You know you're all my very best

Today I went to the park, where my mom was having a sort of welcome back party for me with my friends.

What an amazing time. they were all so happy to see me back, and I missed them sooo much. Lots of fun...

Well, that was pretty much it, aside from the conversation a few moments ago that has convinced me to keep this blog going strong.

It won't be out once a day anymore, but now will be out more or less once a week...

That's all for now!!!

No place like it...

Alternate title for this post: Is THAT how they say "hello" in your country?

Do you know what time it is? My body sure as hell doesn't, and you know what that means!

That's right reader, I've arrived at my home sweet home.
I'm writing this from my desktop computer, and it feels GOOD. Being home, I mean.

It bodes well for my mental well-being, but it isn't as good for this blog. Being home means that this will be one of the last posts for a while. My life just isn't as full of adventure here...

Don't get me wrong, this won't be the end. I just won't be updating everyday...

Didn't expect to see you again so... SPOON!

For those of you not aware, that is the second half of a quote from one of the best movies of all time: "Mystery Men"... The first half goes like this: "Red eyes, red eyes, red eyes..."

Anyways, I'm sitting now in Dulles International Airport, and it's around 8am, waiting for my flight.

Argentina's customs services were super easy, and I just FLEW through them...

Now, I've been telling a lot of you that on this round of flying, I'd pull the "Unaccompanied minor" card to try to get bumped up to better seating... So I did. I walked up and said that I was, and the guy then asks me if my parents paid the extra $100 for the service. I said no, and was then told that for that to work, they would've had to pay... Sadface... I thought then maybe if I asked the flight attendats on the plane, maybe i'd have a better shot... But no such luck... I walked up to one, pulled out my passport, and said: "I'm an unaccompanied minor, can I have some better seating?" which was met by the guys I asked laughing, looking at my passport and then telling me that I was, and I quote: "The biggest damn unaccompanied minor I've ever damn seen!", and then they told me the legal age limit for that to work was 16, so that just failed...

Aside from that, the flight was very uneventful, and went by in what seemed like 45 minutes... Sleep is a wonderful thing. I was woken up for a dinner of sorts, and then again for a breakfast (three cheers for yogurt with a spork).

So I get to the US, and am almost instantly reminded of how America works, having to stand through almost 3 TIMES as many customs and such as Argentina...

When that madness (not Sparta) is over, I find my gate, and here I am! I'm about to satisfy my month long Netflix fast by a combination of Dr. Who and Flash Forward. I might get some food, yeah, I'll do that first... I think I passed a smoothie place a ways back... I'll go there...

Well, this is going nowhere, but expect another post around 9 PST...

See ya!

The last one of it's kind.

This is it.

The last 1 and a half hours of my trip.

It's been a great trip, but I'm happy to be returning home. A month is a long time... I've made great friends, and great memories. I'll be putting this post on a delay timer, to post at around the same time as they usually go out, just to keep you guessing as to how I am...

Packing up today wasn't as emotional as I expected, but it was more amusing... The amount of stuff I'm coming back with needs it's own suitcase!!! I checked how much it would be to check 2 bags at the airport, and decided that it was just wiser to put it in a bag of whiny, dead meat, and take it with me (Carry on carrion carry-on).

My post tomorrow will most likely be a double header, as the day has 2 stops, Dulles (Terminal Man, Part 2 anyone?) as well as home...

Well, I dont want to run down my laptop battery before the airport, so...

It's been fun blogging for you, stay classy San Diego...

In which our vampiric hero has his last full day.

Today, I set out early (2:30p) to get a gift for my dear mother, who has kept me going, and helped me through the toughest times, but here, and home. I went to the BsAs yarn district, which thankfully was about 20 blocks away, so not too far...

Before I went, I checked the internet, and wrote down all of the addresses for stores I could find. There are quite a few in the area, so I figured if I couldn't find one, there'd be another one a little ways off. I didn't want to get a tax, as it was my first time walking around the city in a week or so in the daytime, and I wanted to get some Vitamin D.

That was my first mistake. As soon as I get outside, I feel how Dracula must feel when he goes outside. It hurt my eyes, it was really hot, and I didn't have a very nice walk because of it. It was relaxing to walk for so long, but it wasn't very comfortable...

When I get to the right block of addresses, I get very exited, as right in front of me there is tis HUGE shop window with this amazing work of art made from stacking balls of yarn on top of each other... Very cool. So I cross the street to it, but to my dismay, the doors are locked.

"Okay, Don't panic" I think to myself, fumbling around for my pocket sized Shamwow! I keep for just such an occasion "you have your towel."

I walk around to some of the other stores in the district, but alas, none are open. So I hang my head in shame and, tail between my legs, walk home again.

By the time I get back, I'm very hungry, so I have a few empanadas from the store next to the homestay, and go up. When I get there, Hugo and I watch the game on TV... And then some of Hugo and Susy's friends from Inglaterra stop by and have dinner with us. Very nice people.

And after that I read, and freaked out about not having a boarding pass, and got calmed down, and read...

And here I am, signing off my last night in Buenos Aires...

In which our hero makes some lists

Today, not too much happened, so I'll just sum it up briefly, then make 2 lists. One of things I will miss about life here, and the other about things I can't wait to be back for...

I slept through my alarm, hurried to school, and got there an hour early (derp). I had class, which was fun for me, as everyone else had to take the test to go to the next level, but they say that people who are leaving the program don't have to... So I read for about 2 hours, while they did the test.

When school was out, I got my diploma, and then went out with a few friends to this place that supposedly had good tacos, but we did't end up staying very long, and didn't order anything. We went out for pizza, which was good, but I wasn't very hungry.

Then we went back to Katie's apartment, and then they (3 girls) went into girltalk mode, and I was kinda swept up into it...

so, the next couple of hours passed as a blur, and here I am, somewhat shaken, but fine...

On to the Lists!!

LIST ONE: What I'll miss (friends excluded)

-the freedom
-being within walking distance of pretty much everything
-the dancing

Not a very long list, as the trip has mostly been experiences, not steady things. It's the unanimous thing by every student I've talked to here, that we would NEVER live here. But it's nice to visit.

LIST TWO: What I can't wait to be back for (friends and family excluded)

-chineese food
-mexican food
-american food
-pretty much every style of food, aside from pizza and empanadas
-free water
-traffic lights that go Green, Yellow, Red, Green, Yellow, Red
-normal waking hours
-US electrical outlets
-not having to divide by four every time i make a purchase
-speaking the common tounge
-clean air
-clean streets
-itunes
-netflix
-pandora
-not having a 4 hour difference than most of my friends
-not being paranoid about mosquito bites at night
-not being as paranoid about people stealing my stuff
-magic the gathering
-d&d
-other nerdy activities
-use of my texting
-use of 3G networks
-google in English automatically

A much longer list, as you can see...

I'm ready to go home...

The experiment is nearing it's conclusion...

Hello reader, much has happened today, let me tell you...

It started off normally, until I got to school. When I sat down to work on my homework, a group of other students sat down a few minutes later, and on of them began talking about how her laptop (the one she was holding) was totally toast. It was a powerbook G4, but even still, I asked what was up,and she said something about it not being able to work, like battery problems or something...

So, I'm no good with Mac's, but I told her I'd take a look at it, and her response surprised me: "oh, i already have a new one, do you want to just take it?"

Long story short, I have a semi used, broken (repairable?), Powerbook G4 accompanying me on the journey home now!!

So, after that, there was class, and during the break, I got lots and lot of food, and ate it...

After class, I had my tango lesson at 7 (class gets out at 4:45) so I wet back home, and took ANOTHER shower (pretty good day), and got out my tango shoes again...

The lesson was amazing. It was another private one, and I learned sooo much, mostly how to lead (which is waaaay more violent than I'm used to/comfortable with).

Then, I walked over to Victor's appartment, where I met up with him, Lindsey, Anita, Ron, and this other girl whose name evades me...

We went to dinner (As it was most of our last night to do so) at the same place that Tom, Victor and myself went about 2 weeks ago, and I got a new thing, which I loved!

THEN, we all went clubbing, first to a place where I had a bit too much to drink, and then danced the night away at another...

I took a taxi home, and here I am, all set to post this as the second latest post of them all...

See you (NorAm) in about 4 days!!

Day T -5, In which our hero puts on some magic shoes

Today begins my countdown until I leave...

I feel that 4 weeks was JUST long enough for this trip to last, as this is the first week I'm wishing I was home almost every day, and I've done quite a lot and made TONS of new friends...

That being said, the city still knows it can try to trip me up from time to time.

Today was pretty dull, until a point.

I was walking to tango class, and I was thinking about everything I had done today. In layman's terms: Not much.

I realized this, and thought to myself: "Wow, I wish something interesting would happen"

Big mistake.

As soon as I'm done thinking that, I hear someone talking at me. It's one of the people who frequent the streets, asking for you to buy whatever small thing they have, when just saying "No comprendo" doesn't work, as they mostly speak English too. I'm a big fan of just saying: "I have no money, sorry" and they usually dont press for more, and let me go on my way.

Not this guy though. He was persistent, to the point where he was actually tugging on my jacket to make me stop. When I didn't, he says something in Spanish, and 3 more guys step out to sell me pens or something.

Now there were four big guys acting pretty intimidating at me. The guy directly in front of me didnt speak any English, and my words of "I don't have any money" went right over his head.

I tried to keep my pace steady, as I walked forward, but I thought to myself after the fact that if he had held his ground, and I had tried to push past him/move around him, he might've pulled a knife on me, and that would've been it.

So he's getting RIGHT up in my face about this, and jostling me, and grabbing at my bag, and I cant just yell for help, as I assumed no-one around me spoke English (a dumb reason I know, but it made sense at the time, adrenaline and all).

So what do I do? I look him square in the face, put on my hardest expression, (not threatening, but steely nonetheless), and say, not shout, or even raise my voice: "Get out of my way, now."

And he does. I powerwalk the hell away from him, and when my adrenaline has cooled off enough for rational thought, the very first thing that goes through my mind isn't "Oh my god, I almost just got robbed!"

No, it is: "OMG, I jedi mind tricked that guy!! I wonder if it works on other people too!", then spent the rest of the walk attempting to tell other people do do my bidding with my mind. Sadly, he is apperantly the weakest mind in all of Recoleta, but you can't blame me for trying.

Only once I get to my tango lesson, it hits me how close I was to getting robbed/mugged.

So that kind of throws me off, but only for a second. As the title says, I then put on my tango shoes, and that's when the magic happens.

I don't know what it was about the shoes, but even thought this was the same class that I had felt overwhelmingly outclassed in just 2 weeks ago, I got it!

I mean, I danced the CRAP out that lesson! I came out of it feeling so amazing! I understand how to do most of the moves, and all I need to work on now is my timing!

So that's going great.

It occurs to me that in a previous blog post I mentioned something about an "episode in color" with no explanation.

You know my forest green jacket/parka? Yeah, that one...

I've had the thing for many years, and until about 2 days ago, I was convinced (per colorblindness) that it was gray. Like, a medium gray, and I had no idea it was even SLIGHTLY green until 2 nights ago...

Fun stuff, to be sure...

Life's full'a change...

I will leave Argentina a changed person.

I never really gave any credit when people said to me that I would, I just figured: "Hey, it's only a month long trip, not training for the Olympics", but I was wrong.

It hit me today, when, after waiting about 25 minutes in the lobby of my tango class, and being told that the school had failed to set up both of my last 2 private lessons, my response was not what I'm used to. Back home, I cant STAND change. It's not the fact of things happening, but I like to know what's gonna happen.

When I had my "adventure" in the airport (almost one month ago, WOW) I felt more calm about not knowing that I think I ever had in my life. I just accepted it that the feces had struck the wind-maker.

And then today, my response was: "It's ok, mistakes happen, that's life." And then I left, and felt pertty good about my day as a whole! I went over what had gone right, and it VASTLY out weighed the negatives that had just happened. Personal first.

So I walked around for a bit, went tie shopping, but my recent episodes in color discouraged me from buying any (mor eon those in a bit), and then went home and had a lovely dinner with Hugo.

So, on to the BEGINNING of my day, for a change. It begins as they usually do, with me getting up, showering, having breakfast, brushing teeth, and walking ~20 minutes to school. I get there, and nothing unusual happens, aside from the ENTIRE class (myself excluded) being like 20 munites later than usual, so I a pretty amazing private lesson from Juliana, until others show up.

I did pretty well in school, but for some reason, I cant read Spanish very quickly. In my head or out loud, it makes no difference, and I can tell the others in my class are... not frustrated with it, but I can tell they wish I could go a bit faster, but I'm not letting it get to me, as it's the speed I go.

After that, I went out to one of the local "Havana" cafe's with Regina (person in my class) and sh got a coffee, and I got some cookies, which are so sweet, I can feel my teeth screaming... In other words, amazing...

When we got back to school, I saw that I had about 2 hours left before my tango class, so i decided to go shoe shopping, as mine had been pretty worn out by all the dancing I've done in then since their purchase in December.

At my last tango lesson, I was given a flyer by my teacher for a place called TANGO 8, so I set out for one of the 3 locations. Now, if you've been following this blog even halfheartedly, you'll know my record for finding things here. Now, this time it was different, as I had NO idea where to look, but I had an address. So I went to one person who I KNEW would know where to find it.

I got a taxi.

When I arrived, I was ushered in by te shopkeeper, and after explaining in my broken Spanish that I only knew broken Spanish, I discovered that he spoke English VERY well, and we hit it off nicely. As it turns out, I have big feet. Crazy, I know, but I'm a 47E (European) and the biggest he had in stock was a 45. but he gives me a better flyer, which has more than one store on it, and wishes me luck in finding the right shoes.

So I get ANOTHER taxi, and go to the next store, wchice is closer than the first one I tried. If I get to do this all over again, Groundhog Day style, I'm going there first...

So I get there, and i'm just barely in luck, as it's the biggest shoe they have, and there's only one pair left. So, after finding out hey only take cash, and then running to the bank to get some, and paying and all that, I walk out with a brand spankin' new pair of Argentinian Tango Dancin' Shoes!

Good day, in my book.

So, knowing where I am, I walk over to the Tango lesson, and even though I took my time to get there, I still got there more or less at 7, when It was supposed to start.

(See the beginning of this post to know how it went)

And here I am!!

I don't wanna work (I want to bang on my drum all day)

Today I was hit with a time bomb. THE time bomb, to be exact, but more on that later.

Today started with me waking up a full hour earlier, just to lay n bed for an extra hour drowsing. I have been getting REALLY sleepy in class lately, so I decided to give myself extra wake up time...

Long story short, it worked, and I'm doing well again.

After class, a group of friends were going to go to one of the best Cafe chains "Havanna", to get some coffee, and I wanted to get some alfahoras, just to try them, but I had to decline, as my cousin Linda was in town, visiting from Florida. Fun coincidence!

So we met up after class, and had an early dinner. SHe speaks little to no Spanish, so it was left to me to order, and ask for directions... Surprisingly, we did quite well.

Afterwards, instead of going to the group tango lesson, we went to Konex (Music venue) to see LA BOMBA DE TIEMPO, a drum group from BA comprised of what I'm told are some of the best musicians in the city.

FREAKING AMAZING.

There were about 15 guys up on stage in a semi circle, each one with a different type of drum, or like percussion instrument. In the center, the "conductor" stood, and made the magic happen.

He would make hand signals at the performers, and they would change beats, cut out, and ater the flow of the best without, well, missing a beat! It was beautiful, it was loud, and it was amazing. Bad news is it was a bit much for Linda, and she went home about halfway, but she said she enjoyed what she saw...

Anyways, I bought a Cd and T-shirt, and took a video of one of their songs, which will go up on Youtube when I get a chance...

After that, my friends who were also there and myself went out for a bit of a snack, then walked back to the apartment, and talked for about an hour, then I lef to go home, and here I am!

Quite a day, and my ears STILL haven't stopped ringing...

Despite my better efforts...

Today nothing went on. I woke up at like 3, and on account of the election, and it being Sunday, nothing was open, so I stayed home and read some books.

This will be the most boring of any of my blog posts, and I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart...

Science, right? What CAN'T it do?

Today was one of the, if not the, best days I've had here.

Starts off on a good note with me getting lots of sleep, but waking up early enough to IM some people bout going to the zoo today. No-one seems to know when, so I bail and decide to explore the city solo.

Might be one of the best choices I've made here. I usually prefer being alone to company, but my friends here have been great to hang out with.

So I leave the house, and set out for my favorite empanada place, to load up for the day...

Sadly enough, they're closed, so I look around for anywhere that might sell them/is open. I find one, and get a few (the ones here are more expensive here than the other place). It's amusing to me that I dont see Argentinians eating while traveling very often. I have a bag of 4 empanadas, and I eat them as I go! Makes sense to me!

So, I head out to the "Centro Cultural Recoleta", to look for a museum that I had heard was great, but when I get to the place, I'm greeted by a HUGE sprawling tourist market! Now, I dont usually play the tourist card, so I figured I might as well do so now...

Nothing really of interest, but I had a nice time walking around.

When I was finished wandering, I went to the main Tourist local of the area, the Recoleta Cemetery, and walked arond there for a while, taking pictures of the mausoleums and such. I got a picture of Eva Peron's tomb, which wasn't as crazy as I expected it to be. It was a plain enough building, not nearly as decked out as some of it's neighbors... The thing that surprised me the most though, was the amounts of stray cats everywhere! I must've seen like 20 at least, just in the cemetery!

Sooo, then I was done with cats and dead people for the day.

I then pulled a Toby and asked like 4 people for directions (He'll be so proud!), and once I got them, went to the museum I had set out to find.

The museum in question is called "Museo Participativo de Ciencias" which loosely translates to: "THE COOLEST FREAKING MUSEUM SLASH ARGENTINIAN SCIENCE MUSEUM FOR KIDS EVER!!" It's motto/slogan type thing even is: "Prohibido NO tocar", which means: "Not touching is Prohibited". How cool is that?

It's one of those science museums like the Tech in San Jose, or the Exploratorium in SF.

Even though I knew most of (read as ALL) the scienc, and was about 6-9 years older then the kids there, I still had a fun time trying to figure out what the signs were saying.

My favorite moment of all though, was then a kid of like 8 or 9 looks at my shirt (Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc.), does a double take, fires off some rapid fire Spanish at me, then gives me a high five..

Made my week.

So after I was done with the museum (an hour) I walk downstairs to the art gallery, and spend about the same amount of time there, looking at works of art.

Not nearly as fun, but still enjoyable.

When I'm done doing that, I walk back to the homestay, stopping in a few shops, and getting a few things.

And here I am! I'd write more, but no more has happened, yet. I've been invited to a party later tonight, and I'll leave relatively soon after posting this.

Gotta get down

Today was fun!

It starts out like any other, aside from the fact that school starts an hour later than usual (2, instead of 1) so I get an extra hour, which I use by hacking away at the jungle that is my beard, and reading.

School is going well still, so I can't argue. After school, I go to my first private Tango class, which was amazing. I know so much more about it, made all the better as my teacher spoke not a word of English! So I can now come home and teach people one or two moves. This trip has been a success.

After that, I caught a cab ride to Cafe Tortoni, to watch a tango show with a large group from school. It wa san amazing show, and afterwards, no-one knew what the story of it was, but we didn't care. It was too cool. I'd go into details, but I couldnt do it justice. Plus, I took loads of pictures, but by some cruel twist of fate, my camera made EVERY SINGLE PICTURE I took blurry, so that isnt gonna work either. Sadfaces all around.

After that, we all went to a bar/restuarant and ordered drinks. You have no idea how mature I felt...

I got a milkshake.

Then we walked people back to their respective houses, and here I am!

Missing home, but I'll be sad to leave here...

That's all for now!

BLOGPOSTS IN SPAAAAAAACE!!!!!

Today was in stark contrast to yesterday.

It started off VERY well, with me waking up early enough to take a loooong shower, do my homework, and have a nice breakfast, and STILL make it to school with tie to spare.

Classes are going great, and I'm mastering past tense conjugations of verbs... (a HUGE apology to my Buddhist teachers, who say to live in the present)

During the break, I looked up places to go, and one of the top things I found was the botanic garden, so I'll be doing that soon. I was going to do it today, but It was getting dark when class was out, so I went with some friends to the planetarium. It was closed (again) but this time we got the hours of operation, so I'll be going back there too.

After that, I had a VERY unusual dinner. I went with a large (7) group of friends to a restaurant that I wouldn't have thought existed, at least in BA. All you can eat sushi buffet.

I know, right?

As it turns out, I enjoy sushi, and it wasnt half bad!

40 sushi later, I'm feeling full. After dinner, we all walk back to the apartment, and I hang out there for a few, then walk back home.

When I get to my room, it seems that someone turned of the heat while I was away, so when I open the door, I'm assaulted by a temperature so fierce, I'd liken it to the Sun's sweat lodge.

Very hot. Not really ok with it... I've turned off the heater and opend up the windows, so we'll see how it goes...

Oh, by the by, i heard that HP 7.2 opens here a day before the states. guess who's gonna see it?

THIS GUY! Be jealous.

Wish you were here

Today has been a disappointing mess.

It started off with me sleeping through my alarm, and then rushing to get out to class on time (I still got there before everyone, but you never know), followed by being so tired in class that I nearly fell asleep TWICE! as some of you already read, I was so exhausted that at one point I was just mumbling the word "magnets" over and over, without thinking about it...

After class, I decided not to go to my tango lesson, on account of how little i learned last week on wednesday, and also the fact that the school was having another lesson for beginners at another place, and a bunch of my friends were going to it.

So I walk back towards my homestay, to pick up my laundry, with one of the girls that Victor and I went sightseeing with last night.

When I get back to the house, I make a snap judgement, and tell her to go ahead without me, as It might be a few minutes, and we were running late anyways. She tells me the address of the lesson place, and then departs. My first mistake was letting her leave.

The night kinda spiraled down after that. I put away my clothes, and then scurried down to try to meet up with her on the road. I have a good idea of where the place is, so I head off in that direction.

No luck. It's become my theme of the trip... I can't find ANYTHING.

I walk to the place where I think it is (45 minutes) and by that time the class is halfway over. So I try REALLY hard to find it, but still no luck. I look for people to ask where it is, but the neighborhood is very sketchy, and I don't want to look like a tourist. So I continue looking, going as far a 5 blocks away, but still nothing.

So (with more self damnation and inner hatred that I've had in MONTHS) I turn around and start to head back home.

Now, while I thought I knew where I was, it turns out i had gotten off the map, and so I just wandered around Palermo for about 2 hours, while I tried to figure out where I was. I didnt have my local phone with me, and I was contemplating using my Iphone minutes to call someone, but then I figured out where I was, and headed back.

THAT trip took almost an hour as well.

Long story short, I was miserable, cold and VERY hungry when I got home tonight.

And so, with no hope of anything happening tonight, I'm sending this post out an unheard-of 5 hours ahead of usual.

Then end.

P.S., The amazing idea from yesterday? It's this: You know how there is that edible gold leaf used for cakes and such? Fry bacon, and cover it with gold. Then, either eat the bacon and feel like a king (Midas much?), or sell it for HUGE profit!!! That's it...

In which our hero loses a bet, and pays for it.

I thought I'd begin this post a bit differently...

Some call me crazy...

I do, at times. It's just one of those things... I made a deal to myself when I began this trip to do things I normally wouldn't do back home... Not too many opportunities have arisen, but I've done what I can, and not done anything TOO foolish. Until today. Today, I found myself sitting in front of a dozen empanadas, on a bet that I couldn't eat them all. Loser buys the winner more empanadas, on a later date.

Long story short, I lost with 7 down, and 5 to go...

By lost, I do not mean I vomited up all 7 empanadas, because I tend to think of myself as smarter than that. No, I lost be eating 7, and then saying: "You win." If i had continued eating, I would have been sick, so I stopped. I felt fantastic, and I still had 5 empanadas left for a later date!! Win-Win situation!

So, that was after school. Before school, nothing interesting happened, but after school (and my dinner bet) Victor, myself, and two grils from the school went out walking around the city.

We went to the Capitol building, and heard some guy (politician) speak from a looong way away. We didn't want to get too close, on account of the large numbers of riot cops that we saw as we were walking over there. After that, we walked over to a bridge (Important to someone, can't remember the name), and took LOTS of pictures. Well, it was more of me taking pictures of the girls with their cameras for them to post on facebook...

It was cold today, but not as much as it has been, so that's a good thing...

Not sure what else to put, that's really all that happened...

Oh!! There is one thing... I was walking to school, and I had this AMAZING idea, and if anyone uses it, I'd like a large portion of the huge profit you'd make. The idea is this: You take... well, you know bacon? Of course you do... Well, you see, you take some bacon... (this is the best part) oh no! wait... this is: you take the bacon, fry it up (oh wait that wasnt very good at all, the best part is coming) after it's fried, you take some.... oh, now I've forgotten what it is.

Tell you what, I'll remember it, write it down, and post it on tomorrows post...

TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR: "THIS BACON IS MOOSEY" or "BACON VA-MOOSE"!!!

-credits for "Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends" roll-

The Emperor's New Clothes

Today I went to school (new class, level A2 baby!! Class is from 1-5 now, instead of 2-6) My class is now comprised of mostly Americans, as we now are 2 from Cali, 2 from Florida, one from Texas, and one girl from Korea.

Class was fun, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much Spanish I knew.

After class, I showed a few people where to get a cell phone (I know my way around so well :D) and then walked back to the Homestay, and collected my laundry, and made my next move on getting a jacket. There's a huge mall pretty close to me (Thanks to Joanne White for providing addresses), so after I dropped off my laundry I walked over there. While I was there, I figured I would also get a scarf (really regretting not having one, on account of how awesome I'd look), and a few shirts.

Nope.

I get to the mall, and look around, and there are TONS of winter coats, jackets, you name it! Only one small (or not, as it were) problem. My size and build place all reasonable jackets at over $2900 AR, far exceeding my $1840 AR limit on cash right now.

So that didn't happen, thus the post title.

So I went to my tango class, which was awesome, as I wasnt the worst one there (just an observation). What really irks me is that there was this woman who had never danced tango (if anything) before, she told me so herself, but she was convinced that: just because she thought she knew what she was doing, all of the experianced people were wrong. She backled incorrectly, moved limbs about to incorrect places, and generally made me wish for a different partner.

So I got one, and I had an absolutely smashing time.

After class was done, I walked over to Victors, to go out with him and some other people to get dinner, but we just ended up going to a bar, and so I didn't eat anything.

At around 12, I got super tired, excused myself, and walked home. Good news is that the cold woke me up, for a time, bad news is that I dont have a scarf to look awesome in...

To all of my US readers: happy Fourth of July! And to the rest of you: talk to you tomorrow!

Sunday, Frozen Sunday

Today was COLD!!

It was soo very cold. We (Gabriel, Victor, Tom, and I) went to the San Telmo market again today, and I got a Mate kit (Comes with a container, a straw, and some of the yerba stuff...).

The market was cold. I do believe it was 0 degrees Celsius... But we had some amazing Choripan, and then we traveled back to the apartment, and I had my first cup of Mate. Not sure what to think, as it's VERY strong, but lots of people love it...

After we got back, Tom, Victor and myself headed over to the planetarium, to meet some friends of theirs. When we got there, it was closed, so we got another cab back, and had dinner in a nice restaurant.

So I didn't get a whole lot of stuff done today... But I need to get a warm jacket. The one I have just doesn't cut it...

Crouching Tigre, Hidden Blogpost

Today was Tigre.

For those of you who don't know what or where that is, it's a town about an hour away (by train) from BA, on the Rio del la Plata delta. When I say on the delta, I mean ON the delta. The river is everywhere, and the main mode of transport is by boat. Naturally, if you own a boat, you can sell tours, so Victor and I spent the afternoon on a tour boat going around the delta. It was very cool, and I took lots of pictures.

After we got back from that, we said goodbye to Becca, as she was leaving, and then found Tom, and went to go see Transformers 3.

About the movie: It wasn't half bad! It wasn't half good either, but... There were some funny lines, and GRATUITOUS usage of Alan Tudyk's badass side (make it worthwhile regardless of what it was). The art was amazing, and luckily for us, was in English, with Spanish subs.

So then we went back to the apartment, met up with Gabriel and some of his friends, and hey decided to go to a club, and because I don't like the club atmosphere, I came back to the home-stay. And here I am.

Day 13: Is the glass of days half full?

Today has been a good one.

Went to school, and bid farewell to some of my friends who are leaving tomorrow/Sunday. Our class of 5 is now a class of 2. They will be missed, but we have Facebook, so it's all good...

After school, Becca and I walked over to Club del Comic, and we set to work browsing. They had quite the selection of comics, ranging from Superman, to Thor, to Watchmen, to some that i hadn't even heard of! I purchased, get this, CABLE & MASSACRE (Spanish for Deadpool), and the Jace vs. Chandra duel deck, in Japanese. Who's the proud owner of an anime Jace and an anime Chandra? This guy. Be jealous.

After that, we walked back to the appartment, Victor and Emily came over, and we watched an Antonio Banderas movie on TV, and then I walked back to the homestay at like 9 to watch this big soccer match at their house. When I get there, I'm greeted by quite a few new people (family over to watch as well). I say hello, and then I'm totally lost at sea. I understand maybe one in five words spoken, and it ends up that noone wants to watch the game anyways, so I retire to my room.

And here I am. Not a whole lot doin', but tomorrow Victor and I are going to go check out El Tigre, and maybe go to the big zoo in the city, so that'll be fun. Pictures to come...

See ya!