Right now I am sitting in the computer lab of my school. It is the first day of classes and I have a pretty long break. I thought I would have some homework or something, but instead I ate some empanadas with some friends.
These past few days have been pretty great. I have been around the city and met some really cool people. On Thursday I went to a Hip Hop club that starting poppin' at around 3 or 3.30. I have been with Dana a lot and she stayed at a hostel for the past few days, so I have met some really cool people there. One girl, Renee, is even Jewish! We went to the club with the hostel friends and I have never been somewhere so hot. It was disgusting. At one point I bought a beer and it was steaming because of how hot the club was and hot cold the beer was. Gross.
On Friday we went to Tigre, a part of the city that is really cool, but we didn't really go to. Instead they bus and boated us to a "private" island resort thing. It was like being in Jamaica or something. A weird beachish place, with brown water! The river isn't that dirty, as everyone assumed, but the sediments and dirt and stuff are really prominent. Some people soaked up the sun and tanned. I obviously got so dark and tan that everyone was jealous. SIKE. Instead I spent 20 minutes putting on sunscreen. One funny thing was that there was a bar and everyone had a couple drinks except for one girl that got wasted. WASTED. DRUNK. It was embarassing. Also on this day, I mentioned my brother Eric in passing and some girls freaked out. One said she wasn't introducing herself only because of my awesome brother, but I found her highly dubious.
Saturday has been the best day so far. Dana and I went to La Boca, a working-class area by the water and the home of the fútbol team, La Boca Juniors. There is a really strong rivalry between La Boca and other team from Buenos Aires, Río Plato, that often ends in fights. Río fans are usually of a higher class and get a lot of flack for supporting them. Think of a Cowboys fan living in DC...But La Boca is the home of the colorful houses you see on postcards from Buenos Aires. There are numerous restaurants with trained couples dancing tango, and street vendors that reminded me of the Folk Life/Street Festivals in Takoma Park. We looked around this area for a while and then walked a few blocks out into the real part of La Boca. We looked at grafitti, talked with locals, and just kind of strolled around, looking at the beauty of a run-down part of the city. It happened that there was a La Boca game that day and an old porteño tried to help us get tickets, for like 20 minutes, but we did not succeed. Instead we watched the game in a bar/restaurant full of locals. An interesting fact: Store owners are not allowed to sell alcohol in La Boca during the games because of how crazy fans get, no matter the outcome. Even though La Boca lost, the vibe of the area was awesome. Everyone was wearing the blue and gold and you could hear the chants from the stadium 10 blocks away.
Sunday I got lost on the bus for 2 hours trying to go to a Hillel event. Note that taking the bus is very difficult. Not only are there so many buses, which is usually helpful, but you can only use coins to ride the bus. This is the root of the coin problem in Buenos Aires. They are saying that in the next few months they are going to get cards for all the colectivos, so you can put cash on it before, like in NYC, but it will probably happen after I leave. Instead I hoard all my change, making sure I can ride the bus to school the next day. The money is like a horrible joke. Vendors will give you more change back than you should get just so they can keep the change. Big chains don't mind, but kioscos, which are similar to bodegas, will have signs that say "no hay moneda." They also do not like 50 and 100 note pesos. So, my trip on el colectivo was made more annoying because of this stupid money problem. It was not fun. I missed the entire event. Instead, my friends Sam and Ellie and I went to the Kosher McDonald's (the only one outside of Israel!) in a mall. By the end of the night I was exhausted and ready for class.
Spanish class is okay. Kinda boring but okay. The other class I had today was Music of Latin America and I am so excited for it. I am going to learn about Tango, Samba, AfroCuban, and much more. The professor is crazy, but great.
Okay. That is all for now.
Word of the Day: Boludo- To your friend it is like "Hola, Boludo" or "What's up, Stupid." But to a stranger it is very rude and disrespectful. I think I shall be using it when I get road rage back in the states.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I'll try this.
I didn't think that I wanted to do a blog, but after multiple conversations with friends and family, I decided to give it a go. I am not sure how often I will update once classes start and I have to do other writing, but for now I will let y'all know about my life down here.
It is my 3rd night in Buenos Aires and I am freakishly tired. We are 3 hours ahead of the East Coast, so it is not jet lag or anything, but I am not even sure I can go hang out with people tonight because of my weakness. Anywho...let's start at the very beginning.
I left DC on Sunday and all my flights were super easy. I didn't have any trouble except for the first teller at Delta who tried to tell me my visa would run out while in Argentina. Alex and I explained otherwise and my flight to NYC was empty. I was unusually social at the airport, choosing to sit with some people from my program instead of brooding in a corner with my ipod blasting music. The flight to Buenos Aires was long, but I slept 8 of the 10 hours, so I was very fortunate. Once in Buenos Aires (we got there at 12pm on Monday) we waited in el aeropuerto forever so that a bus could take us all to the city. From the first few moments in the airport, I felt this sense of familiarity with a distance I couldn't put my finger on. I still feel like that and I am not sure it is ever going to go away.
Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. I haven't even seen all of it, but from what I have, it is awesome. It is a green city, with lots of trees and huge parks, something New York can't measure up to. The main streets are really wide (they are copycats of Paris and other parts of Europe I have never been to) and the smaller ones are nothing compared to the windy streets of the Lower East Side. This being said, I have not really gone too many places besides my homestay and the NYU academic center because of this annoying orientation we are having, so the other parts of BA could be exactly the same.
I live in an apartment with my house mother, Beatriz, and another girl from the NYU program, Hannah. The apartment is in a very ritzy area of town. It is technically in Recoleta, but is on the line of another neighborhood. Regardless, these people are rich. Or at least I think so. The apartment is in a building with a doorman and Beatriz's "unit" is basically an entire floor. Both Hannah and I have our own rooms and a bathroom to share (there is also another guest bathroom that we can use when needed). There is a parlor that is never really used and a dining room that also seems to only come out when there is company. There is Wifi Internet and lots of windows overlooking Avenida Del Libertador (our street) and more importantly a train station, which is very cool because you can see the trains come and go. Most importantly in our view is a billboard for a tanning salon with a woman lying on her back wearing only a thong. Fortunately, Hannah has a better view of this billboard than I do, because at night it is lit-up. The area is like the Upper East Side of NYC, really nice, but kind of boring. It is also a little far from school, we can take the bus really easily, but it is one of the reasons I haven't ventured too far yet (that and the fact that it rained all yesterday...good for the Argentinean drought, bad for me).
Hannah is really sweet and speaks much better Spanish than I do, which is both helpful and embarassing at the same time. And Beatriz is so great. So great. She is somewhere in her 60s (as Hannah and I have deduced) and is a rich, fashionable, hip lady. She loves Los Estados Unidos (the US) and really loves NYC. She got married at 22 but her husband has been dead for about 20 years. She has 2 children and 2 grandsons, who we are going to get to meet when they all come back from their respective vacations. Beatriz is just so sweet and accomodating. Unlike a lot of the families, she is doing this solely for the company. For example, we aren't supposed to eat breakfast there, or we have to buy our own food (according to the program), but Beatriz said we could eat anything. Also, when I told her I enjoyed media lunas (a croissant that is like brushed with a sugary syrup) she surprised this afternoon with a bag of them. Her favorite shows are CSI: and Sex and the City. She also showed me some of her magazines, one of which is an Us Weekly Leah offered to give me for the flight. Basically, Beatriz is great. She speaks English pretty well and is very accepting of my lack of Spanish. I think by the end of the 4 months we will both be a little better (or hopefully a lot better).
Orientation for school is lame. I don't like a lot of the people in the program. There are a few really cool people, but A LOT of them are frat boy-esque and their annoying female followers. They just make me feel like I am back in high school and cliques are important. That is why I am so happy Dana is here (and her good, and my soon to be good, friend Tirzah). We met up yesterday and got some cervezas and food for very cheap. And then I saw them again for lunch today (I really just snuck them into the NYU building and let them eat). It's great to have them here, and Syd on her way, because it reminds me that I don't need lame people. I have my good friends coming and we can tear this city up and always have each others backs. Still, I have met some really cool people, so hopefully those friendships will develop.
The school building is great though. The staff is great. The guard is great. I just want classes to start so that I can meet people that way and get into a routine in order to sort of ground myself.
I have one story that I think is pretty good thus far and then I will let you stop reading this. Yesterday was Hannah's birthday so we tried to go find a bar to get a drink. Beatriz told us of a place close by, but of course it was raining and we couldn't find it. Instead we just walked until we found something decent. First we tried to go to one bar/restaurant (nothing too insane) but were turned away. We were flabbergasted! We are well above the drinking-age in Argentina. But, through broken Spanish the bouncer (who was about to get his membership to AARP) told us that this club was for "older people." Defeated we went to some other place and talked for a while until these two boys came up and started talking to us. They were porteños (from Buenos Aires) and asked our ages (both 20). In return they said they were 18 and 19, but Toto had braces and Clarence was just outgrowing his baby fat. They flirted and practiced English and we all pretended like they were not around 16. They had one friend there who looked like he was 12. Then some girls they knew came and sat at a table nearby. When they heard we were American they responded, "Hi. How are you?" They were also extremely drunk 16 year olds. By the end of the night the girls and boys started arguing over whose English was better, but I was only thinking about their ending summer vacation and upcoming senior year of high school.
¡Chau!
Word of the Day: ¡Andá!- A command that can mean go somewhere (go to the pharmacy, go to the bank) or something similar to "You're Lying!" in a comical way
It is my 3rd night in Buenos Aires and I am freakishly tired. We are 3 hours ahead of the East Coast, so it is not jet lag or anything, but I am not even sure I can go hang out with people tonight because of my weakness. Anywho...let's start at the very beginning.
I left DC on Sunday and all my flights were super easy. I didn't have any trouble except for the first teller at Delta who tried to tell me my visa would run out while in Argentina. Alex and I explained otherwise and my flight to NYC was empty. I was unusually social at the airport, choosing to sit with some people from my program instead of brooding in a corner with my ipod blasting music. The flight to Buenos Aires was long, but I slept 8 of the 10 hours, so I was very fortunate. Once in Buenos Aires (we got there at 12pm on Monday) we waited in el aeropuerto forever so that a bus could take us all to the city. From the first few moments in the airport, I felt this sense of familiarity with a distance I couldn't put my finger on. I still feel like that and I am not sure it is ever going to go away.
Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. I haven't even seen all of it, but from what I have, it is awesome. It is a green city, with lots of trees and huge parks, something New York can't measure up to. The main streets are really wide (they are copycats of Paris and other parts of Europe I have never been to) and the smaller ones are nothing compared to the windy streets of the Lower East Side. This being said, I have not really gone too many places besides my homestay and the NYU academic center because of this annoying orientation we are having, so the other parts of BA could be exactly the same.
I live in an apartment with my house mother, Beatriz, and another girl from the NYU program, Hannah. The apartment is in a very ritzy area of town. It is technically in Recoleta, but is on the line of another neighborhood. Regardless, these people are rich. Or at least I think so. The apartment is in a building with a doorman and Beatriz's "unit" is basically an entire floor. Both Hannah and I have our own rooms and a bathroom to share (there is also another guest bathroom that we can use when needed). There is a parlor that is never really used and a dining room that also seems to only come out when there is company. There is Wifi Internet and lots of windows overlooking Avenida Del Libertador (our street) and more importantly a train station, which is very cool because you can see the trains come and go. Most importantly in our view is a billboard for a tanning salon with a woman lying on her back wearing only a thong. Fortunately, Hannah has a better view of this billboard than I do, because at night it is lit-up. The area is like the Upper East Side of NYC, really nice, but kind of boring. It is also a little far from school, we can take the bus really easily, but it is one of the reasons I haven't ventured too far yet (that and the fact that it rained all yesterday...good for the Argentinean drought, bad for me).
Hannah is really sweet and speaks much better Spanish than I do, which is both helpful and embarassing at the same time. And Beatriz is so great. So great. She is somewhere in her 60s (as Hannah and I have deduced) and is a rich, fashionable, hip lady. She loves Los Estados Unidos (the US) and really loves NYC. She got married at 22 but her husband has been dead for about 20 years. She has 2 children and 2 grandsons, who we are going to get to meet when they all come back from their respective vacations. Beatriz is just so sweet and accomodating. Unlike a lot of the families, she is doing this solely for the company. For example, we aren't supposed to eat breakfast there, or we have to buy our own food (according to the program), but Beatriz said we could eat anything. Also, when I told her I enjoyed media lunas (a croissant that is like brushed with a sugary syrup) she surprised this afternoon with a bag of them. Her favorite shows are CSI: and Sex and the City. She also showed me some of her magazines, one of which is an Us Weekly Leah offered to give me for the flight. Basically, Beatriz is great. She speaks English pretty well and is very accepting of my lack of Spanish. I think by the end of the 4 months we will both be a little better (or hopefully a lot better).
Orientation for school is lame. I don't like a lot of the people in the program. There are a few really cool people, but A LOT of them are frat boy-esque and their annoying female followers. They just make me feel like I am back in high school and cliques are important. That is why I am so happy Dana is here (and her good, and my soon to be good, friend Tirzah). We met up yesterday and got some cervezas and food for very cheap. And then I saw them again for lunch today (I really just snuck them into the NYU building and let them eat). It's great to have them here, and Syd on her way, because it reminds me that I don't need lame people. I have my good friends coming and we can tear this city up and always have each others backs. Still, I have met some really cool people, so hopefully those friendships will develop.
The school building is great though. The staff is great. The guard is great. I just want classes to start so that I can meet people that way and get into a routine in order to sort of ground myself.
I have one story that I think is pretty good thus far and then I will let you stop reading this. Yesterday was Hannah's birthday so we tried to go find a bar to get a drink. Beatriz told us of a place close by, but of course it was raining and we couldn't find it. Instead we just walked until we found something decent. First we tried to go to one bar/restaurant (nothing too insane) but were turned away. We were flabbergasted! We are well above the drinking-age in Argentina. But, through broken Spanish the bouncer (who was about to get his membership to AARP) told us that this club was for "older people." Defeated we went to some other place and talked for a while until these two boys came up and started talking to us. They were porteños (from Buenos Aires) and asked our ages (both 20). In return they said they were 18 and 19, but Toto had braces and Clarence was just outgrowing his baby fat. They flirted and practiced English and we all pretended like they were not around 16. They had one friend there who looked like he was 12. Then some girls they knew came and sat at a table nearby. When they heard we were American they responded, "Hi. How are you?" They were also extremely drunk 16 year olds. By the end of the night the girls and boys started arguing over whose English was better, but I was only thinking about their ending summer vacation and upcoming senior year of high school.
¡Chau!
Word of the Day: ¡Andá!- A command that can mean go somewhere (go to the pharmacy, go to the bank) or something similar to "You're Lying!" in a comical way
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