Wow, I can't believe my time here in BA is ending. It's been absolutely amazing and I don't want to leave.
I had an awesome week. Class was a disaster for our teacher because she couldn't really plan, but it worked out nice for me because I was alone most of the week and so I got individualized attention. People just didn't come! It was hillarious, we would sit for a few minutes after class began and guess who might walk in the door, if anyone. I missed a few classes and was considering staying in BA another week to make up the classes and to spend a little more time in the city, but I figured it was more money and trouble than it's worth. I've learned a lot, still have a ways to go to complete fluency, but I have no real problems getting along in the Spanish Speaking world which is exciting.
I decided to treat myself to a girl's day out. I went and got a 1 hr Massage, a 1 hr Facial, a manicure, a pedicure, and my first waxing all for $155 pesos which is about $50 usd, isn't that awesome! A sweet day that was. They did a full-leg and armpit and wax. That was my first and last one! It hurt like h*ll. Wow, I get my eyebrows waxed before and so I thought I knew what to expect, but I was not at all prepared. Apparently this the Argentine's woman's primary source of Depilacion (Hair removal). The woman tried to convince me it only hurt cause it was my first time. I've heard tha before!
We were waiting to leave to go a community center with LIFE the other day. Someone told me that in the neighborhood where she went the last time she volunteered, the taxi driver wouldn't take them all the way because it was a dangerous area and so they had to walk. I couldn't believe it! These places are far out in the outskirts of Buenos Aires and can be pretty shady neighborhoods, I didn't realize how shady. These are near the neighborhoods that I hear about that cars don't stop at Red lights at night for the fear of something happening, in their car! They treat it like a stop sign and keep rolling. Liliana explained that no matter how dangerous the area, she has never had a problem. LIFE has built a reputation in Buenos Aires, especially in these neighborhoods. We wear our LIFE t-shirts everywhere we go and she was saying that people recognize this shirt and respect what it does for their community and they don't bother anyone. Many of the children and adults in these neighborhood were nurtered by LIFE or have been the recipient of their services directly or indirectly at one time or another. It's amazing the things this organization does. I am honored to have been apart of it for a short time.
Today I went to a feria (outdoor market) and bought a few souvineers. Do you believe a girl tried to rob me?! I was looking at some things on a table and she went through my bag. I had a long-strapped bag and it was pushed off to the side and I almost didn't even notice. I thought I felt something and I happened to look over to see my bag wide open, she was so close to having stolen my camera and what little money I had left! Crazy, she simply looked away at something on the table as if nothing had happened and then walked away. Wow!
On a positive note, at that same table, there was a couple from Florida that was struggling to get their point across and it wasn't happening. My friend and I translated for them and explained what mate is and how it's made. Nothing super special, it was nice to meet a couple from the states, surprisingly I haven't seen many... We went our separate ways and went to sit down at a restaurant. They came and sat at a table nearby and they each ordered a beer and nothing more. We talked to them again quickly in passing to the bathroom and they left before we finished. When we asked for the check, the waiter told us the couple had covered our bill. It was a pretty sweet deal cause I didn't have much cash left on me and all the mac machines in San Telmo have serious waits because it's a touristy area and the weekly Sunday feria was going on.
Speaking of serious waits, I have never seen anything like the Congreso Area Post Office! When you go into the post office, you have to take a number. There are about 10 rows of 6 or 8 chairs and you are expected to wait for everything. There are no special lines for anything. They were on number 65 and I had 5. They had to go all the way up to 100 and start again. There were 40 people ahead of me! I decided I would take my number and come back. Do you believe I lost track of time and missed my number! They were on 40 something and my number this time was 19. The seats were full and there were people standing around waiting. I wound up coming back at just the right time when they were on 8. I can't believe people live like this! You could easily spend hours trying to mail something. I am told that the post offices outside of the city center are a quick in and out, but why hasn't something been done about this! There are no stamp machines or mail drop boxes and you can't buy stamps hardly anywhere, absolutely everything is done at their 5 window stations. I asked around and no one knew where I could get a stamp. When I got to the window, I explained that I just needed to mail postcards and asked if there was another place I could use in the future. She gave me the address of a place some blocks away where I could purchase stamps and mail postcards and letters. I have never seen anything like it!
I Went to some nice restaurants and bars this week/weekend. Argentine music, brazilian music. We went to an interesting venue one night. It was a folklore bar. It's a traditional dance in many of the provinces outside of Argentina. It's a very traditional dance, hard to explain, but it was pretty cool. A few of the Argentine guys from the residence were really excited about it and kept trying to get us girls to dance. I didn't catch on well, but it was cool to watch and I enjoyed the music.
I think it's so cool that the young people are interested in these traditional dances and are very good at them. At the feria, it reminds me of Central Park in New york because there are all sorts of artists, people playing instruments, dancing tango, painting, dancing, or showing off their skillful, creative crafts. There was a brazilian troup doing capaeira. Think it's spelled wrong, but it's like a graceful, dance-like play fighting. It's really cool because they do all sorts of flips and kicks and things and they play music and it's really interesting. They had this one bow and arrow looking instrument and tamborines and drums and they sang, I loved it, not to mention that some of the boys weren't too rough on the eyes. The hispanic have their folklore and salsa and merengue, etc. depending on their country. Brazilians have all sorts of dances - samba, like hula dancing for the hawaiians, is really hard to learn well. I wish there was more American culture. I always feel like I'm missing a piece of culture from grandpop's side of the family that we never met. And so I've adopted a little culture from everywhere. It's absolutely amazing to be surrounded by so many different things.
I leave for Peru tomorrow morning. I know that you guys moved ahead an hour and I think Peru is 1 hr behind us here in BA and so I should only be 1 hr ahead of you guys when I get there. All is well, I am enjoying myself immensely and so Mom - you can stop worrying. I am going to miss BA, but am excited to see what has Peru has in store for me. Hope I will be able to venture off and make it to see Machu Picchu before i leave Peru - it would be my 3rd wonder of the world! Love Ya'll! Will be in touch soon.
P.S. - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6101586
It's too much of a headache to load pictures on here. This is the link to my facebook page where you can see the pictures other people tagged of me and the few I put up of myself. I will show all the rest when I get home. I stopped taking so many, after a couple of weeks, it's like you are no longer a tourist and you don't take your camera everywhere. I will always live with the memories in my heart, but I'm sure I took at least a few pics at most really cool places.
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