(2/27)
Right now I’m writing this in my notebook upstairs on la terraza while Vale does some planting and chores.
She put up the umbrella for me because soy “tan blanca y el sol es tan fuerte”. Proteccion del sol is the first thing on my shopping list, so that I can soak up as much sun as posible.
Last night, we all (some of the 80+ FLACSO students) frantically planned (by way of the facebook group I made before leaving) where to meet for our first night out. It was also Missy’s birthday! Public transportation is very well-run in Bs As but the problem is it’s a holiday weekend. Entonces. I don’t have monedas (coins) for the bus and can’t buy una tarjeta de viaje until Tuesday. I planned on taking the subte to meet 3 people at FLACSO until I realized that it had closed at 10:30. I rushed back to my computer and Jake was still on so I told him I was gonna walk (~30mins). It was raining so I had to wear a coat with my hood up. I reassured myself it was safe and not to worry myself. However, when I opened the door, all I could see in the dark was the hand of a man gripping the building wall. I immediately closed the door as fast as I could, waiting a second, and reopened it with the key. The hand was gone. The man was not, but he was sitting on the step and it was a lot less alarming. I walked past with my best impression of a city girl who don’t give a mierda. The whole walk I kept my gaze straight and my ears open, paying attention to everthing—every noise, shadow, dog poop puddle—everything but the street signs apparently. The walk was straight forward: follow Av. Jujuy until it becomes Puerrymedon and eventually crosses w Av. Corrientes. When I finally looked at my watch, I realized I’d been walking for an hour! I looked at my handy guia T and saw that I was way past my spot! By that time I could’ve walked to Palermo but I knew that Missy Taylor and jake were waiting. And I’m so glad they were! Jake lead us to the right colectivo and Missy covered my moneda fee.
Mas tarde… Marcelo came over with the boy he’s hosting, Clay, in the middle of the day.
Clay and I talked a bunch (him in Spanish, me in espanglish) and then decided to go to the pharmacy to buy sunscreen. I also got shampoo and soap. What should have taken 5 minutes took me about half an hour because there are so many choices… but we walked around the neighborhood for a while before returning en casa to eat birthday lunch! We invited Alyssa over too, so the 5 of us ate while Astor kept trying to steal some or at least grab our attention by knocking over the books off the shelf. Marcelo took care of that by shutting him in el bano, while Vale returned Astor’s cries with her own “pobrecito.. es chiquito!” After, they sang happy birthday to me and we ate the cake. It was an orange cake with lemon icing.. so yummy!
After that we changed for el partido de futbol! My first soccer game in Argentina! The game started at 7 and we each wore a club shirt.
Velez played and Velez gano! It was so fun. But it made me want to be native Argentine so bad! I felt like a poser, but found myself joining in the songs that they yell throughout the game. One of my favorite experiences so far. At night I wandered around our barrio for a while, bought a grapefruit juice (jugo de pomelo) and drank it with a straw while scoping out the places and the people.
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