I can´t believe I´ve been here for a month. It´s official, I obtained my certificate for spanish level one! I can ask for directions, buy food, try on clothing, and make very small talk. As I improve my spanish, my english gets worse.
We are here during an interesting time. The ex president Kirchner has passed, therefore several stores are closed. They also had a national census day so everything was closed. We bought tickets in advance to see a show and it was cancelled. We rescheduled it for sunday evening. Not really sure what it is but supposedly strange and worth seeing. A couple nights ago I went to a parilla and...you won´t believe this, I ate rare steak with vino tinto. It was ¡Que Bueno! Later on that evening we went to one of the older Tango places in Bs As. The building is very antigua, old and facinating with art everywhere and the music was fabulous.
I leave the city monday to travel. We are taking a bus to Iguazu Falls, staying there for four full days. Besides checking out the area we are going on a bird tour. After this we come back to Bs As for 9 hours then take a bus to Puerto Madryn. Not really sure what we are doing here but by the end of November I will be in....Bariloche. Whew! I have plenty of studying to do identifying plants and animals, plus learning their spanish names. I will be doing two species account, one on th endangered Geoffry´s Cat and the other on Austrocedrus chilensis (cedar tree). This morning I went on a bird walk with my classmates at the Wildlife Refuge that is on the Rio de la Plata. I´ve also been to th Museum of Science which was pretty amazing. I ALSO went to what i believe to be the largest book store in Argentina. It was previously a theatre turned into a book store.
Times up, gotta go. Will be in touch. ¡Que desfrutes!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Union wars y futbol
I think I had mentioned in my last post about someone getting killed. There always seems to be worker strikes going on. Most recently there was a very large union strike. One person was killed and two others injured. There is confusion as to what is really happening. I heard that there are two union groups and one of them is some type of gang. Well the boys family and friends were pist so there was a massive march in memory of him.
The headline in La Nacion periodico read, ¨Una marcha cargada de emocion y dramatismo.¨ And on the inside, ¨Investigan a la policia por su actuacion en el choque gremial.¨ It was an emotional march and their investigating the charge of the criminal. It was held on avenida de corrientes where the hostels on but several blocks away, they did shut down the street, it was strange to not hear cars. When I got back to the hostel there was a really ugly looking woman talking on the TV, little did I know that was la Presidenta, Cristina Kirchner.
another story....
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!! GGGOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At first I couldn´t understand where the hoarse screams were coming from or what they mean´t. Then my classmate yelled, ¨gggoooooooooooalll!!!!¨ I always knew that futbol was popular in south america but I had no idea how much until I got here. It´s engrained in the culture, it´s in very young child playing futbol with their amigos 11pm at night. It´s on every television in the cafes and bars, it´s in the eyes of all. Just today when I was enjoying a cup of cafe someone scored a goal and all of the cafe workers went insane. I have to say, I´m impressed and I´m becoming a big fan. Oh yeah, I never explained where the screaming was coming from. I was walking down the street and the screams were coming from an apartment. Todo bien. All good.
The headline in La Nacion periodico read, ¨Una marcha cargada de emocion y dramatismo.¨ And on the inside, ¨Investigan a la policia por su actuacion en el choque gremial.¨ It was an emotional march and their investigating the charge of the criminal. It was held on avenida de corrientes where the hostels on but several blocks away, they did shut down the street, it was strange to not hear cars. When I got back to the hostel there was a really ugly looking woman talking on the TV, little did I know that was la Presidenta, Cristina Kirchner.
another story....
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!! GGGOOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At first I couldn´t understand where the hoarse screams were coming from or what they mean´t. Then my classmate yelled, ¨gggoooooooooooalll!!!!¨ I always knew that futbol was popular in south america but I had no idea how much until I got here. It´s engrained in the culture, it´s in very young child playing futbol with their amigos 11pm at night. It´s on every television in the cafes and bars, it´s in the eyes of all. Just today when I was enjoying a cup of cafe someone scored a goal and all of the cafe workers went insane. I have to say, I´m impressed and I´m becoming a big fan. Oh yeah, I never explained where the screaming was coming from. I was walking down the street and the screams were coming from an apartment. Todo bien. All good.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Viernes, 22 de Octubre de 2010
This has been a fairly busy week and to top it off, I´m just getting over a head cold. Along with studying spanish, my Biology classmates and I attended two seminars (two hours for each seminar) this week. There were nine scientific papers presented which meant we had to read all 9 papers. Por ejemplo....
My paper was titled, ¨Afforestation causes changes in post-fire regeneration in native shrubland communities of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.¨
Some other papers were about the Andean Condors, ring-tailed coatis (raccoon family), plant-pollinator interaction, and a very interesting paper about Kulp Seagulls eating the blubber of Right Whales in the Peninsula Valdez. All very interesting studies that help us to better understand survey methods, data analysis, graphs to represent data, and local biology of Argentina.
Onward.
On my walk from the escuela (school) to the hostel I took a mental note of the different types of ¨things¨ one can buy on the calle (street). I don´t know if a high percentage of these were stolen, I´m guessin they were. You can´t leisurley stroll on a calle in Bs As. Besides swerving and dodging around vehicles, poop, and people, there are usually several pieces missing from the sidwalk. I´ve tripped more than I cant count. There are at least two people on every cuadra (block) aggresively trying to hand you a flyer. What I think is most facinating are the people selling random stuff. There´s señor hombre selling only tissue paper. Then theres la mujera selling socks and bras. You can also buy a plethora of toys and on my way home today I saw a man selling only womens electric razors. I could, technically, leave the hostel naked and buy everything I need by the time I get to school and it would cost me roughly 20 pesos or $5.
On the busiest sections of Avendia de Corrientes there are señor hombres selling bags of fried peanuts, etc. for 2 pesos, .50 cents. I´ve also noticed that Barney and The Simpsons are popular and believe me, the Simpsons is hilarious en español.
Wednesday was a full day. I had spanish from 1 to 4 pm then a field trip. W didn´t leave for a long time because of a protest (will explain in more detail later). When we finally got rolling we went to La Boca which translates to, the mouth of the river. This is a neighborhood known for their pinturas and rightfully bursting with pastel colors. Apparently there are only a few safe streets so it took us roughly 20 minutes to tour it. We passed two outdoor seated restaurants with live tengo dancing.
When we got back we were all tired (and I was ill) so we didn´t feel like walking back to the hostel. Instead, we took the subte (subway). I must stress that I have to be somewhat desperate to ride the subte. Once the subte pulls up, it´s a fight for all. You have to shove your way into the already sardine-like packed space. Once inside, it´s like playing bumper cars only some bumper cars are much larger and sweatier than others. Amy Flynn defined it very well, ¨it´s like surfing!¨
I got off near the hostel and picked up my laundry from the Lavanderia. I had it done for 10 pesos, roughly $2.50. On my way back to the hostel I pass a flora mercado and sometimes pick up vegetables and fruit from a verdularia (market of vegetables and fruit) for my dinner. But that night we went to a music show that was out of this world!
Tonight I´m having an ensalada con sauteed asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, and sauce. My amigo señor Julio gave me an alfajor con dulce de fruta, so I will indulge in this for desert. I will write about the protests later. Chau!
My paper was titled, ¨Afforestation causes changes in post-fire regeneration in native shrubland communities of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.¨
Some other papers were about the Andean Condors, ring-tailed coatis (raccoon family), plant-pollinator interaction, and a very interesting paper about Kulp Seagulls eating the blubber of Right Whales in the Peninsula Valdez. All very interesting studies that help us to better understand survey methods, data analysis, graphs to represent data, and local biology of Argentina.
Onward.
On my walk from the escuela (school) to the hostel I took a mental note of the different types of ¨things¨ one can buy on the calle (street). I don´t know if a high percentage of these were stolen, I´m guessin they were. You can´t leisurley stroll on a calle in Bs As. Besides swerving and dodging around vehicles, poop, and people, there are usually several pieces missing from the sidwalk. I´ve tripped more than I cant count. There are at least two people on every cuadra (block) aggresively trying to hand you a flyer. What I think is most facinating are the people selling random stuff. There´s señor hombre selling only tissue paper. Then theres la mujera selling socks and bras. You can also buy a plethora of toys and on my way home today I saw a man selling only womens electric razors. I could, technically, leave the hostel naked and buy everything I need by the time I get to school and it would cost me roughly 20 pesos or $5.
On the busiest sections of Avendia de Corrientes there are señor hombres selling bags of fried peanuts, etc. for 2 pesos, .50 cents. I´ve also noticed that Barney and The Simpsons are popular and believe me, the Simpsons is hilarious en español.
Wednesday was a full day. I had spanish from 1 to 4 pm then a field trip. W didn´t leave for a long time because of a protest (will explain in more detail later). When we finally got rolling we went to La Boca which translates to, the mouth of the river. This is a neighborhood known for their pinturas and rightfully bursting with pastel colors. Apparently there are only a few safe streets so it took us roughly 20 minutes to tour it. We passed two outdoor seated restaurants with live tengo dancing.
When we got back we were all tired (and I was ill) so we didn´t feel like walking back to the hostel. Instead, we took the subte (subway). I must stress that I have to be somewhat desperate to ride the subte. Once the subte pulls up, it´s a fight for all. You have to shove your way into the already sardine-like packed space. Once inside, it´s like playing bumper cars only some bumper cars are much larger and sweatier than others. Amy Flynn defined it very well, ¨it´s like surfing!¨
I got off near the hostel and picked up my laundry from the Lavanderia. I had it done for 10 pesos, roughly $2.50. On my way back to the hostel I pass a flora mercado and sometimes pick up vegetables and fruit from a verdularia (market of vegetables and fruit) for my dinner. But that night we went to a music show that was out of this world!
Tonight I´m having an ensalada con sauteed asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, and sauce. My amigo señor Julio gave me an alfajor con dulce de fruta, so I will indulge in this for desert. I will write about the protests later. Chau!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Night Life
It´s 5am and I´m still awake. I´M STILL AWAKE! We had an asado that started roughly around 11:30pm. We grilled up tons of meat and veggies. There was a live band playing music less than one block away so we danced and enjoyed the scene. A few of the band members (all hombres) were wearing dresses (one was a sweet black and white stripped, low cut). A girl even came out and performed flaming batons. The crowd blocked the street completely and we danced the night away....
This city never sleeps. When on my way out the door, headed for school, I was often asked by the hostel employees what I had done in the evening. My bedtimes roughly 11pm and this always shocks them. Pablo or Marcelo ask, ¨why aren´t you partying at the clubs!? That´s what you should be doing here!¨I decided it was time to live the argentinian life at least a couple times before we headed off to the campo.
Friday night was ladies night. We had dinner and drinks in Palermo then wandered around aimlessly trying to find a club. What seemed like two hours later (by now it´s 2am) we find the club. Everyone headed to a bar while my classmate, Kailee and I checked out the club. We spoke to a mother and daughter who couldnt get into the club because they didn´t have ID on them. So they gave us their tickets! They were super sweet. So we go into this club and it´s drenched in weed, no ones dancing, and there´s midgets dancing on stage. It gets better. There´s an old wrinkly, tall man in a dress swaying in the breeze of marijuana. There´s more. This gorgeous woman comes onto th stage wearing a bikini. It took a long time but the midgets slowly painted her and eventuallly all her clothes came off. Boring. I´ve seen naked bodies before. Long story short, we somehow found our way back to the hostel in time to watch day break. ¿Bueños noches, or should I say, Bueñas Dias!?
BTW, I bounced off the tire of a motorcycle a couple nights ago. I was heading back from playing futbol with my classmate David and it was en la noche. It was his fault. I was crossing th street to greet him when i was side swiped by a motorcicleta (whose light wasn´t on for I didnt see him). I obtained a few scratches and bruises and learned a great lesson. Vehicles don´t stop for pedestrians in Bueños Aires.
This city never sleeps. When on my way out the door, headed for school, I was often asked by the hostel employees what I had done in the evening. My bedtimes roughly 11pm and this always shocks them. Pablo or Marcelo ask, ¨why aren´t you partying at the clubs!? That´s what you should be doing here!¨I decided it was time to live the argentinian life at least a couple times before we headed off to the campo.
Friday night was ladies night. We had dinner and drinks in Palermo then wandered around aimlessly trying to find a club. What seemed like two hours later (by now it´s 2am) we find the club. Everyone headed to a bar while my classmate, Kailee and I checked out the club. We spoke to a mother and daughter who couldnt get into the club because they didn´t have ID on them. So they gave us their tickets! They were super sweet. So we go into this club and it´s drenched in weed, no ones dancing, and there´s midgets dancing on stage. It gets better. There´s an old wrinkly, tall man in a dress swaying in the breeze of marijuana. There´s more. This gorgeous woman comes onto th stage wearing a bikini. It took a long time but the midgets slowly painted her and eventuallly all her clothes came off. Boring. I´ve seen naked bodies before. Long story short, we somehow found our way back to the hostel in time to watch day break. ¿Bueños noches, or should I say, Bueñas Dias!?
BTW, I bounced off the tire of a motorcycle a couple nights ago. I was heading back from playing futbol with my classmate David and it was en la noche. It was his fault. I was crossing th street to greet him when i was side swiped by a motorcicleta (whose light wasn´t on for I didnt see him). I obtained a few scratches and bruises and learned a great lesson. Vehicles don´t stop for pedestrians in Bueños Aires.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I´m living a month in this busy city full of three million portenas. This word refers to the people that live next to the port, the Rio de La Plata which translates to River of Silver. This river is the widest in th world, with a total of about 13,500 square miles.*
15 students live at the Rancho Urbano hostel on a busy street called Avenida de Corrientes and roughly Avenida de Gascon. I share a very small room with three other chicas and one tiny bathroom. We are served a free breakfast which consists of th popular pastry, medialuna. Choices of manteca (butter), sweet dulce de leche, y variety of jams. There´s also small pieces of toasted bread (not sure what it´s called, everyone can hear one bite into it). There´s also frosted flake cereal for the norte de americanas which surprisingly none nof us really eat. To drink we geet cafe con leche y super sweet juice.
This is how I start my day and do my spanish homework. The hostel cat, Vito is usually around to perch on a shoulder or lap. I just bought a yoga mat (ssshhhoga colchaneta). The ¨y¨ and ¨ll¨ are pronounced with a ssshhhh. I look forward to doing my yoga every morning. I tend to get stressed being in the big city. The other students feel the same for we are students of biologia and we prefer las montañas, floras, y arboles (mountains, flowers, and trees).
I walk to and from school everday. It usually takes about 35 to 45 minutes depending on the foot traffic. There are extremely congested areas with people selling random things like socks, stolen jewelry, lots of kids toys, and yummy postres. There is a lot to see, such as beautiful flower shops, and kids getting out of school wearing their white or blue doctor looking jackets. There are always dog walkers with as many as 7, maybe more, dogs on and even sometimes off the leash.
I study spanish from one to four in the afternoon. The school is also on a very busy street full of ruidos (noise)! I´ve never heard so many different noises in my life! The bus can make a variety of whistles, honks, and tweets. The knife cutters perform a tune to let people know their there. Every car is constantly honking and one time in class someone laid on the horn for a good minute.
I share a local computer so have limited amount of time. I hope this gives everyone a feel for what I´m up to. There´s still so much to tell you! Until then, let me know if you have any questions. Chau
btw: this computer is old and a lot of the e´s dont get inserted.
*Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 2010. ¨Plata, Rio De La.¨ 9, Octubre. 2010. blah blah blah
15 students live at the Rancho Urbano hostel on a busy street called Avenida de Corrientes and roughly Avenida de Gascon. I share a very small room with three other chicas and one tiny bathroom. We are served a free breakfast which consists of th popular pastry, medialuna. Choices of manteca (butter), sweet dulce de leche, y variety of jams. There´s also small pieces of toasted bread (not sure what it´s called, everyone can hear one bite into it). There´s also frosted flake cereal for the norte de americanas which surprisingly none nof us really eat. To drink we geet cafe con leche y super sweet juice.
This is how I start my day and do my spanish homework. The hostel cat, Vito is usually around to perch on a shoulder or lap. I just bought a yoga mat (ssshhhoga colchaneta). The ¨y¨ and ¨ll¨ are pronounced with a ssshhhh. I look forward to doing my yoga every morning. I tend to get stressed being in the big city. The other students feel the same for we are students of biologia and we prefer las montañas, floras, y arboles (mountains, flowers, and trees).
I walk to and from school everday. It usually takes about 35 to 45 minutes depending on the foot traffic. There are extremely congested areas with people selling random things like socks, stolen jewelry, lots of kids toys, and yummy postres. There is a lot to see, such as beautiful flower shops, and kids getting out of school wearing their white or blue doctor looking jackets. There are always dog walkers with as many as 7, maybe more, dogs on and even sometimes off the leash.
I study spanish from one to four in the afternoon. The school is also on a very busy street full of ruidos (noise)! I´ve never heard so many different noises in my life! The bus can make a variety of whistles, honks, and tweets. The knife cutters perform a tune to let people know their there. Every car is constantly honking and one time in class someone laid on the horn for a good minute.
I share a local computer so have limited amount of time. I hope this gives everyone a feel for what I´m up to. There´s still so much to tell you! Until then, let me know if you have any questions. Chau
btw: this computer is old and a lot of the e´s dont get inserted.
*Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 2010. ¨Plata, Rio De La.¨ 9, Octubre. 2010. blah blah blah
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
El Pasayo
I imagine this is what my pasayo looks like. I don´t see him during the day but I know he´s following me around, collecting mate gourds of new information. After a long day of trying to encrypt español, I climb into bed in hopes of dreaming of heladerias (ice cream shops) and medialunas con dulce de leche (halfmoon croissants with a popular caramelized sugar). I happen to be enjoying this right now with cafe con leche (coffee and milk). Back to the story. This is not what I dream of. The Pasayo makes sure of that. Remember the mate gourds filled to the brim with information? He taks those, lets say, four at a time, and tries to juggle them. This is no talented pasayo, he´s clumsy and sends mate flying. It pours and pours out so fast that this i what I hear at night.
si si si si ecribe si si si lavanderia si no ¿que? si si si si si......
My pasayo never sleeps but I know that overtime his juggling will get better.
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