La vida cotidiana en Buenos Aires

It's been a whirlwind of a few days.  I've been in Argentina for less than a week, and I've already learned so much.  Of course, there are still many, many things that I don't understand yet.

The Food

The typical Argentine diet includes a lot of meat, mostly beef.  Argentina is famous for its steaks, though I have yet to try one because my host mom is a former vegetarian, and my family generally eats more vegetables and less meat than the average Argentine household.  I really appreciate this fact, because a lot of people from my program have had trouble adjusting to such a meat-and-processed-carbohydrate heavy diet.  The empanadas are delicious, although I'm pretty sure they aren't that good for you, because they're basically just Hot Pockets.  Also whole grains don't exist here.  Overall, though, the food is fantastic, but somehow everyone here is thin...

Orientation

My program's orientation began Friday, and it has been a whole lot of boring.  I have spoken and heard a lot more Spanish because of it, but I've also done the same with English, because having other American students around is a constant temptation to break out the inglés.  I've made friends with some really cool people, though, and they'll come in handy in the coming weeks until I make Argentine friends.  (That last sentence made it seem like I'll ditch them as soon as I meet some locals.  I can neither confirm or deny this, but I can say that that was not the sentiment I was trying to convey.)  On Saturday we got to tour the Casa Rosada, which is the Argentine equivalent of the White House.  I don't have much to say about it, except that it's pink.

The Language

Argentines don't call it español, they call it castellano.  I'm not entirely sure what the distinction is, but it's possible that español refers to the Spanish spoken in Spain while castellano refers to the Spanish spoken in Argentina and Uruguay.  And oh yes, there is a difference.  In most Spanish-speaking countries, ll is pronounced like y.  For example, pollo is pronounced "po-YO." But porteños (literally people of the port, or residents of BA) pronounce "ll" and "y" like the "s" sound in "measure," so pollo = "po-ZHO."  This can be confusing, because sometimes you won't even recognize basic words when you hear them.

The view from my room, photo courtesy of Moira

My castellano has improved quite a bit since I got here.  I've started to unconsciously think in Spanish and I've had several dreams in Spanish (though the idea that this is the indicator that you're fluent is phooey).  It is a very bizarre feeling to think in another language.  When I think about things people said in the past in English, I remember them as if the person said them in Spanish.  My mind is automatically converting ideas expressed in English to Spanish, and it's a really cool but surreal experience!  Since orientation has started, though, I've been speaking a lot more English to the other Americans, because after speaking Spanish for 8-10 hours, everyone is really tired of it.  It's amazing how comforting it is to simply to able to express yourself fully and naturally after hours of not being able to.  But my progress with Spanish has slowed because of this, so I've decided that for the next week I'm going to try to speak and read as little English as possible.  I need to learn as much Spanish as possible before I start classes in two weeks!

Nightlife


On Friday night a few people from the program decided that we wanted to go out.  I was really tired, though, and porteños don't even start their night until midnight or 1am, so I decided to take a short siesta at 10pm.  I learned that this isn't the best idea when I woke up at 10am the next morning.  The key to success is to drink mate, a ubiquitous type of tea which is basically crack cocaine in liquid form.  Drink just a little mate and you feel like running a marathon!  Saturday was more successful after this lesson was learned, and we went to an overpriced bar in Palermo.  I realized that I've already become a cheapskate, because the idea of paying 8 dollars for a mixed drink was horrifying.  In general things are very inexpensive here; the national slogan should be "In Argentina, it's all Two-Buck Chuck".  I went to the grocery store and bought the most expensive bottle of wine they had early today.  And it was ten dollars.  I didn't especially want/need the ten-dollar bottle of wine, but how many times in America will I buy the most expensive wine in the store? Approximately never.


¡Qué Quilombo!

Cornelios fell asleep on my bed while listening to Eminem.
 All together now, "AWW"

From what I've gathered, there is a lot of pickpocketing and straight-up robbery here.  I'm pretty sure I experienced this firsthand a few days ago.  I was waiting at the bus stop, probably looking like an American, and some guy came up to me and starting saying something.  He was speaking really quickly and really close to my face, and I couldn't understand him; I'm pretty sure, though, that he said the word "machete" (although this could have been "billete," or wallet, but either way he wanted my money).  I figured I was being robbed, although it was a curious scenario -- it was dark, but it was only about 8pm, so there were plenty of people around.  Thus I surrendered my wallet and the guy took some money and walked briskly away.  I wasn't too shaken up about it, though, considering that I was confused more than anything and he only got away with around 30 US dollars.

In other news, there have been some small victories.  Like when I figured out how to decode the bus guide, or unlock the front door to my house.  Now the big decision is choosing my classes; do I want to take "Análisis Político: Conflicto y Cooperación en Latinoamérica," or "La Socialdemocracia en América Latina: Problemas, Actores, y Estrategias en el marco de los procesos de democratización"?  I'll letcha know how that one turns out next week!

¡Hasta luego amigos!

First day in Buenos Aires

Living in a foreign country is a good way to increase your humility.  Because pretty much everything you do seems stupid.

Yesterday, I finally arrived in Buenos Aires after a grueling 13-hour red-eye flight.  I wasn't able to sleep at all, but on the upside, the flight attendants served me food!! and WINE! Those 3 ounces of wine were pretty much the highlight of my journey.  I convinced everyone I encountered that I spoke fluent Spanish, although I understood approximately 5 percent of what they said.  When the flight attendent came by to ask what we wanted for dinner, I just said "lo mismo" ("the same") and found that the lady sitting next to me had ordered teriyaki chicken.  Not bad.

The trouble started after I arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires.  I hadn't written down the exact address of my host family because my program's director had told me that there would be a taxi waiting for me.  As I left customs, I saw a bunch of people holding signs with names, but none with mine.  So after pacing back and forth, thinking maybe I just hadn't seen my driver for some reason, I decided to get another taxi.  This turned out to be fine (although it was quite a bit more expensive than the original taxi), but I still didn't know the address, so I told him (in my rudimentary Spanish) the name of the barrio and the street where I was living and asked him to drop me off at an internet cafe.

Apparently he thought I meant a real cafe.  Like, with pastries and coffee.  And without internet.  So I bought a doughnut and a bottle of water after ten minutes of trying to figure out the exact means of doing so, then sat down to see if I could find nearby wi-fi.  No luck.  I didn't know how I was supposed to pay for my snack, so I just waited with a profound look of confusion until a waitress came over and told me how much money I owed.  Of course hearing her speak Spanish caused me an undue amount of anxiety, so I didn't hear exactly what she said and misunderstood her.  She said it was 10 pesos and 86 cents, but I thought she said 86 pesos, which would be around 20 dollars.  But I gave her a hundred pesos anyways and awaited to see how much change I'd get back.  After not being ripped off, I asked the woman where I could find internet, and she gave me directions that I didn't really understand, but she made it seem like it was somewhere on that street.  I walked up and down Avenida Boedo probably 20 times before I found an Internet cafe.  Luckily I was only two blocks from the house and I finally made it there.

My host family is SO GREAT.  Pablo and Regula are tango instructors, and they also run a bed and breakfast that is attached to their house.  Juan is 13, but he is only here Wednesday, Thursdays, and the last weekend of every month (I think? I dunno they explained this to me but I only ever understand half of what they say), and the rest of the time he lives with his mom.  Moira is 5 and Cornelios is 3, and they are the cutest and friendliest little kids ever.  Last night I was in my room kind of avoiding them so I didn't have to deal with the stress of speaking and hearing Spanish, and I could hear the little kids and their dad singing to tango music at the top of their lungs in the kitchen.

Last night I was in my room wondering when dinner was going to happen, but being to afraid to ask, I googled it and eHow told me dinner would be between 8pm and 9pm, which turned out to be correct! Who knew?  Anyways, I had no idea what I was eating, although it looked like mashed potatoes with some vegetables on top.  I asked Pablo, and I think he told me it was mashed corn?  It tasted good though.

Today I slept until lunch time, so my family probably thinks I'm the laziest person ever.  I also didn't leave the house because I didn't know where to go and I don't have a phone yet.  About an hour ago, Regula knocked on my door and started telling me something.  I was really proud of myself because I thought I understood almost everything she said.  She said she was going to give me a tour of Buenos Aires so that I knew where everything was.  So I put on my coat (because it's winter here and it's actually really cold, given that I'm used to summer weather) and walked downstairs.  Well apparently she was going to give me a tour of Buenos Aires by showing me things on the MAP.  oops.  so currently I feel like the biggest dummy this side of the Mississippi.  But she explained some important things, like how Argentines conjugate their verbs weird (that explained part of the reason why I couldn't understand any of what they said) and how to use the bus guide (the most complicated thing in the world).  And I told her that I didn't understand much of the Spanish I heard and that I would probably ask the same questions many times.  Unfortunately I haven't really asked any questions, but instead I just nod and pretend like I get what's going on -- not the best idea.

I won't lie, this is a really scary experience.  It's really hard to not be able to understand what's going on around you, even more so than I thought.  I miss hearing people speak English!  But luckily I have a great family, and I'm pretty comfortable with this house.  Once I decide to leave the house, though.... welp, that'll be another story.

Pictures coming soon! Like, after I take them and upload them!

HOLY F#*&

So I leave today. It hasn't sunk in yet that in 6 hours I'll be on my way to South America, and I don't think it will until I board the flight to Lima, Peru.  It's really hard to explain the emotions that I feel right now.  After spending the weekend in Claremont, I've realized that I'm really going to miss being at Pomona next semester.  So there's a bit of sadness and hesitation, but those feeling are mostly overwhelmed by excitement about the experience I will have in a foreign country.  And I can't say I'm not nervous either.  The thought of introducing myself tomorrow afternoon, in Spanish, to my host family after a 13 hour flight is daunting.  For the first time in my life, I don't have any idea what to expect, because living outside the US is such a novel concept for which I have zero frame of reference.  Coming to college was a breeze compared to this! I know that my Spanish will improve immensely, that I'll make friends and fall in love with Buenos Aires, but right now those things seem quite distant and abstract.  So wish me luck!