So sorry it has taken me forever to blog!
My trip in Argentina so far has been full of ups and downs, with new experiences every single day, big and small. Like what I would think life should be like back home but for some reason is not percepted to be so.
For the sake of my Spanish blogs too, I will try to list out all the places so far that I have been to in Argentina as well as some key experiences here that I hope to never forget:
La Boca
Meeting my classmates at Plaza Italia was a challenge. We all want to save money on phones since you have to keep recharging your minutes here at a kiosko which was always annoying since we had large bills all the time, but really.....communicating with not super high speed Internet and limited phones was a challenge. We ended up waiting for a classmate for an hour and even miscommunication along the way. But while we waited at Plaza Italia, I took a picture of a plaque that had been broken . . . we speculated it was from the activist / advocacy activity from the night before. Anyway, I especially liked the word "La Resistencia" chipped off of the rest of the plaque. Seemed very ironic to me as we stood in Plaza Italia . . . (and I would later find out that some Argentinians have different definitions of irony, sarcasm, and yes, even jinxs.)
Spanish, er, Castellano which is the specific language spoken in Argentina, is definitely not like English culturally.
TANGENT! Anyway, we took an hour long bus for the first time where I spoke with another fellow student on politics or Argentina (which we knew very little about), and politics at our own University. Basically, we get along very very well by analyzing why other people do not, and how we ourselves add that fire. Nothing stupid about that! It was an intellectual conversation on the autobus "collectivo", in some very well versed Spanglish with sporadic periods of "umms", "errs", and giggles.
LAST TANGENT! We saw the famous La Boca during a class trip. The weather was slightly gloomy and about to rain, but whatever, we do not care because it is an awesome trip! When we went I was really excited to see all of the colorful buildings, even though I would have preferred to see them when it was sunny as a nice contrast to the already freezing cold Argentinian weather (because I am from SoCal, and there is not such thing as freezing cold in SoCal so this is my definition point for it).
La Boca was a very tourist area as I had read in many tourist publications. Street performers were willing to perform in the cold for a speculating audience, but more so for some tips that they well deserved, as Tango is not a dance meant for 40 degree F weather. But me being a tourist and not caring, I took the following pictures and videos in my 2-Dimensional TravelChannel tv moment come to life! It was evident that La Boca had been historically a place of colonization, merchant labor, artistic creation, and tourist attraction. I wish I knew more about the history of all these places but I will have to edit that in later. All I knew was that we were impressed with the Google images coming to life in our 10 minute introduction to La Boca, which quickly ended as hunger hit for the 15h time and we sat down for pizza with olives. I do recall having an interesting conversation with the woman of the restaurant, talking about churros and fruits popular in Argentina different from Mexican culture, as well as cultural differences between the Recoleta culture compared to laid back culture of the North and South of Argentina. Hearing different perspectives definitely hit me for the first time in La Boca, which is always great for the weary traveler.
After that I went on the bus and I fell asleep, almost falling asleep on some old guy, and then we took a cab back home since we were still not use to the bus system and not inclined to get lost for the 10th thousandth time.
I tried going to a phone store to buy a phone, but of course, the miscommunication made it difficult to even understand that I had to wait for them to open the door and they were in fact, open for business, with closed doors for weather. Interesante . . . and in my sadness I wandered to discover an adorable cafe called Tea Connection for the first time. And in my fascination and boredom, I took the following pictures and videos.
2 Items ordered worth remembering: Apple Tart with Costa Rican cinnamon Ice cream, and peach rose tea. Take that CHA.
After waiting forever like a stupid American to pay the bill, I walked around Callao Street to find an activist march! Finally! There were a lot of marches going on at this time, where spectators bang pots and pans and trucks drive by and honk like crazy in solidarity. The real passerbyers take their empty water bottles, add a few centavos, and shake away to add to the noise of the night. It literally looked like a block party, I felt like I had reached the promise land, OH . . . HAPPINESS. See the following videos for proof:
Once I got home, I reported my encounter with the other side in fascination to my family, in which their unimpressed and somewhat distateful expressions indicated this isnt a favorite dinner subject, as my host brother joked that these were the "rich activists". Oh the disappointment. I would later explore what he meant in more detail later on in the week.
As for the Spanish, the entire first week was difficult since I barely spoke anything, and the family isn't very patient with trying to understand AND speak English all the time. I understand, my head hurts from speaking and translating Spanish!
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