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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!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Hola! Welcome to Buenos Aires
38.5 pounds. The lady at the AA counter seemed pretty impressed that I packed for 6 months for under 40 pounds. Not so impressed that she upgraded me, but that might mostly be due to the fact that first class was full up. Anyway.......So here I am in Buenos Aires where it has been raining pretty much the entire time since the plane touched down on Tuesday morning. And I have to say that coming from cold NYC, it is warm and about 100% humidity. I don´t think my hair has been dry in two days and walking about 20 blocks with my backpack this morning made me want to take a shower all over again!
I arrived Tuesday morning, my bags made it safely, and I found an ATM all in good time. In line waiting for a taxi, I met a guy from Mexico who had just arrived to start his PhD work in Sociology. We chatted about US and Mexican politics for a while. He was saying he has been involved in politics for a while, and might consider running for senate when he is done with his studies...I´ll have to be on the lookout for him on the Mexican politcal scene! The taxi ride into the city was about 40 minutes to the B&B I had booked in the Palermo section of BA. The city is lovely, although I was a bit surprised that in many areas pretty much anything that is not nailed down has graffiti on it. I´ll write more on the city later.
The area I am in, Palermo Soho, is pretty much like the soho in NY with the funky shops and interesting looking restaurants, but without the pretentiousness of NY. And many trees which is quite nice. I got a cold just before leaving NYC and so just walked around the neighborhood the first day I was there, intending to go to bed early. I wanted to get something to eat for dinner around 7;30, and the b&b guy looked horrified that I wanted to eat so early. He was sure nothing would be open yet, and so directed me to what he considered a fast food place across the street. I am not sure what made it fast food as anywhere else it would look like a regular restaurant, but did notice ( each day) that many locals are having coffee right around that time in the afternoon. Apparently it is pretty crass to have dinner any time prior to 9 PM. Anyway, I had a nice half bottle of wine (for $3) and a very tasty ham and cheese panini.
Yesterday was a work day. I made contact with a spanish school I am interested in and then went down there (in downtown) via the subway and signed up for class. It appears that pretty much the entire week next week is a holiday here in Argentina, so we will be having classes 5 hours a day for 4 days next week, rather than 4 hours a day 5 days a week which is what we will normally do.
After that, I went over to San Telmo to the South American Explorers clubhouse. About a week and a half ago at mom´s I had seen an ad on Craigslist for a room for rent at a clubhouse and when they described the other clubs you could use (in Quito, Cusco and Lima) I knew it had to be SAE, as I am a member of that group. Anyway, it turned out the room was let to someone else, but on Tuesday, they wrote me to say that another room had become available for exactly the time I need! So it works out perfectly! I was thinking to do a homestay for Spanish school, but in looking at the options on the website, it became pretty clear that a homestay here in BA in equivalent to just living in someone´s apartment who is usually at work and they all speak English, which would defeat the purpose! The manager at the clubhouse confirmed that in a city like this, homestays are really nothing more than renting a room and an Argentine person shows up to collect the rent every week. It was also more expensive to do a homestay, so again, this works out great as I will get to meet people from all over the world and speak Spanish any time I want to! There are pictures of the clubhouse here:
http://www.saexplorers.org/clubhouses/buenosaires/pictures
The picture with the stairs are the steps that lead up to the bedrooms, of which there are 3. San Telmo is cute--kind of looks like the East Village prior to gentrification. I didn´t spend much time there yet as I will be there for a whole month to check out. What I did check out though?
8 pesos for the wash and fold baby!!!! I´ll fill you in on the quality of laundry service after I check it out. :)
This morning I moved from the b&b to a hostel. I will be paying $8 a day vs. the $30 a day I paid at the other place. There are 16 beds in the room, but totally doable for 2 days. Oh, and this hour I have spent on the internet? About 75 cents compared to the $8 I spent in NYC...
I arrived Tuesday morning, my bags made it safely, and I found an ATM all in good time. In line waiting for a taxi, I met a guy from Mexico who had just arrived to start his PhD work in Sociology. We chatted about US and Mexican politics for a while. He was saying he has been involved in politics for a while, and might consider running for senate when he is done with his studies...I´ll have to be on the lookout for him on the Mexican politcal scene! The taxi ride into the city was about 40 minutes to the B&B I had booked in the Palermo section of BA. The city is lovely, although I was a bit surprised that in many areas pretty much anything that is not nailed down has graffiti on it. I´ll write more on the city later.
The area I am in, Palermo Soho, is pretty much like the soho in NY with the funky shops and interesting looking restaurants, but without the pretentiousness of NY. And many trees which is quite nice. I got a cold just before leaving NYC and so just walked around the neighborhood the first day I was there, intending to go to bed early. I wanted to get something to eat for dinner around 7;30, and the b&b guy looked horrified that I wanted to eat so early. He was sure nothing would be open yet, and so directed me to what he considered a fast food place across the street. I am not sure what made it fast food as anywhere else it would look like a regular restaurant, but did notice ( each day) that many locals are having coffee right around that time in the afternoon. Apparently it is pretty crass to have dinner any time prior to 9 PM. Anyway, I had a nice half bottle of wine (for $3) and a very tasty ham and cheese panini.
Yesterday was a work day. I made contact with a spanish school I am interested in and then went down there (in downtown) via the subway and signed up for class. It appears that pretty much the entire week next week is a holiday here in Argentina, so we will be having classes 5 hours a day for 4 days next week, rather than 4 hours a day 5 days a week which is what we will normally do.
After that, I went over to San Telmo to the South American Explorers clubhouse. About a week and a half ago at mom´s I had seen an ad on Craigslist for a room for rent at a clubhouse and when they described the other clubs you could use (in Quito, Cusco and Lima) I knew it had to be SAE, as I am a member of that group. Anyway, it turned out the room was let to someone else, but on Tuesday, they wrote me to say that another room had become available for exactly the time I need! So it works out perfectly! I was thinking to do a homestay for Spanish school, but in looking at the options on the website, it became pretty clear that a homestay here in BA in equivalent to just living in someone´s apartment who is usually at work and they all speak English, which would defeat the purpose! The manager at the clubhouse confirmed that in a city like this, homestays are really nothing more than renting a room and an Argentine person shows up to collect the rent every week. It was also more expensive to do a homestay, so again, this works out great as I will get to meet people from all over the world and speak Spanish any time I want to! There are pictures of the clubhouse here:
http://www.saexplorers.org/clubhouses/buenosaires/pictures
The picture with the stairs are the steps that lead up to the bedrooms, of which there are 3. San Telmo is cute--kind of looks like the East Village prior to gentrification. I didn´t spend much time there yet as I will be there for a whole month to check out. What I did check out though?
8 pesos for the wash and fold baby!!!! I´ll fill you in on the quality of laundry service after I check it out. :)
This morning I moved from the b&b to a hostel. I will be paying $8 a day vs. the $30 a day I paid at the other place. There are 16 beds in the room, but totally doable for 2 days. Oh, and this hour I have spent on the internet? About 75 cents compared to the $8 I spent in NYC...
Monday, March 26, 2007
Off on my Journey....
So I am off in a few hours to the airport for my flight to Buenos Aires! Seems like it has been so long that I have been planning this trip that it is a bit hard to realize it is here already. And the biggest issue on my mind today? You guessed it--my laundry. Those of you that know me well will hardly be surprised since my life seems to revolve around the never ending issue of when to drop off the laundry, be availalbe to pick it up, etc--such a continuing saga I won't even say anymore about it.
I swear that someday I am going to write a book about my time in New York and it is going to be called My Life in New York As Seen Through the Eyes of My Laundry". Or something of that nature. Yes, I am very concerned about the fact that I have undone lanudry from my weekend here and someone is going to be burdened with the never ending issue of my laundry here in a few hours. :)
But anyway, thought I would take the remaining few minutes of the internet service I paid and arm and a leg for today ($8 for one hour!) to update this blog since clearly I haven't done it forever. I must say that if it costs this much down there, you folks might not hear from me all that often!
I have spent most of the weekend cleaning my apartment for the lovely couple who will be living in it for the next year. I must say that having to move or make a change in your life once in a while clearly helps you to clean out all the crap you have accumulated. I threw out 6 large trash bags of stuff I don't need and the dust bunnies under the bed were so big they needed to be caged!
As for the trip--really the only thing I have done so far is book accomodation for the first two nights at a lovely bed and breakfast in the Palermo section of BA. A little on the expensive side ($30 a night) but a nice place to unwind after an 11 hour flight and figure out where I am going to go to stay and start getting in touch with Spanish schools, as I have totally slacked off on that.
OK, better head out for now, back to the apartment for the final packing of my bag. And of course have to prepare the laundry for the lucky recipient. Stay tuned here for further adventures of my laundry..........
I swear that someday I am going to write a book about my time in New York and it is going to be called My Life in New York As Seen Through the Eyes of My Laundry". Or something of that nature. Yes, I am very concerned about the fact that I have undone lanudry from my weekend here and someone is going to be burdened with the never ending issue of my laundry here in a few hours. :)
But anyway, thought I would take the remaining few minutes of the internet service I paid and arm and a leg for today ($8 for one hour!) to update this blog since clearly I haven't done it forever. I must say that if it costs this much down there, you folks might not hear from me all that often!
I have spent most of the weekend cleaning my apartment for the lovely couple who will be living in it for the next year. I must say that having to move or make a change in your life once in a while clearly helps you to clean out all the crap you have accumulated. I threw out 6 large trash bags of stuff I don't need and the dust bunnies under the bed were so big they needed to be caged!
As for the trip--really the only thing I have done so far is book accomodation for the first two nights at a lovely bed and breakfast in the Palermo section of BA. A little on the expensive side ($30 a night) but a nice place to unwind after an 11 hour flight and figure out where I am going to go to stay and start getting in touch with Spanish schools, as I have totally slacked off on that.
OK, better head out for now, back to the apartment for the final packing of my bag. And of course have to prepare the laundry for the lucky recipient. Stay tuned here for further adventures of my laundry..........
Saturday, December 23, 2006
In the Beginning...
Hey Everyone--welcome to my running commentary on world tour 07! Well, maybe not world tour, but at least a part of the world I haven't been to yet! Some you have gotten a copy of the below in an email to sum up what I am up to, for the rest of you..here are the details!As some of you may know, big changes are yet again in store for me. Those that have known me for a while know that this is my standard modus operandi—to get comfortable somewhere and then trade it all in for something completely new, so this is just another chapter in the continuing saga. For those of you who don’t want to be bored with the deets yet again, you can skip to the bottom and straight to the pitch for fundraising. Just kidding!
I have been in New York for 6 years now and there have been great times and some not so good times, but all in all, I have learned and experienced so much, that the move out here has been one of the best decisions of my life. I truly love New York and part of me hates to leave it, but there are many things to do and see, and life is short, so it is time to leave NY behind for a while and move onto other things.
I’ll be leaving my job at AMDA, where I have been for the past 4 years, in a couple of months and embarking on an adventure in South America. While I don’t know any Spanish (yet), the experience of learning it and living in the culture at the same time is one of the most exciting things about this opportunity, I think.
I’ll be leaving NYC on March 26th and heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Once there, I’ll spend about a month learning Spanish and checking out the city. In late April or early May, I’ll leave BA, hopefully in the company of my good friend Shannon, and begin an overland journey to Ecuador. I am pretty sure that with the distances to be covered and the fact that I actually want to see something enroute, that I will go through Northwestern Argentina, and up through Bolivia to La Paz.
I have been in New York for 6 years now and there have been great times and some not so good times, but all in all, I have learned and experienced so much, that the move out here has been one of the best decisions of my life. I truly love New York and part of me hates to leave it, but there are many things to do and see, and life is short, so it is time to leave NY behind for a while and move onto other things.
I’ll be leaving my job at AMDA, where I have been for the past 4 years, in a couple of months and embarking on an adventure in South America. While I don’t know any Spanish (yet), the experience of learning it and living in the culture at the same time is one of the most exciting things about this opportunity, I think.
I’ll be leaving NYC on March 26th and heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Once there, I’ll spend about a month learning Spanish and checking out the city. In late April or early May, I’ll leave BA, hopefully in the company of my good friend Shannon, and begin an overland journey to Ecuador. I am pretty sure that with the distances to be covered and the fact that I actually want to see something enroute, that I will go through Northwestern Argentina, and up through Bolivia to La Paz.
In late May/early June, I am planning on flying from La Paz to Quito, Ecuador to do a 2 month service at a biological preserve working on conservation, reforestation, and maybe assisting scientists with research. I am pretty psyched about that part as some of you know how sexy I find science to be! The organization, Jatun Sacha, has several preserves throughout the country and I will work at 2 others of the course of a year. You can read about the organization and see photos of the preserves here:
http://www.jatunsacha.org/
After spending the months of June and July at the Jatun Sacha preserve in the Amazon, my sister Mary will join me in Quito for some traveling around Ecuador for about 2 weeks. Then I will head back down through Peru, check out Maccu Pichu, and back to Buenos Aires by late September for my birthday. I am flying back to NYC on Oct 2 where I will spend a few days hanging out with you fools who are working for a living!
From there I am going to my mom’s place in the mountains of Western North Carolina for a couple of weeks. I’ll be flying back to Quito in mid October to do a second service, this time on the coast of Ecuador at the Congal station for another 2 months.
After that, the plan is to possibly go to Honduras for Christmas, if Shannon in there--and mom might join me (the pic of us above is in Honduras last Christmastime) or to Guatemala, and then travel my way back down before reporting on Feb 1st for my third stint at a station high in the Andes called Guandera. I should wrap that up in April of 2008 and then head back to the states. Who knows what will happen then, and I am not too concerned about it as I know life has a way of setting your next course!
Whew! So that is it in kind of a nutshell at this point. I am excited and of course somewhat terrified in moments of reality to give up everything I know to go live in a new culture. But lets’ face it, that’s what life is about, no?
Love you all and happy holidays and the very best in the New Year! May you always keep on traveling….
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