La vida...

The next few weeks I was without my girlfriends but I did manage to find a new roommate! His name is Brighton and he had been staying at the Argentina Exchange apartment but wanted to find a new place. Luckily, he moved in the same day that Ariane left. This is my first experience living with a boy that is not my brother or dad, but he is actually quite clean and the second night he was there I came home to dinner waiting on the table for me! I think it will all work out just fine:) Friday night at Argentina Exchange was a big party that we had been working on for the last few months and I got to be bartender. There are about 8 french people that work with me, and individually, they are all nice, but as a whole, live up to their reputation. I loved being a bartender but then got booted to other stupid jobs like the coat check and check-in. These were not my jobs but some others decided that they wanted to take over my job, quite frustrating. But, overall it was a good night.

Another fun event was getting locked out on Monday. Once you close my front door, it automatically locks and as I just closed it, I realized my keys were inside and my roommate was already gone. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but I had no phone at the time and he does not have a cell phone. So I left him an email, but as he never went home during the day, never got it. I got home and didn't know where he was so I tried to get the door open with the help of the door man but no luck. I went to the cafe, luckily I had my laptop for entertainment and was trying to make plans in the event that Brighton didn't come back until late that night. I had gone out to lunch with this guy I met on the bus the week before and he wanted to go out again, so, in my distressed state, I turned to him for something to do. I ended up finding Brighton before that and getting into the house, but I felt bad and still went out with him. And here is how the date went: He showed up in a sleeveless shirt, the kind a meathead wears to show off his guns. I wanted to turn around right then and walk back inside. As we are walking to the restaurant, he kept grabbing me while we crossed the street like I needed protection. I just wanted to say, look chico, i walk these streets everyday and I manage to do just fine. Then, we sit down in a restaurant and we start talking. I knew that he had been married, but as I am asking him about the divorce process here, he told me that they still had not gotten a divorce, they were still married. Strike 1 (the others I could get over if the date went well). Then he started bragging about how many friends he has and how he always has a million things to do. Strike 1.5. Then he started talking about his workout routine and how he likes to always keep a 6 pack. Strike 2. THEN, here's the real kicker, he told me that his friends always tell him that he must have been a stripper in his past life because of the sexy way he dances. STRIKE 3. you're out. Check please. I do not think I will be seeing him again.

Tuesday was a much better evening...I made taco tuesday for my friend Danny. His job at work is to find housing so our deal was that if he found me a roommate, I had to make him dinner. So, taco tuesday it was. My friend Travis from SCU was in BA again, so he came for dinner too. All was delicious as every taco tuesday is and we played poker after. I do miss my girlfriends but it is fun to hang out with guys too...a bunch of girls would never just be sitting and decide to play poker. We can just chat away the evening without any other entertainment. But, I like both so it was a good change of pace!

I ended my career at Dimnet on Thursday, and brought cupcakes in to celebrate. Everyone was quite taken aback because they had no clue what they were! I told Conor and he was shocked (and mad he didn't get to eat the cupcakes). I had a good experience at Dimnet overall, but I have no desire to go into web design, that is for sure.

Finally on Saturday, Ariane and Annalise came back to me! It was Ariane's last night before she really left to go home and Annalise was done travelling. We went to our favorite bar, Sugar, and stayed out til 8:30 in the morning. I spent the whole next day in bed with Annalise. My body simply can't handle those nights anymore, I was exhausted all the way through Tuesday. To end the weekend (and to leave the house at least once on Sunday) we ate gnocchis because it was the 29th. We found this great little hole in the wall restaurant with amazing gnocchi for so cheap. We all said goodbye to Ariane for real this time and we were all sad to see her go!

La vida...

Life is grand and now my roommate has to leave me! We spent our last week doing fun things like going to the horse races and our last liquid free beer night. On Thursday we both planned to call in sick because it was going to be our last day to do something together before her parents got here. We got up late, ate empanadas in bed, and went shopping...she is a great shopping partner which is always fun to find. She bought lots of stuff since she wanted to add to her Buenos Aires wardrobe before she went home, and I found a new pair of jeans. They feel very european in that they are skinny skinny jeans but I like them. They are considered to be designer jeans here and the most expensive pair of jeans you could probably find is about 400 peso which is a little over 100 dollars. Its too bad designer jeans from the states couldn't be more reasonably priced! Anyways, enough about shopping...we had a great dinner nearby and had a really good fake sick day.

At work on Friday, like every friday, I made lunch for everyone. I decided on hamburger pie since it is my favorite and when I put the mashed potatoes on top, I spelled out AE for Argentina Exchange. Everyone was so impressed and they took pictures and everything. That night Ariane and I had another nice dinner at this new restaurant near our house and then met up with our friends and on our way to this club there were two guys that asked our cab driver how to get to a certain club. So our cab driver told them not to go to that club, come to the club that the two cute girls in his cab were going to...so they ended up following us to the club! And then it was kind of awkward when we first met, but they were nice and cute, but they went in before us and then we didnt want to pay the 70 peso cover, so we never saw them again. It would have been a better story if we had fallen in love all due to our cab driver, but it was still funny that they actually followed us to the club. We ended the night at this bar near our house which I am now in love with...it reminds me of a college bar because it was nothing special inside, just a bunch of people hanging out and then a few people dancing. Who knew that I would crave a night in a dive college bar!

La vida...

I got back to my apartment after carnaval and I was glad to be home. It's amazing how fast a place can start to feel like 'home'. I received a couple of messages from my family saying they were worried about me, I hadn't emailed for a whole 3 days! I thought it was funny how worried everyone was but it is nice to know they care:) I went back to my internet job really thinking I was going to quit since I had such mindless tasks asked of me and was receiving no pay...but I talked with my boss and he told me about some projects that I would be working on during my last month. After that, I had a much better attitude towards my work and I also knew that I only had 4 weeks left.

My friend, Frida, who I met in Chile was in town for a couple of days before she went on a two week tour so she stayed on the couch. We have had lots of couch visitors...it is nice to be able to see people that I have met along the way again in a different city. I feel like it is so much easier to make fast real friends while traveling considering you spend so much time with a person that you normally wouldn't if you were busy with your own life at home. I love that I have worldwide friends now...there will always be someone to visit wherever I go!

Over the weekend, we had our first pre-party at our apartment. Ariane and I made lots of appetizers and we went to one of my favorite clubs in BA, Rumi. I had such a great night and I think its because I finally feel like I have good friends and fun people to hang out and go out with. Annalise, Ariane and I just ate the weekend away going to our new favorite empanada restaurant, La Brigada in San Telmo to have some steaks, and the next day we shopped an ate at Ariane's favorite restaurant in Palermo Soho. I definitely appreciate the fine dining in Buenos Aires and will have a list of restaurants to return to when I travel here again. Later that day was my first futbol game!! Well, I had been to one in Peru, but that did not even compare to this one...

Being the north americans that we are, Annalise and I thought it was appropriate to drink some beers before the game (what sporting event is there in the US where alcohol is not a part of it? NONE). We arrive to the meeting point with all the boys we were going with from my work, and they all just looked at us like we were crazy alcoholics. We quickly found out that alcohol and futbol do not go hand in hand. Well, we managed to get to the Independiente stadium after about 5 changes on the subte. We were about an hour early, so Annalise and I walked around the stadium and met lots of people...It was a crowd of mainly guys so needless to say we were not the ones initiating the conversations. Once the game started, the crowd went crazy and this big flag was pulled down over the whole crowd. Annalise and I were trying to get back up to our seats during all of this and that was a challenge. The game went on with song after song that i didn't know but would love to learn. When the first goal was scored, everyone jumped so much that Annalise and Ariane both got pushed down a couple of stairs, luckily just running into other people, but still, it was pretty scary. Independiente ended up beating La Boca so everyone was in such a great mood on our side but I do not think I want to know what it would have been like had we lost. This one guy in front of us took a liking to Ariane and said he would give her his hat if they won, so now she has this raggedy ann looking hat that she didn't want to put on because it was so sweaty. When the game was over, we had to sit and wait about a half hour and I found out we were waiting for La Boca fans to clear the whole entire stadium before we could leave in order to avoid fights. With the tattoos of their team, complete apparel, and pure passion, i finally realized how great this sport really is. If my brother or dad combined every one of their sports teams into one, they would be acting just the same, but the states has so many sports that it lessons the fans intensity for one particular team. Futbol is a religion for many and I got to see the light when i went to my first match.

CARNAVAL- Salvador de Bahia

WOW is really all I can say about Carnaval. It was amazing. The way I have described it to those that are from the east bay like me is to imagine Bay to Breakers, the ridiculous parade/run that happens once a year, times its size by 10 and then do it every day for 6 days in a row. There were these huge floats with Brazilian pop stars at the top, so if you wanted to be part of that concert you had to pay. There were people that would hold a big rope and those that were inside the rope, were the official attendees of that "bloco". Otherwise, you could be around or beside it and be "popcorn". Men would buy these blue and white beads and give them to girls that they would kiss, kinda like mardi gras. How many beads I acquired, you will never know:) We decided to be part of the Skol bloco, which had yellow shirts and then you could pay some ladies to cut it up and make it girly, which of course, we did. I would have done it myself if i had the materials! The night was great...being inside the rope was a lot easier to dance, not have gross men grab you, and safer from robberies. One night, we were walking along as popcorn, and all of a sudden there were about 5 guys that were coming in the opposite direction and made it so Jess and I could not move at all. I had nothing on me, so I wasn't worried, but jess couldn't even put her hands to her pockets because they were pushing her so much, and they stole her money. It wasn't much since we knew we weren't supposed to take out much, but still, enough to not get to buy beer the rest of the night! Back to the bloco night; on the way home from the bloco, which dropped us off at the end of the parade, 7 km away, it started raining. Then, one of the girls from our hostel we were with had to go to the bathroom so we went up this muddy hill. I didn't need to go up there at all, but didn't really realize what was going on, so I just followed. On the way up, my shoes have absolutely no traction whatsoever, and i slipped going upwards on the hill, but still managed to get covered in mud on my front side. I was wearing my cute white shorts and yellow shirt. Then, I realized I didn't need to be going up this hill so I started back down and I fell on my ass. At this point, i was completely covered in mud, and being the girly girl I am, being dirty is not my favorite thing. But, it was raining and I was in a good mood and we just danced and laughed all the way home. I took a shower fully clothed.

I can't really tell you what we did during the day because it wasn't much. We had a great group of people to hang out with at our hostel so we usually just hung out and rested for another night out. I met a guy who is from Los Altos and he reminded me of my friend from home so we got along really well. There were mostly Australians, but also brits, puerto ricans, spanish, and brazilians within the hostel. And one man that worked at the hostel, Mr. Wellington, helped me clean my shorts. Everyday he would try to explain to me how they were doing in portuguese and I would just smile and try to speak spanish back. After 5 days of bleaching, they are decently back to normal.

My other favorite night was when we went to a camarote. These were clubs that hosted parties where you could eat and drink all inclusive, and watch the parade go by or dance inside the club. We went on the very last night because there are simply too many people outside on the last night to try to be in the crowd. We got red shirts this night and they decorated them for us inside the camarote. We were determined to make the most of our night, so we managed to get there at 5 when it started and stayed til 5 when it ended. We ate hamburgers, pizza, sushi, and drank skyy vodka (a big brand name in south america!)and champagne. We were living the high life...by the end of it I was so stuffed and tired...we had wanted to go to the sunset party to end carnaval but we never made it. But, it was a good end to carnaval. Even after living a week in a 15 bed dorm with many more smelly guys than girls, a dirty city smelling of piss and vomit, grabby/touchy/forward Brazilian men, and not being able to smell vodka without a gagging reflex, it was the best party I have ever been to and am so glad I went!

Praia do Forte
Since our bodies needed relaxing, Jess and I went to a beach town about 2 hours away from Salvador. It is known from Californians as the Carmel of Brazil and they were right. It has an aquarium of sea turtles where we went the first day and cute shops galore. We treated ourselves to a hotel instead of a hostel and wow was it nice to have our own shower and our own bedroom. We had a couple of amazing dinners, 2 of them being Moqueca which is a shrimp stew that is served with rice and beans. I don't know how they made it so amazing, but we loved it and got it twice in 2 days. There is also this berry in Brazil called Acai which is supposed to have the most vitamins of any fruit or something like that, and it is more like a dessert than a fruit when they make their acai shakes. We went brazilian bathing suit shopping which was quite an adventure. Usually I just have to make sure the top fits right and then get whatever size bottoms I need, but this was the exact opposite. The bottoms are sooo small in Brazil and I am not about to come home sporting a thong on the beach. I did get some bottoms that are more risque than I am used to, but I literally bought the biggest butt bottoms they had to offer. I ended up getting two new swimsuits because the designs in brazil were nothing like I have seen at home and so I had to, right? Right. I also got 2 pairs of havaiana flip flops because they are from brazil, thus really cheap. I got a pair that I have seen in the US for $75 since they have some little diamonds on them for about $15 US. I love good deals.

On the last day of our trip, we decided to go scuba diving. I have never done it before but you don't need any sort of classes before you go here, so we decided to try it out. We went out with our instructor and his helper, both who spoke very little spanish and even less english. We had about an hour pre lesson which could have happened in 20 minutes had there not been such a language barrier. Finally we went out to the water and i kinda started to freak out. I went under water and was breathing with the tank but wanted to go up immediately and get real air but realized that that was the whole point, to stay underwater the whole time. So after I had my little freak out, I relaxed and we managed to scuba dive for about 45 minutes. The water was not too deep but we still got to see a lot of cool fish. No sea turtles, but it was still a lot of fun and now I would really like to do it again, maybe even take some scuba classes (in english this time!) The last night, we had dinner and drinks and did some more shopping and got a taxi at 3 am to the airport. Jess and I had a great trip and it really made me miss being with my friends from home...there is nothing like hanging out with people that you are totally comfortable with. I also found out that we were good travel buddies...we seemed to be wanting to do the same things and when she wanted to party more than me (i admit i couldn't hang as long as could!)she would go and i would stay. She was sad to be going back to work knowing that most everyone was still traveling around south america, but hopefully she will get her chance soon. I am not looking forward to that whole 2 weeks of vacation a year thing...yuck. I needed a vacation after my 2 months of working!

La vida de una porteña: Semana 6

This week found a good place to go running and like being in a normal routine again. Its just a good half hour run and there are lots of people out an about walking and rollerblading, it reminds me of the iron horse trail! At the internet company, work is much more interesting now that I have Annalise in the same room as me. We just talk and laugh and we are in the same room as the big boss. He doesn't care though and really I don't care that much if he does! He has been giving us boring work this week so its serves him right...its so brainless that it is very easy to multitask. I went out for ice cream with my Argentine friend Felipe on Monday night and I had a long conversation with him about how financing is better than paying for everything in cash (because they pay for everything in only cash here) I felt like my college education was coming to use! spanish and finances...

I went out with Annalise on Wednesday to Liquid, the wonderful place that serves free beer for three whole hours. We had a blast with all my coworkers and I am really so thankful that I work for the companies I do...I met some friends at the internet one and am learning lots and with Argentina Exchange, i always have places to go, things to do. Annalise is a fun going out buddy but is hard to keep track of! The next day at work we were laughing a little too much about the night before and I think our boss does not know what to think of us.

Over the weekend we went out with the work friends again, and then had a pool party for Valentines day at Nicole's place. It was mostly americans besides Ariane and her german friend that was staying with us, and it was a really nice day. We "bbqed" ie made some hamburgers on her stovetop and hung out. It didn't feel like Valentines day but that was ok...the only valentine i had was my flower man from the subte who gave me a rose:) I got into a little fight with Arianes friend who was staying with us because he kept turning off the air conditioning since it was right next to him and making him cold, but I kept waking up in a sweat. So I told him he needed to use an extra blanket or something because I was not going to sleep badly in my own apartment. He told me that I could sleep on the couch if I wanted and that did not go over to well with me. This visitor that is getting a free stay telling me to sleep on the couch. He made a dramatic scene and put on his winter coat and his flannel pants to sleep in. ugg he annoyed me. We finished the weekend having great chinese food in china town and the unwanted visitor finally leaving!

La vida de una porteña: Semana 5

Our visitor left, and we started another week of work. It was Ariane’s birthday week and her parents asked me to get her 40 multi colored roses (20 from each parent for her 20th) and a chocolate cake. I made a deal with my flower man that is out in front of the subte everyday and he actually pulled through for me. I think it restored some faith that Argentine’s can do things on time when they have motivation. I searched all over for the perfect cake and found one with chocolate cake on the bottom, creamy dulce de leche in the middle, and meringue on top. Mmm good. Nothing like a really good dessert, especially since my meal out was not as good as I was hoping for.

I did have to go to the post office for the first time since my last experience, but it was very uneventful, and I managed to get my package from auntie. Friday, Ariane and I shopped. One might wonder how I can shop when I am on such a tight budget, but I justify it by bringing my lunch everyday and cooking at home and with my savings, buy clothes! Friday night we went out to celebrate her birthday since she works early and couldn’t on her actual bday. We went to our bar, Sugar, and I took my new intern friend with me, Annalise. She is from DC and we saw our other intern friend, Ryan, who is also from the states, and that night was the first night in a while that I drank like an American. Don’t really know if that is a good thing considering I managed to not do much of anything that next day, but it was fun of course.

I was determined to find good pizza since it is a rare occurrence in this country, so Ariane and I went out with an Argentine that she had met the night before and he took us to a great place. The pizza was a thin crust (which is neverrrr found here) and was more gourmet. And the dessert was simply to die for. I was eating great food with not so great company. The argentine was pretty boring and Ariane was tired and didn’t care to talk to the guy so I was just sitting there making conversation out of thin air. Then he would hum really badly during awkward silences to make it all the more awkward. Oh well, at least I practiced Spanish and I know where to go again with better company.

Our excuse to not go out with him was because we were going to Peru Beach the next day. It was true, but we went at about 1. This beach was not the beach I would think of since it is grass next to a muddy river, but you can learn wind and kite surfing. They had no spots left, so we signed up for next week. We just hung out on the grass though with Ariane, Annalise, and her friend from college, Jake. That night I found china town and went into one of the grocery stores and found big sushi rolls still in the burrito like form for 8 pesos. Then I also found black beans which are no where to be found in this country. I was in heaven and ended my day happily eating sushi even though, yet again, I got some random patches of sunburn.

La vida de una porteña: Semana 4

Already almost a month into this life! But still have trouble dealing with some argentine ways...I woke up early to go teach my cab driver friend english and he just doesn't show up, call, nothing. Then I got up early for the second time for no reason. I decided to try to pick up my brazil visa but once I got there, I found out it can only be picked up between 12 and 1. I left work at 12 and it took an hour since the line was so long. Then I went to pick up my purse that I ordered and I guess they sold it to someone else. I kinda yelled at the guy at the purse store, even though it really wasn't that big of a deal because they could make me a new one by thursday, but I just was fed up with everything working in a way that I do not understand in this country! That night we went to la bomba del tiempo which is the drum show that goes on every Monday night. It was fun, just like it always is.

Wednesday night I ended up hanging out with a friend from SCU that was in Buenos Aires as a stop on his trip. I took him to a bar with my work...Liquid...that has free beer on wednesday nights and I have free passes for a drink and to cut the line. It was funny cuz he was all impressed that i was so well connected in this city! I like that aspect of my job:) Another night of dancing, but I made it home before three since I had to work the next day.

I managed to 'work from home' friday so I could go to the beach for the weekend. I did do a little bit of work...enough at least. We got on the five hour bus ride to mar del plata and arrived at a not so lovely hostel. The shower was in the same place as the toilet and I really think the carpets were moldy because it smelled not good at all. We went to the beach that day and I have never seen so many people at one beach in my life. Everyone is there, all ages, all sizes, all in bikinis when most should not be, and all drinking mate. I really can't understand that mate part considering it is so hot already and they are drinking a hot drink. We went to a nice restaurant on the port for dinner and we found out earlier that Ariane was given a fake $50 AR from the bank so we managed to give it to the man at the restaurant. He was a horrible waiter anyways, but really everyone is using conterfeit money around here. I can't believe that even banks give it out too. Hopefully, they do it unknowingly, but who knows. We had ice cream after and the guy screwed up my ice cream twice and threw them awa both times, I really do not think that I am that unclear! The next day we shopped during the morning since it was not very nice outside and my search for a swimsuit did not go so well. Most swimsuits have the smallest bottoms ever, or they are thongs. So much for buying an exciting swimsuit in south america. We tried to go to the beach later but it was simply too windy so we ended us napping/ reading in the park. At night we went to a really good restaurant called Olivo and they even gave us free champagne. We were suggested a street where to go out so we went. We met some argentines that took us to another club where we dance cumbia all night...its fun for a little but not for allll night. It was different than being in BA though because we were noticably foreigners. In BA there are so many foreigners that no one really knows who is from here and who is not. The next day we spent at the beach where I got nice and burned even though I had sunscreen on...the sun is a little strong for me! We got home late that night since the bus was almost 2 hours late in arriving in Mar del plata and so I missed the superbowl, but its ok. I think next year all those fun traditions will be even more fun since I have had a year off!