AUTUMN’S ADVENTURES

I was up at 7am this morning and I have to admit it felt like I was facing death’s door.  I haven’t had to wake up that early in so long — I didn’t even wake up that early when I worked in the office at IHS.  My body just doesn’t agree with the early hours of the day yet.  Anyway, I got up early because I was supposed to go to a post graduate class at the university with professor Alabí but it got cancelled because there was a problem with the buses and students couldn’t get to the school.  I got dropped off by car so I didn’t get the message until I arrived at Alabí’s house.  Alabí doesn’t have my cell phone number yet so she couldn’t call me to tell me I didn’t need to wake up at the ass crack of dawn. Oh well.  We ended up having our normal class for an hour and then I went to Carena for a few hours.

I took a two hour nap when I returned home and then brewed myself a cup of instant coffee with powdered milk and powdered chocolate.  That is as good as it gets here for coffee but I don’t really mind it.

Tonight I went to Salta with Gabi because she had to go there to do things for her business.  We took a taxi to another type of taxi that cost us 20 pesos one way.  That is a pretty reasonable price considering the trip is about an hour long.  Papá Mercadal told me those taxis are illegal but I didn’t know that until after I got back.  Not that I care anyway because most things that are illegal shouldn’t be illegal in the first place.  We arrived around 9:30 - 10 and when Gabi was finished with her important work stuff we walked around to find food.  I’m getting a little better with my conversational castellano and I am understanding a lot more that I did a few days ago.  Gabi talks a lot and asks me a ton of questions so she is really making it easy for me to adapt faster.  I decided today that she is my new bestie in Jujuy.  She is definitely bestie material.  We got back to Jujuy around 2am and people were still hanging out at the movie theater near her work.  Argentines are definitely night owls…

This weekend I hung out a lot with Gabi and Pato.  I stayed at the house all day Saturday being a bum.  I didn’t want to exert any energy because I wanted to save it all up for Saturday night since we were going out dancing until 7 in the morning.  I went to Gabi’s house at 11 pm and she had prepared pizza for us.  Pato and a handful of others were on there way — yay for me, I get to make more friends!

Gabi made me a drink consisting of some sweet white wine, sprite and lemon.  It was delicious.  Gabi lives with her mom, or rather her mom lives with her since her parents separated.  Gabi has a brother that is my age (and apparently likes me though he has never met me or seen a photo of me…so it goes) and he lives with the father.  The apartment is quaint and cute.

Pato showed up with another girl whose name I can’t remember and shortly after that three dudes arrived — Seba (Sebastian), Dani (Danielo) and Juan P.  They were very funny dudes always making bromas.  Even though I couldn’t understand a lot of what they were saying they still provided great entertainment for me.  We drank at Gabi’s until 2 am and then we headed to the boliche (dance club).  Just like it is lame to show up to a party before 10:30 pm, it is lame to show up to a club before 2 am.  It is normal to stay at a club until 6 or 8 am.  I’m very ok with these hours as I love to dance and to dance all night long is the best thing ever.  We went to a boliche called Akropolis.  It is a huge place that fits hundreds of people.  I bought a tall cervesa for 10 pesos (about $3).  I was already pretty toasted from Gabi’s house so I didn’t need much more alcohol to set me up for the night.  A band came on around 5:30 am that played American disco music.  I thought that was really funny.

A common type of music in Argentina is Cumbia.  That is what is played in the clubs along with Reggaeton, some American dance music and probably other forms of music that I don’t know yet.  Also, it is important to remember to bring tissue in your bra when going to the club (not to enhance the girls) because the bathrooms never have any toilet paper.  This was a tip I got from my sister that I can’t thank her enough for. I had a really fun time dancing all night long and I went to bed around 7:30 am.

I woke up around 1:30 pm, took a shower and went with Jose, my “host” brother, to a rock concert in the park.  It started at 3pm and I was there until around 9 pm.  I met up with Gabi, Pato, Seba, Dani and Juan around 5pm and we drank wine and coke.  Some of the bands were ok though I’m not really into spanish rock.  Gabi, Pato and I left the concert to get some eats.  We had lomito which is basically a hamburger but it has steak instead of a meat patty.  I’m into that.

I retired early because I needed to wake up at 7 am for class with Alabí.  Woohoo!

I had my second class today with professor Alabí.  She gave me the book, The Diary of Anne Frank, in castellano and I’m going to attempt to read it.  I started the book tonight and only got through two pages.  I understand most of it which is cool.  I’m hoping this will help me learn more words and some sentence structure.  After my lesson with Alabí we watched a bit of TV because the financial situation in the US right now is in the shits.  Alabí loves keeping up with American news and she is always watching American television.  She would correct me, though, and say she was watching “North American” television as she is also an American, just  a different kind.  She loves the New York accent because she says it sounds clean and nice.  She isn’t talking about Long Island New York, don’t worry.

I worked on my laptop in Carena for about 30 minutes.  I always like to try new things in restaurants so I ordered an ensalada Capresse.  It was a salad containing tomato, cheese and some type of herb called albahaca.  I put olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper on it but it still didn’t taste very good.  I think it was due to this unknown herb which I now know is sweet basil.  Also, the cheese wasn’t very good which was hard for me to take (as you all know I freaking love cheese).  I was so disappointed with my salad and I wished that I hadn’t ordered it.  After Carena I met up with Gabi at her small business.  We hung out there for a while and talked in Spanglish.

Gabi and I walked through Centro for a while and then we went to La Fiesta Nacional de los Estudiantes to watch the carrozas (floats).  Every September the students in the high schools all across Jujuy spend most of August and September building these elaborate floats and then they have a huge parade for two weekends in a row.  The floats are judged and the schools with the best floats get a trophy.  I bought some oreo cookies to feed the beast that is my belly and then we took Gabi’s moto to my house where we chilled and watched Duelo (of course), my new favorite program.  She is good company and I’m glad we are able to hang out so much now.

I made two new girl friends today and I’m so happy about it.  There comes a sense of security with women friends that a girl can never find with her male friends.  I never have to worry about feelings developing or mixed signals.  I can say and do what I want without it being interpreted as something it isn’t.  Being in another country where the people speak a different language makes it even more difficult to know when you are being “too friendly” with a guy.  I also like the fact that these girls are more close to my age and they have steady jobs.  They are in the same boat as me.  When I hung out with my little sister’s friends they didn’t have any money and I had to act like the mommy and pay for everything (why I agreed to do such a thing I don’t even know).  It was really stupid.  I also met two girls from Holland at my favorite cafe, Carena.  I gave them my email so we could hang out since they are going to be in Jujuy for 3 months.  We’ll see how that develops.

My new friend’s names are Gabi and Pato (Gabiota and Patricia).  Gabi works with Mamá Mercadal at the private hospital and she also owns her own small business printing graphics on sportswear.  Pato works as an engineer at the engineering firm NOVA in Jujuy.  Seems legit to me.  They speak very little English which I am very happy about but they want to learn English and they want me to teach them so I am trying.  I am looking forward to hanging out with them a lot because they are really fun girls.

Mamá Mercadal (the mom of the house I’m staying at) is humming to American music on the television.  It is so precious.  I want to keep my door open to listen to her but I also want to practice my castellano with Rosetta Stone.  Luckily, mamá sings a lot so I have plenty of opportunities to listen to her sing, or make funny noises.

This weekend was surprisingly productive for me.  I went to lunch on Saturday to profesor Alabí’s house and I met a potential house mate and potential place to live.  The woman I would live with is in her late 30’s or 40’s and is a psychologist.  She is very hip and very into culture and art and cool stuff.  She has a very intense look about her — very dark features and jet black hair.  Her house is amazing and exactly what I would want to live in.  It is a dream house to me.  It is built on a cliff overlooking the mountains.  There are multiple porches that go off of the house, one is attached to the room I´d be staying in.  The decor is from the 70´s.  From the furniture to the artwork on the walls to the cups we drink our coffee out of.   It is sheer perfection.  She has two Siamese cats that are really beautiful and there is a winding wooden staircase that leads down to the bedrooms.  The main living room has really high ceilings and huge windows that let in tons of light.  To rent a bedroom there would only be $200 (dollars not pesos) per month which is a really good price.  The woman has really good taste in music as well so I think we will get along just fine once I am able to talk to her.  Also, her house is a 5 minute walk from the city center so I will be able to walk a lot to get exercise versus taking a bus or taxi because I´m too far away.  I really don’t want to leave the Mercadal’s house but this place is cool and a good alternative if I do have to leave.  It is my understanding that I am only staying with the Mercadal’s temporarily but who knows what they think.  This is something I need to talk to them about once I am able to talk.

Today I went to “Centro” (what the city center is called) and I worked for about 4 hours.  I’m hoping to submit my hours so I can get my first fat paycheck as a remote worker.  This still feels like a vacation and not real life.  I wake up in the morning and lay in bed for at least 10 minutes thinking about how I’m going to spend my day (and how I’m going to talk to people once I get downstairs).  Sometimes I get a bit scared because right now my life has no boundaries.  There are no concrete expectations set for me.  I’m free as a bird and that is hellishly intimidating.

It has been a few days since I have updated.  I’ve been a combination of things these past few days: busy, exhausted, confused, lost, happy and sniffly.  I thought I would remember a lot more of the language once I was forced to use it but I really don’t remember any grammar what-so-ever.  I only speak in present tense. Simple, present tense.  I am re-learning everything I studied in school for years.  I don’t want to say I wasted my time and money but right now I feel like I did.  Maybe I just need to find the key to the locked box inside my head that has all of that information.  I have been in Jujuy for 4 days and I have only left the house a total of 3 times.  It is not as easy to explore this new city like I have explored others because if I get lost I can’t really ask where I am or where I need to go.  This language barrier I’ve created for myself is a real pain in the ass.  I’ve spent most of my free time studying castellano and trying to talk with people in castellano.  It is hard to work (for my job) remotely right now because I can’t use my laptop in the house (no wifi) and I hate hogging their computer.  Also, their computer is slow and doesn’t have all of the programs I need.  I wanted to go into the city tomorrow because I need to work on a project for IHS but I can’t because there is a teacher’s strike happening and all of the major roads and bridges into the city are closed.

I’ve been watching a lot of spanish television and it is quite hilarious.  There is this one show called  Duelo that is competitive dancing, aerobic routines and ice skating.  They wear barely any clothes and almost always have a thong and fake breasts as part of their outfit.  They also wear a lot of makeup and dance super provocatively.  This one couple ice-skated to “Boogie Wonderland” and they painted themselves dark brown from head to toe and wore fro wigs.  They were freaking fake black people.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  They also fall a lot in ice skating and the routines aren’t that difficult or much less entertaining.  I mean, I’m entertained by the sheer unintended humor that they are providing me.  The newest thing on Duelo is the Reggaton dance routines and they are freaking disgusting.  There is a lot of dry humping, licking and pulling of women’s hair in the routines.  I don’t really like it that much but it is still fun to watch.  Also, the show is about 2 hours long each night.  That is INSANE.

Last night we watched fútbol.  It was my first time watching a professional soccer game on TV that I actually cared to see.  The game was Argentina vs. Peru.  It started at 11:30pm and didn’t end until 1:30 am.  I was so tired by the end that I didn’t finish it but I did really enjoy watching all of those hot men right before I fell asleep.

I went bowling this afternoon for the first time in a long time.  The day was rainy and cold so I couldn’t do any exploring.  I had a lot of fun but I didn’t win a single game.  Fede kept calling me a tromposa because I kept stepping over the line and setting off the alarm and that was the only time I’d get a strike.    We ate hamburguesa completas, which is becoming one of my favorite foods here, and they were freaking delish [it contains fried egg, tomato, lettuce, cheese, etc...].  Tonight we went to a couch surfers barbeque (indoors because the weather was crappy still) and I met a lot of cool people.  I spoke in castellano for a good half of the night to a few people.  I was proud of how much I remembered but I know I probably sounded like a retard.  I mostly spoke with this one guy at the party because he was the easiest to understand.  I know the only reason he talked to me for so long was because he was hitting on me but I didn’t care — I was freaking speaking castellano and I didn’t want to stop.  I am really beginning to like Buenos Aires and I’m wondering if I should come back here to live for a while.  Fede is a great guy and Anette is wonderful.  Right now, though, I can’t stop smelling my feet.  These socks smell so bad for 2 reasons: #1-I’ve been wearing them for two days and #2-they are cheap socks.  Luckily I will wash my feet tomorrow.

It is 4 am and I am just arriving back to Fede’s apartment after an evening with “the girls”.  I really love girls nights.  We drank about 5 or 6 bottles of wine between the 4 of us.  We all gathered at Anette’s apartment which was super cute.  She just got a new bright red couch that I am in love with.  I met Paulina, Jess and Sarah for the first time.  Jess and Sarah are both from California but different parts.  Paulina is an Argentine lawyer.  She and I had a lengthy discussion about Argentine politics and economics — she is a smart girl.  I really liked her personality and she kept the conversation interesting for hours.  If I were staying in Buenos Aires I would hang out with her a lot.  Sarah was only visiting for a few weeks and she wasn’t very lively because she had just spent 2 months in India and was exhausted.  Jess has been living in Buenos Aires for the past year and is returning to California in about 3 weeks.  Apparently she can understand castellano perfectly but refuses to speak in castellano and she only speaks in English.  I think that is just stupid but whatever.

Today was my first day in Buenos Aires.  I spent most of the day on the 86 bus that I caught at the airport.  It was extremely cheap (1.5 pesos) and the view from the window was a treat for the eyes.  I arrived to my Couch Surfing host’s apartment around 4 p.m.  The place was very cute and quaint.  The first person I met was Anette, a stunning blonde from Sweden (duh) with a great sense of humor and killer bangs.  Fede, my CS host, followed shortly thereafter.  He was very kind and have a very inviting presence about him.  Lastly I met Fiona, the 6 month old iguana.  I knew there was going to be an iguana in the house but I expected it to be much bigger.  This one was no bigger than an anole or a gecko.  We all spent a while talking over coffee and pastries that Anette had bought for us.  I worried about my travel stench and hoped I was the only one that could smell the 24 hours of travel on my body.  I don’t know what it is about traveling long distances that makes me smell so horrid.  I call it the “old skin” smell (to make this nasty description even worse).  After the “coffee talk” I freshened up and drank some wine.  We went to Palermo Hollywood for dinner and beer.  I had the most mouth-watering quesadilla in all the world.  First off, it had BACON in it.  BACON.  Next, it had veal (only the most tender and lean in the world), and of course it had cheese.  Loads of it.  These are my three most favorite foods at the moment.  I ate that shit like it was heaven on a plate.  GODLY.  Now I lay in my blow-up bed thinking about how wonderful today was and how every day from this point on will probably be just as amazing.  At the restaurant it hit me — I’m here, I’m really here in Argentina and I’m actually doing what I said I wanted to do.  It is so easy — why did I ever wait?

My favorite thing about international flights is the meals.  They are hands down the most interesting part of the flight for me.  I take notice how they are always wrapped up so perfectly.

I want to take my time with each section of the tray and savor each bite.  I unwrap the food slowly and carefully so as to not disturb the presentation of my beautiful meal.  Someone took the time to prepare this feast for my flight and I am going to enjoy the hell out of it.  I stab one noodle at a time with my spork and yelp

silently to myself at the discovery of cheese in my pasta salad.  I push the olives aside and pretend they don’t exist — nothing will ruin this meal for me, not even icky, disgusting olives.  I think the dessert is cheesecake.  I am falling in love with you already, Aeromexico…