Argentina, here I come

This is the end. The last update. The end of this adventure and the beginning of another, which will not be chronicled here. And so it is, that I must recount my final day, the plane ride, and the triumphant return home. This is, therefore, the hardest post to write. I will do my level best.

To begin with, I didn't go dancing my last night. I was going to, I honestly was, but then I began to feel tired, and as I didn't want to leave before midnight I decided to take a nap. I set an alarm and dozed off. At 1:30 I woke up, realizing that the alarm had mysteriously not gone off. At that point, I got up to get ready to go, because 2:00 is when the nightlife is really alive there, anyway, but I began to have second thoughts. I was groggy. We weren't supposed to go out alone late at night, and after all Daniel had been mugged quite early, really. I didn't want to take a taxi. The result, therefore, was a panic attack and the decision to just go to sleep. I feel a little ashamed of missing my chance, but I think I'd hit my limit for doing new things at that point.

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I've uploaded my photos, which is why this post is so late. Gallery is here.

Today was finals. Brutal. I struggled my way through a test that was not my style at all, and emerged to find that my classmate who had termed the class "easy" the day before had fared even worse. Didn't talk to the girls, so I'm maintaining my sanity. I'll bet they aced it.

There was a big "congratulations, you've survived" party that was also one boy's birthday party, and all of us had to go up and get certificates saying we'd done the program and kisses from our teachers, and then we posed for photos with them. Finally, we posed for photos all together, and it was as I climbed around to find a good position that the button on my pants decided it was not enjoying its job and quit. All I'll say about that is that I'm lucky I have hips. Especially since today was the day I decided not to wear underwear (I usually do, but I felt dirty. Next trip, I pack more clothes.)

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It's been a little while, mates, sorry about that. I will proceed from day before yesterday onward. Day before yesterday is easy, because I did pretty much nothing. I got up at six, went to school, decided not to go shopping as I'd planned, went home, and watched TV. I'm getting quite fond of Ben 10 and Fairly Oddparents, actually.

Yesterday I started the day with super-sweet, tooth-killing pastries and hot chocolate, which Daniel says is the traditional drink for the 9th of July. Hemispheres are funny things, aren't they? Then the fellows pinned little ribbons that resemble the Argentinian flag to their shirts and we went to see a parade. The military police's -- marching band, I think, though they weren't actually marching on this occasion -- played, and there were gauchos (cowboys) on their horses or in carts. There was an oxcart, which was pretty cool to see. Of course I forgot my camera, but it wouldn't have mattered because I didn't have a good enough view to get good photos anyway.

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Not a lot happening here. Last night I watched what was apparently Hook, a not-half-bad Peter Pan spinoff (I don't like Peter Pan, so not-half-bad is the best anything based on it will get from me,) dubbed. Yeah, I know, I keep talking about watching movies. The fact is that alone, I'm a terrible tourist. I need to share the experience with someone, as it happens I mean, or it just feels like spending some effort getting somewhere to just -- be there. I don't really value the place or activity or whatever it is.

Found out why I didn't meet any classmates at the disco -- they were going the next day. Since I know for a fact that they changed the plan, I'm now doing my best not to speculate why I was the only one who didn't know about said change. Apparently they had a more interesting time of it than I did -- one girl was basically molested, there was apparently much oddness around kissing, and a guy made out with a girl who everyone else thinks was trans(they said "transvestite" but I'm pretty sure they meant transgendered/transsexual. Here's a crude summary of the difference.) He's now freaking out about it, and I'm wondering why he didn't think about it -- it's a gay disco, after all, there're bound to be some transpeople there.

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I got Merry his birthday present. Finally. I had to go to a highly touristy area to do it, and on the way back I was ambushed by three homeless children, who got more money out of me than I care to admit before I figured out that they were going to keep begging and pleading and following me until they got everything I had. Thank goodness a kind stranger helped me shake 'em off. Compared to the rest of the country and most of Latin America, Buenos Aires is relatively well-off, but there's still a very high rate of extreme poverty -- these kids were obviously really alone, and I didn't doubt that the girl really didn't have shoes.

Also got myself a new shirt -- green, looks good with my tie. I'm going to look for pants next. Purple ones. Took some photos; they're still all a bit tilted, no idea why any more. I thought I'd worked out the magic formula, but evidently not. The photos do show that I'm my mother's daughter -- I have at least as many of trees/green things as of important buildings, etc.

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Yesterday evening I watched the latter part of Spy Kids 3-D on TV, dubbed. So, so very glad I didn't see that in theaters -- it made me dizzy on the small screen. (3D glasses don't work for me, so I wouldn't've been bothered by that bit, but bigger is more disorienting.) Fun movie -- I love how that director is so unabashedly silly. Would've been better if I could've heard Ricardo Montalban, though.

Daniel and Juan had a guest last night, who they jokingly introduced as their son. He was a nice enough guy, probably in his very early twenties and quite camp. They talked, and I still can't understand these people when they talk amongst themselves. Then he and Daniel walked me down to the corner to take a taxi to the disco where, I thought, I was to hang out with various fellow students.

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This is going to be a long one. Ready?

To start off with, school yesterday was horrific. I did nothing right the entire day; at one point I screwed up so royally that I cried, and had to make sure the teacher didn't see, which is hard in a class of four. I survived it all right and went shopping, where I proved how utterly unskilled at the entire task I am. Y'know what I bought? A tie. It's purple. I like it. Plus side is I did actually finally go and get chapstick and fingernail clippers. So I felt okay about that.

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...nothing. Today I went to school, had lunch, came back home to dump my stuff, and went looking for a store Daniel had told me I should buy Merry's present in. Either I remembered the location wrong, the name was different, or I really am no good at this "road x and road y" stuff, because after walking up and down a lot I eventually wandered into what I thought might potentially be the right store and promptly got a helpful clerk eager to show me shoes, which wasn't what I was looking for at all, and so I fled with an apology. I came back and Googled the name I had remembered, and got absolutely nothing remotely relevant, so I have no idea whatsoever and will have to ask about it again. I'm thinking maybe it really was the store I wandered into, in which case I need to come up with another present idea because what they had was definitely not going to fit the bill. Argh.

So then I was going to go shopping for me, but I realized that there was supposed to be a movie night tonight, so I decided I wouldn't have time. Then I got sucked into reading something and missed my chance to go to the movie as well. On top of it all I still need to find chapstick and now a nailfile/fingernail clippers, but I didn't even make an effort today. Basically, what I'm saying is that I suck like a Republican congressman in a public bathroom when it comes to getting stuff done. This is also why I shouldn't travel alone -- I'll never get any of the tourist stuff done at this rate. Tune in tomorrow when I wuss out on that day's commitments, or wait until Friday, when I fail to go to the disco that I suggested while all my classmates go and have a blast.

Hm... I think I have low blood sugar. I should go eat something. Speaking of which, I need to find a good empanada recipe. Those things are heavenly. They're pastries filled with -- well, the ones we made were beef, onion, red bell pepper, olive, and hard-boiled egg (everything here's got hard-boiled egg in) but there are a wide variety of fillings -- and they're incredibly good. Only problem I see is that they might be difficult to adapt for allergies.

For some reason there was a program about Billy Idol on the radio today, showcasing his greatest hits and stuff. It's really weird how much English-language music from, say, the '80s seems to be popular -- I've heard Michael Jackson, the Eurythmics, I think it was Tom Petty.... There's also a lot of Beatles.

The other night when we were walking I told the fellows I want to buy a hat because I'm big into hats. Caps, specifically. Now, there is an interesting piece of trivia about caps: in Mexico, they may be called either "gorras" (standard) or "cachuchas." In Argentina, "cachucha" refers to female genitalia. I had known about this, luckily, beforehand, and had in fact told Daniel an amusing anecdote about a Mexican who didn't. So there I was, observing that I collect caps because I really like -- and in cuts Daniel with "cachuchas!" and a hearty roar of laughter. I said "yeah, those too" and that was that.

Cut to last night, when they had a friend over for dinner, and were chatting with her. Apparently, she also likes caps. So Daniel turned to me and he said that she, also, liked "cachuchas" -- another roar of laughter. And she, a bit taken aback, says, "yeah, those too," and eventually Daniel calms down enough to explain the double sense of the word. (I think the Argentinians must really like talking about female genitalia, because I've been told about three terms that are innocent in Mexico and/or Spain that all mean that here.)

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I woke up at 5:20 today and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to take a much-needed trip to a drugstore and buy some essential supplies. I successfully encountered the same type of contact lens fluid I use in the US, and then completely forgot to look for chapstick, which I need desperately. *headdesk*

Went to class and did reasonably well, significantly because the native speakers weren't there. Handed off some info to the Only Other Gay In The Village (hereafter TOOGITV) as a result of which apparently ten to fifteen of us are going to a disco this weekend. Hm. Went for lunch. I was then going to go home, take my laundry to be washed, and maybe go shopping, but my plans were thwarted.

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I was too out of it last night to write. Let me rewind to day before yesterday:

I decided to be constructive and went to look up ways to exercise, because being in a foreign country where I'm only semi-fluent in the language is no excuse to get lazy. I mean, it is, but no more valid than the other ones I'm constantly using. I found some ideas, did a workout, washed up, and turned on the TV. And there was a burning playground, and it looked sort of creepy/cool, so I decided to watch for a little while and see what it was. And then there was crackling electricity, and then there was naked Arnold Schwarzenegger -- it's all right, Matisse, the scary part was covered. And that's how I wound up watching Terminator 2 with Spanish subtitles and discovering that the guy really is a better actor than a governor. I feel guilty because it's the second movie in English I've watched here, and I ought to be sticking to dubs because I always ignore subtitles.

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Today was so-so. I did pretty badly in class, especially since the other gringo was away and I was only being compared to the native speakers. The teacher gave me a pep talk about how all I need is practice and learning a new language is hard. I felt a little better that she also pep-talked one of the others, but that was still a bit humiliating.

I hate how everyone -- I mean everyone -- here can tell that I'm from the US. I also hate how, when I pause to come up with the answer to a question or to figure out how to express it, everyone immediately assumes I didn't understand them. No, I don't need to hear the question again!

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I'm coming down with a cold. I refuse to come down with a cold, dammit. NO COLD! *cries*

Missing spicy food a lot right now. Things here are either sweet or bland, occasionally including salt or vinegar. I'm tired of it. I'm going to look for a Chinese place tomorrow or so, I think.

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Today was mixed. My internal alarm clock has activated, which means I always wake up before my alarm goes off, and today it was half an hour before. So I went back to sleep and was forced out of bed what felt like immediately thereafter. I skipped breakfast because I was too lazy to heat something up and didn't want cold leftovers, went to school, and more or less functioned but was not at the top of my game.

The teacher told us, after the first half of class, that we were going to listen to some traditional and modern Argentinian music and some Uruguayan (Uruguay is right next door, so the Argentinians see it as more or less a little brother.) We listened to tango and such while she wrote, from memory, the lyrics of a song on the board for us to copy, leaving blank spaces that we would have to fill in. Nasty activity -- I can never write and listen at the same time. The twist, this time, was that it was a song by one of the only Spanish-language musicians I really know anything about: Jorge Drexler (Uruguayan.) Furthermore, it was one of the songs I liked more from the only album of his I own. Unfortunately, I haven't memorized the lyrics, so knowing the artist only meant that I knew exactly how fast the words were going to come at me, namely, "too bloody fast." So I didn't do well at that activity, but the teacher was I think pleased that I knew the song and afterwards asked me which was my favorite on the album so that my classmates could hear it. So that balanced out a bit.

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Today was quiet. I went to class, then to the restaurant, then back to the restaurant to socialize with a bunch of other students who had taken longer to get out of class and get organized. Then I went home, cleaned up, and left for tango, which I survived by watching carefully and writing down the steps instead of doing them -- now I can use my piece of paper to learn them properly. What? I studied!

Logistical problems abound. I'm out of chapstick; this is a little painful. I know what it's called, but I'm not sure where to buy it, so I'll go hunting soon. Contact lens fluid is a pain and a half I'm not even going to try looking for; the contacts can be for special occasions only. Also, my clothing situation is problematic -- I may look around and try to buy an extra outfit, because I keep being out of clean clothes. Yes, I'd have room for it, parents. I was going to wash clothes more often here, but the guys took the duty and it feels a bit rude to either be pressuring them or to insist on doing it myself. At least I'm fine for money, though I should go and change more soon.

Cultural difference of the day: Spicy food does not exist here. They keep asking me if things are too spicy for my tastes and I keep wondering what they're talking about. Everything's sweet here, saltiness being almost as rare as spiciness. The interesting thing is that Daniel has asked me to prepare a typical Californian dish of some kind, only with meat, before I leave (Mum, help!) and I cannot for the life of me imagine what these guys would think of some of my favorites.

I seem to have this pattern of writing my blog posts before the night's activity has ceased, and then starting each new one with "so last night...."

So last night, when the guys got back (it was too cold to go out exploring more!) I had just finished watching some Tom and Jerry thing, which was actually pretty fun no-brain listening practice. We had dinner, and Juan offered me beer, so I tried it. My hierarchy of alcoholic drinks, so far, goes like this:

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I've now been here for a week!

Today I slept pleasantly until 9ish, got up leisurely and had breakfast in my own time. The fellows were both out of the house early, commanding me to go and explore the city. Of course, being the good girl I am, I had to do my homework first. Then I went again -- with my camera this time -- to the Plaza de Mayo and surrounding region, where I took a lot of photos that all came out looking a bit tilted. I need to go back, probably, but that's no problem because it's guaranteed that I will. I got some good ones nevertheless; I plan to put 'em all up in a gallery when I'm home with my photo-retouching tools handy, as for some reason my laptop won't connect to my camera and I don't think the fellows have any particularly good tools for fixing pictures.

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Happy birthday to my dear baby brother! I miss you, Merry boy. You have to show me pictures of the Rat of Khan, yeah?

Today I woke up to the sound of Daniel calling "Morgana! Morgana!" and, when I opened my eyes, I discovered that he had brought me breakfast in bed. I love these guys!

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*does the "Tomorrow I Can Sleep In!" dance*

I caught a bit of Nip/Tuck on TV last night. It was hysterical -- they had a gay pride parade. You could tell because a bunch of people had a big sign that they were carrying that said "GAY PRIDE PARADE" in rainbow letters. Also there were signs about Matthew Shepard and how homophobia is bad, mmkay? and none of the men were wearing any shirts. Oh, and the women were on motorcycles, of course. (I want a sign that says "GAY PRIDE PARADE" for the next one I'm in. It will save so much confusion!)

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I didn't get that nap, yesterday. Instead I watched TV, but it was too hard to figure out what had been happening in the shows with storylines and far too challenging to watch the news -- I know there's a huge political battle, the farmers vs. the government, and there are rallies and roadblocks and everything, and it's because the government snuck an extra tax in on the farmers, but I don't really know the details. So I watched cartoons. Later, with the gents, I watched the beginning and end of the soccer game between Brazil and Argentina. Brazil always has a ridiculously good team, so I was impressed when the match wound up tied 0-0. I like soccer, but I've never been able to get really into it, so I'm glad Daniel's so big on it. (He wants to take me to a game. I hope he does!)

I'm really lucky in my hosts. A fellow student told me today that her host family tells her how to do things and then it's up to her to do them, and that they're homophobic and tell her she ought to lose weight and otherwise aren't fun people. Another student has a host mother who wants her to eat more so as to gain weight, and still others are unable to communicate (mostly because they don't know as much Spanish as, for example, I do -- though I am learning that phrases I thought were fine either aren't ever or aren't in Argentina. At least I haven't used any obscenities accidentally -- another girl did, and I happen to know a word that means "cap or similar hat" in Mexico and "vagina" here so there is a risk of that sort of thing.)

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