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.
