Here is a picture of the sun setting in Uruguay as we prepared to get on the ferry. I am a big fan of Uruguay!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
My Ice Cream
Here are my three flavors: mint chocolate chip (not especially good, very different from mint in the US), dulce de leche (always good), and chocolate (a good mix with both my other flavors).
Helado!
Here is part of the display case full of different flavors of ice cream. In case you didn't know, I love ice cream! :)
Chivita
Here is a picture of a chivita (what I ate for dinner). It is a specialty of Uruguay so we had to try them. It was pretty tasty!
Sink Hole
Here is a picture of how about half of the road broke off and fell down into this hole. I hope nobody was driving on it when it happened!
Trees!
There were also really nice trees in Uruguay! I think if I lived in Buenos Aires, I would have to go to Uruguay at least once a month (or more!) for the fresh air and nature!
Dog Food?
I'm sure this Alpo ad painted on the entrance to the Hippodrome is very reassuring to all the horses!
Inside the Bull-Fighting Ring
Here is a picture of the center of the arena. It was cool to imagine the whole stadium filled with people to watch a bullfight.
Plaza de Toros
Here is the Plaza de Toros where they used to have bullfights. I don't know when it was built, but it is really old and cool!
Our Bikes
Here are our bikes. Mine was the red one with the basket. It only cost $3 (US) to rent them for the whole afternoon!
La Playa
Here is a picture of the beautiful beach. You can see the town of Colonia in the background.
Pare Sign
It would be funny to ask a three-year-old child what this sign means because I bet he or she would know!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Fani left this morning about 9 to go visit her granddaughters. I slept in until 9:30 and then enjoying dozing in my bed until 10. I got up, got dressed, read my Bible, and had breakfast. Fani had left everything sitting out for me. I ate my usual breakfast, but did not finish all the hot chocolate. I washed the dishes! I still didn’t know what I wanted to do so I checked my email and posted some pictures to my blog. I looked up some lyrics to the song that quit on us in class as part of our homework. Then, I snuck to the other bathroom and “stole” the broom and swept my room. Anne would have been horrified! After sweeping, I “took” a bottle of bathroom cleaner and cleaned the sink in my bathroom. It was quite dirty. Fani cannot see very well and so I don’t think she realizes how dirty everything is. I am not sure what happened to the cleaning lady (who broke the lightbulb in the microwave) because I certainly haven’t seen her or the proof that she has come since I have! I also shook out the bathmat which has been collecting hair and fuzzies for the last five years, I think. I love cleaning! Hehe! I worked on my blog some more and caught up on my entries from the last two days. I listened to music and danced around my room. I worked on my last assignment for my multicultural class from Alaska and sent it off to Dr. Ross. I emailed my student teaching cooperating teachers and filled out a professional development form that took forever! By this time, it was about five, so I left to go check out the location of a church that Tammy wants to go to tomorrow. I walked there and found out that church is at 10:30. I then walked back along Cabildo and stopped at a grocery store called Norte. I bought some more crackers, Oreos with dulce de leche in the middle (these people are obsessed down here!), and a jug of water. The jug of water is 5 liters and it only cost about $1.50. I am tired of drinking tap water! I stood in line for about 10 minutes before realizing that there was a fast lane for people with less than 10 items, so I moved and was through in no time. Being the brilliant person that I am, I did not consider the fact that I was about 10 blocks from my house! The plastic bag was cutting into my hand because 5 liters of water is a lot and so I alternated hands and then started carrying it like a baby. There were about one million bazillion people on the street and they all were walking about 5 feet an hour and then they would stop to look in the store windows right in the middle of the sidewalk. (There is no exaggeration in that last sentence, just so you know!) I thought I was never going to make it home! I stopped at the grocery store near my house and bought bread and then went home. Fani was still gone, so I took a shower. I realized that when you turn on the water, the hot water heater turns on. I let the shower run for about five minutes before getting in and it was actually warm! Hurray for a non-iceberg shower! It was not hot, but it was definitely warm. After my shower, I turned on my TV (for the second time since I’ve been here!) and watched a bunch of commercials and the middle of Jumanjii. My favorite commercial is the one for Push Pops because I like the way they say it, “Poosh Popes.” Fani came home and I went out and talked to her. She had a good visit with her family, but was very tired. She put her stuff away and got dinner for me about a half hour later. I had soup, a very over-microwaved pizza, and chocolate mousse. Fani was telling me stories about her daughters’ boyfriends before they were married and their husbands and her friends’ children’s spouses and I understood the stories (for the most part), but got horribly confused about who did what! Fani went to bed and I went to my room and checked my email, organized some stuff, and wrote this blog. I am going to read for a while and probably journal before going to bed.
Only in South America...
Only in Argentina/Uruguay would you find a sign in the bathroom that tells you not to dump your yerba (from mate) down the sink!
Carolyn Reflection
I am sitting on the bench in the reflection wearing a purple jacket. Do you see me?
Ferry Reflection
Here is a cool reflection of all the people on the deck of the ferry reflected in the upper part of the ferry. Will and I reflected in the middle panel.
My Ferry Godmother
This is a picture of my Ferry Godmother's magic lifesaver. My Ferry Godmother lives in Montevideo. She granted my wish of getting out of the big, dirty city. It was a good wish and I had a wonderful day in Uruguay!
Chocolate Milk?
Here is a picture of the beautiful BROWN Rio de la Plata. This picture hardly captures the deep brown of the water and it was a nice sunny day with clear skies, so you would think that the water would be reflecting a nice blue color. Nope!
Farewell, Argentina!
Here we are leaving the city of Buenos Aires in the distance as we head to another country: Uruguay!
Headed for Uruguay!
Here is a picture of the sunrise as we sat on the ferry headed toward Uruguay! The sun was shining really brightly... right into our eyeballs!
Let's Go to Hong Kong!
In the middle of a story about Hong Kong, I spotted this street sign that told me it is only 18, 484 kilometers to Hong Kong and even points me in the right direction! I thought about trying to walk there and then just fly home from there, but I thought it might be just a bit too far to walk. Bummer!
Mud, Mud, Mud!
Although it is hard to see in this picture, I was carrying about half my bodyweight of mud on the sole of my shoes!
River/Sky
It was such a gross, ugly day that you can barely tell where the river stops and the sky begins!
More Wilderness in the City
It was weird being in the ecological reserve because it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, but we could still see the city!
Pollution in the Wild
Across the most nature-y part of Buenos Aires I have seen, you can see some factories polluting the city. I miss the wide-open cornfields and soybean fields! And to us here, this seems like nature... yuck!
Friday, June 29, 2007
I slept in a bit today and got up at 9:30, took a nice refreshing shower reminiscent of a melting glacier, got ready, and ate my normal breakfast (no grapes). I wore my favorite socks today and my teal green shirt that matches Tammy and Anne. I did my homework that I didn’t get to the night before. Fani left about 11am to go to errands. I got ready as fast as I could and left the apartment because if the phone rings, she wants me to answer it and I am sure I wouldn’t be able to take a message in Spanish, on the phone, and so I left as fast as I could! I decided to go to the ISA office and see if Tammy was there. She wasn’t, but it was okay because I just sat there and finished the rest of my homework. I left the ISA office at 11:55 and walked to the UB. I was really early, but I sat outside the classroom and read about a new law that requires students to complete 12 years of school in a free publication put out by the universities in Bs.As. Tammy came and we talked for a few minutes. She gave me money out of the ATM machine. It turns out she got to the ISA office at noon, so I barely missed her! We went in and had class. Graciana told us that she had to leave to go to some office after class and so we would get out at 4:30 instead of 5:30! We did a lot of workbook exercises and went over some grammar rules. During lunch break, we went down to the cafeteria and ate there. We made the mistake of going to the bathroom first and so the line was enormous by the time we got there. Tammy didn’t even get her sandwich until 20 minutes into our 30 minute lunch break! We ate quickly and went back up. We stopped to talk to Tammy’s Brazilian friend on the stairs and I was getting worried because we were already 5 minutes late, but I should have known that it would not matter. Indeed, we were some of the first students to return! I need to be more relaxed about that! We listened to two songs by an Argentine singer named Kevin Johansen who was born in Alaska. His dad is American and his mom is Argentine. He has lived in New York, Montevideo, and now he lives in Buenos Aires (I think). One of the songs was really funny because it was all in English except for a few Spanish words here and there. It was about the different neighborhoods in Buenos Aires and some of the stereotypes about them. During the second song (all in Spanish), the CD player stopped working and so we gave up on that. We had a ten minute break and I ate a banana. We finished up with a short interview with a partner about hypothetical questions such as “If you were a color, what would you be?” We then had to listen to all the answers of everyone in our class. This type of exercise takes a long time when we have about 28 students in the class! We were assigned some homework and then we left. Tammy and I went down to the bookstore to look at one-strap backpacks and T-shirts for me. She bought one of each the other day. None of the colors of the T-shirts grabbed my attention and they were out of the backpacks since Tammy had bought the model the other day, so we left. We started walking to the ISA office because Tammy had a meeting about the El Tigre excursion tomorrow, but it was early, so we stopped at a shoe store, a kiosko and bought chocolate, and then a bakery. We decided that we need to try as many things from the bakeries around here as we can. We each picked out one treat and were going to share them. There aren’t tables in the bakeries here, so we decided to go to the ISA office and eat them. However, we didn’t want to go in the office because there would be so many people there and we didn’t want to eat our mouth-watering treats in front of them, so we decided to eat them in the hall before we went in. This plan was going to work until we heard two boys coming in after us. We went up to the next floor and were going to sit on the steps and eat there, but we were scared that maybe the boys weren’t from ISA and were going to the floor above us. How awkward would that be if they can up the very narrow staircase and there were two girls sitting there gobbling up goodies! We waited until we heard them leave and then we sat down and split the one I picked out. It was like two cookies with a thick layer of dulce de leche in the middle dipped in white chocolate. Needless to say, it was delicious! We decided to save Tammy’s until after the meeting. I was finishing up my piece and we heard the elevator moving. We were afraid it was bringing someone up, so we quickly went down the stairs to the ISA office. I hid the rest of my cookie in my hand while kissing everyone hello and then I finished it in the hallway by the bathroom. Tammy went to have her meeting and I talked to Nichelle, a girl who came here when I did. She has a cousin who has been studying for a year at the university in Chile were Tammy was before she came here. She invited me to go out to some bars and a club tomorrow night. Thanks, but no thanks! We might meet at a café tomorrow or walk around together, but I still have not decided what I want to do. I checked my email and got kicked off in the middle of an email (sorry, AM!). Tammy got done with the meeting and we left. We went to a backpack store that smelled strongly of… something; I’m not quite sure what… possibly new suitcases, only stronger and more smelly. I picked out a backpack that I like a lot. After my purchase, we walked down the street looking for a place for Tammy to get her nails done. We “accidentally” ended up in the cheapest heladeria that I know of in Bs.As. I had frutilla and frambuesa (strawberry and raspberry) and Tammy had vanilla and chocolate. I like ice cream a lot! We had ¼ of a kilo of ice cream each for just over a dollar! After we ate our ice cream, we kept looking for a peluqueria (beauty parlor) for Tammy to get her nails done, but the only ones we found were closing. It was about 7:30 at this time. We finally found one and Tammy decided to go in the morning because it was so late. We were both supposed to be home at 8:30. We hadn’t eaten Tammy’s cake thing yet, so we tried to split it in the street to take home, but it was going to be difficult, so Tammy suggested that we go to a café close by. We did and Tammy ordered a submarino which is a special kind of hot chocolate that is made by putting a chocolate bar in hot milk and then stirring it. We split the piece of cake and it was so rich that we both decided to save some for later. We split the chocolate, too. We had a good conversation and, unfortunately, had to leave in the middle because it was already 8:35! We were really close to Tammy’s apartment, but far away from mine. I alternated between jogging for about 5 blocks and then walking for 2. I still was really late and didn’t make it home until 8:50! I told Fani I was sorry I was late and she got dinner ready. I had a meat patty thing with ketchup (hurray!), shredded carrots and more big cucumber?, soup, and peaches with dulce de leche. During dinner, Fani told me a confusing story about how she had some neighbors who were Cuban. Apparently they either broke into someone’s apartment or someone broke into theirs (I’m not sure which) and put papers about Cuba all over the place (??) and broke the windows. I am not sure why she was telling me this story and I have no idea when this happened (April or 20 years ago?). It reminded me of how I used to not be able to understand ANYTHING she said! After dinner (9:30), Fani washed the dishes and went to bed. I got ready for bed and looked up some stuff online for our class, checked my email, talked to Anne online, and wrote this blog. I need to decide what I want to do tomorrow.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Happy Birthday, Daddy! This morning was pretty much the normal routine around here for me. I went to the ISA office before class and met Tammy there. We were going to take money out for me, but we ran out of time so just went straight to class. Class was fine, nothing too exciting. Tammy, Will, Trevor, and I are going to do our presentation together over the two main fútbol teams in Buenos Aires. Tammy and I are going to work together to do Boca. After class, we took the #15 colectivo (bus) to Avenida Córdoba to look for cheaper shoes for Tammy. We browsed a bunch of stores, but didn’t find anything. It was fun to walk around with Tammy though. The bus was really crowded on the way there, but it was better on the way back. I have found another benefit of having a “legal giant” for a friend… the bars to hold on to are really high and I can barely reach unless I am directly beneath them. However, if you have a nice, tall friend like Tammy, you can hold on to her arm instead! Thanks, Tammy! As soon as we got back to the bus stop, the bus arrived. This made us very happy! We got on and rode back to our neighborhood. We got off just about a block out of our way and walked to… Freddo! Yep, Thursdays are 50% off all baked goods! Tammy had a huge piece of cheesecake for about $1 (US) and I had a chocolate fudge/brownie sandwich with dulce de leche in the middle! Indeed, it was very delicious! It was time for us to go home (for dinner!) after that, so we parted and went home without doing our homework. I talked to Fani for a little bit and she fed me dinner… soup, shredded carrots and more big cucumber, leftover tarta de verdures, and dulce de leche-flavored mousse something. After dinner, she went to bed and I read, checked my email, journaled, and read for a while before going to bed.
Oh, I forgot to say that it was funny yesterday because when I came into the apartment with Tammy, Fani told me that I had a “tarjetita” (little card) on my bed. I had no idea what she meant, but thanked her and when we went in my bedroom, I had a postcard from Tammy from Chile and Tammy was with me! Don’t worry, I didn’t read it until after she left!
Oh, I forgot to say that it was funny yesterday because when I came into the apartment with Tammy, Fani told me that I had a “tarjetita” (little card) on my bed. I had no idea what she meant, but thanked her and when we went in my bedroom, I had a postcard from Tammy from Chile and Tammy was with me! Don’t worry, I didn’t read it until after she left!
Little Birdie
Here is a picture of a little bird in a tree in the ecological reserve. I think this is a cool picture!
Eugenia and Me
Here is one of my profesoras from the first month. Eugenia was very funny and I liked having her as our teacher. She is the one that we don't have again this month. I like Graciana, though, too! I think language professors tend to be the most fun!
Congreso Library
Here is the Congreso library. It was beautiful with wood paneling all around. I would love to spend a day in there reading!
Picture in Congreso
Here is a gigantic picture that is hanging inside Congreso. If you look in the righthand balcony, there is a man with a hat in his hand. That is the artist. This picture is probably about 8 feet high and 15 feet long! There was another big picture on the other end of this big room, too.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Congreso Reflection
This is a cool picture because you can see Congreso reflected in the building across the street. From where we were standing, we could not see this part of Congreso, but we could in the reflection!
Election Propaganda
Here is a picture of a van with a TV screen mounted on the back that was showing a movie about the reasons to vote for Filmus in the election in front of Congreso. (He is the candidate who lost, by the way.)
A Bright Idea
I don't know whose idea it was to build a statue of Thomas Edison in front of Congreso, but they did!
Pretty Fruit
I love looking at the fruit and vegetable displays here because they are very pleasing to the eyes!
Another Protest
Here is a protest about the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) with war veterans marching around and banging pop bottles with sticks around Congreso.
Congreso
Here is the Congress building in BsAs. We got to go on a tour of it which was pretty cool. Although there is now a law about no smoking in public buildings in BsAs, our tour guide was proud to tell us that this building is not considered part of BsAs since it is a building of the federal government and so they can smoke inside!
Obelisk
Here is a picture of the obelisk in downtown BsAs. I think it might be in the middle of the widest road in the world, but I'm not 100% sure.
Marching with the Mothers
Here I am (on the far left) walking and talking with one of the mothers. It was cool to get to see this piece of Argentine culture and history even though not everyone is a fan of the mothers (like Fani, for example).
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Today I set my alarm for 9, but ended up dozing in bed until almost 9:30. I heard the laundromat man (Fani called him the “dirty clothes man” in Spanish because she forgot the word for laundromat) come and bring my clothes back, but I just did not want to get up! I got up eventually, took a not-freezing-almost-warm shower, and ate my usual breakfast (two media lunas, two cups of hot chocolate, and tostadas with dulce de leche). During breakfast, Fani told me a story about how she went to the eye doctor when her children were small because she needed glasses (?) because she had a lot of stress with two small children and the eye doctor told her to go a psychologist (I think). I was really confused! However, I can understand much more of what Fani says. I can get the gist of most of her stories and ask her questions. I tried to check my email, but it wasn’t working, so I had to call my mom (quickly) from Fani’s phone (with a phone card, of course) to ask her a question. I put my clothes away and packed my stuff for the day. I spent some time reading and then I left about 11:45 for the UB. I went to the computer lab and emailed some people and then left for class. I saw Tammy waiting on a bench and sat and talked with her. We went in to class. During the first part of class, we had to write a script about a psychologist and his/her patients on a talk show. Will was the psychologist, I was the mother, Tammy was my daughter, and Trevor was the boyfriend. The problem was that he was the boyfriend of both the mother and the daughter without them knowing it. It was a pretty crazy scenario! During lunchtime, Tammy, Will, Sam (a girl), and I went downstairs to the cafeteria. I ate the sandwiches and cookies that I had brought. We headed back to class after a half hour and just had to wait a few minutes for everyone else. Graciana starts class a lot more promptly than Eugenia. We read our scripts to the class and Graciana went over grammar errors at the end. We then went around the room and said one thing that we like or that annoys us about our host families to practice using the subjunctive. When we got done with this, it was time for the short break. I went to the bathroom and Tammy went to get coffee. We sat and talked until it was time to start class again. For the last part of the class, we read a short text about people moving from Argentina after the peso crisis of 2001. We then worked in our workbooks for a bit because getting assigned our homework. Tammy and I walked down Cabildo only stopping once to gaze at purses before going to a small café near my apartment. There was an advertised special in the window for café con leche and two media lunas for only four pesos, but when Tammy asked for that, the lady said they only have media lunas in the morning, but that she could substitute bread with ham and cheese for the media lunas. However, when Tammy went to pay, it was $6.50. We sat in the café and talked and finished up our assignment in the workbook. Then, we walked a block to my apartment and after greeting Fani, we went into my bedroom and listened to Casting Crowns together and attempted to do homework (but failed miserably) and talked. Tammy took a picture of Fani and me and then she had to leave to get home by 8. I walked halfway home with her and then went back home to eat dinner. I had corn soup, a ton of shredded carrots and a big green vegetable that Fani told me was a giant cucumber (I’m not sure I believe her because the taste and texture was different from cucumber and I didn’t really like it), leftover torta de verdura (kind of like kiesch), and peaches with dulce de leche. I was stuffed when I was done! She gives me enough food for two people and she doesn’t even eat dinner! I went to my room and put my Fani picture on the computer and now I am trying to get caught up on my blog and am posting pictures while I do this. I am going to finish writing in a little bit and then I need to write about migration for homework before going to bed.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
One year ago today, we were leaving for Hong Kong! That seems like forever ago! I can’t believe it was just one year ago!
I got up about 9 and got ready and ate my usual breakfast. I read in my room for a while and then I got an email from Tammy that said she was in the ISA office and that I could come meet her if I wanted. Of course I wanted to meet Tammy, so I left about 11ish and walked to the ISA office. She was ready to leave when I got there. She was hungry because she had gotten up early to go to the Intermediate 2 class which she left because the profesora told her that if she was going to transfer to advanced that there was no point in her being there. I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten about 10ish. We went to a little café called Nucha near the university and we talked while Tammy ate grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. We walked to the UB together. Tammy had bought a one-strap backpack at the UB bookstore that morning. It is a perfect size. We went to class. There were a lot of people in our class! Every half hour or so, more students would arrive (sent there by their professors)! We spent some time talking about the course and having Graciana take attendance. We all went around and introduced ourselves, said where we’re from, what we’re studying (in real life), and how old we are. During the lunch break, I went and checked my email after checking out the cafeteria with Tammy. After lunch, we changed a passage from first-person present to third-person past tense in partners. I, of course, worked with Tammy. We went down and bought our texts for the class. Unlike last month’s book, this one is spiral bound. It cost one dollar more for a grand total of $6 (US), but it is totally worth it because the book is sturdier. When we returned from the bookstore, we did a really hard exercise of changing adjectives to nouns. Although I know the meaning of many of the adjectives, I had no idea of the verbs and I couldn’t find most of them in my translator. Tammy knew most of them. When we started going over them in class, I had completed a total of 3 out of the 24 words. However, when she was calling on people, Graciana happened to call on me for one of the words I knew! How lucky was that! We did another word exercise and then had our little break. I went to the bathroom and ate a banana. I can’t remember what we did for the last part of class, but I know we got assigned some homework! After class, Tammy and I walked up and down Cabildo searching for tennis shoes that she liked without success and then went to the ISA office. We asked about Tammy’s ID card for the UB, but they aren’t ready yet. Tammy asked Guillermo what the word is for “safety pin” because she wanted to buy one to secure her new backpack because it only has Velcro. He told us a store to go to right about the street from ISA. He then told us a dangerous piece of news: there is an ice cream/dessert place that has a special club you can join for free that allows you to get 50% off on brownies, coffee, and desserts on Thursdays and 2-for-1 ice creams on Mondays! Our eyes lit up at the prospect and we rapidly inquired about how this is possible. We decided to head to the safety pin store because it is near ISA before going to Freddo, the ice cream store. We found some large safety pins and Tammy bought two. We walked down Cabildo. I see Freddo everyday, but I was afraid I couldn’t find it. After browsing in a few stores along the way, we found it and went in. Tammy took Guillermo’s recommendation and got the expresso ice cream and chocolate mousse. I tried three flavors (frutilla/strawberry, frambuesa/raspberry, and chocolate mousse) before deciding on frambuesa and chocolate mousse. We got forms to join the club and went and sat down at a table. There were two men there who were laughing at us (probably because we were asking so many questions). We ate our ice cream, filled out our forms, and did our homework. We left in time to get Tammy home on time. I walked halfway with her and then went home myself. Fani greeted me and got dinner ready. I had soup, shredded carrots and cucumbers, torta de verdura (kind of like kiesch), and chocolate mousse. We talked about different holiday traditions surrounding Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. I also asked Fani about what happens when a child loses a tooth. She talked a long time and I didn’t catch all that she was saying about the teeth. I went to my room and Fani went to bed. I read for a little while before going to bed before 11.
I got up about 9 and got ready and ate my usual breakfast. I read in my room for a while and then I got an email from Tammy that said she was in the ISA office and that I could come meet her if I wanted. Of course I wanted to meet Tammy, so I left about 11ish and walked to the ISA office. She was ready to leave when I got there. She was hungry because she had gotten up early to go to the Intermediate 2 class which she left because the profesora told her that if she was going to transfer to advanced that there was no point in her being there. I wasn’t hungry because I had eaten about 10ish. We went to a little café called Nucha near the university and we talked while Tammy ate grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. We walked to the UB together. Tammy had bought a one-strap backpack at the UB bookstore that morning. It is a perfect size. We went to class. There were a lot of people in our class! Every half hour or so, more students would arrive (sent there by their professors)! We spent some time talking about the course and having Graciana take attendance. We all went around and introduced ourselves, said where we’re from, what we’re studying (in real life), and how old we are. During the lunch break, I went and checked my email after checking out the cafeteria with Tammy. After lunch, we changed a passage from first-person present to third-person past tense in partners. I, of course, worked with Tammy. We went down and bought our texts for the class. Unlike last month’s book, this one is spiral bound. It cost one dollar more for a grand total of $6 (US), but it is totally worth it because the book is sturdier. When we returned from the bookstore, we did a really hard exercise of changing adjectives to nouns. Although I know the meaning of many of the adjectives, I had no idea of the verbs and I couldn’t find most of them in my translator. Tammy knew most of them. When we started going over them in class, I had completed a total of 3 out of the 24 words. However, when she was calling on people, Graciana happened to call on me for one of the words I knew! How lucky was that! We did another word exercise and then had our little break. I went to the bathroom and ate a banana. I can’t remember what we did for the last part of class, but I know we got assigned some homework! After class, Tammy and I walked up and down Cabildo searching for tennis shoes that she liked without success and then went to the ISA office. We asked about Tammy’s ID card for the UB, but they aren’t ready yet. Tammy asked Guillermo what the word is for “safety pin” because she wanted to buy one to secure her new backpack because it only has Velcro. He told us a store to go to right about the street from ISA. He then told us a dangerous piece of news: there is an ice cream/dessert place that has a special club you can join for free that allows you to get 50% off on brownies, coffee, and desserts on Thursdays and 2-for-1 ice creams on Mondays! Our eyes lit up at the prospect and we rapidly inquired about how this is possible. We decided to head to the safety pin store because it is near ISA before going to Freddo, the ice cream store. We found some large safety pins and Tammy bought two. We walked down Cabildo. I see Freddo everyday, but I was afraid I couldn’t find it. After browsing in a few stores along the way, we found it and went in. Tammy took Guillermo’s recommendation and got the expresso ice cream and chocolate mousse. I tried three flavors (frutilla/strawberry, frambuesa/raspberry, and chocolate mousse) before deciding on frambuesa and chocolate mousse. We got forms to join the club and went and sat down at a table. There were two men there who were laughing at us (probably because we were asking so many questions). We ate our ice cream, filled out our forms, and did our homework. We left in time to get Tammy home on time. I walked halfway with her and then went home myself. Fani greeted me and got dinner ready. I had soup, shredded carrots and cucumbers, torta de verdura (kind of like kiesch), and chocolate mousse. We talked about different holiday traditions surrounding Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night. I also asked Fani about what happens when a child loses a tooth. She talked a long time and I didn’t catch all that she was saying about the teeth. I went to my room and Fani went to bed. I read for a little while before going to bed before 11.
Monday, July 25, 2007
Today was the day of the placement exam for the new students (sorry, Tammy!), but I didn’t have anything I had to do!
I got up about 9:30, got ready, and ate my normal breakfast while talking to Fani. I had made plans to meet Tammy at 2pm at my apartment after her exam unless she wasn’t finished, in which case I would wait for her at my apartment. However, I remembered that after my exam, they told us we had to go to ISA. I decided to go to ISA, buying a new phone card on the way. I called my mother and used the computer while waiting for Tammy. It was about 1:30, but other students were starting to return to ISA. I asked someone in the office if the new students had been told to go to ISA after and was told yes, so I decided to wait a little longer for Tammy. Will was there loading pictures on the computer. It was about 1:50 at this point. I decided to call Fani and tell her that if Tammy buzzed our apartment, to tell her that I was in the ISA office, but for some reason, I couldn’t get through. I asked Will to find out who Tammy was and tell her what I was doing and that I would return shortly, in case she showed up. While I was telling him this, a new girl, Heather, described Tammy and asked if that was who I was talking about. I said yes and Heather said that Tammy had been walking with them, but left the group to walk to meet a friend! Yikes, that was me! I quickly left the office and walked/ran back to my apartment, looking for Tammy on both sides of Cabildo as I went. I got to my apartment about 10 minutes late. I was hoping that Tammy would be there and she was! She was waiting inside the doors. She told me that she had gone upstairs to my apartment and met Fani and that Fani had not wanted her to leave! She told Tammy that she was sure I would come and she didn’t want Tammy to go downstairs. Tammy was afraid I was waiting downstairs and told Fani this, so Fani went out onto the balcony and started yelling, “Carolina, Carolina,” into the street. Of course I didn’t answer, so Fani tried to call Guillermo’s cell phone to ask if I was at the ISA office because she knew that was where I was going. He didn’t answer, so she tried Paula and got her. Paula told her I had left the ISA office a few minutes ago. I felt bad for putting Tammy and Fani through so much trouble! Tammy told me about her test and how she was placed in Intermediate 2 because they don’t like to place non-native speakers of Spanish into Advanced. She is going to change classes tomorrow. That is a ridiculous thing for them to say because Tammy’s Spanish is MUCH better than mine and if the advanced class is too hard for her, I am going to die! I called Will to tell him that we didn’t want to go to El Tigre with him today because Tammy had to be home by 6 and it was already 2:30. We went to a café and I ordered a torta of zucchini things (I didn’t really like it) and Tammy had a hamburger. We talked for a long time and then I went to the bathroom and we left. Tammy wanted to buy tennis shoes for walking around (because she is not really supposed to wear her running shoes when she is not running) and a one-strap small backpack to wear in front. The zipper of my bag (actually my mom’s) is not doing so well and I am scared it is going to break soon at some inopportune time, so I would not mind buying one, as well, if we find one that I like. We visited a million bazillion shoe stores, but they were all really expensive. At one, Tammy asked to try on some shoes and the clerk acted like it was the biggest deal in the whole world. Unfortunately, this was the store with the best selection and so she wanted to try on several different styles of shoes. We eventually figured out that the shoe she liked, they did not have in her size. That figures! We left and went to an ice cream place and had ice cream cones. I had frutilla (strawberry) and frambuesa (raspberry). We kept talking and I told Tammy about my month here. We had to start walking to Tammy’s apartment while I was still eating my ice cream because we didn’t want her to be late. We got to Tammy’s apartment a little before 6 and we weren’t done talking, so she invited me in. We said hi to Silvia and went to Tammy’s room. I had told Fani that I would be home by 8:30, so we had just about 2 hours to talk and we talked that whole time. At 8, Tammy walked me to the door so she could let me out (you need a key to escape) and I walked home in safety. When it is dark, we have to walk four blocks out of our way to walk on a street with street lights, but it is worth it to see Tammy! I got home and Fani got dinner ready. I had soup, pizza, and mousse that was supposed to taste like dulce de leche, but didn’t really. Fani went to bed and I read and journaled before going to bed, as well.
I got up about 9:30, got ready, and ate my normal breakfast while talking to Fani. I had made plans to meet Tammy at 2pm at my apartment after her exam unless she wasn’t finished, in which case I would wait for her at my apartment. However, I remembered that after my exam, they told us we had to go to ISA. I decided to go to ISA, buying a new phone card on the way. I called my mother and used the computer while waiting for Tammy. It was about 1:30, but other students were starting to return to ISA. I asked someone in the office if the new students had been told to go to ISA after and was told yes, so I decided to wait a little longer for Tammy. Will was there loading pictures on the computer. It was about 1:50 at this point. I decided to call Fani and tell her that if Tammy buzzed our apartment, to tell her that I was in the ISA office, but for some reason, I couldn’t get through. I asked Will to find out who Tammy was and tell her what I was doing and that I would return shortly, in case she showed up. While I was telling him this, a new girl, Heather, described Tammy and asked if that was who I was talking about. I said yes and Heather said that Tammy had been walking with them, but left the group to walk to meet a friend! Yikes, that was me! I quickly left the office and walked/ran back to my apartment, looking for Tammy on both sides of Cabildo as I went. I got to my apartment about 10 minutes late. I was hoping that Tammy would be there and she was! She was waiting inside the doors. She told me that she had gone upstairs to my apartment and met Fani and that Fani had not wanted her to leave! She told Tammy that she was sure I would come and she didn’t want Tammy to go downstairs. Tammy was afraid I was waiting downstairs and told Fani this, so Fani went out onto the balcony and started yelling, “Carolina, Carolina,” into the street. Of course I didn’t answer, so Fani tried to call Guillermo’s cell phone to ask if I was at the ISA office because she knew that was where I was going. He didn’t answer, so she tried Paula and got her. Paula told her I had left the ISA office a few minutes ago. I felt bad for putting Tammy and Fani through so much trouble! Tammy told me about her test and how she was placed in Intermediate 2 because they don’t like to place non-native speakers of Spanish into Advanced. She is going to change classes tomorrow. That is a ridiculous thing for them to say because Tammy’s Spanish is MUCH better than mine and if the advanced class is too hard for her, I am going to die! I called Will to tell him that we didn’t want to go to El Tigre with him today because Tammy had to be home by 6 and it was already 2:30. We went to a café and I ordered a torta of zucchini things (I didn’t really like it) and Tammy had a hamburger. We talked for a long time and then I went to the bathroom and we left. Tammy wanted to buy tennis shoes for walking around (because she is not really supposed to wear her running shoes when she is not running) and a one-strap small backpack to wear in front. The zipper of my bag (actually my mom’s) is not doing so well and I am scared it is going to break soon at some inopportune time, so I would not mind buying one, as well, if we find one that I like. We visited a million bazillion shoe stores, but they were all really expensive. At one, Tammy asked to try on some shoes and the clerk acted like it was the biggest deal in the whole world. Unfortunately, this was the store with the best selection and so she wanted to try on several different styles of shoes. We eventually figured out that the shoe she liked, they did not have in her size. That figures! We left and went to an ice cream place and had ice cream cones. I had frutilla (strawberry) and frambuesa (raspberry). We kept talking and I told Tammy about my month here. We had to start walking to Tammy’s apartment while I was still eating my ice cream because we didn’t want her to be late. We got to Tammy’s apartment a little before 6 and we weren’t done talking, so she invited me in. We said hi to Silvia and went to Tammy’s room. I had told Fani that I would be home by 8:30, so we had just about 2 hours to talk and we talked that whole time. At 8, Tammy walked me to the door so she could let me out (you need a key to escape) and I walked home in safety. When it is dark, we have to walk four blocks out of our way to walk on a street with street lights, but it is worth it to see Tammy! I got home and Fani got dinner ready. I had soup, pizza, and mousse that was supposed to taste like dulce de leche, but didn’t really. Fani went to bed and I read and journaled before going to bed, as well.
AU Girls at La Plaza de Mayo
While I was at the Plaza de Mayo, I unexpectedly met Jessie Gaisford and Anne Miller (from AU) there! This was the first time I had seen Anne in BsAs.
Mothers' Scarves
Here you can see the writing embroidered on the mothers' scarves. This is symbolic of the early days when they were allowed to gather in the plaza on the condition that they did not talk about their lost children. Instead, they embroidered their names on their scarves in case someone knew something about their children.
Mothers in La Plaza de Mayo
Here is a picture of one group (the more political group, I do believe) of the mothers in the Plaza de Mayo.
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