Mas de Buenos Aires

Well I’ve been trying to post a photo on each blog entry, but I must admit I haven’t been taking many photos in B.A. because everything is such a blur.

Monday morning, we started bright and early with a meeting at the Fulbright commission. Despite any sleep deprivation, I was happy because I had my first café con leche and it immediately brought me back to Spain and I thought to myself, I get to have this with breakfast for the next eight months.

There are 21 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants in Argentina and the group is just fantastic. To use a Argentinean phrase, to say they’re good people (like in the South), they say “tiene buena onda,” literally they’ve got a good vibe. But there is one Duke graduate student. And I did have to sit in the same room as him after a certain game….

So we spent ALL day in the commission learning about our responsibilities, details about our assignments, etc. Surprisingly, the day went by very fast and when someone told me it was 5 as we were leaving, I was shocked. Since I don’t have a watch (waiting to buy one here) and it’s late summer here, it’s always 3 hours later than I think it is.

Afterwards, we went to a theatre that was transformed into a bookstore (see above) and later we went out for drinks and food. I went back early, however, to meet an Argentine colleague of mine for dinner—it was fantastic! First off, I have to say ALL ARGENTINEAN WOMEN LOOK 10-15 YEARS YOUNGER THAN THEY ARE. My friend Lupe took me to a parilla (PA-REE-JA), which is a place to eat steak basically. It was delicious. One funny cultural thing did happen: To order a salad, you say what you want on it. So I ordered tomato, corn, etc. But what I didn’t realize is that you actually have to say you want lettuce. Once I got my salad, I kept looking underneath all the toppings for the lettuce….

We stayed out chatting until around 2, which is actually quite early it seems for Argentina….Don’t judge me based on the above photo. I was (still am) living out of a suitcase, running on 4 hours of sleep, my curling iron won’t work and it’s 2 a.m. Also, it’s unfortunate that since the seasons are opposite here, we just missed summer. Thus, everyone here is tan. It’s still very warm here though and very nice to just walk around the city!