Iguazu Waterfalls Nov 13 (Friday...ahhh)

NB: Friday the 13th is not relevant here...so maybe my bad luck on Friday 13th will not follow me...my teacher Martin told me that for Argentina, their bad luck day is Tuesday the 15th...ha, strange, eh?  I almost forgot it's Friday the 13th.

Okay, so here I am at Jorge Newberry Airport.  It's the local one for national flights.  It's okay...haven't seen any planes yet, but t's right by the Rio Plata - the closest i've been to he river so far.  I figured i should start a new book for this because i'm almost 2 weeks behind writing and figured that would take up the rest of the pages in the other book.  I realized i'm going to have to make a scrapbook too!  i dont' hear many Eng. speakers but it's definitely easiernow that my spanish is a bit better.  Feels good being at an airport though...i always feel right at home.  i can only imagine how crazy it will be if i go to Japan...you cant "fake" the language down there!  I saw a roach (cucaracha) while i was in the bathroom here...I wondered if saying something would be a good idea...but then i figured no one would do anything about it.  i'm sitting here in the Patio de Comidas (food court) because i'm thinking so much and i had to write it down.  i was able to have a conversation with mmy taxi driver on the way here...i still cant understand many of the words but i can definitely talk about things and ask questions.  And for 2 months they always tell me my Castellano is quite good...I guess it was meant to be.

Observations: There are some big thunderheads in the sky :( i hear french behind me and now i hear english.  we had to get on one of those buses and were driven out to our plane.  i knew it...it's a Boeing 737 for Aerolineas Argentinas.  being at the airport everytime keeps the flying dream alive...the baggage handlers seem to have to load the baggage by hand.  That would be pretty strenuous.  not to mention, not all of the airport is air-conditioned - even the plane isn't air-conditioned much.  so far i seem to be the only person on this flight (except for this older lady who totally cut in front of me in line) who is travelling alone - but what liberation!  my first national flight in another country.  i cant believe it...thank you Papa!

well, that was the bumpiest ascent i have ever been on.  it started raining when we took off, but the thing is whenever it rains here, there is usually thunder and lightning!  i kept thinking "there's no way the pilots will fly into a thunderhead - it would structurally rip the aircraft apart." when we first took off the pilot flew low over the river towards Uruguay.  the clouds were very dark.  i knew he was trying to find a better spot to start climbing that wouldn't destroy us.  when it was too bad, he levelled out.  it was pretty scary.  back home, we climb, on a good day in about 15 min.  it took this one 35 min. to reach 35,000 ft. it felt like a rollercoaster.  i almost grabbed the guy beside me.  Poor Mom...if she were here she couldn't have handled it.  when we came out of the clouds and saw sunlight, the thunderheads were huge...i could see it.  for the first time ever flying i thughtthere was a possibility i was going to die.  i shouldn't have eaten the gross lomito sandwich inthe airport because they fed us on the plane a ham and cheese sandwich and a dulce de leche pastry which was sooooo rich!  God, i seriously am going to be walking AND running every day when i get back.  maybe there is a gym i can use at the hotel.  so the hotel is "almost" a 4-star hotel...complete with pool and 'fitness facility' (which could mean anything) - even a sauna (ugh where are these mosquito bites coming from - everytime i touch a part of my body i find a new one!  and those stupid things are carrying Dengue :( )  the hotel is called the Esturion.  I just realized i forgot my book...well that will be interesting when im eating dinner alone.  maybe some day i'll get to be in a romantic place at a fancy hotel with that fabulous boyfriend i so desire.  until then...it's me...and hopefully not forever.  looks like we're flying over country - although i have no idea what country owns this country.

Well i just found out that Belgrano (where Christina lives) is under water - people have to cross the streets holding ropes and the traffic is chaos!  well, that explains the extent as to how violent those clouds were.  the news shows no traffic lights and many cars are bahsed in and structures have fallen down on cars and in the streets.  i cant believe it!  so here i am having a whole bottle of 38p. trapiche chardonnay and a 90p buffet dinnerher in my hotel.  you cant order a glass of wine here...oh NB: i was standing on the balcony and saw fireflies!  i was in awe...i'm pretty sure i haven't seen them before...or else I dont remember.  they are absolutely baffling...i mean i dont know how they do their light...but wow.  well, i'm officially eating everything here...it is sooooo humid it makes wearing clothes difficult.  Iguazu is located in the province of Misiones, which is one of the most northern provinces of Argentina.  i am so lucky...i can't believe i get to do this...after this trip in a couple of months all i have to do is go to the south (see some glaciers...Argentina has all the diff. environments).  I have to get up at 630am for the tours.  my server is nice - his name is Jose.  nothing but families and older couples here.  the buffet is alright but i dont think i'll eat it tomorrow.

Fine Print....

okay so it seems i feel like im never going to be up to date....in the next few days im going to post the entries from the days of my trips last week because they were super exciting and very interesting...then maybe eventually i'll fill in the big gap

:)

Sun Oct 4th - Empanadas, Reggae, the perfect boots, Club Araoz

Friday was a crazy day!  I had Spanish class and was feeling good from the night before.  However, today was special because the language studio was hosting an empanada-marking night at Elvira's place (she's the owner).  I had to swing by the vegetable market to get green onions (cebolla verdeo) and white onions (cebolla).  I love the concept of a small fresh vegetable market!  The green onions were huge!  Absolutely enormous and beautiful!  I had to go to a supermercado after that to get raisins (pasas de uva) and I swear that Asian girl is either permanently pissed off at the world or just doesnt like me because im a foreigner- well technically so is she. So I walked in and she had a kleenex shoved up one of her nostrils.  Then i asked her where the raisins were and she just passively waved down an aisle.  I was wandering around for about 10min. until she lookd at me and pointed to the bottom shelf i was looking at!  arg!  anyway, I went to Elvira's to learn how to make the empanada filling because it has to cool - preferably naturally.  We were going to make 2 kinds, carne and queso con cebolla.  I wrote down the ingredients - def. a lot of onion - and Elvi and I made the filling.  Sean showed up and brought the meat and almost didn't come because he thought it was later.  Elvi and I also had tea together! So then I left until later.  I wrote up some of the blog and did some situps then when I was ready, went back to Elvi's.  There were probably around 11 of us there and it was a good time.  I met new people - one girl invited me to go with her and her friends to Creamfields (all-nighter) where apparently Armin Van Buuren and Tiesto are playing :).  I thought Paul Oakenfold was going to be there....he's the last of the 3 i need to see.  So we got to fill the empanadas, seal them and then fold it in such a way to make it look pretty, seal it well, and distinguish meat ones from the veggie ones.  I have to say there was a good crowd.  I think this Belgium guy was pretty into me.  I was originally into this other guy when I first showed up, but then he started talking to this tall skinny girl, I thought "ah forget it".  Christina (one of the girls from the previous night) came by and we went to a reggae club in Abasto - the other 2 didn't come with us.  From the moment we stepped out of the taxi, to the moment we left in another taxi, the men did not leave us alone!  This 38-year old Colombian guy wanted us to go meet his friends but then this girl wanted to paint my face.  After that, we ditched the old guy by pretending to go to the bathroom.  We were at the bar when this other guy started chatting me up (gotta love how there are always more men than women) and I learned that he was acting as a wing man for his friends.  So we danced a bit and then went upstairs.  Anyway, we left a bit later and as soon as we walked out, 3 guys outside offered usa ride home and wanted to have a drink with us.  We were like "nah" but chatted with them a bit an then got a cab.  Apparently Chris texted me a few min. later (because i was dropped off first) saying the cabbie wanted a kiss..ew! haha! what a great story...
Saturday was my day of finding the perfect boots!  I met Courtney and we walked around Palermo Soho - the line in Starbucks was crazy! And apparently, on my cup instead of writing Jojo, they wrote Gogo - great, eh?- I should just tell everyone to start calling me Gogo...I've never seen an SB with so many people waiting. We were walking to the subte and randomly wandered into a shoe store just to see what they had! And of course, when you have such big feet, the selection is much smaller! And- we're talking last pairs, here.  But luckily we found them...beautiful, black, pointy-toed, tiny-hell, fake-leather boots!  And no tax - 200 pesos - about 60 bucks or so.  I was thrilled! I had to meet Daniel in San Telmo at 530 and it was 521...eep!  But whenever you're in a hurry, that's when transportation takes forever!  Well i was about 15 min late but he was waiting.  We caught the end of the market - one of the vendors made me a present out of wire that said "jojo" - at least it wasn't gogo...We wandered around looking for somewhere to eat - finally found one - and the menu was huge!  Took us another 15min to figure out what to order!  Forget the name...Don Ernesto I think.  After, I went home to get ready for another club experience.  I met Uli (Belgium guy) around 11:45 and we had a drink...everyone else was supposed to come at 12!  Mariano and Alexis came around 12:30...the girls showed up at 1:20am!!!  I wasn't happy.  Their friend and his friend came too and then there was this random guy standing with us and we were like "who are you?" and he said "well, you were speaking English so i came over" hahaha!  His name was Donovan and i asked him "where are you friends?' and he said "in south africa". - so we almost had the whole world in our group of 11: US, Canada, UK, South America, Belgium and Africa!  We went to Club Araoz, the one that was too expensive last weekend.  We got in - and I mean it was okay, but the music sucked - they even played YMCA and Barbie Girl at one point - ugh!  And we lost Mr. South Africa but we kept losing everyone else too - so that was hard!  Not to mention having to shove through all the people just to get to the other side...We left around 4am - the music was so bad and my feet were dying.  Next Sat. we are going to a club not in Palermo.  We had late-night food nearby then called it a night. 
I got up pretty late on Sunday Oct 4th, did my homework and went with Uli to Campobravo in Las Canitas for dinner.  It was a bit pricey and their version of Caesar Salad so wasn't Caesar!  We had a bottle of wine and asado and some good conversation.  He's a nice guy.  The middle of the night brought a huge storm!  I've never heard thunder like that - well, maybe in Hong Kong but I was seriously freaked out and in need to company.  I have to stop eating so late.  It's just so bad for you.  Tomorrow Im determined to go running - but it's already starting to get humid...that's not good!  I'm already dreading how humid it will be here :(.  I want more cold!  Green Day is playing in the cafe where I'm writing...I miss Andy...they're his fav. band.

Sept 30 La Bomba de Tiempo and some New girls

Sunday was another day of rain.  I got up late and walked in the rain to Starbucks - and I have to say that not only do they write your name on the cup, but they make their lattes like the cafe con leche in the cafes.  It was so good.  I worked on my lesson plan for Tues.  I'm supposed to teach an hour to a business english student for Cpacitaction en Ingles - a new pilot program for English immersion.  But they are so vague and so friggin' disorganized.  I had to email the girl just to figure out how old the person was, what level they are and who they work for.  They are extremely vague.  And they give me no material - or help, obviously.  Monday I had Spanish class - they were nice enough to extend and shorten some of my classes to accomodate this probation teaching.  After class, I asked Sean and Aida if they wanted to go to the book store "El Ateneo" at Callao and Santa Fe. So we took the subte down there.  The bookstore is an old converted theater.  Absolutely beautiful and huge!  I found a couple of books to hopefully help me teach English - and help me teach English in Spanish if I had to.  We found a buffet place on a side street - I forget the name - but like 20 something pesos all-you-can-eat including tons of seafood and a parilla!  We were like "something has to be wrong with this place".  But it was all that food at a ridiculously low cost!  After the huge meal, Sean and Aida took the subte and I walked back - took me just over an hour.  It was pleasant.  I decided to work on my lesson plan again and then Anna came by - one of the girls from "girls night".  Sean and Aida met us and we went to La Bomba de Tiempo.  It was at Pueyrredon on the B line - a subte line i haven't taken yet - felt different.  We got to the Konex Centre on Sarmiento - it was sort of a half outdoor venue.  But a lot of people - there were a number of men on a stage playing tribal drums - with one man at the front - impromptu - conducting different drums.  It was like a big tribal party.  It was unbelievable.  Everyone was dancing.  Outside of the dancing areas you could get litre beers for 15 pesos (5 bucks).  So Anna and I went and got some beer - some guy started chatting her up in Spanish - man, i hope that 5 months from now I'll be able to talk like that too.  I do fine with writing, reading and listening but speaking is still pretty tough.  I thought of Andy...he would have loved this.  We werent there for very long, but we are set on going next week.  We made a mad dash for the subte - and I slipped and fell on my face - of course!- in the subte but thank goodness Aida said "you'll never see these people again anyway" but we were on the wrong platform anyway.  When I got home I mentally prepared for teaching Tues. 
However, Tues rolls around and 2 hours before I got to teach, they cancelled on me.  Arg!  So frustrating considering they are so vague (as I already said), unorganized and unprofessional.  Oh well...After Spanish class, I met Daniel from the BA expat website.  He's 30 and taught in Chile last year.  He's also here to teach English but would rather do something else - he said he started teaching a couple of kids in Belgrano though, but he got robbed not far from their house - poor guy!  We had lunch on Santa Fe somewhere, then walked through the Jardin Botanico and on to the park in Palermo.  We saw 40 baby geese (I thought they were ducks before but they arent).  We noticed a small path in the grass and saw this trail of ants carrying bits of grass - a long trek - and several paths - leading to holes in the ground.  It was fascinating!  There were also these birds that were black with either a yellow or orange spot on their heads!  It was a beautiful d, a good walk, great conversation, and hopefully a new friend.  That night I talked to Ian a bit...yay...and had to create a 1.5 hour lesson plan for Thurs for a job interview and needed his advice.
Wednesday was a good day too.  Had 2 hours of class with Martin...he's so funny!  Oh I had a job interview in the morning with Executive English - they pay only 18 pesos an hour..so not too bad but at least not vague like that other place.  After class I met Haley for lunch - she's from the Expat website as well.  We met at Tea Connection in Palermo - pricey, but so many teas! And healthy, good food on the lunch menu - they also make these homemade drinks - like flavoured water.  She's from California and has been here about 3 weeks.  She has a roomate though...I want to get a cat :( ...Anyway, I had this great salmon sandwich...there is such a lack of seafood out here..and I haven't eaten much chicken...quite a bit of ham though!  When I got back to the apt, I decided to go for a run for the first time in a couple of months...it was painful but totally worth it!  I printed off my lesson plan for Thurs. interview and spent the rest of the evenin mentally preparing and watching movies. 
Happy Oct finally!  This has been the longest month ever...my body is killing me from running, but it's about time I really focused on me...I had spanish class in the morning and then had the "big" interview!  I was prepared!  I re-did the newspaper lesson plan.  I could definitely tell the lady was impressed by my creativity and the fact that i was very prepared.  I went running again in the park in Palermo and it was hard, but good.  That night I met this girl Courtney off the BAexpats website.  It was funny because we didn't know what each other looked like and she was with 2 friends...well all 4 of us are women of colour!  I haven't met anyone yet with dark skin!  It was so funny!  So we all walked down to a restaurant on Santa Fe.  Two are from the States (NY and St. Louis) and the other is from the UK.  We had steak - I had this amazing lomo with mustard sauce - very fattening im sure, but so damn good!  We had great convo and good wine and then Courtney and I had another glass of wine in Plaza Serrano.  It was around 2am by the time we called it a night.