I got up at 9:30 today and after dragging myself out of bed, got ready, and ate breakfast (two media lunas, two cups of really hot chocolate—I burnt my tongue, and tostadas with dulce de leche). Fani told me something about one of her relatives. I didn’t understand what she was saying, but I could tell she was sad. I asked her what happened to her relative and she said that she died. I am not quite sure who it was that died, but she was eighty—some years old and had suffered a lot, so (I think) Fani thinks it is a good thing she is in Heaven now. I think the person who died might have been her last full-blood relative (or maybe her sister is). I know that her father had two wives (at different times, of course) and so her brothers have a different mother than Fani.
I left for church at 10:40 and made it there by 10:55. Of course, church didn’t actually start until at least 11:10. I sat next to a woman named Teresa. She was really friendly and liked talking to me. Some other people came and sat next to us. There were a lot of people at church today. We sang “Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty” in Spanish.
After church, I walked to Cabildo and on my way stopped at the Norte there to check prices. I want to buy my favorite brand of dulce de leche and some more mate to bring home, but I need to know where they sell it and find the best price. I went home and dumped my winter coat and Bible. I was wearing my black crinkle skirt with a hot pink shirt and my new green scarf. I walked around to four more grocery stores and compared prices and products. I looked at the mate and dulce de leche in every store. The rule for my game was that I could not ask for help, but had to find them myself, like a scavenger hunt. I headed back toward home and almost stopped for café con leche at a café that was having a special, but I wanted to sit outside in the sun, but all of their chairs were in the shade, so I passed it by. Instead, I went to a shop called Gourmet Empanadas and had a cheese and onion empanada and a tiny little one with dulce de leche inside for dessert. They weren’t the best empanadas I’ve had, but they were still good. I sat there looking at the window and started my homework. However, they must have been closing at 3 because the guy locked the door and switched the sign to closed, so I got my stuff together and left.
I went back home and worked on a little bit more homework in my room. Tammy called at 4:15 to say that she was back. Fani was just getting ready to feed me some of the tarta she had made so we made plans to meet at a café at 5. I ate my cheese and spinach-ish tarta and it was very good. I left to meet Tammy. When I arrived, the café/bakery was filled with people. I stepped inside the door, but didn’t see Tammy and there were people pushing and shoving me to get by and I felt like I was in the way, so I waited outside. I figured she wasn’t there yet because I was about three minutes early. However, after about 5 minutes, I heard Tammy saying my name from the doorway. Apparently, she was sitting at a table where I could not see her and she had seen my hair through the window. I was not hungry but Tammy had hot chocolate and a huge piece of chocolate cake after having to ask the waitress to see the one and only menu in the restaurant. We talked about our weekends (Tammy went to Iguazú falls) and then did part of our homework. Tammy’s “abuelita” gave me a magazine about Evita because I am reading her book. It was really sweet of her! We talked some more before we left.
We walked around the feria at Juramento, but about half of the booths were not open, probably because of the big fútbol game between Argentina and Brazil. Tammy bought a pretty brown, coral, and green shawl. We then went scarf-hunting and Tammy captured two. We then walked to my house and I showed Tammy my new skirts and gave her the clothes I babysat over the weekend. I gave Tammy some index cards, but I think she forgot them because there was a pile on my bed when she left. I walked Tammy downstairs so I could let her out. It was about 8. I went back upstairs and Fani fixed dinner for me. I had soup, more tarta, and chocolate mousse. Fani told me that Tammy had a cold face, but mine was warm. I told her that Tammy is always cold. She then started talking about Tammy and how “linda” she is. She then said that I am more “linda” than Tammy. It was funny. Hmm, I think I would rather have the compliment that Fani gave Tammy last time about her good Spanish. She did not mention how tall and thin Tammy is which is practically a miracle because every time she sees Tammy, I usually hear about that for the next two meals! During dinner, I got to hear about the time Fidel Castro came to visit Buenos Aires and he gave a speech that lasted five hours! One of Fani’s relatives went, but didn’t stay for the whole time. Argentina lost the soccer game, much to Fani’s dismay. After cleaning up the kitchen, Fani went to bed. I took a shower that wasn’t warm, but wasn’t ice, either (although it still produced massive goosebumps!). I can count on one hand the number of cold showers I have left! I checked my email, tidied my belongings, and wrote this blog. I am now going to read for just a bit before drifting off to dreamland.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Summary of today: walking, eating junk food, and spending money.
I got up at 9am and was really tired. The street is always so loud on Friday and Saturday nights! I had a hard time falling asleep because I could hear people chanting and yelling in the street. Anyway, I got ready and had breakfast (two fresh media lunas, two cups of boiling hot chocolate, and tostadas with dulce de leche). Fani got sad because I will be leaving one week from today. It is getting harder and harder at mealtimes because she is so sad. I can’t say that I share her sadness although, of course, I will miss her. If only she lived in Indiana, I could visit her and keep up on my Spanish! I got my things together and left at 10:30 with Fani. We walked a block together and then she turned to go to the grocery store and headed to the subte. I took the subte to Plaza Italia where I walked about 10-15 blocks to get to the Japanese Gardens.
I had a bit of trouble finding them, but asked a man selling food for directions. I entered with gardens and walked around. It was a bright, sunny day, but was kind of cold. I wore my winter coat, scarf, and gloves. I love this weather in July… not! There were a lot of teenagers in the gardens chasing each other and annoying the people who actually went to see the gardens. I don’t know why they would pay to get in when if all they wanted to do was chase each other around, they could go to the free park next to the gardens. I wasn’t super impressed until I went in a building at the back. There is a rock from Hiroshima inside that was found 200 meters from where the atomic bomb hit. It is there as a reminder to preserve the peace. Apparently Japan and Argentina are good friends. I also saw huge goldfish! By huge, I mean that they were about 18 inches long and really fat. A boy was feeding them and I took some pictures and videos of them. I found some cereal in my backpack and crushed it up and shared it with them, too. There were cool bridges over a pond that connected to a little island. The gardens were definitely not a main attraction of Buenos Aires, but I am glad that I went to see them.
After the gardens, I walked about 15 blocks to Recoleta where I went to The National Fine Arts Museum (Museo de Bellas Artes). It was free to get in. I had to leave my backpack at the front desk, so I put my wallet and camera in my coat pockets because I did not want to leave them. I wasn’t super impressed by the museum. It was a nice museum, but I am not a big fan of art museums. The best part for me was seeing original paintings by Degas, Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. The most unusual piece of art had to be a square of about 15 lightbulbs by 15 lightbulbs. They were set on a timer to turn off and on and change colors. It was very strange. There were also the “modern” works of art that looked like a toddler had painted them. One painting was a rectangle that was painted dark red at the top and a lighter shade of red at the bottom. It looked like a testing strip for wallpaper! I thought it was interesting that there were Braille explanations for all the sculptures, but not for the paintings. I amused myself by reading them and found that I could understand the Braille except for the accent marks. It was weird because I had to spell the word in my head before understanding it instead of just kind of understanding the word as I went like when I read English Braille.
I left the museum and went to the feria near the museum. It is part of the Recoleta Feria and is called Recoleta Paseo. I bought a grey Amber skirt from a man. I asked if I could try it on and return it if it didn’t fit. He was very nice and gave me a plastic bag for me to stand on in the bathroom “so I didn’t get my socks wet.” I went back into the museum, left my backpack, and went in and tried it on. It fit perfectly. I collected my backpack and went back and told the man that it fit. I walked around for a couple of hours and ended up buying another skirt. It is purple and grey and has a flower made out of fabric on the front. It is unique and actually looks like it might be from another country unlike my Amber skirts. I debated for a while before buying it, but I like it a lot and I will probably never be here again. (This is what I always say and it always works because I go to a different country each time… hehe!) I saw some huge things of cotton candy and bought one after debating the cleanliness of the machine and the man making it. I decided I didn’t care and bought some. I was messier than a two-year-old eating it!
I walked to a bus stop and waited for the 118 bus. I got on and actually got to sit! When I arrived back in Belgrano, I started walking to the Juramento feria on my way home. I got distracted by the bakery that sells the meringues I like and stopped and bought one. I only have a week left to consume South American sugar! I walked around the feria and spent more than a half hour talking to my friends at the glass-making booth. I asked the man how he learned to make the tiny animals and he said that he had a friend who worked in a chemistry lab and he let him come in and play around with the glass and he learned to make the animals just by messing around. He said that he has always been artistic. I headed back to Cabildo and walked down to the grocery store, Norte, where I bought some cheap white chocolate to take to school (seven cents a square). I had to wait in line a long time because not all of the people in the fast lane had ten or less items, as they were supposed to.
I then had to stop at McDonald’s because it was on my way home. When I got up to the dessert counter (this is separate from the food counter), I saw that they had raised the price of the ice cream cones 50 cents since the last time I was there so each cone now costs $2 (pesos). However, there was a sign that said you could buy 2 cones for $3. Being the thrifty person I am, I always like to get the best deal possible, so I just HAD to get two ice cream cones. (They are small.) I got two dulce de leche cones and went upstairs. I found a seat under the stairs leading to the next floor (how many floors does this McDonald’s have?) and sat and ate my ice cream while looking out the window at the street (this was so all the skinny Argentineans would not notice the American slob eating two ice cream cones!).
When I finished, I headed home because I was really tired. When I got back, I could not get the door to our apartment unlocked which was really odd. I tried a couple of times and then I heard a voice inside say something. It was not Fani, but I knew I was on the third floor (the rug has returned). Fani’s daughter, Hilda, was there with all seven of Fani’s granddaughters! Fani had told me something about how her other daughter, Federica, had a birthday party in Belgrano today and that her granddaughters were coming. I had assumed she meant the two daughters of Federica, but she meant ALL of them. They all kissed me hello and I went and put my things in my room. I was putting my new grey Amber skirt away when Fani came in and saw it. She liked it a lot and asked to take it out to the other room to show Hilda. She oohed and ahhed over it, too, which I thought was kind of funny because although I like it a lot, it is not really that pretty of a skirt. I talked to Hilda and Fani. Some of the girls were watching TV in Fani’s room and some were running around. I could tell the little ones were tired and all of them were getting bored of being there. I got home about 6:30 and they didn’t leave until 8. They took turns singing and then some of them did a little dance show. Fani told me it was my goodbye party. Hilda took a picture of me and all the granddaughters and they all kissed me goodbye and left.
Fani got my dinner ready. I had lukewarm soup, pizza made in the oven (hurray!), and whipped cream stuff that is supposed to taste like dulce de leche. Fani got sad during dinner again. She cleaned up the kitchen while I brushed my teeth and washed my face. She told me goodnight and said her usual, “Apagá la luz, Marilu.” (Translation: Turn off the light, Mary Lou.) This is a phrase that they say here; I don’t know why. It makes me smile. I was really tired so I got on my pajamas and crawled into my bed. I wrote this blog, I’m going to read for a bit, and then I am going to go to bed. It is only 10:20!
I got up at 9am and was really tired. The street is always so loud on Friday and Saturday nights! I had a hard time falling asleep because I could hear people chanting and yelling in the street. Anyway, I got ready and had breakfast (two fresh media lunas, two cups of boiling hot chocolate, and tostadas with dulce de leche). Fani got sad because I will be leaving one week from today. It is getting harder and harder at mealtimes because she is so sad. I can’t say that I share her sadness although, of course, I will miss her. If only she lived in Indiana, I could visit her and keep up on my Spanish! I got my things together and left at 10:30 with Fani. We walked a block together and then she turned to go to the grocery store and headed to the subte. I took the subte to Plaza Italia where I walked about 10-15 blocks to get to the Japanese Gardens.
I had a bit of trouble finding them, but asked a man selling food for directions. I entered with gardens and walked around. It was a bright, sunny day, but was kind of cold. I wore my winter coat, scarf, and gloves. I love this weather in July… not! There were a lot of teenagers in the gardens chasing each other and annoying the people who actually went to see the gardens. I don’t know why they would pay to get in when if all they wanted to do was chase each other around, they could go to the free park next to the gardens. I wasn’t super impressed until I went in a building at the back. There is a rock from Hiroshima inside that was found 200 meters from where the atomic bomb hit. It is there as a reminder to preserve the peace. Apparently Japan and Argentina are good friends. I also saw huge goldfish! By huge, I mean that they were about 18 inches long and really fat. A boy was feeding them and I took some pictures and videos of them. I found some cereal in my backpack and crushed it up and shared it with them, too. There were cool bridges over a pond that connected to a little island. The gardens were definitely not a main attraction of Buenos Aires, but I am glad that I went to see them.
After the gardens, I walked about 15 blocks to Recoleta where I went to The National Fine Arts Museum (Museo de Bellas Artes). It was free to get in. I had to leave my backpack at the front desk, so I put my wallet and camera in my coat pockets because I did not want to leave them. I wasn’t super impressed by the museum. It was a nice museum, but I am not a big fan of art museums. The best part for me was seeing original paintings by Degas, Renoir, Monet, and Van Gogh. The most unusual piece of art had to be a square of about 15 lightbulbs by 15 lightbulbs. They were set on a timer to turn off and on and change colors. It was very strange. There were also the “modern” works of art that looked like a toddler had painted them. One painting was a rectangle that was painted dark red at the top and a lighter shade of red at the bottom. It looked like a testing strip for wallpaper! I thought it was interesting that there were Braille explanations for all the sculptures, but not for the paintings. I amused myself by reading them and found that I could understand the Braille except for the accent marks. It was weird because I had to spell the word in my head before understanding it instead of just kind of understanding the word as I went like when I read English Braille.
I left the museum and went to the feria near the museum. It is part of the Recoleta Feria and is called Recoleta Paseo. I bought a grey Amber skirt from a man. I asked if I could try it on and return it if it didn’t fit. He was very nice and gave me a plastic bag for me to stand on in the bathroom “so I didn’t get my socks wet.” I went back into the museum, left my backpack, and went in and tried it on. It fit perfectly. I collected my backpack and went back and told the man that it fit. I walked around for a couple of hours and ended up buying another skirt. It is purple and grey and has a flower made out of fabric on the front. It is unique and actually looks like it might be from another country unlike my Amber skirts. I debated for a while before buying it, but I like it a lot and I will probably never be here again. (This is what I always say and it always works because I go to a different country each time… hehe!) I saw some huge things of cotton candy and bought one after debating the cleanliness of the machine and the man making it. I decided I didn’t care and bought some. I was messier than a two-year-old eating it!
I walked to a bus stop and waited for the 118 bus. I got on and actually got to sit! When I arrived back in Belgrano, I started walking to the Juramento feria on my way home. I got distracted by the bakery that sells the meringues I like and stopped and bought one. I only have a week left to consume South American sugar! I walked around the feria and spent more than a half hour talking to my friends at the glass-making booth. I asked the man how he learned to make the tiny animals and he said that he had a friend who worked in a chemistry lab and he let him come in and play around with the glass and he learned to make the animals just by messing around. He said that he has always been artistic. I headed back to Cabildo and walked down to the grocery store, Norte, where I bought some cheap white chocolate to take to school (seven cents a square). I had to wait in line a long time because not all of the people in the fast lane had ten or less items, as they were supposed to.
I then had to stop at McDonald’s because it was on my way home. When I got up to the dessert counter (this is separate from the food counter), I saw that they had raised the price of the ice cream cones 50 cents since the last time I was there so each cone now costs $2 (pesos). However, there was a sign that said you could buy 2 cones for $3. Being the thrifty person I am, I always like to get the best deal possible, so I just HAD to get two ice cream cones. (They are small.) I got two dulce de leche cones and went upstairs. I found a seat under the stairs leading to the next floor (how many floors does this McDonald’s have?) and sat and ate my ice cream while looking out the window at the street (this was so all the skinny Argentineans would not notice the American slob eating two ice cream cones!).
When I finished, I headed home because I was really tired. When I got back, I could not get the door to our apartment unlocked which was really odd. I tried a couple of times and then I heard a voice inside say something. It was not Fani, but I knew I was on the third floor (the rug has returned). Fani’s daughter, Hilda, was there with all seven of Fani’s granddaughters! Fani had told me something about how her other daughter, Federica, had a birthday party in Belgrano today and that her granddaughters were coming. I had assumed she meant the two daughters of Federica, but she meant ALL of them. They all kissed me hello and I went and put my things in my room. I was putting my new grey Amber skirt away when Fani came in and saw it. She liked it a lot and asked to take it out to the other room to show Hilda. She oohed and ahhed over it, too, which I thought was kind of funny because although I like it a lot, it is not really that pretty of a skirt. I talked to Hilda and Fani. Some of the girls were watching TV in Fani’s room and some were running around. I could tell the little ones were tired and all of them were getting bored of being there. I got home about 6:30 and they didn’t leave until 8. They took turns singing and then some of them did a little dance show. Fani told me it was my goodbye party. Hilda took a picture of me and all the granddaughters and they all kissed me goodbye and left.
Fani got my dinner ready. I had lukewarm soup, pizza made in the oven (hurray!), and whipped cream stuff that is supposed to taste like dulce de leche. Fani got sad during dinner again. She cleaned up the kitchen while I brushed my teeth and washed my face. She told me goodnight and said her usual, “Apagá la luz, Marilu.” (Translation: Turn off the light, Mary Lou.) This is a phrase that they say here; I don’t know why. It makes me smile. I was really tired so I got on my pajamas and crawled into my bed. I wrote this blog, I’m going to read for a bit, and then I am going to go to bed. It is only 10:20!
Friday, July 13, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
I got up today at 9, got ready, and ate my normal breakfast (two cups of really hot chocolate, two slightly stale media lunas, and tostadas with dulce de leche. I just stayed around the apartment until noon reading the rest of Job, writing in my journal, and catching up on a few emails. It was a cold day, but not ridiculously cold. It is never bitter cold here because it is not usually below freezing.
We only had twelve students in our class today because most of the class is at Iguazú.
We read a comic strip by an Uruguayan artist and spent a lot of time talking about different subjects that came up as we talked. We learned a lot of random vocabulary words. During the lunch break, I used the computer and then ate in the classroom. The lunch break was a lot longer than normal. No one even came into the classroom until 10 minutes past when class should have been starting and we didn’t get started until 2:50 instead of 2:30! I wrote more in my journal while I waited. We were in a different room today on the same floor. It was nice to have a change of the view out the window. I talked to the girls who sit off to the side in our normal room. They are from Grace College and one of them knows Patricia’s sister! They live really far away from the university. They are the only students I have met here who don’t drink! Yay! We worked on the different verbs that mean “to become” because in Spanish there are many options. We talked a little more about the movie and had our short break about 4:30. After that, we listened to a song by another Uruguayan named Jorge Drexler and talked about the vocabulary in the song. She gave us more homework for Monday which I don’t really understand because all the people at Iguazú won’t have it! Oh, well!
After class, I went to the ISA office and spent a little over an hour on the computer there. I left when it closed at 7 and wandered along Cabildo on the opposite side than I normally walk. I looked in several little stores. All the winter clothes are on sale. I bought a cool scarf that is mostly green with other colors in it, too. I also found an Amber skirt that is brown (much better than olive green!) and it only cost half the amount of the other one! I love the fact that you can try on clothes here! I tried it on and it fit, so I bought it. It was funny because they put it in a clear plastic bag and tied it with a piece of orange twine. They then put it in a little black tote bag. I also went to the grocery store and bought some cookies to pack in my lunch. I got back a little before 8.
I showed Fani my skirt and she liked it a lot. She got my dinner ready and then I ate. I had soup, lots of raviolis, fresh shredded carrots and REAL cucumber (hurray!), and leftover “lemon pie” from when her granddaughter visited. It was a good meal, but kind of depressing because Fani was telling me how she was going to feed me my favorite things this week because it was my last week. She almost started crying as she was telling me this. She said that she should soon know about the new girl she will get and she apologized for kicking me out of my room on Saturday. I think I have to have all of my things out and have the room clean by 9:30 or so in the morning. My plane doesn’t leave until 9:25 that night. Fani told me I can put my suitcases in the “living.”
After dinner, I tidied my room and brushed my teeth. Fani went to bed and I practiced my limbo (i.e. took a shower). I am looking forward to a hot shower so much! I checked my email and wrote this blog. I need to write more to catch up from Córdoba and pick out the 100 pictures I want to get printed before I leave. When I bought my new camera, I got a coupon for 100 free prints so I need to burn my pictures to a CD so I can take them in on Monday. I still don’t know what I am going to do tomorrow. I might go to a museum.
We only had twelve students in our class today because most of the class is at Iguazú.
We read a comic strip by an Uruguayan artist and spent a lot of time talking about different subjects that came up as we talked. We learned a lot of random vocabulary words. During the lunch break, I used the computer and then ate in the classroom. The lunch break was a lot longer than normal. No one even came into the classroom until 10 minutes past when class should have been starting and we didn’t get started until 2:50 instead of 2:30! I wrote more in my journal while I waited. We were in a different room today on the same floor. It was nice to have a change of the view out the window. I talked to the girls who sit off to the side in our normal room. They are from Grace College and one of them knows Patricia’s sister! They live really far away from the university. They are the only students I have met here who don’t drink! Yay! We worked on the different verbs that mean “to become” because in Spanish there are many options. We talked a little more about the movie and had our short break about 4:30. After that, we listened to a song by another Uruguayan named Jorge Drexler and talked about the vocabulary in the song. She gave us more homework for Monday which I don’t really understand because all the people at Iguazú won’t have it! Oh, well!
After class, I went to the ISA office and spent a little over an hour on the computer there. I left when it closed at 7 and wandered along Cabildo on the opposite side than I normally walk. I looked in several little stores. All the winter clothes are on sale. I bought a cool scarf that is mostly green with other colors in it, too. I also found an Amber skirt that is brown (much better than olive green!) and it only cost half the amount of the other one! I love the fact that you can try on clothes here! I tried it on and it fit, so I bought it. It was funny because they put it in a clear plastic bag and tied it with a piece of orange twine. They then put it in a little black tote bag. I also went to the grocery store and bought some cookies to pack in my lunch. I got back a little before 8.
I showed Fani my skirt and she liked it a lot. She got my dinner ready and then I ate. I had soup, lots of raviolis, fresh shredded carrots and REAL cucumber (hurray!), and leftover “lemon pie” from when her granddaughter visited. It was a good meal, but kind of depressing because Fani was telling me how she was going to feed me my favorite things this week because it was my last week. She almost started crying as she was telling me this. She said that she should soon know about the new girl she will get and she apologized for kicking me out of my room on Saturday. I think I have to have all of my things out and have the room clean by 9:30 or so in the morning. My plane doesn’t leave until 9:25 that night. Fani told me I can put my suitcases in the “living.”
After dinner, I tidied my room and brushed my teeth. Fani went to bed and I practiced my limbo (i.e. took a shower). I am looking forward to a hot shower so much! I checked my email and wrote this blog. I need to write more to catch up from Córdoba and pick out the 100 pictures I want to get printed before I leave. When I bought my new camera, I got a coupon for 100 free prints so I need to burn my pictures to a CD so I can take them in on Monday. I still don’t know what I am going to do tomorrow. I might go to a museum.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I got up at 8:45 today and really did not want to get out of bed. My room was cold and my bed was warm. Oh, well. It is weird to think that in two weeks I am going to bewanting air conditioning and now I want heat! I got ready and ate breakfast (two media lunas, two cups of really hot chocolate, and some tostadas with dulce de leche). The laundromat man brought back my clothes which was good since I was wearing my last clean shirt and last pair of socks (my favorites). I left the apartment at 9:45 to meet Tammy at a bank. I got there before her and sat and waited and people-watched. She came with her humongous backpack ready for Iguazú. I watched her stuff while she cashed her travelers’ checks. She had a bit of a difficulty because she hadn’t signed all of them when she got them. It was kind of ridiculous because if she had found them on the street and knew about travelers’ checks, she would have signed the first part and then went to cash them. As it was, anyone could have cashed them, but we don’t really understand why that should matter to the bank. She finally got her money and we went to our favorite clothes store, Como Quieres. We like the clothes here because they are simple, yet elegant. Tammy bought the shirt and fleece she had put on reserve the night before and she asked if she could take a picture of the Como Quieres saying painted on the wall. The ladies were nice and said yes and one who spoke English translated it for us because it is really confusing. We didn’t write it down and it was hard to remember so we don’t have the translation. The lady could say it really, really fast. It was quite impressive. Here is the full saying:
Como quieres que te quiera si el que quiero que me quiera no me quiera como quiero que me quiera.
Try saying that ten times fast!
After Como Quieres, we headed to Freddo to take advantage of the Thursday 50% off special. We each got a piece of cheesecake and sat and discussed the book that I have been reading. We had a hard time getting our waiter’s attention for the bill, but what’s new? It is always the most awkward part because you have to stare at them for a long time before they notice that someone wants to pay and leave. We were really hot (Freddo is always warm) and we were sitting in the sun. We left and headed to the UB. We went over our homework, watched an Argentine movie, and had a presentation today. We (Tammy, Will, and I) stayed in the room for lunch because Tammy had so much stuff with her. The movie was called El fondo del mar or “The Bottom of the Sea.” It was more difficult to follow than the other movie we watched. It was okay. The man in the movie did some crazy things. I liked how Graciana asked us if we knew the word “motor.” Of course, she said it with an accent, but it is still pretty obvious! The presentation was about friendships between girls and boys from the American and Argentinean perspectives.
After class, Tammy and I went to the computer lab and checked our email and then we walked down to meet the rest of the ISA group for her to leave for Iguazú. I stood there and talked for a while before leaving her with her roommate for the weekend whose name is Kay. It is her birthday today.
I went to ISA and replied to more emails (we were only in the UB computer lab for 10 minutes). Guillermo told me that he had just heard from Federico (one of the ISA leaders going on the trip to Iguazú) and that his wallet had been stolen in Retiro. How horrible! I left at 7 when the office closed and dawdled on my way home. I stopped in a couple of stores to look at clothes on sale. I found an Amber skirt that I really like. I wish they had it in a different color because the only colors they have are olive green and black. I already have black and the olive green would not be my first choice. We’ll see. I got home about 7:30 and talked to Fani and then she gave me my dinner. I had soup, good shredded carrots, bad big cucumber, a chicken patty with a fried egg on top, and fruit cocktail for dessert. I asked Fani if we could take another picture of us together because our first one is kind of dark. I want to get our picture printed and give it to her before I leave. She was really flattered that I asked for another picture and went and combed her hair and did something else in her bedroom. I put the camera on top of the microwave and we sat in the kitchen chairs. It worked perfectly. Fani told me at dinner that she hopes her next “chica” is half as polite, nice, and caring as I am. It was really sweet! She started getting teary-eyed as we talked of my departure and the arrival of the next student. I wish Fani lived closer so I could visit her and practice my Spanish! Fani cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed. I put my Córdoba pictures on the computer, typed some replies to emails for me to send tomorrow when I reach a computer with internet access, and then wrote this blog. I need to do my homework and work on catching up on my blogs.
Como quieres que te quiera si el que quiero que me quiera no me quiera como quiero que me quiera.
Try saying that ten times fast!
After Como Quieres, we headed to Freddo to take advantage of the Thursday 50% off special. We each got a piece of cheesecake and sat and discussed the book that I have been reading. We had a hard time getting our waiter’s attention for the bill, but what’s new? It is always the most awkward part because you have to stare at them for a long time before they notice that someone wants to pay and leave. We were really hot (Freddo is always warm) and we were sitting in the sun. We left and headed to the UB. We went over our homework, watched an Argentine movie, and had a presentation today. We (Tammy, Will, and I) stayed in the room for lunch because Tammy had so much stuff with her. The movie was called El fondo del mar or “The Bottom of the Sea.” It was more difficult to follow than the other movie we watched. It was okay. The man in the movie did some crazy things. I liked how Graciana asked us if we knew the word “motor.” Of course, she said it with an accent, but it is still pretty obvious! The presentation was about friendships between girls and boys from the American and Argentinean perspectives.
After class, Tammy and I went to the computer lab and checked our email and then we walked down to meet the rest of the ISA group for her to leave for Iguazú. I stood there and talked for a while before leaving her with her roommate for the weekend whose name is Kay. It is her birthday today.
I went to ISA and replied to more emails (we were only in the UB computer lab for 10 minutes). Guillermo told me that he had just heard from Federico (one of the ISA leaders going on the trip to Iguazú) and that his wallet had been stolen in Retiro. How horrible! I left at 7 when the office closed and dawdled on my way home. I stopped in a couple of stores to look at clothes on sale. I found an Amber skirt that I really like. I wish they had it in a different color because the only colors they have are olive green and black. I already have black and the olive green would not be my first choice. We’ll see. I got home about 7:30 and talked to Fani and then she gave me my dinner. I had soup, good shredded carrots, bad big cucumber, a chicken patty with a fried egg on top, and fruit cocktail for dessert. I asked Fani if we could take another picture of us together because our first one is kind of dark. I want to get our picture printed and give it to her before I leave. She was really flattered that I asked for another picture and went and combed her hair and did something else in her bedroom. I put the camera on top of the microwave and we sat in the kitchen chairs. It worked perfectly. Fani told me at dinner that she hopes her next “chica” is half as polite, nice, and caring as I am. It was really sweet! She started getting teary-eyed as we talked of my departure and the arrival of the next student. I wish Fani lived closer so I could visit her and practice my Spanish! Fani cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed. I put my Córdoba pictures on the computer, typed some replies to emails for me to send tomorrow when I reach a computer with internet access, and then wrote this blog. I need to do my homework and work on catching up on my blogs.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Today I got up at 9am after 10 glorious hours of sleep. Fani had given me an extra blanket for my bed and I was toasty warm in my snug little bed. I got ready and had two media lunas with dulce de leche on them (they were a bit stale), two cups of hot chocolate, and tostadas with dulce de leche. Fani had finally gone to get her blood test done this morning which I thought was kind of funny since it was minus one degree when she went and supposedly she had been putting it off all last week since it was too cold, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as today! The laundromat man came and took away almost all of my clothes. I wore more clothes than usual this week because it has been more than a week since they last got washed and I got a lot of clothes dirty this weekend at the estancia. I got my stuff ready to go and packed my lunch. I left at 10:30 to walk to the UB. I was supposed to meet Tammy at 11am to go over our presentations, but I wanted to be a bit early so I could check my email. Tammy was actually already there and she moved to the computer next to me. We replied to emails and then we looked over each other’s part of the presentation. I decided that I liked Tammy’s “starting” better than mine! My English is atrocious! My Spanish is even worse, though!
We talked about abbreviations during the first part of class like brb, ttyl, and lol. It was weird because Graciana would not let us say them in English, but we had to describe the meaning in Spanish. It was especially funny when I still did not “get” the phrase even when it was described in Spanish. Graciana then shared some common abbreviations and acronyms that are used in Spanish. We then discussed the two texts we had read as homework. They were about the possibility of simplifying the Spanish language and eliminating accents marks and such. It was interesting to think about and we discussed how it would be if we simplified the English language.
One of the exercises we did after lunch was working on rephrasing what other people had said. It was really hard. For example, the sentence we were given in the workbook might be: “I am going to go to the store tomorrow, said Anne,” and then we had to write: “Anne said that she was going to go to the store tomorrow.” It was so hard and so confusing! I didn’t understand it at all! Someone asked Graciana if people really used this. She hid her face behind her workbook and said that people usually just say it the normal way like “Anne said, I am going to go to the store tomorrow,” but because we are in the advanced class, it is important for us to learn this other way. However, at dinner tonight, Fani was telling me a story about what her granddaughter said on the phone today and definitely was not using this form! We would probably sound really smart if we used this new way, but I can’t see it happening… at least not soon!
After the short break, Nichelle, Michaela, and Meghan gave their presentation about Tango. It went really well and Nichelle had brought her computer with pictures of tango on it and they had tango music. I wished that we didn’t have to follow their presentation! Nichelle told me that she had given this same presentation at her university before she left, so I didn’t feel too bad. We gave our presentation after Graciana had made some grammar corrections. Tammy introduced the topic of fútbol. Will talked about the team Riverplate and then I talked about the team Boca Juniors. I learned that the name Riverplate was supposed to be the translation of Rio de la Plata, but is not. The translation of Rio de la Plata would be “River of Silver” or something similar (I think).
After class, a whole group of people walked to the ISA office because the new students had their meeting about the trip to Iguazú. I called my mom and got to talk to Emily, too. After my phone card ran out of minutes, I checked my email until Tammy was ready to go. We walked down Cabildo and stopped at Tammy’s favorite store, Como Quieres. It is a cool store with lots of cute clothes and a slightly intimidating clerk. Tammy found a shirt and fleece that she likes, but she realized that she did not have her credit card with her so she asked them to save the clothes until tomorrow. We ended up going to Freddo and Tammy had a submarino (hot chocolate made out of hot milk and an actual bar of chocolate). We worked on the homework, but did not have time to get through it all. We left at 8:20 and walked to La Pampa before I turned to go home. I found Fani waiting at the front door of the building which was extremely unusual. I asked her what she was doing and she said that a man was going to bring a remedio from the pharmacy. I waited there with her and after he came, we went upstairs in the elevator. We rode with another woman who I think was going to visit a friend. The elevators here are very tiny, but supposedly have a capacity of three people, but it is a tight fit. I was in the back and so when we stopped, I told the woman she could get out first, but to my embarrassment, she said that she was going to the seventh floor. Oops! We went in to our apartment and Fani got my dinner ready. I had a leftover carnalon from last night, an empanada with meat and raisins in it, good shredded carrots and nasty big cucumber, and the sweet dulce de leche flavored whipped dessert. I told Fani about my day and she told me about her phone call with her granddaughter. I told Fani goodnight and got ready to take a shower. Fani asked me this morning if the water was warm yesterday when I took my shower. I told her it wasn’t and she said that when it is very cold out outside that the shower does not get hot water because it is so far away from the hot water heater in the kitchen. I don’t really understand this because the bathroom is not very far away. I wonder where the pipe goes from the kitchen to the bathroom. I practiced the limbo (which sounds better than saying I about broke my back trying to tip my head far enough back that the water did not run down my back). When I get back to the States, I think I am going to waste a lot of hot water the first few showers I take! I can’t wait! It was already late by the time I was done. I wrote this blog and tried to catch up on others from the weekend. I like to post them in order and so I have to wait until I am caught up before posting them. I am going to finish my homework and read for a bit before going to sleep in my warm bed.
We talked about abbreviations during the first part of class like brb, ttyl, and lol. It was weird because Graciana would not let us say them in English, but we had to describe the meaning in Spanish. It was especially funny when I still did not “get” the phrase even when it was described in Spanish. Graciana then shared some common abbreviations and acronyms that are used in Spanish. We then discussed the two texts we had read as homework. They were about the possibility of simplifying the Spanish language and eliminating accents marks and such. It was interesting to think about and we discussed how it would be if we simplified the English language.
One of the exercises we did after lunch was working on rephrasing what other people had said. It was really hard. For example, the sentence we were given in the workbook might be: “I am going to go to the store tomorrow, said Anne,” and then we had to write: “Anne said that she was going to go to the store tomorrow.” It was so hard and so confusing! I didn’t understand it at all! Someone asked Graciana if people really used this. She hid her face behind her workbook and said that people usually just say it the normal way like “Anne said, I am going to go to the store tomorrow,” but because we are in the advanced class, it is important for us to learn this other way. However, at dinner tonight, Fani was telling me a story about what her granddaughter said on the phone today and definitely was not using this form! We would probably sound really smart if we used this new way, but I can’t see it happening… at least not soon!
After the short break, Nichelle, Michaela, and Meghan gave their presentation about Tango. It went really well and Nichelle had brought her computer with pictures of tango on it and they had tango music. I wished that we didn’t have to follow their presentation! Nichelle told me that she had given this same presentation at her university before she left, so I didn’t feel too bad. We gave our presentation after Graciana had made some grammar corrections. Tammy introduced the topic of fútbol. Will talked about the team Riverplate and then I talked about the team Boca Juniors. I learned that the name Riverplate was supposed to be the translation of Rio de la Plata, but is not. The translation of Rio de la Plata would be “River of Silver” or something similar (I think).
After class, a whole group of people walked to the ISA office because the new students had their meeting about the trip to Iguazú. I called my mom and got to talk to Emily, too. After my phone card ran out of minutes, I checked my email until Tammy was ready to go. We walked down Cabildo and stopped at Tammy’s favorite store, Como Quieres. It is a cool store with lots of cute clothes and a slightly intimidating clerk. Tammy found a shirt and fleece that she likes, but she realized that she did not have her credit card with her so she asked them to save the clothes until tomorrow. We ended up going to Freddo and Tammy had a submarino (hot chocolate made out of hot milk and an actual bar of chocolate). We worked on the homework, but did not have time to get through it all. We left at 8:20 and walked to La Pampa before I turned to go home. I found Fani waiting at the front door of the building which was extremely unusual. I asked her what she was doing and she said that a man was going to bring a remedio from the pharmacy. I waited there with her and after he came, we went upstairs in the elevator. We rode with another woman who I think was going to visit a friend. The elevators here are very tiny, but supposedly have a capacity of three people, but it is a tight fit. I was in the back and so when we stopped, I told the woman she could get out first, but to my embarrassment, she said that she was going to the seventh floor. Oops! We went in to our apartment and Fani got my dinner ready. I had a leftover carnalon from last night, an empanada with meat and raisins in it, good shredded carrots and nasty big cucumber, and the sweet dulce de leche flavored whipped dessert. I told Fani about my day and she told me about her phone call with her granddaughter. I told Fani goodnight and got ready to take a shower. Fani asked me this morning if the water was warm yesterday when I took my shower. I told her it wasn’t and she said that when it is very cold out outside that the shower does not get hot water because it is so far away from the hot water heater in the kitchen. I don’t really understand this because the bathroom is not very far away. I wonder where the pipe goes from the kitchen to the bathroom. I practiced the limbo (which sounds better than saying I about broke my back trying to tip my head far enough back that the water did not run down my back). When I get back to the States, I think I am going to waste a lot of hot water the first few showers I take! I can’t wait! It was already late by the time I was done. I wrote this blog and tried to catch up on others from the weekend. I like to post them in order and so I have to wait until I am caught up before posting them. I am going to finish my homework and read for a bit before going to sleep in my warm bed.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I decided to read for a while because I was too cold and wide awake to sleep. I read my 5 Love Languages book in Spanish for 2 hours. It was so cold in the bus that I had to stop reading so I could put my gloves on. I was still wearing four shirts and a fleece and three pairs of pants! I decided to try to sleep and amazingly fell asleep for about a half hour at 2:30. However, it was so cold in the bus that I woke up freezing. I then spent the next two hours alternating between rubbing my legs and my feet to keep them from going numb. I was so cold! I have never been that cold for that long in my life! I did not know how I was going to make it for 7 more hours! I prayed that God would help me bear it and then Michaela walked by from going to the bathroom and said that she had been sitting upstairs and that it was much warmer. It was an answer to prayer, although a kind of strange answer. I joined Michaela in sitting on the top step of the stairs. It was not too comfortable, but I wasn’t freezing anymore. I sat there for two hours with her and thought and prayed. At about 7, the waiter man started moving around and getting hot drinks for the driver so we decided to go back to our seats and wait for breakfast. It was so much colder downstairs we could hardly stand it! We sat there for a while and he got drinks and alfajores for the upstairs people. We both took an alfajor from the box (white chocolate) while he was upstairs—shhh! He finally came around and offered us drinks. I had hot tea with sugar. I would have drunk just about anything as long as it was hot! He gave us chocolate alfajores. I sat there freezing after I finished my tea for another hour and then two people with a baby got off the bus. They had come from the upstairs so I knew there had to be free seats up there. I waited for about ten minutes and then decided to go up. I found a free seat in the row of single seats and sat down. I was so tired that I fell asleep almost right away even though the sun was shining in my face. I slept for another half hour before we were getting close to Retiro (where we would get off). I was actually hot and a little sweaty underneath all my layers when I got up! I got my stuff together and waited. When we got to Retiro (about 9:15), I got off behind Will and we quickly walked to the Retiro train station. We made it there without incident and get our tickets and were on the train in just a few minutes. We rode to Belgrano R station and then I walked about eight blocks or so to my apartment.
Fani was not home when I arrived, but I didn’t know where she was. I put my stuff down and got ready to take a shower. I ran the water for a time before getting in, but the water was as cold as in Mexico (this is NOT an exaggeration!). I continued to put things away and then the phone rang. I answered it thinking it might be Fani. She always wants me to answer the phone when she is not there, so I wasn’t worried. It was a woman named Amanda. She was really nice and I was able to talk to her without really thinking about what I was saying. I went to the kitchen to find some food and found that Fani had put hot chocolate in the microwave for me. I heated it up really hot and ate one media luna with dulce de leche on top and some tostadas with dulce de leche. Fani came home and we talked for a while. She told me that it had snowed in Buenos Aires on Monday for the first time since 1918! That is amazing and I wasn’t here to see it! I saw snow very close outside Buenos Aires, though. I got ready to go to school and left at 11:50am with damp hair and my coat and scarf (for the first time) and clean gloves. I was still really chilled from the freezing omnibus!
I checked my email at the UB, but it was doing something strange and my email told me that my mailbox was full even though it shouldn’t be. I deleted a bunch of stuff, but couldn’t respond to anyone, but I didn’t really have time anyway. I went to class and was the first one there (at 12:30) other than Will. Tammy came in and told me the bad news that she lost her ATM card and so now we are really poor and don’t have any money. She said that there is a way we can get money from the bank with her credit card. In class, we went over the homework which was very difficult and talked about our weekends. This class is much more laid-back than last month. We do a lot more talking/listening activities rather than taking notes on grammar rules which is nice. We had a strange discussion about the pictures of naked woman that are seen on the covers of many magazines on the street. To my surprise (and horror!), the majority of the class seemed to think that it was better to show pictures of nudity than to not show them. When the teacher asked who disagreed, I think Tammy and I were the only ones to not raise our hands. She asked us to explain why we thought it was not a positive thing, but we were not able to get our points across. Other people in the class commented that it is more natural to see naked bodies and that it fine to show nudity because we all have bodies. Tammy and I did not think that their reasoning made much sense! During lunch, we went to the cafeteria and I heard about Tammy’s weekend with her friends from Chile who came to visit and told her a little about my weekend. We went back to class and had time to talk more before class started. We did a grammar activity where we had to create a new law and write about who it was for and why it was important. Tammy, Will, and I created a law that forbids people to walk dogs without a bag for the “caca” to keep the sidewalks clean. Actually, there is a law already about this, but it is not enforced. We corrected a really long homework assignment with 50 sentences, but didn’t have time to finish before our short break. I was really feeling tired at this point! We finished this exercise after the break and some girls did their presentation about their favorite activities and places in Columbus, Ohio. There are lots of people in our class who go to Ohio State. We got some homework assigned for tomorrow and left.
Tammy and I walked to our fave café, but our lady wasn’t there. Tammy went there four times during the weekend without me! We decided to get a “lemon pie” that was really tiny and a piece of “cheesecake.” We sat back in the little room and did our homework and talked. We discussed how we are not fluent in Spanish, but we are no longer than English! I said the brilliant line, “I just disappeared it!” when I was trying to use my translator. We say ridiculous things like that all the time! Get ready to enjoy laughing at my grammar mistakes when I return! Another thing we do is switch languages unintentionally. Oops! We talked until 8:10. We paid quickly (it was more expensive than the desserts we had bought there before) and I had to hurry back. I have found that I can make it home in 20 minutes from Tammy’s if I walk as fast as I can. I left at 8:15 so I knew I was going to be late. Oops! We are really bad about that! I decided to stop at the grocery store to get bread for lunch tomorrow because it would only take 3 minutes since it is right on my way. The lady took out hot bread for me and I paid with a $1 coin to make it faster. I had to cross the street again because there were men working with a big machine in my way. I hurried up the stairs and was hot for the first time since I woke up in the omnibus. I had been cold all day and wore my coat, scarf, and gloves in class! Fani greeted me and got my dinner heated up. I ate soup, one of the two carnalones (pasta roll-up things with spinach stuff) she gave me, fresh shredded carrots, tomatoes (which I did not eat), and more big cucumber that looks like a gourd from the outside, and chocolate mousse for dessert! I was really full! I brushed my teeth and got my dirty clothes ready for tomorrow. Fani said that she didn’t know when he was coming to get them, but I really hope it is tomorrow because I have been wearing this round of clothes since last Tuesday and with my trip to the estancia, I don’t have many left! I put more stuff away and wrote this blog. It is now almost 11pm and I am going to read my devotions and go to bed!
Fani was not home when I arrived, but I didn’t know where she was. I put my stuff down and got ready to take a shower. I ran the water for a time before getting in, but the water was as cold as in Mexico (this is NOT an exaggeration!). I continued to put things away and then the phone rang. I answered it thinking it might be Fani. She always wants me to answer the phone when she is not there, so I wasn’t worried. It was a woman named Amanda. She was really nice and I was able to talk to her without really thinking about what I was saying. I went to the kitchen to find some food and found that Fani had put hot chocolate in the microwave for me. I heated it up really hot and ate one media luna with dulce de leche on top and some tostadas with dulce de leche. Fani came home and we talked for a while. She told me that it had snowed in Buenos Aires on Monday for the first time since 1918! That is amazing and I wasn’t here to see it! I saw snow very close outside Buenos Aires, though. I got ready to go to school and left at 11:50am with damp hair and my coat and scarf (for the first time) and clean gloves. I was still really chilled from the freezing omnibus!
I checked my email at the UB, but it was doing something strange and my email told me that my mailbox was full even though it shouldn’t be. I deleted a bunch of stuff, but couldn’t respond to anyone, but I didn’t really have time anyway. I went to class and was the first one there (at 12:30) other than Will. Tammy came in and told me the bad news that she lost her ATM card and so now we are really poor and don’t have any money. She said that there is a way we can get money from the bank with her credit card. In class, we went over the homework which was very difficult and talked about our weekends. This class is much more laid-back than last month. We do a lot more talking/listening activities rather than taking notes on grammar rules which is nice. We had a strange discussion about the pictures of naked woman that are seen on the covers of many magazines on the street. To my surprise (and horror!), the majority of the class seemed to think that it was better to show pictures of nudity than to not show them. When the teacher asked who disagreed, I think Tammy and I were the only ones to not raise our hands. She asked us to explain why we thought it was not a positive thing, but we were not able to get our points across. Other people in the class commented that it is more natural to see naked bodies and that it fine to show nudity because we all have bodies. Tammy and I did not think that their reasoning made much sense! During lunch, we went to the cafeteria and I heard about Tammy’s weekend with her friends from Chile who came to visit and told her a little about my weekend. We went back to class and had time to talk more before class started. We did a grammar activity where we had to create a new law and write about who it was for and why it was important. Tammy, Will, and I created a law that forbids people to walk dogs without a bag for the “caca” to keep the sidewalks clean. Actually, there is a law already about this, but it is not enforced. We corrected a really long homework assignment with 50 sentences, but didn’t have time to finish before our short break. I was really feeling tired at this point! We finished this exercise after the break and some girls did their presentation about their favorite activities and places in Columbus, Ohio. There are lots of people in our class who go to Ohio State. We got some homework assigned for tomorrow and left.
Tammy and I walked to our fave café, but our lady wasn’t there. Tammy went there four times during the weekend without me! We decided to get a “lemon pie” that was really tiny and a piece of “cheesecake.” We sat back in the little room and did our homework and talked. We discussed how we are not fluent in Spanish, but we are no longer than English! I said the brilliant line, “I just disappeared it!” when I was trying to use my translator. We say ridiculous things like that all the time! Get ready to enjoy laughing at my grammar mistakes when I return! Another thing we do is switch languages unintentionally. Oops! We talked until 8:10. We paid quickly (it was more expensive than the desserts we had bought there before) and I had to hurry back. I have found that I can make it home in 20 minutes from Tammy’s if I walk as fast as I can. I left at 8:15 so I knew I was going to be late. Oops! We are really bad about that! I decided to stop at the grocery store to get bread for lunch tomorrow because it would only take 3 minutes since it is right on my way. The lady took out hot bread for me and I paid with a $1 coin to make it faster. I had to cross the street again because there were men working with a big machine in my way. I hurried up the stairs and was hot for the first time since I woke up in the omnibus. I had been cold all day and wore my coat, scarf, and gloves in class! Fani greeted me and got my dinner heated up. I ate soup, one of the two carnalones (pasta roll-up things with spinach stuff) she gave me, fresh shredded carrots, tomatoes (which I did not eat), and more big cucumber that looks like a gourd from the outside, and chocolate mousse for dessert! I was really full! I brushed my teeth and got my dirty clothes ready for tomorrow. Fani said that she didn’t know when he was coming to get them, but I really hope it is tomorrow because I have been wearing this round of clothes since last Tuesday and with my trip to the estancia, I don’t have many left! I put more stuff away and wrote this blog. It is now almost 11pm and I am going to read my devotions and go to bed!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Happy Independence Day, Argentina! Juan turned on the music at 9am. I didn’t want to get up, but I did. I was really cold, probably because it was colder and my hair was still damp. I decided to see if my jeans would fit over my leggings and my sweatpants. Surprisingly, they did! I wore three pairs of pants and five shirts and my fleece that day. We went to the kitchen for breakfast (you had to go outside to get there) and had the usual breakfast. Juan said that because it had snowed and was still snowing, the gaucho party had been cancelled and that it was too cold to go for an all-day hike. He said that we were just going to stay around the estancia for the morning and then we could decide what we wanted to do at lunch. I wished he had let us sleep later! Lots of people went back to bed. I played Phase 10 with Nichelle for a while and finished my homework. We went outside and took pictures of the snow.
We had lunch about 1pm. We had guiso which is a stew. Ours had rice, chicken, and vegetables in it. It was very good. We had white cheese with sweet potato on top with a strawberry jam to spread on it. It sounds gross, but was actually good. It kind of tasted like cheesecake. It was really rich and I couldn’t eat it all. We hung out by the fire for a bit more and then some of us (about half) left to go “trekking.” Because the snow was melting and we were going to be walking through the woods, they told us we should wear a waterproof jacket. Anyone who didn’t have one (like me, oops!) borrowed one from someone else. We rode in the van for a little while down the same road we had ridden the horses the day before. We got out and hiked through a cow field. There was lots of cow and horse poop and it smelled a whole lot better than the car exhaust in Buenos Aires! We climbed over and through barbed wire fences, jumped ditches and streams, and saw parrots and cows. There were these burr-ish things that got stuck in our clothes. They are called “amor seco” or “dry love.” I don’t know why. It was cold, but not bad. We got to a place where we could choose to go back through a field or take a longer path through the woods. We choose the woods. There were lots of big thorny plants in the woods. My hair got stuck several times and then we had to climb over this tree limb that was on a hill and I didn’t know where to put my feet and I had my weight on my wrong foot and I leaned up against the thorn plant. Ow! People tried to help, but I told them not to because I needed to gently remove the thorn plant before they pulled it away. I ended up jumping (in reality it was more like falling) to the ground nearly hugging José as I tried not to fall. We saw tracks from javelinas which are wild pigs. We made it to our ending place where the van was parked (different location than that from which we started) and rode back to the estancia. We had been planning to visit a Jesuit church, but it was too late, so we went back to the estancia and had tea and fried bread things with sugar on them.
We packed up our stuff and sat around and talked. We had tartas for dinner which are like pies with vegetables in them (kiesch). I had a piece of zapalitos (green pumpkin/squash-ish vegetable) and spinach and split a piece of corn/cheese with Taylor. We were given alfajores and then it was time to leave. The van was late and Will and I were worried about making it there on time. The van finally came and after loading up and making sure everyone was there, we left. Two girls who had been absent for a time showed up in time to leave smelling very strongly of pot. I formerly did not recognize that scent, but now I do! It was horrible being in the van with them, the smell was that strong!
We made it to the bus station at 10:15 and went inside to wait. Juan told us the bus was not supposed to come until 10:45. However, when he gave us our tickets, I saw that the time said 10:10. I hoped we had not missed our bus! While we were waiting, we saw a program on TV that is a take-off of Dancing with the Stars. The only difference is that instead of dancing talent, you only needed to be good at removing your clothes. It was really weird. Almost all of the women would start out wearing a normal-looking outfit and then they would unzip it or slide it off and end up wearing a bikini! It was a very long wait. Will asked Juan about the fact that our tickets had a different time on them than he had said. He assured us it was okay and that the time had changed to 10:45.
The bus finally came at 11pm, but when I tried to get on, the man told me to go to a different bus. Another bus headed for Retiro had just pulled up, so I went over to Juan and asked him. He said it should be the first bus, but walked over with me and asked the man at the second bus. That man said it was not his bus and so Juan walked back and talked with the first man. They then left to go inside and discuss it. We were all confused. Some of the students had their luggage already on the second bus and some had it on the first bus. After about a half hour of discussion, we were told that the bus company had messed up and that they did not have our reservation. I really just wanted to get back to Buenos Aires! They finally worked it out so that half of us went on each bus. I wanted to ride on the nicer bus (the second one) because I was hoping we would get blankets, but they needed two more volunteers to ride the first bus. I volunteered because no one else did and then Will followed. I was sent to a seat on the ground floor by the bathroom… joy! We left about 11:45pm, more than 1.5 hours later than our tickets said.
We had lunch about 1pm. We had guiso which is a stew. Ours had rice, chicken, and vegetables in it. It was very good. We had white cheese with sweet potato on top with a strawberry jam to spread on it. It sounds gross, but was actually good. It kind of tasted like cheesecake. It was really rich and I couldn’t eat it all. We hung out by the fire for a bit more and then some of us (about half) left to go “trekking.” Because the snow was melting and we were going to be walking through the woods, they told us we should wear a waterproof jacket. Anyone who didn’t have one (like me, oops!) borrowed one from someone else. We rode in the van for a little while down the same road we had ridden the horses the day before. We got out and hiked through a cow field. There was lots of cow and horse poop and it smelled a whole lot better than the car exhaust in Buenos Aires! We climbed over and through barbed wire fences, jumped ditches and streams, and saw parrots and cows. There were these burr-ish things that got stuck in our clothes. They are called “amor seco” or “dry love.” I don’t know why. It was cold, but not bad. We got to a place where we could choose to go back through a field or take a longer path through the woods. We choose the woods. There were lots of big thorny plants in the woods. My hair got stuck several times and then we had to climb over this tree limb that was on a hill and I didn’t know where to put my feet and I had my weight on my wrong foot and I leaned up against the thorn plant. Ow! People tried to help, but I told them not to because I needed to gently remove the thorn plant before they pulled it away. I ended up jumping (in reality it was more like falling) to the ground nearly hugging José as I tried not to fall. We saw tracks from javelinas which are wild pigs. We made it to our ending place where the van was parked (different location than that from which we started) and rode back to the estancia. We had been planning to visit a Jesuit church, but it was too late, so we went back to the estancia and had tea and fried bread things with sugar on them.
We packed up our stuff and sat around and talked. We had tartas for dinner which are like pies with vegetables in them (kiesch). I had a piece of zapalitos (green pumpkin/squash-ish vegetable) and spinach and split a piece of corn/cheese with Taylor. We were given alfajores and then it was time to leave. The van was late and Will and I were worried about making it there on time. The van finally came and after loading up and making sure everyone was there, we left. Two girls who had been absent for a time showed up in time to leave smelling very strongly of pot. I formerly did not recognize that scent, but now I do! It was horrible being in the van with them, the smell was that strong!
We made it to the bus station at 10:15 and went inside to wait. Juan told us the bus was not supposed to come until 10:45. However, when he gave us our tickets, I saw that the time said 10:10. I hoped we had not missed our bus! While we were waiting, we saw a program on TV that is a take-off of Dancing with the Stars. The only difference is that instead of dancing talent, you only needed to be good at removing your clothes. It was really weird. Almost all of the women would start out wearing a normal-looking outfit and then they would unzip it or slide it off and end up wearing a bikini! It was a very long wait. Will asked Juan about the fact that our tickets had a different time on them than he had said. He assured us it was okay and that the time had changed to 10:45.
The bus finally came at 11pm, but when I tried to get on, the man told me to go to a different bus. Another bus headed for Retiro had just pulled up, so I went over to Juan and asked him. He said it should be the first bus, but walked over with me and asked the man at the second bus. That man said it was not his bus and so Juan walked back and talked with the first man. They then left to go inside and discuss it. We were all confused. Some of the students had their luggage already on the second bus and some had it on the first bus. After about a half hour of discussion, we were told that the bus company had messed up and that they did not have our reservation. I really just wanted to get back to Buenos Aires! They finally worked it out so that half of us went on each bus. I wanted to ride on the nicer bus (the second one) because I was hoping we would get blankets, but they needed two more volunteers to ride the first bus. I volunteered because no one else did and then Will followed. I was sent to a seat on the ground floor by the bathroom… joy! We left about 11:45pm, more than 1.5 hours later than our tickets said.
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