Hola South America

Didn't we do something in Rio?

2007-03-09T22:58:00.000-03:00

And since I love answering my titles: yes! We did do quite a lot in Rio, and I'm putting it all on a separate blog at http://olario.blogspot.com/ It's not finished by any means, but I've started uploading Carnival pics to my picasaweb.

But here's a breakdown of what we did each day (there are some holes, but once I look at the pictures I should be able to figure out what we did):

Thursday: I was stuck in Buenos Aires waiting for my Brazilian visa
Friday: Arrived at 10 PM, but that wasn't too late to go out to Lapa
Saturday: Went to Ipanema during the day, went to Lapa again at night
Saturday: Got on a bus to Copacabana and ate at a traditional Brazilian BBQ buffet restaurant, then walked down Copacabana Beach to Ipanema Beach, don't remember the night
Sunday: Went to Ipanema again, went to a nightclub called Scala at night where there were probably only prostitutes and really old women who could have also been prostitutes. It was a good venue otherwise. Then we walked to Ipanema beach and stayed until sunset
Monday: Went to Ipanema again, don't really remember that night
Tuesday: then took the street car to st teresa, then took a cab up to see christ, then went to Ipanema, watched people get rescued, you got a borat mask, that night, we met the lawyer that night at emperio's and went to the beach until sunset, then ate breakfast with them
Wednesday: went to downtown Rio to eat breakfast, then took a street car to St. Teresa, then took a cab up to the Christ statue, took a bus to Barra and spent the night with Beto's mom in the country
Thursday: Went to the beaches around Barra, went out to a bar in Barra that night
Friday: Went to the beaches in Barra again, I got really sunburned, and we went back to Flamengo where we had been staying
Saturday: Went to Ipanema that afternoon, I stayed home that night because of the sunburn
Sunday: Went to Ilha Grande, relaxed in our room, walked around town, and walked down the beach, went to the plaza that night where there was a band and lots of people
Monday: Went to Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde where there were tons of fish, but it was a cloudy day and it started to rain in the afternoon
Tuesday: We went to Lopez Mendez Beach which is known for surfing, ate at German-owned kilo restaurant at night
Wednesday: Walked to to waterfalls with girls we met in the pousada/hotel, then walked to the beach and took a boat back that almost capsized in the large waves
Thursday: I hiked up to the top of Pico do Papaggio while Espen and Simen kayaked around, we took the ferry/bus back to Rio, went to Parme (an all you can eat pizza restaurant where they walk around with the pizza's serving you)
Friday: Flew back to BA landing at Jackey's apartment for a couple days

Chau!

First dinner alone in Buenos Aires

2007-03-09T22:17:00.000-03:00

I think tonight is the first dinner that I've had alone since I came to Buenos Aires in October. And that's excatly why I have time to write an update to the blog and explain where the last (has it been a month?) has gone. First, I went to Rio de Janeiro with my friends Espen and Simen, then we came back to Buenos Aires and I decided I was going to go back home sooner than later in order to start working. Last Tuesday I booked a ticket for the next Monday. Monday, March 12 to be exact.

We've also been shopping. Or rather Simen and I are tagging along while Espen spends the big bucks buying suits, shirts, and shoes for his new job. (But really, big bucks are small in Buenos Aires.) His new job that could make him a very, very large chunk of change as a sales manager for a company in Norway, and his flight left at 3:30 PM today. So that's why I'm eating dinner alone tonight.

But don't I know anyone else in Buenos Aires? Let's see... Jackey's down south on a trip with her dad, Caroline's going out with an Argentine guy she met, and Tuva's following our footsteps in Rio. And so my dear reader, we're alone tonight to toast an Argentine vino tinto, perhaps a Malbec, to the end of trip well worth whatever time and money was spent here.

Chau! See you when I get back!

Still alive

2007-02-26T18:54:00.000-03:00

I'm still alive! Carnival is over, but I'm still in Brazil until the weekend. I won't have any time to write anything until then, but you can check out our pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/esjaavik/CarnivalInRioDeJaneiro
Chau!

A trip to the emergency room and more

2007-02-12T19:14:00.000-03:00

After coming home from futbol game, I kept feeling worse and worse, and I could feel my tonsils growing, and growing. I took a bunch of different vitamins and pills before going to sleep hoping my tonsils would start to feel better. Well they kept getting worse, so at 5 AM this morning I decided I should go to the emergency room because they were hurting so bad my eyes were watering.

I went to the Hospital Aleman again because it's very close to where we live now. I got there, and it didn't seem like anyone else was there. I paid my 52 pesos, and then waited for about 30 minutes before being seen by a doctor. He just prescribed a high does of Ibuprofen, and a weird liquid that makes your mouth numb that I don't know how to use. The prescriptions cost $25 pesos, so all in all I only spent about $21 US. Pretty good price for not having insurance here. It seems like it would be half off if I had insurance.

So the next day, I took the Ibuprofen and it seemed to help a lot. That was until last night when again, even though I was on the Ibuprofen it hurt so bad I couldn't sleep. I thought about walking back to the hospital, but decided I should just wait until the morning so that I could see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. Also called an otorrinolaringologia. Yeah, that's a long word, probably one of the longest Spanish words I've seen.

The doctor today told me I had a bacterial infection and prescribed antibiotics that I have to take for one week. The week that I also happen to be in Rio. Ughhhhh all of these illnesses are really wearing me down... I'm crossing my fingers. Chau.

Football fever and swollen tonsils

2007-02-11T22:35:00.000-03:00

I woke up this morning this morning unable to swallow without , feeling a lot of pain. I looked up and told Espen that Jackey could have my ticket to the futbol game we were supposed to go to today. Too late! He'd already found another one for her. This meant I was going, with a fever and swollen tonsils.

It wasn't a bad game, with one point scored by River (our team) at the very end. I had almost forgotten how crazy the games were, since the last one I went to was way back in October. It was my first weekend in Buenos Aires, and it's actually where I met Espen and Tuva, my Norwegian friends.

Today it was me, Jackey, Espen, and Simen. We had good seats close to the field, but they were in the sun almost the entire game and it was pretty hot. We came straight home, and I'm probably going to go to sleep early because I have to wake up early tomorrow and see if I need a new visa to Brazil. Chau!

See all the pictures...

River Plate vs Lanus

Three's a charm

2007-02-10T01:17:00.000-03:00

This week has been the week of me losing important things. It started last Saturday while we were out at the nightclub Opera Bay. I woke up the next morning, and couldn't find my cell phone. Espen tried calling it, and when it went straight to the voice mail, I knew something was wrong since I never turn it off. (And yes, it had a full charge.)

Luckily, I have some insurance. Unluckily, filing a claim is a bitch, and I have a $200 deductible on a $350 cell phone (if I have to buy it new from Cingular). I have to file a police report, prove ownership, and send a statement of events. The police report it the killer, and hopefully the "tourist police" will be able to write a report, and hopefully they won't want anything under the table for their trouble.

Number 2: We went to Colonia, Uruguay on Monday, and had a great time. When we were going back to the apartment, I couldn't find my keys. Uh oh... my shorts have loose pockets and I like to sit in funny positions which empty my pockets out where I'm sitting. Sometimes I remember to look behind me, and sometimes I don't. The whole next day I was worried about how much it would cost to have keys made (probably about $10 US, because all keys here are expensive). Then I found them in my backpack upon closer inspection.

Three's a charm: Today we went to the gym, and I remember stuffing cash and my wallet into my shorts before we left. When I got back to the apartment, no more wallet. This time, I spent about an hour cleaning up and looking everywhere in out 30 meter square apartment, and have not had any luck. I was carrying about $200-300 US in it because I had just gotten money from everyone for putting the Colonia trip on my credit card, and all my important credit and debit cards were in it. There's probably still a 25% chance that it will turn up in the apartment, but as the time goes by I'm getting more and more worried.

It's probably the worst time to loose my wallet since we're about to go to Rio, and we're not going to be in one place for very long (or know where we will be on a certain date). Hopefully it will turn up since I can't imagine where it might have ended up. My vision of what happened before and during the gym is cloudy because I wasn't feeling too great, but Simen checked the cab back from the gym for anything left behind.

It's frustrating for the obvious reasons, but even more so because I never loose things that easily. I've never lost a cell phone or a wallet before except underneath the seat of my car, and I'm usually very conscious of my belongings. I'm still crossing my fingers, but I'm prepared to cancel everything tomorrow and try to have new one's sent somewhere in Brazil or maybe to Buenos Aires.

Wish me luck... Chau!

Muchos Fotos

2007-02-09T12:10:00.000-03:00

Got some pictures that I've been taking the last week or so that are now uploaded onto good old Google Picasaweb: http://picasaweb.google.com/apreble

Our other roommate, Simen has put up some pictures as well: http://picasaweb.google.com/simenkarlsen

When Espen stops being lazy, he'll put some more pictures on his site: http://picasaweb.google.com/esjaavik

Recoleta Cemetery

Colonia Take 2

Random Nights Out...

Old women like to talk

2007-02-02T15:50:00.001-03:00

Yesterday was the day of talking old women. Espen, Simen, and I were walking down Av. de Santa Fe when Espen said he noticed an older woman starting to follow us. She followed us across the street and into the Adidas store where she sat next to me and started talking about her health. (Which reminded me a little bit of someone in my extended family... Spanish accent and all.)

She wanted to know which vitamins I took to grow so tall, and then proceeded to talk to me about which vitamins she takes. She looked very bad actually, even when she said she was 80, it seemed like she had some skin disease or just got too much sun while she was younger. She explained that she was an entertainer at embassy parties, and had been doing it her whole life. Singing in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. I talked to her all of about 10 minutes before Espen and Simen came downstairs and said they were leaving. When I started talking to her, I hadn't realized that she was following us for so long before hand, but it just made it funnier that she eventually started a conversation with me.

The next old lady conversation of the day was when we were coming home from the same shopping trip, and someone on the floor of our apartment wanted to know a little bit about us. She said she had a nice big apartment for rent close by, and wondered what we were paying and how we had found the apartment. I wanted to be friendly, but at the same time we were very late to go to Jackey's and make dinner over there.

Speaking of old women, we went to the Recoleta Cemetery on Tuesday. I posed outside of the tomb where Eva Peron's coffin is on display, and we walked around taking pictures of the interesting tombs.

Complicated dreaming

2007-01-31T18:32:00.000-03:00

I've always been a bit of a dreamer, and when I dream I usually know I'm dreaming and can control the outcome of the dream depending on my mood. Unfortunately, I have trouble controlling the language of my dreams. I've had Spanish and French dreams fairly often with an occasional German dream, but since I've started living with Espen and Bear Semen (his friend's name, I'm not joking), I've been having dreams in Norwegian gibberish.

It can be frustratingly hard to understand sometimes, and sometimes I have no trouble. I sometimes wake up and repeat back to them what I've heard people say in Norwegian gibberish, but it hasn't been a real word yet. Maybe that will come later.

An butt update: Now my ass is starting to feel worse again, and the longer it goes on, the more depressed about it I'm getting. While I would love to be out in Buenos Aires at 2:39 in the morning, I'm sitting here writing in my blog because I think resting my butt is what's best. On Sunday it will be two weeks since I haven't been able to walk well, and I will probably go back to the doctor tomorrow or Monday if it's still bothering me a lot.

And now I leave you with a picture of Simon, pronounced semen, I remind you ;) massaging Espen's shoulder's. I'm not sure, I think it must be a Norwegian thing..... We are supposed to go to get a **real** massage next week at the Evian Spa.

Lot going on

2007-01-28T18:50:00.000-03:00

Yesterday a boring day turned into a not so boring day at the zoo, then Espen went and played football while Tuva and I ate bad salads at McDonald's and then got waited on and served ice cream. Oh la la, why are McDonald's in other countries so much nicer than in the USA?

For dinner, we had a great taco dinner at Jackey's, and then we played Pensante--a Spanish version of Scrabble, and Espen and I won. Later, a few other Norwegians and Argentines showed up, and we went to a club called Sunset. On the outside of the club, above the name, they had the same subliminal Camel advertisement at Club Niceto. You can see the Camel cigarettes logo when you move your eyes from side to side quickly. We went home about 5 AM, close to sunrise, and we all slept at Jackey's today until about 1 PM.

But wait, didn't I have something to do today? Oh yes, I needed to pack up everything at Jackey's and move to the new apartment with Espen. This may sound simple but when I have to think about organizing my stuff, it always takes me forever. I made it out about 5:45 PM, and we've been here ever since.

Also things are looking brighter for all you readers who want updates and pictures more often! Espen's now an author and promises to write a few things. And there's a new photo album called Zoo y Pensante at my Picasaweb page.

That's it for now chicos! Luego, chau.

Crazy people do crazy things

2007-01-27T12:02:00.000-03:00

So last night I went over to Alejandro's apartment where Espen, Tuva, and another guy named Nathan are living. Nathan cooked a great meal, that was very well thought out. (I mean he had everything ready at the right time, which I never manage to do.)

The night got off to an interesting start when Espen signed up to play an online poker tournament right when dinner was ready. Then he was trying to loose, but in trying to loose, he actually started to win, and in the end, won the tournament (only US $12, but 36 pesos!).

Just after dinner we decide to move out onto the terrace where it was cooler. But just then a Bon Jovi song came on the radio, and Espen and Alejandro couldn't help but sing along.

After we made it safely to the balcony, someone mentioned a hookah, and then things really started to go down....... or very high, depending on how you look at it. Tuva tried feeding the poor Golden Retrievers grapes on the terrace below where they are chained to a 6 foot leash the entire day, and can sit inside their dog house, or they can sit on the terrace.

The plan was to go out, and Tuva and Espen and I were going to meet another Norwegian friend of theirs (I thought at a bar). But we were really going to his apartment, where he had a friend from Buenos Aires, and two girls from Japan over. Yes, everyone's connected somehow, and the Japanese girls were friends of the Norwegian from Australia. Where they met him while studying.

And so the end. No one really felt like going out, so Espen, Tuva, and I left. I stepped out of the cab at Jackey's apartment while they went on to find an open McDonald's... El fin. Luego. Chau. Mañana, quizás.

New apartment

2007-01-25T14:26:00.000-03:00

Good news! (Especially for Jackey!) We've finally settled on an apartment, and we're just waiting to hear whether or not we can move in Saturday or Sunday. It's located in a good, central location of Recoletta. Not too far from the cines (movie theater), and close to many parks. It's also got a nice terrace with parilla (grill), as you can see from the picture.

Espen and I met with the owner yesterday because I think he just wanted to make sure that we were responsible, and not going to tear up the apartment. Honestly, we're probably not going to be there that often because it's so small. It's just going to be a place where we can sleep at night, and keep our stuff safe. There are much nicer apartments where we'd rather hang out!

The pictures I took of the inside weren't really any good, but I'll take more when I move in and post them. Luego, chau!

The drivethrough sexual services place

2007-01-24T14:18:00.000-03:00

Just down the street from Jackey's in a really nice neighborhood, 28 pesos will get you something special! It seems to be open most almost always when I walk by, and usually there's a hooker or two out on the corner in front at night. (Maybe they're striking? Or maybe they're just trying to get attention?) Cars drive in this entrance, and come out on the other street to the left.

They advertise outside "only 28 pesos", but they don't say exactly what that gives you. I can't imagine that would be more than a blow-job, and maybe that's just the price to park inside. At night, the place is lit up more, and it seems to get more activity, but just last Saturday I saw two men walking out laughing to themselves and cat calling every girl they came across on the street. But I don't judge- maybe they were there to repair the satellite TV?

Two posts in one day?? Yes, I'm bored, but feeling slightly better while taking the aspirin/Tylenol combo. Luego, chau.

No puedo caminar and a trip to the Hopital Aleman

2007-01-24T12:11:00.000-03:00

On Sunday morning (probably really the afternoon) I was sitting in the dining room typing something on my computer when I got up to take a break and admire the view. My butt felt a little bit sore, like I had pulled a muscle, "maybe I slept funny," is what I thought to myself. As I was lying on the couch it started to hurt more and more. Then I sneezed, and then it hurt much, much more.

When I tried to get up and walk it hurt, but I was still able to get around without feeling too much pain. I put some ice on it, and then left for the Saints football game. Then we went to the movies, and we I got back it was still hurting really bad. I put some muscle cream on it, and then went to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning it hurt a little worse, and my ass felt really stiff. I made it down the street to have photos taken of me for my summer school application, but then I stayed in the rest of the day. By the end of the day it was feeling much better, and I was walking around the apartment with little pain.

Again I went to sleep, but I couldn't find a comfortable position, and my ass hurt in every position I tried to sleep. The next morning I woke up and could barely get out of bed, it hurt so bad. I made it up, and tried walking around the apartment, but it continued to hurt and I couldn't even find a comfortable sitting position. So I decided I should see a doctor. Jackey recommended the Hospital Aleman, so thinking they might speak more German than English or Spanish (and because I didn't want to go alone), Espen came with me.

It's a pretty weird place, but everyone seemed really friendly even if they didn't speak English or German. About 30 minutes later (not a long wait by American standards), I was talking to the doctor who spoke a little English. He asked me questions, and felt around, and determined that it was probably a tendon that connect my ass muscle to the hip bone that had torn. He told me to come back tomorrow so they can do scans if I want, and he wrote me a generic prescription for pain.

After I left the hospital, I barely made it down the street to a cafe, and then we took a cab back to Espen's apartment. That's where I've been until now... Now I'm just sitting uncomfortably, trying to put off the inevitability of sleeping uncomfortably. All of this would be very funny if I wasn't in so much pain.

Only I could tear a tendon in my ass, in Argentina, while doing nothing more than sitting at the computer. I told Espen he could take pictures of me at the hospital as long as he came with me, but he forgot his camera. Today it might be more exciting because I have to go back so they can do more tests to make sure.

Overall I was pretty impressed. I walked in without an apointment, paid 52 pesos ($15 US), and only had to wait for about 30 minutes or less to see a doctor. I'm kind of upset that I have to go back tomorrow, but the doctor said it was up to me. I want to go back so that I can be sure what is wrong, and so that I can ask more questions about what I need to do to get better. The prescription for Tylenol with an NSAID (similar to aspirin) only cost $10 USD.

The Saints lost in Buenos Aires, too

2007-01-23T12:02:00.000-03:00

I woke up Sunday morning without a care in the world. I knew there was something I wanted to do, I just couldn't remember what. Then I remembered the Saints were playing. And even though I'm not much of a sports follower back home, I decided it would be an interesting cultural experience to go to the Alamo. The Alamo is the only place in town where these things can be watched. It's as close as you'll get to an American sports bar, right in the middle of Buenos Aires.

It was pretty packed by the time I got there at 5, and the game had just started. I was sitting in between my friend Brad and Dennis, but surrounding us was a fairly diverse group of Americans. There was a very large young guy who played American football and was wearing a rugby shirt, a Cuban guy from Miami wearing a "Cubanito" shirt. Then sitting in the booth was a brother from Berkley (one of two in the whole bar), who had moved to Buenos Aires to retire even though he looked in his early 30s or late 20s. Someone who could've passed for George Clooney's son, and a businessman from Chicago. I could go on, but won't.

Unfortunately, Saints fans were not represented very well. I saw one guy in a Saints t-shirt standing next to the bar chain smoking nervously. Fortunately, I didn't get to see the whole game. I left shortly before the third quarter ended because we had made reservations to see the movie Babel at 7:30.

The movie was good, but it was funny because about 2/3 to 3/4 of the movie is not in English. It's in Japanese, Spanish, and I think Arabic. So logically in Argentina, the subtitles for all these other languages were in Spanish. It honestly was not difficult to understand at all because there was very little dialog, and the movie relied more on pictures than words. (And I also know Spanish!) The movie was long and ended about 10, and everyone was tired so we just headed home.

In other news, Espen and I have been searching for places to stay in Rio. Yesterday we spent the entire day e-mailing people and generating leads. Espen talked to a girl who said she was 18, but later turned out to be 16. She had already told about 10 people to come and stay with her and her parents, and she was hoping that not everyone showed up because her parents might get angry. Then she invited us!

We have some other good leads, so we'll see where that takes us! Chau!

Addicted to Craigslist

2007-01-22T01:17:00.000-03:00

The past week has seen me huddled over my computer, reading posts, replying to them, and then going back and looking for more! I have become a Craigslist addict! First I just wanted an apartment in Buenos Aires. Then we wanted to meet people in Rio for Carnival, and find a place to crash on someone's floor without shelling out so much money even for a hostel! (Hostel's are costing over $60 USD per person, per night in a 12 bed dorm--no thank you, very much!)

Most recently, we've been putting up personal ads to try and meet other cool people in the city. Here's an ad Jackey posted last week. Next Friday, I think Jackey's going to organize a dinner with all the new people who've responded, and we'll see how it turns out!

Here's Espen's try for people in Rio (I think he needs some pictures.) And here's my try in Rio, posted under "housing wanted".

I'll probably try tomorrow, and the next day... What else might I need though?? Maybe a mattress... maybe a ride from the airport... all is possible with Craigslist! For those who think it might be dangerous, it probably could be. But we're three fairly large poor guys, and we're not taking anything valuable with us.

I'll let you know how it goes! Hope to meet fun people!

RIO-CARNIVAL!!

2007-01-17T23:56:00.000-03:00

I've always said that if I couldn't be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I'd be in Rio de Janeiro. So guess where I'll be this Carnival season?? Rio, of course! For two weeks!

I was lying down on the couches in Jackey's apartment doing my daily ten minute mandated admiring of the city, when it hit me. Espen had bought the tickets about 15 minutes ago, but I was really thinking it through all the way. RIO-CARNIVAL-RIO-CARNIVAL-RIO-CARNIVAL, and the more it cycled through my head the more I got excited.

Now as I'm coming off my RIO-CARNIVAL high, I'm starting to think that now we need to find a place to stay, and figure out the best way to get from Rio to Sao Paulo where our flight leaves on the last day of February. Safety is also on my mind as Rio is know for being more unsafe for tourists than many other Latin American cities.

More later, it's after midnight here, and I need to get some sleep...

An expensive charger

2007-01-16T11:32:00.000-03:00

What will US $200 buy you in Argentina? An HP laptop charger with a few dollars left over for lunch. After stupidly leaving mine back in Abita Springs, I've been looking for one since I got here. Now I've found one, but I refuse to pay that ridiculous price. Jackey both have HP computers, so the charger is the same, but it would be much more convenient if we each had a charger. And I am moving out :(

In other news, I'm still having an AMAZING time. Yesterday Espen and I met a German girl visiting his apartment, and she seemed cool, so I invited her to dinner at Jackey's for delivery Chinese food (we have found a good Chinese food restaurant after all). It's fun to see the reactions people have the first time visiting the apartment! Tuva and Espen came also, and after dinner we left Jackey to get ready for bed and we went down to the ice cream parlor on the corner. The girls were smart and ordered small portions, while Espen and EACH ordered 1/4 kilo containers full.

We all went home to have our full stomachs digest, and think about going to the gym the next day. Before dinner, Espen and I were playing with my underwater camera housing in the pool, and the pictures are below. I think it took great pictures considering that it was already almost 8 PM, and the light was very low.

Underwater...

So I'm back!

2007-01-14T16:48:00.000-03:00

Walking down the warm, sunny, dog shit covered street, I couldn't have been happier. Watching the cars zoom around pedestrians trying to cross the street, talking to nutty taxi drivers who speak so fast not even locals can understand them, and eating king cake with friends, all made me have an excellent first day back in Buenos Aires.

And yes, I did say king cake. I brought a very large one down all the way from Louisiana--along with recipe books to try to make one here. We were going to go to a typical Argentina parilla (grill) restaurant, but we didn't make the reservations in time. Instead, we ordered in Chinese food to Jackey's apartment, and then had king cake for dessert. Espen, Tuva, and two other Norwegian friends came over, and we stayed up talking until after midnight.

The next afternoon, Espen came over so that I could check his application to the London School of Economics, and then we went swimming at the pool. I tried to test my new underwater housing for my camera, but the battery died the second I turned it on underwater. That night we went out for pizza and then saw the movie Deja Vu. I had completely forgotten that it was filmed in New Orleans, and it neat to see it in Buenos Aires. I felt they did a pretty accurate job of portraying the city except for the one time that someone answered the phone "New Orleeeens" ATF Bureau.

The next day was Saturday, and I went shopping with Espen for shorts. Later, we (Espen, Tuva, Caroline, Brad, Jackey, two marines: Matt and Jonathan, and two Norwegian girls: Ingrid and Kristine) went to a Greek restaurant where they put on a show every Saturday night in the middle of the restaurant while you eat dinner. I thought it was neat because the owner, his wife, and his daughter sit at a table in the restaurant and judge the performance each Saturday night. If they like it, they'll break plates on the floor while the dancers are dancing.

Once the owner breaks a plate, then it's ok to throw your plates on the floor, too. It's pretty funny (and dangerous), one of the marines got something in his eye and had to go to the bathroom to get it out. In the end it was fun, but pretty exhausting because there were so many shows. The food was good, but not the best Greek food I've had, and I would probably go again for the experience or to bring someone who hasn't been.

Jackey, Caroline, and the marines went home, and Brad and I went out with the Norwegians to a pub called Jackey O's where they do have many pictures of the former first lady on the walls. Pretty soon we were playing "animal" games, and then we played one round of guess who's written on your forehead. Since I can read minds, I knew that I had Elton John written on my forehead and guessed him after a few questions.

Then we headed to Opera Bay around 2:30 AM, the club that's built to look similar to Sydney's Opera House, where the bathrooms are very disgusting, but otherwise the place is cool. We lost Brad right after getting there, and then it was just me and the Norwegians. We left around 5:30 AM as the sun was coming up.

Yes, I had a good time thank you very much! And here are the photos to prove it:

For tonight, we have a spaghetti dinner planned at Jackey's apartment with the aforementioned Norwegians, and then we'll probably watch a movie here or maybe play Pensante (Scrabble), or Pictionary en espanol.

More friends = less blogging

2006-12-18T21:58:00.000-03:00

It makes perfect sense, but I've noticed that the more friends I have to share experiences with, the less time I feel I need to spend sharing experiences with whoever might be reading. So since I don't have any friends with me in Brazil, here's today's story.

I woke up around 10:30 or 11 and my aunt Marialice was already making lunch. After eating lunch I decided that I really needed to go out searching for what I need most. Even more than cute Brazilian girls--Christmas presents and a new bag to replace my broken ones. For these shopping items I decided to head to Le Jardins district of São Paulo, specifically Rua Oscar Friere. A street some here like to call the Rodeo Drive of São Paulo.

I haven't been to Rodeo Drive, so I really can't compare, but somehow I think they aren't very much the same. It's true that this is where all the designer stores are located, but they also have very reasonable gift stores and sporting goods stores like Puma and Adidas. I felt comfortable in flip-flops, a fraying pair of white shorts, and a t-shirt. But here everyone likes to wear flip-flops. Much more so than BA.

So I found out how to take a bus from my aunt's brother who seems like he'd make a much better tour guide, and I actually made it on the right one after getting on two wrong buses and stumbling my way through a conversation with the driver. The buses are newer than the buses in BA, but the stops are not marked. You just have to look for a big group of people standing on the side of the road.

I made it downtown, and tried to go to the art museum. Lucky me, it was closed. But across the street they had an amazing park where you felt like you were in the middle of the movie Jurassic Park. Where most cities have rose gardens, São Paulo has rain forest garden complete with huge timber bamboo, and fig trees hundreds of years old. (I will post pictures of a similar park across the street from my aunt's apartment once I get home.)

I made my way through the park, and walked down a very steep street until I came to Rua Oscar Friere. By this time, it was about 2 PM and I was sweating and thirsty. I walked into a designer jeans store and looked around at the 300 Reals jeans, and then I saw a cooler that said agua. It makes sense for how hot it was, but every store has bottled water that they give away for free--especially when you tell them that you will come back once you make it to an ATM.

I eventually made it to the Adidas store where I found a bag, and then to a store that stocked tribal Brazilian art. At the tribal art store, there was a very helpful woman who spoke too many languages. She kept trying to speak to me in a combination of English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and occasionally a German number or two. All of which I could understand, and try to help out her English. "It is confusing to me porque je parle demasiado languages." "This bird kosten dix-huit reals."

We got along fine actually, and I think I ended up finding everything I was looking for. Hopefully it will all fit in the suitcase, and will make it through in my bags. I also hope that the "weapons" aren't confiscated, but I think they will be safe if I check-in the suitcase.

So tomorrow is my last day! It's been a good trip. Tchu! (I think that's how the spell it here.)

São Paulo vs. Buenos Aires

2006-12-17T16:50:00.000-03:00

I went shopping today at the "shopping" which they are called in both cities. I wasn't too impressed with the stores here even though I ended up spending more. I walked into this one store because they had the best looking girls working there. A girl immediately tried to talk to me in Portuguese, and I told her in a combination of Spanish and English that I didn't speak Portuguese. So she brought me to her friend who could say a few words like "this is a cool shirt" and "try this one". So of course I did.

Once I was in the dressing room, she started throwing shirts and shorts at me from the other side of the door. Pretty soon I had the entire room filled up and the door piled with about 30 shirts and 30 shorts. What did she want me to do with all of these clothes?

I did find one I kind of liked, so I asked for a different size. When she didn't understand me, she brought me to someone else who spoke English really well. She told me that she had lived in Wyoming for 6 months last year so that she could practice her English. It didn't take her long to start throwing more clothes at me as well. Maybe they get a commission, or maybe she was just trying to be helpful.

I just wanted to talk to the girls, so I was happy to try on whatever they wanted. I ended up walking out with more clothes and e-mail addresses than I needed. I'm only here for two more nights...

But now compare this to BA. You can walk in any store and get e-mail addresses for free. No one is very pushy. For the price of the clothes I bought today you could have ordered more than a few delivery hookers--yes they exist. Now I'm not saying the quality of the friendship would be equal, I'm just saying Buenos Aires is very inexpensive compared to São Paulo.

The few things I needed to buy--secret Santa presents, and a bag to replace my broken one's--I didn't find. A normal Nike duffel bag cost over $100 US, in BA an Adidas bag cost $25 US. I also don't think any art markets comparable to one's in BA exist. I stumbled upon one in the park across the street, and most of the things for sale were not handmade and very cheap looking.

I'll be coming back to São Paulo, but it will probably be just a stopping point on the way to the beach or Rio. Chau.

Made it to Brazil!

2006-12-15T10:58:00.000-03:00

I left BA Wednesday at 8:30 PM. I made it to the bus stop a good 30 minutes before the bus was leaving, but not before two of my suitcases broke on me, and I had to leave behind my dress shoes and a full box of clothes at Jackey´s apartment. (I´ll be coming back to get them January 24!) I ended up with 5 bags, all falling apart, and I wish someone was there to take my picture. I actually had to tape my backpack with scotch tape because I want to bring it home to ship back to LL Bean.

But now I´m in São Paulo, Brazil! And it´s Friday! The bus took longer than the 36 hours it was supposed to take, and I got here around 8 in the morning. It honestly wasn´t too bad. I had a bed on the bus, and all but one meal was included. It was pretty funny because the bus was full of stereotypical characters. One´s that you would expect to find in the movie Airplane. Everyone was talking to each other and always moving around and switching seats.

After dinner last night, we thought one woman had been left behind, but she was actually in the bathroom of the bus. Since she didn´t speak up that she was in the bathroom, the bus actually stopped and a few people got out to look for her. When she got out of the bathroom, she told me that she wanted to see how long people would look for her, so she stayed in the bathroom an extra long time.

But I need to go eat lunch with my great aunt Marialice! I think we´re going to the country tomorrow, and I might go to the beach for a few days before I fly back on Wednesday. Chau!

Christmas time!

2006-12-10T20:11:00.000-03:00

Last night we hosted a Christmas party at Jackey's apartment, and like usual, we had a GREAT time! We started the morning off with a workout at the gym, and then went over to her apartment around 3 in the afternoon.

We went shopping at Jumbo with a very long list of juices, liquors, and liqueurs because Bartender Espen had made a list of red and green drinks that we'd serve to guests. Unfortunately, they don't sell most types of juices or liqueurs in Argentina, so we walked out almost empty-handed. (We did manage to buy lots of fruit to make decorations. Who cares what the drink tastes like if you have a pretty sliced pineapple and cherry sitting on the edge of your glass?)

The party started around 9, with most people not showing up until much later. It was really a blast, and I think everyone had a great time. Afterwards, we all ended up going to Crobar which is just a few blocks away from the apartment. This time the DJ really sucked, and it was not nearly as much as the last time when we crashed a bachelorette party. We walked home at sunrise (around 5:30), and slept at Jackey´s. The next morning we woke up around 3 pm made waffles and cleaned up the apartment.

It was a great last weekend in BA for me.

Getting a "massage"

2006-12-09T01:30:00.000-03:00

Two days ago Espen and I decided we wanted a massage. We've been wanting one for a while, but have been too lazy to figure out where to go. My director, Laura, told us about a good place on Av. de Mayo a few blocks away from the school, so Espen came over and we went to check it out. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more space that day with a female masseuse, and the guy behind the counter was flaming, so we decided to try somewhere else.

Espen remembered seeing an ad for one close to his apartment, so we decided to try it. He knew which block it was in, but we walked back and forth and didn't see anything that resembled a spa or place to get a massage. We ducked into a Locutorio to look it up in the Yellow Pages on the internet, and the address was just an apartment in a building above shops on the street. I thought it was a little bit fishy, but Espen said that there are dentists and doctors offices in his building, so why couldn't there be a massage parlor in this building.

We buzzed the apartment, and they let us into the building. When we got up to the fifth floor and knocked on the door, we were greeted by an older very "curvy" woman dressed up in only underwear. We knew immediately that it was a brothel, but didn't want to be too rude, so we asked about the prices for a "massage", and took a card. Just then, the door buzzed and there were more customers coming up. The woman led us to a room in the back because you're not supposed to see the other men who want a "massage".

Espen was kind of nervous and stuck is money in his boxers, but I wasn't too concerned because it seemed like the older woman ran the place and she was pretty nice. Just then, a girl came in and told us her name, kissed us on the cheek, and left. One by one, all the girls came in and introduced themselves. When it seemed the last one had come, I opened the door and we went to go tell the woman that we'd call her back. She promised us that each day of the week she had different girls, and that she knew we would find one that we liked if we came back each day.

But that really wasn't the type of massage we were looking for... hopefully better luck next time...

Chau!

Movie night!

2006-12-08T13:03:00.000-03:00

I think I need to create a special blog category for "fun, amazing experiences in Jackey's apartment", so as you can probably guess, that's what I'm about to write about now.

It started when Espen and I were shopping at Disco (not a nightclub, but a supermarket chain) and decided that we could make pizza at Jackey´s for dinner using pre-made crusts at the bakery.

There were six of us in all: Me, Espen, Tuva, Jackey, April, and Adrienne. Espen started "designing" the pizza's while I chopped up a pineapple with small steak knife. The girls relaxed at the dining room table, and within about 30 minutes everything was ready. The pizza's turned out great, and we're definitely going to make this again. Throughout dinner we talked about the Christmas party we were planning for Saturday.

After dinner, Jackey mentioned that she just got her amp for her sound system, and that we could now watch movies. The only movie she had was Finding Nemo, and I was the only one who had never seen it. Everyone was so upset that I hadn´t seen it, that we decided to watch it.

And now I have to describe the set-up: surround sound Bose speakers, a couch the heats up and gives you a massage, and a projection screen TV that takes up an entire wall. It´s definitely the best setup I´ve seen in Buenos Aires.

When I get the pictures from Jackey, I´ll post them here.

The weekend after Thanksgiving

2006-12-05T11:17:00.000-03:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving was a blast. Jackey had off from work, so she wasn't tired and could come out to party with us! On Friday, we (me, Jackey, Espen, Tuva, and Melissa met us there) took Jackey's car to San Isidro where they teach kite surfing and wind surfing. The town is really cute, but the roads, not so much. They had speed bumps everywhere, but the dips in the road are even worse.

We were driving around the town, and looking for the place we were meeting Melissa. It's called Peru Beach, but there's not really a beach there--just grass and marshy looking reeds around. But it was still pretty, and it has a big complex of sport fields and shops and of course a bar. We had just parked the car and gotten out, when we realized that something was leaking from it. Uh oh spaghetti o!

Espen got down and looked underneath the car and discovered that it was oil. Apparently one of the bumps had knocked off some type of cap that you usually take off when changing the oil. It wasn't a big deal, but it made the car undrivable. We had some nice locals to help us out, and we called a tow truck, and then went to the "beach" to lay out and relax. The tow truck came a few hours later, and Jackey rode back with her car. The rest of us took a taxi back to the city later on in the day.

That night we ate dinner at Espen and Tuva's apartment, and then went out to Crobar. The first room wasn't very fun, and they were playing the standard Buenos Aires techno music. The second room was much more fun, and we got up on this stage where these girls were having a bachelorette party. The music was more rock and roll, and you could sing and dance along to it much easier.

I don't remember the rest of the weekend right now, but when I do, I'll write about it.

More on this weekend at the beach is coming soon!

It's been a while

2006-12-04T07:00:00.002-03:00

So it's been a while since my last post, but I've been very busy learning Spanish and hanging out with friends. Last weekend, I went to the beach with Espen, Tuva, Caroline, and Adrienne. We all had a great time even though the weather wasn't the best. We got back to Buenos Aires around five in the morning. Two crazy hours have gone by without me finding a place to sleep, because...

1) It took us freaking forever to catch a cab from the bus station.
2) All of my stuff is living in Espen and Tuva's kitchen and I had to throw what I needed for the day into a backpack and leave.
3) I didn't know the exact name of the hostel where I was staying because my awesome Spanish director booked it for me while I was at the beach.
4) I did know the building, but the building happened to have about 5 different hostels located inside, and since it was 6 in the morning I didn't want to push the buzzer on all of them.
5) That is exactly what I had to do.
6) Four doors later, I'm now here.
7) They don't have a room for me yet because check in time isn't until the afternoon, but they said they might have a free bed for me in about 30 minutes.

Once I get more then four hours of sleep, I'll write more about the last week, and more about the beach. And here comes one of the first headaches I've had since getting here...

Adios!

An Argentine Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T14:11:00.000-03:00

I didn't think that I was going to even remember that it was Thanksgiving day here, but alas, I never turn down an excuse for a party. The original plan was to cook a turkey and try to make it an authentic American Thanksgiving, but there were no more turkeys left in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. I think most Americans were much better prepared.

As Jackey is the nicest American we know, and also the one with the nicest apartment ;) we decided to have it at her house. On Wednesday I wanted to practice cooking in her apartment to make sure things would run smooth on Turkey Day. The cooking went well, but it was exhausting and somewhat unnecessary, so we decided to buy rotisserie chickens already cooked. And a sack of potatoes to mash so that we didn't make it too easy. For fun, we ordered sushi as an appetiser, and for desert we ordered ice cream. (Yes, you can have anything and everything delivered in Buenos Aires.)

I had a really great time, and Espen has some pictures, so when I get one, I'll post it here...

Chau!

A happier day with a new haircut

2006-11-22T15:01:00.000-03:00

I think my bout of depression's coming to an end. It started last Friday when I realized that even if I came back to Buenos Aires in February, things would not be the same as they are now. Everyone that I've met here has been so amazing that I'm sad I probably won't see any of them ever again. I was also trying to figure out my entire life in one day, and when I couldn't, it made me very upset...

But then on Tuesday night, Tuva cut my hair, and when I was walking home I felt so much better. Our other friend here, Adrienne, said that she never cuts her hair except when she's feeling bad because she always feels better afterwards. It helped that it was a great haircut!

And yes, the bathroom was a mess afterwards...

Chau!

Frustrations everywhere...

2006-11-20T14:53:00.000-03:00

Well the gym was closed yesterday, so we went to Plaza San Martin instead to do some push ups and sit ups on the grass. The grassy part is sloped so it made it more difficult to do anything, and we were all so tired from the night before that we didn't do too much.

Last night, we went to see the new Martin Scorsese movie The Departed, and it was pretty interesting. At times it could be confusing, and as tired as we were it was hard to follow all the dialogue. It had a great cast, but some of the characters lacked development. It was pretty long, we went in at 11 PM, and got out close to 2 AM.

And then I went home to take a shower. And then the shower broke. Again. I noticed that water was building up in the tub, but I didn't think anything of it. When I turned off the water, and opened the shower curtain, I realized the whole bathroom was flooded with about a centimeter or two of water. All my clothes were soaked, and I didn't want to walk through it, so I waited about 10 minutes for most of it all to go down the drain.

I need to go. Adios.

A good weekend

2006-11-19T16:30:00.000-03:00

Since this might be might last weekend in the city, I wanted to make it count. On Thursday, we went to a friend's asado (BBQ), and later to a house party. It was very laid back and a nice change from going out to a restaurant and boliche.

On Friday night we tried to eat Indian food at a place called Krishna, but when we got there, we realized that it doesn't serve and meat or alcohol. I actually didn't have a problem eating there, except that tables were low to the ground and my legs didn't fit underneath it. Later that night we went to Asia de Cuba expecting to get in free because we were on the list, but they told us that we needed to get there before 2:30 AM, and it was already 3 AM. (I thought at the time that they were just trying to rip us off, but later found out that it really was a 2:30 cut off time.)

We had a lot of fun, and our friend Brad bought a bottle of vodka and orange juice at the bar, so they let us sit in the empty VIP section. It was nice to have a seat, but then you couldn't dance :( We left at about 5 in the morning when the sun was starting to come up, and we had trouble finding a cab home. Saturday, Espen and I went shopping on Córdoba, and I ended up buying more cool tshirts that I really don't need.

At night, we went to a cool place called Roof that had a very nice atmosphere, and I wish we discovered it sooner. It's very relaxing, and they had an interesting mix of food on the menu. We all ordered different things, and they were all excellent. After dinner we decided to place Never Have I Ever, and it got pretty wild. Hopefully no one around us could understand what we were saying, although because of the design of the seating, they might not have heard us anyway. The prices were a few pesos more than a nice Parilla, but still around 20-30 pesos for a main course, and 10-20 for an appetizer.

Later that night we went to a bar almost outside of the city boundaries and we continued the game of Never Have I Ever, except now we drew pictures and we couldn't tell what it was until everyone decided if they have or haven't done what was drawn on the card. It was very fun, and Espen took all the drawings at the end, and promised to put them on the internet. The drinks and the atmosphere were all pretty bad, so we went to Roomie around 3 AM.

All the girls got in free right away, but they made the guys wait for 30 minutes outside the club before we got in free. We were getting pretty angry, but the Argentine guys with us promised that we wouldn't have to pay. We had fun and left about 6 AM.

I'll write more later, but I'm going to go work out! Hasta luego!

More work...

2006-11-17T16:42:00.000-03:00

So the websites are almost finished for my Spanish school, and I just wanted to post the links again. Spanish School in Buenos Aires and Spanish School in Argentina

There are a few pages that need updating/editing, and then it will be complete. I originally wanted to create two website that would aim at separate searches since some people search using "Argentina" and some people search using "Buenos Aires", but not usually both at the same time. Now, I'm thinking that it's probably better just to have one, and focus everything on that one site. It's also much easier to update, etc.

I think with www.studyspanishinargentina.com address should be turned into a sort of directory of good Spanish schools throughout the country, but highlighting ELE Baires as the owner of the site, and a good place to study Spanish in Buenos Aires.

My only problem now is that I'm running out of time (unless I come back in the spring :), I think I only have one week left in Buenos Aires. We'll see...

Adios!

Continuing the Iguazu Story...

2006-11-15T11:01:00.001-03:00

Because we booked the entire tour through a company in Buenos Aires, we had less flexibility once we were in Iguazu. On Sunday morning at 8:30, a bus was coming to pick us up to take us to the falls. It was a tour led by a guide from the park, so she was knowledgeable, but the group was too large and everyone moved very slowly.

I woke up at 7:30 feeling great. We had some pieces of bread and fruit that the hostel called breakfast, and then we boarded the bus to Iguazu. The Argentine side is very nice and almost feels like you’re in a zoo because of the wide paved paths, the large visitor’s center, and a small train that takes you closer to the falls. This park is meant for a huge number of visitors

We took the train first, and soon we were walking on the boardwalk towards Devil’s Throat. The boardwalk was sturdy, but because of the construction, it bounced slightly when you walked on it. I don’t know if it was from the bouncing, or last night drinks, or a virus, but I started to feel pretty sick by the time we reached the first waterfall. I walked back early to the bathrooms, and the whole rest of the day I felt fine. It was all too pretty to feel bad.

After the Devil’s throat, nothing else seems that big until you see all of them at once from the boat. The boat ride cost an extra $90 pesos, but included a 4x4 ride through the jungle. The boat ride was awesome, and they take you pretty close to some of the waterfalls. You get completely soaked, but we were prepared with bathing suits.

The 4x4 ride through the “jungle” wasn’t that interesting to me because we didn’t see any animals, and the plants looked similar to plants that grow in Louisiana near rivers—mostly hardwoods, bamboo, and big vines. There were a really big rhododendrons growing everywhere, and inpatients growing the cliff sides. I assume that they’re both native.

After the 4x4 ride, it was about 4, and we headed back on the bus to the hostel to lay out by the pool. That night we went ate at the hostel again, and went swimming even though it was pretty chilly. Some funny pictures were taken underwater, but they were all with Espen’s camera, and they probably shouldn’t be posted online.

Since the girl’s dorm room had air-conditioning and because the guy’s dorm room didn’t, we slept in their room them without telling the hostel. (They wouldn’t let us sleep with them from the beginning because they supposedly have a rule against mixed dorms.)

The next day, we just relaxed by the pool in the fresh air until our transfer to the bus station picked us up. We got back to Buenos Aires yesterday morning at around 9, but I was too tired to go to school, and I slept until after noon.

A nice bus ride

2006-11-14T18:20:00.000-03:00

I'm not the best about time. I'm not bad, but sometimes I'm a few minutes late. In Argentina, that's never been a problem since most people run a few minutes behind also. For instance when we caught the ferry to Colonia, we got there 30 minutes before the ferry was supposed to leave, and it ended up leaving over an hour later.

So Friday afternoon, I made a post saying that I was supposed to leave in 15 minutes, and I still hadn't packed. I left in about 20 minutes, and the plan was for me to go down to the street to catch a cab and take it to pick up my Norwegian friends (who are always very punctual). The other girls from the US were meeting us there.

Well when I got down to the street, and started trying to catch a cab, it was impossible. At 6:10, rush hour had just started, and there were no free cabs. What I thought was a few minutes later, I realized my phone was ringing, and that it was the Norwegians calling me wondering where I was. It was about 6:30 now, and we only had 30 minutes to get to the bus station. They decided to catch a cab and come get me instead.

We told the cab driver that our bus left at 7, and knew we were cutting it close, but he said he thought it would be OK. After a lot of traffic, we pulled up to the bus station. We were walking to the terminal when one of the US girls called us to see if we were on the bus. She said she didn't see us, and that the bus was pulling away right now.

We started running, and saw the bus driving away from the station. So we did what any reasonable person would do, and started to chase after the bus. We told Annie who speaks Spanish very well to stop the bus for us. But it wasn't stopping, and it was only getting farther and farther away from us.

About that time, we realized that we were running in a very bad neighborhood, and that we should turn around and catch a cab at the bus station. We ran back to the bus station, and caught a cab easily. We weren't doing our best job talking to him, but I think he understood what was happening. I was sitting in front, and had my hand out the window pointing and yelling directions to him. ¡ACA! ¡AQUI! ¡ACA!

We finally caught up to the bus which was waiting at a traffic light. The light turned green and the bus started to drive into the intersection. At the same time, our taxi driver pulled directly in front of the bus and stopped. Espen and Tuva jumped out of the cab, and got the bus to open the door. I paid the cab driver, gave him a good tip, and jumped into the bus

The attendants were pretty upset at us, and then pointed to the tickets which read 18:54, not 19:00 like our tour company told us. I didn't even think to look at the tickets to see if it was earlier than 7. Alas, we did learn our lesson. Buses are the most timely of all forms of Argentine transportation.

It was a very comfortable 18 hour ride to Iguazu, except 30 minutes away from Iguazu the bus got a flat tire. We only had to wait about 15 minutes for a bus of the same company to come behind us and pick us up.

The rest of the day we relaxed at the "resort" hostel which had huge common areas and a resort style pool. That night the hostel had an asado (BBQ), and almost unlimited Caipirinha (a drink with lime and sugar made from a Brazilian alcohol... not as good as a Margarita in my opinion

More later. Chao!

Trip to Iguazu Pictures

2006-11-14T15:08:00.000-03:00

Here are the pictures from last weekend, I'll write some about it when I have time. Chao!

Trip to Iguazu Falls

And check out my friend Espen's pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/esjaavik/Iguazu

Iguazu bound...

2006-11-10T17:42:00.000-03:00

I'm leaving for Iguazu Falls today in about 15 minutes. I still haven't packed, so I need to make this quick. Just wanted to put up some links, and I'll write about it more when I return on Tuesday.

Here's a good Wikipedia article.

Chao chicos!

Los Chronicles de la Ducha

2006-11-09T18:12:00.000-03:00

The Shower Chronicles...

They started last week when the drain was leaking into the bathroom, and making a mess any time anyone took a shower. So they had a plumber come and look at the problem, and he told them not to use it until he cam back to fix it. That was two days later. When he finally came to fix the problem, he said not to use it while the sealants dried. Another 8 hours.

Then just last weekend, after two days of a working shower, there was no hot water. I don't understand exactly why, but it had something to do with the rain, and something to do with being on the top floor of the building. That was two days...

Now we've had a working shower for five days and I'm thinking it might be too good to last. But working is a relative term. Even when it is working, the pressure is very, very low. I think this is because we're on the top floor also. The several days when we didn't have a working shower, I'd have to go to the neighbor's shower downstairs. They had normal water pressure!

But I'm only here for about two more weeks in this apartment before I start to travel more around the country. Tomorrow I'm going to Iguazu Falls in the northeastern part of the country on the border of Brazil. Since I don't have a visa yet for Brazil, they said I might have to sneak into the country in a taxi, because they never check the passports of people in a taxi.

I need to get ready for tonight! Adios! Chao!

Where I live and work...

2006-11-08T17:08:00.000-03:00

I've uploaded some pictures I took from the balcony of my new apartment, and some pictures I took when I took a tour of the building where I work and go to school: the Palacio Barolo.

Outside my new apartment

Palacio Barolo Tour

Fútbol game

2006-11-07T14:20:00.000-03:00

Yesterday, I went with some Argentines to play some fútbol. I figured that I can't live in Argentina if I'm not going to play a little bit of fútbol. In the end it was about half Argentines and half extranjeros (as foreigners are called).

The teams were pretty even, and I was definitely the worst extranjero. There were a few very weak Argentine's as well, but I was doing well; especially since the last time I played soccer was in 7th grade. That was also the time when I was knocked down and pulled a muscle in my back... and I ended up missing school for 6 weeks. I think the extranjero team might of won. We had a few really good guys from Europe who knew what they were doing.

The place we played was pretty interesting because it was located underneath a freeway. The courts were probably the same size as indoor soccer, and they had artificial turf. We were all playing in tennis shoes, and no one had shin guards. One guy was playing barefoot, but he must of had tough feet.

When you first walk up to the place you enter through a bar, and then there are showers and locker rooms upstairs and bathrooms downstairs. In the back, there were about five or six courts and I think you rent them by the hour. I wasn't paying attention to the time, so I really couldn't tell you. While we were playing, you don't really realize that you're underneath a freeway, and it's probably not a bad use of space. I was wondering if when they built the freeway, they separated the supports in order to accommodate indoor soccer courts.

Because the grass was fake, everyone was slipping all around. I ended up with a few minor blisters on my feet, and my friend who played much harder than I did ended up with pretty bad ones. After the game, most people took showers and then went home. If I knew they had hot showers before I came, I would've come with a change of clothes and a towel because the shower has been historically unreliable at my apartment. "The shower chronicles" may be my next post... until then.

Hasta luego, chao!

An interesting day

2006-11-05T21:55:00.000-03:00

Yesterday, I went to an interesting Indian concert and dance with a friend I met from Canada. She's friends with an Argentine guy who plays the sitar, and I think it was his friend or teacher having the concert. Anyway, it was pretty neat, and towards the end, dancers came out and performed for two songs. They were really good and I think I was even more impressed to see them in Buenos Aires.

Later, we went to an Italian restaurant and had very good food. I think I found someone more indecisive with menus than I am, and it took us about 30 minutes or more to order. I think it was 10:30 when we went in, and about 1 AM when we left. And the restaurant was seating people and serving food. On the menu it said Pasta Negra and I thought that meant whole wheat because pan negro is whole wheat bread. But when the pasta came out it was really black. It tasted pretty good, but I don't know if I would order it again.

This morning, I went over to a friend's apartment and had waffles. They were really good because she bought the mix and Aunt Jemima syrup at the embassy; straight from the US. It was raining when I left, and it rained for most of the day. Tonight I'm eating with my Argentine "family", so we'll see how it goes.

Hasta Luego!

A week's worth of pictures

2006-11-05T15:09:00.000-03:00

This morning I came over to my friend Jackey's apartment, and she has internet! So here are the photo's from the last week.

Volunteering Tour in Boca

Sunday Evening Game Night

Halloween Preparty!

Not until Monday!

2006-11-04T18:33:00.000-03:00

I just spent the day walking around looking for a wireless router that my friends can buy so that they can have wireless, but all the stores are closed. It's SATURDAY! They said the big malls were open, but it's an inconvenient subte ride. Then I found out that they can't even connect a router right now because they have DSL and their modem is old. So on Monday I'll take my computer to school and upload pictures.

In more interesting news... last night I went to a Cuba salsa club. The guy I live with now teaches salsa lessons so he gets his students together every so often to practice at a club. It was pretty fun, and I met a lot more people. Eventually, there's only so much conga lines and salsa that I could take, so we went to Mint.

I've never been to Mint, but I had heard good things about Friday night, and my Norwegian friend wanted to spend time away from his girlfriend. The taxi driver wasn't sure where it was, but we found it ok. It's right next to the downtown airport, right on the water. We got there at about 2:30 and my friend inside wouldn't answer her cell phone, so we ended up having to pay $40 pesos each to get in.

I liked it the best because they had a dance floor right on the water that played popular American hip hop/rap, and it's a nice break from the usual euro house or techno that every other place plays.

Just as we got there, I saw a huge group of friends from the residencia who got there about 30 minutes before we did. Then my friend's girlfriend showed up because everyone she knew (the people at the residencia) were all there. More and more people started turning up that we knew, until we had a group of about 15 or 20 of us.

The Norwegians started to get hungry at sunrise (which was really beautiful out on the river), so we caught a cab back to the microcentro. It was around 5 AM which is throwing me off because sunrise a month ago seemed closer to 7, and people were still showing up at the club. Like before, they only wanted to eat at McDonald's, so we drove around in the cab for a while looking for one that was open. The cab driver couldn't find any that were open 24 hours in the microcentro, so we just went home.

Hasta luego!

No volunteering after all

2006-11-02T20:08:00.000-03:00

I went to Boca today on the tour and volunteering trip, but all we ended up doing was touring. They said there were too many people to help with the children, and they already had enough other volunteers. They also wanted us to help explain math to them, which I don't think would've worked as well as reading a book in English.

Overall, the trip was nice, and I took some pictures, but I still need to get my camera cable. Anyway, I need to make some dinner plans, and perhaps go and pick up the camera cable!!

By the way, Blogger changed the language on me today. It had always been in English, and then today it automatically switched itself to Spanish. It's going to be harder for me to change the settings unless I can figure out how to change the language back to English...

Hasta luego!

Volunteering

2006-11-02T11:40:00.000-03:00

Don't have much time this morning. I have class a few hours earlier today because I volunteered to volunteer this afternoon. I'm not sure what that entails, but I'll find out. I think I might have to help some kids with English homework. I'll see if they'll let me take some pictures.

I'm still not able to upload the pictures because I didn't have time to stop by my old apartment last night. It was one of my friend's last nights in town, so a big group of us went to a really nice parilla. While we were eating dinner we were approached by two different girls selling these blinking wands and necklaces

One- It's not even their market. A bunch of older wealthy Argentines don't have any use for these blinking things, and two- why does the restaurant let them come in and approach the tables? While you're eating a nice meal, you don't want to be bothered by girls selling things. I can understand if we were sitting at a table on the street, but this is in the restaurant.

OK, well I have some classes to attend... If my friend brought the cable to the school I might have some pics up by this afternoon. Hasta luego, chau!!!

Been busy...

2006-11-01T12:10:00.000-03:00

On Monday morning, I moved most of my stuff from the residencia to my new apartment. It's pretty nice, but lonely. There aren't a million people always around to talk to. The reason I haven't gotten any pictures up is because my laptop and camera are here in the new apartment, and my camera cable is at the residencia. I forgot it again last night because I went out with some friends to another boliche (nightclub).

It was really fun, but smoky. This one is in the basement of an old bank. The vaults are the VIP areas, which I never saw them open up completely. It was kind of creepy, and I don't know if I would've gone into one. It was "drum and base" night which is as close to hip hop as you'll get in the city. They play a few Manu Chau songs which was cool because our taxi driver was playing his new CD, and I haven't listened to him since I was in the US. (The power adapter to my mp3 player caught fire the first day I was here, so I have to listen to music on my computer.)

The club was packed by about 3 AM which is kind of early--we got in around 1:30 without any trouble. All throughout the night, we kept having our picture taken for the website, but I can't remember the name of the club to try to find their website. I'm still going to try...

It was interesting too, because this is the first club where I've seen any drug activity. There were more than a few people with backpacks wandering around selling to different people, and I think we parked ourselves on the coke couches because people kept coming to the couch next to ours--they had wide, flat armrests.

SWIMMING!!

2006-10-30T02:42:00.000-03:00

I just went swimming for the first time tonight in Buenos Aires! It was at our friend Jackey's apartment in Palermo Chico. She probably has the nicest apartment in Buenos Aires... she's on the 22 floor, and the elevator opens only into her apartment. It was getting pretty cold outside, but when I felt the water it was heated. As long as I stayed in the water it was fine. I only swam two laps, and then I got out because no one else wanted to get in. Hopefully I'll be getting to swim a lot more! Tomorrow I'm going to add some pictures of her apartment and the view at night if the pictures turned out.

And I just remembered I'm supposed to move tomorrow! I'll let you know how it goes...

Gained some weight in Argentina...

2006-10-28T15:09:00.000-03:00

I think I gained some weight in Argentina...

I'm practicing for Halloween... we're going to two parties tonight. One is at the US Marine compound a little bit outside the city, and another is at our friend's apartment here in the city. I'll write about them more later! Chao! Adios!

Cell Phone Strike?

2006-10-26T17:25:00.000-03:00

My cell phone stopped working today after I went into the subte to go to class, and it wouldn't pick up any signals even after I turned it on and off. After class, I decided to go walk down to the store on Av. Florida to see if they could fix it. The first store I went to told me to go to another store further down the street.

When I got to that store, I told them in Spanish "I have a problem with my phone, and I don't have any service." One guy tried to talk to me back in Spanish but I didn't understand anything so he told me in perfect English that some workers were having a strike and that's why my cell phone didn't have any service.

Now both my teacher and another student had the same company, and their phones were working fine. I walked back to the subte frustrated, thinking about why my phone didn't have service. They told me that the strike should end tomorrow, but I really need a phone. When I got on the train, I looked at the time on my phone and realized that now I had a full signal.

It's all pretty weird... I just hope that my service doesn't die again before the strike ends.

Colonia, Uruguay

2006-10-26T11:40:00.000-03:00

We had to get up at 7:30 in the morning to catch a 9 AM ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay. I went with my friends who needed to renew their 90 day tourist visas because they had been here for just under three months.

We opted for the cheaper, but slower, ferry which cost about $30 USD and takes about three hours. The expensive ferry only takes an hour, but I think it cost twice that. In hindsight, I would've paid the extra money. The ferry ride was pretty boring, but they have comfortable seats, and it's easy to sleep. It's a pretty big boat that can hold 1200 people, and cars on a lower deck. They had a duty free shop, an arcade, and a casino too.

Once we finally made it to Uruguay, everyone had to get off the boat through one set of stairs, one person wide. It was pretty ridiculous and took a lot of time since the boat was pretty full. Once we were off the boat, it's about a 10 block walk to the historic part of town.

First we ate lunch. It was probably the most expensive, touristy, restaurant in town, but it was right on the water and in this old round stone building that looked like it could have been a lighthouse or a castle. Next we found some neat art galleries, but nothing really looked that interesting. After that, we climbed the newer lighthouse, where from the top, you could see Buenos Aires.

We were all kind of tired from walking up the little steps, so we just decided to relax by the river and listen to this guy playing Spanish flamenco-sounding guitar. On the way back to the boat, we decided we needed to taste some Uruguayan helado to see if it was as good as in Buenos Aires (it wasn't).

When we got back to the boat, guess what? Everyone had to get back on the way they got off. A single-file staircase. How smart!

On the way back to Buenos Aires, I started feeling feverish....

Sick

2006-10-23T14:30:00.000-03:00

I've been pretty sick the last couple days. I think it's a weird stomach virus, because a few of my other friends have gotten something similar. I'll put some pictures up, and write about Uruguay once I'm feeling better.

Uruguay en la manana

2006-10-21T02:11:00.000-03:00

Going to Uruguay in the morning!! One of my friends needs to get his visa renewed so he needs to leave the country and come right back. We're just going to stay for the day, and come back around 11 at night. It takes three hours on the slow ferry, and only about $20 USD round trip. The town we're going to is called Colonia and as the name implies, it's supposed to be a small colonial town that's on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites so it should be interesting.

I'm bringing my camera, so I'll put some picture up tomorrow night or the next day. Hasta luego! Chao!

Mi Casa

2006-10-20T00:24:00.000-03:00

Here's my bed- I'm on the top bunk. Click through to the web album to see a couple other pictures of the place where I'm living now. I'm moving out in a week or two because the streets are so noisy and it's impossible to sleep late unless you're really, really tired or drugged. The website's coming along except I'm having trouble buying the domain names. Chao!

Work!!

2006-10-17T23:26:00.000-03:00

Here's a link to what I've been working on in the last week or so for ELE Baires: http://www.thinkok.com/spanish/

I really like the personal letter from the director, and listing her personal e-mail address because I think it will make the school seem more real to students who have never met her before.

I'm still working on the middle section below her letter, and I don't have any inside pages ready yet. I started with this template http://www.oswd.org/design/preview/id/2272 and I've been modifying it heavily. Chao!

The noisiest city in Latin America

2006-10-16T13:52:00.000-03:00

There was an article in La Nacion last month which said a World Health Organization survey put Buenos Aires at the top of all other Latin American cities. In 2003, it was ranked the 4th noisiest in the world. Almost no buses or trucks have mufflers, and the delivery mopeds are very noisy, too. Yesterday, we were trying to avoid the noise by walking through the parks on the way to a big artist street fair in Recoleta. Here are some of those pictures.

Some pictures around mi casa

2006-10-14T12:31:00.000-03:00

Here are a couple pictures I took of the outside of La Casa de Palermo aka the residencia, and of the streets. They're pretty nice with big trees that were probably planted when the streets were laid out. The look about 100 years old, and that's the same age as the streets. Our building is historic, and it was built in 1907.

Boliches

2006-10-13T10:49:00.000-03:00

Tonight I'm planning to do to my first boliche. They're big dance clubs that usually charge a cover, and they're pretty fancy inside. The cover's usually about $20 pesos, and drinks usually cost around $15-50 pesos each. That's about the most expensive you can get, unless you go to a brothel where "drinks" can cost $100 pesos each.

Last night I went to Jumbo and Easy. Two huge stores combined into one that are inside of a mall. It's kind of like a Walmart and a Home Depot in the same building, and you can choose to go to the Walmart side or the Home Depot side after you've walked through the mall and go up to the second floor. They have a third floor, too, but who know's what's up there because they have the biggest grocery store I've ever seen. They even have an "American" section, but all they had was Nesquik and Tabasco and a few herbs.

Everyone in the residencia is going crazy because they don't have any peanut butter anywhere. They have some stuff that just taste like the inside of a Reces, though. Betsy, you might like that on your ice cream, but the heladoria's don't usually have any toppings. Why put toppings on such incredibly good ice cream? At the best ice cream shop on our street, the owner is missing most of his index finger. I couldn't help but thinking about how it happened... but the ice cream's too good to care... Hasta luego!

Tarea

2006-10-12T00:22:00.000-03:00

I'm working on some homework tonight. It's all easy stuff, but it's good to practice. I'm finally getting into the grove of things. Tomorrow marks a week that I've been in Buenos Aires, and I'm kind of upset because I haven't been to any museums yet. I've walked a good bit of the city around the residencia, and along the main road from the residencia into the microcentro. Today was the first day that I was supposed to go to a museum, but I needed to get a phone first.

This proved much harder than you'd think. I walked down several of the main shopping streets in the microcentro before giving up and going to Alto Palermo, "el Shopping". Then the store wouldn't accept my credit card because I didn't have my passport with me, and then they made me go downstairs to their other store because they had to pull the item out of the warehouse underground. All of this I somehow managed to do while being spoken to in Spanish. I wasn't prepared for actually having to set up the phone.

When I got back to the residencia, I took the phone out of the box assembled it correctly, and tried to make a call. It didn't work. I figured I would have to activate the phone, but I had no idea how. It took me about three hours of thinking about it and going through all the papers to see a piece of paper with the phone number *ACTIVATE. I called it, and someone answered it in Spanish. I tried to talk a bit, but then the operator said, "Un momento.....bla bla bla.....ingles". And I said, "Muchas gracias! Muchas gracias!" "No, por favor," she replied and in about 30 seconds someone came on the phone who spoke English. She walked me through activating the phone, and now I have a cell phone!

Well I need to finish my homework. I'll post some pictures of the neighborhood tomorrow, and of the three ice cream shops less than a 100 yards away from the residencia. Hasta luego! Chao!

Some rain

2006-10-11T00:51:00.000-03:00

Today it rained for a little while this afternoon. Everyday I've been here it's been really great weather so it wasn't too bad. When I woke up I called Cingular for the millionth time and tried to get my phone to work. I spent over an hour on the phone trying to get the problems resolved and still didn't have any luck. Cingular gave me the wrong unlock code, and now my phone is locked for good unless I hack into it myself which would void the warranty if they figured out that I hacked into it. Since I've had to use the warranty three times in the last month I'm not going to do anything that would void the warranty. This means that I have to pay about $30 USD to buy a phone here which is still cheap, but it's not free. When I get back to the United States, Cingular told me they would replace my phone again, but they can't do it while I'm here.

This afternoon, I walked around the neighborhood taking a few pictures that I'm going to post soon. Then I went downtown and met with the director of the other school I'm going to start attending. I'm basically going to create a whole new website for her that aimed at students in the United States in exchange for free Spanish lessons.

I tried to buy a new phone on my way back home, but everything seemed too expensive even though it was only about $50 USD--that included $20 USD of calling credit. I'm just getting back from dinner at 1 AM, and we had a great steak, dessert, wine, appetisers, bread, water, and salad for only $10 USD. CSI Miami's on TV right now, but I'm going to try to go to sleep because I'm starting my new school tomorrow at noon. Adios!

New School

2006-10-10T01:58:00.000-03:00

In other news, I think I'm switching schools and programs. I never paid the program that I signed up for to come to Buenos Aires, and since coming here I've found out that it was a pretty big rip off. I was supposed to pay Gicarg about $1100 USD a month for room and school, even though it really only cost $500 USD.

For $10 USD I can get private lessons, and for $340 USD I can stay in the same place where I'm currently living. $10 x 2 hours a day x 5 days a week x 4 weeks a month is $400 USD. The same price that the Universidad de Buenos Aires charges for their group lessons. I think the private lessons are really going to suit me better in the beginning and I might take some group lessons at this other school once I get caught up. The group lessons only cost $7 USD. The school is called ELE Baires (Baires is short for Buenos Aires). They're website is www.elebaires.com.ar and it needs some work. So I'm actually going to trade website design work for my classes. I've yet to work out all the details, but on Wednesday I'm going to meet with the owner and we're going to negotiate something.

My first time visiting ELE Baires today was great. They had agua mineral and cookies and tea and coffee and more for students to munch on. They only have two classrooms, and they could only fit about 4 students max in a group lesson. The group lessons at UBA had six or more people. So if anyone's thinking about trying to learn Spanish in Buenos Aires, you really need to check out ELE Baires!

Futbol and School

2006-10-09T22:56:00.000-03:00

The futbol game was awesome! We had good seats, and the River team won! You can read more about the details of the game here on ESPN. The popular section went wild, and I recorded one of the chants on my phone, and I need to figure out how to post it on here. I was sitting next to a very enthusiastic Argentine who kissed me after one of the goals he was so happy. Here's a picture of the group walking towards the stadium, I was told that it holds around 70,000 people:

In the stadium, there's a section called "popular" where there's no assigned seating, and it's where the fanatics all sit. It seems like they exist for the rest of the fans to watch. At several points during the game, they managed to drape a flag across the entire sections spanning the upper and lower decks. It was pretty impressive. Here are some pictures I took with my camera phone:

All throughout the game they lit smoke bombs, and would shoot fireworks. I've heard that at some games, they have to put the game on hold until the smoke clears because it gets too thick. Here's a picture of everything they were throwing down onto the track around the field:

After the game was over, we had to wait for the visiting team (Boca Juniors) to leave before any of the home team could leave the stadium. This is to prevent riots and fights between the teams. In the stadium, no alcohol is sold. Here's a picture of the visiting team who are surrounded by police and what looks like a 12 foot high fence with barbed wire. After the game, I was told they they started ripping up the chairs and throwing them over the fence onto the people sitting in the stands below.

Gooooooooooooolllll!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-07T21:14:00.000-03:00

I JUST GOT A TICKET TO THE RIVER/BOCA FUTBOL GAME!! It cost about $350 pesos (over $100 US), but they normally sell for $450. We're sitting in a special VIP section, super close to the field in the same section as the president of the country. It's going to be awesome!!! For those not family with Argentine futbol teams, River and Boca are the two main teams in Buenos Aires and there's a big rivalry between them. Here's a video from YouTube showing what people in the "popular" section do during the game--shoot fireworks! They've actually over-sold the popular section, so the government's worried that a few people might die in the riots after the game. I think we'll be safe sitting next to the president, but I'm bringing my camera so I'll post pictures tomorrow night. Hasta luego! Chao!

A Protest

2006-10-07T19:59:00.000-03:00

Yesterday, I woke up at around 10:30 because I was supposed to take a placement test at the university at 11, but no one in the house was awake yet to tell me how to get there. Since I went to sleep the night before at 4 AM (and I was the first one asleep), I decided it would be best to go back to sleep for a little while. When I woke back up at 12:30, everyone was starting to get ready for school so I followed someone there. I ended up placing into the 4th level, but the coordinator was there and tried to talk to me in Spanish to see what I knew. I didn't understand anything she was asking me because she was using the "vos" form which I've never heard before. She wanted me to start on the first level but I insisted on at least starting in level 2.

When I left the school, I walked down to the Plaza de dos Congresos and had a late 4 PM lunch at a restaurant facing the Plaza. Then I walked down Av. de Mayo until I got to Av. 9 de Julio, one of the widest streets I've ever seen. You can see it here on Google Maps. When I got to the Av. 9 de Julio there were a few medium sized protests on the street corners, and one very large protest coming down the street. (Go here to see the pictures.) I found out later that they were protesting the disappearance of Jorge Julio Lopez who was a witness in a trial that's trying the chief of police during the dictatorship in the 80s. You can read more about him in this TIME Magazine article from last week.

From Argentina Pro...

When the main protest group reached the corner, they turned down the Av. de Mayo to head towards the Plaza de Mayo. I was walking in front of them taking pictures, and then walked around the Plaza de Mayo where there was a big stage set up and a band. Stationed all around the Plaza were police and ambulances.

From Argentina Pro...

The ambulances outnumbered the police, which seemed kind of odd. The group I was with seemed pretty peaceful, and they didn't seem to mind me taking pictures even though I was only one doing so besides the news stations.

Once the main group reached the Plaza de Mayo I noticed several other groups coming in from different streets. I couldn't tell if they were protesting against the other protesters or not, but they were shooting fireworks up in the air and also some into the crowd. I was standing next to the subte (subway) line and ducked down when they got really close and went back home.

That night a few of us living in the apartment went out to a good steak restaurant where we ordered a liter of wine, steak, and appetizers for about $6 USD each. Later that night we went out to a bar where the coordinators were having a "language partner" party. Mine didn't show up, so I'll have to try with a new partner but I did meet someone who's working for another school that's just getting started. They teach private lessons for only $25 pesos an hour (about 7.50 US).

Again, I was the earliest to bed at around 6 AM.

El primero dia

2006-10-06T18:43:00.000-03:00

Hola mis amigos! Yesterday was my first day in the city, and I learned a few interesting things about Argentina:

1) There are very few PARE (stop) signs, and when they do have them at an intersection, they aren't obeyed. Instead, the right-of-way is determined more by size of the dip in front of the street. Drivers don't seem to look for cross traffic, and amazingly it seems to work pretty well.

2) Headlights aren't necessary. About half the cars have working headlights, about a quarter have one headlight, and another quarter have no headlights. Street lights are pretty bright, but don't work everywhere.

3) The streets are safe to walk by yourself at night, but when you can take a taxi for $1, who wants to walk? Make that $0.30 if you're not by yourself.

4) Restaurants are the most crowded at 10:30 PM, and most don't open until 8. This is like Spain, except they don't seem to take siestas. Most people eat lunch between 1 and 3 PM, and you won't find anything open between 3 and 7 PM unless it's fast food or they cater to touristas.

5) Most locals have a heavy accent, and it's pretty hard for me to understand them. Restaurants menus are a separate language, but it's a good thing that I brought a book just on food in Argentina because it translates most of the words.

6) Argentines like to smoke, but they government doesn't want them to. Last Saturday the government banned smoking in all public indoor spaces. Before that, you could smoke in school, in the capital building, in bars, etc. Last night at a bar, a few people were still smoking, so we'll see how well the law is enforced.

I'll write about today a little bit later. Adios!

Here we go!

2006-10-01T18:17:00.000-03:00

I'm leaving in just a day, and I'm pretty excited! I'm just waiting on a last-minute purchase of books from Amazon and noise-cancelling headphones to come in tomorrow.

This blog is going to be the place where I put pictures and write about experiences I have. I'm going to be studying Spanish at the Universidad de Buenos Aires with a group called Groupo de Intercambio Cultural. Here's thier website: http://www.gicarg.org/ That's how I found out about them, and I like the fact that they're affiliated with a university because it will make it much easier to get credit for the classes when I come back to the US.

The picture is me at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.