Araoz... not Arroz!

Yesterday was a great day. I headed out to class early, as usual, and took my final. A two hour written final and a 15 minute oral final... not too shabby. I received a 9 in the class, a solid A, so I was pleased with that.




After the final, I went with a friend to two history museums. They were so interesting and it was free Thursday at them both. The first museum was history and arts dating back to the 15th centuries. It was incredible! There were no video cameras watching us, no guards, no protective layers. It was just my friend, Steven, and me walking around in the museum with the ancient art. Crazy! Afterward, Steven and I headed into the gardens in the back of the museum. They were gorgeous. It was like a little paradise amidst the busy city life.





After the first museum, we headed to the second one, only a block away. It was a completely different type of history museum. We walked through an old house that had tons of preserved artifacts and tidbits of info. After the museum, I headed to meet up with Clarissa.



Later, after having supper at my house, I got ready to go out. Clarissa and I were going to check out a new club called Club 69. However, plans changed and we decided to go to Club Araoz. It was funny, though, because it sounds like ärroz¨the word for rice and we could never quite figure out how to pronounce the name of the club all night so we called it Rice Club. Hahaha.

After getting ready, we headed out around 11 pm to go. We took the bus down to near the club and went to our ¨favorite¨bar (hahaha... the bar with too many creepers...) to start off the night and then headed to Club Araoz around 2am. It was incredible. They played hip hop, rap and reggaeton all night long. Early morning, we headed home to catch a few hours of sleep before this morning´s class.

It´s been a while...

I´m writing this update because I haven´t updated in a few days. Between being busy and not having internet, it´s been a bit difficult to keep up.

Friday- a blast!!!!!!! During the day I had class. As usual. The afternoon was filled with more exploring and errands. I´ve been certainly having some packed days! At night, Clarissa, Nikki and I met up with three Argentinean boys we had made friends with. It was great to already have some friends in the area. They picked us up around 11:30 and we headed to a bar. At around 2:30, we headed to a club called Liquid. They played hip-hop and reggaeton, our kind of music and we danced until about 6 am, when we headed home. It was a great night

Saturday- After a late night, I slept in Saturday and woke up to study with Clarissa and then go shopping Saturday afternoon. As the final gets closer, I´ve been adding more and more studying hours into my day. That night, Nikki, Clarissa and I made plans to head out. Unfortunately, everything went wrong. My host mom locked me out of the house. My hair dryer blew up. Literally, it blew up. Then we couldn´t get ahold of Nikki because Clarissa had a new phone that didn´t work. Finally, after two hours of drama, Clarissa and I headed to a bar named Sugar but made it an early night. There were too many of the regular creepers around so we booked it out and made it home by 1:30 am.

Sunday- Since I hadn´t been out late the night before, I headed to the park for a good study session. What perfect weather. I certainly can´t complain here in Argentina about the weather. It´s been in the 80s and 90s and sunny every day! At night, I hung out with Clarissa and then we got ready to go out. We had heard about an awesome Brazilian club open on Sunday nights and wanted to check it out. We headed to the area by bus but, as I had never been there before, we passed it and had to take a taxi back.

Once we arrived at the club, we learned that it didn´t open until 1:30 am, so we headed to a Cuban bar where we hung out and helped celebrate an old Cuban woman´s birthday. They shared cake with us and we chatted with them. It was cute! Then we headed to the Brazilian club. After paying our 10 pesos, we were astounded by what we saw once we entered. It was crazy! The people were dancing in a crazy way like I had never seen before. We looked at each other, laughed, and thought, ¨What in the world did we get ourselves into?¨ After a quick bathroom trip and hanging out on the sidelines for a bit, we thought, what the heck? We can barge on into the dance floor and dance too. We may not be dancing crazy like the other people, but at least we would be having fun. However, minutes after we joined the dance floor, other joined and the music turned into great dancing music. We had a blast! The video below is of club but my friend is screaming during the whole thing so it kind of sounds like she's on a roller coaster. Hahaha.



Monday- A usual day. Nothing too eventful.

Tuesday- Yesterday, after class, I helped Clarissa and Nikki book their tickets to come visit me in Brazil during their spring break. What a blast! I´m very excited. Then, I ran errands and went to see one of the plazas downtown. Finally, at night, Clarissa, Steven, Nikki and I headed to a Peruvian restuarant. It was a ways away and we didn´t get there until 9:30 for supper, but it was well worth the wait. The food was incredible and fairly inexpensive. For 15 USD, I got out of there with an appetizer, a main course (absolutely delicious!), dessert, a pop and two glasses of wine. Wow! And not one table was empty while we were there. A little over two hours later, we made our way out of the restaurant satisfied and headed home on the bus since the metro was closed. Definitely worth a return visit if I have time.

El Tigre and an Overabundance of Creepers

First three quick notes. I got my hair cut yesterday. I was desperately in need of a hair cut and finally dished out the money to do it. The picture is here along with my ear piercing picture. Second, I will not be going to Iguazu Falls as hoped because it's not safe enough for me to go by myself and I can't find anyone else to go with me. Finally, I mention some places in here where I talk about pictures. I don't have my camera cord with me so I will be adding them in when possible.

Last night, Clarissa, Nikki, Steven and I went to Sugar again. Since I have just over a week left, I need to make the most of it so we are trying to hit a lot of the big night places in town. First, we headed to Sugar again. We had fun there and met three guys. After chitchatting for a while, we all headed to the next club, Bahrein, a place Clarissa and I had discovered online while researching which places were open during January. It played reggaeton, a favorite type of music. We had a blast and headed home around 6 am.

We didn’t have Spanish class today (Thursday), so Clarissa and I decided to go to El Tigre, the river delta in Argentina. However… it turned into a very unexpected day. To be honest, it was almost a repeat of Uruguay for me and it was so unexpected and disappointing that it was funny.

First, we took a 35 min. train to the delta. We had heard that when you get off the train, the water is right there and if you want, you can take a boat to an island. However, when we arrived, there was no water. We wondered around for an hour asking for directions to the beach and being mislead over and over. Finally, we discovered we could pay to take a boat to the beach. We paid our 17 pesos for the roundtrip and got in line.



Once the boat took off, we watched the scenery go by. Finally, all the tourists got off the boat and there were only locals left… and us. We asked where the beach “Parque Lyfe” was and a girl said we had already passed it but that we could go to the beach that was right nearby. She pointed to a place called “Parque Recreo: Fuerza y Luz” and we followed her advice and got off since we didn’t know what else to do. It was not at all what we were looking for. We had to pay 12 pesos to use the “beach,” (you can see the "beach" in the picture I posted...) which was the pile of grass about 4 feet above the chocolate brown water.




After paying the money, we went to the restaurant to eat. It was gross. Flies everywhere. Dirt everywhere. Certainly nothing gourmet. We were starving though. Clarissa and I both ordered salads with carrots and egg and we waited. And waited. And waited. 35 minutes later we still hadn’t gotten our food. We realized everyone had paid ahead of time for their food and that our order hadn’t been processed but the place was so gross we didn’t even want to reorder so we just walked out to the grass plot and rolled out our towels to lay on. As we lay down, the restaurant worker came out to tell us our salads were ready. We walked in to see… Not a lettuce salad but an entire salad of carrots and a hard boiled egg. It was so unappetizing. We took a few bites and left the rest.




Ready to just leave the nasty “beach” and find our real beach, we asked for the bill. The guy at the desk told us that we were such pretty girls that he paid for our food for us. Desperate to just get out of the place and glad we didn’t have to pay for the weird salads, we quickly thanked him, left a tip and ran for it. We went to the dock to wait for the boat to pick us up to take us back. And waited. And waited. Nearly two hours later, a boat finally arrived. Agh. We had spent the entire afternoon on the grass plot. Great.



As we got on the boat, Clarissa decided she wanted to find the real beach. As the boat passed a restaurant on the water and picked up a lot of people in swim suits, Clarissa and I decided there must have been a beach there in the back. We quickly got off before the boat left and wandered in the paths behind the restaurant only to discover it was just private property. Fed up with our wasted day, we waited and waited for the next boat to pass. We hopped on and headed back toward the train station. Suddenly, we passed “Parque Lyfe”… the place we were supposed to have gone to. Agh. And it was already after 4:30, making it pointless to pay to get into the beach. We just headed back, slightly annoyed with the day.



And then comes the creeper story. As we entered the train to head back from El Tigre, a man heard Clarissa speaking to me in English. He asked “Where are you from?” A bit eager to practice my Spanish, I responded with Chicago. It turns out that this was the extent of his English so we made small talk in Spanish for a minute before I grew bored and turned my full attention to Clarissa. The man proceeded to sit across the aisle from me and continuously interrupt my conversation with Clarissa. I grew annoyed and stopped talking to him. However, he pestered and pestered. Soon, though, Clarissa grew motion sick from sitting backward on the train and had to move. Another man took her spot and my creeper friend asked if he could switch seats with the man so he could sit right by me. Annoyed, I turned to face the other direction while the man continuously asked for my contact information and for a night we could go out together. As he was growing creepier and creepier, I made sure he had none of my information and completely ignored him.

At the next station, Clarissa and I motioned that we would leave, even though it was a stop to early. However, as I jumped to get out the doors, they closed and Clarissa was left at the train station while I was left on the train. And I looked to my left to find that when I had gotten up to leave, so had my unwelcomed friend. People on the train watching this charade uh-ohed and sighed, bummed that my friend had been left behind while I had to remain stuck with this strange, annoying man. It seemed that half of the train was watching the drama unfold but no one was willing to help. I quickly hurried to another exit, still followed by him and being pestered by him until I jumped out at the next spot and ran away into a store to dodge him. Agh. While it is very normal for Argentinean men to act creepy and clingy, this was certainly unusual and very annoying. Fortunately, things turned out okay, but I certainly wasn’t enthused about his unwavering enthusiasm to follow me.

Empanadas. And More Empanadas. A Reflection on Argentinean Food

First thing of excitement… my computer is fixed! Whoo hoo! So I filled in my past few blogs that were missing pictures with pictures. I also put up a couple of pictures of my friend Clarissa and I "learning to dance tango." Feel free to skim through them and check my new pictures out. On another note, I’ve been here nearly three weeks now. And it seems like even longer. I have done so many things. I know the area well. I’ve made good friends. It seems as though I’ve been here months.

And in this time, there has been something in particular that has surprised me… the food. I have heard so many wonders about the food in South America. Apparently, Argentinean food is supposed to be amazing. I came down with high expectations. Instead, though, I have found it to be fairly unexciting, bland, and only moderately edible. While my host mother cooks exceptionally well (she is obsessed with organic foods and constantly has an array of fresh health foods on hand, which I really enjoy), most other places are surprisingly dull to eat in. When I eat out for lunch (my program does not provide lunch and I am not allowed to use my host family’s kitchen so I often have to eat out), the food is usually terrible. When I go to my friends’ houses, they complain about the food and I have found that I often agree… it’s not any food I would want to brag about.

Comparison one: the staple. Most cultures have their own particular staple food(s). In Brazil, it’s beans and rice. I eat beans and rice for lunch. And for dinner. Every day. Barely room for ifs, ands, or buts around that one. And the beans and rice are very good. In Argentina, I assumed it was the beef. Obviously as a vegetarian, I do not eat the beef so I assumed I would be missing out on the “staple” food. However, most of my friends hardly ever have beef to eat and if the chance does arise, it’s cheap and fatty… certainly not too appetizing! While a very nice Argentinean restaurant probably has some of the best beef in the world, my limited budget would never even bring me within smelling distance of it.

Well, now that I think about it, Argentina does have a staple food. The empanada. It’s a pastry type of thing with any sort of salty or sweet filling, from pizza to beef to cheese to corn to chicken to spinach. If some sort of filling will go with the flavor of pastry, the Argentines will have made an empanada out of it. It’s almost become a joke because they are so bad for you and so repetitive that for lunch my friends and I say… “Empanadas? Or empanadas?” as there is little else to choose from. The first couple of days of eating them, they were exciting and new. By day four, we were begging for something different.

Comparison two: Fast food. While people constantly joke that fast food is an American thing (as it originally was), it is clear that fast food is not shunned here. On the contrary, fast food seems to be the up and coming new favorite. There are two McDonalds and a Burger King within walking distance of me as well as two “Super Pollos”, a non-American fast food chain. There is also the brand new “CBC Tacos” that just opened two weeks ago two blocks from my house. After discovering this restaurant last week, my friends Nikki and Clarissa have gone five times to eat there because there is nowhere else they can find food they enjoy. And, because I have been here such a short period of time, it’s very likely there are more nearby. Every time I pass by the McDonalds, there are lines, especially for the ice cream line since it is so hot here.

However, the McDonalds here will only somewhat resemble the McDonalds in the United States. In addition to the regular ordering area, there are two other areas to order at. One is a very classy looking section that resembles a Starbucks and includes delicious hard ice creams, coffee drinks and a bakery at high, Starbuck’s prices. The other section is completely for soft ice creams. There are other differences too. The tables are cleaner, there are more employees working, service is faster. Every McDonalds I have seen has a strict dress code of a McDonalds denim shirt, McDonalds denim pants and a McDonalds hat, making the employees appear very uniformed. As fast food was imported by other countries, it is clear that the quality improved.

Broken computer

My computer has been on a two year meltdown. Yes, it´s a long meltdown, but it´s been a slow, miserable one. As of today, it will not turn on. I´m working on seeing if someone can fix it, but until then... I may be out of longer blogs for a bit and be limited to small updates when possible.

I´ll do a quick update for yesterday and hopefully get my pictures up for all these blogs if my computer is ever fixed. First of all, after class yesterday, I got my right ear triple peirced and my left ear double pierced. For the most part, I feel no pain, but my piercing in the cartiledge REALLY hurts. I can´t wait for the pain to go away. I´ll put up pictures when my computer is better.



Afterward, I went with a friend to the prettiest book store in Latin America. I´ve posted two pictures for you. It was in an old theater that was beautifully restored and all the 5 levels had books, DVDs, and other things to purchase. In the stage area was a cafe with live jazz music. It was absolutely gorgeous.



Following the bookstore, my friend Clarissa and I left to head home since it was about 8pm. Suddenly, the sky split open and it poured. And poured. And poured. We ran for a cover in the nearest cafe. While the streets flooded and the resturant workers fretted as the water seeped closer and closer the restaurant doors from the lack of proper draining in the streets, we sipped coffee and chit-chatted. Finally, the downpour slowed enough to a sprinkle so we ran the four blocks to the subte (metro) and were home by 9:30.

After a delicious supper of vegetable lasagna, I headed out with some friends to a bar called Salvame Maria (Save Me Maria) that is a few blocks from my house. We had a good night chit chatting but were not at all fond of the ¨Happy Hour¨two for one drinks that were so disgusting we hardly wanted the second drink... We happily munched on the popcorn they served before heading home for a night of sleep.

Today, as usual, was 5 more hours of Spanish class. I received a paper back as well as my midterm (a total of 50% of my grade), and received 9s on each of them, which is an A, so I´m fine with that. Hopefully I´ll do well enough on the final two exams to end with a good grade in the course.

My Time to Play... Their Time to Work

This weekend was a pretty good weekend. Friday was the last day of class for the week. After the long five hours, I went out and about Buenos Aires for the afternoon with Nikki and Clarissa. That evening, after dinner, Clarissa and I met up at Clarissa's house to get ready for the night. At around midnight, we headed out to a bar that the rest of our group was going to. A couple of hours later, we headed to a night club. Since Nikki is a very thin, attractive blonde, she, Clarissa and I were able to get in for free while the rest of the people in our group had to pay the 50 pesos. The music, unfortunately, was a bit boring. It was electronica, which I don't mind, but it was the same beat over and over. I danced and had fun, though.



The next morning, I was planning on taking a trip up to the river delta "El Tigre." Unfortunately, though, it was raining so that is on the list of things to do this upcoming Saturday. Instead, I poked around Buenos Aires with some friends seeing the neighborhood and sightseeing a bit. At night, Clarissa and I got ready again and headed out. We went to a club/bar first, called Sugar, (I posted a picture) which has become a favorite since there is no entry fee. Afterward, we headed to a club called INK, which wasn't exciting. The night life here is a bit dull it seems during the summer time so I'm going to do some research this week to find out where there are still some exciting places.



Sunday was a day of rest, as it should be. Clarissa and I headed to the park and relaxed since it was so warm during the day. Afterward, we headed to Clarissa favorite restaurant, CBC Burrito. It just opened 2 weeks ago so the first time we went it was EMPTY. However, we have been 4 times in 5 days since Clarissa is such a big fan. Hahaha. I have only eaten there once but usually accompany here. The burrito-makers know her name already. It's funny. Afterward, we studied at a cafe for our Spanish exams and then headed home to plan out things to do in Buenos Aires before my last 2 weeks here are up!

As for some things I've been thinking on lately, I want to reflect on the child workers that are so common around here. Today in class we read a passage about how prevalent child workers are in Argentina and the effects of their jobs on their childhood. Most of the child workers in Buenos Aires are cardboard collectors. They run through the streets after people put their trash out looking for cardboard. They are paid for the cardboard and it is recycled. This is a new job that came about after 2001, when Argentina's economy collapsed. Before, paper was cheap to buy. Now it is very expensive and needs to be recycled.

However, the children go to school during the day. 96% go to elementary school. They attend because they receive a free lunch every day. Unfortunately, only 48% go to secondary school. In the afternoons and evenings, they work and do not have the opportunity to work and play. Oftentimes, they collect the cardboard only to have the money taken by their parents or guardians with nothing given back to them in return.

All around, there are children working. When I walk on the subway or train, children try to sell flowers or pass out flyers or advertisements hoping for change in return for the paper. Many times, children run around in the streets with tatters of clothing, overgrown hair, and no guardians in sight. It's a sad thing to witness.

Saturday, some of my friends were in the park around midnight. Some little girls, around six years old, walked up to them to sell flowers and they said no. The little girls grabbed beer bottles and threw them at them and started yelling "motherf***ers" in English! This is something that seems so atypical for little children to do! But it shows how much poverty can really affect children.

It's incredible how many benefits children in the United States have. Children here have almost no protections or rights. While they may technically have them by law, practically speaking, there are few ways children can find clothing, shelter or food if their parents cannot or do not provide for them. As I see each and every child begging or working in the streets, it really makes me think of how lucky I was that as a child I was given the basic right to my necessities (food, clothing, education, shelter and love) as well as the time to play and live out my infancy! It's interesting to think about while I spend my money and relax, these children are working without ever having a chance to enjoy their lives.

The Convenience of Inconvenience

Well, my Wednesday night was great. It started off after class with a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, it´s becoming a tradition of my with some of my friends Nikki and Clarissa. I haven´t purchased too much, but have made it quite the habit to go to various stores and try on dresses, skirts, shoes and accessories. So much fun! It´s so much fun to have spare time since, for the first time in years, I don´t have a job. One month with no job = a beautiful chance to relax and enjoy life.

That night, Clarissa headed out for a bar around 11:30. We took the 152 bus (by far my favorite bus in the area... it takes me everywhere!) and met up with some other friends at a bar/club called Sugar. With drinks at only 5 pesos until midnight (1.25 USD), it was full. It was a great way to meet new people and practice my Spanish. Unfortunately, it was more of an American bar so we had to watch out for the Argentinean guys waiting to pounce (over the night, Clarissa and I came upon quite a few of them...) but kept our guard up and stayed close to the American group. I was home by about 3:00 am.

Yesterday, Thursday, we looked at some more stores. Clarissa was hoping to pick up some new shoes and I was, as usual, just window shopping. I´m hoping to save most of my money so I can go to Iguazu and Mar del Plata in the next couple of weeks. Last night I was exhausted. Clarissa and I headed to the movie theater to watch Sherlock Holmes (I actually enjoyed it!) and then I headed home and was in bed by 1:30 am. By 7:30, I was up for my last day of class the week. Five hours of Spanish class and now I´m free for the weekend with tons of plans!

As for one of the things I reflected on today, I was amazed at how much I am starting to appreciate the inconvenience of Latin America. Life in the U.S. is completely and totally about convenience. Here, life is different.

1) Transportation. In the U.S., everyone has a car. If you want to go somewhere, you can just hop in and drive. In Argentina and Brazil, some have cars, but the majority use the extensive public transportation system. Buses run 24/7, metros line the grounds of the cities, and trains carry cars of passengers convenientally around for onlly 35 US cents here in Buenos Aires. Not as convenient, but certainly more ecological and economical!

2) Shopping. Here in Argentina, malls and super centers are not very popular. There aren´t Walgreens or super Targets on every corner. Instead, you buy groceries at the grocery store, hangers at the hardware store, shirts at small boutiques medicines at the pharmacies and snacks at the kioscos. It´s not quick and easy to run around and buy everything, it takes time to visit each and every location.

3) Laundry. There aren´t convenient dryers in hardly any households. Everything is hung up to dry and then hand pressed with an iron. Some homes have to hand wash all clothes too on a wash board. Saves on the electricity bill!

4)The elevator at my university stops on the 7th, 11th and 17th floors. From there, you can walk up or down the stairs. It takes a bit more time, yes, but it means less stops for multiple people and a little more walking up or down some stairs.

Yes, sometimes inconveneince drives me nuts. If I want to go home at 2 in the morning, I have to be extra careful and it can take more time to use public transportation. Or, if I am searching for my class at PUC (my university) and they book the class in the wrong room and I can´t find the real class and no one knows where the class, I miss the class. If I need to buy an adapter at 8:30 at night, none of the hardware or electronics stores will be open so I will be out of luck. Over all, though, after a bit of adjustment, the inconvenience is starting to grow on me. While inconvenience isn´t really convenient (I jsut thought it had a ring in the name) it isn´t too bad. With some planning ahead (extra time before the first day of class, buying groceries during the day, etc), most things aren´t a problem.

Reflections on Knife Sharpeners and Shrimp

So my last few days have been pretty normal. Five hours of Spanish class, studying and homework, running errands with friends, visiting attractions, shopping. Instead of boring you with the needless details of how long my class seems when I´m watching the minutes tick by or what dress I wore today, I have two purposes for this blog.

1) To let you know that I am planning on traveling to the Falls of Iguazu at the end of January. As it is one of the seven wonders of the world, I want to make sure to experience it while I am here. I am planning on going to the Argentinean side, Brazilian side possibly up into Paraguay if I do not need a visa.

2) I want to share with you a couple of anecdotes. It´s so interesting to learn about the little differences within each culture.

The first anecdote is more of just an interesting difference. In Uruguay, I was sitting on the beach. My friends and I were talking about how we would become ¨tomatoes¨if we sat out on the beach for too long. An Argentinean visiting the beach for the day overheard us and came to talk to us. He said (in Spanish) ¨We don´t say that you ´become a tomato´ in Spanish. We say you ´become a shrimp!´¨ It was amusing so we chuckled for a few moments about it. It´s interesting to learn some of the sayings in Spanish that are different from our own.

The second anecdote is the one truly worth sharing. Yesterday, I was sitting on the fourth floor in the University of Belgrano and this sweet music started wafting in from outside. It was a higher pitch that almost sounded like a lullaby. Everyone in the class started whispering, trying to figure out what the sound could be. In Brazil, we have a very similar sound that the trucks carrying gas and oil in their truck beds play as they make their way through the streets. I think they play it as a safety precaution so that other drivers are more alert as there are very hazardous and flammable materials in the area.

As our teacher heard us whispering, she asked ¨Do you know what that sound is from?¨ We responded with ¨No!¨even though I had a suspicion it was the same as in Brazil. It turns out I was completely and totally wrong. The story of what it is actually made us laugh until we cried. Here, in Buenos Aires, there are knife sharpeners that ride around the neighborhoods on bikes. They play this music on the back on their bikes so that people in the area who want their knives sharpened will know the knife sharpener is nearby. Apparently, people run out from their homes and restaurants chasing this man until he stops his bike and sharpens their knives. What a dangerous idea! The man has his knife sharpening equipment on a bike while people run out of their houses after him with knives in their hands. Incredible! Hahaha. I still laugh about it when I think about it.

Tierra del Fuego: The Land of Fire

I woke up this morning and prepared for class. I guess I didn’t really wake up. After sleeping for 16 straight hours after my Uruguay trip, I laid awake all night. Literally all night. It was miserable but I’m sure I’ll sleep well tonight. Anyway, I arrived to class by taking the metro today so that I would have a little extra time to mentally prepare for my presentation I had to give. Today was the day I had to give a presentation on “La Tierra del Fuego.” The Land of Fire is the southern-most part of Argentina… literally the end of the world. I finished my 15-minute presentation and am pretty sure I did well on it.

After class, I went with some of my friends to the pool. I wasn’t actually going because I had a meeting with a friend at 3:30, but I took a nice walk out and saw where it was. Honestly, I got enough sun in Uruguay to last me awhile. At 3:30 I went to run some errands with my other friends, picked up some lunch, and spent the rest of the afternoon studying. There are a lot of irregular verbs that I am struggling with since the irregular verbs in Portuguese are completely and totally different and I haven’t been practicing Spanish in months.

That night, I headed out with some friends to find a bar. We found the place we wanted to check out and while it was a nice atmosphere, it was extremely hot and expensive. We soon headed out to find a place that was hosting reggaton music that we had heard about. Eventually we found the place and it had already closed. Being hungry, some of my friends wanted to stop at the restaurant across the street. It was 2 in the morning, though, so I wasn’t up for eating anything but kept them company anyway.

At about 2:30, we headed back home. We went to the main street and all headed home, going our separate ways. A friend and I take the same bus home so we stuck together. We found a stop that our bus would pass and waited. Suddenly we felt about two drops of rain before the sky opened and water poured out. We were under a slightly covered area but the rain was blowing sideways so there was no hope for staying dry. And it was cool rain. How miserable! We huddled for warmth until the bus came about 15 minutes later and jumped on. Finally, we made our way home for the night.

How a 36 hour vacation to Uruguay turned into a 12 hour adventure under the sun

My current facebook status: Erin Rebekah Daubert can't even begin to describe her weekend in Uruguay. All she can say is that it all started on a crazy boat across the river to an exact replica of the wild west. She literally received 1,000 Urugayan pesos for 60 U.S. dollars and Carson said... "It's like Chucky Cheese money!"

And that's how the trip pretty much went. It was surreal. It was crazy. It was out of control. And it was a trip I will never forget. This blog will be long, but I think for this trip, I want to document as much as I can, so sorry!

On Friday, before the tip, I knew I had to leave early early early in the morning to catch my boat to Uruguay and that I would not be able to get up if I went to sleep so two friends and I went out to enjoy a bit of Buenos Aires. We left at around 2am to find a night club we had heard about. After searching and searching, we were told that it was not where the address we had was. So we chose to go to another nearby place called Aqua something or other. I will post these pictures tomorrow when I have my camera. It was a Latin Night club with a lot of Latin and Reaggaton (sp?) music, which was enjoyable since I am in Latin America and most places just play American pop music. As the sun was rising, we headed home, I packed up my bags for Uruguay and took the 40 minute bus ride to the boat port.

Once I arrived at the boat port, I was overwhelmed. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting. There were people everywhere with suitcases and backpacks speaking every language. There were people traveling with us to Uruguay and others headed to other various places around the world. We went to the desk, got our visas and tickets to enter Uruguay and headed to exchange money. I gave the clerk 200 Argentinean pesos, about 60 USD, and they handed me back 1000 Uruguayan pesos. It was incredible how different the currency was that I had no concept of how much money anything was worth.



We entered the boat and we were told that we weer restricted to the economic section, meaning we sat in airplane-like chairs in rows and watched a large-screen t.v. of a fashion show ahead of us. After the hour-long boat ride to Uruguay, we left the boat to enter what appeared to be the wild west. There was dirt. There was dirty water. And there wasn't much else. It was so unexpected that it was hilarious.



Our first mission before finding the beach was to locate our hostel. After wandering around for nearly an hour following our map and asking directions from various people, we discovered our hostel... a small house located on the other side of town. We were greeted by a woman who said that our hostel was full and that she had emailed us to tell us our reservations did not go through... tough we never received the email. She returned the deposit we made onlne and we ventured to find another available opening. About an hour later, we arrived at the next hostel... about a two minute walk from our port. It was so ironic that we had literally traveled for two hours to arrive there that we couldn't help but laugh. The woman at the desk said there were four openings in separate rooms and that we could split up but that for 28 USD a piece (twice the cost of the other place) we could stay there. We agreed and put our stuff down for the night.



By this point, it was nearly 3pm. We were starving and ready to look for lunch. We finally came across a small place and sat down... only to be overwhelmed by flies. After ordering, we watched the kitchen, which was literally an open space behind the bar about 5 feet from us. We watched the meat for our orders be chopped up on the open bar the people were drinking off of, the cheese be brought in open from outside and more. We were skeptical about the original ingredients used to make the food, but the final products were good. After paying the 800 peso bill, we headed off to find the beach. We wound our way through the town, through the historical area (pictures coming soon), and to the "beach," which was a series of marshes surrounded by water. Unable to even access the water, we continued to ask locals for the beach until we came across an itty-bitty patch of sand around 5:30 pm. The sun was so direct and warm, though, that it seemed as though we had entered the beach at noon. We played in the dirty water and enjoyed the beach for the next couple of hours.



Then, we suddenly realized that we had done everything the town had to offer. We had walked through the historic "center" (a block of old buildings), explored some of the dirt paths, and laid out by the beach. What in the world were we going to do for the next 24 hours? Ready to go, we walked our way back to the port, asked to change tickets, which they agreed to do, and then talked to the hostel. Before changing the tickets, we went to the hostel, told them we were leaving and paid for 1/2 the cost of the rooms as our cancellation fee. They proceeded to turn the four people waiting in line behind us and give them our rooms. What a good deal for them! We grabbed our stuff and went to exchange our tickets. When we got there, the ticket man said, "Sorry. We forgot to tell you it would be 366 pesos per person to change the tickets." Having no hostel, my friend Carson said, "What the heck. It's just Chucky Cheese money anyway" and we paid up.

Knowing we would leave at 11:30 pm from Uruguay, we headed to the supermarket with 800 pesos to buy some food. Having no concept of how much cost we bought anything and everything we wanted and ended up spending 350 pesos. With 550 pesos, some random food and drinks, and all our belongings in hand, we looked to find a place to eat by the water. Finding none, we stopped next to an old train station to eat in the weeds when one of my friends, Billie, noticed there was a patch of rocks overlooking the water. We made our way through some marshes and weeds to get there, plopped down and talked and ate while we watched the sun go down. While the smell of sewage came and went as the breezes changed, we still found this to be the perfect ending to the day.

At 10pm, we went back to the port, received new visas to enter Argentina, went through customs and got on the boat. It turns out the reason we paid 366 pesos more per person was because this was a "party" boat. It had Christmas lights lining the stars and floors and instead of sitting in airplane chairs, we had tables or couches to sit out. There was a Wii, a bar and t.v.s to entertain us on our way home. Having 550 pesos to spend, we bought what we could with it. As it was practically Chucky Cheese money, it bought us practically nothing on the party boat. Landing in Buenos Aires, we disembarked and split up. I took the bus home with Carson (it only costs 35 US cents) and my other two friends Billie and Allison took a taxi home. When I reached home I changed my clothes and slept until 4pm this afternoon. I was exhausted.

While my trip was not at all what I expected, it was worth every single minute of the adventure. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in one day in my life. I tried to share with you the major events of what happened, but the little things that happened in the trip made it even funnier. I think this will be one of the most memorable 12-hour time-periods of my life.

A good two days

As for my past two days, they have been pretty eventful. I am going to blog now and post the pictures in the next couple of days in the blog when I have internet access on my computer.

So, let´s start with Wednesday. I went to class all day. Man, five hours is long. That afternoon I went shopping around with some friends. We just browsed. They were looking for Spanish-English dictionaries but we had little luck. We finished off the afternoon with a delicious ice cream from McDonalds. This is my first fast food experience since Ive moved out of the United States. Its not that there arent any fast food places... they are actually everywhere... they just dont have good vegetarian options out of the United States so Ive never gone.

That night I had dinner with my host mom around 9:30. We had delicious whole wheat pizza. Then I headed out for the night with some friends. We went to a bar about an hour from our houses to check out a new neighborhood. My friend Clarissa and I took a bus, the 152 (I was nervous because it was my first time on an Argentinian bus). We arrived around 1:30 am and waited until about 2:30 am in line to get in. While in line, we were approched by various English-speaking Argentnian guys eager to practice their English with us. Once we entered, we found it wasn´t really worth the wait, but it was a good place. It was a laid back bar with 3 rooms and a dark atmosphere. We met some various Argentinian people and were joined by another American friend. At around 6:30 we headed to catch the metro back home and I headed to my apartment to change clothes, eat breakfast, and head to a long day of class.

After class the next day (Thursday), I searched for a cheap, used phone but had no luck. I will just be withouta phone while I am here in Argentina. Bummer. Its not worth paying 75 USD for a new one though for only a few days. I headed out to pick up a few clothes after that. I purchased a ton of things for a total of 40 USD. WOW! At 6pm, I met my friends at the ISA office and we took the metro to another part of town and then walked for about a half an hour. It was an hour long trek, unfortunately, but we made it to hour next destination... tango classes. Now, I wouldn´t say I have 2 left feet or anything, but tango wasn´t really my thing. I was placed with a junior high American boy with bad breath who thought he was too cool to tango. After practicing the routine about 3 times, he was done. It was a long, boring class.

I headed out around 8:30 with some friends to grab some dinner. A solid two hours later (there´s no such thing as ¨fast¨service in Latin America) we headed to an American bar about ten minutes away to watch the game between Texas and Alabama. The first bar was too packed so we paid to go to another one nearby. It was funny. It was like we were entering the American world again. EVERYONE spoke English, wore American clothes, and blonde hair and blue eyes were just as common as brown hair. It felt like we were back home. And American commercials. Since the tv was satellite, we had American commercials. Some of the first American commercials Ive seen in months. Around 2am I was exhausted so a friend and I took the bus about 30 minutes back to our houses and I crashed. I was exhausted from almost 48 hours of no sleep. That night, I slept very well.

Tomorrow I head with some friends to the beach in Urguay. I am going to head out tomorrow morning and I will be back late, late Sunday night so I can make it to class on Monday. I can´t wait and will certainly put up pictures about it!

An exciting two days

Just as a quick note before I begin to blog. I am working on a Spanish keyboard and the punctuation is completely different than on the English keyboards so I will be leaving some of the punctuation out in this blog. Sorry in advance!

As for my past two days, they have been pretty eventful. I am going to blog now and post the pictures in the next couple of days in the blog when I have internet access on my computer.

So, let´s start with Wednesday. I went to class all day. Man, five hours is long. That afternoon I went shopping around with some friends. We just browsed. They were looking for Spanish-English dictionaries but we had little luck. We finished off the afternoon with a delicious ice cream from McDonalds. This is my first fast food experience since Ive moved out of the United States. Its not that there arent any fast food places... they are actually everywhere... they just dont have good vegetarian options out of the United States so Ive never gone.

That night I had dinner with my host mom around 9:30. We had delicious whole wheat pizza. Then I headed out for the night with some friends. We went to a bar about an hour from our houses to check out a new neighborhood.

It's called machismo, baby

Today was the first day of class. Five hours. Oh goodness it was long, but it didn’t feel as long as it could have felt I suppose. It was a good review and I picked up a few new things here and there. I think separating Spanish and Portuguese once I try to think in both will be just like I thought… almost impossible. I’m already throwing in some Spanish words when I think in Portuguese. Oh well. Hopefully when I get back to Brazil I will find some people to practice my Spanish with so I can keep the two languages going.

After class, my friend Clarissa and I had some adventures around town. First we exchanged money. There was a place with an AWESOME exchange rate that we found. It was 3.78 pesos to the dollar- what the actual exchange rate is and they didn’t even charge for their services! Crazy! Most banks, exchange bureaus and other places give around 3.2 pesos per dollar around here. Then we went on a phone hunt. I helped Clarissa buy her cell phone and unfortunately found out along the way that no matter what, my Brazilian phone, although it is the same exact make and model as the Argentinean phone all my friends have, will not work here, even if I buy a new company’s phone chip. Bummer. So I’m without a phone and regular internet access, making it hard to make plans with other people…UGH.

Clarissa got some lunch (I had already made some soup to eat for lunch. Despite the terrible heat, it’s cheap, edible and decently healthy) and then we did a bit of window shopping before chit-chatting our way home. I wanted to go to the park downtown today but we had chit-chatted our way through the whole afternoon and never quite made it. Hopefully I can at least start to get an idea of how the whole bus system works tomorrow and tackle that so I can see more of Buenos Aires.

As for an amusing story for the day, Clarissa and I were walking down the street. I was in a mid-thigh skirt and she was in a dress at about the same length. We walked past a group of guys and one of them started repeating “viento, viento, viento.” I refrained from laughing and kept walking. Clarissa asked me, “What did they just say?” And I explained that the man kept repeating “wind” because he was hoping the wind would come by and blow up our clothes. Oh goodness. It’s interesting how “macho” South American society seems to be, at least what I’ve come across in Brazil and Argentina. Guys have no problem making comments at you as you walk by. While this one was harmless and just funny, the comments can vary in strength and meaning, of course. It happens a few times every day and is accepted as part of the culture. As long as the girls make no reply to the comments, nothing happens. The joys of machismo…

Me + Humidity = not a happy couple

Okay. So I always claimed to like heat. And I feel like the heat here in Argentina isn’t bad, maybe in the upper 80s. But I never claimed to like humidity. It’s absolutely terrible. I walk outside and I already feel nasty. Agh. This week it’s either been raining or so thick with humidity that it’s bearable but miserable. Hopefully the weather will better over the next few days…

As for yesterday I took the placement exam. I was surprised; the exam was just a 2-page interview from a magazine with a bunch of the words taken out and we had to fill in the correct verbs. That doesn’t mean it was easy. There were some complicated forms in there, but it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. And there was no oral evaluation. In Brazil, when I started learning Portuguese, I had a more comprehensive test and an oral evaluation and I felt confident about the test’s results. Here, I’m not really sure how they could evaluate well. But, enough about that.

After the test, I played on the internet a bit yesterday, cherishing the precious wi-fi I get at ISA headquarters. This was followed by another meeting about safety and university info. Finally, I was free. My friend Clarissa and I ran errands. That in and of itself was interesting. To buy a notebook, we couldn’t run to a Walmart or the grocery store because everything’s not about convenience like in the U.S. No, we had to try to search out the nearest bookstore. After asking a million people, we came across a bookstore and asked for paper. No luck, we needed to find a “commercial” bookstore. Eventually we made it and we each left with 11 pesos less (about 3.25 USD) and a new notebook and pen in hand… ready for classes. We finished off the afternoon picking up some basic things at the grocery store and grabbing a small ice cream cone before heading home. Although it was muggy, I took a quick jog around the neighborhood. In the afternoon, it is certainly bustling with a lot of people! The jog was really good though because there is so much to see. I ate supper at around 21:30 with my host mother and then headed out with Clarissa to take a walk and see what was in the neighborhood.

As for those Spanish classes, they start this morning. My class goes from 9:30-14:30. Hopefully I can withstand a solid five hours of class, but we’ll see. A lot of my Spanish has already come back so I can’t wait for even more to come back once classes start.

And the toilet paper goes BACK in the toilet...

Well, I made it safely to Argentina, thank goodness. No problems along the way really, except I found out I got completely and totally ripped off by the taxi company and paid about FOUR times what the cost should have been to get from the airport to my host family’s house. Oh well. I paid 120 pesos and it should have been 31 pesos. I guess those are the joys of being a foreigner. My first ride into Buenos Aires was incredible though. I looked out the taxi window to see a city so completely different from Sao Paulo that it was amazing. The streets, architecture, history, and people were all completely and totally different. It was a huge surprise. AND… I discovered I’m back to throwing the toilet paper INTO the toilet. So confusing! Hahaha.

I arrived on Saturday, January 2 and met my host mother and host sister. My host mother, Ivonne, is very cool. She is an artist whose children moved to Spain so she wanted company in the house and started taking students in to live with her. Her daughter, Gabriela, is home visiting from Spain for the holidays. My apartment is about a 20 min. walk to my program headquarters and a 20 min. walk to my university… so not bad at all! And thank goodness, unlike where I live in Brazil, there are no huge hills to climb. I think I got to my classes looking like a wet dog every day because I had to climb huge hills in the heat and couldn’t stop sweating in Brazil. Gross. This is much better. I posted a picture of my university here for you to see.



Yesterday I met everyone on the program. It’s a totally different type of group from the Americans I’ve met in Brazil. Brazil, I think, attracts more “unusual” people who are awesome, but there is definitely something unique about them (hahaha… probably why I’m studying there) and Argentina attracts more of the blonde haired, blue-eyed sorority-girl, fraternity-boy type person. Should be an interesting next few weeks.

Yesterday my program had a long orientation. And when I say long, I mean looooooooong. AGH. I feel like I’m a pretty patient person, but four hours of them telling me different ways students in the past have been robbed and why I should always pay attention is trying, even for me. Afterward, though, we shared some delicious empanadas (I posted a picture for you) for lunch. As most of the empanadas have meat, I ate one with corn and cheese. Finally, we took a tour around the city. I saw the major shopping centers, governor’s house, Boca soccer stadium (whoo hoo!) and more. Around the Boca soccer stadium is a neighborhood that is painted all different colors. The people are poor there and painted the houses with every color they could find that was used for boat paint. For this reason, they call the neighborhood “The Bombonera (chocolate box)” because it looks like a lot of candies. I posted a picture for you just because I thought it was so interesting.



I finished out the day with a girl from the program, Clarissa, and I wandering around the streets at night. We originally meant to meet each other at a street corner and somehow missed each other walking on different sides of the street. Fortunately, we linked up and ended up going to a place downtown called the “Plaza Italia” to eat with the other Americans, but when we got there we couldn’t find the restaurant. We had used the metro (called the Subte) to get to the plaza and hurried to get back on because it stops running at about 22:00 on Sundays… so early!

Fortunately, because it was so late and the ticketeers were already balancing their cash registers, we got a free ride both ways. We headed back to our neighborhood, Belgrano, so that we could find somewhere else to eat and picked an Italian restaurant nearby, ate, and ended up home around midnight. We both wanted a good night’s sleep because today is our Spanish placement test! We’ll see how I do!

P.S. I miss Sao Paulo a lot. I’ve only been gone 3 weeks now between here and Germany, and it seems like forever.

Goodbye Brazil... Hello Argentina!

Today I'm saying goodbye to Brazil. I guess it's not really a "goodbye;" more of a "see ya later." I posted some pictures here of my apartment for you. The first two are of my bedroom. The third is of my kitchen with a view of the laundry room (nope... we don't have a dishwasher in the kitchen or a dryer in the laundry room!). The fourth one is my living room/dining room and the final one is the view from my bedroom window. It's small but cozy. I'm living with three other Brazilian women and it's great!

I am all packed and ready to go. I just have to zip up the suitcase and put on my shoes. To be honest, I am terrified. I haven't spoken Spanish for probably 8 months and whenever I try to think in Spanish now, I just think in Portuguese. It will be a tough transition... but I can do it. Well, my next post will be from Argentina! Hopefully it will be a smooth flight! I'm off to zip up that suitcase (I'm praying it closes...) and catch a taxi for Barra Funda! Tchau!

Brazilian Nostalgia

Well, let's see. I guess I am a bit excited about this whole new year blog... I couldn't resist writing in it for a second time today! I'm still, unfortunately, on Germany time and woke up at 6:30 this morning, 2:30 am back home in the midwest. Yeah, it was early. But it was nice, because I got so much done while the rest of Sao Paulo was still sleeping. It made me feel like this year is going to be a productive year. In addition to this blog, I watched a documentary about migration into cities around the world and its affects (nerdy... I know...), went for an hour run, and started preparing for Argentina. Man it felt good. While I went running, I realized there were so many little things I missed about Brazil while I was gone.

1) The sidewalks are all different. Everyone is in charge of their own sidewalk so some are stone, some are black and white tile, some are cement that should have been replaced 10 years ago, and others are painted in yellow, green or blue. It's a weird sight, but I love it!

2) Beans and rice- the Brazilian staple. I ate these almost every day for 6 months and didn't eat them for 2 weeks while I was away in Germany. I had my fair share of beans last night and again today for lunch;I missed them!

3) Throwing toilet paper in the trashcan. Okay, I don't really miss that but in Germany I always stopped and thought about what I was supposed to do with the toilet paper because there was no trashcan. Hahaha It's nice to not have to think about it.

4) Being able to go for a run without freezing. In Germany, I went for a run in negative degree weather one day and it was so cold I got frostbite on my ankles. Yup, real frostbite. My skin froze, then blistered, and is now a weird purple brown color. Who wants to live in a place where you get frostbite?!? While it rained on my run this morning, I definitely prefer rain to freezing to death!

5) Knowing how to communicate. In Germany, I had to always have a translator to say everything. How annoying! Here, even if it's not grammatically correct, at least I can communicate on my own in Portuguese.

As for Argentina, I can't believe I'm already leaving tomorrow. I wish I could have a few more days here in Brazil. It seems like I just got here! Well, I guess I did just get here. My plane leaves at 15:55 tomorrow so I'm hoping to take a taxi to Barra Funda, a nearby train/bus station, and then a bus to the airport to save some money on getting there since it's over an hour away. My goal is to pack everything into a suitcase and backpack with tons of room to spare for purchases. We'll see how selective I get.

I'm a bit nervous about my trip because, while I understand Spanish perfectly well, I can't say anything back for the life of me. I used Iberia, the Spanish airlines based in Madrid, to get to and from Germany so everything was in Spanish. It seems like the Spanish that I used to know just doesn't want to come out anymore because I'm so used to the Portuguese pronunciation of everything! Agh! You would think that after beginning my Spanish studies over ten years ago I would be able to at least hold a conversation. It's so annoying. Hopefully it will come back quickly.

Well, my next blog will either be tomorrow morning if I'm not frantically packing or after I arrive in Argentina! Best New Year's wishes to you all!

New Year's Day

Today is officially the start of a new year in Brazil, so why not blog about it? I never quite got started well on my last blog about my last semester in Brazil, so I'm hoping to do a bit better and be a bit more regular in this one.

I just got back yesterday from a two-week trip with my brother in Germany. All I can say about my trip there is that it involved 52 hours including 2 taxi rides, 1 bus ride, 2 plane rides, 7 train rides, 1 ride in a cop car to the police station, a German FBI search for me, a missed train, 150 euros gone and more. It was certainly eventful... My time there was good though. Nathan's host dad was great, taking us to Erfurt and Eisenach to see the world's largest German Christmas Market, Petersburg Castle, Wartburg Castle and Bach's House. What a trip! It was a wonderful way to end the year and after only a few more bumps and bruises, I made it safely back to Brazil, thank goodness! You have no idea how happy I was when I touched Brazilian ground again!

Well, let's see now. I guess I'll talk about how my New Year's Eve in Brazil went for all you curious readers. First of all imagine the craziest New Year's Eve party in the United States and multiply this image by two. Then erase the image completely from your mind because it was nothing like my New Year's Eve. My New Year's Eve was boring. Just plain boring. Hahaha. No huge parties, no festas on the beach, no crazy trips across Brazil. It certainly wasn't what I was hoping for. In fact, it was the opposite. I was so exhausted from packing, traveling, and the time change, that I actually fell asleep at 9:30 (well, I guess in Brazil, that would be 21:30) and missed it all. But, to console myself, I can tell myself I got a good night's sleep to start off the New Year...

I'm hoping to plan a few goals, get things in line and enjoy Brazil today. I'm sure this new year will be much better than the last!