1st "casualty", 3 outings, and a few realizations later.......

WITH PHOTOS!  Not many, but at least you're getting SOMETHING! :)

Well, I'm happy to report that I'm continuing to get better.  I've actually been able to go out and enjoy the city again.  Along the way I've made some lasting memories and also made a few realizations......

On Saturday, I met some friends for shopping in Alto Palermo.  I was pretty excited since it was the first time I had gone out in over a week.  Hanging out with Matthias and Lela (another Swiss friend)  was nice.  We looked in several clothing stores, and I actually did what I should have been doing forever and a half ago, which was interacting with the locals in spanish.  I've been struggling with the fact that it's very difficult for me to muster up the courage to go out alone and try and communicate with people in spanish.  My biggest hurdle thus far has been listening and understanding what people are saying to me.  So the idea of attempting that alone is VERY intimidating.  However, I did pretty well that.  I really need to get over that insecurity, because practicing with spanish speakers here would help me over that hurdle.  Talking to strangers has never been a problem for me before, but something about having to communicate when I can't interpret what is being said to me is REALLY hard.  I know it's not that big of a deal, but I feel pretty stupid when I have someone repeat something 3 times before finally giving up and saying "Lo siento, pero yo no entiendo"  I know it's part of the territory of going to a place to learn a language, but it's still uncomfortable for me.  

*whew* what a rant, huh?

So I left shopping so I could go with Mathias' roommate, Kristoff (from Germany) to the Japanese Garden.  That's right.  Buenos Aires has a German Hospital and a Japanese Garden.  Can't wait to find out how they incorporate nations like Ghana, Australia and Morocco.   Very nice excursion.  However, I discovered I'm still not over my fish phobia.  Those koi were HUGE and UGLY!  yikes.  The statues and bridges were very "tranquilo."  It was a nice outing.

  

Lela and Mathias buying CDs    :    Double order of SEXY!    :     Krizz, my excursion partner

                                                         

I've hated fish since I was about 12, these one's fueled the hatred

One of many neat statues in the Japanese Garden.

The next day Kristoff and I headed to "La Boca".  It's an area where all the houses are painted these really unique and vibrant colors (at least for a house or apartment).  I learned after that when the area was built many many years ago, the people didn't have a lot of money, so they used paint that was used on boats to paint the houses.  That's at least what I got out of the tour that I took today when I went back to that area.  It was a really artistic region of the city.

La Boca

Yesterday, I finally started socializing again.  I went to lunch with about 7 other students, which was very nice.  I'm always in love with the idea that all of us from all these different countries can go out together and hang out.  I never stop finding it to be VERY cool.  :)  I was asked by Sabine (one of the dutch girls) if I wanted to go on a tour the next day.  It seemed like a good idea since I've been here for 3 weeks and am still a little geographically confused.  

The tour group + 2 that didn't go.

Eric and I.  He's the one I went to dinner with as mentioned a few blog posts ago. 

Today we took that tour.  I can say with confidence that I'm more knowledgeable of the areas of Buenos Aires.  Something I never thought about before was the idea of embassies of other countries.  I'm sure if someone had asked me about it, I would have assumed this was the case, but I had never thought about a french embassy, or brazilian embassy, etc etc etc.  We passed those, which was VERY cool.  We saw a lot of monuments.  Way too many to count.  I definitely want to revisit them so I can at least remember the names of some of them and discover their historical significance.  

We stopped in the Plaza de Mayo where the capitol building is.  And the only way I can describe what happened, was crazy.  I was taking pictures of the 8 of us in our group.  And this random school boy got my attention and posed like he wanted his picture taking.  Just being in the moment, I laugh and take his picture.  This is followed by 4 girls posing and me taking there picture.  I get the idea to take a video because I hope to make a video compilation of everything I've been doing out here.  

Suddenly, these kids start coming up and talking to me.  It was a little surprising, but sort of cool.  Suddenly, 4 more students come up to the group that I'm talking to.  Then 4-5 more.  6 here, 4 more there, in what felt like less than a minute, I have a semicircle of high school kids crowded around me asking me questions.  It was really weird, but VERY cool.  They wanted to know about what I did in America, what music I liked, how I liked Argentina.  The whole time, I'm thinking, "Wow, are they this nice to ALL tourists?"  It was almost like being a celebrty.  I loved the energy they had, and even though I'm sure I sounded like an idiot with my broken spanish, I felt like for the first time this trip that was really assimilating with the people.  I'd say that I just need to hand out near the high schools and wait for freshmen, but that sounds a little..........yeah..........creepy.

I totally wasn't kidding when I said there was a horde of these guys.  I hope people are always this nice when I go to other countries.  

Afterwards, we went to La Boca, and it was about the same as the first time I went 3 days before, with the exception of more artists selling artwork and more stores were open. The same people were trying everything in their power to get me to eat at their restaurants and some of them were pushing a little too hard.  But I chalked that up to cultural differences and them just trying to do their jobs and didn't really judge them for it.   

It was a good tour that I'm glad I went on.  The only downside to the day was on my way home from the tour, I went in my bag to retrieve my iPod nano...........and it was GONE!  the pouch in my green shoulder bag was already unzipped.  I immediately thought that it may have been stolen, possibly by that that big group of kids.  But then I figured, i doubt all 30+ teens would plan robbing 1 tourist.  Well, I guess everything is possible, but I REALLY doubt it.  I started thinking it was possible I just forgot to zip up that pouch and maybe it fell out.  Both are a possibility I suppose.  At least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about it.  I'm probably going to contact the tour company and see if perhaps it was located on the bus.   Good thing I got a free iPod touch before I left so I don't have to be completely beat up about my Nano.  Still sucks though. . I obviously need to be more diligent about my belongings.  Typically, I only take my stuff (camera, ipod, etc) with me when I know i'm going to use it that day for some reason.  *shrugs*  who knows, maybe it will turn up.  

Yet again, my entry is pretty long, so i believe I'm going to stop for now.  

Love you all, miss you!

xoxo

Back in the land of the living........

At least for a while, or long enough to write here :)

Hola amigos!

Health update:

Well this was unfortunately a bit of a bust week for me.  I missed classes on tuesday and thursday because I was so sick.  And on the days I did go to class, I came home immediately after.  It's a tad depressing since I sort of did the same thing at the end of last week and I wanted to get back to being social and seeing as much of the city as I could.  But no such luck unfortunately.  I finally went to the doctor (that spoke english at the "German Hospital." weird huh?) and she said that my lungs sounded fine and that it looked like a post viral infection.......yeah, sexy, I know.  they are supposed to last anywhere from 2-4 weeks which I'm a little sad about, it sucks not being able to do anything.  Although all the sleep I'm getting is a nice change of pace (see, there's the silver lining) :)    So I'm using an inhaler and some sort of weird alka-seltzer type thing.  I don't know what that does in America, and I sure as heck don't know what it does in Argentina, especially since I don't completely understand the label had my homestay father help me out with it.....wow this is beginning to sound REALLY unhealthy isn't it?   

Spanish Lession Update:

This was also a light week with the spanish study.  Since I was out of it so much, it became even harder to understand what people were saying to me.  Looking forward to getting back into and hitting the books hard again.  My class is MUCH different than my first 2 week session.  There's only 4 of us in class now and my teacher is very nice, but very "tranquilo".  I was spoiled with my last teacher Leila, who was very excitable, funny, and engaging.  I know I need to buckle down so I can pass my placement test at the end of this week.  Luckily Beginner level 2A (the one I'm in) is WAY more about vocabulary than grammer.  I'm much better at remembering that an "hombro" is a shoulder than remembering the conjugation of an irregular verb in the past tense.   

Friend update:  

In the friend department, it was.......drumroll please.........a light week.  Noticing a theme yet? :)  Yeah, since I didn't do any of the evening get-togethers or excursions.  I pretty much kept the same close circle of friends.  That definitely isn't a problem at all,  I just like getting to know people and I'm just weird like that I guess.   It's definitely been different being such a recluse, but at least I have a good excuse :)  I figure I may as well take the time to put some faces to the names you've been hearing for the last couple of entries.  This was originally going to be a "Person down here of the day" but that obviously didn't happen.  Maybe in the future.  We'll see.

Anywho, these are the people that i've been hanging out with down here in Buenos Aires :)  (pictures taken from Facebook since this site still doesn't like my picture files enough to accept them. it's either really tiny pictures or really large pictures.)  

   Nadja -  She grew up in Germany, but has spent the last 6-8 years in Australia.  (Yes, really cool accent :) )  She and I were almost always together the first 2 weeks until I started getting really sick.  Early on in week one, she said we are so alike, we're like twins.  Which I took as a HUGE compliment, considering how she is SOO much nicer than I am.  :)  She left at the end of last week.  It was definitely a sad day in BA for me.  Whenever I go down to the land under, I am definitely going to hang out with this amazing chick!  

 Mathias - From Denmark.  He's studying to be a doctor and speaks more languages than I can remember (I'm noticing that a lot with people from Europe).  Around the middle of week 1, I invited him out to lunch with the group.  I'm really glad to say he accepted the offer and we've been good friends ever since.   He's usually the one with the good ideas of where to go and what to do and is also very funny.  He's definitely been influential in keeping my spirits up while I've been under the weather.   This upcoming week is his last week in BA and I will be very sad to see him go...       

 August - aka "Our Little Brother." August might have been the first friend I made when I came to Argentina.  August is such an interesting duck.  He's REALLY a lot like I was at 19, which is a little weird considering that wasn't long ago at all.  He is the most curious person I think I've ever met.  If you're from a country he hasn't talked to anyone from, prepare for about 200 questions on the subject. Lol.  Mathias, Nadja and I always talk about how we need to keep an eye on him because he seems to have trouble keeping focus on ANYTHING.  Hence the "little brother" label.  

   Siebe - From Holland.  Seibe was another interesting character.  He usually agreed to hang out with us, but sometimes I got the impression he wasn't enjoying himself.  It's possible it's just because he's a more introverted personality.  However, he was fun to have around.  Very smart individual.  He scored a perfect score on the test we took a week ago yesterday.  He moved on to ECELA (the language school) in Chile.  Another hard hit to the group to lose.  

Well, those are the 4 that I spent the majority of my time with.  I've already lost two (*sad face) and I lose another in a week (*another sad face).  That's probably going to be one of the hardest parts of the trip.  Meeting really great people and then having them move on to another location.  Obviously part of the travelers existence, but still sad nonetheless.  

Anywho moving on to my typical updates I know you've all been missing.  

Observation of the day-

  I have to say that I might be recognizing more music down here than in America.  Yesterday, I was in the grocery store and I recognized songs by Evanescence, Lionel Ritchie, and some 3rd one, Elton John perhaps.  It's really interesting to me.  

Person back home of the day.  As always, somewhat random.

Ryan Bayless aka Stumpy aka Muk aka MY BROTHER!

I can't stop being reminded of this guy since 1.  He did something very similar to what I'm doing out here and 2.  We've spent so much time together in 22 years being crazy, loud and amazing, it's hard not to be reminded of him!  I always think of how I always feel more driven to be more patient, loving, and openminded (which is hard since my mind is already pretty darn open)   Miss you dude!   

"Sneaky Sneaky sir"  " Where's the stalker?"  "I love you Rocko"  "Colonel Sanders may I speak with you please?"    We've got a million of these.  

Next time on Alex's Thought Bubble.

• Hopefully I'll be back in full swing of being crazy in BA and I'll actually get some cultural stuff to write about.  I haven't been taking my camera around much for fear of getting mugged.  

• I'm going to try and get a little bit more cultural with this thing since I'm sure that's what people would be interested in hearing about :)
  

xoxo

Trying to not die.....

Lol, no, it's not that serious.  

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I've been doing pretty poorly healthwise.  Haven't quite had it in me to write anything, because I knew the tone wouldn't be particularly upbeat.  I finally got rid of all the congestion that was in my system, haven't had any yellow gunk come out of me in days, but I have been haven't serious trouble breathing.  After talking to my mom (via skype) and we were both thinking it could be a asthmatic response to the atmosphere, so I went and got myself an inhaler since I was told seeing a doctor wasn't the best route to go since they'd probably do the same thing.  I felt much better yesterday, but today nosedived right back into not being able to breathe much.  

So today I'm going to brave going to the doctor.  Hopefully there will be a small amount going on with me and a small amount I'm going to have to pay for finding out what the trouble is.  *crosses fingers*

Updates coming soon.

xoxo

My first argentinian date, exam and night I'd regret all in less than 48 hours

Wow, what a crazy couple of days.  So crazy, it'll be hard to remember all the interesting bits to put in here, but I'll do my best.  I'm going to try and do this completely chronologically, so if there's something interesting you want to read about, you may want to skip ahead.  :)

This was a particularly low impact week for me.  I was sick for most of it.  So while several people were going on excursions to see the city, I was going home to sleep or just too tired to manage.  I'm STILL not 100% yet (grr....) but I'm not coughing up phlegm and blowing yellow out of my nose anymore, (delicious thought, no?) but I still have my once in a while cough fits.  I tried to put a lot of my energy towards the exam that was going to happen on friday.  During class on thursday we were slammed with a LOT of new information.  Then I don't know if it was just the stress or lack of nutrients, but I started feeling dizzy.  Not like pass out dizzy, but having a really hard time concentrating.  So I had to step out of the class for a while and get some air.  It's very possible that it was just because I needed food even though I had eaten a banana and an orange.   But after I ate a cookie and had a cup of juice, I felt better.   After classes I saw Eric, the dutch guy who asked me out on a date, and I was praying that my typical luck would go into effect and he'd have to cancel.  But to my surprise the date was still on.  

Anyway, I'm totally stressing about this test, and dog tired because I didn't get the nap I needed the day before.  So I went home after classes and slept for a good 3 hours.  Then I woke up and started studying for the test.  I make some flashcards and try to come up with ways to remember the irregular conjugations.  Suddenly, I realize that I need to start getting ready for this date.  I start thinking that it might not be a good idea for me to go.  1. I needed to study and 2. (Let's face it) I SUCK when it comes to dating.  I get nervous, and don't know what to do.  I really didn't want to cancel on him, so I tried to encourage him to offer to move the date to the next night.   No such luck.  This is why I don't play games, because I suck at them.  In the final moments where I can make a decision, I decide to abandon responsibility and go on the date.  (I know, mom, forgive me.)

We went to this vegetarian place that Brittney, the girl in my homestay from San Diego recommended.  We go to the restaurant and are getting to know each other better.  He's a 25 year old doctor from Holland(internal medicine) who speaks 5 languages....................................  Yeah, that's not intimidating at all.   Long story short, I don't really see much happening in the future.  I think I may have blown it or something, who knows.  I don't really get the impression he is still that interested.  And I don't think he'd be honest enough to say it if he asked.  Good gracious, why do I overanalyze so much.  I always  make jokes about when I do something nerdy or geeky and say it's the reason I'm single.  But I think (aside from that) the reason I'm single is whenever there is a prospect, I overanalyze and started acting stupid, which is what I'm sure this post is beginning to sound like.   Long story short......What alex has in social knowledge and having fun in groups, he lacks in knowledge of dating.  Anyway, the food was AMAZING, for the first time since I got to Argentina, my mind was freaking blown.  Best food ever.  

I returned home, still thinking about the date and tried to finish up with studying.  I passed out about 30 minutes into it. I woke up, got ready and went to the school.  We were all very nervous.  This is the big test at the end of every two weeks that decides whether you move on to the next level or get held back.  At this point, I'm kicking myself for going on the date.  The instructor comes in, and goes over the homework with us.  Afterwards, we start the test.  My first impression when I look at the test is HOLY CRAP I'm doomed.  After closer inspection, I start thinking I may have a shot at passing the course.  When we were first given the test, there was a section where you were given a word and had to give the antonym for it.  There was one right off the bat I knew I didn't know.  I accidentally looked at the girl next to me who had in .5 seconds answered all 10 of them before we were even supposed to start.  I felt sort of bad about it, and since I knew I wouldn't have remembered the word on my own, I didn't put the answer down.  I didn't want to be cheating.  So I take the written portion and then we must one at a time take the oral portion.  Which was pretty easy I guess.  My instructor just started talking to me about life, and class, and boys and my friends at the school.  Nothing too dramatic.  She told me that she thinks I'm a very fun student and that I have a great personality...which is always a nice thing to hear.  

After all the tests have been graded, she passed them back.  Would you die if I told you I got a 94%?  I couldn't believe it.  It was an absolute shock.   After all that stress and freaking out, I was able to get a good score.  I was very surprised and happy.  Everyone ended up passing the test.  Afterwards, there was the weekly goodbye party for everyone leaving.  I was especially sad because my friend Nadja (the German/Australian girl. ) was leaving Buenos Aires a few days later. 

After that, my core group of Nadja, August (the Swedish guy), Mathias (the Danish Guy) and Seibe (the Dutch guy) and I went bike riding through this really big park area which was a lot of fun.  

That night there was a birthday party for the social planner of the school.  It was going to be at a bar, so my friends and I decided to drink ahead of time so we didn't have to pay for expensive drinks at the bar.  I had about a healthy amount of wine, but was only feeling slightly "overjoyed".  Then at the bar, I did something REALLY stupid.  I forgot to ration in my head how much I was having to drink.  ( I just deleted the explanation following the last sentence posted.  I'll let you readers use your vivid imagination)  Let's just say all the work I've done to dispell the stereotype of the stupid obnoxious boozehound American went down the toilet........along with..........nevermind.  If anything, I can say with confidence I've made some truly amazing friends out here, and leave it at that.

Sorry for the long blog.  I think I'm going to start doing reader's digest versions again, I don't think these novels I'm writing can be that interesting all the way through.

Alex

xoxo

Flashcard overdose........

Is what I'm experiencing right now.  I spent like 2 hours making flash cards for all these tenses in spanish.  How I long for the days of the simple present tense.  Then for the 3rd time in my life, Preterito Indefinido came in and snatched the sunshine of my life.  Oh well, it's ok, there are just so many irregulars I'm trying to keep on top of.  Doesn't help that a 3rd tense was dropped on us today.  Fortunately, the conjugation pattern in this tense is the same across the board with only 3 irregulars.  THANK GOD! :)  

Right now, it's a little do or die.  I take my first exam on friday, and the way that exams work is every two weeks you take one.  If you pass with 75% or higher, you move on to the next difficulty level of spanish.  I REALLY don't want to be held behind and learn the same stuff for 2 weeks.  Yikes.  So I'm working on my tenses, I need to study the different instance you use "por" or "para." They are both words that essentially mean "for." The context of the sentence depends on which one you use.  I think there's around 12 instances total(?)  I need to jump on those tomorrow as well.  I also have to know the difference between "ser" and "estar" Yikes for a lot of knowledge.  I think I'm going to be able to handle it though.  Yay for positive thinking.  :)

Let's see, what else is going on?  Turns out the salad thing may have been a Rosario thing.  I had 2 friends order salads today and lo and behold, they actually looked like salads!  There is hope for me!  I'm feeling much better.  Still not 100% better, but I'm closing in on 85%ish.  Just got to get this last little bit of inflammation out of my chest.  I've been pounding water like a fish and eating fruits and veggies.  Now all I have to do is stop being a narcoleptic patient and get some sleep.  

Hmm.....What else?  Oh yeah.  I was asked out to lunch by this guy from Holland.  We've chatted a few times and he sat at my table at a tango show I went to.  I want to think of it in a quasi hopeful romantic sense, but I'm being cautiously realistic about it.  Apparently in Europe, it's not unheard of for a straight guy to ask..................someone like me to lunch.  As it stands, he's a nice guy, funny, and a little kooky, but in a good way.  :)  My friend August was so adorable when he found out.  He was actually worried that I was going to start spending all of my time with this Dutch guy and never hang out with him (August) anymore.  Which I had to assure him that 1.  It was only lunch,   2. We haven't established that Dutchman is interested in me yet and 3. It's possible that even if he IS interested in me, we might not have that romantic click if/when we have lunch.  So I told August to relax, but he was too busy planning out my getting married to Dutchman, my move to Holland and all the kids we're going to adopt.  Lol, it would be nice to have some sort of connection out here, but it's not really an issue I am pushing.  I will take the situation as it comes and try not to overanalyze like I typically would do.  Besides, I shouldn't be getting distractions from my spanish studies, right?.........................

Random fact of the day

I haven't seen ANY two way streets here in Buenos Aires.  I don't want to say "All" in the event that I'm wrong, but "almost all" (better?) streets here are one way.  It makes Jaywalking MUCH easier, but I still manage to almost get hit every once in a while (which is tragic since it has only been 9 days out.  :)  

Person back home of the day....

Dominique Stingley...

High School/College friend/Former Roommate.

Lol, as outlined in the first Person back home of the day, I am thinking of many of the people I love and know back in Vegas.  Today like many others, I was reminded of the insanity of high school spanish with my teacher Senora Colmena.  Where I met Miss Dominique.  I laugh recalling because much like in High School and the year and half we spent living together, if Dominique were here, Neither one of us would learn a lick of spanish because we would be talking in english and laughing our butts off the entire time.  Here's to random quotes, Daria episodes, and tranny ice-cream!

Until next time!

xoxo

   

I hate to do this one week out...

....but holy crap what a weekend.  I regretfully write that the weekend in Rosario was a bit of a bust for me.  This unfortunately will not be the lightest or greatest read of my blog, just a bit of venting that I REALLY need to do.  A majority of this post will not be somber, but if I fall from light-heartedness, please forgive me.  I'll try and jump back on the optimism train :)  I really didn't want to have a blog like this until I had been here for about a month......

Anywhoozle...

The drive to Rosario wasn't so bad.  I started organizing all my notes from the previous week and made fun of "Troy," the movie with Brad Pitt, as it played.  Through much of it, I found myself asking "Wow, really Hollywood?"  I spent most of my time talking to Mathias, my friend from Denmark.  We were discussing policies of different countries and whatnot.  We arrive in Rosario and head to the Hostel.  (funny sidenote, the driver totally tried to take off when I still had a foot on the ground, he must have been in a rush).  My first impression of the hostel was............yikes.............but after closer inspection and reassurance from my companions, I was fine.  Little things like the fact I somehow magically locked my friends in the room, (how is that accomplished?)  And the fact that the doorhandle from inside the room kept falling off.  Regardless, I was assured via hostel horror stories that we were in the life of luxury per se.  :) 

The first night we walked down to the water, had I been at optimum performance level, I would have actually asked or done my own research as to where exactly we were.  However, I decided to just play tagalong.   We went to a restaurant, which was ok.  I have to say the most significant food difference I have noticed in Argentina (or maybe it's a south america thing) is the concept of a salad.  I find it very fascinating the difference and we had a good laugh about it.  For example, a ceasar salad in America is roughly around 90% lettuce with croutons, cheese (sometimes) and ceasar dressing.  What Mathias and Nadja dediced to share was about 30% lettuce, 20% cheese, and around 50% croutons.  We were all pretty suprised by this one.  And this completely no joke.  we have a picture of what happened after all the lettuce was cleared out, and the bowl was still well over halfway full.    

NEW BLOG SECTION!

Random Factoid of Argentina of the day!

When you order a salad, you can either order a menus salad or get something with x amount of "gustos" or things that you want.  This does NOT have to include lettuce.  In fact, it is quite likely that you will have an equal quantity in all of the items you have.  Case in point, I ordered a salad that was part beets (yuck), rice, carrots, eggs, and potatoes (which ultimately were omitted from the menu item when it was sent to be filled in the kitchen) and the quantity of each part of the salad (minus the egg) were equal to each other.  Or in the case of Nadja and Mathias' Ceasar salad, there's not telling what you'll get!  :)

Getting back to the Rosario story.......

I really wanted to go out on Saturday night, but i could tell that if I didn't stay in and sleep, I was going to get worse.  I was very congested from the day before.  (Ice cream and pizza in the same day will NEVER happen again.....unless I forget........or unless if it's offered to me by someone who is single, funloving, and has an attraction to random blogging and big hair.....)  So August and I stay in and Nadja and Mathias go out.  There's a fun inside joke that follows what we pretend happened when they made it happened.  We'll just say I teased the two of them moaning, some heavy movement and a rubber duck.  You do the math.  The inside joke of saying "quack quack" in moments that could be construed as somewhat sexual.  (All jokingly of course)

 The next day, the congestion has subsided somewhat from my nose and has moved into my chest.  The group was talking about Kayaking, and I know I would not be able to hack it.  They also offered for me to hangout or sleep on the beach.  I decided against it.  So I stayed behind and slept for a good 2.5 hours.  The group came back and, as expected, had a great time.  I was a little bit bummed, but knew that rowing a kayak (do you row a kayak?) would not have helped me out.  We went to dinner #1, and for the first time that trip I actually received what I ordered (explanation later :)  )  I finally had my appetite back and thought I was on the climb back to feeling better.  Afterwards we walked to a fish restaurant that the kayak guide had suggested to my travel mates while they were kayaking.  It was a very nice restaurant down by the water that not many people could see.  It had a very nice feel that we all enjoyed.  

The question arose again of going out, and I STILL was not feeling up to the task.  Eventually everyone stayed in since it was getting late and nothing had been decided.  The recurring theme of me using the bathroom every 2 or less hours continued through the night until we woke up to go home.  (started when we left and has yet too end.....MUST.......GET.........BETTER.)

The ride back was ok.  the last hour was a mess since we tried to figure out who owed who what because the concept of splitting the check is popular down here.  Ultimately, I think I was the 1 person that owed money.  It happens when you're the only one who leaves his wallet at home.  :-/  

At this point, I am pretty bummed about being sick, not getting to do much in Rosario from being sick and little things that were not bothering me at all finally started to get to me.  We stopped at this little food place near the bus station once we arrived in Buenos Aires.  I ordered what has become one of my few food staples, tallarines con salsa tomate'.  Which is essentially spaghetti with maranara but with different noodles.  I get my dish about 10 minutes later, and even though I asked for a tomato sauce with no creme and no meat, there, plain as day before I even stick my fork in it, is some beef..................

Now, I can take a practical joke, I can keep my cool in restaurants when food doesn't come out like you ordered or expected it too, and I'm ok with the fact that in this culture, there are very few people who eat like I do.  However, if I have eaten at 10 different restaurants, 7-8 of the restaurants have brought out 1. something with one aspect to the dish replaced with something I didn't order or 2. the dish I did order but with meat in it.  As I said, I am not wanting to sound whiny.  It is possible that when I say "no carne" or "sin carne" they just hear "carne" and think I want it.  But there have been several instances where the item I ordered from the menu didn't have any type of meat in the list of what was in the dish.  How can this happen so many times?  I think I may be doing something wrong when I order.  That being said, I had a moment of "giving up."  I'm still not far enough in my spanish to where I can effectively explain "I'm sorry, but I ordered this as just tomato sauce and no meat" So trying to have the conversation yet again while feeling sick was just a little too much for me to handle at that moment.  The waiter was REALLY nice.  I thought I had ticked him off and maybe I did.  I had just opted to just fill up on the free bread and go home and count my losses, but he came and asked me if I wanted a salad.  And it was actually like a salad.  I mean the ratio was probably 15% onions (which I avoided) 15% tomatos, 30% carrots and 40% lettuce.  But that's the closest to home I've felt to my favorite dishes.   So it really was some sort of divine intervention that I just had the nicest waiter the time that I just REALLY needed.  

Lol, I don't know if it's because I'm feeling better than before I started writing this, but I don't feel as helpless as before.  I think I'm returning to normal which is hopefully a sign that I'm not going to be sick for much longer, (dear god please).  I know this was sort of a bum session (and a long one at that) So for that I offer my sincerest apologies to all of you who check in for random Alex crazy fun-ness in BA.  Ultimately, I am ok.  I was just feeling a little down this weekend.  Naturally when things are going poorly, you sort of start doubting yourself.  Especially when you took yourself out of an environment where you feel safe, secure and loved.  There are other things going on that are sort of off-putting, but they are mostly cultural things I simply must get accustomed too.  I realized over this weekend that I sincerely MUST tackle spanish harder than I have been.  I figure the first week it's not so bad to be speaking in english when you're getting accustomed to a new place.  And while I feel like my speaking capabilities are already WAY further than where they were, I feel like if I want to be fluent by the time my schooling is complete, I have to hit it harder and be tougher on myself to learn.  

Anywho, I could keep going, but I know this is WAY too long.  Take care everyone!

xoxo

Sorry for the delay........

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay in updates. 2 nights ago, all I wanted to do was sleep, and yesterday we made our voyage to Rosario. Right now, the only thing I can really report is that I am unfortunately sick. I made some stupid food choices the other day and am now paying for it. It´s only a little congestion and I fear that one of my internal organs may have liquidated because drinking a lot of water or not, I´m using the bathroom WAY more than usual. Hopefully it is nothing Major.

Last night we found this sort of ampitheatre that we believe is dedicated to the flag of Argentina. Sort of like a national monument. There was a live band playing and they were really good. I really need to take some dance classes while I´m down here so that I don´t have to feel out of place when I start doing my fakie latin dancing that I can get away with in America.
We haven´t decided what we want to do today. I´m sort of interested in skydiving because that won´t require too much physical effort.....I think. We had talked about kayaking, but I know that 5 minutes into it, I will absolutely have a lung collapse, :)

Aside from feeling sick, I´m doing ok. I hope everyone back home is doing well. When I see any updates on the USA it sounds like things are getting more and more crazy. The finincial crisis is hitting more and more countries than I would have guessed. I hope things get better before they get worse, much like this congestion I have.

much love!
xoxo

Alex

Donde esta la Discoteca?

I took a 4 hour nap today and it was one of the most amazing things I've done since I got here.

So I went to my very first discoteca (nightclub) last night.  It was absolutely insane!  this thing was 3 stories tall.  It took Nadja and I 30 minutes to find our group.  Finally someone saw my hair on the way to the bathroom and told us where the rest of the group was. It was very uncomfortable until then because I was not dressed appropriately for an Argentine discoteca (so shoot me, I've been here 5 days :) lol )  and I was getting a lot of weird stares.  I mean that happens a lot, but it's a little bit more intimidating getting stares in a new country where you barely understand the language when you're with one friend.  Once we found the rest of the group, it so did not matter at all.  We had so much fun.  It was really interesting how some of the songs were from artists released in America, but thee frequency (or whatever you call it) was higher, so the song sounded a little different.  Rihanna's "Umbrella" sounded like it was being covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Lol.

It was really great to see so many different people from several different cultures come together with the common purpose of having an amazing time.  I was not sure I was going to go, and now I am so insanely thrilled that I did.  It's really funny because everything thinks that since I am from Vegas, that I party until like 8 or 9 in the morning.  Some were very surprised that I wanted to leave at 2:30 in the morning because I had class at 9.  It's almost as if they didn't think it was a good excuse.    They obviously don't know how cranky I can get when I am sleep deprived.  

This trip to the club gave rise to a new section of my blog that I am very excited about.  

Person back home of the day :  This will be a somewhat random choice, it will not be a reflection of who I am missing the most or anything of the sort.  So if it takes a while for you to be chosen, please don't take it personally.  I am thinking of a lot of people everyday, but it's a bit much to post ALL of them.  But if something blog worthy happens and it totally makes me think of someone, that's who I will probably put on here.  :)  

Todays winner........Laura Karavitis

Laura worked on the play I did this summer.  She had a theory (which I thought was brilliant) that you could do any horrible dance move (including the running man, the sprinkler, etc) as long as you had a serious look on your face.  When tested, all tests I conducted supported the notion.  The split second you look start smiling or looking like you are having fun, you look absolutely ridiculous.  Try it, you'll totally agree.  In the discoteca as I was totally acting a fool, I tried it with a few dance moves.  Whether or not they, or any other moves I do when I'm not conducting social experiments, were successful, it didn't matter. because I felt was having a great time.  Thank you Laura and your insight that still makes me laugh to this day!

Opinion/Observation of the day:

  I thought was really weird how the frequency of people who were telling me I look like Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons rose a few weeks before I left.  I think it was preparing me for life in Buenos Aires.  H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P.   I don't think I've gone a day without hearing it 3 or more times.  If I've ever had an impulse to cut my hair, it is definitely here now.   I know most people mean well, but come on people.....Really?  

Perhaps I could walk around with a sharp object and not have to worry about buying a halloween costume while I'm down here.  

Song on my head of the day

Rihanna- Umbrella

I'm still trying to figure out how to get pictures from my computer to my blog.  Right now it seems all I can do is pull pictures from other websites into my blog.  When I try to put a video or picture from my photos, I get a little spinny thing that after hours of waiting, does not yield the pictures into my blog.  Any help on how to get pictures from a macbook onto this blog will be extremely appreciated.  The person who tells me how to do it could have premier access to my photos the entire time I'm here!  (I don't know, I figured I needed incentive.  

Love you all! 

xoxo

Alex

A 2nd trip is brewing....

Again, pretty tired, so am going to post the highlights of the day!

• Next monday is a national holiday of Argentina.  Most people are going on trips since it's a 3 day weekend.  The family that my Swedish friend August is staying told him if we wanted to get out and see the country, this was the weekend to see it.  August, Nadja (my German/Aussie friend) and I decided we would try to take a trip.  My new friend from Denmark, Matthias, is coming with us.  We will be going to Rosario, Argentina, on Saturday and returning Monday around noon.  I am very excited.
• I invited the older gentleman out to lunch with us today, and he was so grateful, he paid for the entire ticket of our group.  He is a very nice gentleman.  
• I am doing very well.  The city is very interesting, and the people are pretty hit or miss.  Either very friendly or very distracted.  I'm loving it here though.  I'm making a lot of friends and it seems that as long as I have this crazy hair of mine, I will never blend in.  Which is good and bad in several situations.  
• Classes are going very good, but I'm finding it very difficult to break down and organize all of my notes and study.  I know I know, it's very bad.  But I am still improving.  There is just so much to see/do.  I know that after I wake up and go to class today, I need to come home, sleep and study.  

Song on my head of the day

Pink - So What

Opinion/Observation of the day

If I'm not murdered in this country, I swear on everything I own I will go out on a staircase.  The stairs here are for people who are not clumsy and who have eyes that are close enough to the ground to see them.  The stairs are very skinny and very deep.  Also, in many cases, there are pieces of wood 3-4 inches tall all over the place that I keep tripping on.  I'm trying to pay attention to them so that I don't trip and die, but it's very difficult.  At least I'm providing humor inadvertently like I do a in Vegas.   

Must stay awake.......

Dang jetlag.  He's been calling me the last 2 nights, and I've been ignoring him.  Looks like I have to give in and say hello.   

But before then I may as well give the highlights of the day. 

• Was totally late for class today
• Was told I owed $4200 USD to the school.   Keep in mind that I already paid a $700 deposit on my original bill which was originally $4300.  Luckily, the problem was taken care of and I paid the difference.
• Went to lunch with August and Nadya.  We're quite the dynamic trio.  August, who is also a vegetarian, and I agreed to split too vegetarian dishes.  We sort of had to guess since the menus were in Spanish.  He got a really good conolini (spell check?), and i got what turned out to be a baked potato topped with sweet potatoes on one side and this spinach concoction on the other.  Needless to say, August felt guilty when he didn't want to split.  It reminded me of my mothers cooking, so while it was a little bland, I enjoyed it.  towards the end, I found a hair in it, so while I was totally not thrilled to see it, It was taken off the bill.  
  
• I almost feel let down that I haven't been mugged yet.  

Song on my head of the day

Just My Imagination - The Cranberries

Opinion of the Day

  Ok, so when you order water in Argentina, you can get it one of two ways; with gas or without.  The water with gas doesn't tickle my fancy so much.  If water was meant to bubble when it isn't hot boiling, it would happen naturally.  This opinion is of course a joke since I love things that are unnatural.  I mean, look at ME for evidence.   This was an bogus opinion because I couldn't post my sadness over the fact that you have to pay for water in Argentina, unlike in the states. Aside from the fact that it's great for you, the fact you didn't have to pay for water was one of the many reasons I always drink it.  Mourning over the loss of free hydration didn't seem opinion of the day worthy.  

Next time on Alex's Thought Bubble

• The search for an alarm clock and local cell phone continues
• Alex's Thought Bubble will hopefully feature videos and pictures
• Blogs written on adequate sleep may occur (but don't get your hopes up)

La Clase del Diablo,,,,,,

Well, the professor said herself that 6 hours would make us all want to jump out the window, so we should be thankful we only had her for 4.  

Anyway, I realized last night before going to bed that the alarm clock I brought with me was not working.  My cell phone does not have any service, so I could not use the alarm clock.  So I pretty much went to sleep praying I would wake up in time.  Which of course is a joke, because I can't be punctual when I'm awake, so why in heaven would I be able to be on time subconsciously?  Anyway, Brittney, the girl from San Diego who is staying here and doing the same immersion program as me woke me up 20 minutes before we were supposed to be at school.  God bless this girl, or I would have been so screwed.

A teeth brushing and a cab ride later, I arrived at the school, where I was reminded that I had left my passport and credit card at home (again, so not typical of yours truly).  I was then instructed to take a placement test.  It's been a while since I studied spanish, but my only hope is that I'm not in the very beginning class where you learn how to conjugate verbs.  I would probably swallow tar if that were the case.  When they were passing out the notebooks for everyone it turns there are 12 levels in the spanish courses.  4 for each beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes.  After feeling I did somewhat well, I end up in the 2 level beginner class.  I know, see what happens when you dream big?  Just kidding.  I go in the class and am immediately reprimanded for asking (in english)  if I was in the right classes.  Thus was the theme for the next 4 hours.  My instructor name is Leila.  She's very pretty and very short.  Her main concern seems to be when people speak in a language other than spanish.  Which is hearbreaking because when I can't think of the word in spanish, or when I want to tell a joke, or whatever else can happen that compels me to "usar ingles" (about every 30 seconds) I have to now sensor myself.  Call me kooky, but you spend 22 years learning/speaking 1 language, it's not the easiest thing to do to just not use it at all.  It was all in good fun though (I think)  

After classes, there was an orientation lunch for new students.  I of course sat in the middle and failed miserably at blending in by providing color commentary whenever I deemed it necessary.  Afterwards, they told us an informational meeting would commence around 6:20 back at the school.  3 classmates and I decided to walk around the city for a while as we waited.  August, is a 19 year old trumpet player from Sweden.  Nadia is 28 was born and raised in Germany but has spent the last 4-6 years in Australia (SHE had an interesting accent).  And Siebe (pronounced She-buh) is a 21 year old guy from Holland.  We spent the afternoon talking and getting to know about each other and our respective countries.  It was very nice to make new friends and enjoy their company.      

After the meeting, we all went to our respective homes.  Hugo (the man I am staying with) and this guy who had stayed with him for a few months were here.  We ate dinner, and it was very nice.  They continued to tell me more about the city.  I know once I get this money situation under control, and start getting around the city more often, I'm going to really get into it.  For now, I don't want to go into sensory overload.   I was able to talk to my mom for a few minutes.  IF I HAVE EVER TOLD ANYONE TO GET ANYTHING IN THEIR LIVES, IT IS SKYPE.  Not only is this junk free, it totally makes it so I can call people in the states with NO charge for anyone.  It's a beautiful thing.  Anywhoozle, afterwards, Hugo made me some tea and we chatted for a bit.  He probably was talking english more than I should have let him, but I'm trying my best to practice my spanish with every conversation that I'm having with him.  

All in all, another great day.  I'm having good luck with getting to mooch of an internet connection here.  (totally going to hell for it, but at least I'll burn knowing I had internet in Argentina, just kidding Mom!) My classmates are fun, My homestay situation is truly awesome, and I do have a friend down here to remind me of the insanity of my homeland.   

I'm going to try and start having a little bit more order to this blog thing, but don't get too excited since i could forget after I do it once.  I feel like I should be breaking things down into sections.......

Like......

Funniest moment of the day.  

  Explaining to August what the root of Constipado (what which in spanish means congested, unless I'm totally mistaken) means in english.  If anyone wants to explain to me how one would go about explaining the process of not being able to B.m. to a sweedish guy while speaking spanish, please let me know so that I can do a better job next time.  

Honorable mention:  Brazilian girl at orientation that didn't speak a lick of english yelling something every 5 minutes.  I swear I think she was drunk.  Flipping hilarious,

Opinion of the day.

  There really should be a mandate that all countries should be pronounced the same way worldwide as the way the people from that country pronounce it.  No more of this Estados Unidos stuff.  if people in france pronounce it "Frawnce," then we should to, dangit.  Mexico should be internationally taught as "Meh-he-coe."  If this were to go into effect and taught globally, there would only have to be one word for every country and I would have to feel like an idiot when I'm told 4 times someone is from Orlanda and NOT know that it means Holland.   Obviously there are countries that are hard to pronounce, but people who complain should be silenced with socks, ducktape, or a full frontal lobotomy.  All of the above work for me.    After I submit my request that the US switches to the metric system, I'll jump right on this movement.  

Next time on Alex's thought bubble

1.  Alex and Brittany should hopefully go and get Alex setup with a cell phone.

2.  Alex should have a hold on the money situation so he can  buy August the half a sandwhich that he owes him and grab Nadia some ice cream....... alien gunfight to follow.  

3.   Alex (possibly) reflects on the people that he is constantly reminded of and misses deeply.  

P.S.  I promise not to write such novellas if people start commenting on this blog.  So I at least know 1. that people are reading it and 2. who is taking the time.  :)

THANKS!

Besos!

Day 1.

Holy crap, I don't know what else to say but what an amazing first day!

The days leading up to the departure were as predictable as one would expect.  Emotional goodbyes, the occasional panic that something horrible was going to happen if I went through with the entire thing.  The weird sensation to cry at almost everything.  

I pretty much had to leave vegas in a blur.  Darn procrastination getting the better of me.  My dad, brother, and I went to stay with my cousin in Lancaster Friday night after Ryan got out of work.  I thought it was a golden opportunity to spend with the family.  So naturally in a moment of brilliance I feel asleep 20 minutes into the drive.  Then of course upon arriving, I have another brilliant moment and fall asleep less than ten minutes after arriving at Lamont's house.  We made up for it the next morning.   Got to spend time with family, and before I knew it, Ryan was heading to a gig that Lamont was already going to and my dad was taking me to LAX.  We ran into my uncle who had just arrived and the two of them made jokes to lighten the mood about how customs may have their way with me and being potentially left in some foreign country during a layover, you know, the whole supportive bit.  

Then, as if a bird, i was in the air.  I knew it was going to be a long flight, and I'd like to think I held my composure for the most part, but somewhere in that last 2 hours, I sincerely began to lose it.  I think I would have lasted the whole time if I knew how much longer we had left.  

Customs, confusion, and a shuttle later, I arrived at my homestay house.  This place is pretty darn nice.  It's on by Suzy and Hugo, a VERY nice couple who I pray I don't annoy the heck out of for my lack of spanish masstery.  They were so polite and nice, I really felt comfortable minutes after I walked in.  Turns out there's another person staying here while studying.  Her name is Brittany and she is from San Diego.  She told me a lot about the city and while it will help me learn faster if I'm not talking in English, it was nice to have someone to talk to in english.  At least for day one.  I don't know how fortunate I'll be with that one in the days following.  

Then I went out and met up with my friend Kurt.  That's right, the one who got me interested in Argentina in the first place but sort of fell of the universe?  That's the one.  Turns out he lives about 4 blocks away from me.  Which I thought was amazing since Buenos Aires is FREAKING huge!  He and his friends showed me all over the place.  Pictures and stories on that to follow, since I've had about 2 hours of sleep in the last 18 hours

So status report of day one.  Cool living situation.  Friend is really close, I appear to have a somewhat constant access to an internet connection....

don't want to jump the gun, but I think I just might survive this trip.  

Made it safepie

Shortest blog in creation, just letting everyone know that I made it to Buenos Aires in one