it's okay to be pushy about getting conversations back on track.
it's okay if your brain is messy because sometimes it will be in order too.
if you are ever stuck inside for a long, long time (say at immigrations in buenos aires, say for eight hours) and have some styrofoam from a sandwich, it is super fun to roll up the pieces into little bowls and wave them away with your hand because you create snowdrift on the floor. it is also fun to make friends this way and share. oh, and it is fun to make a geometrical ring out of it too.
i got someone's email that is day8eternity and they live in the middle of a rainbow lake owned by the coca cola company. i cannot make this up!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
got the tum tum blues
I have a million vegetables to do justice with soon. I hope I can live up to the challenge.
I have lost a lot of Spanish this weekend somehow. I really despise that. I am turning into an insomniac. When I don't get home til late and should be tired, I can't sleep. It is a real pain. I am beginning to think of my digestive track as an active volcano.
Yesterday I did the unthinkable and touched some filmy water. It was very pretty, and I disinfected afterward. We went to a silly party and danced, and despite the lack of extremely warm people it reminded me a lot of home. The joking isn't quite as sweet, though. I find myself more standoffish as time goes on to certain people in party situations. That behavior is very much not me, and I wish it wouldn't happen. I just don't trust a lot of strangers here. The abrasive or skeezy factor is tough to judge given the existence of benefit of the doubt. I have not been giving the benefit of the doubt unless I see someone truly deserves it. I'm not sure if it's a lack of filter or rudeness in many situations, but it is rather peculiar not knowing. I value some filters because it removes awkward misunderstandings, but I am trying to develop a more readily available lack of filter to at least test all the same. Someone last night was wearing their shirt around their shoulders, and he said that it fell off because of me. And then I said, what do I have to do with it? And he said, it came off because of you. It's like an earthquake that it came off just like this. I didn't really get it, and I said that he was the one that took it off. It is bizarre situations like these that make me feel closer to those likeminds from my culture. I really don't hate to say that and do hate to say that all at once. Mercury must not be in my sign right now, and I am looking forward to it returning. I also thought that someone was trying to clink glasses with me out of the blue so I went to cheers, and she was trying to hand a bottle to her friend. She continued to do so, and it was really funny despite being weird. They kept playing LCD sound system, and we left around the time this strange song about "where is my soul?" came on.
I am really appalled by the behavior of men here, not just Argentinians, and also by a lot of the women. I feel much more balanced than many people I have met, and that is a peculiar feeling for me. What is this supposed to mean anyway= $:)
It is something that is meant to be left at the keyboard, I strongly believe.
Everything is extremely unusual, and I have been thinking a lot about home this week. Anyways, I'm glad that Alex is coming soon because it will feel a little less surreal constantly.
Yesterday I went to Chinatown and wandered around aimlessly for the first hour. I need to return if only to find bubble tea a handfan. We went to a polo game and ended up in the wrong place a couple of times. There was a magnificent park we got lost in that you can rent boats along the river and a race track across the way from the polo field. Polo is bizarre, and some friends talked to this French tv producer friends with the best polo player in Argentina. Also we stayed and found free champagne and appetizers and mingled with some creepy men that turned out to be polo players. They were nicer than expected, and if nothing else I really do love the cheek greeting by creepy men. One invited us to his final today in a really nice suburb of BsAs and the after party. I didn't go since I couldn't sleep and not stop running to the restroom, but Sam and Sabrina did. Tavi said he would drive us back. I don't like relying on those situations.
We spotted a lovely Brazilian restaurant for future dinners, Mexican restaurant we ate at- which was phenomenal. Jesus, Sabrina, and I went to Plaza Armenia for some drinks. There were little boys holding hands and playing in the grass together. It was quite pretty and exciting to find some part of the sky with stars. Also there is the most magnificent book store ever in the area I will be frequenting with bookshelves worthy of Beauty and the Beast, and a little cafe that screeeams Be Our Guest!
Mercury, come back to me!
I have lost a lot of Spanish this weekend somehow. I really despise that. I am turning into an insomniac. When I don't get home til late and should be tired, I can't sleep. It is a real pain. I am beginning to think of my digestive track as an active volcano.
Yesterday I did the unthinkable and touched some filmy water. It was very pretty, and I disinfected afterward. We went to a silly party and danced, and despite the lack of extremely warm people it reminded me a lot of home. The joking isn't quite as sweet, though. I find myself more standoffish as time goes on to certain people in party situations. That behavior is very much not me, and I wish it wouldn't happen. I just don't trust a lot of strangers here. The abrasive or skeezy factor is tough to judge given the existence of benefit of the doubt. I have not been giving the benefit of the doubt unless I see someone truly deserves it. I'm not sure if it's a lack of filter or rudeness in many situations, but it is rather peculiar not knowing. I value some filters because it removes awkward misunderstandings, but I am trying to develop a more readily available lack of filter to at least test all the same. Someone last night was wearing their shirt around their shoulders, and he said that it fell off because of me. And then I said, what do I have to do with it? And he said, it came off because of you. It's like an earthquake that it came off just like this. I didn't really get it, and I said that he was the one that took it off. It is bizarre situations like these that make me feel closer to those likeminds from my culture. I really don't hate to say that and do hate to say that all at once. Mercury must not be in my sign right now, and I am looking forward to it returning. I also thought that someone was trying to clink glasses with me out of the blue so I went to cheers, and she was trying to hand a bottle to her friend. She continued to do so, and it was really funny despite being weird. They kept playing LCD sound system, and we left around the time this strange song about "where is my soul?" came on.
I am really appalled by the behavior of men here, not just Argentinians, and also by a lot of the women. I feel much more balanced than many people I have met, and that is a peculiar feeling for me. What is this supposed to mean anyway= $:)
It is something that is meant to be left at the keyboard, I strongly believe.
Everything is extremely unusual, and I have been thinking a lot about home this week. Anyways, I'm glad that Alex is coming soon because it will feel a little less surreal constantly.
Yesterday I went to Chinatown and wandered around aimlessly for the first hour. I need to return if only to find bubble tea a handfan. We went to a polo game and ended up in the wrong place a couple of times. There was a magnificent park we got lost in that you can rent boats along the river and a race track across the way from the polo field. Polo is bizarre, and some friends talked to this French tv producer friends with the best polo player in Argentina. Also we stayed and found free champagne and appetizers and mingled with some creepy men that turned out to be polo players. They were nicer than expected, and if nothing else I really do love the cheek greeting by creepy men. One invited us to his final today in a really nice suburb of BsAs and the after party. I didn't go since I couldn't sleep and not stop running to the restroom, but Sam and Sabrina did. Tavi said he would drive us back. I don't like relying on those situations.
We spotted a lovely Brazilian restaurant for future dinners, Mexican restaurant we ate at- which was phenomenal. Jesus, Sabrina, and I went to Plaza Armenia for some drinks. There were little boys holding hands and playing in the grass together. It was quite pretty and exciting to find some part of the sky with stars. Also there is the most magnificent book store ever in the area I will be frequenting with bookshelves worthy of Beauty and the Beast, and a little cafe that screeeams Be Our Guest!
Mercury, come back to me!
Friday, March 27, 2009
note to those select loved ones
I'm not sure what I'm saying in these blog that signifies I am smoking cigarettes, though, I think there was a post from a million posts back that may have said something about turning to cigarettes when I was alone here and stressed. I am aware of the risks, and I'm not a fan of the risks. I am not smoking massive amounts when I do. Most social situations in Argentina are smoking friendly, and it is hard to avoid it as much as I would like. Also, I don't think nicotine gum exists here? Also also, I don't think cold turkey exists here either.
Love you all!
Love you all!
the dot in the basement where you can see anything anywhere in the world
I am walking to the basement of that dot tomorrow.
The rat tail fad here has a history, as all things do. It started a few decades here as a sign to show you were in solidarity. I am guessing in solidarity with the humanitarians kidnapped and such in the 70s-80s. Certain numbers of rat tails signify certain things. A little kid from today said that rat tails are cool, and that the most cool people had 3.
I had a very long, odd day. My legs are pleading for a break. I'm giving them one. Chauchau
The rat tail fad here has a history, as all things do. It started a few decades here as a sign to show you were in solidarity. I am guessing in solidarity with the humanitarians kidnapped and such in the 70s-80s. Certain numbers of rat tails signify certain things. A little kid from today said that rat tails are cool, and that the most cool people had 3.
I had a very long, odd day. My legs are pleading for a break. I'm giving them one. Chauchau
Thursday, March 26, 2009
the spacey frontier and a missing lobe
I have been having quite the difficult time with my schedule. I keep showing up to class at the wrong times, and if it wasn't ridiculous already it is nearing the realm of the unacceptable. I have taken up coffee again which is doing me good for class, but it still doesn't put my brain into optimal overdrive. I suppose even a girl who switches spaces would stay spacey afterall, wouldn't she?
The opera is a silly affair, and that is what I like the most about it. Humans are inherently absurd, and the opera best exemplifies this inherent absurdity. A fun fact about the opera: the screens located right next to the stage served a culturally practical purpose during a different era. People, namely women, in mourning who wanted to socialize or enjoy themselves after suffering a loss would still attend the opera but in secret. I watched an opera called something after class yesterday and didn't giggle like I expected but drew things during intermissions and made up dialogues in my head. I also played the staring game with members in the orchestra and tried to count how many times I saw the diaphragm of the lead convulse.
Fried chicken exists here, which I will obtain soon. So do cocoa pebble-like cereals, which I am eating for breakfast. I have also stopped recycling neurotically (but don't feel any less guilty about it). I have taken up drinking mass amounts of coca cola on top of everything. Pistacho ice cream is a must at all times of the day, and I have spotted the most perfect cheap place for choripan just one block away from my home. I am looking forward to a weekly or bi- or tri-weekly, pushing it of course, round of mid-day choripan. It's just hard to be a happy person when you are constantly searching for organic and healthy fare in Buenos Aires without scouring the entire city. In an effort to retain my much valued happiness, I have resorted to eating things I would have dismissed in Iowa.
I went to the most enormous annual march in Buenos Aires the other day. When I first arrived, I locked eyes with one of the Mothers of the Plaza (of Mayo). She was wearing one of the infamous white scarves on her head, denoting her relationship, and we smiled at each other. Something about the genuity of it was really flooring. I nearly burst into tears but got ahold of myself.
I was able to hold onto the banner with all of the known people who were kidnapped/tortured/killed during the military regime. Most of the time I held onto the picture of a girl named Elina, and she could have been my best friend. The march was kind of a mess, but people are people. I think the number of people in attendance came somewhere around the 40.000 mark, but I cannot be sure. It went for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks. The age range and the diversity of those in attendance was astonishing. After being in the middle of everyone in the streets, I found a nice spot in the sun to listen to some of those speaking. I made friends with a toddler who kept bumbling around the hill and using me for balance and a receptacle for beans and blades of grass he would find on the ground. I tried to give him a fuzzball that was once a feather, and he didn't know what to do with it so he just stared at me for a long time.
People have been on my mind constantly. That is, people and what it means to be a person and what it means to value life and what it means to violate life and what it means to be fanatical and what it means to transition from the valuing of life to the valuing of ideals. I have also thought a lot about emotions and what takes people from point to point. The most recent cycle of these thoughts stemmed from one of the most powerful, disturbing, and real films I have seen in a long time called "This is England." Toward the middle when emotions get twisted, I clutched the pillow and couldn't let go. Then I went to bed listening to the most recent installment of This American Life entitled "I didn't ask to be born" which made me writhe even further. The following day in my Human Rights seminar, we watched a documentary called "Breaking the Silence" detailing the experience of torture victims through out the world. My professor was one of the people on the screen, and it was interesting having already known he was a victim of torture watching the reactions of people in my class when they saw his face in the video for the first time. I have been taking the edge (created by these intense emotional catalysts) off by frequenting the Twitter of Christopher Walken. I recommend it.
Today marks the beginning of the International Film Festival, my career as a trapeze artist and tight rope walker, and the weekend. Pocho is still stupid, so that's nothing new, but he began sharing the bed with me earlier in the week, which is. Tomorrow my Human Rights class is visiting a navy outpost which I believe was one of the sites of the secret detention centers during the military regime. I may need to rush to the horse stables to take the edge off afterwards but only time will tell.
There is interesting political shiiiit going down here, and I suggest you look into it if you can.
El fin.
The opera is a silly affair, and that is what I like the most about it. Humans are inherently absurd, and the opera best exemplifies this inherent absurdity. A fun fact about the opera: the screens located right next to the stage served a culturally practical purpose during a different era. People, namely women, in mourning who wanted to socialize or enjoy themselves after suffering a loss would still attend the opera but in secret. I watched an opera called something after class yesterday and didn't giggle like I expected but drew things during intermissions and made up dialogues in my head. I also played the staring game with members in the orchestra and tried to count how many times I saw the diaphragm of the lead convulse.
Fried chicken exists here, which I will obtain soon. So do cocoa pebble-like cereals, which I am eating for breakfast. I have also stopped recycling neurotically (but don't feel any less guilty about it). I have taken up drinking mass amounts of coca cola on top of everything. Pistacho ice cream is a must at all times of the day, and I have spotted the most perfect cheap place for choripan just one block away from my home. I am looking forward to a weekly or bi- or tri-weekly, pushing it of course, round of mid-day choripan. It's just hard to be a happy person when you are constantly searching for organic and healthy fare in Buenos Aires without scouring the entire city. In an effort to retain my much valued happiness, I have resorted to eating things I would have dismissed in Iowa.
I went to the most enormous annual march in Buenos Aires the other day. When I first arrived, I locked eyes with one of the Mothers of the Plaza (of Mayo). She was wearing one of the infamous white scarves on her head, denoting her relationship, and we smiled at each other. Something about the genuity of it was really flooring. I nearly burst into tears but got ahold of myself.
I was able to hold onto the banner with all of the known people who were kidnapped/tortured/killed during the military regime. Most of the time I held onto the picture of a girl named Elina, and she could have been my best friend. The march was kind of a mess, but people are people. I think the number of people in attendance came somewhere around the 40.000 mark, but I cannot be sure. It went for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks. The age range and the diversity of those in attendance was astonishing. After being in the middle of everyone in the streets, I found a nice spot in the sun to listen to some of those speaking. I made friends with a toddler who kept bumbling around the hill and using me for balance and a receptacle for beans and blades of grass he would find on the ground. I tried to give him a fuzzball that was once a feather, and he didn't know what to do with it so he just stared at me for a long time.
People have been on my mind constantly. That is, people and what it means to be a person and what it means to value life and what it means to violate life and what it means to be fanatical and what it means to transition from the valuing of life to the valuing of ideals. I have also thought a lot about emotions and what takes people from point to point. The most recent cycle of these thoughts stemmed from one of the most powerful, disturbing, and real films I have seen in a long time called "This is England." Toward the middle when emotions get twisted, I clutched the pillow and couldn't let go. Then I went to bed listening to the most recent installment of This American Life entitled "I didn't ask to be born" which made me writhe even further. The following day in my Human Rights seminar, we watched a documentary called "Breaking the Silence" detailing the experience of torture victims through out the world. My professor was one of the people on the screen, and it was interesting having already known he was a victim of torture watching the reactions of people in my class when they saw his face in the video for the first time. I have been taking the edge (created by these intense emotional catalysts) off by frequenting the Twitter of Christopher Walken. I recommend it.
Today marks the beginning of the International Film Festival, my career as a trapeze artist and tight rope walker, and the weekend. Pocho is still stupid, so that's nothing new, but he began sharing the bed with me earlier in the week, which is. Tomorrow my Human Rights class is visiting a navy outpost which I believe was one of the sites of the secret detention centers during the military regime. I may need to rush to the horse stables to take the edge off afterwards but only time will tell.
There is interesting political shiiiit going down here, and I suggest you look into it if you can.
El fin.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
glass bottle moment
I am not blowing my nose throughout the entire day again! Take that infection!
On my walking adventure I spotted street protest of the day numero uno. Again, the purpose remained ambiguous. Someone was speaking into a bullhorn about something I couldn't ascertain, and everyone was holding a sign that read "cielo" (signifies heaven).
I walked about 35 blocks to the Tattoo Arcade en Avenida Santa Fe complete with "alt" clothes shops and bong shops. A few points of interest: one, the lack of privacy in the tattoo parlors. You can watch people getting tattooed through the windows. Emily questioned whether or not this would hold true even if someone was getting a tattoo on their privates. This is one instance where the term privates becomes relative. There is simply no privacy in these places. I asked if I needed an appointment and how much it would cost and both of my answers were granted. I'm going to come back one day this week with an actual image of the hummingbird of my dreams so something is not lost in translation. Also, I've never seen so many thick laced black boots and scratches and neon animal prints congregated in one area in my whole life!
I walked again about 50 blocks to the movie theater. At one point, right after the sun had set I had regretted walking alone through the streets ahead of me because it was desolate despite few bodies interspersed, but I felt okay. I came upon a busier street the rest of the walk and was glad I braved through the on foot trek.
I came upon another protest-rally in a square equally ambiguous and complete with bullhorn. I will learn the meaning of the more rare words so I can pitch in when I see fit. Every bus waiting haven had "capitalismo es egoismo" taped or written on the side of it for about 5 blocks as well. When I return to the spot I will bring my camera and take the blog on a walk with me so you can see it just like I did. I kept looking up to see if I could spot one little star of the southern hemisphere, but the sky was raisin purple. I appreciate a good tone of purple, for sure, but I do look forward to parting ways with the city from time to time. My lungs could use a break from the smog, and my eyes could gaze upon a few more constellations.
I came across a punk show being played in a beaaautiful park before I waited to go back to the theater. Something about those 10 minutes really stuck with me. I'm feeling rather ethereal regularly here. I also spotted a lady selling popcorn on the street that I uncharacteristically passed because it looked old. Also the boy the vendor was talking to had greasy hair and a baseball cap and made me nervous. That was odd. I made up for bypassing the popcorn by enjoying a glass bottle of Pepsi complete with straw and a man who popped the top for me prior to the movie of an old man with beautiful eyes. I really appreciated the purposeful slowness of the film.
My favorite part of the night is the cab ride home. I get to watch the city move for me. It's an interactive and breezy film.
On my walking adventure I spotted street protest of the day numero uno. Again, the purpose remained ambiguous. Someone was speaking into a bullhorn about something I couldn't ascertain, and everyone was holding a sign that read "cielo" (signifies heaven).
I walked about 35 blocks to the Tattoo Arcade en Avenida Santa Fe complete with "alt" clothes shops and bong shops. A few points of interest: one, the lack of privacy in the tattoo parlors. You can watch people getting tattooed through the windows. Emily questioned whether or not this would hold true even if someone was getting a tattoo on their privates. This is one instance where the term privates becomes relative. There is simply no privacy in these places. I asked if I needed an appointment and how much it would cost and both of my answers were granted. I'm going to come back one day this week with an actual image of the hummingbird of my dreams so something is not lost in translation. Also, I've never seen so many thick laced black boots and scratches and neon animal prints congregated in one area in my whole life!
I walked again about 50 blocks to the movie theater. At one point, right after the sun had set I had regretted walking alone through the streets ahead of me because it was desolate despite few bodies interspersed, but I felt okay. I came upon a busier street the rest of the walk and was glad I braved through the on foot trek.
I came upon another protest-rally in a square equally ambiguous and complete with bullhorn. I will learn the meaning of the more rare words so I can pitch in when I see fit. Every bus waiting haven had "capitalismo es egoismo" taped or written on the side of it for about 5 blocks as well. When I return to the spot I will bring my camera and take the blog on a walk with me so you can see it just like I did. I kept looking up to see if I could spot one little star of the southern hemisphere, but the sky was raisin purple. I appreciate a good tone of purple, for sure, but I do look forward to parting ways with the city from time to time. My lungs could use a break from the smog, and my eyes could gaze upon a few more constellations.
I came across a punk show being played in a beaaautiful park before I waited to go back to the theater. Something about those 10 minutes really stuck with me. I'm feeling rather ethereal regularly here. I also spotted a lady selling popcorn on the street that I uncharacteristically passed because it looked old. Also the boy the vendor was talking to had greasy hair and a baseball cap and made me nervous. That was odd. I made up for bypassing the popcorn by enjoying a glass bottle of Pepsi complete with straw and a man who popped the top for me prior to the movie of an old man with beautiful eyes. I really appreciated the purposeful slowness of the film.
My favorite part of the night is the cab ride home. I get to watch the city move for me. It's an interactive and breezy film.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
losing focus "porpoise"-fully
I am not going to look for anything anymore, and that is that. It is my new goal-less goal. I think we have the meta-pizza to thank for this one.
I have placas. This signifies a pussing of the throat, and, in my case, of the entire head. My head is a puffer fish, and instead of rising it is sinking. It is a real shame, and I bark like a seal approximately every 5 minutes.
Today was a night of Anglo-isms and tonight was a day of disappointment in the program. I do not belong in Spanish level 200. Unless you feel like reading about my frustrations with the program, please ski(p/m) until the next paragraph. I know people in the level higher than my own, and I know I know at least as much as they do if not more. I knowknowknow it. I don't just thinkthinkthink it. I knoooow it. A multiple choice language test has not ever been comprehensive. When I was in high school, I always did worse on the multiple choice final than I had the entire year. Those in authooority do not sit in on these classes ill-suited for people with a genuine intermediate understanding of the language. They do not hear the effort being put forth by other members of the class, see the varied levels of skill in each class, or recognize that one measly little test is not a sufficient method of assessment for everyone. Maybe I'm not good at multiple choice, and maaaybe just maybe I learned different words than the ones put on the test. I am embittered, and I don't like having others exercise their authority over me. If the first week starts off with a review of the most basic points in the language that I learned at the very beginning of my Spanish studies, I believe that sets a tone for the entire semester. When a review begins where I left off, I find it to be of much greater use. It is also more useful, logically, to continue where one left off rather than return to go.
I feel like I'm perpetually losing the game of Sorry with the program.
I just went to an odd jazz show and heard way too many English speakers and songs. A soul group with 3 Argentine front women that sang like Aretha Franklin but looked like Argentine Stepford Wives began to sing "I'm young, gifted, and black." Sabrina and I were wondering if they knew exactly what the songs they were singing meant because every, every song was entirely in English. Furthermore, apparently jazz in Spanish doesn't exist?
Final note: Claude with a Transient Meatball = Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
I found "pistacho" helado that tasted more like mint. I think I am going to go there every day this weekend, and especially if I able to have a green weekend.
I have placas. This signifies a pussing of the throat, and, in my case, of the entire head. My head is a puffer fish, and instead of rising it is sinking. It is a real shame, and I bark like a seal approximately every 5 minutes.
Today was a night of Anglo-isms and tonight was a day of disappointment in the program. I do not belong in Spanish level 200. Unless you feel like reading about my frustrations with the program, please ski(p/m) until the next paragraph. I know people in the level higher than my own, and I know I know at least as much as they do if not more. I knowknowknow it. I don't just thinkthinkthink it. I knoooow it. A multiple choice language test has not ever been comprehensive. When I was in high school, I always did worse on the multiple choice final than I had the entire year. Those in authooority do not sit in on these classes ill-suited for people with a genuine intermediate understanding of the language. They do not hear the effort being put forth by other members of the class, see the varied levels of skill in each class, or recognize that one measly little test is not a sufficient method of assessment for everyone. Maybe I'm not good at multiple choice, and maaaybe just maybe I learned different words than the ones put on the test. I am embittered, and I don't like having others exercise their authority over me. If the first week starts off with a review of the most basic points in the language that I learned at the very beginning of my Spanish studies, I believe that sets a tone for the entire semester. When a review begins where I left off, I find it to be of much greater use. It is also more useful, logically, to continue where one left off rather than return to go.
I feel like I'm perpetually losing the game of Sorry with the program.
I just went to an odd jazz show and heard way too many English speakers and songs. A soul group with 3 Argentine front women that sang like Aretha Franklin but looked like Argentine Stepford Wives began to sing "I'm young, gifted, and black." Sabrina and I were wondering if they knew exactly what the songs they were singing meant because every, every song was entirely in English. Furthermore, apparently jazz in Spanish doesn't exist?
Final note: Claude with a Transient Meatball = Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
I found "pistacho" helado that tasted more like mint. I think I am going to go there every day this weekend, and especially if I able to have a green weekend.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
tengo caca en mi cabeza
I have a silly little infection that is making me even sillier and smellier and dumb. My brain is nublado and full of poop, apparently. On Monday I woke up to ringing ears and beachy sounds and kept going back to sleep. There was a lot of confusion in regards to acquiring a doctor to see me, and when things didn't happen as I had understood they would, I would just... sleep.
Pocho wasn't being a punk on Monday and would cuddle by my feet like he is doing now.
After a really frustrating phone conversation with a doctor enabler, I got someone from the program to call for me which was a huge relief. I will be more patient with people when I answer phones when the caller doesn't speak fluent whatever-I'm-speaking. I tried to learn horseback riding terms in Spanish to make the day productive but after the doctor I ended up watching Ace Ventura and Shakespeare in Love with subtitles on the movie channel.
I think Easter is soon, and it is because I am just now seeing advertisements for Easter things. In comparison with the US, Argentina hangs looser with the advertisements. I have mostly seen little smiley eggs and little smiley chocolate eggs at places that sell those things, but nothing more.
Yesterday I wandered out quite a bit since I had no class and came upon a day long protest that was able to successfully halt traffic on at least 5 major thoroughways. I tried to listen but it was no use! I bopped on over to the port to look at the murky old watercolor water and headed home. I miss nice grocery stores the most, I think. Everything reminds me of Aldi's.
I went with Missa last night to a pubcrawl. It was silly. I did smoke hookah, and then I walked away from the hookah because it wasn't working. I met someone who became permanently attached to my side, walked up to some Argentine men who were mostly just boring and said we should throw a party for their single friend, and then met someone who kept saying no who everytime I said I was from Chicago. In his head I will always be Norwegian, but that does not make it right.
I went to class today and learned nothing new. The placement test is terrible, and the whole class period we went over the difference between three very simple verbs that are so 10 years ago. Then I went to the wrong class on the wrong day, but I think I will switch to it because it was more advanced. I sat through the whole class because it was too embarassing to get up. I wrote down the wrong times for 2 classes of mine, and I'm not sure how I'm ever going to survive in this world when I am always getting the details mixed up.
After my last class I got all hot and panicky because my throat was swelling and my neck was aching and I was sweating and felt like I was turning into the hulk. Since my walk home is quite a ways, I tried not to get flustered by the too narrow sidewalks for the too many bodies and made fun out of the cracks and dips and breaks in the sidewalk as if I were winning the game everytime I didn't trip. I also started humming somewhere over the rainbow, but then I just felt weeeird. People walking in pairs are lucky and eeevil because they don't move over for you when you are walking, and then you end up walking in the street with the speeding buses and motos and bikes and taxis. Could you call that Social Darwinism?
I am about to start my second roll of toilet paper of the day for booger disposal. When you spend most of your day blowing your nose, you get to feeling like quite the booger.
Pocho wasn't being a punk on Monday and would cuddle by my feet like he is doing now.
After a really frustrating phone conversation with a doctor enabler, I got someone from the program to call for me which was a huge relief. I will be more patient with people when I answer phones when the caller doesn't speak fluent whatever-I'm-speaking. I tried to learn horseback riding terms in Spanish to make the day productive but after the doctor I ended up watching Ace Ventura and Shakespeare in Love with subtitles on the movie channel.
I think Easter is soon, and it is because I am just now seeing advertisements for Easter things. In comparison with the US, Argentina hangs looser with the advertisements. I have mostly seen little smiley eggs and little smiley chocolate eggs at places that sell those things, but nothing more.
Yesterday I wandered out quite a bit since I had no class and came upon a day long protest that was able to successfully halt traffic on at least 5 major thoroughways. I tried to listen but it was no use! I bopped on over to the port to look at the murky old watercolor water and headed home. I miss nice grocery stores the most, I think. Everything reminds me of Aldi's.
I went with Missa last night to a pubcrawl. It was silly. I did smoke hookah, and then I walked away from the hookah because it wasn't working. I met someone who became permanently attached to my side, walked up to some Argentine men who were mostly just boring and said we should throw a party for their single friend, and then met someone who kept saying no who everytime I said I was from Chicago. In his head I will always be Norwegian, but that does not make it right.
I went to class today and learned nothing new. The placement test is terrible, and the whole class period we went over the difference between three very simple verbs that are so 10 years ago. Then I went to the wrong class on the wrong day, but I think I will switch to it because it was more advanced. I sat through the whole class because it was too embarassing to get up. I wrote down the wrong times for 2 classes of mine, and I'm not sure how I'm ever going to survive in this world when I am always getting the details mixed up.
After my last class I got all hot and panicky because my throat was swelling and my neck was aching and I was sweating and felt like I was turning into the hulk. Since my walk home is quite a ways, I tried not to get flustered by the too narrow sidewalks for the too many bodies and made fun out of the cracks and dips and breaks in the sidewalk as if I were winning the game everytime I didn't trip. I also started humming somewhere over the rainbow, but then I just felt weeeird. People walking in pairs are lucky and eeevil because they don't move over for you when you are walking, and then you end up walking in the street with the speeding buses and motos and bikes and taxis. Could you call that Social Darwinism?
I am about to start my second roll of toilet paper of the day for booger disposal. When you spend most of your day blowing your nose, you get to feeling like quite the booger.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
klumsy with a k, salty tea
Recap:
snuffly nose
sleepy brain can't sleep
kitten acquisition
falun dafa lecture 1, learning more about the history of humanity in preparation for next week's session. it is kind of silly, and i like that.
makeshift litter box
other end of san telmo sunday feria:
squishy tomato toys, check
lovely handcrafted instruments: one indigenous clay flute from peru/another xzylaphone creation made from a hollowed out gourd
met someone from bangladesh and a girl who works with refugees in argentina
discovery of a cobblery artist who will create shoes you design for quite the bargain
armenian restaurant with one accidental salted tea and one purposeful but regretted salted tea
armenian cuisine was a little lackluster but decent
twisted knotted necklaces that i will make one day
rosey bobby pins
delicious artesan block of cheese for the equivalent of 4.50us split into a more devourable twosome for less
a brilliant discovery of a newly renovated home turned shop haven full of: records, knowledge
'of charles garcia: acclaimed rocker of argentina, knitted cacti, holigraphic rulers, retro print dresses, igloo freezer, clear glass floor overlooking a basement full of produce bean bags, pene corto ice cube trays.
repunzel-esque gold straw jewelry.
improv painter.
pocho is purring and cuddling, and now he is going wild again. i am in love with my barrio. ahhh!
snuffly nose
sleepy brain can't sleep
kitten acquisition
falun dafa lecture 1, learning more about the history of humanity in preparation for next week's session. it is kind of silly, and i like that.
makeshift litter box
other end of san telmo sunday feria:
squishy tomato toys, check
lovely handcrafted instruments: one indigenous clay flute from peru/another xzylaphone creation made from a hollowed out gourd
met someone from bangladesh and a girl who works with refugees in argentina
discovery of a cobblery artist who will create shoes you design for quite the bargain
armenian restaurant with one accidental salted tea and one purposeful but regretted salted tea
armenian cuisine was a little lackluster but decent
twisted knotted necklaces that i will make one day
rosey bobby pins
delicious artesan block of cheese for the equivalent of 4.50us split into a more devourable twosome for less
a brilliant discovery of a newly renovated home turned shop haven full of: records, knowledge
'of charles garcia: acclaimed rocker of argentina, knitted cacti, holigraphic rulers, retro print dresses, igloo freezer, clear glass floor overlooking a basement full of produce bean bags, pene corto ice cube trays.
repunzel-esque gold straw jewelry.
improv painter.
pocho is purring and cuddling, and now he is going wild again. i am in love with my barrio. ahhh!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
"i'm a cartoon you're a full moon just stay up"
I'm quantifying.
100 squats intended.
0 squats achieved.
1 creepy caller.
1 lead as to his identity.
2 unsuccessful naps.
2 surprise plates of consolation food.
0 ice cream places open after 1 am.
5 strange men asking for a dance partner on the avenue.
31 times rose said "oh sheet" :).
1 pertinent bob dylan reference.
1 kitten-proofed apartment.
2 neighbor kitties spotted as potential playmates for pocho.
7 hours until pocho is in the apartment.
5 weapons on the vigilante parking attendants belt.
0 clues as to which were real.
0 opera realized.
0 cowboys that walked through the door of the bar.
1 that should have.
1 character sketch written in the last 2 months.
100 squats intended.
0 squats achieved.
1 creepy caller.
1 lead as to his identity.
2 unsuccessful naps.
2 surprise plates of consolation food.
0 ice cream places open after 1 am.
5 strange men asking for a dance partner on the avenue.
31 times rose said "oh sheet" :).
1 pertinent bob dylan reference.
1 kitten-proofed apartment.
2 neighbor kitties spotted as potential playmates for pocho.
7 hours until pocho is in the apartment.
5 weapons on the vigilante parking attendants belt.
0 clues as to which were real.
0 opera realized.
0 cowboys that walked through the door of the bar.
1 that should have.
1 character sketch written in the last 2 months.
mysterious magneticism in the bag pipe cabaret
I found myself listening to pretty new Bright Eyes lyrics today. What I appreciate about them is the weaving of the words that describe what they see around them. Especially this: I'm a cartoon, you're a moon, just stay up. Mm, if life were quite that abstract, those are the sentences I would utter without a second thought.
I noticed more kitties in the building today. I opened the giant window by the living room that generally leads me to nothing but noticing a blank concrete slate patio the floor below. I can't believe anyone would let a patio go to such waste! Anyways, there was a smiling cross-eyed siamese this time that looked the regal way most cats look when they are balanced.
I found a cabaret musical theatre one block away. It's rare for anyone to be white in my neighborhood. I like that feeling. Bagpipes are regularly playing when I enter the apartment building. A strange person called today, and I think I know who it is. I asked who they were, and they got weird and shy and said their full name. He was hung up on due to ambiguity and all around weirdness. It brought me back to kindergarten which is not healthy considering the period of maturation that was supposed to have followed.
Yummy bean dessert at a nearby restaurant followed by samba or cabaret or wine bar or acrobatics or magicians. The definite factor is the storm that brings bright light tramps skipping through the windows on the streets and makes you smile at strangers and dance on the corner. I am finding myself always in a spinning frenzy. I like to play games with other people's eyes sometimes when I know I am in control on the dance floor and surrounded by friendly faces. Sometimes I pretend I am trying to make a sandwich and the other person is the bread and all of my friends are the meaty part, and I must put as much inside of the sandwich as possible to separate me from the other piece of bread and then I get away. I only played that game once last night, actually, when I started dancing very badly and then very well, and then I laughed a lot and filled up the sandwich.
My feet came back purple. I spent a lot of time scrubbing the purple (think raisin or eggplant purple) off of my mocassins in the sink today. My heels are still purple, and I think I really love being a little dirty.
I'm getting a little Pocho kitty to watch starting at noon tomorrow for the next two weeks. Little Pocho kitty will get to meet cross eyed kitty and big kitty tomorrow too. Chau, I hope it is storming wherever you are too.
I noticed more kitties in the building today. I opened the giant window by the living room that generally leads me to nothing but noticing a blank concrete slate patio the floor below. I can't believe anyone would let a patio go to such waste! Anyways, there was a smiling cross-eyed siamese this time that looked the regal way most cats look when they are balanced.
I found a cabaret musical theatre one block away. It's rare for anyone to be white in my neighborhood. I like that feeling. Bagpipes are regularly playing when I enter the apartment building. A strange person called today, and I think I know who it is. I asked who they were, and they got weird and shy and said their full name. He was hung up on due to ambiguity and all around weirdness. It brought me back to kindergarten which is not healthy considering the period of maturation that was supposed to have followed.
Yummy bean dessert at a nearby restaurant followed by samba or cabaret or wine bar or acrobatics or magicians. The definite factor is the storm that brings bright light tramps skipping through the windows on the streets and makes you smile at strangers and dance on the corner. I am finding myself always in a spinning frenzy. I like to play games with other people's eyes sometimes when I know I am in control on the dance floor and surrounded by friendly faces. Sometimes I pretend I am trying to make a sandwich and the other person is the bread and all of my friends are the meaty part, and I must put as much inside of the sandwich as possible to separate me from the other piece of bread and then I get away. I only played that game once last night, actually, when I started dancing very badly and then very well, and then I laughed a lot and filled up the sandwich.
My feet came back purple. I spent a lot of time scrubbing the purple (think raisin or eggplant purple) off of my mocassins in the sink today. My heels are still purple, and I think I really love being a little dirty.
I'm getting a little Pocho kitty to watch starting at noon tomorrow for the next two weeks. Little Pocho kitty will get to meet cross eyed kitty and big kitty tomorrow too. Chau, I hope it is storming wherever you are too.
Friday, March 13, 2009
logistics
Also I was put into Advanced Spanish 2, and I know I am better at speaking than this. I should not have a lot of wine the night before an early test. 100 multiple choice that is extremely narrow in its vocabulary and grammar is terrible in addition to using these really complicated put 8 paragraphs in the right order to make a story and then 5 short answer questions that don't all make sense because of the vocabulary. I'm demanding a recount on Monday and also to be placed in Argentine poetry. If not I will be very extremely bored.
I'm telling the doorman I have a boyfriend tomorrow and seeing if he stops. If not I'm telling the landlord. People are easy reads, and he is clearly not happy with his life.
Time for bopping and ice cream and theatrical dancing.
I'm telling the doorman I have a boyfriend tomorrow and seeing if he stops. If not I'm telling the landlord. People are easy reads, and he is clearly not happy with his life.
Time for bopping and ice cream and theatrical dancing.
need to a) keep moving b) not spend money during the week to go on trips c) wants to stay put
I wish I could stay in Buenos Aires for much longer. I suppose it isn't possible unless I graduate a full year late which I don't want.
Full weekend: bubamara, tigre, bouncing, hot skin.
Full weekend: bubamara, tigre, bouncing, hot skin.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
meat tooth, sweet tooth
Last night consisted of mystery jamming and smooth rhythms, bird cage swings, and puddle boxes. The cultural center was full of the most beautiful people with lots of faux flowers in their hair. We ate empanadas after the show ended and got confused about an inexplicable offer of an extra plate which was declined.
I fell asleep feeling chirpy and breezy.
Today consisted of a long conversation about linguistics, tango, friends in foreign places, and old English lovers in Spanish on the way to an estancia. We were greeted by baskets of the most delicious empanadas, and then I took my shoes off and ran towards the swings. I wanted to go down the slide, but it was made of wood and a bit wobblier than I would have liked. Sam, Lori, and another girlface tried to spin me clockwise and I defied all logic by not being dizzy. My shoes were still off.
Next I think came handstands and elbow stands, and I'm not sure how Samantha can do the cartwheels and the backflips and the handstands she can do. Anyways she does it, and she does it running and smiling. She also talks about wearing her shoes out on lava rock, and I can't articulate the feeling I get when I hear her refer to lava rock.
An asado in this neocolonial building shortly followed. I ate little Brazilian fish with soft bones in them. They tickled my tongue. There were slices with meat crust and hardboiled eggs with pickled peppers inside. There was midafternoon wine and yummy poached pears with wildly smooth dark chocolate on top. There were giant slabs of meat, and I could only stomach the first roung of pork before declining all else.
I shared some delicious mate surrounded by the first group of boys who weren't outrageous citizens of deuschebagland. I have never been friends with so many girls in my life, really, before this trip. It's nice to know there are worthy boys out there.
We bopped into the farm and saw the Argentine version of ostriches, baby rabbits, loose baby ducks, peacocks, doves, big rabbits, giant guinea pig, baby waby guinea pigs, bunnies in the duck pin, armadillos standing up. Also chickens and turkeys of all different shapes and sizes and colors. There was a deer and a buck. I also made a cat friend who reminded me of Takkun. He was feisty, and I charmed his wily self for just a while. I knew I liked him when he licked my armpit and then bit my elbow. Tough love.
Sam and I ditched bikes and road on the rickshaws that appeared off limits but were embraced and therefore within our limits. I made a Milo and Otis reference that was met with the cutest biggest hug ever. The contraption got stuck a fair amount, and it was hard and bumpy and woozy fun. I liked to jerk around in it, and maybe that means I shouldn't have been steering. Regardless, it was a workout to remember. My face was more flushed than I'd seen it in years upon return. I also successfully rode bikes in the grass, but I couldn't do narrow turns. I stayed up the whole time and was able to start so successfully so often!
I had the sweetest pomegranate seed of all pomegranate seeds and rubbed palm fruit oil all over me and smelled really good for a long time. We spun around really fast and some sang some really awful musical songs that made me happy because they were from musicals (which I had wanted to get into before realizing I don't like most musicals) and partially uncomfortable because they were all songs from my least favorite musicals. I began singing the Addam's family theme song instead. I gave 2 tarot card readings as we passed around the gourd of mate, and I had my day's cigarette.
We are buying thong swimsuits tomorrow to wear on Saturday in Tigre. I am passing up a language exchange once more though it is only 2 blocks from my house. My feet are covered in dirt from running in the mud, and my skin feels hot from the sun. I have to register tomorrow, but not until later in the afternoon which means I can have a lovely morning.
The trip ended with a bus ride listening to The Blow reciting a kids clapping rhyme/game: Sally Walker. The color yellow came up in conversation. I gave myself a quick 3 card tarot spread of: 8 wands (past), 8 cups (present), and knight of cups (future) that couldn't have been any more pertinent to my current lifestyle and couldn't have been more invigorating. Then there was a rainbow, but we hadn't had any rain.
The McDonalds's here really aim for classy, and I oddly dig their uniforms of denim playsuits with embroidered M's on the rear pockets. I am losing my English, and I have noticed I've had to go back and revise some odd errors in entry that stem from me hearing my thoughts in my head and typing with phonemes rather than words. I'm going to think about red crushed velvet suits, the eiffel tower, and cadence now. What a romantic end to a Thursday!
I fell asleep feeling chirpy and breezy.
Today consisted of a long conversation about linguistics, tango, friends in foreign places, and old English lovers in Spanish on the way to an estancia. We were greeted by baskets of the most delicious empanadas, and then I took my shoes off and ran towards the swings. I wanted to go down the slide, but it was made of wood and a bit wobblier than I would have liked. Sam, Lori, and another girlface tried to spin me clockwise and I defied all logic by not being dizzy. My shoes were still off.
Next I think came handstands and elbow stands, and I'm not sure how Samantha can do the cartwheels and the backflips and the handstands she can do. Anyways she does it, and she does it running and smiling. She also talks about wearing her shoes out on lava rock, and I can't articulate the feeling I get when I hear her refer to lava rock.
An asado in this neocolonial building shortly followed. I ate little Brazilian fish with soft bones in them. They tickled my tongue. There were slices with meat crust and hardboiled eggs with pickled peppers inside. There was midafternoon wine and yummy poached pears with wildly smooth dark chocolate on top. There were giant slabs of meat, and I could only stomach the first roung of pork before declining all else.
I shared some delicious mate surrounded by the first group of boys who weren't outrageous citizens of deuschebagland. I have never been friends with so many girls in my life, really, before this trip. It's nice to know there are worthy boys out there.
We bopped into the farm and saw the Argentine version of ostriches, baby rabbits, loose baby ducks, peacocks, doves, big rabbits, giant guinea pig, baby waby guinea pigs, bunnies in the duck pin, armadillos standing up. Also chickens and turkeys of all different shapes and sizes and colors. There was a deer and a buck. I also made a cat friend who reminded me of Takkun. He was feisty, and I charmed his wily self for just a while. I knew I liked him when he licked my armpit and then bit my elbow. Tough love.
Sam and I ditched bikes and road on the rickshaws that appeared off limits but were embraced and therefore within our limits. I made a Milo and Otis reference that was met with the cutest biggest hug ever. The contraption got stuck a fair amount, and it was hard and bumpy and woozy fun. I liked to jerk around in it, and maybe that means I shouldn't have been steering. Regardless, it was a workout to remember. My face was more flushed than I'd seen it in years upon return. I also successfully rode bikes in the grass, but I couldn't do narrow turns. I stayed up the whole time and was able to start so successfully so often!
I had the sweetest pomegranate seed of all pomegranate seeds and rubbed palm fruit oil all over me and smelled really good for a long time. We spun around really fast and some sang some really awful musical songs that made me happy because they were from musicals (which I had wanted to get into before realizing I don't like most musicals) and partially uncomfortable because they were all songs from my least favorite musicals. I began singing the Addam's family theme song instead. I gave 2 tarot card readings as we passed around the gourd of mate, and I had my day's cigarette.
We are buying thong swimsuits tomorrow to wear on Saturday in Tigre. I am passing up a language exchange once more though it is only 2 blocks from my house. My feet are covered in dirt from running in the mud, and my skin feels hot from the sun. I have to register tomorrow, but not until later in the afternoon which means I can have a lovely morning.
The trip ended with a bus ride listening to The Blow reciting a kids clapping rhyme/game: Sally Walker. The color yellow came up in conversation. I gave myself a quick 3 card tarot spread of: 8 wands (past), 8 cups (present), and knight of cups (future) that couldn't have been any more pertinent to my current lifestyle and couldn't have been more invigorating. Then there was a rainbow, but we hadn't had any rain.
The McDonalds's here really aim for classy, and I oddly dig their uniforms of denim playsuits with embroidered M's on the rear pockets. I am losing my English, and I have noticed I've had to go back and revise some odd errors in entry that stem from me hearing my thoughts in my head and typing with phonemes rather than words. I'm going to think about red crushed velvet suits, the eiffel tower, and cadence now. What a romantic end to a Thursday!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
rainy day insights 1
My day began with the doorman telling me it is raining. Yes, check. You should be using an umbrella. Yes, check. No es importante, check. He kissed me on the cheek out of nowhere. Not at a logical starting point, say, as a greeting. Sporadically when I was saying I don't own a paragua. I return to find him once again trying to get me to use the elevator which is wildly unnecessary. I am on my floor, and I find him tucking a paper under someone's door and then following me to my own. He asks me what I'm studying, and he doesn't understand the answer until I explain it very awkwardly, making it sound much more complicated than necessary. I say chau, and then he jolts and boldy whispers "I like you." It might sound cute or sweet, but I disagree. It is unsettling to be told that someone you don't know at all, that works in your building constantly and seems unstable, suddenly expresses affection. I especially don't like how he knows when I am home alone. It will be nice not to come home due to sleepiness next week. As soon as my obligations with the program are over for the day, I need to return home and retire swiftly. I don't want to be nap-girl.
An aside: My landlord is a maneater in a green dress. The woman has so much spunk she can fill a flat tire with it.
Kitty sitting and finding a home for kitty begins this weekend. It will be nice to have a little creature to care for for a short period of time. I will probably be humming "Pocho" all over the city frolicking to and fro. I can hear it now.
I saw the most wonderful show today with (shoutouts to:) Carina and Rose in the most wonderful venue/bar/shop/playground. Afterward we swung on the swings made of cajas (birdcages), and I took my shoes off and dipped my feet in the massive puddle that accumulated in this under the staircase quadrant creation. I kept spinning in the swing and knocking the man talking to Rose, and it was a little awkward.
I'm going horseback riding tomorrow and trying to finalize the logistics of trip number 1: Bolivia. Samantha is going to show me her handstand tricks, and hopefully I won't end the day in Michelle Tanner of Full House fashion. For those of you that reference is lost on, I don't want to fall off the horse after a jump and get an almost fatal concussion.
I made a desperate move today as I really hope I don't get placed into a terrible Spanish class full of fools. I was so sleepy taking the test, and many of the words they used are not in my Spanish vocabulary. Didactum? Hmm. Anyways, I am quite good at learning and very interested in it. I can write Spanish quite well and understand lots of things when I know the words, but when you are taking a multiple choice test and answering some questions with words you don't understand, how is one meant to fashion an adequate reply?
I hope I dream of lunar dust turning into quick sand and emerging in a puddle tonight rather than my strange nap dream of a shared arranged marriage to the door man. I didn't know if I was married and had to take care of this child that wasn't mine in a cute little pleated dress also mothered by someone who seemed to be a co-wife while the man was away. It was awkward and I kept trying to decide whether I should take the child or the empanadas or get a divorce.
If the rain absorbs enough acid, will my feet eventually decay?
I really like the living room because there is so much yellow, and I wish my bedroom had just as much yellow too.
An aside: My landlord is a maneater in a green dress. The woman has so much spunk she can fill a flat tire with it.
Kitty sitting and finding a home for kitty begins this weekend. It will be nice to have a little creature to care for for a short period of time. I will probably be humming "Pocho" all over the city frolicking to and fro. I can hear it now.
I saw the most wonderful show today with (shoutouts to:) Carina and Rose in the most wonderful venue/bar/shop/playground. Afterward we swung on the swings made of cajas (birdcages), and I took my shoes off and dipped my feet in the massive puddle that accumulated in this under the staircase quadrant creation. I kept spinning in the swing and knocking the man talking to Rose, and it was a little awkward.
I'm going horseback riding tomorrow and trying to finalize the logistics of trip number 1: Bolivia. Samantha is going to show me her handstand tricks, and hopefully I won't end the day in Michelle Tanner of Full House fashion. For those of you that reference is lost on, I don't want to fall off the horse after a jump and get an almost fatal concussion.
I made a desperate move today as I really hope I don't get placed into a terrible Spanish class full of fools. I was so sleepy taking the test, and many of the words they used are not in my Spanish vocabulary. Didactum? Hmm. Anyways, I am quite good at learning and very interested in it. I can write Spanish quite well and understand lots of things when I know the words, but when you are taking a multiple choice test and answering some questions with words you don't understand, how is one meant to fashion an adequate reply?
I hope I dream of lunar dust turning into quick sand and emerging in a puddle tonight rather than my strange nap dream of a shared arranged marriage to the door man. I didn't know if I was married and had to take care of this child that wasn't mine in a cute little pleated dress also mothered by someone who seemed to be a co-wife while the man was away. It was awkward and I kept trying to decide whether I should take the child or the empanadas or get a divorce.
If the rain absorbs enough acid, will my feet eventually decay?
I really like the living room because there is so much yellow, and I wish my bedroom had just as much yellow too.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
ballsy babeh
i spotted a beautiful trannie on a beautiful old subway full of wood and parlor benches. then i realized she was trying to hide because she was snorting cocaine.
if buenos aires were a cookie
my sore feet say hello. today i realized if my stomach spoke a language it would be german. i am not so tired, but i am so sore and will retire earlier this evening than i have since i got here a month ago. i need to figure out a good back pain alleviating method, but i honestly just need better shoes. chocolate chip cookies skipped to their loo down the hatch this morning, and there was anything they could do they should relieve back pain.
i really like all of the people i know now. i am seeing more people i want to befriend, and everyone has been very friendly today which is refreshing after yesterday. my professor got sick of the idiocy infiltrating the classroom earlier today, and said they can leave since there was no real reason for them to be there. all of the cool kids remained.
if you ever call a taxi in buenos aires, call radio taxi premium. the other departments within that company are mean and stupid and less trustworthy as i learned yesterday. at least i wasn't robbed like another girl by her driver.
i found goosebumps folders for my papers. i found the tortoise and the hair and likeminded tales in spanish. i found the spanish version of charlie and lola, aka me llamo ana tarambonina (or something of that nature). lauren child is a visionary genuis, and there should be more of her in the world. other things there should be more of: flowergiving to strangers, women's liberation stencils, and benches. things there should be less of: leerers, trash, and privatized dental care. so many people have very terrible teeth which is strange coming from a nation full of braces happy faces.
do i take yoga with the dancers? do i mime with the mimes? do i horseback ride with world class polo players and guachos? do i play futbol? do i cook with the chefs? how can i say no to any one of those mind busying things? i will just have to eat superfruits and supervegetables and be as super as i can be. i need to do more research on the jungle and make more trip decisions. everything is happening all at once, and it is making me visualize millions of impressions in the atmosphere that we don't even know about yet.
must get shoes shined.
i really like all of the people i know now. i am seeing more people i want to befriend, and everyone has been very friendly today which is refreshing after yesterday. my professor got sick of the idiocy infiltrating the classroom earlier today, and said they can leave since there was no real reason for them to be there. all of the cool kids remained.
if you ever call a taxi in buenos aires, call radio taxi premium. the other departments within that company are mean and stupid and less trustworthy as i learned yesterday. at least i wasn't robbed like another girl by her driver.
i found goosebumps folders for my papers. i found the tortoise and the hair and likeminded tales in spanish. i found the spanish version of charlie and lola, aka me llamo ana tarambonina (or something of that nature). lauren child is a visionary genuis, and there should be more of her in the world. other things there should be more of: flowergiving to strangers, women's liberation stencils, and benches. things there should be less of: leerers, trash, and privatized dental care. so many people have very terrible teeth which is strange coming from a nation full of braces happy faces.
do i take yoga with the dancers? do i mime with the mimes? do i horseback ride with world class polo players and guachos? do i play futbol? do i cook with the chefs? how can i say no to any one of those mind busying things? i will just have to eat superfruits and supervegetables and be as super as i can be. i need to do more research on the jungle and make more trip decisions. everything is happening all at once, and it is making me visualize millions of impressions in the atmosphere that we don't even know about yet.
must get shoes shined.
Monday, March 9, 2009
call me chips ahoy
number one on the list of missing things is:
chocolate chip cookies.
alfajores are divine, but there is something extremely rugged about a chocolate chip cookie.
chocolate chip cookies.
alfajores are divine, but there is something extremely rugged about a chocolate chip cookie.
what i miss right now
giggling, marshes, single sounds, fireflies, smelly mossy musty swamps, having a personality, having more people around me who want to order another bottle of wine.
people did say i have buenas ondas (good vibes), though, so i am doing something right.
i really am enjoying writing this blog too much.
people did say i have buenas ondas (good vibes), though, so i am doing something right.
i really am enjoying writing this blog too much.
some things
busy busy busy except today.
i am so sleepy and my head is achey sleepy, and i just do not know why. i woke up and had energy but i have no energy again, and i have been trying to be energized relaxed.
i saw manu chao last night and danced as hard as i could while bracing myself so i didn't tumble down the declining chairs ahead of me. i loved the demographic of crazy mellow porteno hippies. they had a lot of pretty and funky prints and flowers and bands in their hair.
i am trying to organize my goals while i am so sleepy.
one, i must find out the returning bottles policy. i am really terrible at speaking practical spanish but really good at talking about impractical things. i went there trying to return my bottles as i thought i was supposed to do, but i was supposed to buy a replacement of the same thing in order to do that? it was confusing.
two, i simply cannot figure out my front door. for four days it was easy-breezy, and now it is extremely complicated. sometimes i can open the door to get outside without using the key, sometimes i have to jiggle.
the two above remind me that i still don't know anything despite the fact that i think i have learned it. it is so silly, and sometimes i laugh and sometimes i get really flustered/repetitive and sometimes i get rather upset (namely with the door). i also realized i don't hate commas as much as i thought i did last night. it is an uphill battle.
my mate is beginning to taste better.
i just joined a girls soccer team.
i'm comparing prices for horseback lessons and mime school and sailing and cooking class and trips to uruguay, paraguay, bolivia, chile, peru, bariloche, patagonia, mendoza, cordoba, and la plata.
i did not go to school today, and i wonder if i regret it.
i need to figure out the subtes and where to go to find the bus stop.
i also learned there are really high quality knitting supplies for quite cheap here, and that there is a startling lack of supernatural phenomena.
which reminds me of that place in chile that supposedly is a hotbed for ufo's.
i think i sign up for
there has been a revival of the books in my life as of late, and it is more calming than anyone could know. as well as there being a renassaince of the blog and podcast.
tomorrow i tour the tattoo arcade and pick where i am getting it done.
i'm thinking about buzzing off part of my hair soon to see how much i really like it.
i think i need another nap. i suppose it is rather exhausting to continually try to communicate in a language you previously thought you were good at.
i also need to buy b-52s tickets which are still available.
i am so sleepy and my head is achey sleepy, and i just do not know why. i woke up and had energy but i have no energy again, and i have been trying to be energized relaxed.
i saw manu chao last night and danced as hard as i could while bracing myself so i didn't tumble down the declining chairs ahead of me. i loved the demographic of crazy mellow porteno hippies. they had a lot of pretty and funky prints and flowers and bands in their hair.
i am trying to organize my goals while i am so sleepy.
one, i must find out the returning bottles policy. i am really terrible at speaking practical spanish but really good at talking about impractical things. i went there trying to return my bottles as i thought i was supposed to do, but i was supposed to buy a replacement of the same thing in order to do that? it was confusing.
two, i simply cannot figure out my front door. for four days it was easy-breezy, and now it is extremely complicated. sometimes i can open the door to get outside without using the key, sometimes i have to jiggle.
the two above remind me that i still don't know anything despite the fact that i think i have learned it. it is so silly, and sometimes i laugh and sometimes i get really flustered/repetitive and sometimes i get rather upset (namely with the door). i also realized i don't hate commas as much as i thought i did last night. it is an uphill battle.
my mate is beginning to taste better.
i just joined a girls soccer team.
i'm comparing prices for horseback lessons and mime school and sailing and cooking class and trips to uruguay, paraguay, bolivia, chile, peru, bariloche, patagonia, mendoza, cordoba, and la plata.
i did not go to school today, and i wonder if i regret it.
i need to figure out the subtes and where to go to find the bus stop.
i also learned there are really high quality knitting supplies for quite cheap here, and that there is a startling lack of supernatural phenomena.
which reminds me of that place in chile that supposedly is a hotbed for ufo's.
i think i sign up for
there has been a revival of the books in my life as of late, and it is more calming than anyone could know. as well as there being a renassaince of the blog and podcast.
tomorrow i tour the tattoo arcade and pick where i am getting it done.
i'm thinking about buzzing off part of my hair soon to see how much i really like it.
i think i need another nap. i suppose it is rather exhausting to continually try to communicate in a language you previously thought you were good at.
i also need to buy b-52s tickets which are still available.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
warm anecdotes
i forgot to mention that bullfrogs croak every time i receive a message and cars leave noise streaks turning around a bend each call i receive. my alarm is very soothing, and it is easy to be at dinner for three hours. i don't believe in germiness and have started a poor sink habit. mike knows. i saw my first telo (loove hotels), and it had a huge sculpture of a disproportionate naked woman fingering the flowers in front of her. i have been so sleeeepy here and so sore. i will probably eat a lot of alfajores today with fruit dipped in dulche de leche.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
astronomy cast
i'm listening to the books in one universe falling asleep in a chair.
i'm in a chair sleeping listening to the books in universe, one.
to the books i'm listening, falling asleep in a chair, in one universe.
i wish i knew everything about the books and stars and were fearless. the bugs are big. big are the bugs.
i'm in a chair sleeping listening to the books in universe, one.
to the books i'm listening, falling asleep in a chair, in one universe.
i wish i knew everything about the books and stars and were fearless. the bugs are big. big are the bugs.
the pre-bedtime recap post
I need to write this in Spanish to make up for lost practice. I will then translate.
Hola internet,
Hoy fue muy bueno pero deseo que no estuve cansada. Es muy dificil a escribir en un otra lengua ahora porque mi ingles es tan terrible como mi espanol. Me duele mi cuerpo mucho hoy porque de la noche pasada. Fui a una fiesta de Couchsurfing y conoci muchas personas de muchas paises blehblehbleh. Los chicos son insistentes y de Caracas, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, y Panama City. Muchos besos que no quiero. Fui a otros bares despues de la fiesta en San Telmo con un model de Panama y un chico homosexual del norte de carolina. blehblehbleh
Este manana estaba baracha asi, y no me gusta este mucho. Come con el grupo de mi programa. Entonces fuimos al centro de la gobierno en la cuidad: Casa Rosada y etcetc. We travelled to the port neighborhood which is full of brick and free of trash. A giant ecological reserve of this strangely unkempt yet ruly brush sits alongside of the streets and sprawls for blocks that would otherwise be used in support of urbanization. A metal flower sculpture suddenly blooms beyond the vast expanse of nature. It might be my favorite sculpture without even considering the ambiguity of artistic worth of a sculpture. If it is functioning, it opens with the sunrises and closes with the sunset.
I went to the cemetary with a girl from Pennsylvania and another from Malaysia. Some of the tombs are bashed into, many of them have fresh flowers sitting on the platforms behind the glass. The cemetary is almost like a little town with tiny homes for the dead. The concept behind these burials is so perplexing considering the thought process behind creating eternal homes when the majority of living lack homes of their own. Some of the caskets are readily accessible, and I was tempted to open the door but did not for fear of an unshakable curse, not being in favor with the androgynous angels, large bugs and sleeping cats hanging out in the shadows disturbed by my meddling hand. There were little paw prints on top of some of the visible unkept caskets which was so lovely. Cats are must not be self aware afterall and/or fear not often unless in cases when their survival is threatened. I did knock on one of the caskets for good measure. My favorite epitaph read: !Papa! Nunca no fue. Siempre aca existara por eterna. I wish more people talked to the animals. It's a very natural way of connecting with your surroundings! Duh. Many people wake up every day and talk to the sun. It is not a conversation in the traditional sense, but does someone have to be verbally speaking to you to be engaged in a dialogue or exchange? I don't think so.
This is what I am thinking about before my head hits the pillow. As you paint this picture will you tell me what's going on in your mind? It is the only thing I think about anymore. My mind will surely also return to the scary man in the street who hid behind the corner when he saw us group of girls sticking his hands in his pants and running back out from his corner to continue with his business while watching us pass. If he popped out of the cemetary, I believe my worst fear of the locale would have been realized. I can't speak in English anymore right now. Good night mooon. Good night internet.
Hola internet,
Hoy fue muy bueno pero deseo que no estuve cansada. Es muy dificil a escribir en un otra lengua ahora porque mi ingles es tan terrible como mi espanol. Me duele mi cuerpo mucho hoy porque de la noche pasada. Fui a una fiesta de Couchsurfing y conoci muchas personas de muchas paises blehblehbleh. Los chicos son insistentes y de Caracas, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, y Panama City. Muchos besos que no quiero. Fui a otros bares despues de la fiesta en San Telmo con un model de Panama y un chico homosexual del norte de carolina. blehblehbleh
Este manana estaba baracha asi, y no me gusta este mucho. Come con el grupo de mi programa. Entonces fuimos al centro de la gobierno en la cuidad: Casa Rosada y etcetc. We travelled to the port neighborhood which is full of brick and free of trash. A giant ecological reserve of this strangely unkempt yet ruly brush sits alongside of the streets and sprawls for blocks that would otherwise be used in support of urbanization. A metal flower sculpture suddenly blooms beyond the vast expanse of nature. It might be my favorite sculpture without even considering the ambiguity of artistic worth of a sculpture. If it is functioning, it opens with the sunrises and closes with the sunset.
I went to the cemetary with a girl from Pennsylvania and another from Malaysia. Some of the tombs are bashed into, many of them have fresh flowers sitting on the platforms behind the glass. The cemetary is almost like a little town with tiny homes for the dead. The concept behind these burials is so perplexing considering the thought process behind creating eternal homes when the majority of living lack homes of their own. Some of the caskets are readily accessible, and I was tempted to open the door but did not for fear of an unshakable curse, not being in favor with the androgynous angels, large bugs and sleeping cats hanging out in the shadows disturbed by my meddling hand. There were little paw prints on top of some of the visible unkept caskets which was so lovely. Cats are must not be self aware afterall and/or fear not often unless in cases when their survival is threatened. I did knock on one of the caskets for good measure. My favorite epitaph read: !Papa! Nunca no fue. Siempre aca existara por eterna. I wish more people talked to the animals. It's a very natural way of connecting with your surroundings! Duh. Many people wake up every day and talk to the sun. It is not a conversation in the traditional sense, but does someone have to be verbally speaking to you to be engaged in a dialogue or exchange? I don't think so.
This is what I am thinking about before my head hits the pillow. As you paint this picture will you tell me what's going on in your mind? It is the only thing I think about anymore. My mind will surely also return to the scary man in the street who hid behind the corner when he saw us group of girls sticking his hands in his pants and running back out from his corner to continue with his business while watching us pass. If he popped out of the cemetary, I believe my worst fear of the locale would have been realized. I can't speak in English anymore right now. Good night mooon. Good night internet.
me duele mi cabeza
Lots of people told me I spoke Spanish very well. I'm just more nervous during the daylight, I suppose.
I might throw up on this bus trip. My head is killing me right now, and I just want to go back to sleep. I have to walk 20 blocks to get there now.
I might be a model in Argentina, or I can pass out fliers because I am cute. I was solicited a fair amount last evening.
Plus I met so many people! Mmm ouchouchouch
I might throw up on this bus trip. My head is killing me right now, and I just want to go back to sleep. I have to walk 20 blocks to get there now.
I might be a model in Argentina, or I can pass out fliers because I am cute. I was solicited a fair amount last evening.
Plus I met so many people! Mmm ouchouchouch
Friday, March 6, 2009
as seen on charles's wall
i've started a tradition of eating an alfajor every day. it is the most delicious cookie/moonpie ever. it is afternoon sex's substitute. i'm going to a fabulous party full of empanadas and argentine pizza and foreigners from across hemisheres equators rivers county lines and so on to celebrate someones birthday. isnt that pretty? i found charles bukowski one block away from me, and it is my bedtime story. ham on rye has somehow become my midnight snack, and it was you who introduced it to me. i wish you were here. although so much of the people in my world down here are being robbed, so i'm glad you are not being robbed or held up at gunpoint. we should go to mexico sometime and buy some chic bullet proof gear as seen on nyt. then we can go to rio and not worry so much.
i am memorizing facts about obscure countries in the world, snacking on strips of zanahorias, radichetas, y repollas before i go to my first couch surfing event. i couldn't be more excited. i need to couchsurf south america asap. step one advance.
i need an alfajor. also i went into the supermarket across the store with 20 pesos for 3 bottles of wine, and i think the fact that what i owed was exactly 20 pesos is a good omen.
there are so many things happening this week.
i'm sneaking into manu chao this weekend and visiting the underground tunnels of mansions and picketing and sunbathing in the plazas watching children juggle.
i am memorizing facts about obscure countries in the world, snacking on strips of zanahorias, radichetas, y repollas before i go to my first couch surfing event. i couldn't be more excited. i need to couchsurf south america asap. step one advance.
i need an alfajor. also i went into the supermarket across the store with 20 pesos for 3 bottles of wine, and i think the fact that what i owed was exactly 20 pesos is a good omen.
there are so many things happening this week.
i'm sneaking into manu chao this weekend and visiting the underground tunnels of mansions and picketing and sunbathing in the plazas watching children juggle.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
impromptu city
Yesterday included an accidental tour of the city, and there were lots of beaaautiful parts. After entering the bus on the wrong street and not remembering the protocol of colectivo use since it was another first for me, we were an hour and a half away from where we should have been. I saw a lot of lush greenery, a giant diner with a huge neon flamingo out front, ditzy chicks, and a beautiful little barrio of Buenos Aires I do not know the name of. It was full of mansions and teenier houses painted beautiful colors with jungles and forests and oh my tea is done!
The barrio had the cutest nurseries and little kid-friendly shops and happy babies in strollers passing storefronts full of delicous baked goods and brain enhancing things and stickers. I was giggling because we had been on the bus for 2 hours at this point, and it was so lovely. Two little girls were making fun of us and whispering with their little shiny, bright rain jackets, and I couldn't have imagined a better way of spending a rainy afternoon. I love being fallible.
Today was also lovely, and I nearly cried again because everything was so beautiful. We went to Plaza San Martin and took pictures with the united buddy bears that have been touring the world since 2004. The United Buddy Bears: http://www.buddy-baer.com/
I met 1/2 of the couple responsible for this, and I was so happy to meet him I didn't want to let go of his hand. Oh I love people doing beautiful things! I also had a yummy cookie just before this and hadn't thought the day could get any better so quickly.
I also talked to lots more lovely people today, and I am bubbling over with optimism. I popped into a book shop on the way home and found something wonderful and popped into the supermarket and found wine wonderful, and now my window is calling my feet to come dangle. I am answering the call. Chau chau chau, as they say.
The barrio had the cutest nurseries and little kid-friendly shops and happy babies in strollers passing storefronts full of delicous baked goods and brain enhancing things and stickers. I was giggling because we had been on the bus for 2 hours at this point, and it was so lovely. Two little girls were making fun of us and whispering with their little shiny, bright rain jackets, and I couldn't have imagined a better way of spending a rainy afternoon. I love being fallible.
Today was also lovely, and I nearly cried again because everything was so beautiful. We went to Plaza San Martin and took pictures with the united buddy bears that have been touring the world since 2004. The United Buddy Bears: http://www.buddy-baer.com/
I met 1/2 of the couple responsible for this, and I was so happy to meet him I didn't want to let go of his hand. Oh I love people doing beautiful things! I also had a yummy cookie just before this and hadn't thought the day could get any better so quickly.
I also talked to lots more lovely people today, and I am bubbling over with optimism. I popped into a book shop on the way home and found something wonderful and popped into the supermarket and found wine wonderful, and now my window is calling my feet to come dangle. I am answering the call. Chau chau chau, as they say.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
my wildest dreams of becoming an intern and getting established
I will be able to dress up like a professional and act like a professional if I do the UN internship for enforcing The International Declaration of Human Rights or if I do the internship that involves teaching people how to read and write or do other physical activities. I would be no good at teaching them how to do anything be read and write. I need those other physical activity classes.
I might join a girl's soccer team that will be gratis, and I am getting headway into learning how to find a person to give me horseback riding lessons a few times a month.
There are more fun looking people in the program than I thought. I learned what a fractura is and that that is the kind of receipt I need to get a refund from the government rather than have to pay for things I didn't know I had to declare.
I need to learn how to get to Peru.
I have been waking up to mate, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" on my alarm clock widget, and a piece of fruit.
The yellow wall in the living room/dining room is feeding on me and I on it. It is my vortex and my sunnn. I will find friends that will either understand me or pretend that they do or both. I need to find some authentic Argentine music as most of what I have heard is terrible American music before going to the market. I can't wait to watch Disney in Spanish while I eat either.
I might join a girl's soccer team that will be gratis, and I am getting headway into learning how to find a person to give me horseback riding lessons a few times a month.
There are more fun looking people in the program than I thought. I learned what a fractura is and that that is the kind of receipt I need to get a refund from the government rather than have to pay for things I didn't know I had to declare.
I need to learn how to get to Peru.
I have been waking up to mate, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" on my alarm clock widget, and a piece of fruit.
The yellow wall in the living room/dining room is feeding on me and I on it. It is my vortex and my sunnn. I will find friends that will either understand me or pretend that they do or both. I need to find some authentic Argentine music as most of what I have heard is terrible American music before going to the market. I can't wait to watch Disney in Spanish while I eat either.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
