, etc. Mate is the the traditional drink of Argentina and we learned all about it's origins, how to serve it, so on and so forth. Pretty involved and a great time. Mate is like a very strong very bitter green tea drunk hot through a specific straw (called a bombilla) out of a gourd. Very interesting and I am now hoping to introduce it to the supper club in October when I come back for a few days! Something for you ladies to look forward to!
On Friday night, I went to an amazing jazz concert here in San Telmo with some of my classmates from the school. One of the guys in class has lived here for a while, and his daughter goes to school with the daughter of a guy who is apparently considered the one of the best jazz musicians in the country. He plays the bass, and had a 12 man orchestra with him. It was wonderful, and something I am sure I never would have thought to do if there wasn't someone in the know to point it out. Afterwards we went to dinner and I had the bife de chorizo, which is the Aregentine favorite cut of beef. It was incredible, although I am still getting used to the idea of going out to eat at 1 in the morning, which is standard here on the weekends. Even the kids are out with their parents eating that late--it is all a bit bizarre, but I am getting to be OK with it. On regular weeknights people go out for dinner around 10-11. Not sure I have gotten to bed earlier than 3 in a few weeks....
So, let's see. Last night I went to a tango show with a woman I met through Lonely Planet. She has been down here travelling with her husband who had to take off for San Diego yesterday for business, so she was here one last night before heading back to England today. She found a place she wanted to try that was near me, but turned out to be 180 pesos per person! She had already been to one of the big expensive tango shows and didn't want to do that again, and I was not really looking to drop that kind of cash, so we ended up at a small tango club near the main plaza in San Telmo. The show was free and we had dinner and wine for about 30 pesos($10) each. Definately better! They had musicans and dancers and although the whole thing has a little bit of a cheese element (just like Broadway) it was still a great fun touristy thing to do!
In general, I have to say I really love Argentina. The people are great, it is very laid back (although apparently everyone is in therapy here--I think it has to do with the loss of a sense of life since the history of the country is so riddled with corruption, etc. and they get to a point where they have faith in nothing--at least this is how one porteno explained it to me) and people seem to know how to enjoy life rather than always being so focused on how to get to the next step in thier career, or how to screw someone over, or whatever it is that we seem to think we must do in the states.
The attention from men is pretty much exactly what I expeted in a Latin American country, so no surprises there. They do the whole catcalls and calling out and lots of starting, but never to a put (at least thus far, knock wood) where you feel afraid they are going to follow you or something.
The middle of the night is like the middle of the day here--anytime I am coming home at 4 am, there are people and traffic all over the streets, and I haven't gotten a grasp yet on what time of the morning most of these folks go to work. I'll have to check on that and give an update next time. They do coffee or tea and a sandwich around 5-6 PM and that is how they are all able to go to dinner at 11, I guess.
OK, I think that is it for now. It is 8:30, so I have just enough time to take a nap before having to think about dinner :)
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Week 1..and a Half
Wow--can't believe I haven't updated this since I first got here! How lazy am I? Much has happened and I have many oberservations to report. Better do so before I forget them all! My housemate here is updating his blog daily and putting up pictures and all kind of stuff...and here I am, realizing that now that I am in Aregentina, the blogger website comes all up in Spanish (which I have only studied for a week now) so I can't really read the instructions to upload photos or anything. So there will probably be no pictures until Shannon arrives and shows me what the hell I am supposed to do.......!
Last time we tuned in...I moved to the hostel. Interesting. Everyone there was 18 and travelling together as a group. What I found bizarre is that they never left. They spent all their time on the internet, or whatching TV, or whatever, but not going out and seeing the city. Granted it was raining for those two days, but not like a downpour or anything. Anyway, we will chalk it up to one of those things I will never understand, of which there are many in my life. The hostal experience was interesting to have, but not a place I care to have to stay at long term, like I guess many people do.
I am here now at the clubhouse and have been here a little over a week. I moved in last Saturday and then began Spanish classes on Monday. There are two guys living here with me, one is a guy from Tampa, Florida, who is also working here as an intern, and the other is a guy from Germany (whom I have only seen once so far as he went to Mendoza for the holiday weekend) who is studying abroad from a university in Berlin. They are both very nice, and Roger and I have been out several times over the past week--he arrived last Monday--for dinner and just to check out the neighborhood etc. We are currently without hot water at the clubhouse and have been that way since Thursday. Jen, the club manager, was out yesterday to try and see if she could get the pilot light to ignite as we could not, and has said she will need to contact the gas guy, so hopefully a hot shower will be back in my life again soon. They do some fun things for the club memebers here: last weekend we had a movie regarding the Malvinas war, as this is the 25th anniversay, and we also had a thai cooking class that I have attended. They have a Spanish conversation class on Tuesdays and Poker on Wednesdays.
I started my Spanish classes last Monday--5 hours a day for 4 days because of the holidays! It was intense, and I am not sure how much I have retained. I can recognize and understand a lot of words, etc. but am in no way ready feelink like I can put any sort of sentances together! In fact, but Thursday I was starting to feel like I was going backward instead of forward, but assume that is probably natural. The classes are good--we have two instructors and they each do half of the day and it is nice because they have different styles and you get used to hearing how different people speak, so I am happy with that. Our first week there were 6 of us--all English speakers. We have 2 guys and 1 woman from England, a guy from New Zealand, and a guy from Las Vages. Two of the guys are not continuing as they are taking off to travel, but I think the rest of us are going on. Apparently we will have different teachers next week as it varies as to how many students are in the class, etc. We will also probably have new people start--those with a little Spanish skills that don't need to start from the very beginning. We went from 2:45 to 8:30 last week and will do 2 to 6:30 from here on out, 5 days a week. My plan is to be there for the next 3 weeks and hopefully by then be able to say something! :)
I have done a lot of walking around BA and it is really a fun city. I have met a number of people who came for a little while and have ended up staying, so it is very interesting to meet people and find out what brought them here, where they are going afterwards, etc. Yesterday I went to the fine arts museum (Museo Nacional Bella Artes) which was lovely and free! They have a very nice collection of standard European art that is set up well, and a large Argentine art area. There is a Latin American art museum that I am looking forward to visitng. Today I am going out with some friends to check out the big San Telmo street fair (which is amazing-I walked around a bit at it last weekend) that they have on Sundays, and then perhaps we will go to the famous Recoleta Cemetario which is where Eva Peron and some other famous Argentines are buried. Roger and I went to a big dance club last week and that was a good time. We had to wait in line--something I never do for clubs!--but only for a few minutes. The cover charge was 20 pesos (about $7) and you are given a coupon for a free drink. It seems standard here that if you pay a cover charge it usually includes a drink.
So for now, I am off to get dressed and ready to go out, but will post later on regarding some of the more interesting observations I have had regarding Argentine life, culture, and food!
Last time we tuned in...I moved to the hostel. Interesting. Everyone there was 18 and travelling together as a group. What I found bizarre is that they never left. They spent all their time on the internet, or whatching TV, or whatever, but not going out and seeing the city. Granted it was raining for those two days, but not like a downpour or anything. Anyway, we will chalk it up to one of those things I will never understand, of which there are many in my life. The hostal experience was interesting to have, but not a place I care to have to stay at long term, like I guess many people do.
I am here now at the clubhouse and have been here a little over a week. I moved in last Saturday and then began Spanish classes on Monday. There are two guys living here with me, one is a guy from Tampa, Florida, who is also working here as an intern, and the other is a guy from Germany (whom I have only seen once so far as he went to Mendoza for the holiday weekend) who is studying abroad from a university in Berlin. They are both very nice, and Roger and I have been out several times over the past week--he arrived last Monday--for dinner and just to check out the neighborhood etc. We are currently without hot water at the clubhouse and have been that way since Thursday. Jen, the club manager, was out yesterday to try and see if she could get the pilot light to ignite as we could not, and has said she will need to contact the gas guy, so hopefully a hot shower will be back in my life again soon. They do some fun things for the club memebers here: last weekend we had a movie regarding the Malvinas war, as this is the 25th anniversay, and we also had a thai cooking class that I have attended. They have a Spanish conversation class on Tuesdays and Poker on Wednesdays.
I started my Spanish classes last Monday--5 hours a day for 4 days because of the holidays! It was intense, and I am not sure how much I have retained. I can recognize and understand a lot of words, etc. but am in no way ready feelink like I can put any sort of sentances together! In fact, but Thursday I was starting to feel like I was going backward instead of forward, but assume that is probably natural. The classes are good--we have two instructors and they each do half of the day and it is nice because they have different styles and you get used to hearing how different people speak, so I am happy with that. Our first week there were 6 of us--all English speakers. We have 2 guys and 1 woman from England, a guy from New Zealand, and a guy from Las Vages. Two of the guys are not continuing as they are taking off to travel, but I think the rest of us are going on. Apparently we will have different teachers next week as it varies as to how many students are in the class, etc. We will also probably have new people start--those with a little Spanish skills that don't need to start from the very beginning. We went from 2:45 to 8:30 last week and will do 2 to 6:30 from here on out, 5 days a week. My plan is to be there for the next 3 weeks and hopefully by then be able to say something! :)
I have done a lot of walking around BA and it is really a fun city. I have met a number of people who came for a little while and have ended up staying, so it is very interesting to meet people and find out what brought them here, where they are going afterwards, etc. Yesterday I went to the fine arts museum (Museo Nacional Bella Artes) which was lovely and free! They have a very nice collection of standard European art that is set up well, and a large Argentine art area. There is a Latin American art museum that I am looking forward to visitng. Today I am going out with some friends to check out the big San Telmo street fair (which is amazing-I walked around a bit at it last weekend) that they have on Sundays, and then perhaps we will go to the famous Recoleta Cemetario which is where Eva Peron and some other famous Argentines are buried. Roger and I went to a big dance club last week and that was a good time. We had to wait in line--something I never do for clubs!--but only for a few minutes. The cover charge was 20 pesos (about $7) and you are given a coupon for a free drink. It seems standard here that if you pay a cover charge it usually includes a drink.
So for now, I am off to get dressed and ready to go out, but will post later on regarding some of the more interesting observations I have had regarding Argentine life, culture, and food!
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