Let's play catch up

Thursday nights at CBC (Cal. Burrito Co) entail 8 peso margaritas for the mujeres, AND you get to keep the cup it's in. Lizzie and I walked home to my apartment after class, because the margaritas were only 8 pesos at 8PM, and picked up some fixin's for a salad and pasta. Kelsey came home just before we were finished and contributed some baked squash she'd cooked the night before. It was a feast and it was delicious.

We met up with Ines, Maria, and Jessica. There were three guys playing guitar, drums, and a cello and they played ENGLISH songs haha. They were awesome and at one point Kelsey requested Hotel California and they were trying to get us to sing the words.
After this we went to Synnove's house, a girl from Denmark and also a student, and we enjoyed a beverage while her German roommate Lukas insisted we meet them at a club. Another German guy and an Argentine guy came over before they took off and it was just me, Kelsey, Synnove, and Lizzie drinking and chatting. We all got pretty sleepy and at around 3 AM Kelsey and I took off for home.

Friday night Jessica and I went to the hostel she'd stayed at to enjoy a bbq our friends were having. Alex, a guy who's working here in South America and from Maine, and Tristin from Germany. Oh and Luis, one of the guys from Mexico... I met these kids that night we went to Oscar's and went to that rave-esk club thing afterwards. Anyway, Jessica and I had to resist eating the food because we were meeting up with Synnove, Lizzie and Kelsey for pizza at El Cuartito. There was a long line to get into the place but it was sooo worth it. Yummy pizza! And the waiter was so nice, he let us try a desert for free, gave us a discount, and told us that next time we don't need to wait in line but come find him and he'll get us a table. After this we went to Crobar and got in fo free! Alex knows someone who works there I guess. It was way rad except for the part where Lizzie's wallet was stolen :( The music was cool because it was all songs we knew but kind of techno remix's. Got home around 6 AM and went to bedddd.

Saturday I got up around 1PM and Sebastian invited to come check out his neck of the woods. A small town called Escobar, about 30 minute bus ride outside the city. I was totally down because he doesn't speak English that well so I was presented with a gold opportunity to practice that good ol' Spanish. I really like getting outside of the city too...not only is it way quieter but feels more authentic. Any big city is just like another. It's loud and there're lots of people and advertisements left and right and a McDonalds or Burger King on every other corner. But outside Buenos Aires, the streets aren't paved, there're more trees, the houses are unique, there're loose dogs roaming around, and it's calmer. We walked to his house, which is super nice but he lives all by himself! I don't think, no actually I know, I couln't live by myself. The house is nice and I think it's his friends who's going to be gone for awhile. All the houses outside the city have some form of a gate around them and most people have dogs barking out at you from behind them. Anyway, it's way cool and he had chickens in the back and there was a swimming pool, which was in desperate need of cleaning. Speaking of, we've got a lady who come and cleans our appartment once a week which I thought was just some added bonus and a way to ensure that we don't trash the place. But I think it might be common here. Sebastian said something about him being eager for the cleaning lady to come and tidy up...I'll have to ask about that next time we get together. After drinking hot cocoa and eating some crackers he invited me over to his sisters house to see his week old niece. It was about a ten minute walk, it's so nice walking around with Argentine's because of how crazy people drive and the general uncertainty of when it's safe to cross the street. I wouldn't even look out of fear, but just stick close to him and go when he went haha. When we got there, there was the sister and her baby, her one year old daughter, an older guy, and a man and woman but I'm not sure of everyone's relation except that the older guy's grandpa to the little girl. The house was small and cozy and a football match was on tv. I asked the man something in Spanish but he replied in excellent English. The older man kind of eyed me from time to time but I don't think he spoke English and I'm sure he was trying to figure out what the hell I was doing there haha. We hung out there for a bit, I played with Abril, the little girl, and then we took off to get back to Sebastians house so we could then go to mine for my fiesta! When we got back to his place though Alan and Maicole (ok this is how I think it's spelt now but it's still pronounced kind of like Michael) came over. They only hung out for like ten minutes and then hoped back on their motorbike and Sebastian and I caught a bus back to my place.

Maria, Jenna, Jessica, Ines, Monse (girl from Spain), and Kelsey were chillen when we got there. Ines was in the process of making delicious pizzas! Juan and Juan's brother came, and I got to thank him and tell him how nice his bed was that night I stayed over at Juan's haha. Alan and Maicole next. Jessica was leaving for a different party, Kelsey went with her, and Jenna left with them to go home so I was once again the only English speaker left. But then Luis, this one is from the Bay Area and I think he's rad, came and I felt a little comforted. I think in the three weeks I've been here my Spanish has already improved a good deal. That first Argentine party I sat and observed unless someone spoke broken English with me, this one I actually participated! Not any in depth conversations but some simple communicating and I got the gist of most conversations. I think I've made them believe I knew absolutely no Spanish before I got here or something because they always seem so impressed when I understand or say something in anthing other than the present tense. Oh and quick sidenote of bragging...on three seperate occasions I've had Argentine's tell me I don't look American, but Argentine. Now if I could just get that accent down I'd never come back...I mean, I'd fit right in ;) But anyway there was some spontaneous dancing and general merriment. And mojitos! Overall it was a blast and I absolutely love these boys and hope that this pattern of hanging out will continue my whole stay here.

Sunday Lizzie, Hannah, Kelsey, Synnove and I went to San Telo market. It was down like 10 blocks and we didn't even make it all the way to the end before having to stop for fantastic sandwhiches! That was great fun and then when I got home I did some hw and went to bed. It was quite difficult to get up at 8:30 this morning when I had been routinely staying up till 6AM quite a few mornings before this one.

Added another class! Latin American and US relations class. In English! Caught me off guard this morning when he started speaking in English...it promises to be interesting and I think it will be the most likely to fulfill one of my goals in being here: and that is to learn about Latin America in general but also the effect the two America's have had on each other. My lit. class is tight but I think my favorite is my Spanish class. It's super intimate because there're only like 8 of us and I love the professor. She's this tiny little woman with big black curly hair and she's super fun.

Week three and I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm getting into the swing of things. I love it though because with the night life and such I don't think it'll EVER it get too routine. I do plan on getting out to some more cultural things, not just clubs. There's a Green Film Festival coming up and another, I think more politically based, film festival close to my appartment. I want to see what these Argentine's are all about! And I'm especially interested in the Green one because the people here don't seem to be very eco-conscious. I can't find a reusable water bottle to save my life, trash lines the streets, and I've observed several other non-enviro friendly things I can't recall now. Which doesn't mean they don't care or aren't aware of course. I was reading an article in the Buenos Aires Herald that was talking about some protestors blocking a bridge from Argentina to Uraguay over an environmental issue. And obviously there's this festival. Sebastian was telling me how the cars or the motorcycles don't give off as much polution but how he knows in the US our cars do. He was saying how the weather has been changing here, they had snow in his home town for the first time ever last winter. I think he was making the case that while in the US we do so much to contribute to pollution, the effects are felt in other places that might not be contributing as much.

Ah well, time to call it a night. Ciao Ciao!