Alright, so yesterday I left out some pretty important stuff because I was tired and on a time limit at the internet cafe. Today, I've moved on up to McDonalds, which has free WiFi and pretty good music playing. Bueno, I'll start with some general stuff and then the past 24 hours..
First of all, the time difference is only 1 hour: we're ahead. I never realized it, but almost all of South America is WAY east of almost all of the US. Weird, huh?
My host mom is Maria Elena, and she reminds me of Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter except more relaxed. She's really nice, really energetic, and speaks VERY FAST (I might have mentioned this before, but it really needs to be highlighted). She's good with explaining things to me when I don't understand though, so it's ok. She has 6 kids, from age 20 (Tomas, the only one who still lives with her) to age 30. I met 5 yesterday, plus a husband, 4 grandkids, and a family friend that's visiting Buenos Aires from Miami with her son (also Maria and Tomas). Dinner was pretty crazy, and if I thought Maria talks fast, it was before everyone else was there.. They mumble everything and swallow their syllables and talk over each other.. It was pretty overwhelming, so I just sat back and tried to listen and understand. They're a fun bunch though. We ate sandwiches with breaded chicken and this thing that I guess is comparable to chili made of beans and lentils and chorizo (sausage) and some other stuff that was good.
I unpacked yesterday night after everyone left (shocker, I know! No procrastinating this time..) and then went to bed. My room is pretty nice.. I think it's the biggest in the apartment and I have a pretty big bed. The only downer is that there's no heat in the apartment and it gets cold at night (around 40 degrees Farenheit, maybe cooler), so I have a space heater right by my bed. The worst was forcing myself up this morning...
Today was super busy. I started out the morning with a breakfast of French bread with Dulce de Leche (caramel) spread and cafe con leche (coffee with milk...) and a half an hour later left the apartment. I took the Subte for the first time (the Subway) and met Ben and Mark (my friends from high school that I also went to Spain with for a month 4 years ago, and that have been here since January studying abroad) at Plaza de San Martin about 15 minutes away from me (Buenos Aires is a pretty small city compared to NY, or at least the parts that have stuff to do in them). It was sooo beautiful. I wish I had pics. In the center is a huge bronze-turned-green statue of San Martin on a horse (one of the liberators of Argentina, Chile, and I think Peru, from Spain in 1810 (I think. That's the year of the Argentine Revolution, but more on this later)). All around him are other statues and it's all made of marble and is generally really pretty. The streets in that area also look like Parisian boulevards -- trees on both sides, curving inward to create a sort of archway of shade.. It's really nice.
Ben and Mark met me and took me to this restaurant they were at in a galeria, which is a half-open mall (no doors, but it has a roof and stores inside) which was also very good. I met two of their friends, Stephanie and Rachael, who are studying abroad with them. I think we're gonna all go out tonight to a bar or something. Anyway, after, we went back to the Plaza and hung out on the grass nearby (it's about 65 degrees here during the day, so it was warm in the sun) and they told me some essentials and we just chatted. We then walked to the edge of the park where there's a great view of La Torre Inglesa (a tower build by the English that has a clock..)
Ben took the Colectivo (bus) with me becuase it's a really complex bus system with over 500 lines and, being from NY, I just generally prefer subways. It turns out that he lives right near the Road2Argentina office, where I was meeting two staff members, Sofia (the one who met me yesterday and "oriented" me to BsAs, as Buenos Aires is often called) and Agu (Agustin), who was also super nice. A couple of fellow Roadies and I, along with Sofi and Agu, took the Subte to our job at Bairexport. We met one of the few porteños (people from BsAs) that works at Bairexport, Diego, who explained to us what the company is all about. It's a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works with small and medium businesses to help them develop and maintain operations abroad. I'm guessing this is mostly business with the US, but I don't know. There were about 6 other American interns there, a couple of which are with R2A as well, but some of which are not. I picked my schedule, which is sweeeet- Mon & Wed from 2-6 pm, Tue from 10-2pm... Long weekends, here I come!!! :)
Anyway, afterwards, I went to my first R2A group trip to Plaza de Mayo. I met some Roadie girls that I befriended and am inviting out with us tonight, so should be fun. Our "guide," also a Road staff member, took us to the Presidential Museum housed in a Federal building, El Edificio Rosado ("the Pink Building. It's literally pink) that has some artifcacts and belongings of past presidents. She told us about the founding of BsAs as a port city, where the customs building used to be and just some general history. Plaza de Mayo is now home to many demonstrations, etc, including the weekly showing of the mothers of los Desaparecidos, or the people that disappeared during the 1970's. We even got to see the guards of the president and of the mausoleum of i THINK San Martin called Granaderos. Their uniforms were very regal.
Lastly, we went into the Catedral, or the main church of BsAs. It was SOOOO beautiful. It's the 6th oldest church here, I think, though I don't remember the exact date it was built. We went by the mausoleum but it was closed for the evening.
It was a really awesome day, just in terms of seeing the city and meeting some new people. Now for some terminology:
1) The accent. "Sho" replaces "Yo." So everything is "Me shamo Marina."
2) Vos. Instead of "tu," you, they use "Vos." The conjugation is a little different and it'll take some getting used to, but it's pretty interesting :)
3) "Que barbaro!" = How fantastic!
4) "Que onda buena!" = also how fantastic/how great
5) "Que kilombo!" = what a mess
Ok, that's all I remember for now.. More later!!!
