Monday, June 18, 2007

Today is Flag Day, so we don’t have school. I slept in until 10. It was cold today and one of those days you just don’t want to get up! I got ready and ate breakfast (two media lunas, tostadas with dulce de leche, and two cups of hot chocolate). I tidied my room and did some other stuff. I left at 11:30. I walked around the neighborhood for 45 minutes looking for a little plaza I had seen when I went to the church not too far away from my apartment. I ended up walking way out of my way, but I found the plaza. I wanted to sit outside and read and journal, but it was really cold. There were only a few people there. I watched people bring their dogs to the fence and let them run around. I saw a very exuberant chocolate lab drag his owner to the fence and then run circles around the fence. That is the first dog I have seen here that actually acts like a normal dog! I also watched a man feed the pigeons. When we got the bread out, so many pigeons came flying that they stirred up all the dust on the plaza and got me all dirty! After a while when I was really cold, I went grocery shopping for fun. I walked around two different grocery stores and looked at all the food and other stuff. The stores were pretty crowded because of the holiday. I decided to walk down by the dog park and see if the feria was going on today. It was and I walked around and looked at all the stuff that people were selling. I am on the lookout for a wallet (for obvious reasons), but I didn’t like any of the ones that I saw. I would like to find something other than a ziplock baggie to use, though! I headed down the street to the dog park and stopped at a bakery along the way. I always look in bakery windows when I go by and this one had some good-looking things. I asked for something that looked good, but I didn’t really know what it was or how much it cost. The lady put one in a bag and gave it to me. I gave her a 2-peso bill. She handed me back a handful of coins (very valuable for the buses here) and I left. When I ate the sweet, I found that it was a big meringue—very delicious—and when I counted my money, I found that it only cost 50 centavos (16.5 cents). I walked to the dog park, but no dogs were there. However, there were a lot more people than normal sitting on the hills drinking mate, making out behind statues, etc. I decided to walk to Tammy’s apartment where she will be living next week. I walked there and found it with no problems. I then decided to walk back to my apartment to see how long it would take to get there. It took less than 20 minutes. I stopped at the grocery store close to my house and bought some bread for tomorrow. I got back to the apartment a little after 3. Fani was lying down when I came in and I felt bad because she got up when she heard me come in. I told her she didn’t have to get up, but she said she was just trying to stay warm. She had the gas heater on and the whole apartment smelled like gas and was roasting hot after being outside in the cold. Fani asked if I would like some hot chocolate and without waiting for an answer, went and made some for me. When I went out to drink it, she had warmed up two empanadas for me, as well. They were “carne,” but they had onions and raisins in them, too. They were good. I also ate a banana. After my snack, I went into my room and did my homework and studied for almost two hours. Then I took a freezing cold shower and did some stuff. I ate dinner at 7:30 and had soup, carnalones, and peaches with dulce de leche. This is probably my favorite dinner that I eat here. After dinner, I went back to my room with the intention of making up flashcards with stuff I need to know for the final, but I have not done so yet. There is a party going on outside somewhere near here with loud music playing. I am going to study a little bit more and then head to bed.