I got a new teacher this week and she is much better. I think the problem with the other guy was that he liked to hear himself talk to much. Class is still good but I am now at the point that I am putting everything I have learned together and having to perfect my spanish even though it is no where near perfect! My friend Josi and I made a list of things to do this week so we could make sure to get everything in before we leave Santiago. Monday we were going to go to this new restaurant that we heard was good, but there was an activity with school to go to that exact same restaurant on wednesday so we didn´t go. But, we ate lunch at a good french restaurant then went shopping for our halloween costumes. We found some colorful mesh tops to wear to be 80´s since that is about the only thng we can be with our budget and lack of clothes here. Later that day, i tried to get a ticket to go to yoga but they were all full already. The guy told me to come in case someone didnt show up. First he gave me a tour and told me all about the place, I think he thought it was funny that a foreigner wanted to go to yoga or something. Then when i got there later, even though i was the 4th to arrive for the waiting list, he told me I was first on the list. Soo I got to go to yoga again and this time it was better since the guy spoke a lot slower and I could actually understand.
The next day after class we went to Concha y Toros which is a winery right outside of the city. We went on a tour of the winery and got to try a couple of wines. Their most famous wine is called Castillero del Diablo. He told us that the owner of the windery had his own cellar with all of his favorite wines but people would steal it. So he told everyone that there was a devil in the basement and then none of his wines were stolen again since latin americans are generally very supersticious. I have to admit there might be more to that story but it was in spanish so I got what I could. In class earlier I learned of another legend about the Trauco. He is a mysterious character that captures single women and impregnates them...but basically it is a way to put blame on someone when a single girl gets pregnant in chile. After the wine tour, i had dinner with the family and then went to a bar to watch the futbol match. I learned some new drinking games that night which is always fun. But then there was this chilean that wanted to talk about why there is not one universal language and kept aking me why why and I was tired of talking to him so I left.
On wednesday I went out to lunch at the traditional chilean place with some people from school and our activities director Carlos, since it is his last week. I learned after talking to him and some german girls that the rest of the world is taught that there are only 5 continents. They link all of the Americas together, and exclude Antartica. I thought that was really interesting and don´t understand how we have such a different view than everyone else. Or how they just don´t count Antartica at all. After a long discussion about that, i went back to my house, then yoga again. Then that night, Josi came over and we watched Motorcycle Diaries. It was really cool to see it now since I have visited a lot of the places that he went and am going to a lot of the places in the near future. We also studied for our test that I just took and am currently waiting for the teacher to correct. Tonight we are celebrating Carloween which is a halloween/ goodbye party for Carlos at school.
Well, carloween was quite a success. Josi and I dressed up 80´s which is usually just the back-up costume in the states, but here it was quite a hit. All the people from school thought we were trying to be Cindy Lauper. So we just went with it. At the party, we played beer pong, started by me, and then we played flip cup, also started by me. I took it upon myself to liven up the party a bit. During flip cup, we had no more beer, but we had piscola! No worries, why don´t we just play with that? I found out fast that playing with the same amount of piscola as beer makes one really drunk. BTW piscola is pisco (the famous chilean alcoholic beverage) mixed with coke. We went to a club after the party, danced and then I went home early at 4 since I was going to Mendoza the next day. I got home to my homestay and was tiptoeing around not to wake anyone at the late hour on a thursday night. I tried to turn my light on beside my bed and it wasnt working. I was feeling around trying to get it to work and I found this other button and I pushed it. Just my luck, it happened to be the panic button. Soooooo the alarm went off in the whole house! I had no clue what to do and finally the daughter came out and turned it off and she did not look very happy with me. I apologized to Ana Maria the next morning and she just laughed and said she is glad it happened cuz now she knows it still works! I felt so stupid, but what can ya do.
The weekend was my reunion with my friends from BA! I took a long 8 hour bus trip there which I slept the whole way even through the beautiful andes mountains. But I was needing some recovery from carloween. We had to get out at customs though for like 2 hours which was really not fun. I went with a girl from Santiago, Janneke, and we went to the asado with the hostel that night. Luckily it happened to be at this other hostel where my friends were staying but we hadnt been able to contact each other that day. We ate some good steak and watched the Cordoba rugby team dance with each other and then went home. We got to stay with the whole team of 20 17 year old boys. I know i am spoiled by not really liking hostels that much but 20 dirty boys sharing a bathroom with me put the icing on the cake. The next day the rest of our group arrived and we went to a hot springs. We took like a one hour bus ride and i had just dranken this hugeee thing of water and i have not had to pee that bad in a long time. And of course there was no bathroom on the bus. So i ran out as fast as i could and found the grossest bathroom ever which i am pretty sure was part of some lady´s house but it didnt matter. Anyways, the hot springs were absolutely gorgeous..we arrived in what looked like nothing, but we walked down and it was just great. We spent the day in the sun, and when we were hungry, sat down at the restaurant for a 2 hour lunch (not by choice) and while we were eating this one cloud came over the hot springs and just started pouring. We were covered thank goodness. the rain stopped pretty soon after and we were able to hang out there until the bus came back to get us. At night we went to a nice dinner and then a club. The whole rugby team happened to be there too. I opted out early since I am getting old and can only handle one night of partying a week. The next day we walked around a little and then went on a sunset horseback ride. I loved it. But again I had to pee before we went on the horses and nicely asked where the bathrooms were. He replied with a ummm well anywhere you want! So me and two other girls had to find a place on the farm to pee in broad daylight. We walked up into the mountains on our horses, mine was named apache. He immediately went off the path because he was fed up with the slow horse in front of us and i kinda freaked out cuz i couldnt get him back on the path, but after that everything was good. The sunset wasn´t anything special since a cloud covered the sun, but we did see the lights of the city on our way back. Dinner was really fancy this night...Mcdonalds but man i was glad to have good salad. I never knew how much I would miss salads. The lack of good salad here is amazing, but at least I can count on Mcdonalds. There was this fair going on still and we went and shopped around. I bought a couple little things, then we went home. The bus ride home was much more exciting since I stayed awake for the andes mountains this time. They are beautiful and it is amazing how hot it is yet there is still snow. Overall, the weekend to mendoza was a success! i expected to do more things with wine considering all the wine from Argentina is from there, but I went with the flow and still enjoyed it! Major downfall though was the amount of disgusting bathrooms (and lack thereof) I had to use this weekend. Sometimes I am definitely reminded that I am in South America.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Santiago: Semana 2
Hola! Everything is super-bueno in Santiago. I think the longer time I spend in the city, the more I like it. I am in a new class this week with a new teacher and he is the first teacher that I am kinda not liking as much. He is just a little too woçeird for me or something, but he is still nice. After school I went to Santa Lucia which is a similar hill to san cristobal where I went over the weekend. It was nice, just another touristy thing to do though. On the way home I saw a yoga studio and picked up a schedule. SO the next day, I was determined to try yoga. So I went, and paid for my ticket and they immediately talked to me in english cuz they could tell my accent and asked me if I knew enough spanish to follow along. I said sure I can handle it I think. I went and this place was jam packed (might I add it was only $2 to go! so cheap) but I really had no clue what she was saying. I could understand inhala y exhala since it was the closest thing to english. The more things I do in this country, the more I feel like I do not know since there is so much vocabulary that I just don´t have. But, yoga was fun, a little slow since I think it might have been a beginners class but I am definitely going to go back. At dinner that night my host mom went off about how she thinks that Bush is the worst president ever and does not understand who in the united states likes him. I think I have talked more about US politics on this trip than I ever have in my life since every one around the world is so interested in it. They know more than I do so I just kinda try to steer away from the topic.
Wednesday night was lotsss of fun. We heard about this after office party in a castle on the hill of Santa Lucia where I had been on Monday. People go there with their work friends straight from work, so the only criteria is that we dressed up. They had this funny little trolley thing taking people up to the castle. We got there and they said we were going to have to pay but then i guess since we were 4 foreigners in cute dresses, this one guy decided to give us free passes. We went in and at first everyone was pretty much just hanging out with their work friends sitting, but then people got out on the dance floor later that night. They played alll american songs, mostly Madonna since she is having a concert here soon. We went out with one of the girls house moms which was afun cuz it made us all speak in spanish the whole night since she was there too. Thursday I did not quite make it to class on time, but I went for the second half. My teacher teaches us about really weird things and one thing we learned today is a ¨viejo verde¨which is a guy who likes young girls. Verde meaning green and not quite ripe yet. lol. I went to the cemetary with the school today which was really similar to the cemetary in BA. ALl graves above ground and it is like a little village for dead people. There is this one 6 story building with just caskets. I thought it was going to be creepy but it was actually really nice since each had nice tombstones and what not. I finally got my cell phone to work at lunch since I got my friend who had a charger to charge it for me and I hadn´t had it forever. As I put tape on it that afternoon since it was falling apart I said, ¨well at least no one will want to steal this thing!¨I jinxed myself. I went on the metro and I had just looked at the time, two minutes later I tried to text and it was gone. I remember some guys bumping into me on the metro and I am sure they grabbed it at the same time. Oh well. Later that night, I went on my first south american date! I met him at the castle party the night before and we were planning on meeting at the metro and he was like 10 minutes late and I was really thinking he wasnt going to show. But he did and it looked like he had been running or something. In his accent he told me he had a few problems. First he locked himself out of the house and had to get back in to get his keys. Then, he was going to make sushi but forgot that he lent his tools to his friend. So he bought sushi for us from his favorite restaurant. He was really fun...he really likes everything american and loves 50 cent and eminem and all american tv so he was asking me all these questions about what does this mean and that. Then i learned some chilean slang as well...so overall a good first date. I am off to attempt yoga again.
Friday night we went to a previa at my chilean's friend's apartment. Previa is their word for pre-party I found out. It was fun, but everyone spoke english to us, so it was not like we were getting any spanish practice, but at least we were hanging out with the locals! We went to a club with them and my plans were to go home early since we were going to vina del mar the next day and that didn´t happen. So Josi and I went on the later trip to vina del mar. First we had a completo though which was about the best day after drinking food I have had yet. Then we had some ice cream. We were waiting for my chilean friend to get done with work cuz he was going to vina as well and he could drive us, but he didnt end up going so we still had to take the bus. We got there, had dinner with the rest of the group and then went to the casino! I played blackjack and craps. But I lost around $30 but it was entertaining to try it in spanish. And they definitely do not serve drinks for free in casinos here so it was very mellow. Anddd Chile closes everything one day a year on voting day so we had to leave at midnight. I have never been in a casino that has closed before. The next day we got up and we wanted to go to this beach called Con Con. Sooo we went to the bus stop and this bus driver was like hop on hop on so we did and then it was going in the opposite direction that we needed. So then we told him where we wanted to go and he found us a bus and told the bus to stop for us and then we hopped on the other bus. It was funny how it all worked out but we managed to get there in a bout an hour longer than it should have taken, but still it was a good tour of all the city. We wanted to have crab empanadas since that is what they are known for, but again everything was closed for voting day. But this one restaurant was kinda open...he tried to make us sit upstairs but there were flies and we were like no we actually want to sit downstairs. So he let us but we had to sit in the back because it was technically illegal for the restaurant to be open. The empanadas were nothing special but good enough. We spent the rest of the day lying on the beach then we went back to Santiago. A good weekend, but would have been better if things were actually open!!
Wednesday night was lotsss of fun. We heard about this after office party in a castle on the hill of Santa Lucia where I had been on Monday. People go there with their work friends straight from work, so the only criteria is that we dressed up. They had this funny little trolley thing taking people up to the castle. We got there and they said we were going to have to pay but then i guess since we were 4 foreigners in cute dresses, this one guy decided to give us free passes. We went in and at first everyone was pretty much just hanging out with their work friends sitting, but then people got out on the dance floor later that night. They played alll american songs, mostly Madonna since she is having a concert here soon. We went out with one of the girls house moms which was afun cuz it made us all speak in spanish the whole night since she was there too. Thursday I did not quite make it to class on time, but I went for the second half. My teacher teaches us about really weird things and one thing we learned today is a ¨viejo verde¨which is a guy who likes young girls. Verde meaning green and not quite ripe yet. lol. I went to the cemetary with the school today which was really similar to the cemetary in BA. ALl graves above ground and it is like a little village for dead people. There is this one 6 story building with just caskets. I thought it was going to be creepy but it was actually really nice since each had nice tombstones and what not. I finally got my cell phone to work at lunch since I got my friend who had a charger to charge it for me and I hadn´t had it forever. As I put tape on it that afternoon since it was falling apart I said, ¨well at least no one will want to steal this thing!¨I jinxed myself. I went on the metro and I had just looked at the time, two minutes later I tried to text and it was gone. I remember some guys bumping into me on the metro and I am sure they grabbed it at the same time. Oh well. Later that night, I went on my first south american date! I met him at the castle party the night before and we were planning on meeting at the metro and he was like 10 minutes late and I was really thinking he wasnt going to show. But he did and it looked like he had been running or something. In his accent he told me he had a few problems. First he locked himself out of the house and had to get back in to get his keys. Then, he was going to make sushi but forgot that he lent his tools to his friend. So he bought sushi for us from his favorite restaurant. He was really fun...he really likes everything american and loves 50 cent and eminem and all american tv so he was asking me all these questions about what does this mean and that. Then i learned some chilean slang as well...so overall a good first date. I am off to attempt yoga again.
Friday night we went to a previa at my chilean's friend's apartment. Previa is their word for pre-party I found out. It was fun, but everyone spoke english to us, so it was not like we were getting any spanish practice, but at least we were hanging out with the locals! We went to a club with them and my plans were to go home early since we were going to vina del mar the next day and that didn´t happen. So Josi and I went on the later trip to vina del mar. First we had a completo though which was about the best day after drinking food I have had yet. Then we had some ice cream. We were waiting for my chilean friend to get done with work cuz he was going to vina as well and he could drive us, but he didnt end up going so we still had to take the bus. We got there, had dinner with the rest of the group and then went to the casino! I played blackjack and craps. But I lost around $30 but it was entertaining to try it in spanish. And they definitely do not serve drinks for free in casinos here so it was very mellow. Anddd Chile closes everything one day a year on voting day so we had to leave at midnight. I have never been in a casino that has closed before. The next day we got up and we wanted to go to this beach called Con Con. Sooo we went to the bus stop and this bus driver was like hop on hop on so we did and then it was going in the opposite direction that we needed. So then we told him where we wanted to go and he found us a bus and told the bus to stop for us and then we hopped on the other bus. It was funny how it all worked out but we managed to get there in a bout an hour longer than it should have taken, but still it was a good tour of all the city. We wanted to have crab empanadas since that is what they are known for, but again everything was closed for voting day. But this one restaurant was kinda open...he tried to make us sit upstairs but there were flies and we were like no we actually want to sit downstairs. So he let us but we had to sit in the back because it was technically illegal for the restaurant to be open. The empanadas were nothing special but good enough. We spent the rest of the day lying on the beach then we went back to Santiago. A good weekend, but would have been better if things were actually open!!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Santiago: Semana 1
So, everything obviously was going just too smoothly because there was no line for customs, my bags came out in right when I walked up and I found my transfer bus right away. Buttt then, i arrived at my house and a guy answered the door and I was just looking around at this new place that I was going to be living and i forgot my backpack in the car. Which is nice and easy to do when you have 4 pieces of luggage. No more buying things for me. Anyways, i was going to go watch a futbol game with some of my new roommates at a bar when i realized, then freaked out. So i had no computer, no phone, no chile money. ONe guy told me where i could go make a phone call so i went, and talked to the guy that worked there, he helped me find the phone number on the internet, then i called the place. Luckily, he was on his way back to give it to me. Then i had no money for the man at the store since i had argentine pesos or american dollars. He told me that i could come by tomorrow when i had chilean money to pay him. I put on my karma necklace just this morning and i think that it is helping. I must have done something good along the way. A little overwhelmed so far, but everything is going to be fine!
Monday was my first day of school here. I have a woman teacher this time who is much more organized than my last teacher and is more on task, but I also liked how you could change the topic at any time with my last teacher. There is an american girl and braziallian guy in my class. There was a lunch to welcome the new students just like the last time...good empanadas. I already talked to the housing lady here though so I can change to a homestay. The student house I live at already had a meeting about who told on who for having too many parties. I swear its real world on mtv times two since there are 15 people in this one house. Andddd I have no hot water. none. So i did not shower. I went on a city tour with the activity guide; carlos, and some other new people. This city is much cleaner than Buenos Aires, but also less busy. If Buenos Aires was San Francisco, than Santiago would be Portland. Or something like that. The buildings here are really beautiful though, and I am glad I walked around. That night I just hung out with some of the roommates. My bank card didn´t work all day though, so luckily the new canadian guy made some nachos for everyone to eat. Everyone kind of has their set groups of friends already, so I am really going to have to put myself out there a little more and kind of invite myself places. Not my favorite thing to do, but oh well.
Tuesday was better. My bank card worked, so I could actually buy food! I got gyros from the shop near my house and went back to eat, and everyone was there so I joined. Luckliy it was nice outside because the days before were way tooooo cold. And the house has no insulation so I swear it was colder inside than out. I took a shower in another part of the house so i could have hot water. Then i went to school for this conversation club thing and i said something and this girl was like oh where are you from? And i was like california, and your from new york right? she was like ya how did you know? I said, well i had lunch with you at my house for the past two hours. She didnt even recognize me after i had showered! I must have looked really bad. Some girls were going to the movie theater since it was 1 mil peso movie day (which is like 2 dollars...too many currencies to figure out!). We wanted to see the movie with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, pero it was sold out. So we saw Tropic Thunder but here it is called Guerra de Pelicula which means movie about war. Their translations are weird. I went with my roommate Frida from sweden and two other girls from new york. We had pizza before hand and it was actually good! I have been enjoying the food here much better than Argentina. I think Argentina has good food when you go out for nice dinners, like the steak and stuff, but Chile has better everyday cheap food. I am glad I went with them, cuz the first day felt a little too lonely! I forget that these things take time, and it has only been like 2 days. It would be so much easier if I had friends in every city that I go to!
Wednesday. I went to class. it was fine. After class I went out to lunch with some of the girls that I met the day before, then that night was fun. Some people got tickets to the Chile vs. Argentina futbol game, but it was already soldout so I went with the rest of the crew to a bar to watch the game. There were so many people there very into the game. They would stand up just randomly and scream CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE! Then they had this other cheer that was something about how Argentines are gay, pretty funny. Chile won for the first time in a long time so everyone was in a great mood. I feel like I am just hopping on the bandwagon cuz just a couple of days ago I would have been rooting for Argentina! but oh well, i am not that into it.
Thursday after school i went to SUBWAY! It made me so happy. I love finding food that reminds me of home. I went on a run after school since i felt so unhealthy and then when I was done with it I felt like I had smokers lungs since the smog here is so bad. I guess i will just have to hold off on the working out! darn. After that I went to a wine tasting at school. It was nice but I really think that people who talk about wine are full of it. They smell all these different things in the wine that I am like, how the hell did you smell that from this. It smells like wine. But, it was an experience nonetheless and I learned some new spanish vocabulary since the whole lesson was in spanish. After that I went home and had to study! This school is more worried about the tests and such than Buenos Aires. Or maybe it is just the difference in my teachers. So, i studied for the first time in a while.
I passed my test friday but it was more serious that the last tests that I have taken. I had to do a minute speech on jobs in the US. After class there is the graduation speech like every friday but in Santiago we have completos. THis consists of a hot dog with tomatoes avocado mayo and ketchup on top. Oh it was so goooodd. Not the combo you would thing of but still delicious. THere was nothing really to do that day so I played card games with my roommates in the afternoon. I learned a new game called shithead. There was 8 of us playing and so we decided whoever lost had to run to the boteleria and get a liter of beer for everyone to share. Of course the second game we played I was off and running to the boteleria. I don´t like losing card games! Later that night a lot of people came to our house since I think it is just a constant party stop then we went out the a bar in Bella Vista which is Santiago´s main night clubs and what not. Luckily, not everyone stays out til 6 in the morning so I went home at 2 and actually felt normal the next day.
SAturday I moved to my new home! I was immediately greeted by Ana Maria, mi madre for the next three weeks. She was off and running out to lunch or something so I just unpacked. Then I was without anything to do and was kinda antsy in the house so I went out looking for an internet cafe. On the way I ran into some people from school who were going up to el cerro de San Cristobal and watching the sunset. So it was perfect timing! I went with them and then went back to have my first dinner with mi familia. Ana Maria is so great and just sits and talks with me while I have dinner. It was steak and potatoes and salad and dessert and wine. I felt like a queen! I went out with some people from school again...it seems like a constant celebration of someones last night. We went to a regaton club and then a samba club. Muy divertida. I slept in on sunday and woke up to breakfast awaiting me. I went out with Josi (a girl i met in buenos aires) and Dan...both americans...and we did some sightseeing and then went to an american bar where they were watching football. Not futbol. Just a week done, but already am feeling very comfortable! I am so glad that I moved.
Monday was my first day of school here. I have a woman teacher this time who is much more organized than my last teacher and is more on task, but I also liked how you could change the topic at any time with my last teacher. There is an american girl and braziallian guy in my class. There was a lunch to welcome the new students just like the last time...good empanadas. I already talked to the housing lady here though so I can change to a homestay. The student house I live at already had a meeting about who told on who for having too many parties. I swear its real world on mtv times two since there are 15 people in this one house. Andddd I have no hot water. none. So i did not shower. I went on a city tour with the activity guide; carlos, and some other new people. This city is much cleaner than Buenos Aires, but also less busy. If Buenos Aires was San Francisco, than Santiago would be Portland. Or something like that. The buildings here are really beautiful though, and I am glad I walked around. That night I just hung out with some of the roommates. My bank card didn´t work all day though, so luckily the new canadian guy made some nachos for everyone to eat. Everyone kind of has their set groups of friends already, so I am really going to have to put myself out there a little more and kind of invite myself places. Not my favorite thing to do, but oh well.
Tuesday was better. My bank card worked, so I could actually buy food! I got gyros from the shop near my house and went back to eat, and everyone was there so I joined. Luckliy it was nice outside because the days before were way tooooo cold. And the house has no insulation so I swear it was colder inside than out. I took a shower in another part of the house so i could have hot water. Then i went to school for this conversation club thing and i said something and this girl was like oh where are you from? And i was like california, and your from new york right? she was like ya how did you know? I said, well i had lunch with you at my house for the past two hours. She didnt even recognize me after i had showered! I must have looked really bad. Some girls were going to the movie theater since it was 1 mil peso movie day (which is like 2 dollars...too many currencies to figure out!). We wanted to see the movie with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, pero it was sold out. So we saw Tropic Thunder but here it is called Guerra de Pelicula which means movie about war. Their translations are weird. I went with my roommate Frida from sweden and two other girls from new york. We had pizza before hand and it was actually good! I have been enjoying the food here much better than Argentina. I think Argentina has good food when you go out for nice dinners, like the steak and stuff, but Chile has better everyday cheap food. I am glad I went with them, cuz the first day felt a little too lonely! I forget that these things take time, and it has only been like 2 days. It would be so much easier if I had friends in every city that I go to!
Wednesday. I went to class. it was fine. After class I went out to lunch with some of the girls that I met the day before, then that night was fun. Some people got tickets to the Chile vs. Argentina futbol game, but it was already soldout so I went with the rest of the crew to a bar to watch the game. There were so many people there very into the game. They would stand up just randomly and scream CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE! Then they had this other cheer that was something about how Argentines are gay, pretty funny. Chile won for the first time in a long time so everyone was in a great mood. I feel like I am just hopping on the bandwagon cuz just a couple of days ago I would have been rooting for Argentina! but oh well, i am not that into it.
Thursday after school i went to SUBWAY! It made me so happy. I love finding food that reminds me of home. I went on a run after school since i felt so unhealthy and then when I was done with it I felt like I had smokers lungs since the smog here is so bad. I guess i will just have to hold off on the working out! darn. After that I went to a wine tasting at school. It was nice but I really think that people who talk about wine are full of it. They smell all these different things in the wine that I am like, how the hell did you smell that from this. It smells like wine. But, it was an experience nonetheless and I learned some new spanish vocabulary since the whole lesson was in spanish. After that I went home and had to study! This school is more worried about the tests and such than Buenos Aires. Or maybe it is just the difference in my teachers. So, i studied for the first time in a while.
I passed my test friday but it was more serious that the last tests that I have taken. I had to do a minute speech on jobs in the US. After class there is the graduation speech like every friday but in Santiago we have completos. THis consists of a hot dog with tomatoes avocado mayo and ketchup on top. Oh it was so goooodd. Not the combo you would thing of but still delicious. THere was nothing really to do that day so I played card games with my roommates in the afternoon. I learned a new game called shithead. There was 8 of us playing and so we decided whoever lost had to run to the boteleria and get a liter of beer for everyone to share. Of course the second game we played I was off and running to the boteleria. I don´t like losing card games! Later that night a lot of people came to our house since I think it is just a constant party stop then we went out the a bar in Bella Vista which is Santiago´s main night clubs and what not. Luckily, not everyone stays out til 6 in the morning so I went home at 2 and actually felt normal the next day.
SAturday I moved to my new home! I was immediately greeted by Ana Maria, mi madre for the next three weeks. She was off and running out to lunch or something so I just unpacked. Then I was without anything to do and was kinda antsy in the house so I went out looking for an internet cafe. On the way I ran into some people from school who were going up to el cerro de San Cristobal and watching the sunset. So it was perfect timing! I went with them and then went back to have my first dinner with mi familia. Ana Maria is so great and just sits and talks with me while I have dinner. It was steak and potatoes and salad and dessert and wine. I felt like a queen! I went out with some people from school again...it seems like a constant celebration of someones last night. We went to a regaton club and then a samba club. Muy divertida. I slept in on sunday and woke up to breakfast awaiting me. I went out with Josi (a girl i met in buenos aires) and Dan...both americans...and we did some sightseeing and then went to an american bar where they were watching football. Not futbol. Just a week done, but already am feeling very comfortable! I am so glad that I moved.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Buenos Aires: Semana 4
Mi ultimo semana en escuela aqui:( I feel like I am just getting comforatable and making good friends with everyone and now it is time to go! But, other people are off in different directions too so I am not regretting leaving. On Monday, I had a great day...I started with morning classes at another part of the school which i found out is place that people play bridge in the afternoon. It has much more comfortable chairs and is a more relaxed classroom setting. I have six people in my class, as opposed to only 3 before, but it is good in its own way because we have more people to talk and hear about whats going on with them. After class, it was a lovely spring day (i get to skip winter this year!) so I got a sandwich with some girls and we went to the park near the cemetary to eat them. I got my actual sandwich craving filled. It was turkey and cheddar, but I didn´t know if what I though looked like turkey was turkey so I was asking the guy, he had no clue, and then I started describing it in any way I could in spanish. Finally, I said its what you cook on thanksgiving and he said SI!! Eso es. So, I finally got a turkey sandwich...most all places only have ham. We stayed in the park a while and then visited Evita´s grave. It was the nicest cemetary I have seen considering it looks like a miniature town. Then, we decided that we were going to make burritos for dinner. Well, it was most definitely my idea. Another spanish difficulty was at the grocery store when I was looking for avocado, I asked for a palta because I just learned what this was. The guy looked at me and was like, what the hell is a palta..thinking it at least. Then i was like you know its green, kinda looks like a pear. Then, i found the avocados. And I showed him and was like, "see, this is a palta" and then he was like, "ohhhhh a palta" in a different accent of course. Some of these people make no attempt to help me since I just look like a foreigner. Then, I made burritos with my friend Susan from Holland and about 8 people came over. My two american food cravings satisfied in one day.
Tuesday was not as exciting. I went to class, had lunch on the terrace of school with some friends. Another sandwich of course since it was so good. This one I got with salame, and it was only 5 pesos! It was a huge sandwich made for me on the spot for less that two bucks. Amazing. Then I didnt feel that good the rest of the day so I stayed in for the night. Wednesday I went to school, and then after I had my final private tango lesson. Before I had the sexy young teacher that all the girls want, but this time I had the 65 year old man who was about a foot shorter than me once I put my shoes on. BUT, I wish I had him the whole time! It was my most fun tango lesson yet because he was spinning me around and making me feel like I could really dance tango. It was a great way to end my lessons. After tango, I went to the music store because I say this singer on tv that I wanted to check out his cd. The machine that you can check it out wasnt working so I was like sitting there for a while trying to figure out how to tell him that I didnt´think it was working and that I wanted to listen to the cd. Finally, i did and ended up buying it. His name is Beto Cuevas and I guess he is from chile. That night, I went to this salsa class with some friends from school and that was fun as well. This was the first dance class I have ever been to where there were more boys than girls! So, I was exhausted after having to dance the whole time. But, we still went to Museum to meet up with everyone else from school, but I didnt last long since I was danced out for the day.
Jueves I had my same sandwich on the terrace of school and then I went shopping with susan after class. She got a dress, but i restrained since I really dont think I can fit any more clothes into my bag. We met up with some Norwegian girls that I met at the party at Asia de cuba last week and they had just gotten tattoos. I don´t think i would do it in a foreign country! Well, i have no desire for a tattoo anyways so I guess its different. It is a lot cheaper here though, so I guess it would be worth it if you really want one. Then, off to my last group tango class. It was different since there were actually guys there too. It was nice to have someone to practice with but the guys would get frustrated if you didn´t know what move to do, but they werent leading us correctly. This one guy thought he was the shit at tango and kept doing moves and looking at himself in the mirror. I´m pretty sure he was straight too, it was pretty funny. But, I took some pictures with my tango teacher and my friend Linda that I usually go with and off we went. That night was my friend who lives just two floors down from me´s birthday. So, there was some people hanging out in his apartment waiting for midnight to sing to him. When midnight came, first they sang in dutch since he is dutch, then some other boys sang in swedish, then we sang in spanish, then in hebrew, then german, then english. And i actually knew how to sing in german since that is what we always since on birthdays too! The guy that i sang with was really surprised that I knew it. I pronounce it totally wrong, but oh well. I could sing 3/6, so not too bad!
Today was my last day of class here. We played Taboo in spanish which was hard because it is hard enough in english, but still fun. They have a graduation picnic on the balcony on fridays that I went to, and of course I was the first one called up and I had to say a quick speech in spanish. So I am sure my face was bright red, and all that good stuff that happens when I speak in frount of people but it was quick and painless. We had really good hamburgers, then went to get ice cream with Susan and Eric. I think I had the best ice cream ever today. It is called chocolate suiza and it is chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips (but the little granules) then dulce de leche. OHHHH soo good. I also got a scoop of mint chip but it was not the same. I will stick to the other one from now on. I am glad I discovered it just before I am leaving so I won´t eat it everyday. Now I am off to get a pedicure with Linda since they are nice and cheap here, and she never gets to get them at home because they are something like $100 plus dollars. Then, there is a fiesta loca tonight in our apartment building since I am leaving, the other american girl Josi is leaving, and it is Dirks birthday. Chau for now.
Ok so the pedicures were just about the weirdest and worst thing Linda and I had ever had. They didnt wash our feet and they used this weird machine to file our nails and then they shaved off the dead skin from our feet. My feet hurt afterwords. And they shaved off Lindas dead skin to the flesh so she has this big sore now. Yuck. I will never do that again. Later on friday, Susan and I ordered in dinnerand then some more girls came overwith a dulce de leche cake since it was my last night. It was sooo good, i love dulce de leche a little too much. Then the whole apartment buliding was partying, so wehung out in Maipu for a while, then went to this brazilian club. There were guys doing a dance that was all choregraphed and thenthey took their shirts off...it was all a little weird but fun nonetheless. Another night out til 6 am. Then sleeping til 2 the next day. But saturday was not that nice of a day so there was excuse to stay in. I did go out to lunch with my roommate who literally never stops talking. So it was relaxing when she left later that night so icould hang out with some of my other friends on my last night. I got up this morning and was off in the airplane to chile!
Tuesday was not as exciting. I went to class, had lunch on the terrace of school with some friends. Another sandwich of course since it was so good. This one I got with salame, and it was only 5 pesos! It was a huge sandwich made for me on the spot for less that two bucks. Amazing. Then I didnt feel that good the rest of the day so I stayed in for the night. Wednesday I went to school, and then after I had my final private tango lesson. Before I had the sexy young teacher that all the girls want, but this time I had the 65 year old man who was about a foot shorter than me once I put my shoes on. BUT, I wish I had him the whole time! It was my most fun tango lesson yet because he was spinning me around and making me feel like I could really dance tango. It was a great way to end my lessons. After tango, I went to the music store because I say this singer on tv that I wanted to check out his cd. The machine that you can check it out wasnt working so I was like sitting there for a while trying to figure out how to tell him that I didnt´think it was working and that I wanted to listen to the cd. Finally, i did and ended up buying it. His name is Beto Cuevas and I guess he is from chile. That night, I went to this salsa class with some friends from school and that was fun as well. This was the first dance class I have ever been to where there were more boys than girls! So, I was exhausted after having to dance the whole time. But, we still went to Museum to meet up with everyone else from school, but I didnt last long since I was danced out for the day.
Jueves I had my same sandwich on the terrace of school and then I went shopping with susan after class. She got a dress, but i restrained since I really dont think I can fit any more clothes into my bag. We met up with some Norwegian girls that I met at the party at Asia de cuba last week and they had just gotten tattoos. I don´t think i would do it in a foreign country! Well, i have no desire for a tattoo anyways so I guess its different. It is a lot cheaper here though, so I guess it would be worth it if you really want one. Then, off to my last group tango class. It was different since there were actually guys there too. It was nice to have someone to practice with but the guys would get frustrated if you didn´t know what move to do, but they werent leading us correctly. This one guy thought he was the shit at tango and kept doing moves and looking at himself in the mirror. I´m pretty sure he was straight too, it was pretty funny. But, I took some pictures with my tango teacher and my friend Linda that I usually go with and off we went. That night was my friend who lives just two floors down from me´s birthday. So, there was some people hanging out in his apartment waiting for midnight to sing to him. When midnight came, first they sang in dutch since he is dutch, then some other boys sang in swedish, then we sang in spanish, then in hebrew, then german, then english. And i actually knew how to sing in german since that is what we always since on birthdays too! The guy that i sang with was really surprised that I knew it. I pronounce it totally wrong, but oh well. I could sing 3/6, so not too bad!
Today was my last day of class here. We played Taboo in spanish which was hard because it is hard enough in english, but still fun. They have a graduation picnic on the balcony on fridays that I went to, and of course I was the first one called up and I had to say a quick speech in spanish. So I am sure my face was bright red, and all that good stuff that happens when I speak in frount of people but it was quick and painless. We had really good hamburgers, then went to get ice cream with Susan and Eric. I think I had the best ice cream ever today. It is called chocolate suiza and it is chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips (but the little granules) then dulce de leche. OHHHH soo good. I also got a scoop of mint chip but it was not the same. I will stick to the other one from now on. I am glad I discovered it just before I am leaving so I won´t eat it everyday. Now I am off to get a pedicure with Linda since they are nice and cheap here, and she never gets to get them at home because they are something like $100 plus dollars. Then, there is a fiesta loca tonight in our apartment building since I am leaving, the other american girl Josi is leaving, and it is Dirks birthday. Chau for now.
Ok so the pedicures were just about the weirdest and worst thing Linda and I had ever had. They didnt wash our feet and they used this weird machine to file our nails and then they shaved off the dead skin from our feet. My feet hurt afterwords. And they shaved off Lindas dead skin to the flesh so she has this big sore now. Yuck. I will never do that again. Later on friday, Susan and I ordered in dinnerand then some more girls came overwith a dulce de leche cake since it was my last night. It was sooo good, i love dulce de leche a little too much. Then the whole apartment buliding was partying, so wehung out in Maipu for a while, then went to this brazilian club. There were guys doing a dance that was all choregraphed and thenthey took their shirts off...it was all a little weird but fun nonetheless. Another night out til 6 am. Then sleeping til 2 the next day. But saturday was not that nice of a day so there was excuse to stay in. I did go out to lunch with my roommate who literally never stops talking. So it was relaxing when she left later that night so icould hang out with some of my other friends on my last night. I got up this morning and was off in the airplane to chile!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Buenos Aires- Semana 3
Week tres and flying by. I started class on Monday with one less chica, same teacher though. On Tuesday, I went to La despedida for Nicole, my friend that went to Santa Clara with me. It was eighties themed but i don´t even have enough clothes to wear on a normal basis here, let alone a theme party! I went after my tango class though, and the party was fun but I was exhausted by the end because most of the people there spoke spanish so I was speaking spanish the whole night. Or trying at least. I should probably write more often since i already forget what i did on wednesday. Then thursday was one of my favorite nights here. This guy I met on the airplane told me about this group that sets up nights out for people that are in argentina that aren´t from argentina. So we met at this bar restaurant, had a drink and dinner, and then went on this train thing that was a train on the inside but on wheels and was open with lights. Everyone was taking pictures and was like what the hell is this thing, even people on the street. Anyways, then we went to a club in puerto madero called Asia de Cuba. They had a private section for us with champagne and wine and it was a fun club. I met some new people which was nice too, so i have some more friends outside of just the school. We stayed out til like 5 in the morning, and of course were some of the first ones to leave. Friday, I went out to dinner with about ten people from school at an italian restaurant and then we went to the usual spot bar. After that everyone was going to this club i had already been to, so i found some americans who knew of a place where the dj was from sacramento so he played hip hop. I have never been so excited to hear all of the really overplayed american music that i know and love so much! I am having a great time here, but after 3 weeks of all argentina things, there are definitely some things that I am starting to miss. I also found out from these american boys that there was a restaurant called California Burrito right near my apartment! I was ready to leave the bar and go eat it right then, but i decided to wait for the morning. I stayed out til about 7 that night, and took one too many tequila shots, so the next day tuve resaca. I just learned that word, so i have used it plenty since! it means hungover. My roommates left on saturday morning since they were done with school and were off to travel. Hopefully I will get to meet up with them when I am in Peru since they will be there around the same time. It was sad to see them go, but I knew I was getting two new roommates shortly. Saturday afternoon when I finally got up at like 4, i went to my burrito place to find that it is closed on the weekends since it is downtown and it is dead downtown on the weekends since nobody is working. Thus, i almost cried and went to burger king since i had to have something that i knew what it was going to taste like. I did nothing all day. Luckily, there are 3 really good english movie channels so I watched some stupid movies. That night, I went to the Quilmes beer factory restaurant with some girls from school and argentine guys that I met at Nicoles despedida. They were nice but definitely argentine...a little on the creepy side. I did steal my beer glass though to add to my collection! I do not know how i am going to pack it in my bag! On sunday, My two new roommates came. Another dutch girl, jessica, who i knew i was going to like when i saw her confessions of a shopaholic books (my favorite book series!) lol and then there is a guy, James from England who is also really nice. When we went out though, he asked if other guys were coming so he didn´t have to talk about whether the straightening iron would work or where the best places were to shop. That day we went to the san telmo market, which is most known for tango, so we shopped around and then sat at a cafe for a while and watched them do tango. Tango is everywhere I go, but now when I watch it i think, oh i can do that! Not like they do, but maybe eventually! That night we went to one of my best dinners so far at La Cabrera. They are in all the guidebooks, but it is still worth it. I split a steak, we had wine, appetizers, the whole works for $20. And took steak home since we couldn´t finish it. I learned that night that taking things home if you can´t finish them is a very american thing to do. All of the dutch people were like, what the hell are you doing asking for it to go?? They never do that, and were shocked that I would actually eat that steak the next day. Only one week left!
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