Argentina Current mood: stressed
Well I am finally here. It’s truly awesome here and I feel out of place. Everyone stares at me. I’m at least twice as big as all the girls here which doesn’t help me not feel like a freak. When I try to speak spanish , which is not often and usually requires alchohol.. no one understands me although when I repeat the same thing louder and slower.. they understand and repeat exactly what I said as though I had said it wrong. This accent is killing me. Even simple things like Ricotta.. which is a cheese and the same in english practically, and nublado.. which means cloudy and is almost impossible to pronounce wrong.. they still say ‘que?’.. holy pooo it makes me feel like a retard when I’m speaking clearly and they still don’t understand.. although their accents could be horrible in English and I would understand them..irony. I dont think they want to understand me, it’s probably some rude joke they play on outsiders.
Other than trying not to cry with frustration, the city is amazing..Iv’e been here 2 days after being in airports and on planes for about 20 hours. It’s basically like Europe.. and by that I mean, everyone sounds Italian, drives like maniacs, and is good looking, and there’s not a spicy food in the country. I had to pay 10 pesos for a bottle of hot sauce which I sneak into restaraunts and flavor my own food. Gardner says It’s so something a character from a book would do in another country.. my answer of course.. well.. I am a character.
I’m staying with Gardner and his girlfriend and I’m a third wheel all the time. right now they are at her fathers house for father’s day… gives me a chance to write here I guess. We’re talking about going to Bariloche.. we would have to cross the Andes to get there and it’s the equivalence of driving to LA from Portland. We also spoke of renting a sailboat and taking it out to sea one weekend although we havent been waking up till about 3pm. It gets dark at 6 here and the weather is about 50 degrees and even colder at night. I was going to go out right now and look at these boots I really want, but I cant even remember the verb to say “can I try on these boots”. I dont know if i’ll ever actually start speaking Spanish here.. especially since everyone looks at me like a retard because I learned from a Spanish guy (from spain) and argentinians have a thick accent comparable to people from Arkasas or scotland (meaning thick). They are the outcasts of south america .. especially those from Buenos Aires. They don’t even say alli for here .. they say Achi.. which to me is a totally different word and a pain in the ass to catch onto. My teachers gona hate me if i pick up on any of this. I want to go buy a coat but I’m kinda scared to walk to the mall alone. I do have a hand drawn map. hmm. Here’s some interesting things about here that I have seen so far.
They have some of the best Cheese I have ever tasted.
The toilets do not spin clockwise or counter clockwise.. they dont spin at all. It’s a design thing.
They do have bedays (sp?) the toilet like things that spray your butt haha
Toilets have buttons on the wall that you push and were invented here long long before american crafty plumers thought of it.. they also have water closets on the wall.
The water is terrible compared to Oregon.
The secret to not getting bugs in your stomach or food poisoning.. is yogurt, which, don’t even try to say here because it’s been butchered.
The architecture is like no other. modern and innovative with lots of classical mixed in.
They dress better here than any amercans
There are lots of pet dogs.. all of which shit wherever and noone cleans.. so the biggest obstacle while walking at night.. is dog poop on the sidewalks.
There is grafiti everywhere and its beautiful
Everything is filthy and its beautiful
You will get killed by cars and even more so.. busses. People dont even try to drive between the lines and all day long there is honking and the occasional crash sound though they are by far better drivers than anyone by having so few accidents in such maddness.
The legal drinking age is 18 but they never check ID
Everyone kisses cheeks. and im not very good at it and its probably insulting but I hate it.
Everyone I have met so far is either in love or at least with someone, and being that i feel like a freak here already..I’m the official 3rd wheel for three weeks now.
Cell phones, pizza, Cokeacola and chocolate with Simpsons toys.
They love the Simpsons
Someone write me damnit.
