So, I admit it. I have a shopping problem...but Jorge and Mercedes think its hilarious how much stuff I like to buy. Today I told them I bought some gifts for my family and Jorge said (in Spanish) "You are going to talk half of Buenos Aires with you when you go!" And laughed. He is so cute. He likes to make fun of me for sleeping, escaping in the middle of the night, shopping practically every day, and eating ice cream. I'm so good that I have the number to Freddo memorized...some might see that as pathetic, I know, but I think its quite a feat. Per usual, I haven't written all weekend, so we have lots to catch up on!!!
On Friday, I went to school per usual. Germán is a good teacher because he has all these fun games for us that actually make us use what we learned on command. He also doesn't take any of our crap because he knows what its like in the United States. Other teacher let us slack off like there's no tomorrow, but him...no. No speaking English in his class or there is punishment. No being late for class or from breaks and lunch. He checks our homework to make sure we did it. It's good...unfortunately, the most annoying girl in the world is in my class. AND she has a big crush on the teach...and I'm over her antics. Her name is Katy or Katzia because she is russian and apparently that is cool and she has irritated me since Day One...but its especially irritating now that she feels the need to talk/attempt to flirt all fricken day. She is from SoCal and she's a philosophy major and she is a big bible thumper...not that that's a bad thing, but she LOVESSS to talk about it and tell everyone else about it and blah blah blah. I don't care about why she doesn't cuss. So, anyway, she is like really rude, but she thinks she is being coy. She told our teacher that she was going to call him German or Alemania (which is Germany in Spanish) because his name is spelled that way. RUDE. That is his name, and down here it sounds nothing like German because they have a different word for German. And he pronounces it differently than German anyway! Like. WTF. She also insists on asking for breaks at the exact minute that the break is supposed to start. In the US, I would never straight up interrupt the teacher to say, "it's time for our break now..." She also likes to beg him to speak English to us..."it's SO cute when Argentinians speak English." Dude, your being rude and condescending. And we are here to learn Spanish...not beg our teacher to talk to us in English. It wasn't so bad when she kept her mouth shut in the other class, but now that she is crushing on the teacher she doesn't shut the heck up...She can be voted off the island, I say.
After that, Aidi picked me up and we went to Van Gogh for some mozzerella sticks and a bottle of wine. I also had some sort of lemon drink that they make here...it's a local lemon liquor with sugar and lemon juice. It tastes like candy...I love it. The service at Van Gogh sucks and I'm never going back there. It's overpriced and you better plan on spending like 3.5 hours in there AT LEAST because it takes them forever to wait on you. You have to practically hound them down to get them to bring you the bill...it's fricken ridiculous. Later that night we all met up at Club Manhattan (hands down the best cafe in Belgrano...if not Buenos Aires) to "pregame" for the club.
WAIVER: GMA AND MOM...THE NEXT PARAGRAPH EXPLAINS DETAIL ABOUT MY CLUBBING EXPERIENCE. IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT...DON'T READ IT. (It's prolly best you don't.) :)
So, three newbies met me and Aidi at Club Manhattan. Two of them were actually very cool. Rocky, my fave waiter, wasn't at Club Manhattan on Friday night, so we had to make a new friend named Ariel. He gave me his Manhattan button as a "souvenier." What a sweetie. After a couple bottles of wine, we proceeded to head to this club on the corner called Viper. They let me in for free...it's so nice being blonde. When we walked in...it seemed like it might be kind of a young crowd, but we stayed. I ordered a Cuba Libre, which is rum and coke from the bar up front. We were dancing and hanging out and then we got armbands to enter the VIP section. OOOOOHHH. So, I went back there and ordered another drink from that bar. Naturally, the bartender fell in love with me and kept telling me how I was the princess of his life and he would love to "have me." Whatever that means...He made my next drink like straight up Bacardi rum and maybe one drop of Coca Cola. He probably roofied me, too, because after that things are all pretty fuzzy...and I only had those two drinks. Aidi and I took lemon drop shots which are served with salt...gross. I didn't even finish mine. We danced. This photographer for the club followed me around all night taking pictures of me like I'm some fricken celebrity. Boys kept coming up to me to ask for their picture taken with me. Everyone wanted to talk to me...it was crazy. I literally felt like I was famous. P.S. I was the ONLY blonde in this club. I stayed there until about 6 or 7 in the morning dancing and socializing and whatnot...and then I took a taxi home. Obviously, way more exciting things happened between then and now, but I can't talk about ALL my adventures now can I? ;)
WAIVER: I AM NOW DONE DESCRIBING MY NIGHT OUT...
So, Saturday Erin, Aidi, and I decided to head to my favorite "hood" Boca. I say that jokingly because that just so happens to be the place that I ended up in the dark after taking the wrong bus and you should never be in Boca at night. I, however, lived to tell the tale. Lucky me. I decided to test my fate again with another visit. We hopped on the 64 bus...its like an hour ride, and those colectivos sure do get to me. A group of boys kept making lovey faces at me and trying to talk to me in English...its best to avoid these gestures because if you don't then they will think you are going to bore their children. Which I'm not...unless you're rich. Then we can talk.
So, then we all got off the 64 bus...barely. The driver tried to drive away in the middle of my descent. I'm lucky to be alive...seriously. Caminito is the famous part of Boca and the only place that is really safe for us Americans. Once again, on my little impromptu visit I was NOT on this street...luck, I tell you. Boca is home of the world's GREATEST soccer player Diego Maradonna and the inventor of tango himself, Carlos Gardel. That also makes it the birthplace of tango...the national dance of Argentina which is full of sultry sexiness. This is ALL OVER Boca. Also, there are lots of little restaraunts and little people will come and tell you why their restaraunt is best and blah blah blah. This is how you make friends! Walter basically wants to marry me. He kept holding my hand and asking if I will dance the tango with him. We tried to eat at another restaurant and he freaked out and pulled me into HIS restaurant and made me promise to dance with him. Like, seriously dude? It was a good decision anyway because his restaurant has tango dancing as entertainment. WOOP WOOP. One guy asked me if I was from Idaho...I said "no, why?" and he said "because I love potatoes!!!!" We all laughed hysterically at this man...I don't know what potatoes have to do with me, but it was pretty funny. We made many friends like this...it was fun. Caminito is very colorful and has these big corny statues all over the place. I like it a lot there...and apparently they love me, too!!!!
I had grilled chicken and french fries for lunch. We watched the tango show and took pictures with the sexy tango man. Too bad he didn't wanna marry me...sigh. It was fun. However, our little photo shoot took too long and once again we ended up in Boca at night. Seriously, it was like the great exodus. One minute the place is packed and people are laughing...the next, not a soul in sight. So, we held hands and ran to the bus stop to ensure that we all made it there safely. We took the 29 bus home. That man didn't let us off right when we pushed the buzzer...I don't know why it's never happened to me before, so we ended up like six blocks away. What a butthole.
While on the bus, we made a friend with some old man who was sippin on a Quilmes. He got off the bus and then walked up to my window and knocked on it...I opened it and he handed me some candy. Like I'm gonna eat that...I'm not trying to get roofied here...again...whoopsss. I am, however, keeping it as a momento. Also, some old lady kept putting liquid liner on while we were riding on the bus. As if that's gonna work out...its the COLECTIVO. Your lucky to make it off the thing alive with all your body parts intact...let alone with your eyeliner applied appropriately. She got off looking like a lunatic...her eyeliner was halfway up her eyelid. It's nuts. But, we laughed a lot and I had a lot of fun...I like to laugh and talk with my friends, and I'm glad that Erin and Aidi like to do that, too.
I went to bed early last night because after the Friday night fiasco I couldn't handle the idea of going out. I will be going out to celebrate the 4th of July tomorrow...can't forget to be proud of my country even though I'm not in it. I have to go to school first, though. WAHHHH.
Today I woke up and waited for Aidi for about three hours. Since, she didn't rise from the dead until after her 3 o'clock cut off I left without her. I'm actually very proud of myself for being strong enough to go out alone and enjoy myself. I've never eaten a meal out alone...and it wasn't that bad! I went to Club Manhattan for lunch and Rocky waited on me. I had sorrentinos in cream sauce. OMG. This is like hands down the best meal I've ever had in Buenos Aires. The sorrentinos are stuffed with cheese and ham and the cream sauce is to die for. I also had bread to dip into the sauce. It was heavenly...just what I needed.
Then, I headed to the feria in Belgrano. It's small, but a good place to spend the afternoon. Especially since I was alone and I didn't want to get on the bus or subte and go to a big feria with a companion. I browsed the booths...I found a leather wallet for my little brother and some gifts for my mom. I bought another mate cup. It's ceramic and it was too adorable to pass up. I found some Shamans who sell rocks and whatnot on the corner, so that made mom happy. I will go back to pick her up some more things. I also went into the bookstore and browsed around...it's not the same as a library (which is one of my favorite pasttimes), but I think it's still fun to peruse the shelves. I like to try to read the back of the books to see what they are about. I'm not sure I could commit to a full novel right now...it was hard enough in Eipper's class. I'm not trying to have to work to read, but it gives me something to work towards. One day I will be so good at Spanish that I will WANT to read books in the language. :)
I saw a Volta...one is close to me! But I refrained...it was busy and it was almost dinner time. It's a pretty amazing feat that I said no to helado. I came home and talked to my mom online for a bit. Then, we had dinner...some weird criole thing. I didn't like it that much and she gave me WAYYY to much, but I forced it down so not to be rude. We had left over Freddo for dessert. Last night we had pizza. The night before that one of my favorites...chicken and lettuce with soy sauce. I love eating soy sauce with my lettuce. I also love Mercedes' oven baked chicken. She knows I like dark meat. Also, Mercedes knows how much I love puree and she warmed up leftovers from a few nights ago especially for meeeeeeeeee. None for Alex...I still am queen of the house! BAHAHHA.
I washed a pair of jeans in the sink today because I wore them out and they got all smokey smelling. I hung them outside to dry, but today when I came back I can't open my door to the patio. Let's hope I figure it out before I have to leave for Iguazu...I need those jeans!!! So, that's my project for the next few days.
Aidi and I are meeting up for ice cream in a few minutes...don't act so surprised. Then, I'll prolly hit the sack because tomorrow is Monday and it is NOT a holiday down here. Clearly, they aren't excited about the birth of our country as they should be. :P
Have a good 4th of July everyone!!! I am really missing the American-y things everyone does this holiday weekend, so be sure to eat a s'more/light a sparkler/crack a beer for me. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment