expat friends!

This is Jessica and I on my birthday at a bar in Caballito. She and I have become tight after we met each other on a Couch Surfer's expedition to Tigre. (I wrote a blog on that a few months ago). She is from Atlanta and her family moved to Montana where they have a ranch and she rides horsies and such. She teaches me yoga sometimes, we drink lots of mate, go out dancing, listen to music and chat A LOT.  Our life philosophies complement each other, and it's amazing having her around. We appreciate many of the same things about the city and have a lot of authentic experiences in spite of the fact that we are both American (meeting musicians at La Peña, dancing with drummers in San Telmo, wing-woman adventures in bars) I like that she isn't a study abroad student, but has already graduated college and is teaching English at various institutions here in Buenos Aires. She has a different perspective and it's awesome. Plus she's a vegan in this city inundated with meat and cheese, and I've learned a lot from her about creativity, discipline, and integrity.

 

We also have the most hilarious spanglish text messages of all time. 

updaaaate (lots of videos linked..check em!)

This break I've had in between semesters has been fabulous, although I've forgotten what working is, and I'm a bit nervous about getting back into the habit when classes start. 

Nevertheless, since I've gotten back from Brazil, I have been extremely social, wanting to take advantage of free time. I've gotten to know the more of Buenos Aires nightlife and met lots of new people. It's been a lot of fun because my language skills have improved so much and conversations are so much more meaningful than they were at the beginning. 

Measurements of Progress:

1. taxi drivers don't respond to me in English anymore!

2. I can watch telenovelas or movies with Ines and UNDERSTAND what is going on!

3.  I can chill at a friend's house the entire day without uttering more than a couple words in English (for clarification), when before I'd have to say "ok, spanish only from now on..."

4. regional lexicon slips out naturally, when before I felt like was joking if I said "che" or "boludo" or "que se yo" or "o sea"  or "a ver" or "dale." 

che= an informal name you call your friend. "che, queres un te?" 

Boludo=an endearing nickname or a word for dumbass

que se yo= literally, what do I know. used as whatever/i don't know/a vocal interrupter

O sea= a vocal interrupter, close to the english (over)usage of "like"

a ver= used similarly to "let's see..."

dale= an affirmation or a call to hurry up

5. Not only can I actually explain the haircut I want at the peluqueria, but I can shoot the breeze the stylist!! 

6. I'm not afraid explore transportation and the really effed up bus system anymore because I can ask whatever person on the street, kiosk employee, or bus driver what I need to do. Before, I would get fed up with my Guia T (the map/bus route) and just take a taxi! 

7. I don't think twice about grabbing the phone and ordering food or something...when before it gave me maaad anxiety. 

Anyway...now that I have improved so much (I definitely lack A LOT, but it's coming along), my social experiences are sooo much richer. 

This past week was a lot of fun. It included: 

1. celebrating Jessica's birthday by drinking damn good barley wine from Patagonia in a vegetarian restaurant downtown and later clubbing with dreadlocked Spanish architecture students. I was half embarrassed/half extremely proud to be able to lip-sync to the majority of the reggaeton songs. Here's Sattva on Montevideo y Corrientes, I'm a new fan (whenever I find good, unique restaurants, it's really exciting. Buenos Aires is known for its repetitive cuisine..)

2. traveling outside of Capital to Martin Coronado to a costume party for Alda's birthday where we drank tequila, ate delicious homemade empanadas, and danced cumbia (which embarrassed some of our friends!!). I was dressed as a hippie. This is Jota and I (prior to fixing the Mercedes Benz logo on my chest). 

3.  starting classes in la UCA (the private Catholic university) and having a fancy dinner in a Puerto Madero Parilla (restaurant that prepares carne) with kids from class

4. A Sunday night pubcrawl with Jota, followed by a mate session and a chat about poverty, education, and BOYS until dawn!

5. singing protest songs with Ines from the age of the Dictatorship at 4 in the morning

6. Drinking mate at Flor's house while exchanging youtube videos of Bluegrass and Argentine folkloric music, chatting about life, and later ordering a deliciously greasy pizza (muzzarella y acetuna)  and watching Twilight with spanish subtitles! Legit pajama party!! 

Oh and here's a really cool video she showed me of "the best advice" ...Take a look!!

7. Receiving my first mate, a gift from the program. It's metal and has my name engraved!! 

Things are going really well as the second semester gets going. I am feeling more confident with my Spanish and am becoming more and more satisfied with relationships I'm cultivating. The American kids on the program would joke about how hard it is to make Argentine friends. It's extremely easy to meet guys, especially as a foreigner at Boliches and bars, but that's not very interesting (all the conversations are EXACTLY the same..). I was lucky though, to have Javi as a contact when I got down here, and was able to make a lot of friends through him. When people asked how I made so many friends, I couldn't really give them advice because I really just lucked out. I didn't make many friends in my classes because they were full of foreign kids and it was extremely difficult to extract myself from our bubble. There are still a lot of foreign kids in the classes I've tried so far, but now, with the experience I have and my higher confidence, I don't have as much as trouble striking up a conversation with the locals. In fact, I almost--almost--relate better to the locals in class because the foreigners are all brand-spanking new to the city and I don't really like repeating all the confused, stressed out conversations I had with my American acquaintances from last semester. 

I am thinking about travel plan for the semester as well. Flor is from Santa Fe, a province in the North, and I'm hoping to be able to see it with her as my local connection. I really, really prefer to travel when there is a local joining because it makes the experience so much more meaningful. She also has family in Montevideo and goes often. I'm considering not renewing my student visa (it costs like $200 USD) and just renewing my tourist visa by leaving the country (yaaah Uruguay! It's only a ferry ride away...). 

And it's starting to get warm!! Spring is coming!! Soon we will be able to sprawl out in the plazas and drink mate in the sunshine in our flowery dresses... and shortly after complain because it's sooo effing HOT!!!

chau folks, I'm off to Jessica's house for...you guessed it... some mate!! 

Besos!!

BRAZIL!!!!

I spent last week, essentially on "winter break" in Rio de Janeiro. 

Having spent such a great deal of time in Buenos Aires, it was really nice to see not only another city in Latin America, but another culture. Brazilian culture and Argentine culture are very distinct, the common ground being...well, they both love soccer! 

The language is different, the history is different, the music, the attitudes, the collective experience. 

It was a blast. I think if I would have liked studying in Brazil. If music and dance is the representation of a culture, I lean Brazilian. Samba just...has the OOMPH that I can't seem to find in Tango. I don't know, maybe I haven't given it a chance. But hot damn, I like Samba! 

My camera cord is currently in Colorado, so I can't upload the photos or video I took, but I'll get them up as soon as I can! 

And more reflections to follow....

$$$$$$

My dad once warned me about reconciling my hot dog budget and caviar tastes.

I literally can't go shopping in this town because I look at piece of clothing in the cheap districts and think, "what a piece of crap, that's not even worth my pocket change! I'd rather buy a coffee!" And then I go to higher end places and am so disgusted by how much they want for nice clothing that I practically leave hyperventilating. 

So instead I buy nothing. Except coffee.

Eye for style, my friends!

One of my Buenos Aires photos was a runner-up in one of Glimpse.org's contests, "World Styles."

I'm going to stretch this personal win a little bit, and say I've been published in National Geographic. 

http://glimpse.org/stories/view/photo-contest-world-styles/

There were about 150 entries, 9 runners up, and one grand prize.

Mine is the one of the old dudes playing squash or something in the park....

GRIPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'm gonna go to brazil and avoid this whole flu season massacre that's hitting argentina....

in two weeks. :/

till then, i will be washing my hands frequently. 

 

[wish me luck on the visa...]

Metas. fiaca? nada mas!

Ok. 

So, now that I've made my decision to stay. It's time to get busy thinking about how I'm going to really make this worth it.

1. No more boludeces on the internet.

That word translates to bullshit, more or less. In days when I felt sort of gray, my bright white mac would suck me in and I could spend hours upon hours doing absolutely nothing of value while the big, wide world waited for me outside. There's nothing wrong with updating the blog and keeping in touch with friends and e-mail. But that's not really what I was doing. I need to get my head in the game for real. This is part of the reason I really need more time here. Get rid of distractions!!!! 

2. Make the days richer.

I've learned that I'm a sedentary person. It's a tough life, because I'm a homebody but a complete extrovert--I am energized by interactions with people. If I lived alone, I would die. With Ines, we can screw around all night at the house and have a grand time, but I need to be more proactive about seeing and taking advantage of the things I've yet to see in the city. Ines has literally started  calling me (endearingly, I hope) chanchita, or little piggy, because I spend a lot of time lounging. I'll continue to have "recovery" days, especially given the nightlife schedule here, but I can't have those kind of days unless I'm actually recovering from something!! So what does a richer day look like? Well there are a million restaurants I haven't tried, lots of staple cultural centers I've yet to explore, and shopping? I've purchased a dismal amount of souvenirs and virtually nothing for myself. For the amount of freedom I have, I am not taking advantage of the nightlife. Here's to another six months being of legal age!! Time to get social. Oh and tango? I have not even touched that whole dimension. When it comes to music, I've been more into the folkloric stuff and boliche scene (OK i admit, i LIKE reggaeton!) Tango has sort of felt like a big, weird, touristy joke, but we'll see. 

3. Travel!!

I am getting prepped for a trip to Rio de Janeiro (a place I never thought I'd go!!) with Amy. I am really looking forward to it because it will be WARM!!! I have no concept of Portuguese and it will feel incredibly different. A nice change of pace from Buenos Aires. And Sean will be there!!!! There are also a few other friends getting prepped for study abroad. Celine leaves for Chile at the end of July, so I'll have a contact in Valparaiso! And Jenna is getting ready for her semester in Salvador, Brazil. She studied in Buenos Aires her this time last year, so if she is down for visit, it would be great to put our heads together for a "Best of BA" clip show trip. Also, now that I will be here for longer, I can host more of my friends who weren't able to plan something earlier.  Ines and I have plans to see parts of Uruguay that neither of us went to. Also, I skipped out on a lot of the classic travel destinations for lack of momentum/trying to balance the money. The truth is, compared to most of my friends on the program, I have been living extremely cheaply. I only made one trip besides the ones the program paid for, which was to Bariloche. And that one ended up being quite economical after we met a local named Mau whose amazing family fed us on a few occasions. There was one steak lunch that set us back, but it was worth it. And most of our activities were virtually free. In Brazil, I will have free lodging, and plan to live as cheaply as possible (the real is doing better than the peso...wish me luck). So, I think an adventure to Iguazu Falls, Salta/Jujuy, Mar de Plata, Montevideo, or maybe even Tierra del Fuego (there are penguins there!!!) should be reasonable. 

4. Maintain! 

In the grand scheme of things, I think I did a pretty good job with balancing things. I met quite a few south americans and got to enjoy a part of the latin cosmo culture in Buenos Aires (because there are people from aaall over the world here) but I also did decently in school and bonded with kids on the program. I've been very lucky, all things considered. So, I think I need to keep up my good attitude, but put myself out there a little bit more. The fruits of what I've done first semester are getting ripe, so I think this second part is going to be a blast. And my spanish is about to overcome a plateau...I know it. It'll probably be put on hold for a second while I'm in Brazil, but after that...it's going to take off!! Yeah!