Patience is a Virtue

Remember that old saying your mother used to have, "Patience is a virtue my dear." I used to always shrug that comment off, knowing as an American I do not have to have patience. I come from a bigger, better, yesterday society, in which things have an order, a rhyme, a reason to them. Well, HELLO CULTURE SHOCK!

Buenos Aires is sans-order, in practically everything. I recieve a package from my parents as an early Easter gift. Well, I can now see why not many people do the online delivery thing here. In order to recieve an international package, you first must recieve your slip in the mail stating you have a package waiting for you. You then must go to the Correo Argentino Internationale, which is the international post office. Upon arrival, you must take a number ( I will get back to the taking a number topic). Once your number is called, you must tell the desk clerk what you are there for, and present your slip (make sure you have your passport on you.) You then are given another number, and you must go to a room full of people. So full of people, people are sitting down on the floor and using walls as chairs because the 100 odd chairs are full of people. Well, the number that they give you is not a number that goes in order. It is the number of your package. Well, they call you in the order that they can even find you package. So you must sit around, maybe for 5 minutes or in my case 2 hours. It is hard to hear the numbers because a.) they are in spanish and b.) they are muffeled in the microphone. Once you are called, they give you your package, customs opens your package and inspects it, then you may leave the post office. Trust me this is a long process.

Now back to the number issue. In order to get anything done in this city, it is a chore, and you must take a number to ever get anywhere. If you want to order a sandwhich, take a number. If you want any help at a bank, take a number. If you want to buy stamps, take a number. I have never had to take so many numbers in my life, just to do everyday chores that I have taken for granted back home. I now know that next time my mother asks me to run to the store to buy something, I'm not going to say its a lot of work, because this place is ten times the amount of work to do a simple task!

On a positive note, I got to see El Fantisma de la Opera! Yeap, the Andrew LLoyd Webber rendition of The Phantom of the Opera was presented on stage at the Teatro Opera! It was spectacular. I know the entire musical by heart, and this musical was translated into Spanish, so it was a nice way for me to learn a few more Spanish words. In fact, I actually understood the words they were saying on stage, despite the whole language barrier! I was quite excited!

A Weekend at the Spa

So, I got on a bus and rode 8 hours north to Federacion in Entre Rios just to have a relaxing weekend at a spa! And it was probably one of the most interesting weekends of my life! Not to mention, TOTALLY fun! I met a girl named Amanda who´s dad is from Argentina but works at the Mayo clinic in Minnesota, so she goes to the Univ. of Minn. She´s super fun!
It started off with a subte ride to the bus station in Retiro. As we walked toward the station, we were double teamed by some STUPID people who tried to rob us. But we were WAY smarter than them, and we had lovked the important compartments in our backpacks, so they opened it up and couldn´t get anything good! HAHA! Success! I would like to say that it made me angry just the thought that they would do something liek that in the first place. I was seriously infuriated. However, we then looked for our bus, and no one could tell us where it would be, so we stressfully walked back and forth up and down the platforms until we spotted our companies bus with the name of our city posted out front! We thought we were home free, and would be there in 7 hours! Not So! Instead, we had horrible bus bathroom experiences......... UGHHHHHHHHH even thinking about it makes me woozy, we had no dinner, and we were super uncomfortable, because they WOULD NOT turn on the air conditioning. In addition, our bus driver had us stuck behind a caravan of slow moving vehicles the whole way there. Needless to say, we made it to our hotel by midnight, HUNGRY!
However, the hotel was fabulous. And the service was amazing (In fact, a little TOO amazing)! The reception man brought us a bottle of wine and some cold sandwiches he found in the kitchen, and then we cleared out the frigobar!
The next morning, we awoke, had breakfast at the hotel, and then we took the shuttle to the warm springs! I thought it´d be a great idea to choose to tan at the warm springs, because we wouldn´t freeze in the cold pool water when we wanted to cool off. However, these were not warm springs, they were VERY VERY HOT springs. In fact, so hot, that there were warning signs on some of them that warned not to stay in for more than 5 minutes......... I know, my thoughts exactly, Argentina has rules... I had no idea.
After dying in the heat, we decided to call a taxi and head back to our hotel for our day at the spa we had arranged. The taxi was infested with mosquitoes, so if I catch malaria, you all know who to blame.
We got to the spa, and let´s just say I was feeling alittle nervous. Earlier in the day, I had been super brave and had decided to invest in a little ¨depilacion.¨ Now, I was seriously rethinking my experience. And, I can´t go into detail, but I probably should have cancelled!! If anyone wants to know more, please facebook message me, hahaha. Anyhow, after the depilacion, I was in great need of a massage, unfortunately, the person was a man. And that made me feel super uncomfortable, especially after only minutes before, an old man had gone in for a massage with a lady, and they had quickly come right back out, and after he left, she laughingly explained to me that he had in mind a certain something that he would like massaged. I truly thought I would die on the spot. I was scared for my life!
I survived the massage, and shortly thereafter progressed to my hand and foot treatment, followed by a mani-pedi. I would like to point out to all americans everywhere, I was TOLD that it is very ugly to have different color nail polish on your hands than on your toenails. So, I now have a french manicure on my toes........ and it looks like my toenails are dead. But she refused to change her standards. In addition, my nails are so square, the edges can cut! They definitely have some different standards.
After the toes and fingernails, I went to my facial and body treatment, both of which were my favorite part of the day!
In all honesty, for what the exchange rate allowed us to pay, the day was fantastic! We got out of these for about 60 american dollars!!!!!!!!!
After the spa, we headed to our fancy reservation dinner. But it was a total flop, but in all actuality, I think we were too tired to care!
This morning at 6 am we awoke to head out and catch our bus back home.
This bus driver was very different from the last. He had a thing for taking up both lanes no matter what. He was also keen on passing when there was a hill and a double line. I wasn´t sure if we´d make it back alive! In addition, the bus was almost entirely empty, but this lady decided it would be fun to sit right next to us and play her cell phone ring tone (and it was one of those old timey annoying ones) over and over and over. Also, update on the bathroom situation, it was even worse! We ended up miserably trying to focus on something else for 7 hours!!! When we got off the bus, we RAN to the nearest restroom, which unfortunately wasn´t much better.
But in the end, it was a fantastic trip. I made a new friend. And I´m not sure if there´s a better way to get to know someone than to spend an intimate day at the spa, and talk for 14 hours straight driving through cattle land that looks unchanging!

Things I Have Learned in London thus far...

1. Public transportation is amazing and I love beginning each day with a walk to the tube station. Plus, the "tube voice" is always entertaining ("Please mind the gap between the train and the platform.").

2. Americans are way louder than any other nationality.

3. Sometimes getting lost is the best way to get your bearings in a new city.

4. People watching is one of my all time favorite activities.  Though, I need to learn not to stare.

5. I did not pack appropriately... or it could just be the anxiety of not having everyyyything I own close at hand.

6. Pictures are the BEST souvenirs.

7. Living in a foreign country has given me a renewed interest in international news and global concerns.

8. I actually love reading The Economist.

9. A long walk is way more enjoyable than a long shorter run- plus you can actually take in your surroundings.

10. Not taking the elevator (ever) has made a huge difference in my leg strength (no wonder Europeans are fit).

11. Even when I am not in a hurry, I love rushing up the left side of the escalator when leaving or entering the tube station- it makes me feel like I am on my way to somewhere important.

12. It's refreshing not watching T.V. every day.  But I do miss the morning news.

13. I also miss having my own coffee maker-- I have discovered that I am a coffee addict.

14. Flying from Florence to London on an Italian airline somehow cured my fear of flying.  Perhaps it was the language barrier?

15. Afternoon tea is the perfect 3:00PM pick-me-up :)

16. I love the Waitrose (London's small supermarket chain).  But, I miss the convenience of huge American grocery stores (neverrr thought I would say this).

17. I can see myself living in London after graduation.

18. My entire life, I have been a fast walker-- in London, I am just a average-paced walker... 

* More to come!

Planning a Trip

So my friend and I have been planning a trip to visit Igazu falls! This is the absolute reason I even came to Argentina, well besides the fact that I wanted to learn Spanish! Anywho, planning the trip has been an adventure. We were looking tickets up online, and thought that we found a really good price until we found out that the tickets were for Argetinians only. Then we found tickets for Americans. Oh boy do they stick it to the Americans with plane ticket prices, guess they figure all Americans are rich. So we went to a travel agent next door to IES to help us plan the trip. They offered an even higher price for two round trip plane tickets it was 2200 pesos. So we made our last trip to plan the trip. We went to the bus station. Granted a 18 hour bus ride is least on my list of things I want to do, but I'm on a student budget. If I want to go to Uraguay, I better save some money. So we got our tickets. Two round trip bus tickets cost us 630 pesos. I definately think we took the best route. And its on a fun double decker bus, so at least we will have a cool view of the country on our drive to the triple boarder area!

I went to Wal-Mart today. This was certainly more of a chore than going to Wal-Mart in the states. First off, my southern accent makes me portray Wal-Mart as some obscure name, in which cab drivers cannot decifer. So I have to try to tell them what I want with the little vocabulary I know. Then I arrive. It is about a 40 peso cab ride outside of the city. I arrive, and in order to get into Wal-mart, you have to go through metal detectors. Then there are things like you would see at an amusment park, the metal counter things ( I know totally descriptive). Once in the Wal-Mart layout is to the tee like that of America. The clothing selection is a lot more limited, as well as the make-up and jewlery. Besides that you have a huge food section, an electronics section, furniture and bedding, you know the same ole same ole one is used to at Wal-Mart. There are some differences though. There are not debit card machines at every register and the prices are times three what we would see at home. I went to buy a skirt and the price was $60, but I had to remember it was in pesos. The toys are outrageously priced. One Barbie brand barbie doll was $170ARS. It was insane. I don't see how the kids have any toys here when a lot of people only bring in about $1600 pesos a month and $800 goes towards rent. There is also a food court in the Wal-Marts here. Yeap, there is a Parilla (which is like a grill with steak and such), a mcdonalds, and some sort of other restuarant.

Venice in daylight

Last Saturday me and two friends decided to take a day trip to Venice since our first time seeing the city was at night during Carnavale...
We hopped on the 10:30 train to Venezia and arrived an hour and half later in front of the Grand Canal. We didn't have a game plan for this trip because we just wanted to retrace what we'd seen there before and just hang out in Venice. We hunted down the outdoor pizza stand from before which has the best pizza I've had so far! So good!
Then we walked all around Venice from the San Rialto bridge to San Romano square.
There were so many Americans there! For three students who go to school in a very small city were you HAVE to speak Italian to get around, this was mind blowing. We kept being surprised when we heard English in passing. Even vendors automatically spoke English to us and I know I got a little annoyed when they spoke English to me after I spoke in Italian to them. I just wanted to try!
Well, we learned something else about Venice too...no picnicking allowed! Ha ha in Venice if you want to sit and eat you must do so at a restaraunt or at an outside vendor. We were sitting down at the Duomo in San Romano square, drinking our 1 liter juice boxes when the police walked up and told us to stand up or find a bench somewhere. That was interesting..
So, we walked around Venice some more and found a cool little alleyway that ended with a canal and snuck onto the steps that lead down to the water. We liked our new pinicking spot, which was free of annoying American high schoolers on field trips. We just sat and watched the gondolas go by...
The pictures are of our secret alleyway and one of the bridges in Venice.

POLO!

So, I went to a Polo qualifier at the Palermo Polo fields. When we first arrived, I didn´t actually think we´d even be able to see a game, because there was absolutely no one there, and in addition, we could not find an entrance. After walking a country mile around the fields up and down the streets of Palermo, we spotted a ton of horse trailers, and an open gate. We walked right in, and people were picknicking about 3 feet from where the horses were stampeding up and down the field hitting a little ball that could make you brain dead if it hit you. There were children playing right where the horses could trample them. I was petrified not only for my sake, but also for everyone elses. I´m such a chicken evidently. Anyhow, we saw the stands begin to fill up on the other side of the field, so we made our way around and took our seats. The game was SO fast paced. Those horses scared me to death as they slammed into each other and raced at full speed at and around each other. I don´t think I would make a very good Polo player. However, we watched a game, then went and got sandwiches and ice cream, adn then came back to watch a second game. It had moved to a different field, and when we found it, I spotted my house mom and her daughter, so we joined them. It´s a really exciting game, but perhaps the most fun is afterwards. Everyone in the stands goes outside, and there´s free champagne, appetizers, cheese, and meat for everyone! It was a blast... until the mosquitos came out... story of my life. I won´t go into detail. Anyhow, I´d love to go back and I´m even thinking of spending a weekend soon out at a Polo ranch and taking lessons! How fun would that be.............

Zoo, Green Beer, and Protests... an Argentinian Concept

Jardin Zooilogical

First may I just say, Chelsea I love you. I live across from the cemetary. In fact I wake up to those creepy little bodies every morning! Guess I may be the weird one at heart, but it puts a smile on my face knowing that I am so near to Eva's final resting place... hmm... Oh well!

Due to Chelsea's visit to the Palermo Zoo, I had to go and check it out for myself. I was quite surprised by the lack of security in the zoo. In fact, I became quite paranoid at times when parents would let their children roam and one kid ended up IN THE FENCE with the 'cebras.' Yeah, guess thats the big sister in me screaming please don't let the poor dear get hurt. But apart from that, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of animals slammed right down in the middle of Buenos Aires. Though, I felt bad for the poor polar bear who had more hair than me, and I know I was sweating!!!

That night, after the Zoo, my friend Jill and I went to grab a bite to eat at some Irish Pub. Come to find out this pub brews their own beer. Well that was a nice change from the normal Quilmes or Brahma, except for one thing, the alcohol content is wayyyyy higher. Lucky for me, I don't drink much beer because the taste is not that settling. But in Buenos Aires, it is cheaper to buy beer than water. And it being St. Patty's Day a few days before, the Argentinians were still celebrating, which meant free green beer for everyone! Can you pass up free? I attempted to eat Mexican food here..... it was not that great. Argentina has great beef, but the food is rather bland. And get ready for an overcooked steak. I swear some people in the Midwest would find this place an insult to good beef. But hey, when in a different culture, assimilate!

Though, I better enjoy the beef while I can because the political uproar here is getting worse and worse everyday. Basically what has happened is that the country switched its main export to soy because of the international rise of soy prices. Once the country did so and started making a profit off of this influx, the government decided it needed a cut. This cut was 50% of the total revenue from Soy export. This means that farmers are not too happy. This tax is on small farmers who do not rent their land as well as larger farmers who do. Thus, making the country an even poorer middle income country. Well, the farmers are so unhappy with the situation they have been placing protests all around the city. They block off streets with their trucks. I was walking to Ave. Corientes last week, and I had to walk another six blocks to bypass the demonstration and get to the bus stop. It was insane! But this is everyday life of Argentina. Apart from these demonstrations, the farmers are threatening not to sell or transport anymore meat around the country until a solution has been decided. In fact, there is so much uproar that the country has changed their elections from October to June! I can't wait to see what will happen!!!!