20 May 2007

So I didn’t go to Mass today and to all you staunch Catholics, I already know I’m going to hell because of it. Haha! I don’t believe that. I did feel really bad but I just don’t enjoy going like I do at home. Since I don’t know people in this church, let alone know the language, I don’t have the same sense of comradery and love. I miss St. Isidore’s and I miss having the sense of community that I have there.

Honestly, I don’t think that God is upset with me. I think that He understands. I really believe that Mass is about feeling God’s love among those you know. It’s about sharing something spiritual and I think that you should feel comfortable being there. I don’t think you should have to go among strangers and I don’t think that Mass should feel like a chore. That’s how Mass feels for me here. It’s hard for me to understand anything anyone says so I’m not hearing God’s word. Mass here has no meaning for me in which case, I don’t think it’s wrong that I didn’t go. Mass should be meaningful, not something you do just because it’s expected.

I went to the Feria with Maria and we walked around and looked at all the artisan crafts. It was a lot of fun. I bought a few pairs of earrings for me and my friends, a really cute purse for Josh’s sister-in-law, Amy (who is really sweet), and this really awesome zipper hoodie with a unicorn and fairy painted on the front.

Now I’m at a café, drinking a submarino (hot chocolate of sorts), and pretending to do homework. I’m going to catch up on my journal from last weekend. As you know, I went to Iguazu Falls, which is why I haven’t been writing lately. The week before I was REALLY sick. I almost threw up in the café when I was with Maria.

Quotes from Iguazu (these likely won’t seem very funny to outsiders but they were funny at the time):

"Seriously, I have every medication you will need."–Rita

"Like elephant tranquilizer?"–Maria

"I even have the REAL Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s a documentary."–Rita

"I can’t believe I can’t spell!"–Rita

"Haha! Somebody just got done pooping." (Looking at the illuminated bathroom sign)...A few minutes later, when someone comes up the stairs "We know who."–Maria

"I’m glad I had my earplugs when that crying baby got on."–Rita *Psycho music immediately after saying that*–turns out it was some guy’s cell phone ring

11 May 2007

I honestly don’t know why I ever bring things to read on trips. I know I’m going to get sick, especially if I read or write (like right now). I guess I’m just afraid of being bored.

Anyway, I’m on my way to Iguazu Falls with my friend and fellow Casa dweller, Maria. So far we’re having a pretty good time. I don’t think we’ll hate each other by the end of the trip either, especially considering it’s only going to be about 2 days. We’re both super excited!!

It’s weird. Any time I leave Casa for a trip, I always miss Josh so much more than usual. I think it’s ‘cause I know I won’t be able to talk to him for a while. I miss him so much! I’m so proud of and happy for him! He’s graduating tomorrow!! I don’t think I’ll be this happy at my own graduation and I won’t even be able to attend his.

I’m tired. I’m going to go to sleep now.

12 May 2007

Quote of the day:

"It’s a moth not a butterfly. He’s just a wannabe."–Maria

Well, I woke up on the bus today to breakfast, my mouth was wide open as I slept. I can just imagine how funny I looked. Maria said she had thought about putting something in my mouth but decided against it. I remember thinking in my sleep, "my mouth is open. I should close it. I’m not using it to breathe. Then again, it can’t be too open." In reality it was WIDE open.

Anyway, breakfast was 2 small medialunas, 2 pieces of prepackaged toast and, for me, tea. You could also have had coffee or maté, but since I don’t like either of those...

Anywho. I slept pretty well in the cama ejecutivo. It reclines almost all the way (by "it", I mean the seats) and there is a lot of space. I kept getting really hot and then really cold. It was weird.

I had some very bizarre dreams though. In one, a nuclear bomb was going to go off and there were going to be 25 people that wouldn’t be able to find shelter. Some people decided to leave them food in the forms of animals and giant, man-size vegetables. The food started out in some sort of a metal container but it was decided that the container wouldn’t withstand the bomb, so they were going to move the food to some wooden cages that were suspended from a wire. Very big cages. When the people realized there wasn’t enough time, a man yelled up to the guy in charge and he said something like, "I have failed them with my left arm." Maria laughed when I told her about it.

I went back to sleep and Maria woke me up as we drew closer to the town. It’s a very small town and seems to be pretty safe. We got off the bus and went in search of a place to buy our return tickets. After finding someone who told us where to go, we made our reservations and were ready to hand over our credit cards when we were told that they only accepted cash. We were rather shocked and reluctantly handed over our spending money.

After getting our tickets and being bombarded by a millions hostal/hotel representatives, we were getting ready to climb in a taxi when the driver told us that our place was only 4 blocks away. We decided to walk and began going in the direction he had pointed us. Well, we walked the 4 blocks and came to a dead end and the end of town. We ended up asking 2 people where the street was because there were no street signs and it turns out the taxi driver was wrong. We were happy we didn’t go with him!

Anyway, the second man who helped us lived on the street and gave us clear directions so we were able to find our hostal, Don Lino’s Place. It’s a nice little place with a friendly old lady named Paulina in charge. Maria and I are the only 2 people here right now since it’s the off season.

After we got settled in, we went to a casino where the only ATM is, and Maria got teased for putting her hands on her hips while asking a question. We ate lunch at a cute pizza place and headed to the bus stop to wait for the bus to the falls.

Very excited, we boarded the bus that was $4 (!!) and off we went! We talked to an older couple from Florida who were visiting their daughter in Buenos Aires. We paid our $30 entrance fee and before going on the trail to La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat), we got our tickets stamped so that the next day we could get in for half price.

We went to the train and on it we talked about how we felt like we were at a Disney park and about how we could see why it was hard to track down runaway slaves in the thick jungle (we were in the rainforest). So many things reminded me of things at home even thought they were very distinct. For example, there was a bend in the road where the trees hung over the road. It reminded me of Williston Point Road on Fort Riley. Another thing was the old people’s tour.

The train ride was nice and when we got off we headed to the catwalk. The catwalk is entirely over water, over the HUGE river that feeds the falls. It’s almost frightening! We reached the falls and were in awe. They are HUGE!!!! In most places you can’t even see the bottom because of all the mist! It was amazing! I took nearly 30 pictures!

When we came back, we went to the giftshop to buy water and maybe souvenirs. The guy behind the counter was kind of a jerk but whatever. I bought 3 postcards for myself and a spoon the says "Misiones" (the province in which the falls are located) for my mom. It was in another giftshop that I found and bought a spoon and a magnet that said Iguazu on them. I also bought a unique Rosary from a Guarani (indigenous) man for Joshy.

After that we got back on the bus. We sat behind some smelly Europeans and poor Maria wasn’t by the window. She would discreetly try to cover her nose and I would start laughing at her. I felt bad for her but it was so funny at the same time!

After a little nap, we headed for Tres Fronteras (Three Borders) which Paulina told us was a 20 minute walk but in reality it was about 40 minutes. This is where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil meet and you can se the cities lite up at night. It was okay but nothing too spectacular. On our way back, we stopped at a little restaurant called La Hacienda. It was really good and just enough. They gave us weird sauces on the side and we took turns being guinea pigs. Maria and I agreed that no matter what, when we got back, we’re going to tell everyone our trip was great and say we got discounts and stuff! Haha!

I forgot to mention that while we were walking to Tres Fronteras, there was a man in his yard, leaning on a fence gate, minding his own business when I suddenly saw him and screamed. I had thought he was part of the fence and then for some reason I realized he wasn’t and it scared me. For those of you who know me, this shouldn’t surprise you. I get scared while walking and I hear someone jogging behind me. I can hear them for 5 minutes and it’ll still scare me when I see them in my peripheral vision. Anyway, I started laughing at myself, apologized, and explained what had happened. It was pretty funny.

13 May 2007

Quote of the day:

"We saw a gorilla and we gave him our cash and cameras."–Maria

Maria and I had a hard time getting up today. We were supposed to get up at 7 but we stayed in bed until 7:30. We didn’t take showers, opting to wait until we were done hiking in the park. Plus we wanted to be the smelly people on the bus!

For breakfast we had lots of toast with butter and marmalade and tea or coffee. It was pretty good. After breakfast we headed back tot he park to see the rest of it. We were really excited! Today we only had to pay $15 to get into the park because we had out tickets from yesterday. Sadly for Maria but fortunately for me, the island was still flooded so we couldn’t take th boat trip. I just didn’t want to get all wet. I would have gone anyway but really, I didn’t want to.

We decided to take the Macuco Trail first. It leads to a waterfall that you could walk in (or at least the pool area it created). They told us the trail was about 3km but we think it was longer ‘cause it took a while for us to get to the waterfall. We figure that anything the Argentines say (time and distance-wise) you should at least double it to get an accurate number.

On the trail we didn’t see any wildlife. In fact, we only saw a lot of mosquitoes (which chased us in the shape of a giant hammer), butterflies, and a really big bird. We would have taken more pictures on that trail but every time we stopped, we got attacked by the hammer-formation mosquitoes.

The clearing over the waterfall gave us a beautiful view of the rainforest. It was phenomenal!! After taking pictures at the top, we descended down the makeshift trail of rocks to the base of the waterfalls. We took some pictures at the bottom and Maria got a video in which I was taking off my shoes to get into the water and screaming, "it’s cold!" I remembered that I had brought my shower shoes in case we went on the boats. So I put on my flip-flops and walked mid-calf deep into the pool. After playing around, we climbed back up the rocks and walked back up the trail.

While we were on our way back, we came up with some stories to make our trips sound more exciting. We came up with getting attacked by a gorilla because he wanted food (yes, we know it’s the wrong continent) and we gave him our cameras and our cash! We ran away and returned later to find our cash and cameras in gorilla poop. We recovered them and began walking when Maria fell into a patch of quicksand and I had to swing from a vine to save her! We were pretty amused!

By the time we got back, we were craving superpanchos (hotdogs). We went to a shop that had a combo but when we asked, the girl said it wouldn’t start until about 12:00. When we came back at 2:00, the girl still hadn’t started cooking them and instead, was sitting outside talking to other shop workers. We were like, "this wouldn’t fly in the U.S." and we angrily went to another place for a sandwich and empanadas.

Anyway, we snacked on some Chips-o-hoy cookies and boarded the train to go to the upper circuit of waterfalls. We didn’t have to go far to begin seeing the falls and OH! How beautiful it was!! Neither words nor pictures could ever suffice! I almost cried!! It was so beautiful!

We booked it through the upper circuit and had about an hour before we had to leave. So we decided to take the lower circuit. There we encountered a weird bird that one guy said sounded like laser guns. I laughed pretty hard at that but it was an accurate description. We also came across a bunch of coaties (?). I’m not sure what they are but they were cute and obviously interested in any food we may have had, as they followed us for a little. Some of them were obviously tracked because they had on collars and their ears were tagged.

We ran through the most of the lower circuit, bought some Guarani bags and bracelets, and booked it back to our hostal. I kept wishing I had a house of my own and more money so I could buy some cute wooden figurines that the Guarani hand-carved and use them to decorate a room in a South American theme. The figurines were SO cute! I just didn’t have a use for them : (

When we got back to the hostal, we showered (finally) and after having a nice conversation with Paulina’s daughter (to whom we intend to sen postcards from back home in the States), we headed to the bus station. We’ve been on the bus now for about 5 hours. For some reason we’ve stopped at Border Control twice, where they asked for our passports. I’m wondering if, for some reason, we crossed into Paraguay.

We watched The Guardian, which has a cheesy ending and Sophie’s School, which was about a girl in the resistance in Germany during WWII who ends up being executed with a guillotine. It was based on true events and it was pretty interesting to me but depressing. Kind of like Schindler’s List. I’d like to watch it again sometime, if possible. Maybe use it in my history classes to teach WWII and about thinking for yourself. I don’t know.

Side note:

"Time to go see the pterodactyls! Oh! Don’t feed the Raptores!"–Maria

A lot of times we felt like we were in Jurassic Park or Ray Bradburry’s The Sound of Thunder, especially when were on the Macuco Trail where there was a boardwalk. Whenever we saw a stepped-on butterfly, I would seriously wonder if the death of that butterfly changed something profound in history (you have to read the story to understand). It was weird to think about. Kind of like thinking about if God made the world ten minutes ago and just placed all these memories in our heads. Thank you to my friend Joe for that thought.

15 May 2007

So my Mom is officially better than any mom in the world!! Last week she said she was sending me a care package (actually 2). I thought she was just going to send me my medicine and a things I had asked for.

Yesterday Lauren came by my room with a package for me. I have to explain why my Mom sent it with Lauren’s name on it. You see, if someone sends me a package, I usually have to go to the international post office in Retiro (a very shady area of Buenos Aires). If I go and I don’t have my student visa (which I don’t but that’s another story), they’ll charge me $12 pesos per item in the box. With a student visa, they won’t charge me. So my Mom sends the packages under Lauren’s name because she has her visa.

Anyway, she came to my room with the package. I was surprised because she hadn’t mentioned that she received a notice to go pick up a package. She said that it came directly to Casa today. I eagerly opened it and began going through it! Every time I saw something new, I squealed with delight! I was SO happy!!! She sent me all sorts of things that I can’t get here, including things that I needed!

She sent me:

10 Reese’s Peanut Butter cups
Doritos
Pizza combos
REAL donuts (not chocolate cover cookies)
a whole box of microwave popcorn
poptarts
starbursts
skittles
gummy bears
Hershey kisses
Ramen
Chips Ahoy
Goldfish crackers
and a few necessities that I won’t list.

I was so happy!!! Most of it is gone now (20 May 2007) because I miss American food soooo much!

I got an Argentine hooked on combos! She really liked them! That’s ‘cause they have flavor, unlike a lot of the food here. I was so happy to have food from home!!!

I went to Iguazu falls this weekend and I'll write about it later.  I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm posting pictures and videos of my trip on my photobucket thing.   

Here's the address!
http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t12/rnw4999/

I hope that's right.

So today I was supposed to get up at 7 to get to my class by 8. Of course, every time I have something that I need to be up for I don’t get up in time ‘cause I don’t hear my stupid alarm!!!! Ugh! I’m really mad! This is the second time (at least) that this has happened. Last Friday, after going to Immigrations to look into my visa (which I will write about later), I took a nap that was supposed to last until 12. I ended up waking up by myself at 12:30 when my class had already started. I hadn’t eaten all day but I didn’t have time after that so I got up and ran out the door to my class. Fortunately the stupid class lasts for 3 hours so I didn’t miss much. I got there by 1.

I don’t know why this clock doesn’t sound like it’s supposed to or why I can’t hear it. Most of the time when it goes off, I can hear it just fine but for some reason, when it’s important, I can’t hear it for the life of me! GRRRRR!

Anyway, by the time I would have gotten to class, it would have been about half way over so I decided not to go. That decision also made me mad. Now I’m kicking myself thinking, "they don’t care if you’re late in this country. Why the crap didn’t I go?!" Fortunately it’s my U.S. history class so I’ve learned the stuff before. Unfortunately, we’re on the Revolution which is one of my favorite things to study (I love studying wars. I know, I’m weird).

I was also planning on going to a supermarket that’s nearby and has imported foods from the U.S. like taco kits and peanut butter. I wanted to run by after class and by some. Also, I think I found out where the programa is and I was going to go demand it!!! Haha! Anyway, I think I’m going to go anyway. Might as well, right?

Just thought I would vent.

So our residence finally got new keyboards and mouses! Yay! By our standards though they´re still out of date (a roller mouse?). But they work!

Today is going to be a complaining day. There are a couple people that I live with that drive me insane!!!! They continually invite themselves places and take things without asking and come into my room without asking. One of them takes food without asking and without paying. One time I made spicy ginger chicken with fried rice and she came and ate out of the pots! Didn´t bother to ask, didn´t bother to get her own eating ware! Just ate right out of the pot with the serving spoon! I was so mad and disgusted! She´s also taken food right from my plate that I was about to eat! I was enraged!! The other girl is just rude and mooches as well.

The other day we were all walking around after class. Running errands. I needed some school supplies but I only had 7 pesos. I told them all that I would need to borrow money and sure enough I did. I ended up owing her about 30 pesos. At first she wasn´t going to give me the money saying that she needed it for food. Then when someone else told her that they could cover her but they only had big bills, she reluctantly loaned me the money. Then she proceeded to repeat in front of me "thirty pesos. You owe me thrity pesos." She also started telling me about all the money that other people owed her. As if I didn´t know that I owed her money! Thank you for being rude!

The next morning she came up to my room and told me that because "I had her money she wasn´t able to come home from her friends house the night before." She could have taken the bus with the other girl if she had left earlier but no! It was all my fault. I didn´t even see her before that! Not wanting to deal with the issue anymore I gave her the only bill I had, a 100 peso bill and told her to give me the change when she broke it. Well, not only did she not come back with my money but her purse was conveniently stolen that night. So I couldn´t do anything this weekend because I didn´t have any money. That part doesn´t bother me though, I don´t mind studying all weekend. It´s hard work taking classes in a foreign language.

As if those things weren´t enough, when I mentioned that I got wifi signal in my room, guess who decided to stop by whenever she wanted to use the internet. Yup! Now I have to avoid my room ´cause I don´t want to have people in there all the time, especially when I´m on the phone! She continually comes by and wants to come in even when I´m having private conversations! I hate it!!! I´m too nice or too "weak" to say no. Today she leaked out that she can get internet in my room and now I have people asking to come to my room to upload pictures!!! It makes me so mad! It´s not like she can´t use the computers that are in Casa Grande. Sure they may be slow but they work! She can also go to a café or to the kitchen and get signal but why do that? I´m so irritated!

Both of these girls continually leach off the other people here too. When we fix food, they invite themselves to it. They use our tuperware without asking and they don´t pay us anything. They wait until other people are cooking and then when we´re finished and about to eat, they come prancing in and sit down. As soon as we´re ready to do the dishes, guess who disappears!

One of my friends had some tortillas (which are hard to come by here and aren´t all that cheap) and she accidentally left them out when she was in a rush one day. She found out that one of these girls had them and had eaten most of them. My friend was like, "well, you just owe me another bag when you go shopping." A moment later the girl came by with the tortillas.

This is why I hate living with other people. They continually leach and take advantage of people who are too nice and too courteous to say anything. My friends and I are getting tired of it though and soon we´re not going to be so nice. In fact, we´ll probably lash out. If anyone has advice, please let me know. I don´t want to be walked on but I don´t want to be mean either.

So I’m up at 5:30 this morning with only about 3 hours of sleep (I’ve been awake since around 4) and in an attempt to avoid studying, I’ve decided to write in my blog. Granted, this won’t be posted until later but that’s not really important.

Unlike every other morning here in Buenos Aires, I was not awakened by cars and buses blowing their horns or driving while lacking a muffler. No. Today, I was awaken by drunken singing. Yes. The most horrible thing to wake up to! And I even had ear plugs! I think the guy that was actually singing was British but there were some Americans standing outside near my window, talking loudly as well. At first I thought the singing guy was this guy that lives below me named Gustavo. He’s really annoying when he sings too and unfortunately, that’s almost all of the time. After realizing that it wasn’t him, I was tempted to open my window and yell "callate" which means "shut up." However, I knew that they would leave eventually and opted to go to the bathroom instead.

For those who don’t know me, it’s a big deal when I get out of my warm comfy bed just to go to the bathroom. Usually I just hold it until there is pain involved or if there’s food somewhere, I'll get up.

I returned to bed and tried to sleep for about an hour. I did everything I could think of to make myself go to sleep. I said the rest of a Rosary I had started before bed, I counted, and mostly, I tried not to focus on going to sleep. None of these worked, obviously, and I decided to get up and do something productive. Sure, I could be reading for my classes but where’s the fun in that? Actually it’s some pretty interesting stuff, I just like to avoid studying as much as possible.

I have a whole list of things that I need to write about but since we’re on the topic of sleeping I figure I might as well tell you what I do to sleep here.

First, I have to have earplugs. Without them...good luck. My room is right above a busy bus route and no windows in this country are sound proof. As I said before, every morning I wake up to the sound of cars or buses honking their horns or, hopefully, in the pursuit of mufflers. Usually, I just wake up and go back to sleep after realizing what’s going on. Sometimes, though, I end up getting up because the jerks make it hard to go back to the peaceful state of mind they interrupted. Actually, it’s not all that bad but for some reason the insides of my ears itch now. I don’t know it’s because of the earplugs or if I’m just a weirdo. I’d like to think that it’s the earplugs.

After I have the earplugs in, I crawl under the sometimes threadbare sheets and comforter and try to stay warm. I miss the summer when staying warm was absolutely no problem. It’s been rainy here which means it’s been cold. It also means mosquitoes. Everyday I kill about a dozen and usually in the morning I end up with mystery bites. You can still see some of the bug gut smears on my walls. The walls seem to absorb any sort of moisture they can.

Usually I have a pretty difficult time getting to sleep during the semester, even at home. I just have a lot of things that I need to remember and I’m always getting up to write something down or trying to force myself to think that it’s important enough to remember when I get up in the morning (it’s usually about homework and you know you think the same). Anyway, because of this, I’ve taken to saying a Rosary as I go to sleep. It gives me something to focus on so my mind doesn’t wander. Let alone the fact that it’s a good thing to do and I get to indirectly help people!

This usually helps but, as we can tell, not tonight.

Anyway, that’s my general sleeping ritual. I’m sure you were all very interested and really cared about the little details of my sleeping habits. Haha!

My classes on Mondays seem like high school classes. There are people standing in cliques and talking, completely ignoring new students and foreigners. That’s fine that they ignore me but when they start throwing paper balls at other students in class, it becomes rather annoying. A lot of them like to talk when the teacher is teaching. It’s obnoxious in your first language but when you can’t understand what the teacher is saying and it’s your second language...I think you get the picture. In my night class (which is just foreigners) several of the French students were sitting right behind me, talking. I turned around and glared at one of the French kids talking at the time. He shut up pretty quickly. It just frustrates me how disrespectful some students are. Otherwise, they tend to be nice to we foreigners. Today was the second day that we didn’t have maps of Argentina (not for lack of trying) and one of the students gave two of us a map each. It was really nice of them. They’re friendly but they just don’t know how to behave properly in class. In my other classes the students are well behaved. In general, I enjoy my classes, there are just some things that irritate me.

You know, a lot of people say that being in a long-distance relationship is next to impossible. I think, however, that it’s not that difficult. The only thing that is really difficult is not being able to physically be with the person. I miss being able to kiss and cuddle with Josh but I get to talk to him and that makes everything better. I think that a lot of people just don’t love each other enough to make the relationship work. I think if you really want it to work, it will. Every time I think about Josh, my heart skips a beat. Every time I see his picture (which is now the background on my computer) I remember the good times we had. I really miss him but it’s enough to hear his voice and know that he still loves me. We talk about the things we’re going to do when I get back like go to a movie, to the zoo, a play, and have a picnic. I can’t wait to get back to his loving arms but I’m also enjoying my experience here.

A friend of mine has started calling Argentina "The Land of Not Really"because they have all these rules but no one really follows them. The first time I went to church it was really weird. I went all the way across town to go to a church that I saw when my parents were here. It seemed like everyone did what they wanted when they wanted. You could kneel when you wanted, stand, sit, whatever, when you wanted. I did my best to follow along but eventually gave up and did what I would do at home.

The church that I go to now is similar but it’s a little more organized. The more I go the more I realize this. I think it’s also helped me to understand people better when they talk to me. It’s still hard but I can usually understand the priest. I’ve stopped translating things in my head and just try to gather meaning the same way I do in English. Anyway, at communion, it’s the same. There’s no order as to when people go up, you just go. It’s funny. One of the things I like though, other than the beautiful churches here, is that when the Eucharist is being brought forward, everyone stands, as if it were a king (I wonder why, duh) and they turn to see it as they would if it were a king, or like it was a bride at a wedding. It’s very touching. I really like that aspect.

People are generally friendly. I’m still trying to figure out everything that is being said but I learn something new every week and they give out pamphlets that have the readings and some of the responses which helps.

Before I get started on all the updating, I want to let you all know that I’ll be putting pics onto photobucket if you want to see them.

So classes finally started down here. It’s weird, they stagger the starting dates depending on the school you’re in and your year. For example, my Geography class started a week before my history classes. My Semenario started before three weeks before my history classes. We have classes once a week for 2-3 hours depending on how long the teacher decides to teach. Most of my classes are in the afternoon or evening. Some of my friends don’t get out of class until after 10 p.m. I count myself lucky. All my classes end before 9 p.m.

So on the first day the teacher doesn’t hand out a syllabus. Instead they tell you where you can go buy them or they give a copy to one student and that student takes it to a "fotocopiadura" (a copy center, a lot like Kinko’s) and they tell the rest of the class where to find it. Sadly I missed the memo on where to find my US History one and so now I’m on the Quest for the Historia de los EEUU Programa ("programa" is what they call syllabi). The first second week, I asked the profesora and she asked one of the students where he had taken it. He told me and I thought I had understood him but when I searched 2 or 3 different fotocopiaduras, I didn’t find my programa. This past Thursday, I spent all morning after class going from one fotocopiadura to another trying to find the programa. No success. I’m going to see if I can’t copy a classmates before or after class. Probably after class since I’m usually late for US History. It’s at 8:30 in the morning and it’s a 20-30 minutes Subte ride from my place with a wonderful 2 blocks and 4 stories of stairs to walk! Besides I like to do the Argentine thing and sleep late, take a nap, and then stay up late. It’s much easier than trying to stay awake all day! Haha

My Historia de la Iglesia (History of the Church) class is amazing. Most of my profesores talk slowly and clearly but I think this one does the best. He reminds me of Professor Graff at home. They look a lot alike and they have similar mannerisms. I really enjoy this class. It’s interesting and the profesor knows his stuff and he’s really nice if you ask him questions. I went and asked him to clarify somethings from the week before for me and he did it very well. He didn’t act like it was a burden or like I was stupid. He was very nice and clear and made sure I understood him. I really like that class. I also have 2 friends in that class that are exchange students as well. One of them is from Florida but she has family in Paraguay and the other is from San Diego but is apparently Peruvian. They’re both really nice and the Peruvian is really into history like me. She also prefers going to cafes and watching movies to boliches (clubs) and bars. Finally! Someone boring like me! I haven’t earned the name "Grandma" or "Aunt" at Casa Grande for no reason. Haha! I was even called "Dad" one time ‘cause I sat down to wait for a friend in a department store. Haha! I’m a bum...

My US History class is really interesting. I always like US history but this profesora is teaching with more focus on the goings-on in Europe. It’s really interesting. I like learning history with different twists. My profesora is a cute old lady. The only thing I don’t like is that she clears her throat a lot. Probably because it’s early morning. For some reason people’s throats here clog easily. Probably ‘cause of all the smoking and pollution. Anyway, she’s really nice except for the whole programa thing. She’s also on my case ‘cause I haven’t given her these forms saying my name, major, Spanish level and stuff. I’ll get them to her this week though.

My Geography class is boring, as geography tends to be for me. My profesora knows everything though! It’s Argentine Geography and she was a tour guide for a long time before teaching. I really like her. She speaks fast so it’s hard to understand her and I tend to fall asleep in that class (I do that in US History too, CRUD!). An Argentine guy turned around and asked me if I understood everything and he even said she spoke quickly. I have a couple friends in that class so I’m not worried.

My other classes are strictly for exchange students. One is about the history of Argentina and it’s interesting when I can understand the profesor (another class I sleep in). The other is a Spanish grammar class and it’s boring. I’ve been beyond grammar for 2 years at home but apparently that means nothing as I’m only intermedio alto (High intermediate). It made me mad that I had to take that class. Oh well, easy A.

That’s enough about my classes. I’m going to write another entry on something else now.

 

Today I decided to visit the Buenos Aires zoo.  I had a good time even though I went by myself...again.  It was $12.50 pesos to get into everything like the Reptile House and the Jungle exhibit and something else.  The guy that I bough the ticket from was a total jerk.  He was reading his paper when I went up to the window and didn´t look up until I said something.  Then he acted like he was doing me a favor by selling me the ticket. 

I went in and the first thing I saw was a large pond with a ruinous looking gazeebo.  Sorry if I spelled that wrong.  There were kids everywhere and they were all feeding the animals that are free to run around the zoo.  

For the most part it was like any other zoo.  It was big and there were a lot of animals from all over the world.  There was one cage that had what looked like a black domestic cat.  I was kind of wondering about that one.  Another had this teeny little wild cat that reminded me of my brother´s cat, Kir.  In the Jungle exhibit there was a spider monkey that was the cutest thing!  He started to climb on the fixtures that caged him as if he were trying to get food or be held.  He was so cute!

I left the zoo by a different way in which I came and I was kind of lost.  I walked past the rest of the zoo to try to find a place to buy batteries so I could take more pictures in the Botanical Garden.  I walked for about 30 minutes with no luck.  Then I found a little shop but they didn´t have batteries.  I was hungry though so I bought some "donuts" (which are more like cookies) and a Coke.  Then I walked until I found a nice bench in the park and sat down to eat.

Once I was finished eating, I walked to the Botanical Garden.  This, fortunately, was "gratis" (free), at least today it was.  There was someone dressed like Barney out front and I tried to avoid him.  Succeeding with that,  I entered to dominion of mosquitoes.  I didn´t realize it at first but the more I walked around, the more I noticed it.  It was especially obvious when I stopped to pet one of the kajillion cats.  He was a little tabby and the cutest things.  He became my friend and followed me for a while...as long as I would pet him.  He soon became bored with me and I walked on.  After I grew tired of having my blood sucked out by the mob of mosquitoes that seemed to be following me, I left and headed for the subway.  Seriously, the mosquitoes were following me like the bees do in cartoons!  I should have jumped into one of the pools to escape them.

Now I´m back at Casa Grande and I´m trying to upload my pictures into Facebook.