Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I didn’t sleep very well last night because my brain would not turn off. Today I got up at 8:45, got ready, and ate breakfast. I had two salt media lunas, one and a half cups of hot chocolate that were really chocolatey, and tostadas with dulce de leche. I left to meet Tammy at 9:45. We met in front of Freddo on Juramento. We walked to Cabildo and looked for more of Tammy’s favorite mittens, but didn’t find any. Tammy’s throat is really sore. We went to our favorite store, Como Quieres, so Tammy could look for a shirt to match her new sweater, but the only ones she found were really expensive, so we left. We walked to the café, Nucha, near the UB and studied/talked. I have discovered that Tammy and I are a lot better at talking than studying! :) We stayed there until it was time to go to class. A boy who came when I did was in the café and he came over to say hi. I don’t even remember his name because I haven’t seen most of the ISA people since Iguazú falls unless I have class with them.

We got to class and talked in the hallway for a while before Graciana came. The lights weren’t on in our room, so she had to find someone to turn them on. I don’t quite understand how they work, but there is not a lightswitch. Somebody somewhere magically ignites them; I don’t know how. :) Finally, we got in our room and Graciana said that today was kind of a strange day because there was a plane crash in Brazil yesterday and the only Argentinean on the plane was the brother of one of the profesoras and so there was a lot of confusion. The profesora, Carolina, came, but I think she was going to leave or something so they were trying to cover her class, as well, I think. We went over a lot of review stuff and then started going over some homework. We did our evaluations of the course which are really funny because they are written in English, but they want us to write our comments in Spanish! After that, we had our lunch break. Tammy and I stayed in the classroom to eat and then we went to the computer lab for a few minutes. When we returned to the classroom, no one was there, so we sat out in the hall. We ended up having an hour break for lunch instead of a half hour due to the Carolina situation. I was feeling really antsy and just wanted to be done with class. I feel like my brain is so full of grammar rules that I cannot remember a single thing more and that when Graciana is talking, it is like pouring water into a cup that is already full to the brim. We went over the rest of the homework and then talked about one of the funniest parts of Spanish (to me): the English words that are now accepted as Spanish words. Our list included country (a gated neighborhood), internet, web, delivery, part time (this one is great to hear Graciana say!), check-in, check-out, sexy, cheesecake, lemon pie, brownie, chequear (to check). Graciana then asked us if we wanted to skip the “pausa” since the lunch break had gone so long. At first, I thought she meant that we would leave class 15 minutes early, but, no, she meant we could keep studying, if we wanted. Well, of course, no one wanted to skip our break! We ate some snacks and then it was time to start again. We read an article about the prevalence of English terms that have to do with technology and talked about and did some exercises relating to it. Graciana told us about five homework exercises we could do to practice for the exam, if we want (but we won’t go over them, so I’m not going to do them) and then class was over.

Tammy and I took pictures with Graciana and asked her if it was okay if we skip on Friday. Normally, on the Friday after the exam, all you do is go to class, receive your grade, go over the test, and leave after playing a few games or eating snacks. However, this Friday, the profesores are being evaluated and so we have to have class for the full five hours and cannot have any games or snacks. With Patricia as my example, I think I really should skip one class in my college career on purpose with no other reason than just to skip class to have fun. Tammy tells me that this class doesn’t count, but I think it does! Tammy and I talked to the girls from Grace. They were here last month, but weren’t in my class. I wish I would have known them then! It is really weird because they know of Tammy’s sister, Erin, and Patricia’s sister, Tammi. One of the girls, Mallory, was the RA of Erin’s friend, Rachel, who spent the night at our apartment this spring. What a small world it is! Mallory also knows of Perry and Joel Childs who go to AU and are friends with Tammy. (They also went to the same horse camp that I did!) Another of the girls, Kelly, lived on the same floor as Tammy’s sister for the second semester!

Tammy and I walked with Kelly to Cabildo for her to catch her bus and then we went to ISA. Both of us are expecting mail, but neither of us received anything. Bummer! I hope it comes tomorrow! We asked about scales, but Federico looked at us like we were crazy and said that no one here has scales in their house. We were hoping that the ISA office would have scales so we could weigh our suitcases before arriving at the airport. We asked for directions to Graciana’s favorite cake place and left. We found Maru Botana without problems, but there weren’t any tables. We went inside to wait, but then a table opened up outside. It was warm today so we decided to sit outside because there were street lamps. The waitress brought us a menu, but we wanted to look at the cake choices so we took turns going inside to look so we wouldn’t lose our table. I went first and when I came out, I told Tammy that we had a big problem: all the cakes looked good! She went in and came out and said that same. I have never been to such a good-looking cake place! I could have been happy with any of the cake choices! Tammy gave me her top two picks and I went inside to make a final decision and order so that I could point out the correct cake to the waitress because we didn’t know how to describe them. However, while I was inside waiting for the waitress to come back from the kitchen, Tammy came inside because some people outside started smoking. A table had opened up so we sat down. We chose a table next to the wall and there was still food on it from the last people. There was half a piece of cake and half a coffee drink at my place and so I wasn’t sure if the people had really left. There wasn’t a tip on the table, so we got scared that maybe they were in the bathroom or something and would come back and find us at their table! We had fear so we moved to the table next to us that still had dishes on it, but was deserted. I was really tempted to eat the rest of the piece of cake on the other table after cutting off the part that was eaten from, but Tammy made me behave. The waitress came and took our order and cleared the table with the cake. What a waste! We scooted back over to that table and continued studying with my notes from last month written in crayon. The waitress came back and was a bit surprised to find us at a different table. The cake was the most amazing thing I have about ever seen! It was a really fudgy brownie on bottom with a thick layer of dulce de leche and then whipped cream with strawberries on top. We got one piece and split it. Oh, there were also curls of chocolate on top! It was very fancy! We didn’t have a knife, but Tammy cut it with her spoon. It was very rich and delicious. After our cake, we talked, I mean, studied more. We finished looking through my notes and then I went to go to the bathroom before we left. However, when I got to the hallway, there were not words written on the bathroom doors, only the initials M and H. I could not figure out what this stood for. On most bathrooms, they use the words “damas” and “caballeros.” The only word I could think of that started with either of those letters was “hembra” which means female. Luckily for me, there were also little plaques on the doors with mice wearing clothes. After scrutinizing the plaques, I choose the one with the mouse wearing a dress and went in. I also had the fun of getting stuck in the bathroom stall because the door pushed shut and I couldn’t pull it open because there wasn’t a handle. However, when I washed my hands, I could see the water spinning very nicely down the drain in a clockwise motion. I didn’t take a picture or video, but I saw it very plainly, Dad!

We left the café and headed down the sidewalk. Tammy was leading and I was really confused because we weren’t going the same way we had come. I went back to look at the street sign, but what I didn’t realize was that we could get back to Cabildo either way because it was a square. Apparently, my geometry has gone down the drain here, too! I had to ask Tammy twice today what the name of a trapezoid is! We enjoyed talking as we walked down Cabildo. We were further away than the ISA office. Tammy had to walk home a really stupid way just to walk on streets with lights. I think she ended up backtracking 10 blocks or so! We passed Guillermo on the street and chatted with Michaela for a few minutes, too. I left Tammy at La Pampa. She had a really long walk tonight!

I got home right at 8:30. Fani’s sister had left. Fani got my dinner ready. I think she gave me enough food to stuff two of me. I had soup that tasted a bit like spoiled milk (I couldn’t eat very much), a huge bowl of raviolis (at least four cups!), shredded carrots, part of a cucumber that had seen better days, raw cabbage (which I dislike), and a piece of ham and cheese tarta. There was no way I could eat all this food even if I liked it! I hate it because Fani gets offended when I don’t eat all her food, but I cannot eat that much! (The chocolate cake didn’t help, either.) Like a naughty child, I hid some of my carrots and cucumbers in my napkin when Fani was out of the room taking a pill so I could dispose of them on the way to school tomorrow. I figure that she would throw them out anyway and this way I didn’t offend her quite so much. She was going to give me the rest of the chocolate cake that I didn’t eat yesterday because I forgot it in the fridge last night, but I was way too full and said that I would have it later tonight. Fani cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed. I got ready for bed and wrote this blog. I am going to study a bit more, read a bit, and go to bed. Tomorrow, I am meeting Tammy before the test to study a bit more before the test at 9:30. I am not too worried, but I hope it goes okay. Either way, it will be done and I will have my first break from school since Christmas! We also have an ISA farewell dinner tomorrow night at 9pm. I am going to wear my new Argentina skirt. Also, I know you will all be appalled, as am I, but Tammy and I do not have a single picture of us together here with only us in the picture! We have the one from her birthday party, but that is all! How pathetic are we! Furthermore, I am extremely anxious to get home. I will be on the plane three days from now! :)