Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
October 30
Aahh... (that was a refreshed sigh)
Friday night after my dance class I walked to Lauren's house so we could plan our trip to Uruguay for the following day. (apparently Lauren likes to procrastinate like me!) We realized that the boat reservations could only be made online at least two days before so we decided we just had to show up early and buy tickets when we got there. We booked hostels and packed and crashed on my bed for about 5 hours before getting up at 6 to finish packing and leave to catch a taxi to the other side of town and the harbor. When we got to the ticket box... not only were there no tickets left to Punto del Este (the city we were planning on going to first), we were informed that we needed our student visas (which we had left home) because we were about a week past the three month tourist visa date... grrr. So instead of running home and probably missing the boat we paid the 50 peso fine each and bought our tickets. We ate breakfast at the cafe and got on the boat. The ride was only an hour long and then we were in Uruguay! The boat was cool despite the brown river water. Even though we couldn't sit on the deck and drink piña coladas. Basically the entire weekend all I wanted was a Piña Collada served to me in a coconut with a little umbrella... but it never happened. Anyway, when we arrived in Colonia (which was about a 30 second walk from the boat) we went to the hostel to change our reservation to include Saturday night as well as Sunday night. Then we walked around looking for a place to buy lunch. It is such a gorgeous little town. There weren't very many people around. It was sunny. It smelled good. I kept getting whiffs of different flower smells. One thing that really got us was that the drivers in the cars actually stopped for pedestrians... something that never happens in Bs. As. In fact, when I cross the street here... it is almost always a near death experience. It was beautiful. The people were all so nice and happy and relaxed. It was fabulous. After ice cream we walked down to the artisan fair, and they had lots of good, neat stuff that we made mental notes of to buy later. Then we went back to the hostel to change into beach clothes and get directions to the bus that goes to the beach. We found it, and the bus driver not only took paper money, he took Argentine pesos as well as Uruguayan... and he told us when we needed to get off. We got to the beach and basically laid in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. I walked up and down the beach a bit in the waves but didn't swim. We finally went back when it was getting close to dinner time. We watched the sun set into the river and then ate at a place with out door tables that looked over the water. Then we walked back toward the hostel and ran into our hostel roommates (a university teacher and her 6 year old son). They apparently spend a lot of time in Colonia so they walked us around a bit to show us the best places to eat and go out. Later we went to a bar/restaurant that was supposed to have live music. We ordered drinks that turned out to be really strong and listened to a really horrible band that consisted of a guy working the sound board, a guy who played simple keyboard and sang, plus two other guys who just sang. I still don't get it. But it was made funnier by the strong piña coladas! When we got tired around 12:30 we went back to the hostel and fell asleep, content with the knowledge that we didn't have to do anything the next day but hang out. We got up and found breakfast at a super market. Then we went back to the artisan fair to make our purchases. We decided to go to the beach next to the artisan fair instead of the other far away one. It was just as nice, if much smaller. But there still weren't many people around so it was okay. I spent a long time listening to the unintelligible but beautiful German conversation that was spoken by the couple next to us. Lauren and I had an exciting conversation about religion and taking things for granted and the point of academia. We talked about how I should probably change my thesis topic as I don't really have an opinion or passion for it... and that it would be better for me to write about something similar to what we were talking about before because I obviously had a passion for it. The problem was that as soon as she said that I became in capable of remembering exactly what we were talking about, much less make a hypothesis out of it. But we'll see about that later. After the beach we went to take showers before going to get MASSAGES!!!! We'd happened to walk by a hotel that offered a spa and therefore massages. They were 550 pesos each... which is about U$S 23. And they were awesome! I was so relaxed and my skin was soft. It was perfect. Then we went to the restaurant that our roommate had recommended. It was also amazing! We sat outside and the waiter was a hilarious little man with about 1000 buttons pinned to his apron (including one for Kerry & Edwards 2004.. he he). He also had huge ridiculous hats that he would change almost every time he went inside. I think we saw at least 12 hats throughout the night (including a purple wizard hat, a foam frog, and a yellow bonnet with a big red flower on the side). He was adorable! The other waiters... who didn't really seem to be doing anything, offered us some Mate (which we politely refused) and then talked about how Uruguayans drink Mate ALL day long and carry it with them everywhere (which they do). Then he mimed how they wash their faces in between sips of mate. Lol. Anyway, the food was amazing too. We had this typically Uruguayan dish called Chivito which consists of a steak topped with strips of bacon, cheese wrapped in ham, and a perfectly fried egg. It came also with french fries and salad. We shared some really delicious Uruguayan wine and a hot apple bread pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert. By the time we were done we were ready to just fall asleep. Which we did. We woke up fairly early the next morning because we had gone to bed so early. We leisurely ate breakfast and chatted until it was time to leave. Unfortunately, the clock I was using was on Argentine time which is 1 hour behind Uruguayan so not only did we check out late (thankfully they didn't charge us), but we missed our boat back to Argentina. oops. So Lauren missed her classes on Monday... but we got to hang out in beautiful Colonia another 5 hours. We spent the rest of our accidental time eating more ice cream and doing logic puzzles in Spanish. Then we got on the boat and headed back to Bs. As... which, was sad to me. I went to my dance class and returned to my house to eat dinner with my roommates (who for the most part hadn't noticed that I'd been gone all weekend), and do my Spanish homework before going to bed.
I feel so healthy and beautiful and refreshed. I understand now why people go away for the weekend when they live in the city. It does help. :D
I wish you sunny days and the calm of a cool breeze.
Friday night after my dance class I walked to Lauren's house so we could plan our trip to Uruguay for the following day. (apparently Lauren likes to procrastinate like me!) We realized that the boat reservations could only be made online at least two days before so we decided we just had to show up early and buy tickets when we got there. We booked hostels and packed and crashed on my bed for about 5 hours before getting up at 6 to finish packing and leave to catch a taxi to the other side of town and the harbor. When we got to the ticket box... not only were there no tickets left to Punto del Este (the city we were planning on going to first), we were informed that we needed our student visas (which we had left home) because we were about a week past the three month tourist visa date... grrr. So instead of running home and probably missing the boat we paid the 50 peso fine each and bought our tickets. We ate breakfast at the cafe and got on the boat. The ride was only an hour long and then we were in Uruguay! The boat was cool despite the brown river water. Even though we couldn't sit on the deck and drink piña coladas. Basically the entire weekend all I wanted was a Piña Collada served to me in a coconut with a little umbrella... but it never happened. Anyway, when we arrived in Colonia (which was about a 30 second walk from the boat) we went to the hostel to change our reservation to include Saturday night as well as Sunday night. Then we walked around looking for a place to buy lunch. It is such a gorgeous little town. There weren't very many people around. It was sunny. It smelled good. I kept getting whiffs of different flower smells. One thing that really got us was that the drivers in the cars actually stopped for pedestrians... something that never happens in Bs. As. In fact, when I cross the street here... it is almost always a near death experience. It was beautiful. The people were all so nice and happy and relaxed. It was fabulous. After ice cream we walked down to the artisan fair, and they had lots of good, neat stuff that we made mental notes of to buy later. Then we went back to the hostel to change into beach clothes and get directions to the bus that goes to the beach. We found it, and the bus driver not only took paper money, he took Argentine pesos as well as Uruguayan... and he told us when we needed to get off. We got to the beach and basically laid in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. I walked up and down the beach a bit in the waves but didn't swim. We finally went back when it was getting close to dinner time. We watched the sun set into the river and then ate at a place with out door tables that looked over the water. Then we walked back toward the hostel and ran into our hostel roommates (a university teacher and her 6 year old son). They apparently spend a lot of time in Colonia so they walked us around a bit to show us the best places to eat and go out. Later we went to a bar/restaurant that was supposed to have live music. We ordered drinks that turned out to be really strong and listened to a really horrible band that consisted of a guy working the sound board, a guy who played simple keyboard and sang, plus two other guys who just sang. I still don't get it. But it was made funnier by the strong piña coladas! When we got tired around 12:30 we went back to the hostel and fell asleep, content with the knowledge that we didn't have to do anything the next day but hang out. We got up and found breakfast at a super market. Then we went back to the artisan fair to make our purchases. We decided to go to the beach next to the artisan fair instead of the other far away one. It was just as nice, if much smaller. But there still weren't many people around so it was okay. I spent a long time listening to the unintelligible but beautiful German conversation that was spoken by the couple next to us. Lauren and I had an exciting conversation about religion and taking things for granted and the point of academia. We talked about how I should probably change my thesis topic as I don't really have an opinion or passion for it... and that it would be better for me to write about something similar to what we were talking about before because I obviously had a passion for it. The problem was that as soon as she said that I became in capable of remembering exactly what we were talking about, much less make a hypothesis out of it. But we'll see about that later. After the beach we went to take showers before going to get MASSAGES!!!! We'd happened to walk by a hotel that offered a spa and therefore massages. They were 550 pesos each... which is about U$S 23. And they were awesome! I was so relaxed and my skin was soft. It was perfect. Then we went to the restaurant that our roommate had recommended. It was also amazing! We sat outside and the waiter was a hilarious little man with about 1000 buttons pinned to his apron (including one for Kerry & Edwards 2004.. he he). He also had huge ridiculous hats that he would change almost every time he went inside. I think we saw at least 12 hats throughout the night (including a purple wizard hat, a foam frog, and a yellow bonnet with a big red flower on the side). He was adorable! The other waiters... who didn't really seem to be doing anything, offered us some Mate (which we politely refused) and then talked about how Uruguayans drink Mate ALL day long and carry it with them everywhere (which they do). Then he mimed how they wash their faces in between sips of mate. Lol. Anyway, the food was amazing too. We had this typically Uruguayan dish called Chivito which consists of a steak topped with strips of bacon, cheese wrapped in ham, and a perfectly fried egg. It came also with french fries and salad. We shared some really delicious Uruguayan wine and a hot apple bread pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert. By the time we were done we were ready to just fall asleep. Which we did. We woke up fairly early the next morning because we had gone to bed so early. We leisurely ate breakfast and chatted until it was time to leave. Unfortunately, the clock I was using was on Argentine time which is 1 hour behind Uruguayan so not only did we check out late (thankfully they didn't charge us), but we missed our boat back to Argentina. oops. So Lauren missed her classes on Monday... but we got to hang out in beautiful Colonia another 5 hours. We spent the rest of our accidental time eating more ice cream and doing logic puzzles in Spanish. Then we got on the boat and headed back to Bs. As... which, was sad to me. I went to my dance class and returned to my house to eat dinner with my roommates (who for the most part hadn't noticed that I'd been gone all weekend), and do my Spanish homework before going to bed.
I feel so healthy and beautiful and refreshed. I understand now why people go away for the weekend when they live in the city. It does help. :D
I wish you sunny days and the calm of a cool breeze.
Friday, October 26, 2007
October 26
Yesterday. Hot day. Rainstorm.
I chose to skip Tango (partially to recuperate from Tuesday, but mostly because I just wanted to go party with Lauren). I got to her house at about 5 pm. We went to the store so I could buy ingredients for a sangría recipe that Spencer gave me. I was providing sangría to some 16 people so I bought a lot of it. Wine, Ginger Ale, Peach/Apricot Juice, Vodka, Lime Juice, and Fruit Cocktail. The recipe called for cherry juice and cherries... but those were very expensive, so I improvised. I thought there was going to be way too much, but turns out it was a HUGE hit and the Argentines drink more than Flacso likes to say they do. But I knew that all ready. Anyway. Then we sat around in the kitchen and listened to music, drank mate, and made a music mix for the evening. Eventually Lauren started making the tacos which ended up being awesome! Surprisingly the Argentines arrived early and the Americans arrived late. But we ended up with 12 people I think(5 Argentines, 6 Americans, and 1 Austrian), sangría, tacos, sandwiches, potato salad, teriyaki chicken, sushi, brownies, chocolate oatmeal cookies, sweet bread, corn bread, and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream (which Lauren made from scratch, the apple crisp, not the ice cream, and it was amazing!). It was a fabulous time! After we ate and drank our hearts out we went to an electronic tango milonga. It was interesting. The music was very untraditional and the dancing was almost nothing like what I've been learning. But it was fun! One of the Argentine guys plays traditional tango piano and taught us some tango moves (he dances too). I got to talk to him a little bit about what tango really is. We left at about 3:30 because Lauren had to go to class at 9:30. I thought we'd done pretty well, but the poor Argentines complained the whole way home about how early it was. *rolling eyes*. Anyway, I ended up walking around for a while on the way home with the tango pianist. He has a knack of simultaneously making you feel like you are doing something wrong with your life and telling you to calm down in the same moment. I think he just wants people to be chill and with his philosophy about what chill is. shrug. He's not a bad guy and I don't think he means to do this but, he made me very confused and introspective to the point where I was awake until 6 am writing about it. I skipped my 11 am Spanish class. But I finally found some peace... in my breaths. All in all it was a fun birthday party! Hopefully Lauren and I will get to Uruguay this weekend. If we don't... i don't know... but I won't be happy. :D
I chose to skip Tango (partially to recuperate from Tuesday, but mostly because I just wanted to go party with Lauren). I got to her house at about 5 pm. We went to the store so I could buy ingredients for a sangría recipe that Spencer gave me. I was providing sangría to some 16 people so I bought a lot of it. Wine, Ginger Ale, Peach/Apricot Juice, Vodka, Lime Juice, and Fruit Cocktail. The recipe called for cherry juice and cherries... but those were very expensive, so I improvised. I thought there was going to be way too much, but turns out it was a HUGE hit and the Argentines drink more than Flacso likes to say they do. But I knew that all ready. Anyway. Then we sat around in the kitchen and listened to music, drank mate, and made a music mix for the evening. Eventually Lauren started making the tacos which ended up being awesome! Surprisingly the Argentines arrived early and the Americans arrived late. But we ended up with 12 people I think(5 Argentines, 6 Americans, and 1 Austrian), sangría, tacos, sandwiches, potato salad, teriyaki chicken, sushi, brownies, chocolate oatmeal cookies, sweet bread, corn bread, and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream (which Lauren made from scratch, the apple crisp, not the ice cream, and it was amazing!). It was a fabulous time! After we ate and drank our hearts out we went to an electronic tango milonga. It was interesting. The music was very untraditional and the dancing was almost nothing like what I've been learning. But it was fun! One of the Argentine guys plays traditional tango piano and taught us some tango moves (he dances too). I got to talk to him a little bit about what tango really is. We left at about 3:30 because Lauren had to go to class at 9:30. I thought we'd done pretty well, but the poor Argentines complained the whole way home about how early it was. *rolling eyes*. Anyway, I ended up walking around for a while on the way home with the tango pianist. He has a knack of simultaneously making you feel like you are doing something wrong with your life and telling you to calm down in the same moment. I think he just wants people to be chill and with his philosophy about what chill is. shrug. He's not a bad guy and I don't think he means to do this but, he made me very confused and introspective to the point where I was awake until 6 am writing about it. I skipped my 11 am Spanish class. But I finally found some peace... in my breaths. All in all it was a fun birthday party! Hopefully Lauren and I will get to Uruguay this weekend. If we don't... i don't know... but I won't be happy. :D
I am.
I am part of the fabric of being.
I know that I exist.
I am glowing brightly with life.
I know that I am alive.
I am tinged pink with love.
I know that I love and am loved.
I sparkle with intelligence.
I think that I am and that you are.
I am human.
Hot red blood keeps me here.
I am Makena.
My experience tells me so.
I choose to be.
The truth is nothing more than the choices we make.
I know that I exist.
I am glowing brightly with life.
I know that I am alive.
I am tinged pink with love.
I know that I love and am loved.
I sparkle with intelligence.
I think that I am and that you are.
I am human.
Hot red blood keeps me here.
I am Makena.
My experience tells me so.
I choose to be.
The truth is nothing more than the choices we make.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
October 24
Today, I had a rather interesting experience. I went to my modern class at 7:30. The class usually starts at 7, but on Wednesday the professor can't get to class until 7:30 (or so I gather). Anyway, for the past few weeks we've been having problems with the professor getting there before 8... 8:15 even. Usually there are a good number of people who leave or are encouraging everyone to leave. I think that some are worried about being counted absent if everyone doesn't go at the same time. Anyway, there is at least one girl who refuses to go because she likes this class and we only have this professor on Wed, so usually we wait the some 45 minutes until he shows up. Today we waited 45 minutes... and I think we would have left, but today the students seemed to be in the dancing mood... so we gave the class ourselves! We did the warm up and went through exercises. The accompanist on the drums even played for us. We danced pretty hard for about 45 minutes... but at 9 people started to peater out and leave. It was fun though. Everyone was in such a good mood! Laughing and talking and playing around but dancing! A couple of the girls were even doing funny impressions of the prof. every now and then (in the states I would consider this rather disrespectful... but I don't know what to think of it here, and everyone else seemed to think it was great so... shrug). There was even a short rendition of Let the Sunshine In... which immediately got stuck in my head. I'm still thinking about the whole thing and it makes me laugh. The prof. never showed up.
Anyway, earlier today my Spanish class got canceled... and luckily someone from FLACSO called to tell me so I could sleep in. Then I went to a fabulous lunch with Lauren. We sat outside at the tables on the side walk and had hamburgers (seriously these have to be the best hamburgers in the world) and french fries. It was warm and sunny, but we were sitting in the shade... and it was perfect!
Tomorrow is Laurens birthday potluck dinner. I'm making quesadillas and sangría. Lauren is turning 21!!!! I'm very excited. You'll hear about it I'm sure! Goodnight!
Anyway, earlier today my Spanish class got canceled... and luckily someone from FLACSO called to tell me so I could sleep in. Then I went to a fabulous lunch with Lauren. We sat outside at the tables on the side walk and had hamburgers (seriously these have to be the best hamburgers in the world) and french fries. It was warm and sunny, but we were sitting in the shade... and it was perfect!
Tomorrow is Laurens birthday potluck dinner. I'm making quesadillas and sangría. Lauren is turning 21!!!! I'm very excited. You'll hear about it I'm sure! Goodnight!
Monday, October 22, 2007
October 22
I got a letter from Molly today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it was really exciting.
it was really exciting.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
October 21
Wow... October 21. Time does go by... i should really stop worrying about that.
Last week was fairly straight forward. I slept in because I didn't have Spanish classes this week. Friday night I went to a salsa club with some people in my tango club. It was really fun, but it was Friday night, after my 2 hour modern class, and it took me forever to get there. Also, I've never danced salsa before (with people who actually know how) so I pretty much looked like an idiot all night. Sigh, fun though. I got home at about 5 am... dead. Saturday I basically couldn't walk up stairs... apparently salsa does a number on your quads. But my two engaged roommates were bbq-ing steaks on the roof and I got to spend some time with them and eat a nice lunch on the roof in the beautiful sunlight.
Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend Eli and we went to this theme park call tierra santa or Holy Land. Its a park dedicated to depictions of religion and Jesus. and yep... it was hilarious and completely made of plaster (or something similar). I was thinking about Emily the whole time because I think she would have found it ridiculous and a little creepy how some of the 'shows' consisted of scenes from the bible, in which the figures were all just placed out there, some of them moving like the Santa Clause dolls you see at Christmas, with fat cherub-like angels hanging from the ceiling, with the story read in Spanish from a record, and fancy lighting changes. Most of the park was just stationary figures set up with short passages from the bible on placards. There was also a synagogue, a mosque, the wailing wall, and for some reason a display of Gandhi. The writing in the plaster synagogue was not even Hebrew, which Eli pointed out, it was just funny looking gibberish. Neither of us can read Arabic so we don't know if the writing in the mosque was authentic or not. Oh, and on the hour there is a 'resurrection' in which an 18 meter high Jesus statue rises out of the plaster mountain in the middle of the park, with lots of Allelujah music and more fancy lighting, to 'bless' the people in the park. The park guide said he had 36 mechanical movements, but I only counted 13... of which most of them were just the figure turning 1/4 of the way around. He did however, at one point, close his eyes, lift his head, and turn his palms to the sky (as his arms were already, obviously, spread wide). Most of the time I couldn't figure out whether to laugh of be offended on behalf of Christians world wide. Wherever they didn't have something specific... there was a plaster donkey or sheep or camel. All of the figures in the park were life size. All the people working there, including the maintenance crew, were dressed up like you would imagine the people of ancient Jerusalem to be dressed. There was one stage where they did live shows and we watched some belly dancers do some slightly less than authentic dancing. The main dancer was decked out in hot hot pink. They did do some cool dancing though. The main dancer finished off the show with at least a minute of hard core head banging in which her really long hair was swung around in large circles. I still don't know how I feel about that.
After that I made my way home. I was supposed to meet some other people and go out some more but I had no credit on my phone with which to contact people and I was so tired that when I finally climbed the last stair to my bedroom I lay down and fell asleep.
Now it's Sunday. A beautiful day... of which I plan on spending doing homework and talking on the phone. I would like to go to a park but as my phone isn't working I would have to put a lot of effort into finding someone to go with me. We'll see.
Last week was fairly straight forward. I slept in because I didn't have Spanish classes this week. Friday night I went to a salsa club with some people in my tango club. It was really fun, but it was Friday night, after my 2 hour modern class, and it took me forever to get there. Also, I've never danced salsa before (with people who actually know how) so I pretty much looked like an idiot all night. Sigh, fun though. I got home at about 5 am... dead. Saturday I basically couldn't walk up stairs... apparently salsa does a number on your quads. But my two engaged roommates were bbq-ing steaks on the roof and I got to spend some time with them and eat a nice lunch on the roof in the beautiful sunlight.
Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend Eli and we went to this theme park call tierra santa or Holy Land. Its a park dedicated to depictions of religion and Jesus. and yep... it was hilarious and completely made of plaster (or something similar). I was thinking about Emily the whole time because I think she would have found it ridiculous and a little creepy how some of the 'shows' consisted of scenes from the bible, in which the figures were all just placed out there, some of them moving like the Santa Clause dolls you see at Christmas, with fat cherub-like angels hanging from the ceiling, with the story read in Spanish from a record, and fancy lighting changes. Most of the park was just stationary figures set up with short passages from the bible on placards. There was also a synagogue, a mosque, the wailing wall, and for some reason a display of Gandhi. The writing in the plaster synagogue was not even Hebrew, which Eli pointed out, it was just funny looking gibberish. Neither of us can read Arabic so we don't know if the writing in the mosque was authentic or not. Oh, and on the hour there is a 'resurrection' in which an 18 meter high Jesus statue rises out of the plaster mountain in the middle of the park, with lots of Allelujah music and more fancy lighting, to 'bless' the people in the park. The park guide said he had 36 mechanical movements, but I only counted 13... of which most of them were just the figure turning 1/4 of the way around. He did however, at one point, close his eyes, lift his head, and turn his palms to the sky (as his arms were already, obviously, spread wide). Most of the time I couldn't figure out whether to laugh of be offended on behalf of Christians world wide. Wherever they didn't have something specific... there was a plaster donkey or sheep or camel. All of the figures in the park were life size. All the people working there, including the maintenance crew, were dressed up like you would imagine the people of ancient Jerusalem to be dressed. There was one stage where they did live shows and we watched some belly dancers do some slightly less than authentic dancing. The main dancer was decked out in hot hot pink. They did do some cool dancing though. The main dancer finished off the show with at least a minute of hard core head banging in which her really long hair was swung around in large circles. I still don't know how I feel about that.
After that I made my way home. I was supposed to meet some other people and go out some more but I had no credit on my phone with which to contact people and I was so tired that when I finally climbed the last stair to my bedroom I lay down and fell asleep.
Now it's Sunday. A beautiful day... of which I plan on spending doing homework and talking on the phone. I would like to go to a park but as my phone isn't working I would have to put a lot of effort into finding someone to go with me. We'll see.
Friday, October 19, 2007
I posted new photos on Facebook
http://unco.facebook.com/photos.php?id=42109307
I don't know if you can access them without a facebook account... and if you can't... well, I guess you'll just have to wait until you see me!
I don't know if you can access them without a facebook account... and if you can't... well, I guess you'll just have to wait until you see me!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
October 18
I think I forgot to mention this... but a few weeks ago, my friend William actually did get kicked out of his house because of the bathroom door that I broke. oops. oh well. His land lady was a psyco anyway. And he found a new better place to live pretty quickly so it´s okay.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
October 16
Friday night I decided not to go out so instead I talked to Royce and went to bed. I slept for almost twelve hours. I must have been tired. I woke up on Saturday and lazily got ready for the soccer game. Getting there ended up being a little stressful because I couldn´t get hold of Lauren so I had to go to the internet cafe to look at the email for directions and then get on the subway which ended up taking much longer than anticipated. And in my silly head I thought that maybe if I was late they would leave without me and I wouldn´t be able to go so I took a taxi the rest of the way. I then proceeded to wait on the corner with the group for almost an hour while we waited for the other people who were late... silly me. I spent all the money I´d taken with me: 10.75 pesos on that silly taxi for no reason. Oh well. The soccer game was very fun though. The second half wasn´t the greatest thing because Arg. was two up over Chile, so they basically just tried to keep the ball away from them for 45 minutes. Sigh. Oh well. It was cool to see all the people in the stadium though. They are crazy about their soccer. The opposing team was sequestered in one section of the stadium with about 15 police men at each entrance... no one was getting in there. When we were waiting on the street corner, a caravan of opposing fans went by, chilean flags haning out the windows, and they were accomplanied by lights and sirens, policemen on motorbikes with HUGH FREAKING RIFLES!!! There were BIG guns involved and at that point I was less excited to go... though I obviously went anyway.
Anyway, after the game I went back to Laurens house because her family wasn´t in the house all weekend and she was having a sleep over! It was so fun and perfect. We watched 10 Things I Hate About You and Moulin Rouge and talked and drank Mate and ate cookies and chocolate and ice cream... it was unhealthy and delicious and perfect. I slept on the couch and in the morning everyone else left so Lauren and I made PANCAKES and watched Eddie Izzard on youtube. We then proceeded to spend the entire day watching tv, drinking mate, and eating the rest of the ice cream. Sunday pretty much didn´t exist. It was wonderful. Luckily, Monday was dia de la Raza... which Royce told me is like their columbus day... but regardless, we didn´t have class. So after I woke up I went to the parks to meet Lauren and William and drink more mate (I´m really starting to like this stuff, it´s so wonderfully social). Plus, the hamburgers at the stand in the park are pretty much the best I´ve ever had... and they don´t put anything on them. It´s just meat and bread. Unfortunately while we were waiting for burgers, it started to rain so we changed tactics and went back to my house to watch a movie: Amoresperros, which means love is dogs only all squished together. It was good. If long and sad. We also played a little ping pong on the temporary table in my living room and ate empanadas. It was grand. It was basically the most relaxing weekend I´ve had since I got here. I didn´t do one bit of homework. And I was happy almost the entire weekend. Quite a feat.
On sunday night I had a really crazy dream in which I had an identical twin who had lost her memory and couldn´t remember who I was. But I still loved her. And when I looked at her I saw my face but knew she was a different person. And I felt like I could see myself from someone elses point of view. I watched how my hair moved and actually looked when I wasn´t looking in the mirror. It was crazy. I´m not sure what to think about it.
Royce got my letter yesterday. It took ten days. :D But we are pretty sure they lost his package that he sent me as it´s been over a month and a half.
Besos!
Anyway, after the game I went back to Laurens house because her family wasn´t in the house all weekend and she was having a sleep over! It was so fun and perfect. We watched 10 Things I Hate About You and Moulin Rouge and talked and drank Mate and ate cookies and chocolate and ice cream... it was unhealthy and delicious and perfect. I slept on the couch and in the morning everyone else left so Lauren and I made PANCAKES and watched Eddie Izzard on youtube. We then proceeded to spend the entire day watching tv, drinking mate, and eating the rest of the ice cream. Sunday pretty much didn´t exist. It was wonderful. Luckily, Monday was dia de la Raza... which Royce told me is like their columbus day... but regardless, we didn´t have class. So after I woke up I went to the parks to meet Lauren and William and drink more mate (I´m really starting to like this stuff, it´s so wonderfully social). Plus, the hamburgers at the stand in the park are pretty much the best I´ve ever had... and they don´t put anything on them. It´s just meat and bread. Unfortunately while we were waiting for burgers, it started to rain so we changed tactics and went back to my house to watch a movie: Amoresperros, which means love is dogs only all squished together. It was good. If long and sad. We also played a little ping pong on the temporary table in my living room and ate empanadas. It was grand. It was basically the most relaxing weekend I´ve had since I got here. I didn´t do one bit of homework. And I was happy almost the entire weekend. Quite a feat.
On sunday night I had a really crazy dream in which I had an identical twin who had lost her memory and couldn´t remember who I was. But I still loved her. And when I looked at her I saw my face but knew she was a different person. And I felt like I could see myself from someone elses point of view. I watched how my hair moved and actually looked when I wasn´t looking in the mirror. It was crazy. I´m not sure what to think about it.
Royce got my letter yesterday. It took ten days. :D But we are pretty sure they lost his package that he sent me as it´s been over a month and a half.
Besos!
In response to the questions about my last blog
To be clear... he´s not THE pakistani foreign ambassador, he is a Pakistani foreign ambassador, as is my other Pakistani friend who was in my spanish class. And they are both still in training. Learning spanish. Or one of them is. The one I went out to dinner with doesn´t want to and isn´t trying. He´s been here 9 months and is still in level 1. I met him through the one in my spanish class and invited me to dinner because I accidentally expressed my ignorace of good restaruants in Buenos Aires so he decided to educate me. It´s fascinating to talk to people from different parts of the world. Do you know for example that the Pakistani government always hopes for the Republicans to be in power in the U.S. because the only power Pakistan has against India´s size and army is their nuclear bombs and the democrats would try to take those away. Interesting.
Katiana: I will always be a little sad when you are not with me. And at times I will be very sad. But I will also be happy for you having fun wherever you are and that I will see you again. Hopefully soon.
Molly: Where is home? is a very good question. One that I have been pondering for quite some time and have not come to a conclusion about. When I think about home I think of Spencer and Katiana and Emily and Royce in my living room drinking tea or wine and playing board games... but I also think of sitting in front of the woodstove in Talkeetna with my family listening to Lord of the Rings the radio play... and I also think of playing cards after breakfast on Sunday morning in the sunshine with you and mindy. These things are my home. And they will never be in one place. I don´t know whether to be happy or sad about that.
In terms of plans, I am planning on going straight to Colorado from Buenos Aires in the first week of February. I don´t know exactly when I will be back in Alaska. At the latest it with be Christmas of ´08. I can´t go back this christmas and I can´t go back for the summer because I will need to take a full summer course load to make up for this spring semester. I could come up sometime in the spring... but that requires money I am skeptical I will have. But we´ll see. I don´t know if I can survive without being in AK for over a year and a half.
I think I could never be president of the U.S. because I wouldn´t take those actions that are best for my country, I would try to do what is best for the world. Even though I really think that what is best for the world is also best for the U.S. I feel like most people in our country aren´t ready to make sacrifices for the world. And there´s alway the chance that some nuclear power seeking further strength would sense weekness and decide it was time to take the U.S.A. out. Shrug.
Katiana: I will always be a little sad when you are not with me. And at times I will be very sad. But I will also be happy for you having fun wherever you are and that I will see you again. Hopefully soon.
Molly: Where is home? is a very good question. One that I have been pondering for quite some time and have not come to a conclusion about. When I think about home I think of Spencer and Katiana and Emily and Royce in my living room drinking tea or wine and playing board games... but I also think of sitting in front of the woodstove in Talkeetna with my family listening to Lord of the Rings the radio play... and I also think of playing cards after breakfast on Sunday morning in the sunshine with you and mindy. These things are my home. And they will never be in one place. I don´t know whether to be happy or sad about that.
In terms of plans, I am planning on going straight to Colorado from Buenos Aires in the first week of February. I don´t know exactly when I will be back in Alaska. At the latest it with be Christmas of ´08. I can´t go back this christmas and I can´t go back for the summer because I will need to take a full summer course load to make up for this spring semester. I could come up sometime in the spring... but that requires money I am skeptical I will have. But we´ll see. I don´t know if I can survive without being in AK for over a year and a half.
I think I could never be president of the U.S. because I wouldn´t take those actions that are best for my country, I would try to do what is best for the world. Even though I really think that what is best for the world is also best for the U.S. I feel like most people in our country aren´t ready to make sacrifices for the world. And there´s alway the chance that some nuclear power seeking further strength would sense weekness and decide it was time to take the U.S.A. out. Shrug.
Friday, October 12, 2007
October 12
It´s raining horribly, still.
I had a very long dinner and conversation(s) with the Pakistani foreign ambassador last night. I love conversation. I learned so much. And he paid for everything... which was a lot. If everyone would take time to talk to different people from around the world... we would have no problems. It´s when people think they know how other people are, while they haven´t ever talked to them, that problems start.
I´ve come to a decision about next semester. I´m coming home.
I got my spanish final results back today. I passed, but barely. Therefore, I suck.
Sigh.
I´m going to an international soccer game on saturday!
I had a very long dinner and conversation(s) with the Pakistani foreign ambassador last night. I love conversation. I learned so much. And he paid for everything... which was a lot. If everyone would take time to talk to different people from around the world... we would have no problems. It´s when people think they know how other people are, while they haven´t ever talked to them, that problems start.
I´ve come to a decision about next semester. I´m coming home.
I got my spanish final results back today. I passed, but barely. Therefore, I suck.
Sigh.
I´m going to an international soccer game on saturday!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
October 11
I am tired of everyone always telling me to calm down. I am calm. I am just enthusiastic and I strive to be clear about things so I don´t end up mistaken or disappointed. Which tends to happen anyway. It's being told that I need to calm down that really gets me going.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
October 10
I have met an unreal number of disillusioned, pessimistic, and dejected men here who used to be naive and idealistic like me, ready to save the world, but then they joined the real world and were consumed by bureaucracy and politics. Almost all of them have a drinking problem. My response to this is that I am trying to hold on to my idealism and optimism. And they all respond that I should do that and then in a rather depressing way say they hope I stay the same and do all the things I want to do. I´ve met students, foreign ministers, and ONG workers like this. It´s really scary to me. Last night I was told by a Pakistani foreign minister that it was nice to finally meet someone from the states who could intelligently talk about politics in the U.S. and the world. He was shocked to meet the "only intelligent American girl in the country". Sigh. He also told me that I shouldn't worry about accomplishments but just enjoy my life as much as I can, but at the same time, I should always be great at my job... and then turn around and say 'go fuck yourself' to my boss because then I will be indispensable. Mind you he was pretty wasted by this time. Alcohol is dangerous... but not nearly as dangerous as government jobs apparently. Sigh, what are we supposed to do? And then I of course want to help these poor sad human beings but they are usually too drunk to really remember me anyway. I miss my campus. At least campuses spawn hope and new ideas. Maybe that´s the key. I´ll just stay on campuses for the rest of my life and I can´t get too dejected. But I´ve met many teachers who seem to have lost hope too.
On a lighter note: I had my first real encounter with tequila last night. It was fun. And I think I did well on my Spanish test this morning. The other sad realization is that I check my email, blog, and facebook far too often for anything to have changed in the interim.
I wish you a sunny, enthusiastic and hopeful day.
On a lighter note: I had my first real encounter with tequila last night. It was fun. And I think I did well on my Spanish test this morning. The other sad realization is that I check my email, blog, and facebook far too often for anything to have changed in the interim.
I wish you a sunny, enthusiastic and hopeful day.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
October 9
Sigh, it´s raining again. They tell me it´s not normally like this and that I´m here in the wrong season. But the fact is, I´m tired of having wet shoes all the time.
Friday night after dance I went to the other side of the city to have mexican food with Lauren, William, and an argentine friend of Lauren´s. The place looked awesome! It was called Frida Kahlo and it was all mexican looking inside. Just being there made me happy. The food was... just about as disappointing as I expected though it is apparently the best mexican food restaurant in the city. So I guess mexican food is not a good plan while I´m here. oh well. It was fun, but I was tired from a long week and my spanish wasn´t working so I didn´t say much all night. I went home fairly early so I could get up in the morning and study.
So on Saturday I woke up and tried to study though my headache, sore throat, and tired body. It kindof worked. But I was reminding myself of Tyler when I would get distracted for hours at a time by the philosophical questions in my head about the meaning of life and the role of love... seriously I stared at the ceiling a lot on Saturday. anyway, at about 6 I traversed to Laurens house where she fed me some tarta and some alfajore (a rather indescribable sweet) before going to the Night of the Museums. I can´t remember if I discribed this last time but it´s a night in which all the museums in Bs.As. stay open until midnight and you can go to them for free. Also there are busses that run from all the museums to the others that you can take for free. We started on a cool, old looking ship in the river thats crew were all in sailor suits and had a brass band and singer on the upper deck. It was fun in a kindof Titanic feeling sort of way (in a good way). Then we went to the Tango museum. It was okay. The performer was singing, not dancing. Then Patricio (my argentine friend) showed up. I hadn´t seen him in mucho tiempo. We all proceeded to a big cultural center to look at a bunch of different kinds of art. There was the performance art of the the girl in the blue dress who ran around the crowd. Then there was the childrens paintings on huge rolls of brown paper; the woman in the doorway who looked like the clown from Saw (very creepy); the room full of large canvases with different brightly colored circles on them which were apparently representing the 'supremacy of color'; the room with all the poorly taken photos of the towers on meat plants and cemetarys (we spent a lot of time in this room because we didn´t get it); and the room on the top floor with the pretty acrilic painting of people and a great use of orange. From there we returned to the center of town and Puerto Madero to see the final concert and to eat some hamburgers. Unfortuantely it was getting cold and I had neglected to bring a coat. The music was fun enough but we left after the first ten minutes of the drum group because apparently there´s only so much drumming that we can take. It was all good and fun. We left early enough. I was ready to go to bed. Unfortunately that part of the plan didn´t work out. It took us an hour and a half to find a taxi. It was rediculous. If I hadn´t been worried about being robbed or kidnapped I would have walked the some 30 blocks home. But finally we did find one, by some worldly magic.
Sunday morning I did much the same thing as Saturday morning with much tiredness and feeling like I was getting a cold. Then I started out to the house of the Pakistani man (Shahzad) in my spanish class for food. It was one of the most stressful moments since I´ve been here because I didn´t have any phone credit to call neither him nor Christina who was also going but didn´t know the directions. I looked everywhere but everything was closed or didn´t have any cards. By that time I was late and feeling horrible because it is Ramadan and I didn´t want to make Shahzad wait to eat after fasting all day. Finally I found a phone card and everything worked out... though almost 40 minutes late, but Shahzad had already eaten so I didn´t feel too horrible. I found a new love: Pakistani food. It was delicious! And we talked about many things in the world, including the current state of Pakistan and the differences of culture. He played us some Indian music too! We did most of the talking in english because he speaks really good english and we all speak rather poor spanish. It was great. We talked and ate for almost 4 hours before walking Christina home and to my bus stop. Shahzad and I talked about how relationships between people of the opposite sex differ between my culture and his. It was really refreshing to just strait up say what kind of relationship you were interested in having with someone from just about the very beginning of the friendship. It was imortant too because our cultures are so different. But we found out that we are basically looking for the same thing: good friends. And that my definition is essentially the same as his. It´s really too bad that the political situation is so bad in the middle east these days because after meeting Shahzad, hearing his stories, tasting his food, and listening to his music, I would really like to travel there. Hopefully someday soon the world will get over all this silliness and killing each other and I can travel to visit my friends around the world.
Monday: I had my International Relations midterm. It went very badly. And my leg injury had actually gotten worse instead of better so I didn´t participate in all of my dance class. The good thing was that I finally got to talk to my parents for a while and even see my love on webcam! It made for an excellent evening, despite the rain.
Reading Katiana´s blog makes me feel like I just had a really long conversation with her, and reading the New York Times makes me feel like I know so much about what´s going on in the world. Writing this reminds me of good things. Now I am happier.
Friday night after dance I went to the other side of the city to have mexican food with Lauren, William, and an argentine friend of Lauren´s. The place looked awesome! It was called Frida Kahlo and it was all mexican looking inside. Just being there made me happy. The food was... just about as disappointing as I expected though it is apparently the best mexican food restaurant in the city. So I guess mexican food is not a good plan while I´m here. oh well. It was fun, but I was tired from a long week and my spanish wasn´t working so I didn´t say much all night. I went home fairly early so I could get up in the morning and study.
So on Saturday I woke up and tried to study though my headache, sore throat, and tired body. It kindof worked. But I was reminding myself of Tyler when I would get distracted for hours at a time by the philosophical questions in my head about the meaning of life and the role of love... seriously I stared at the ceiling a lot on Saturday. anyway, at about 6 I traversed to Laurens house where she fed me some tarta and some alfajore (a rather indescribable sweet) before going to the Night of the Museums. I can´t remember if I discribed this last time but it´s a night in which all the museums in Bs.As. stay open until midnight and you can go to them for free. Also there are busses that run from all the museums to the others that you can take for free. We started on a cool, old looking ship in the river thats crew were all in sailor suits and had a brass band and singer on the upper deck. It was fun in a kindof Titanic feeling sort of way (in a good way). Then we went to the Tango museum. It was okay. The performer was singing, not dancing. Then Patricio (my argentine friend) showed up. I hadn´t seen him in mucho tiempo. We all proceeded to a big cultural center to look at a bunch of different kinds of art. There was the performance art of the the girl in the blue dress who ran around the crowd. Then there was the childrens paintings on huge rolls of brown paper; the woman in the doorway who looked like the clown from Saw (very creepy); the room full of large canvases with different brightly colored circles on them which were apparently representing the 'supremacy of color'; the room with all the poorly taken photos of the towers on meat plants and cemetarys (we spent a lot of time in this room because we didn´t get it); and the room on the top floor with the pretty acrilic painting of people and a great use of orange. From there we returned to the center of town and Puerto Madero to see the final concert and to eat some hamburgers. Unfortuantely it was getting cold and I had neglected to bring a coat. The music was fun enough but we left after the first ten minutes of the drum group because apparently there´s only so much drumming that we can take. It was all good and fun. We left early enough. I was ready to go to bed. Unfortunately that part of the plan didn´t work out. It took us an hour and a half to find a taxi. It was rediculous. If I hadn´t been worried about being robbed or kidnapped I would have walked the some 30 blocks home. But finally we did find one, by some worldly magic.
Sunday morning I did much the same thing as Saturday morning with much tiredness and feeling like I was getting a cold. Then I started out to the house of the Pakistani man (Shahzad) in my spanish class for food. It was one of the most stressful moments since I´ve been here because I didn´t have any phone credit to call neither him nor Christina who was also going but didn´t know the directions. I looked everywhere but everything was closed or didn´t have any cards. By that time I was late and feeling horrible because it is Ramadan and I didn´t want to make Shahzad wait to eat after fasting all day. Finally I found a phone card and everything worked out... though almost 40 minutes late, but Shahzad had already eaten so I didn´t feel too horrible. I found a new love: Pakistani food. It was delicious! And we talked about many things in the world, including the current state of Pakistan and the differences of culture. He played us some Indian music too! We did most of the talking in english because he speaks really good english and we all speak rather poor spanish. It was great. We talked and ate for almost 4 hours before walking Christina home and to my bus stop. Shahzad and I talked about how relationships between people of the opposite sex differ between my culture and his. It was really refreshing to just strait up say what kind of relationship you were interested in having with someone from just about the very beginning of the friendship. It was imortant too because our cultures are so different. But we found out that we are basically looking for the same thing: good friends. And that my definition is essentially the same as his. It´s really too bad that the political situation is so bad in the middle east these days because after meeting Shahzad, hearing his stories, tasting his food, and listening to his music, I would really like to travel there. Hopefully someday soon the world will get over all this silliness and killing each other and I can travel to visit my friends around the world.
Monday: I had my International Relations midterm. It went very badly. And my leg injury had actually gotten worse instead of better so I didn´t participate in all of my dance class. The good thing was that I finally got to talk to my parents for a while and even see my love on webcam! It made for an excellent evening, despite the rain.
Reading Katiana´s blog makes me feel like I just had a really long conversation with her, and reading the New York Times makes me feel like I know so much about what´s going on in the world. Writing this reminds me of good things. Now I am happier.
Friday, October 5, 2007
October 5
This morning, 6 am, I was awoken by cannons firing above my head.
well, not really, it was thunder.
but it was the loudest most abrupt thunder I had ever heard in my life. And then the rain that I usually enjoy listening to on my skylight turned into litte rocks that I thought would surely break through at any moment. It was a little freaky.
And the rain stopped long enough for me to not take my umbrella to class... and then started again. In furry.
But my friend Christina and I went to a glorious lunch at my favorite café. So it´s none the less a good day. I can´t believe that at 9 pm tonight I will have had an entire week of classes. Something I haven´t experienced for over a month. My body is tired from dancing. I´m so glad it´s friday! Tonight... I´m not sure what is going on. Mexican food, maybe, hopefully. Tomorrow is the Night of the Museums in which all of the museums in Bs.As. are open until 2 am, they are free, and there are busses running from each one to the others all the time. That should be good stuff! Sunday, perhaps Pakistani food with the Pakistani man from my spanish class. And all the time in between will be (need to be) spent studying for my midterm in International Relations on Monday. Happy first week of October! Love you!
well, not really, it was thunder.
but it was the loudest most abrupt thunder I had ever heard in my life. And then the rain that I usually enjoy listening to on my skylight turned into litte rocks that I thought would surely break through at any moment. It was a little freaky.
And the rain stopped long enough for me to not take my umbrella to class... and then started again. In furry.
But my friend Christina and I went to a glorious lunch at my favorite café. So it´s none the less a good day. I can´t believe that at 9 pm tonight I will have had an entire week of classes. Something I haven´t experienced for over a month. My body is tired from dancing. I´m so glad it´s friday! Tonight... I´m not sure what is going on. Mexican food, maybe, hopefully. Tomorrow is the Night of the Museums in which all of the museums in Bs.As. are open until 2 am, they are free, and there are busses running from each one to the others all the time. That should be good stuff! Sunday, perhaps Pakistani food with the Pakistani man from my spanish class. And all the time in between will be (need to be) spent studying for my midterm in International Relations on Monday. Happy first week of October! Love you!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
October 2
Hmm... I have not been inclined to write here lately, even though I travelled halfway across the country. I don´t remember what I did last week.
Okay so Jujuy. It started out pretty straight-forward. We went to the aeroparque (which is what they call airports when they aren´t international) at 5 and didn´t actually leave the airport until sometime after 11. Apparently the plane was delayed. They gave us dinner though, which wasn´t too bad. While I was sitting in the food court and got into a conversation with the three argentine men sitting behind out table. They were very nice and we talked about Alaska (of course) and what we were studying, and then I was talking about the college culture in america and about the time I got to binge drinking the FLACSO kids that had been spending the previous hour and a half drinking wine, beer, and whiskey (continually getting louder and sillier, mind you this is like 6 pm on a Wed.) managed to spill a bottle of wine and then one of the guys proceeded to slurp the spilled wine up off the table. It was gross and I was incredibly embarrased. I don´t have a problem with drinking, as you all know, but I feel like when you are an American travelling abroad you might want to take the opportunity to improove the image of Americans rather than solidify the stereotype. Sigh, oh well.
We got to the hotel in Jujuy at about 3:30. They insisted on giving us dinner, again, before letting us go to bed. We then had to wake up and be on the bus by 10 am. We took off but got stopped at the border crossing to the next province because we didn´t have all our names on the right lists or something like that... I think we were there for a couple hours, we didn´t get to Tilcara until after 5 anyway. So we missed the museum and went straight to the Incan ruins where we saw some llamas and some old clay buildings and such things. The mountains, with which we were completely surrounded, were very pretty, not brown and covered in trees but dusty and blue, green, yellow, red, burgundy, purple, and turquoise all mixed together. And the sky was the most blue I had ever seen. And lots of cactus.
From there it basically went: market, fried bread, food, sleep, breakfast, bus, rocks, bus, lunch, market, spending lots of money on cool stuff, bus, more money on stuff, meeting foreigners (I´ll come back to this), dinner in town (this too), sleep, breakfast, bus, bus, big salt mine (this too), bus, lunch, more market (no money), bus, nap, dinner, party in town, walk drunk man back to the hotel, sleep, breakfast, bus, airport, and now unfortunately I´m back in Buenos Aires.
The Foreigners: I met them because I noticed how fancily indigenously dressed they were and was absolutley shocked to hear them speaking english. So I asked the lady where she was from. She's from england, had children and grandchildren and in her words "now it´s my turn." She was really nice and fun to talk to. She told me that when I go to England this summer I should visit Stratford and Yorkshire. Apparently they are the good nature places. The man was from Belgium and obviously very educated and eccentric. He was actually quite intimidating. He had large diamond encrusted Jaguar head earings on...
The free night we had to eat dinner in town was fun. My hotel-roommate Eli and I went to a Peña that had live traditional music and we shared a couple dishes of llama, just to try it. It was a lot like steak. Not my favorite thing in the world. And we got to go home relatively early. The cool thing was that I got to spend some cuality time with Eli who is really cool and I´m glad I got to know him.
The salt mine was cool: basically just a almost never ending plane of white stuff that it actually salt. It was cool, though I´m not sure it was worth the 2 1/2 hour drive both ways.
The drunk man, I´m not at liberty to discribe in detail... but after an evening of feeling completely alone and isolated, walking (half carrying) with this person who had never talked to me before who started telling me about his life made me realize that I am blessed blessed blessed. I KNOW that I have people in the world who love me, even if I can´t see them right now. And even though this guy apparently has lots of friends here, he honestly doesn´t believe that anyone, in the world, cares about him. It made me sad about the state of the world, but also I realized the smallness of my own pain. And that is what I really want to do. I want to help alleviate that kind of pain in the world. That´s the point. I don´t know if I helped him. But I tried.
Monday was not a good day. But I have not the energy to talk about it now. Maybe next time.
You are special.
You are loved.
I know this because I have seen you.
I loved you then.
And I love you still.
Okay so Jujuy. It started out pretty straight-forward. We went to the aeroparque (which is what they call airports when they aren´t international) at 5 and didn´t actually leave the airport until sometime after 11. Apparently the plane was delayed. They gave us dinner though, which wasn´t too bad. While I was sitting in the food court and got into a conversation with the three argentine men sitting behind out table. They were very nice and we talked about Alaska (of course) and what we were studying, and then I was talking about the college culture in america and about the time I got to binge drinking the FLACSO kids that had been spending the previous hour and a half drinking wine, beer, and whiskey (continually getting louder and sillier, mind you this is like 6 pm on a Wed.) managed to spill a bottle of wine and then one of the guys proceeded to slurp the spilled wine up off the table. It was gross and I was incredibly embarrased. I don´t have a problem with drinking, as you all know, but I feel like when you are an American travelling abroad you might want to take the opportunity to improove the image of Americans rather than solidify the stereotype. Sigh, oh well.
We got to the hotel in Jujuy at about 3:30. They insisted on giving us dinner, again, before letting us go to bed. We then had to wake up and be on the bus by 10 am. We took off but got stopped at the border crossing to the next province because we didn´t have all our names on the right lists or something like that... I think we were there for a couple hours, we didn´t get to Tilcara until after 5 anyway. So we missed the museum and went straight to the Incan ruins where we saw some llamas and some old clay buildings and such things. The mountains, with which we were completely surrounded, were very pretty, not brown and covered in trees but dusty and blue, green, yellow, red, burgundy, purple, and turquoise all mixed together. And the sky was the most blue I had ever seen. And lots of cactus.
From there it basically went: market, fried bread, food, sleep, breakfast, bus, rocks, bus, lunch, market, spending lots of money on cool stuff, bus, more money on stuff, meeting foreigners (I´ll come back to this), dinner in town (this too), sleep, breakfast, bus, bus, big salt mine (this too), bus, lunch, more market (no money), bus, nap, dinner, party in town, walk drunk man back to the hotel, sleep, breakfast, bus, airport, and now unfortunately I´m back in Buenos Aires.
The Foreigners: I met them because I noticed how fancily indigenously dressed they were and was absolutley shocked to hear them speaking english. So I asked the lady where she was from. She's from england, had children and grandchildren and in her words "now it´s my turn." She was really nice and fun to talk to. She told me that when I go to England this summer I should visit Stratford and Yorkshire. Apparently they are the good nature places. The man was from Belgium and obviously very educated and eccentric. He was actually quite intimidating. He had large diamond encrusted Jaguar head earings on...
The free night we had to eat dinner in town was fun. My hotel-roommate Eli and I went to a Peña that had live traditional music and we shared a couple dishes of llama, just to try it. It was a lot like steak. Not my favorite thing in the world. And we got to go home relatively early. The cool thing was that I got to spend some cuality time with Eli who is really cool and I´m glad I got to know him.
The salt mine was cool: basically just a almost never ending plane of white stuff that it actually salt. It was cool, though I´m not sure it was worth the 2 1/2 hour drive both ways.
The drunk man, I´m not at liberty to discribe in detail... but after an evening of feeling completely alone and isolated, walking (half carrying) with this person who had never talked to me before who started telling me about his life made me realize that I am blessed blessed blessed. I KNOW that I have people in the world who love me, even if I can´t see them right now. And even though this guy apparently has lots of friends here, he honestly doesn´t believe that anyone, in the world, cares about him. It made me sad about the state of the world, but also I realized the smallness of my own pain. And that is what I really want to do. I want to help alleviate that kind of pain in the world. That´s the point. I don´t know if I helped him. But I tried.
Monday was not a good day. But I have not the energy to talk about it now. Maybe next time.
You are special.
You are loved.
I know this because I have seen you.
I loved you then.
And I love you still.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
