Well, today just started not too long ago (it’s only 11:30 right now), but something has already happened that I feel I should write about! Now, I am going to tell you about a story involving two Argentine women and I am just going to happily assume that this is the way Argentines are. I’m sure that there are exceptions about how people are here (like in any country in any world, there will be people who are different), but I am going to say that these two women are how Argentine women are…because I like thinking that way. I hope that made sense…
This morning, I woke up around 10:00 (actually, I woke up earlier, around 8:00, but being Cambria I will not allow myself to be awake that early if I have nothing to do, so I went back to sleep). =) So, after eating breakfast I realized that I had quite a bit of time to do…well, whatever I wanted to do, before leaving for class at one. Now, I think I’ve mentioned my book dilemma before. I only brought one book with me thinking that I wasn’t going to have that much time to read, because hello! I’m in B.A….no time for sitting around reading. Well, seven weeks is a long time to just run around every single day. I’d wear myself out easily. So, yesterday (as I mentioned) I was hoping a book store would be open, and found none. So today, I thought I would go to a bookstore before class. Then I thought…wait, surely they have libraries here. I mean, biblioteca is the word for library and why would they have that word if there are none in a Spanish speaking country? So I asked my host mom if there were any close by. (This is where the story starts of the Argentine women.) She wasn’t sure, so instead of just telling me she didn’t know (which, lets be honest… there are plenty of people in the US that, when you ask a question, if they don’t know, that’s that…) she looked through her “Guia T” (guide) of B.A. and found a list (which, if I’d have known was there, I would have looked at it in mine). She looks at the list and finds some that are close, but instead of just giving me addresses, she calls the places. She said that libraries here can be very specific, like a library just for Architects or just for Doctors, etc. So she was calling and asking if they were open and when they were open, etc. She called about four or five places for me. Of those, one was open but would not allow you to check out books (why is it called a library?!), two numbers were disconnected, and two were closed for winter/the flu.
So here it was, looking like a dead end. But then she showed me that she had a few books that her son had bought when he visited, and they were in English. There were about 7 or 8 books there, and I probably could have read a couple of them okay, but then she was like, “Muy masculino, no?” I was okay with reading a “guy” book, but did she stop there? NO. She decided to call her friend, Graciela who lives on the floor below us and ask her if she had any books in English for girls. Sure enough, Graciela answered and said she did and would look for them and put them in a bag for me to look through. Then, when I asked Elsa if I needed to go down there, she said no, Graciela would call when she got them together and then Elsa would go down and get them for me.
Isn’t that just amazing? Not only do I not have to buy a book here, I don’t have to go through the process of checking out a book (which might be difficult with the language barrier, and if there were papers for me to fill out to get a library card or whatever they have here) or trying to find a library that’s actually open. And Elsa could have just said, “I don’t know where any are, I’m sorry!” and I would have been okay with that and just walked around until I found one. The longer I’m here, the more I notice that people really are nice and open if you break the ice. Thomas kind of noticed this the other night.
When you’re outside, or on a bus, or somewhere public, the people look like they have a mission and that’s what they’re going to do. They don’t necessarily look friendly (or unfriendly for that matter), just determined. So basically, they don’t look open to talk to you. However, Thomas just asked a question to a lady on a bus the other night, and she smiled and answered the question, then started talking to him and asking him questions (which is easy to do for them when it’s obvious you’re not from here). And she was really nice.
So I thought that would be an interesting story to share, how my house mom went beyond being helpful to make sure I got what I wanted. I am definitely very grateful to be living with her. She’s so helpful and kind and friendly… and fun to watch television with! And today she was roasting a huge red pepper over an open flame. It was just sitting there on the stove, no pan or anything. I am not a cook…but she said it’s to peel it easier. It was interesting looking.
Anyways…that’s all for now, and the day is just starting! More later!
Later, that same day…=)
Well, now it is evening (pretty late for me to be up…12:30! Ha ha). I had a pretty good, long day. I went to my class at the new location. Now, of course, beforehand I had no idea where my classes would be. I just had an address. Even when I got there I had NO idea what kind of a building it was. I went in and Thomas and Adam were already there talking with Marcelo (our student coordinator through Universidad Austral). We stood there waiting on the other two girls and talking about coffee and the different sizes and kinds there are here. (I will give you a coffee guide for B.A. later!) After awhile, I started noticing people walking in and up the stairs or down the stairs into other rooms. And I noticed: “Hmm…I haven’t seen another girl yet.” I know, maybe it’s a strange thing to notice, but not ONE other girl out of maybe 10 people I saw other than the ones I was with. Later, as Marcelo is giving us a short tour of where the bathrooms/study rooms/classroom is he tells us, “Oh, by the way, this is an all-male residential hall.” WHAT? An all-MALE residential hall? How horrible…what terrible luck I have. =) I know mom and dad will enjoy that! Ha ha… none of them seemed really thrown off by the fact that there were a few girls there, so maybe it’s not that rare of a thing, or maybe they were playing it cool. But how funny… and the building is closer to where we all live, and I don’t have to take a bus to get there. Things with school are looking up! =)
Moving on, after class we walked around some, then I eventually went home because I was SO hungry. OH, restaurants here (other than McD’s and Burger King) don’t serve food between 4 and 6 or 7 depending on the restaurant. Isn’t that crazy? It has a name for the time of day it is. I don’t remember the name exactly but it has to do with it being the middle of the day, or snack time. They only serve drinks and some serve medialunas (croissants) or cookies, but no meals. Very interesting. However, I was really hungry because I forgot to eat lunch. I had breakfast around 10:30 so I wasn’t hungry at noon! =) So I went home and ate my dinner early (really early for here) at 5:00. My host mom made these HUGE meatballs (with all sorts of spices and what not in them, they were good) and this stew stuff with potatoes and garbanzo beans (which I ate all of) and little tomatoes (which I also ate!). It was so good, but afterwards I was stuffed! It was a great meal.
After, I uploaded a few more photos (again, it took FOREVER), then went to meet Bridget at McD’s so she could use my computer to upload her photos (which was a lot faster because it was a different wifi server). So tomorrow, I am going to school a little earlier (NO, not because of the boys! Lol) to use their wifi.
After McD’s, we went to the drum show (like I went to last Monday night); however, tonight it was closed due to La Gripe (the flu!). Sigh…now the flu is getting in the way of my fun! Not cool, nope, not at all. There were a few vendors outside selling their stuff, so we looked around for awhile. There was a guy who was from
As we kept talking to him, I noticed that he had a single dread on the back of his head. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but dread locks are a very big thing here. There are plenty of Rastas (reggae heads, basically) with dreads, or partial dreads. They wear baggy, hippie clothing and are very “one with the earth”…that sort of thing. There were a few out there selling stuff. I had been talking to Bridget about getting a single dread to put on the back of my head (under all my hair so it’s not just OUT in the open), so we went ahead and asked him how to do it. He said it was hard to explain, but asked if we wanted one…so I got one! Again, for Free! He was really nice about it and yes, I realize that maybe letting some random street seller give me a dread wasn’t the smartest or safest thing to do (and is very NOT Cambria-like), it was a fun, free moment for me. And like my mom said when I told her on the phone, “it’s better than getting a tattoo”. So yeah, and I like it….and I can always cut it out if I start to not like it. Yay for doing a “cultural” thing while in B.A.!
After that, we went and had a slice of pizza at a random little café. I know I’ve said this before, but pizza is SO good here. Even plain mozzarella pizza is AMAZING. It never disappoints…or at least, it hasn’t yet. I prefer any of the pizza here over Pizza Hut, Mazzios, or even Dominoes! (Don’t tell Raliegh about that last one! Ha) Then we went to our various apartments.
And now I am finishing up my update and then going to bed! But first, I suppose I shall give you a quick lesson on the Coffee of Buenos Aires:
For starters, you should know that coffee sizes here are SMALL. The largest size you can get (unless you go to Starbucks which doesn’t count in this lesson) is about the size of a small in the states…not kidding. And that is only if you can find it. (It took Thomas almost three weeks to find a place that sells them that big. However, coffee here is really strong, so maybe it balances it out.
There are four major “types” of sizes that we learned about today. You can get all of these (except for Café con Leche) as a “doble” which is “double”.
- Café – about the size of an espresso shot.
- Café Doble – two espresso shots
- Café con Leche – much bigger (and by that I mean still really small compared to the states) since it’s half milk, half coffee.
- Cortada – Coffee with a dash of milk.
- Cortada Doble – a bit bigger size of the regular Corta.
- Café Lágrima – coffee with only a small drop of coffee, but it’s a much stronger coffee than the others. (Lágrima in Spanish is “tear drop”. You can also get a “Doble” of this as well.
(And you can always add “con crema” [with cream].)
Now you all know a little bit about the coffee styles here. Of course, there is a lot more that even I don’t know, but if you ever come to B.A. (and Marcelo told us it was a lot like this in Italy as well), you know not to get just a “café” unless you really just want an espresso shot. But Café con Leche is probably the most common (and best in my opinion, although I really want to try the Lagrima one to see how strong it really is!).
And that is all the exciting news that I have to share with you today…and this was quite a long update! Woo! It’s almost three and half pages in Microsoft Word! Someone tell me why I’m not a journalist? =)
Chao to all my lovely friends and family! Miss you all and will write more later!
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