Hello, Everyone!
I just wanted to let you know that I am safely back home. I hope to write about my last day and my trip home at some point, but for now, I just wanted to let you know I am back! I am thrilled about putting my winter coat away and having some summer!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Today is the Day of the Friend (Día del Amigo) here. I got up at 8:30 and drug myself out of bed and into a chilly shower. After some minutes, the water warmed up from iceberg to semi-warm. I got ready and ate breakfast at 9:30ish. I took a picture of my usual breakfast: two cups of hot chocolate, two media lunas, and tostadas with dulce de leche. I left my house at 10 with my computer to go to the photo store. I got there and talked to Juan. He is the man who sold me my camera and he was there the night before when he told me that the CD didn’t work. I tried to turn on my computer and it didn’t want to cooperate. The first time I turned it on, when he put his memory stick in, my computer froze and would not return. I had to kill it and then start it again. The second time I tried, a blue error screen came on. I was embarrassed that I was taking so much time and I was trying to hurry because I had to meet Tammy at 11 at her apartment. Juan is really funny. He knows some English, but he talks to me in Spanish. When my computer was misbehaving, he kept telling me that it was thinking and I told my computer to hurry, using the vos command (unique to Argentina/Uruguay). Juan told me that my computer doesn’t speak castellano which is true. Juan took out a post-it note and wrote “R.I.P.” and stuck it to my computer. It was really funny. I was a little worried that I was never going to get my free pictures and I said this. Juan told me we would get them out, and pulling out a carpet knife, he added, “no matter what!” It was hilarious! Finally, my computer turned on and let us transfer the pictures. I left the photo store at 10:35 and had to go back to my house and drop off my computer. Fani wasn’t there when I returned. I grabbed my new skirt, a white shirt, hose, and my dress shoes (or “smart shoes,” according to Tammy) and ran out the door as Fani was coming back. I had about 13 minutes before I was supposed to be at her apartment. If I would have had Tammy’s phone number, I would have called her, but I didn’t have it. (By the way, that last sentence is one of the grammar structures we have been reviewing a lot this summer.) I walked the short way (down Sucre) because it was light out. I hurried and made it to Tammy’s apartment just 15 minutes after I left my house. I got honked at seven times on my way to her house and a man on a bike practically stopped so he could say something to me. I don’t know what he said and I don’t really want to know!
I buzzed Tammy’s apartment and she said she would come down and let me in. However, a woman came to the door first and said something really quickly in Spanish and I didn’t understand her. She said something about the door and entering, but I wasn’t sure what. I mumbled something about waiting for a friend and she let me in as she went out. I met Tammy at the elevator. I have to tell you about the elevator at Tammy’s apartment. It reminds me of a ride at an amusement park. Whenever it starts or stops, you get a moment of weightlessness and then a big thud. It is interesting! We went in and I sat on Tammy’s bed while she finished getting ready. I left my dress clothes at her apartment. We headed out and went to the pharmacy so Tammy could buy more throat medicine (she is still sick) and then to a mail place so Tammy could mail some postcards and I could buy a stamp. We then walked to Tierra Santa, the religious-themed park. We had to walk near where Tammy runs so we walked over to her lake so she could get a picture. We saw a parrot and took a picture of him, too. We headed across a big bridge over a highway and then had to stop for a minute and consult “el mapa.” We found Tierra Santa and walked in. We had to ask a man where to pay and then we bought tickets from a lady wearing a Bible-times robe. It cost 15 pesos ($5) to go. Something I must say right away is that ALL of the workers where wearing robes and headpieces, even the women cleaning the bathroom! We went to give them our tickets and the man automatically started trying to explain the park to us in English. He gave us English maps so we could “understand them better.” He assumed that we could not speak Spanish very well without even talking to us! How frustrating! Tammy asked him if we could also have maps in Spanish. The lady working with him gave us each one. We went to the bathroom and then went into a big domed building to find the Nativity show. We had to walk through displays of Adam and Eve, Abraham, some prophets, and a few more characters before getting to the show room. Each one had a Bible verse written on a big plaque by it (in Spanish, obviously). We heard music and it was almost 1pm, so we hurried in to find seats for the show. After waiting about five minutes, all the lights turned off so it was pitch black in there. I asked Tammy if she was scared of the dark and she said she wasn’t because there were angels in there. The show was cool because the whole scene was set up in front of us but we could only see the characters they shone the lights on. The figures were mechanical. My favorite one was the sheep whose mouth moved. We tried to take pictures, but they didn’t turn out very well. After that, we walked around the park. It is right by the airport and so lots of planes would fly over our heads really close and really noisily! We saw lots of scenes from the Bible set up with life-size statues. It was really neat! We were taking pictures with a statue of a woman with the face cut out so you could stick your face in when a man came over and told us if we wanted to see the last supper show that we should hurry because it was starting. We hurried in and had to sit off to the side because there were so many people. We waited about five minutes for the show to start. It was really short; it probably only lasted for 2 minutes! The voice was easier to understand in this show and Jesus and the disciples moved their hands and heads a lot. After it was over, all the people clapped really loudly. Something about people clapping for machines made me laugh, but it was refreshing to see the respect that people had for this scene. As we walked out, I said to Tammy that we should go back and finish taking the pictures with our faces. Right then, we saw that a whole school group was clustered around them and we changed our minds fast! We walked around and saw more Bible scenes. We headed back near the entrance to see the Resurrection show. This consisted of a huge Jesus being raised from the domed building and then He turned to the right and left, shut His eyes, turned his palms heavenward, and bowed his head. The music was in English (I think it was Messiah, but I can’t remember right now) and as the song ended, Jesus was lowered back down into the mountain. I took a video of Jesus. This show was a bit funny to me, but I liked it. We headed back in to visit more scenes including the walk to Golgotha with the cross. We also saw a replica (obviously) of the Wailing Wall and there was a sign that said all the papers that are stuck in there and taken to Jerusalem and placed in the real Wailing Wall. I thought that was really neat. We looked at the restaurants in there to see if we should eat there to save time, but decided to wait and go to an empanada place near Tammy’s apartment because we thought it would be quicker and cheaper. We went to see the Creation show and the lady told us it was full, but Tammy asked if we could stand and the lady let us in. This show was interesting, too. It started out totally dark and stayed that way even after the part where God created the light! Next, light shone on two waterfalls and water started falling. Then it went dark and two platform things were lowered from the walls and they had tons of grass and plants on them. Next, animals appeared and took turns performing their special noises and actions. The elephant was life-size (as was everything else) and it sprayed mist over its back. It ended with Adam and Eve standing in the middle of the scene. Tammy and I were practically the first ones out the door because we had been standing in the back right next to the ramp. We wanted to climb the mountain of the crucifixion which was on the roof the domed building we had just been in (the nativity show had been in there, too). We walked up there and there was a sign that said, “No correr” (No running). We took a picture of it. We walked around the mountain and then headed down. We went to the bathroom and there were two robed ladies cleaning. We left the park and headed back near Tammy’s apartment. However, when we arrived, the empanada place was closed so Tammy bought some cookies in a kiosko and we went to her apartment. We changed into our fancy clothes (I wore my new purple and black plaid wrap-around skirt with a fabric flower on the front and one of Tammy’s purple shirts that was the perfect color—thank you Tammy!—and Tammy wore a cute black skirt with a bow, black shoes with little bows on the toe (very slippery shoes), and a red shirt. We both wore our coin necklaces. We took pictures with Silvia and then we had to leave for class. We snacked on the way and got there early—about 4:10. Graciana had told us to come at 4:30, but we wanted to be early. However, as we were about to take the elevator up, we saw Megan and Kelly (two of the girls from Grace) and they said that class was over and they didn’t know if Graciana was still around. We talked to them for a while and then went up to look for her. However, we saw Mallory (the other Grace girl) in the computer lab and went in to say hi. We then wandered around looking for Gloria’s (the director) office. However, we went down the wrong hall, but we heard a professor speaking Spanish and we both thought that we were in the right place (the language department) since we heard people speaking Spanish and then we realized that everyone speaks Spanish here! We found Gloria’s office, but she wasn’t there. However, we could see the tests sitting on her desk. We asked a lady in another office close by and she told us to ask Daniel (Señor Tiza—Mr. Chalk), the man who brings the chalk to our class, but he wasn’t around either. We went back to the computer lab to say goodbye to the Grace girls and then went to look for Gloria one more time. She wasn’t there, but as we were leaving, another woman walked by and we asked her if she knew if Gloria was coming back soon. She said that since the light was on in the office, either Gloria or Daniel should be back soon. We decided to sit and wait because we really wanted to see our tests. We thought about going back to the computer lab to check our email, but decided that would be a bit awkward since we had already been in there twice in the last 15 minutes without even using the computers. We sat in some chairs and talked and before long, Daniel appeared. We followed him until he went into Gloria’s office and then we asked him about our tests. He looked through a big stack of tests until he found the tests of our class. He then asked our names and started looking through the whole stack. I thought we might be on the bottom since we had not been in class and I was right. Our pages were scrambled together, but we got them sorted out. I got a 9 on the exam, an 11 on the oral exam, and a 10 in the class. I don’t understand the 11 on the oral exam because I thought everything was out of 10 and I even made a mistake. I was very happy and Tammy was happy, too, because she got a 9 in the class. After looking at our mistakes, we left and went to the ISA office. We had a million things to do and we did them. I talked to Guillermo about my missing letter and gave him the stamp in case it comes so he can send it back to me, checked my email, confirmed where I am supposed to go for tomorrow’s airport pick-up and got taxi info, and called my mom. We talked to Kay and Tammy tried to get tickets for Uruguay tomorrow, but they don’t have any of the slow ferry tickets left for tomorrow. The fast ferry is a lot more expensive and so they decided not to go. I was excited because I didn’t have to say goodbye to Tammy today! Kay, Tammy, and I walked to my photo store so I could pick up my pictures and then to Dolce y Caffe, a fancy Italian restaurant for some rich chocolate cake that Tammy discovered with her Chile friends. We went in and got seated at a table because they had removed the couches where Tammy sat last time. The waiter took our order and even repeated the name of the dessert that was something like “trilogo chocolate.” Tammy also ordered tap water without incident although the man looked amused. Last time Tammy tried to order tap water at this restaurant, it was a big fiasco and she accidentally asked for “camel water” and “stretcher water” instead of “tap water.” However, it worked this time and the waiter brought us tap water in very tall wine glasses. In a little bit, he brought us three very good-looking STRAWBERRY DESSERTS! We told him we had ordered chocolate and he looked confused and brought the menu and Tammy showed him the menu and repeated the name of our dessert. He apologized and removed the three desserts. We had to wait a little longer and then he brought each of us the richest dessert I have ever eaten in my life. My mother would love it! The bottom layer is fudgy, then there are three layers of mousse (dark brown, medium brown, and cream) with dark chocolate fudgy stuff on top. At the back of the cake, there were pieces of real chocolate. It was super rich, but we all ate ours. The English-speaking waiter came to give us the bill. His English is not that good. Tammy had fun trying to explain tap water to him the last time she was there. Tammy paid with credit card because both she and I are almost out of money. I have more American dollars, but I forgot to change them and tomorrow none of the money changing places will be open. Kay and I walked back to Cabildo together after walking Tammy to the door of her apartment (which is right next to Dolce y Caffe). I walked home and got there right at 8:35. Fani greeted me and noticed that I was wearing a skirt which was not what I had been wearing earlier. She liked it a lot. She likes everything I buy here. The only exception to this was when I wore my shirt that looks like an Argentinean flag the other day and her first comment was about how “un-coated” I was! (That is a poor translation, but we don’t have a verb for wearing a coat, do we?) She liked the shirt afterward, though. She heated up my dinner and I went out to find that she had served me an empanada and a pizza. Now, I was already overwhelmed from eating that chocolate cake and I didn’t really feel very hungry and I probably shouldn’t have eaten my whole piece of cake (but who wastes chocolate?). I asked what kind of empanada it was and Fani told me chicken and onion. It was cheese and ham, but mostly cheese. I bet there was more than a half cup of melted cheese in there and then I had a greasy cheese pizza. I felt like I might throw up if I ate one more bite of cheese and so when Fani turned to the refrigerator to take something out, I quickly ripped the last piece of pizza from the crust and hid it in my napkin. Fani brought me chocolate mousse for dessert and I asked if I could eat it later. I finished dinner 6 hours ago and I am still not hungry for it! The combination of that rich chocolate cake and an overload of cheese is not really a good idea! After dinner, Fani went directly to bed, so I didn’t give her the picture frame with the picture of us in it. I wanted to write in a card anyway and so I will give it to her tomorrow. I shaved my legs in the sink because I might get frostbite if I tried to do it in the shower. (It was the first time in 44 days, for anyone who is interested.) I then started my least favorite task in the entire mundo: packing. I worked for a long time. It is hard because there aren’t any scales here and so I don’t know how much stuff I have in each suitcase. I kind of think my big suitcase weighs too much, but I guess I will find out tomorrow. Unlike Tammy, I don’t have enough clothes to use for padding. I probably should have brought the smaller version of my suitcase because I have so many heavy items that aren’t that big. After packing the big suitcase and most of the smaller one, I wrote this blog. Now it is 2:40am and I really want to get some sleep before I have to wake up and leave my room. I don’t really understand when I need to be out because Fani told me not to worry about when I am out, but she also told me that the new girl is arriving about 9, but she also told me that her daughter is not coming to clean my room until 10! I want to be up about 8:30 so I can give Fani her present and card before the new girl comes. I also need to go grocery shopping and buy a few last minute things before meeting Tammy and Kay tomorrow at 11am. My floor is still a mess because I haven’t packed my backpack or purse. I am going to try to get away with using my one-strap backpack as my purse because my real purse doesn’t always work so well with the zipper and the backpack is a little bigger. However, I hope they don’t count each backpack as a bag! It will also be easier to carry them around the airport because I can put my one-strap backpack on my front (like normal) and then put my backpack on my back. Okay, my goal is being in bed before 3:30 because then I can get 5 hours of sleep!
I buzzed Tammy’s apartment and she said she would come down and let me in. However, a woman came to the door first and said something really quickly in Spanish and I didn’t understand her. She said something about the door and entering, but I wasn’t sure what. I mumbled something about waiting for a friend and she let me in as she went out. I met Tammy at the elevator. I have to tell you about the elevator at Tammy’s apartment. It reminds me of a ride at an amusement park. Whenever it starts or stops, you get a moment of weightlessness and then a big thud. It is interesting! We went in and I sat on Tammy’s bed while she finished getting ready. I left my dress clothes at her apartment. We headed out and went to the pharmacy so Tammy could buy more throat medicine (she is still sick) and then to a mail place so Tammy could mail some postcards and I could buy a stamp. We then walked to Tierra Santa, the religious-themed park. We had to walk near where Tammy runs so we walked over to her lake so she could get a picture. We saw a parrot and took a picture of him, too. We headed across a big bridge over a highway and then had to stop for a minute and consult “el mapa.” We found Tierra Santa and walked in. We had to ask a man where to pay and then we bought tickets from a lady wearing a Bible-times robe. It cost 15 pesos ($5) to go. Something I must say right away is that ALL of the workers where wearing robes and headpieces, even the women cleaning the bathroom! We went to give them our tickets and the man automatically started trying to explain the park to us in English. He gave us English maps so we could “understand them better.” He assumed that we could not speak Spanish very well without even talking to us! How frustrating! Tammy asked him if we could also have maps in Spanish. The lady working with him gave us each one. We went to the bathroom and then went into a big domed building to find the Nativity show. We had to walk through displays of Adam and Eve, Abraham, some prophets, and a few more characters before getting to the show room. Each one had a Bible verse written on a big plaque by it (in Spanish, obviously). We heard music and it was almost 1pm, so we hurried in to find seats for the show. After waiting about five minutes, all the lights turned off so it was pitch black in there. I asked Tammy if she was scared of the dark and she said she wasn’t because there were angels in there. The show was cool because the whole scene was set up in front of us but we could only see the characters they shone the lights on. The figures were mechanical. My favorite one was the sheep whose mouth moved. We tried to take pictures, but they didn’t turn out very well. After that, we walked around the park. It is right by the airport and so lots of planes would fly over our heads really close and really noisily! We saw lots of scenes from the Bible set up with life-size statues. It was really neat! We were taking pictures with a statue of a woman with the face cut out so you could stick your face in when a man came over and told us if we wanted to see the last supper show that we should hurry because it was starting. We hurried in and had to sit off to the side because there were so many people. We waited about five minutes for the show to start. It was really short; it probably only lasted for 2 minutes! The voice was easier to understand in this show and Jesus and the disciples moved their hands and heads a lot. After it was over, all the people clapped really loudly. Something about people clapping for machines made me laugh, but it was refreshing to see the respect that people had for this scene. As we walked out, I said to Tammy that we should go back and finish taking the pictures with our faces. Right then, we saw that a whole school group was clustered around them and we changed our minds fast! We walked around and saw more Bible scenes. We headed back near the entrance to see the Resurrection show. This consisted of a huge Jesus being raised from the domed building and then He turned to the right and left, shut His eyes, turned his palms heavenward, and bowed his head. The music was in English (I think it was Messiah, but I can’t remember right now) and as the song ended, Jesus was lowered back down into the mountain. I took a video of Jesus. This show was a bit funny to me, but I liked it. We headed back in to visit more scenes including the walk to Golgotha with the cross. We also saw a replica (obviously) of the Wailing Wall and there was a sign that said all the papers that are stuck in there and taken to Jerusalem and placed in the real Wailing Wall. I thought that was really neat. We looked at the restaurants in there to see if we should eat there to save time, but decided to wait and go to an empanada place near Tammy’s apartment because we thought it would be quicker and cheaper. We went to see the Creation show and the lady told us it was full, but Tammy asked if we could stand and the lady let us in. This show was interesting, too. It started out totally dark and stayed that way even after the part where God created the light! Next, light shone on two waterfalls and water started falling. Then it went dark and two platform things were lowered from the walls and they had tons of grass and plants on them. Next, animals appeared and took turns performing their special noises and actions. The elephant was life-size (as was everything else) and it sprayed mist over its back. It ended with Adam and Eve standing in the middle of the scene. Tammy and I were practically the first ones out the door because we had been standing in the back right next to the ramp. We wanted to climb the mountain of the crucifixion which was on the roof the domed building we had just been in (the nativity show had been in there, too). We walked up there and there was a sign that said, “No correr” (No running). We took a picture of it. We walked around the mountain and then headed down. We went to the bathroom and there were two robed ladies cleaning. We left the park and headed back near Tammy’s apartment. However, when we arrived, the empanada place was closed so Tammy bought some cookies in a kiosko and we went to her apartment. We changed into our fancy clothes (I wore my new purple and black plaid wrap-around skirt with a fabric flower on the front and one of Tammy’s purple shirts that was the perfect color—thank you Tammy!—and Tammy wore a cute black skirt with a bow, black shoes with little bows on the toe (very slippery shoes), and a red shirt. We both wore our coin necklaces. We took pictures with Silvia and then we had to leave for class. We snacked on the way and got there early—about 4:10. Graciana had told us to come at 4:30, but we wanted to be early. However, as we were about to take the elevator up, we saw Megan and Kelly (two of the girls from Grace) and they said that class was over and they didn’t know if Graciana was still around. We talked to them for a while and then went up to look for her. However, we saw Mallory (the other Grace girl) in the computer lab and went in to say hi. We then wandered around looking for Gloria’s (the director) office. However, we went down the wrong hall, but we heard a professor speaking Spanish and we both thought that we were in the right place (the language department) since we heard people speaking Spanish and then we realized that everyone speaks Spanish here! We found Gloria’s office, but she wasn’t there. However, we could see the tests sitting on her desk. We asked a lady in another office close by and she told us to ask Daniel (Señor Tiza—Mr. Chalk), the man who brings the chalk to our class, but he wasn’t around either. We went back to the computer lab to say goodbye to the Grace girls and then went to look for Gloria one more time. She wasn’t there, but as we were leaving, another woman walked by and we asked her if she knew if Gloria was coming back soon. She said that since the light was on in the office, either Gloria or Daniel should be back soon. We decided to sit and wait because we really wanted to see our tests. We thought about going back to the computer lab to check our email, but decided that would be a bit awkward since we had already been in there twice in the last 15 minutes without even using the computers. We sat in some chairs and talked and before long, Daniel appeared. We followed him until he went into Gloria’s office and then we asked him about our tests. He looked through a big stack of tests until he found the tests of our class. He then asked our names and started looking through the whole stack. I thought we might be on the bottom since we had not been in class and I was right. Our pages were scrambled together, but we got them sorted out. I got a 9 on the exam, an 11 on the oral exam, and a 10 in the class. I don’t understand the 11 on the oral exam because I thought everything was out of 10 and I even made a mistake. I was very happy and Tammy was happy, too, because she got a 9 in the class. After looking at our mistakes, we left and went to the ISA office. We had a million things to do and we did them. I talked to Guillermo about my missing letter and gave him the stamp in case it comes so he can send it back to me, checked my email, confirmed where I am supposed to go for tomorrow’s airport pick-up and got taxi info, and called my mom. We talked to Kay and Tammy tried to get tickets for Uruguay tomorrow, but they don’t have any of the slow ferry tickets left for tomorrow. The fast ferry is a lot more expensive and so they decided not to go. I was excited because I didn’t have to say goodbye to Tammy today! Kay, Tammy, and I walked to my photo store so I could pick up my pictures and then to Dolce y Caffe, a fancy Italian restaurant for some rich chocolate cake that Tammy discovered with her Chile friends. We went in and got seated at a table because they had removed the couches where Tammy sat last time. The waiter took our order and even repeated the name of the dessert that was something like “trilogo chocolate.” Tammy also ordered tap water without incident although the man looked amused. Last time Tammy tried to order tap water at this restaurant, it was a big fiasco and she accidentally asked for “camel water” and “stretcher water” instead of “tap water.” However, it worked this time and the waiter brought us tap water in very tall wine glasses. In a little bit, he brought us three very good-looking STRAWBERRY DESSERTS! We told him we had ordered chocolate and he looked confused and brought the menu and Tammy showed him the menu and repeated the name of our dessert. He apologized and removed the three desserts. We had to wait a little longer and then he brought each of us the richest dessert I have ever eaten in my life. My mother would love it! The bottom layer is fudgy, then there are three layers of mousse (dark brown, medium brown, and cream) with dark chocolate fudgy stuff on top. At the back of the cake, there were pieces of real chocolate. It was super rich, but we all ate ours. The English-speaking waiter came to give us the bill. His English is not that good. Tammy had fun trying to explain tap water to him the last time she was there. Tammy paid with credit card because both she and I are almost out of money. I have more American dollars, but I forgot to change them and tomorrow none of the money changing places will be open. Kay and I walked back to Cabildo together after walking Tammy to the door of her apartment (which is right next to Dolce y Caffe). I walked home and got there right at 8:35. Fani greeted me and noticed that I was wearing a skirt which was not what I had been wearing earlier. She liked it a lot. She likes everything I buy here. The only exception to this was when I wore my shirt that looks like an Argentinean flag the other day and her first comment was about how “un-coated” I was! (That is a poor translation, but we don’t have a verb for wearing a coat, do we?) She liked the shirt afterward, though. She heated up my dinner and I went out to find that she had served me an empanada and a pizza. Now, I was already overwhelmed from eating that chocolate cake and I didn’t really feel very hungry and I probably shouldn’t have eaten my whole piece of cake (but who wastes chocolate?). I asked what kind of empanada it was and Fani told me chicken and onion. It was cheese and ham, but mostly cheese. I bet there was more than a half cup of melted cheese in there and then I had a greasy cheese pizza. I felt like I might throw up if I ate one more bite of cheese and so when Fani turned to the refrigerator to take something out, I quickly ripped the last piece of pizza from the crust and hid it in my napkin. Fani brought me chocolate mousse for dessert and I asked if I could eat it later. I finished dinner 6 hours ago and I am still not hungry for it! The combination of that rich chocolate cake and an overload of cheese is not really a good idea! After dinner, Fani went directly to bed, so I didn’t give her the picture frame with the picture of us in it. I wanted to write in a card anyway and so I will give it to her tomorrow. I shaved my legs in the sink because I might get frostbite if I tried to do it in the shower. (It was the first time in 44 days, for anyone who is interested.) I then started my least favorite task in the entire mundo: packing. I worked for a long time. It is hard because there aren’t any scales here and so I don’t know how much stuff I have in each suitcase. I kind of think my big suitcase weighs too much, but I guess I will find out tomorrow. Unlike Tammy, I don’t have enough clothes to use for padding. I probably should have brought the smaller version of my suitcase because I have so many heavy items that aren’t that big. After packing the big suitcase and most of the smaller one, I wrote this blog. Now it is 2:40am and I really want to get some sleep before I have to wake up and leave my room. I don’t really understand when I need to be out because Fani told me not to worry about when I am out, but she also told me that the new girl is arriving about 9, but she also told me that her daughter is not coming to clean my room until 10! I want to be up about 8:30 so I can give Fani her present and card before the new girl comes. I also need to go grocery shopping and buy a few last minute things before meeting Tammy and Kay tomorrow at 11am. My floor is still a mess because I haven’t packed my backpack or purse. I am going to try to get away with using my one-strap backpack as my purse because my real purse doesn’t always work so well with the zipper and the backpack is a little bigger. However, I hope they don’t count each backpack as a bag! It will also be easier to carry them around the airport because I can put my one-strap backpack on my front (like normal) and then put my backpack on my back. Okay, my goal is being in bed before 3:30 because then I can get 5 hours of sleep!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Today was the day of our final and I nearly overslept! Although I went to bed at 11 last night, I couldn’t fall asleep until sometime after 1am. I woke up and looked at my alarm and it said 7:44 and I had set it for 7:30. Yikes! I quickly got ready and went out to eat breakfast. Fani did not have it ready yet. She was out of media lunas and so she made me some toast. It was interesting because she made it on the stove and it had the flavor of the pan she made it in. The word for bread in Spanish is “pan” and so Tammy and I joked at lunch about the “pan pan” (bread that tastes like a pan). I had two pieces with dulce de leche on top and one and a half cups of hot chocolate. I left at 8:30 to go to the UB. I figured I could check my email if Tammy wasn’t there yet because I was going to be early. However, I followed Tammy into the elevator and so we went to a bench outside the classroom and studied. Being the hard-working trabajadora that she is, Tammy had done all of the practice exercises. I felt bad because she wanted to compare answers and I hadn’t done mine. Oops! Since I couldn’t fall asleep anyway last night, I should have just stayed up and done them. Luckily Teal and Gabrielle had done theirs and so Tammy asked them some of her questions. We sat there for about a half hour studying, went to the bathroom, and then just stood around anxiously waiting to start. Several minutes after we were supposed to have started, we found out that we were going to join another class downstairs to take the test. We went down to the thirteenth floor and found seats. Tammy, Will, and I sat in the front (my favorite place to avoid distractions!). Graciana and another teacher passed out the exams. The theme was monkeys and how they communicate in a similar manner to humans. Both Tammy and I had several questions for Graciana during the test. I did not think the test was that bad, but I am not sure. All of the sections were familiar, but I am not sure how well I did. As Tammy said, I might have gotten an A or an F. Tammy finished one second before me and turned her test in. I was the next person to finish and handed mine in right after. We had an hour to wait while the rest of the class finished their exam, so we headed to the computer lab to check our email, but Tammy wanted to stop at the bathroom on the way. The only problem was that instead of being on our normal floor (fourteenth), we were on the 13th floor and so instead of having the women’s bathroom, it was the men’s. Tammy was talking to me and almost walked into the men’s bathroom, but I told her as she was about to go in. (That would have made it the second time this month!) We checked our email and then headed back up to wait for the oral exam. We got there just to find out that we were going back to our normal room. We went in and sat down and Graciana explained that we were going to do the exam with a partner and she would start with the people who finished the test first. She called out the first two pairs of people, but they were not there yet. The fifth test was Tammy’s and the sixth was mine, so we got to do it together! We went first out of the whole class! It was not too difficult. We were given a piece of paper with six different types of sentences we had to form such as an irreal wish and speculations about the past. It was hard to think of examples quickly, but it helped that Graciana provided us with examples on the page. When we were done, we asked about being able to see our tests. She told us we could come at 4:30 tomorrow and so that is what we are going to do.
We went out and talked to our friends from Grace. It was nice to chat with them about our host families and traveling and a few other things. Tammy and I headed to the cafeteria so we could eat our lunches that we had brought. We sat there and laughed about funny stories of my food at Fani’s (now that I have resorted to secretly hiding it under the table!) and took pictures out the window. We decided we needed to go eat ice cream so that we would have room for cheesecake later. We went to the place that Tammy wanted to try. This ice cream store has a display counter along the sidewalk and the ice cream is decorated in a fancy manner with chocolate and fruit on top. I tried white chocolate, some other flavor, and dulce de leche with chocolate pieces in it. Tammy and I both decided to get the dulce de leche because it was so good! We got cups of it. We thought it was tricky that they have the pretty ice cream display out front, but they dip the actual ice cream from containers in the back! The cash register man (I have a feeling there is an English word for this job) talked to us for about 20 minutes while we stood there with our ice cream. Because Tammy had ordered (and we had been discussing which of the ice creams contained alcohol in English), I think the man thought I couldn’t speak Spanish and so he was looking at Tammy and talking to her the whole time. He switched topics and spoke quickly and so it was hard to follow him. He talked about how the earnings of people who do manual labor, like plumbers, earn different amounts per hour depending on how many people there are to do the work (in the U.S.), he talked about all the different ethnicities in Buenos Aires and how they all live mixed together unlike the U.S. where they tend to be segregated, and then he told me that I don’t look like an American. A bus was going by and so I couldn’t hear him and had to ask him to repeat what he had said (yes, I do speak Spanish, I think!). I asked him what I looked like and he said German. He asked me what my last name was and I told him it was German. He looked very pleased with himself. He asked Tammy where her family was from and she said South Africa. He then wanted to know where they were originally from. We eventually got to go sit down at a table in the sun and it was good until the wind started blowing little leaves onto us. I tried to protect my ice cream, but still got a leaf in it. Tammy and I talked about growing up and siblings. My favorite story was how Tammy and her sister used to hide the food they didn’t like in their dog’s food bowl. :)
After our ice cream and much talking, we decided to head to Tammy’s apartment so that she could pack. We were planning on going to my apartment a little later for the same reason. It sounded like a good plan to me because I hate packing and I love being with Tammy. We walked to her apartment and I sat on her bed and was probably more of a distraction than a help, but it was fun. I just have one comment about Tammy’s packing… Tammy has a lot of clothes here! I was quite impressed by the sheer number. I helped her eliminate some things that she could leave here and assisted where I could. It was funny because when we got there we were both really hot wearing long-sleeved shirts and so Tammy loaned me a running T-shirt and she put one on, too. I then was helping her by putting a jacket inside her winter coat and the best way to do it was to actually put her coats on and pull the sleeves through with my hands, so at one point, I was wearing Tammy’s shirt and coat! She then took a picture of me with her messy room (due to packing). We left her house about 6 and headed to Freddo (on Juramento). We then proceeded to act like we knew what we were doing and went and sat down. This is what people here do instead of going to the counter to order. Every time we have gone to the counter to order, the people look either slightly annoyed or amused and tell us to sit down, so we wanted to do it right. However, I don’t think we have perfected the technique because we sat at the table for over an hour without anyone coming to serve us. Even people who came in after us got served and the waitress would walk right by us as if we were invisible! We worked on our ISA evaluations. There was a place to comment on each director, but we were not comfortable writing our remarks there before handing them in to the directors. I wondered if I could send mine directly to Texas, but in the end, we decided to write on the evaluation that we thought it was not a good idea to ask for comments about the directors when they are the ones collecting these surveys. We didn’t even finish our evaluations because they are really long (five pages, I think) and we wrote in-depth answers for them. After drooling at the entire cheesecake sitting in the display case for over an hour, Tammy finally caught the attention of the bus-girl and she came over to see what we needed. I don’t think she was even a waitress, but Tammy asked her for two portions of cheesecake. She said okay and went away only to come back and say that they were out of cheesecake. We were confused because there was a whole cheesecake in the case. She explained to us that it was just a model. I think it is a cruel trick to display a model of a cheesecake when in reality there is not! We decided to leave and go to the other Freddo, but we wanted to explain so it didn’t look rude that we were leaving. Another waitress came over and we told her that we wanted cheesecake and so we were going to the other Freddo. She looked slightly annoyed, but we smiled and left. I needed to pick up my 100 free photos and the shop closes at 8, so we decided to go there first. I went in and they explained that for some reason the pictures on the disk didn’t show up on their computer. I asked them what I could do and they told me to use the program Nero (I think). I explained that I didn’t have that program and Tammy said that she thought it was South American. They disagreed and acted like everyone has it on his computer. I told them I was leaving Saturday and asked what I could do. They asked if I had a memory stick and I said yes, but it is broken. Unfortunately, when I tried to save my blog from yesterday, it would not save to it. This is sad because for some reason, my wireless internet signal has vanished from my apartment. I am not sure when I will be able to post these blogs because of these problems. The man asked me if I had a “notebook” (no, I brought my desktop to Argentina!) and said that I could bring it in tomorrow and he could save the pictures on his flash drive. I asked when the pictures would be ready because I had had to wait three days before going to pick this batch of “pictures.” The man assured me that he could have them done later that day. I thanked him and said I would be there in the morning with my computer.
Because we were so close to my apartment, we went there quickly so I could leave some of my school stuff from my backpack and change my clothes. I didn’t have time to shower (bummer, I miss my iceberg!). My clothes were back from the laundromat and I looked through them looking for something to wear. I decided upon my khaki pants and favorite green CAT (Carolyn/Anne/Tammy) shirt, but when I put on the khakis, I found that they had done some major shrinking. Tammy and I joked that it was due to the cakes, but in reality, it is not because they were small in all parts and even were about an inch or more shorter than normal! I took them off and wore my gray corduroys instead with a maroon shirt. My CAT shirt was tighter than normal, too. It was giving me claustrophobia so it was a good thing I didn’t wear it! What did they do to my clothes this time? We said goodbye to Fani and walked to Freddo. We didn’t care how stupid we appeared, but walked straight to the front counter and ordered two portions of cheesecake. We went and sat down and the man cleared our table from the last people and then brought it to us. We were eating it (finally!) when Will walked in. He had seen us through the window as he was walking to the ISA office and decided to come in and say hi. We talked to him as he stood at our tall table and we finished our cheesecake. We got the bill and I paid so I could break my last $100 (pesos). We don’t understand why, but the bill was $8.50 instead of $6 like normal. There is no way they raised the price of a piece of cheesecake from $6 to $8.50 in one week! We left and walked to ISA. We got there and went in. There were not too many people there at first. We used the computers until they said it was time to eat. The food was more like appetizers than a whole meal. There were little sandwiches and meats and cheeses. I enjoyed my first mustard in almost two months! Surprisingly, Tammy and I weren’t too hungry. We sat with Will and Kay and chatted in the big classroom. However, when the dessert came out, Tammy and I suddenly found more room. We are without shame. I had a small piece of an apple pie dessert, a small piece of a strawberry jam dessert with clear sweet gel on top, and a small piece of cheesecake. Guillermo asked about our evaluations and we told him we were going to mail them to Texas. I then asked him if a letter for me arrives with my health insurance card in it if he could mail it back to me in the U.S. I told him I would leave him some money if he would do this. He said that if it comes, he will email me, but that it would be best not to leave money because he doesn’t know how much it will cost or if it will even come. He said that the best thing to do would be to wait until it comes and then he could email me and tell me how much I owe him. I said I thought that would be difficult because I didn’t know how I could send the money to him. He told me I could send it through Western Union. I didn’t know how to respond, so I turned away about dying of laughter and made the mistake of looking at Tammy. We were cracking up. I could not breathe, I was laughing so hard. The thought of sending less than two dollars through Western Union was simply ridiculous! We had a good laugh about his one! There were people smoking in the little “outside inside” which is a little courtyard area that doesn’t have a roof, but is surrounded by four walls of the ISA office. We took some pictures, including the first real one of just me and Tammy. It turned out really well! It is now the wallpaper for my computer! We used the computers a bit more after we ate before heading out. Tammy and I were scared about walking home so late at night. Unlike the majority of our fellow ISA students, this was the latest Tammy had ever been out and only the third late night I have had (the other two were tango lessons and Uruguay). I walked with Tammy to the corner of Juramento and Cabildo and then walked back. We prayed for each other’s safety the whole way back. It is scary because there is no way to even know if the other person made it back safely. If I got stolen on my way home, no one would even know until Fani discovered I wasn’t here in the morning when she thought that I was sleeping really late which would probably be about 11am! I probably shouldn’t think on this! These are the types of situations that cause me to depend on God so much more than when I am at home! I made it back safely and put my clean clothes away and cleaned up all the things that I had thrown everywhere. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of packing stuff up! I wrote this blog which took a long time because I wrote so much. (You probably don’t want to know that it is more than four full pages single-spaced. That is ridiculous! Oh my! I just realized it is 2am! I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow, I am taking a shower and taking my computer to the photo store because meeting Tammy at her apartment at 11am. We are going to the religious themed park and then we are going to dress-up and go to a fancy café for cake. We are probably going to stop by the colonial museum and then we will go to class and see our grades. Tammy and Silvia are watching a movie tomorrow night and I am invited, but I want to spend time with Fani and I don’t want to pack, but I need to because I will be kicked out of my room on Saturday morning! Okay, this is enough of my foolish babbling. I bet you would never guess that I am sleep-deprived—I was tired at the dinner at 10pm—and need to go to bed! Chau!
We went out and talked to our friends from Grace. It was nice to chat with them about our host families and traveling and a few other things. Tammy and I headed to the cafeteria so we could eat our lunches that we had brought. We sat there and laughed about funny stories of my food at Fani’s (now that I have resorted to secretly hiding it under the table!) and took pictures out the window. We decided we needed to go eat ice cream so that we would have room for cheesecake later. We went to the place that Tammy wanted to try. This ice cream store has a display counter along the sidewalk and the ice cream is decorated in a fancy manner with chocolate and fruit on top. I tried white chocolate, some other flavor, and dulce de leche with chocolate pieces in it. Tammy and I both decided to get the dulce de leche because it was so good! We got cups of it. We thought it was tricky that they have the pretty ice cream display out front, but they dip the actual ice cream from containers in the back! The cash register man (I have a feeling there is an English word for this job) talked to us for about 20 minutes while we stood there with our ice cream. Because Tammy had ordered (and we had been discussing which of the ice creams contained alcohol in English), I think the man thought I couldn’t speak Spanish and so he was looking at Tammy and talking to her the whole time. He switched topics and spoke quickly and so it was hard to follow him. He talked about how the earnings of people who do manual labor, like plumbers, earn different amounts per hour depending on how many people there are to do the work (in the U.S.), he talked about all the different ethnicities in Buenos Aires and how they all live mixed together unlike the U.S. where they tend to be segregated, and then he told me that I don’t look like an American. A bus was going by and so I couldn’t hear him and had to ask him to repeat what he had said (yes, I do speak Spanish, I think!). I asked him what I looked like and he said German. He asked me what my last name was and I told him it was German. He looked very pleased with himself. He asked Tammy where her family was from and she said South Africa. He then wanted to know where they were originally from. We eventually got to go sit down at a table in the sun and it was good until the wind started blowing little leaves onto us. I tried to protect my ice cream, but still got a leaf in it. Tammy and I talked about growing up and siblings. My favorite story was how Tammy and her sister used to hide the food they didn’t like in their dog’s food bowl. :)
After our ice cream and much talking, we decided to head to Tammy’s apartment so that she could pack. We were planning on going to my apartment a little later for the same reason. It sounded like a good plan to me because I hate packing and I love being with Tammy. We walked to her apartment and I sat on her bed and was probably more of a distraction than a help, but it was fun. I just have one comment about Tammy’s packing… Tammy has a lot of clothes here! I was quite impressed by the sheer number. I helped her eliminate some things that she could leave here and assisted where I could. It was funny because when we got there we were both really hot wearing long-sleeved shirts and so Tammy loaned me a running T-shirt and she put one on, too. I then was helping her by putting a jacket inside her winter coat and the best way to do it was to actually put her coats on and pull the sleeves through with my hands, so at one point, I was wearing Tammy’s shirt and coat! She then took a picture of me with her messy room (due to packing). We left her house about 6 and headed to Freddo (on Juramento). We then proceeded to act like we knew what we were doing and went and sat down. This is what people here do instead of going to the counter to order. Every time we have gone to the counter to order, the people look either slightly annoyed or amused and tell us to sit down, so we wanted to do it right. However, I don’t think we have perfected the technique because we sat at the table for over an hour without anyone coming to serve us. Even people who came in after us got served and the waitress would walk right by us as if we were invisible! We worked on our ISA evaluations. There was a place to comment on each director, but we were not comfortable writing our remarks there before handing them in to the directors. I wondered if I could send mine directly to Texas, but in the end, we decided to write on the evaluation that we thought it was not a good idea to ask for comments about the directors when they are the ones collecting these surveys. We didn’t even finish our evaluations because they are really long (five pages, I think) and we wrote in-depth answers for them. After drooling at the entire cheesecake sitting in the display case for over an hour, Tammy finally caught the attention of the bus-girl and she came over to see what we needed. I don’t think she was even a waitress, but Tammy asked her for two portions of cheesecake. She said okay and went away only to come back and say that they were out of cheesecake. We were confused because there was a whole cheesecake in the case. She explained to us that it was just a model. I think it is a cruel trick to display a model of a cheesecake when in reality there is not! We decided to leave and go to the other Freddo, but we wanted to explain so it didn’t look rude that we were leaving. Another waitress came over and we told her that we wanted cheesecake and so we were going to the other Freddo. She looked slightly annoyed, but we smiled and left. I needed to pick up my 100 free photos and the shop closes at 8, so we decided to go there first. I went in and they explained that for some reason the pictures on the disk didn’t show up on their computer. I asked them what I could do and they told me to use the program Nero (I think). I explained that I didn’t have that program and Tammy said that she thought it was South American. They disagreed and acted like everyone has it on his computer. I told them I was leaving Saturday and asked what I could do. They asked if I had a memory stick and I said yes, but it is broken. Unfortunately, when I tried to save my blog from yesterday, it would not save to it. This is sad because for some reason, my wireless internet signal has vanished from my apartment. I am not sure when I will be able to post these blogs because of these problems. The man asked me if I had a “notebook” (no, I brought my desktop to Argentina!) and said that I could bring it in tomorrow and he could save the pictures on his flash drive. I asked when the pictures would be ready because I had had to wait three days before going to pick this batch of “pictures.” The man assured me that he could have them done later that day. I thanked him and said I would be there in the morning with my computer.
Because we were so close to my apartment, we went there quickly so I could leave some of my school stuff from my backpack and change my clothes. I didn’t have time to shower (bummer, I miss my iceberg!). My clothes were back from the laundromat and I looked through them looking for something to wear. I decided upon my khaki pants and favorite green CAT (Carolyn/Anne/Tammy) shirt, but when I put on the khakis, I found that they had done some major shrinking. Tammy and I joked that it was due to the cakes, but in reality, it is not because they were small in all parts and even were about an inch or more shorter than normal! I took them off and wore my gray corduroys instead with a maroon shirt. My CAT shirt was tighter than normal, too. It was giving me claustrophobia so it was a good thing I didn’t wear it! What did they do to my clothes this time? We said goodbye to Fani and walked to Freddo. We didn’t care how stupid we appeared, but walked straight to the front counter and ordered two portions of cheesecake. We went and sat down and the man cleared our table from the last people and then brought it to us. We were eating it (finally!) when Will walked in. He had seen us through the window as he was walking to the ISA office and decided to come in and say hi. We talked to him as he stood at our tall table and we finished our cheesecake. We got the bill and I paid so I could break my last $100 (pesos). We don’t understand why, but the bill was $8.50 instead of $6 like normal. There is no way they raised the price of a piece of cheesecake from $6 to $8.50 in one week! We left and walked to ISA. We got there and went in. There were not too many people there at first. We used the computers until they said it was time to eat. The food was more like appetizers than a whole meal. There were little sandwiches and meats and cheeses. I enjoyed my first mustard in almost two months! Surprisingly, Tammy and I weren’t too hungry. We sat with Will and Kay and chatted in the big classroom. However, when the dessert came out, Tammy and I suddenly found more room. We are without shame. I had a small piece of an apple pie dessert, a small piece of a strawberry jam dessert with clear sweet gel on top, and a small piece of cheesecake. Guillermo asked about our evaluations and we told him we were going to mail them to Texas. I then asked him if a letter for me arrives with my health insurance card in it if he could mail it back to me in the U.S. I told him I would leave him some money if he would do this. He said that if it comes, he will email me, but that it would be best not to leave money because he doesn’t know how much it will cost or if it will even come. He said that the best thing to do would be to wait until it comes and then he could email me and tell me how much I owe him. I said I thought that would be difficult because I didn’t know how I could send the money to him. He told me I could send it through Western Union. I didn’t know how to respond, so I turned away about dying of laughter and made the mistake of looking at Tammy. We were cracking up. I could not breathe, I was laughing so hard. The thought of sending less than two dollars through Western Union was simply ridiculous! We had a good laugh about his one! There were people smoking in the little “outside inside” which is a little courtyard area that doesn’t have a roof, but is surrounded by four walls of the ISA office. We took some pictures, including the first real one of just me and Tammy. It turned out really well! It is now the wallpaper for my computer! We used the computers a bit more after we ate before heading out. Tammy and I were scared about walking home so late at night. Unlike the majority of our fellow ISA students, this was the latest Tammy had ever been out and only the third late night I have had (the other two were tango lessons and Uruguay). I walked with Tammy to the corner of Juramento and Cabildo and then walked back. We prayed for each other’s safety the whole way back. It is scary because there is no way to even know if the other person made it back safely. If I got stolen on my way home, no one would even know until Fani discovered I wasn’t here in the morning when she thought that I was sleeping really late which would probably be about 11am! I probably shouldn’t think on this! These are the types of situations that cause me to depend on God so much more than when I am at home! I made it back safely and put my clean clothes away and cleaned up all the things that I had thrown everywhere. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day of packing stuff up! I wrote this blog which took a long time because I wrote so much. (You probably don’t want to know that it is more than four full pages single-spaced. That is ridiculous! Oh my! I just realized it is 2am! I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow, I am taking a shower and taking my computer to the photo store because meeting Tammy at her apartment at 11am. We are going to the religious themed park and then we are going to dress-up and go to a fancy café for cake. We are probably going to stop by the colonial museum and then we will go to class and see our grades. Tammy and Silvia are watching a movie tomorrow night and I am invited, but I want to spend time with Fani and I don’t want to pack, but I need to because I will be kicked out of my room on Saturday morning! Okay, this is enough of my foolish babbling. I bet you would never guess that I am sleep-deprived—I was tired at the dinner at 10pm—and need to go to bed! Chau!
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! :)
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! :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I got a bad night’s sleep because I couldn’t fall asleep until after 2. I got up at 8:15, got ready, and ate breakfast at 9. I had boiling hot chocolate (so hot it almost made me late), one salt media luna (there are two kinds: salt and butter/sweet; needless to say, I like the sweet kind better), and tostadas with dulce de leche. Fani was going to go to the hair cut place, so we left together. We separated at the door of the apartment because she was going the other way.
I met Tammy at the bookstore at the corner of Juramento and Cabildo. We took the subte to Callao (pretty far away). The subte was exceptionally crowded for the morning and we stopped for a long time at several stops. We eventually made it there and after leading Tammy in the wrong direction for three blocks, I got us turned around the right way and we headed to the bookstore. It is called El Aturneo (or something like that) and is the same chain as the one we met at in the morning. It is in an old theater and was amazing! Gwen and Rachel would have loved it! Tammy and I had homework to finish so we went to the café that is on the stage area and ordered a piece of chocolate raspberry cake to split and Tammy had coffee. We did our homework and ate quickly. Tammy walked up to the counter to pay because we didn’t want to waste time waiting for the waitress. We walked around and took pictures. Tammy tried to find a Christian novel, but didn’t have much luck with asking one of the men who works there (after she caught him!). He tried to give her books about religion which was not what she wanted. I missed out on the conversation where she asked another guy for a Christian novel, but said that she did not want a book about Jesus. I know what she meant, but it sounds funny. We tried to find a bathroom that was unlocked and after asking a lady, went to the bottom floor before leaving. I wish we would have had more time to browse, although that might have proved dangerous for my suitcase.
We walked back to the subte, got on, and arrived at Olleros with plenty of time to spare. We walked to school and then talked to people in the hallway. Tammy showed pictures of the bookstore to some girls. Graciana told us what was going to be on the final. It sounds hard, but after the last test, I am not worried about passing. Unlike Tammy, my grade will not transfer. We went over a new grammar topic and then went over homework. During lunch, we sat at our usual table with our usual people. It was a really warm day today. I only wore a long sleeved shirt and had a zip-up sweatshirt with me. Our classroom was warm, as well. We worked on exercises in our workbook. Oh, something funny was when Graciana had us all practice saying the vowel combination “eu” as in Europa because we all say it incorrectly. We were all saying “eh-oo” together and she said we sounded like monkeys! Nothing else of note occurred during the class session, but I have a very funny (embarrassing for me) story to share.
Will, Tammy, and I were headed to our favorite café to eat cake and do our homework, but Tammy and I wanted to go to the bathroom first. Now you have to understand that the bathroom at the university has been out of soap for the last three or so days. I walk into the bathroom and say in a booming voice, “Sopa!” Now, if you don’t understand Spanish, what you are missing here is that the word for soap is “jabón.” What I yelled was the word for “soup.” And to make matters worse, guess who was following us into the bathroom! That’s right, none other than Graciana, our profesora. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. One of the girls from Grace, Megan, was laughing really hard, too. Graciana tried to tell me what the real word for soap was, but, of course, I already knew. It was not that I did not know the word for soap, but what had happened was that I was so enthusiasmed that I shouted out the first thing that came to mind. Yes, I know I should think before I speak, but I’m a lot funnier this way! I was laughing all the way down the elevator. Oh, we weren’t paying attention and rode to the 17th floor before heading down!
We walked to Pan y Canela and ordered our favorite cake. We found out this morning at the bookstore that it is called El Porteño. “Porteño” is the word for someone who lives in Buenos Aires. This particular cake has a brownie foundation with a layer of dulce de leche, then chocolate fudge/mousse, and then meringue on top. Very good! Our favorite waitress was not there and so we are going to have to go back again. ¡Qué lástima! What a pity! Seriously, we are having a hard week! Hehe! We did our homework. It was hard and I don’t know how much we got right. We finished right at 7 and Will went home and I went over to Tammy’s “departamento.” I saw all the souvenirs she bought in both Chile and in Argentina when I wasn’t with her. She has a lot of stuff to pack! I also got to see the video of her Chilean family whom she gets to go back to Chile and visit for 5 days when she leaves Buenos Aires! I am so excited for her! I can’t remember if I already wrote this yesterday or not. I also got to thank Silvia for the magazine about Evita and tell her goodbye. She is nice and friendly. Tammy walked me to the door (so she could let me out) and I had to power-walk home (again!) because I left at 8:12. I went as fast as I could and made it back at 8:34.
I hurried up and greeted Fani. Her sister is here at our apartment. I must have missed this part of the message! She was lying in Fani’s double bed and I went in to meet her. She had her hair in rollers. She was really sweet. Her nickname is Titi (I think). Fani told me she wanted me to eat right away because she was tired. I had really hot soup, carnalones (my favorite!), and a huge piece of chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse and a strawberry on top! It was good, but I couldn’t eat all the cake. This was my third piece of fancy chocolate cake in the same day! I saved part of it for later. Fani’s hair looks very nice, by the way. I told Fani about the soup/soap incident in the bathroom. She cleaned up the kitchen and told me goodnight. I took a shower and it was warm! It was not hot, but it was definitely warm and I did not shiver or have goosebumps in the shower! It’s funny because Fani told me she wanted to go to bed, but I could hear them in her room watching TV and talking for almost two hours! I organized some things, checked my email, and wrote this blog. I am going to read for a bit and then go to bed.
I met Tammy at the bookstore at the corner of Juramento and Cabildo. We took the subte to Callao (pretty far away). The subte was exceptionally crowded for the morning and we stopped for a long time at several stops. We eventually made it there and after leading Tammy in the wrong direction for three blocks, I got us turned around the right way and we headed to the bookstore. It is called El Aturneo (or something like that) and is the same chain as the one we met at in the morning. It is in an old theater and was amazing! Gwen and Rachel would have loved it! Tammy and I had homework to finish so we went to the café that is on the stage area and ordered a piece of chocolate raspberry cake to split and Tammy had coffee. We did our homework and ate quickly. Tammy walked up to the counter to pay because we didn’t want to waste time waiting for the waitress. We walked around and took pictures. Tammy tried to find a Christian novel, but didn’t have much luck with asking one of the men who works there (after she caught him!). He tried to give her books about religion which was not what she wanted. I missed out on the conversation where she asked another guy for a Christian novel, but said that she did not want a book about Jesus. I know what she meant, but it sounds funny. We tried to find a bathroom that was unlocked and after asking a lady, went to the bottom floor before leaving. I wish we would have had more time to browse, although that might have proved dangerous for my suitcase.
We walked back to the subte, got on, and arrived at Olleros with plenty of time to spare. We walked to school and then talked to people in the hallway. Tammy showed pictures of the bookstore to some girls. Graciana told us what was going to be on the final. It sounds hard, but after the last test, I am not worried about passing. Unlike Tammy, my grade will not transfer. We went over a new grammar topic and then went over homework. During lunch, we sat at our usual table with our usual people. It was a really warm day today. I only wore a long sleeved shirt and had a zip-up sweatshirt with me. Our classroom was warm, as well. We worked on exercises in our workbook. Oh, something funny was when Graciana had us all practice saying the vowel combination “eu” as in Europa because we all say it incorrectly. We were all saying “eh-oo” together and she said we sounded like monkeys! Nothing else of note occurred during the class session, but I have a very funny (embarrassing for me) story to share.
Will, Tammy, and I were headed to our favorite café to eat cake and do our homework, but Tammy and I wanted to go to the bathroom first. Now you have to understand that the bathroom at the university has been out of soap for the last three or so days. I walk into the bathroom and say in a booming voice, “Sopa!” Now, if you don’t understand Spanish, what you are missing here is that the word for soap is “jabón.” What I yelled was the word for “soup.” And to make matters worse, guess who was following us into the bathroom! That’s right, none other than Graciana, our profesora. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. One of the girls from Grace, Megan, was laughing really hard, too. Graciana tried to tell me what the real word for soap was, but, of course, I already knew. It was not that I did not know the word for soap, but what had happened was that I was so enthusiasmed that I shouted out the first thing that came to mind. Yes, I know I should think before I speak, but I’m a lot funnier this way! I was laughing all the way down the elevator. Oh, we weren’t paying attention and rode to the 17th floor before heading down!
We walked to Pan y Canela and ordered our favorite cake. We found out this morning at the bookstore that it is called El Porteño. “Porteño” is the word for someone who lives in Buenos Aires. This particular cake has a brownie foundation with a layer of dulce de leche, then chocolate fudge/mousse, and then meringue on top. Very good! Our favorite waitress was not there and so we are going to have to go back again. ¡Qué lástima! What a pity! Seriously, we are having a hard week! Hehe! We did our homework. It was hard and I don’t know how much we got right. We finished right at 7 and Will went home and I went over to Tammy’s “departamento.” I saw all the souvenirs she bought in both Chile and in Argentina when I wasn’t with her. She has a lot of stuff to pack! I also got to see the video of her Chilean family whom she gets to go back to Chile and visit for 5 days when she leaves Buenos Aires! I am so excited for her! I can’t remember if I already wrote this yesterday or not. I also got to thank Silvia for the magazine about Evita and tell her goodbye. She is nice and friendly. Tammy walked me to the door (so she could let me out) and I had to power-walk home (again!) because I left at 8:12. I went as fast as I could and made it back at 8:34.
I hurried up and greeted Fani. Her sister is here at our apartment. I must have missed this part of the message! She was lying in Fani’s double bed and I went in to meet her. She had her hair in rollers. She was really sweet. Her nickname is Titi (I think). Fani told me she wanted me to eat right away because she was tired. I had really hot soup, carnalones (my favorite!), and a huge piece of chocolate cake with layers of chocolate mousse and a strawberry on top! It was good, but I couldn’t eat all the cake. This was my third piece of fancy chocolate cake in the same day! I saved part of it for later. Fani’s hair looks very nice, by the way. I told Fani about the soup/soap incident in the bathroom. She cleaned up the kitchen and told me goodnight. I took a shower and it was warm! It was not hot, but it was definitely warm and I did not shiver or have goosebumps in the shower! It’s funny because Fani told me she wanted to go to bed, but I could hear them in her room watching TV and talking for almost two hours! I organized some things, checked my email, and wrote this blog. I am going to read for a bit and then go to bed.
Monday, July 16, 2007
A few things I want you to know before I come home...
I decided to make a top ten list of the things that I want you all to know about my experience and how that is going to affect my homecoming.
10. I can’t speak English anymore. I realize this and I know that after being immersed in the English language once again, my grammar will quickly recover, but while I am going through this stage, all that I ask is that you point out my grammar mistakes to me before you start laughing uproariously so I can join in the fun, too.
9. If you find me hanging out at gas stations, crowded intersections, or sniffing the tailpipes of cars, just remember that I am pollution-deprived in the U.S.
8. If I walk around holding on to the strap of my backpack that I am wearing in front of my body and slap anyone who touches it, just remember that if you are not watching your stuff and holding it in Buenos Aires, it is apt to disappear.
7. I have been gone for two months, but in some ways it seems much longer. Although getting to travel like this and experience another culture is a wonderful opportunity, please do not act like this was a vacation in paradise because, in reality, June was the hardest month of my life. I think I have grown closer to God and learned a lot about myself, but it hasn’t been a piece of cake.
6. Speaking of cake, if I have the desire to eat ice cream, pie, or cake everyday… wait a minute, that’s always a normal desire for me!
5. If I come up to you and say something in Spanish, please don’t get offended. I’m not trying to confuse you; it may just be that I can’t remember how to say what I want in English. Ask me nicely to “speak-y the Eenglish” and I will do my best.
4. If I am excited by the fact that I can understand everything that people are saying around me, gently remind me that this is not a normal occurrence and that I probably should keep this excitement to myself.
3. If I get dressed for the day and put on a sweater, long pants, coat, and scarf, laugh at me all you want, but PLEASE don’t let me step outside like that!
2. If I waste gallons of hot water, remember that I have only had two hot showers in the last two months! Or, if I go around kissing people, remember that I am used to greeting everyone (except the Americans) with a kiss on the cheek. You know how we have shaking-hands-time at church? Well, here it is kissing-on-the-cheek time so don't be surprised if I forget!
1. I have lots of stories and pictures, so if you would like me to share them with you, just ask because I would love show-and-tell! Only be sure to specify if you want the 2-minute, 10-minute, 1-hour, or 3-day version! (Sometimes I get carried away, as some of you know.)
I am looking forward to seeing you all again!
Monday, July 16, 2007
I got up this morning at 9:30, got ready, and ate my normal breakfast—two cups of boiling hot chocolate (I am not exaggerating—it overflowed in the microwave), two media lunas, and tostadas with dulce de leche. I finished off the farm brand and started the colonial style kind. It is probably my second favorite kind. I have become quite the connoisseur of dulce de leche here! I finished up my homework and selected 100 of my photos to get printed at the shop where I purchased my new camera because when I bought my camera, I got a coupon for 100 free prints.
I left about 11:30, dropped off my CD at the store, and headed to school. It was a pretty warm day today (in comparison to what we have been having). I was warm wearing my fleece. I got to school and went to the computer lab to look for Tammy because she had planned on being there at 11. She wasn’t there, so I got online, checked my email, and did a few other things. I went to go down to class at 12:25, but there were two Argentine girls in our classroom so I went to sit down on a bench outside the classroom. The bench right in front of our room was full, so I went and sat by myself a bit down the hall. Our teacher showed up about 12:35 and she kicked the girls out of our room. When we went in, we realized that they had been smoking in there. It is against the law to smoke in public buildings in Buenos Aires, but the university students are notorious for disobeying this rule. The girls had opened the windows and there were cigarettes on the floor.
We went over homework for the first part of class and also talked a bit more about the slang that is used in Buenos Aires. I have to say that although it is interesting, it is hard for me to care now that I am leaving in 5 days. One funny part was when Graciana was trying to describe the action of sticking your arm or hand out a window or something and she said that she was going to “asomarse” and walked briskly to the window, opened it, and peered out. She asked us if we understood and we all said no. We were not sure what part of her drama was the definition of the word. It was funny. We lunched in the cafeteria, Tammy, Will, Omar, Kat, Sam, and I. (Okay, I realize that sentence sounds funny, but I am too tired to attempt to correct my poor grammar.) Oh, something else that is funny is that when Graciana tries to explain why something is correct when there is really no logical reason for it, she says that it “sounds better” so when she questions somebody’s answer in class, it is always safe to say that it “sounds better.” It is really funny. (My English has really gone down the drain; I way overuse the word “funny.”)
We worked on pronouns (direct objects and indirect objects) which are not very interesting. We had to classify a list of about 30 verbs and I got them all correct which made me extremely happy! (There were some that can be both and I only listed each verb once, but I still count that as correct.) We also started working with a new grammar topic: the passive voice. Although the passive voice was previously learned by the majority of the students, the topic was revisited during the class session today (check out the passivity of this sentence!). However, instead of doing normal examples, we did really complicated grammar constructions and I didn’t understand it at all. We talked about the vocabulary for bread and sharing food (a little random, I know), got assigned some homework, and listened to a presentation about soccer and one about Recoleta Cementary. Oh yes, at one point during class, I definitely said, “más OR menos” instead of “más o menos.” The scary thing is that I did not even notice and Tammy had to point it out to me!
After class, Will, Tammy, and I walked to the ISA office and checked to see if we had any mail. We didn’t, so after talking to Guillermo about the farewell dinner on Thursday and plans to get to the airport on Saturday, we headed toward Freddo. The one on Cabildo was really full, so Tammy suggested that we go to the one on Juramento. We walked there and it is a lot bigger and had a lot less people. We had a problema after that because the special is 2-for-1 on Monday and we had three people. We asked the guy if they had to be the exact same thing and he said yes. We spent about ten minutes deciding what to do and eventually settled on Tammy and I getting cones and Will getting a waffle cone bowl thing and an extra one to share. I had my usual frambuesa (raspberry) and frutilla (strawberry) and we got cheesecake ice cream for our shared bowl. It was confusing because you have to pick up your ice cream at a different counter than you order so Will went to pick up the shared bowl and we ordered his ice cream for him. After the stress of ordering, it was a good thing that we got to relax and eat ice cream! All of it was very good and we ate a lot and it cost less than two dollars a person!
We then attempted to do the homework, but we were pretty pathetic. Will and I are horrible at speaking English and Tammy just sits there and makes fun of us. Some of the best quotes of the night (originally said in English, embarrassingly enough) were, “and then, después,” by Will and “We ate el ice cream” by Carolyn. Tammy was also telling us a story about the airport and she asked a lady if she had change for a 100 peso bill and I thought she said that a lady had asked her if she could change her underwear! And I thought I still could comprehend English. I was laughing so hard at one point that I couldn’t talk (a rarity for me!). We teased each other about asking someone in Freddo for help with our homework because there was one question that we were totally stuck on. We didn’t though. Will had to leave to go home, but before he left, he told us in English with perfect Spanish grammar, “That you all have a good day!” Keep in mind it was 8pm at this time! We are all going nuts. Tammy and I finished filling in answers to the exercise we were working on and left, too. We still have the hardest exercise left. It is the kind where you have to transform someone’s quote to a paraphrase (sort of) and it is really hard and makes our heads hurt. We are going to have to do it before class tomorrow.
I walked home and made it back by 8:20. Fani got my dinner ready and I ate lukewarm watery soup, bad-tasting shredded carrots, cucumbers with big seeds, chicken and rice, and dulce de leche flavored mousse. Fani had to go downstairs to pick up a remedio from a delivery man and I hid my carrots in my napkin because they were too nasty to eat. The cucumbers were interesting because the seeds were very big and hard like watermelon seeds. I tried to pick them out inconspicuously (which didn’t really work), so I gave up trying to be polite and just put them on my plate. Fani noticed, but didn’t seem to mind. Sometimes when something appears to be wrong with my food, Fani gets really embarrassed. Fani’s sister is on her way to Buenos Aires for a visit. She is a lot older than Fani and lives in Corrientes which is a province near Iguazú, more or less. Fani cleaned up the dinner and then went straight to bed because she is going to go to the hair-fixing-cutting place tomorrow (peluqueria, in Spanish) and she wants to be rested. I got my dirty clothes ready for the “dirty clothes man” because he is coming tomorrow for the last time! He came late last week because of my trip to the estancia and so I only have one pair of pants for him, as well as other clothes! I worked on sending Amber some info about the online assistive technology class and wrote this blog. I am now going to read for a bit and then go to bed. Tomorrow, I am meeting Tammy to go visit a bookstore that takes place in an old theater (I realize that “takes place” sounds weird there). My English is horrific, in case you can’t tell! And the sad thing is that my writing is about 80 times better than my speaking because I can read it over and spell check it! Get ready to laugh at me when I come home!
I left about 11:30, dropped off my CD at the store, and headed to school. It was a pretty warm day today (in comparison to what we have been having). I was warm wearing my fleece. I got to school and went to the computer lab to look for Tammy because she had planned on being there at 11. She wasn’t there, so I got online, checked my email, and did a few other things. I went to go down to class at 12:25, but there were two Argentine girls in our classroom so I went to sit down on a bench outside the classroom. The bench right in front of our room was full, so I went and sat by myself a bit down the hall. Our teacher showed up about 12:35 and she kicked the girls out of our room. When we went in, we realized that they had been smoking in there. It is against the law to smoke in public buildings in Buenos Aires, but the university students are notorious for disobeying this rule. The girls had opened the windows and there were cigarettes on the floor.
We went over homework for the first part of class and also talked a bit more about the slang that is used in Buenos Aires. I have to say that although it is interesting, it is hard for me to care now that I am leaving in 5 days. One funny part was when Graciana was trying to describe the action of sticking your arm or hand out a window or something and she said that she was going to “asomarse” and walked briskly to the window, opened it, and peered out. She asked us if we understood and we all said no. We were not sure what part of her drama was the definition of the word. It was funny. We lunched in the cafeteria, Tammy, Will, Omar, Kat, Sam, and I. (Okay, I realize that sentence sounds funny, but I am too tired to attempt to correct my poor grammar.) Oh, something else that is funny is that when Graciana tries to explain why something is correct when there is really no logical reason for it, she says that it “sounds better” so when she questions somebody’s answer in class, it is always safe to say that it “sounds better.” It is really funny. (My English has really gone down the drain; I way overuse the word “funny.”)
We worked on pronouns (direct objects and indirect objects) which are not very interesting. We had to classify a list of about 30 verbs and I got them all correct which made me extremely happy! (There were some that can be both and I only listed each verb once, but I still count that as correct.) We also started working with a new grammar topic: the passive voice. Although the passive voice was previously learned by the majority of the students, the topic was revisited during the class session today (check out the passivity of this sentence!). However, instead of doing normal examples, we did really complicated grammar constructions and I didn’t understand it at all. We talked about the vocabulary for bread and sharing food (a little random, I know), got assigned some homework, and listened to a presentation about soccer and one about Recoleta Cementary. Oh yes, at one point during class, I definitely said, “más OR menos” instead of “más o menos.” The scary thing is that I did not even notice and Tammy had to point it out to me!
After class, Will, Tammy, and I walked to the ISA office and checked to see if we had any mail. We didn’t, so after talking to Guillermo about the farewell dinner on Thursday and plans to get to the airport on Saturday, we headed toward Freddo. The one on Cabildo was really full, so Tammy suggested that we go to the one on Juramento. We walked there and it is a lot bigger and had a lot less people. We had a problema after that because the special is 2-for-1 on Monday and we had three people. We asked the guy if they had to be the exact same thing and he said yes. We spent about ten minutes deciding what to do and eventually settled on Tammy and I getting cones and Will getting a waffle cone bowl thing and an extra one to share. I had my usual frambuesa (raspberry) and frutilla (strawberry) and we got cheesecake ice cream for our shared bowl. It was confusing because you have to pick up your ice cream at a different counter than you order so Will went to pick up the shared bowl and we ordered his ice cream for him. After the stress of ordering, it was a good thing that we got to relax and eat ice cream! All of it was very good and we ate a lot and it cost less than two dollars a person!
We then attempted to do the homework, but we were pretty pathetic. Will and I are horrible at speaking English and Tammy just sits there and makes fun of us. Some of the best quotes of the night (originally said in English, embarrassingly enough) were, “and then, después,” by Will and “We ate el ice cream” by Carolyn. Tammy was also telling us a story about the airport and she asked a lady if she had change for a 100 peso bill and I thought she said that a lady had asked her if she could change her underwear! And I thought I still could comprehend English. I was laughing so hard at one point that I couldn’t talk (a rarity for me!). We teased each other about asking someone in Freddo for help with our homework because there was one question that we were totally stuck on. We didn’t though. Will had to leave to go home, but before he left, he told us in English with perfect Spanish grammar, “That you all have a good day!” Keep in mind it was 8pm at this time! We are all going nuts. Tammy and I finished filling in answers to the exercise we were working on and left, too. We still have the hardest exercise left. It is the kind where you have to transform someone’s quote to a paraphrase (sort of) and it is really hard and makes our heads hurt. We are going to have to do it before class tomorrow.
I walked home and made it back by 8:20. Fani got my dinner ready and I ate lukewarm watery soup, bad-tasting shredded carrots, cucumbers with big seeds, chicken and rice, and dulce de leche flavored mousse. Fani had to go downstairs to pick up a remedio from a delivery man and I hid my carrots in my napkin because they were too nasty to eat. The cucumbers were interesting because the seeds were very big and hard like watermelon seeds. I tried to pick them out inconspicuously (which didn’t really work), so I gave up trying to be polite and just put them on my plate. Fani noticed, but didn’t seem to mind. Sometimes when something appears to be wrong with my food, Fani gets really embarrassed. Fani’s sister is on her way to Buenos Aires for a visit. She is a lot older than Fani and lives in Corrientes which is a province near Iguazú, more or less. Fani cleaned up the dinner and then went straight to bed because she is going to go to the hair-fixing-cutting place tomorrow (peluqueria, in Spanish) and she wants to be rested. I got my dirty clothes ready for the “dirty clothes man” because he is coming tomorrow for the last time! He came late last week because of my trip to the estancia and so I only have one pair of pants for him, as well as other clothes! I worked on sending Amber some info about the online assistive technology class and wrote this blog. I am now going to read for a bit and then go to bed. Tomorrow, I am meeting Tammy to go visit a bookstore that takes place in an old theater (I realize that “takes place” sounds weird there). My English is horrific, in case you can’t tell! And the sad thing is that my writing is about 80 times better than my speaking because I can read it over and spell check it! Get ready to laugh at me when I come home!
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