New Beginnings Part 1

The Housing Craze

Well. After a long struggle uphill that nearly cost me my sanity a few times, I have finally settled into an apartment. It's been quite the interesting month of March for me. As I stated in my last entry, my friend Kurt rode in on the white horse for me and saved me from a sticky situation of having no where to go. Determined to not be a burden, I found a group living situation after a few days and left Kurt's place. It was not exactly what I would call a travelers paradise. Now, I'm not what most would consider spoiled. However, I think that a locker you can open even when it's locked and a bathtub stained with dirt (or whatever on earth that was) are not at the top of anyone's must have list when it comes to living situations. Nor is an odd columbian who consistently chases you around to introduce him to your female friends. So after a few days, I returned to Kurt's apartment. He and his roommate, Mathias, couldn't have been nicer to me. They let me have my own set of keys to come and go as I wished (which for Mathias, who barely knows me, MUST have been somewhat hard). After a week of not trying to hard, I got back on the hunt for a place to live. To be honest, I could have stayed in Kurt's living room until Christmas and it would not have bothered me. However, I was desperate to get out of there before I overstayed my welcome. I sort of like knowing that if the you-know-what hits the fan again, that I can go back there.

Now one of the unfortunate truths about lodging in Buenos Aires, is that it is much easier to find a place in the nicer areas that I'm familiar with if you have 1) lots of money and/or 2) friends who are also looking that you could share an apartment with. If you are like me and have neither, then I feel your pain. It is not a fun experience. So I finally came across a nice student living situation on craigslist. 5 bedroom apartment near the congress building. Originally I was wanting to rent out the small bedroom for $300 dollars a month. When I went to see it, it had barely been rented out already. So the only other options were the room for $320 and $350, neither of which I was looking to pay. I talked to the Dueña (landlady) about it, and she misinterpreted my desired timeframe to stay in Buenos Aires until xxxxxx (still a secret of when I'm coming home) as my desired timeframe to stay in the apartment. So she offered me a discount to 290 dollars/month. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that I'll still be on a hunt for somewhere else to live.

So, as I said, I went to see the apartment and was shown around by two girls from Quebec, Canada. They were quite nice. I put on "The Alex Show" and tried to make them laugh (you know, that thing I tend to do, Mr. Break-The-Ice) I went back to Kurt's to try and figure out what to do. I had already had 2 failed attempts at living in a hostel, I had already stayed in Kurt's for 3 weeks (off and on) when it was supposed to be a few days, so I decided I would go with the apartment.

So yesterday I make the pilgrimage to the apartment, where I finally meet the Dueña, Eva. She's a German lady who is AAAAAAAALL business. It could have just been the stress, but yeah, this woman never took the section of Learning English we would refer to as tact. For example. When she told me about the discount on the room, it was, "not because I like you, it's because you said you were staying until October." I get what she was trying to say, but it totally came off as "I don't like you," which I found sort of funny. I also found it funny since I never said I was staying in the apartment until October. But I thought, I'm just going to smile and see where the situation takes me in the future. I was too determined to finally have a room to consider my own and get settled. So amidst our talking about rent and all, she kept receiving other people to show the last remaining room to be rented. One of which had a friend of a friend that auditioned for the theatre company that I work for. So this girl, Erica, and I are talking, and Eva comes in asking to use my computer to email people as well as call a potential renter on skype. Now, I'm about as easy going as they come, but is there anything more awkward you could ask someone who has only been living in the apartment for 40 minutes? I let her take the laptop and continue to talk to Erica about what she's doing in BA, where's she's from Etc. We find our linkup to being friends of a friend of each others friends (if that makes any sense at all). Then we happen to see Eva walking past the room, talking on Skype, and giving someone the tour of the apartment on my computer. At this point, I don't know whether to find this funny or just weird.

Later, Erica has left, and Eva and I are getting down to business. I'm renting out the smaller room until the end of March at which point a German girl (who I am praying doesn't possess the same get-to-know-you prowess as our landlady) and I will move into one of the bigger rooms. I actually don't have enough money to put down a deposit because I can't get ahold of my parents to help transfer money from my secret college account (???) into my checking account. Fortunately, she asks for a deposit I can actually give her and I will be able to pay her the rest later (assuming my parents haven't been ubducted by pigmies or something fun like that.) Eva then informs me that I will have to speak in spanish while I am here. Which is fine with me because lord knows I need the practice and my spanish has been starting to slip living with Kurt for so long and working with english speakers. Then Eva informs me that the Quebec girls (the only ones staying after March), specifically asked that she not bring in any "Yankees that don't speak spanish." (Side note: down in South America, any and everyone from the states is a Yankee). So socially, I'm already feeling like a champ!

The apartment itself is actually quite nice. I'm bummed that the cheaper/smaller room was taken from me for April because it's more than enough for what I need. It's modest yet cozy. The only significant downside in my current room that the "desk" is a piece of wood supported by two metal protrusions from the wall that don't go the entire length of the board. Meaning if you put any weight on the end of it, it's coming down. Other than that. I love it. There's a little red couch in here for when I have guests. A cute little armoire closet, a rather tall nightstand, a fan (this doesn't sound like much, but for what I've been working with recently, I'm in hog heaven.) The room I'm going to move into isn't even really much bigger I believe. There's a bigger bed and a less primitive desk, but other than that, nothing too major to report. I have a little bit of fear of it now. Because last night, Alex, the girl who is currently occupying the room, needed help disposing of a "fly" in her room. Now, this thing wasn't really a fly, it was more like a tarantula with wings. Ok, so I exaggerate a little. This thing was what I'm assuming was a housefly, but it was litterally bigger than your average household cockroach. I mean, BIG. So we trapped it between a piece of paper and a cup and let it loose outside. Hopefully that darn thing doesn't know how to get back in because apparently it was just hanging out in Alex's sheets. (*scared face!)

So from what I gather, it's going to be the new German girl, the 2 Quebec gals, an unconfirmed Brazilian, and myself. Sounds like an international Real World waiting to happen. We'll see how it goes. :)

The area that we're in is 1 block away from the congress building, and one block away from the Police Headquarters. So that's pretty darn cool. While I have been told it's not the safest area to be, I felt quite comfortable walking the streets last night to a party. So hopefully it's just heresay. I suppose we'll find out. I need to go on a voyage today and find out where the essentials are. Such as a grocery store, heladeria (for when I get ice-cream hunger pangs), and most importantly, a GYM. I haven't gone running since I got here. That's 6 months months of laziness that NEEDS to stop.

I feel that's enough about the apartment situation. We'll see what happens. Hopefully everything will be fine and we will all get along great.

Its begining to feel more and more like life...

Soooooooooo...........

Things are definitely slowing down here. Its crazy that 2 days ago was the 5 month mark of me coming to Buenos Aires. As Ive said before, there are days where it feels like it has been 2 months, and days where it feels like 2 years. I am always struggling with the decision of what to do next. What plays to make, what to do next. Its insane trying to live when your resources are so limited. I have so much more respect now for people who do it, and Im still cheating by using money left over from my college fund. Needless to say, its a lesson in humilty and responsibility that Im enduring. I would like to think Im doing ok with it though. This place is starting to feel like home though (The city at least). I have what I do for work, I have my core group of friends (sort of) and I need to come up with a creative way to spend time.

Work is still going ok. I was sort of just mentally working with the fact that I earn less than everyone else as an understudy. I just figured I would pick up another job. Then I was called by the school I studied at to do a photo shoot for their upcoming promotional stuff (students doing classes, hanging out together, high 5ing) and was talking to Arturo (a staff member of the corporate office) and asked him about a job, and he told me he had a full time job as customer service rep available if I was interested. So now I dont really know what to do. I love the theatre job because its what I love to do and the people are great, but the pay isnt phenominal. And I have a lot of free hours because they dont bring me in much. We will see what happens with that.

The living situation was a little crazy for a while. I got out of where I had been staying for two months, stayed with my scottish friend and her boyfriend for a weekend. Then I was caught in a sort of crappy situation thats not even worth taking the time to write about. Luckily my friend Kurt that lives down here completely came to my rescue and let me stay for a few days at his pad. Totally saved my neck. Now Im staying in this thing called a pension. its like 9 people living in 3 rooms. Its not my ideal living situation, but it was seriously the best I could find. The landlord lives here and has friends over often. Including one long haired old man that I thought was dead when I first saw him sitting in his chair. Im sort of worried about my nicer things, which is why I didnt bring my computer. Which may be for the best. I spend too much time on it. But yeah, my locker could easily be broken into, so my nice things arent coming here.

Lol, this all sounds so sad. probably because its sort of rushed.

Anyway, updates to follow. much love to everyone!

xoxo

Alex

Finally have Wifi again!

I wrote this on the 17th. I've been without wifi for FREAKING ever! So now I do, and the complete euphoria I am feeling probably won't go away for a while. But yeah, until it does. Blog updateness!

Well, while the internet is down, I may as well do some updates! A LOT has gone on since I last wrote something, I can't believe how much time I let go by without jotting something down.

The Job
Working with The Performers has been pretty cool. It's definitely interesting working as an understudy. Sort of an ego deflator. But hey, I'm just happy to be working. Coming in as the new guy in a work environment where everyone started together ground up getting ready for plays has been pretty intimidating. My last 3 jobs (Ruehl, Madame T's, and Ka') were either brand new projects or revisions of old projects when I started. So there were a lot of people who didn't know each other. This time, it's just me. The people however are VERY nice. Very different personalities between all of them. But everyone is really cool and laid back, which totally scared the crap out of me when I was (and sort of still am) the only "Zany" one.

Just a quick run through of the people who are there.

Scott - From the states, (forget where) somewhere up North. Got stabbed about a week after I met him. Like really stabbed. Like now shows an x-ray to everyone of the part of the blade that broke of from the rest of the knife and stayed lodged in his arm. He's apparently quite the party guy. If I'm destined to replace anyone, my money is on this guy.

Kat - New Zealander. Reminds me a lot of my friend Sylvia from working at Ka'. Really smart, frank, and exceptionally short. She's the one I've hung out with the most. I really enjoy hanging out with her. She's very laid back and calm which sort of counter balances my craziness.

Agustin (Agus) - From Argentina, but has parents who speak English, so he is fluent. Haven't really gotten to know him on a deep personal level yet. As an actor he's got a really strong command of comedic timing. When I first talked to him, I thought he was from Germany.....*weird*

Carolyna (Caro) - She was born in Argentina, raised in San Diego and moved back here about 2 years ago. She's pretty open about talking about anything. She loves to talk about it and her girlfriend.......yeah, you heard right, she's a very confident lesbian, Which sort of takes some of the pressure of being the token gay off of me.

Raymond - Also from New Zealand. Apparently owned a hair salon and is NOT gay?!? Gotta love people who break stereotypes. He's really fun, oldest in the group by about 10 years (40) but takes good care of himself. but very "Cheeky" as my Scottish friend would say. Likes to poke fun at stuff. Really nice as well.

Heather - Also from the states. She has a Masters in Theatre. Super nice. I like her. The two other actresses that do her part are on tour doing the shows from last year. So she has to be there when both casts are rehearsing. She's like the ultimate trooper. I keep saying the cast should get her a cake, or crack to help keep her going.

Facundo (Facu) - Aside from having the most interesting name in the bunch, Facu reminds me a lot of my brother. Really chill and down to earth with a sometimes off-putting desire to preach life philosophy. Despite having a "wife" and a kid, he's oddly enthused about knowing about Alex's "romantic encounters". To the point where I've actually been uncomfortable once or twice. But seriously, he's nice.

Pablo - aka Bubbles. He's like the super technician. Lights, Sound, Stage. He does it all. Really nice. He seems to bug some of the guys when he tells them to do things, but most the frustration the guys feel towards Pablo, I don't really think is warranted. Again, super nice person. Glad I've met him.

Martin - aka the Boss. He's only 24, but he is WICKED talented in theatre. Like one or two days with him and I seriously feel like I've never acted before a day in my life. He can do it all, change the pace of a scene to comedy and then a split second later flip the switch to be dramatic. He's really good. I really didn't get the vibe that he was a big fan of mine, but I think I might be growing on him. We'll see.


So that's the group. Now as far as the job.

I feel sort of bad. I was given 3 scripts and expected to learn 5 parts. Totally something within my abilities, but I have just NOT had the drive to learn these lines. And the first 2 weeks, I honestly barely did a darn thing. Now it's getting to the point where they're wanting to rehearse with me in scenes and I'm looking like a total jerk by not having my lines memorized. I need to jump out of that habit for sure. Yesterday they tried to teach me the choreographies to the play "Wintertime." Today I did a run through of all them, and some of the people were amazed that I had retained so much. So I felt sort of great about that. The sad thing about the job still lies in the fact that I'm the understudy. I'm not getting paid as much and my main motivation for taking the job (free travel to other countries) is not for certain because of my position. This kind sucks big time for me but I'm trying to make the best of it.


The Living Situation.
I've been living in Marcellas room since the end of December. She gets back a week from Friday. And then I'm out. It's sort of sad thing because I like the apartment, but it will probably be for the best when I leave here (God I hope). Living in San Telmo has been ok. But I seriously feel weird about having fear walking home at night. To the point where the first month I didn't go out if I knew I was going to be out past the time the that Subway near my house closed. It's seriously not THAT bad, but it's known in the city for being not the best neighborhood. Also, there's been a little tension between my roommate and I. For the sake of trying to avoid making this blog entry a novel, We'll say that I'm not the tidiest roommate and it bothered Juan a little. That's the root of the problem. But I've been better , he's still finding things to nitpick me about, but I know I'm trying and not being NEARLY as sloppy as I was before. So that's what matters.

I've been looking into places to stay once I leave here next week. Thankfully, Jojo is getting a place that she said I could stay in until I get paid at my job the first week of march. After that point, I will probably have to live in a hostel or "pension." I've seen 2 of them. The first was ok, but I'd be sharing a room with potentially 3 other people and paying 600 pesos/month, which is CRAZY. The other was MUCH better for my price range and closer to my job and friends down here, but it totally made me think of what a bordello would look like, it was INSANELY hot, and there was no locker space to protect my extreme vaulables. The 2nd would make an ok LAST resort. I'll just have to keep looking. DEFINITELY keep your fingers crossed for me.



Money Situation
I'm so insanely broke it's not even funny anymore. Like I'm pulling out of what's left of my college fund which I'm supposed to be saving to buy a house whenever I come back to the states. I don't want to pull anymore out from it until I know that I'm for sure staying down here to see this theatre thing through. The hard part of all of this is that I don't know to what capacity I will be traveling (or at all) I'm going to have to hope that they'll just send me as an insurance thing or that someone else (or the same person) gets stabbed. Which I feel like a total jack@$$ for even saying. Looks like I'm going to have to try and have to find another job. I'm thinking tour guide or go-go dancer. We'll see what happens.



I think that's enough for now, this is probably a doozy of a long blog post. I'll just end with this fun little story.

Preface: So sometime in what was probably my Junior year in high school, I was at a Cross Country practice. We were all running around the block the school was on, and I thought it would be really funny to get in front of someone's in their running path and then stop suddenly, bend forward to the ground and say "quarter!" as if I had dropped one. It wasn't meant to be something sexual or for me to get aroused, truth be told the first victim of this was a track and cross country hot shot, that I swear only liked me when we were at practice together. After that for a number of years, this was something I did randomly to friends. Only because I never stopped finding it funny.

Story: Well......
Today I left my friends apartment and was walking in what I thought was the direction of the subway. I was counting my "monedas" (coins) when I accidently dropped a 10 cent piece. (Oh yes, you probably already know where this is going) Without even thinking twice about it, I totally bend at the hips and reach for the fhe coin, only to feel someone walk full force into my backside. I look up to see a man who is looking very surprised. So I shoot up from my bent over position like a rocket. A few "perdon"s are exchanged and we both kept walking until he started chatting me up. So I actually was able to have a conversation in spanish and talk to this guy for little until I realized that I was walking in the wrong direction of where I needed to go. I said my goodbyes to the guy, and he asks me if I'd like to exchange numbers and stay in touch. Short end of it, his name is Martin, he's Argentine, but teaches French for a living. Nice guy. (Assuming he's gay) I'm not sure he turns my head as far as looks go, but I definitely think he and I could be friends. And hands down he'll get the Alex Bayless Award for Best First Encounter in 2009.


Lastly, I miss everyone back home! Some of you people really need to dip into your savings and get the crap down here sometime! I would love to show some people around and get some real love from back home! :)

Muggings, Auditions, and Ice Cream!

Ok, so the 3rd part of this blog title was a total reach for some 3rd thing, but humor me, dangit!

I wanted to update the status of the job situation as well as throw in a few mugging stories :)

Ok, so the ball is officially out of Alex's court when it comes to the job hunt.  Yesterday I was running behind (shock shock) and had to take a cab from one side of Buenos Aires to another.  turned out to be a $40 cab ride (damn subway not working),  I get to where I'm going to, and the "interview" is essentially the guy telling me all the main points of the job and seeing if I'm still interested.  And then giving the, "ok, we'll bring you in to do an audition soon."  Ok, this company has a crappy habit of taking FOREVER to contact me. So since I didn't want to spend another 2.5 weeks to come in and audition, I offered to audition the same day.  He told me he could write an email of when to come in the following day (today)  Naturally, I didn't get an e-mail.  After mulling it over, and encouragement from friends,  I called today to say what's going on?  The guy apologized and told me to come in and audition today.  

I get to the audition and in my personal opinion, kinda botched the whole thing.  monologue... he had me do it again just so he could hear what I was saying, and i stumbled like a barefoot man on a football field of broken glass both times.  Didn't help that I had to do the monologue in a british accent.  And for those of you who know me, I can do a pretty good aussie accent, but british is a little tricky for me.    I decided to do "I'm just a Bill" for my song, and It was relatively ok, except that in the two verses I did, I totally screwed up the note when the melody drops on "still"  as in "...but today I am STILL just a bill"  Both times.  Also didn't that I had no accompaniment. I CAN hit that note, which is why it sucked it came out so bad.  Then on the dance part, I don't know if it was just to humor me so that he could get rid of me, he showed me 4 postures and a walking step and I had to do it on my own.......like really?  REALLY?  that's all you're going to give me?  You can just tell me I don't have the job so that I don't have to humiliate myself doing the easiest choreography on the planet......Just kidding, I'm not sure how I did it, but I was miraculously able to stumble through the postures when he had me do it on my own.  

As I said before, didn't feel like it went that well, and I'm sure everyone right now is thinking, "Alex, stop with the defeated attitude"  The funny is, I don't feel defeated.  Sure I know it wasn't my best work today, but I've said for a while before the interview, I'll get the job or I won't.  The nice man thanked me and said he'd be in touch.....meaning if I do get the job, I'll hear about in about 2 months when I'm back in the states.......oops, did I just say that?  I walked out of the audition place, put on my headphones and blasted "So what" by Pink.  In all honesty, I did what I could, I had fun, and worst case scenario is I don't get the job. Not the end of the universe.  :)

Ok, so fun story before I head home.   The bus I've been taking from either my old neighborhood or my job to where I'm living now is the 64.  It drops me off about 10 blocks away from where I live now and I walk the rest.  Not the greatest (or safest) setup to be walking late at night, but it's what I've got and I've done it before.  So last night I had dinner at my homestay families place.  They recommended that I take the 29.  It would drop me off about 4 blocks from my house.  So I look for the 29, and after much time, a friend (who was luckily in the same area at the same time) had to show me where the darn station was.  So I take the 29, it actually goes past my station because the buzzer on the bus to signify you want to get off was broken.  So I holler to the bus driver that I need to get off, and exit 1 block away from where I wanted to be, but now I'm on a major street, so this is probably better than walking down some darker residential street, right?................................

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heh, yeah wrong.   So I'm walking home, and I see across the street on the left there's a park.  It was one of those moments where if you think about it, it happens.  Because I swear I thought, that's the last place I'm going to go because someone's going to try something with me.  Sure enough, less than a minute later, some guy calls me to on his bike.  I don't say anything because 1) can't understand the guy, and 2) I know better than to announce I'm from the US on a street at 2 am.  I'm not the sharpest American knife the drawer, but yeah.  So he asks if I'm from Argentina, and I'm thinking it would be stupid to lie since it was clearly obvious I wasn't.  So he asks for a peso (in spanish, go me!) so he can take a subway or collectivo, don't remember.  So I give him hoping he'll go away.  Then he asks for a 2nd one, and aside from the fact that I didn't have another, I wasn't going to give him another.  So he insists I give him another.  I say no.  Keeping in mind this is all going on while he's on his bike and I'm walking.  Then he starts saying some stuff that sounds like he's going to bash my head in.....that's what I got out of what he said, but I could be wrong.  Then he reaches inside his pants in that tragic that people down here do to try and signify that they have a gun and tells me to give him my cell phone.  Now for those of you who don't know, I've lost a phone, was given a phone for free which was subsequently stolen 2 days later and had to buy a 2nd one a week after that.  There was no way I was giving this man my cell phone unless there were 2 or more of him or if he could show me a gun.  Which in this case the "hands down the pants, hey I have a gun" thing was a little funny since he wearing gym shorts, and would basically need to have his gun in his underwear to keep it up....(no pun intended)  So I refuse to give him my phone, he keeps talking, and then he grabs my arm.  I jerk away and jump back on the sidewalk.  He starts to ride away at this point in that "slowly just so you'll think I'm leaving, but I could come back at any point" sort of way.  He's saying all these bad things about me (like I care) but then he starts to thank me for the peso he gave me.  Like a lot, then almost waving at me to make sure I was ok.  Weird finale to a failed "mugging" attempt

Ok, so this next one happened about a month ago.  My friend from Scotland, Jojo, and I went to dinner with a group of friends to have a sort of send off for one of our friends at the school from Ireland.  Afterwards, we offered to walk her back to her hotel.  She insisted she was ok, but Jo and I insisted since we weren't going to get to see her again.  if I remember correctly, it was probably about 15-20 blocks at midnight on a street known for not being the best for walking at night.  We walk and chat and get to about a block from where we drop her off.  There's this area where the sidewalk gets huge right outside this big corporate building I think it was.  The sidewalk is ginormous ......and there are a few kids running around and some sleeping off the side of this building.  yeah, that's somewhat comment.  We reach the end of the block, say our goodbyes to Fiona, and Jojo and I head back the direction we came to take a bus.  We pass by the area of kids who are clearly looking at us.  And one pops out in front of us from no where, no older than ten, and says "Dame tu plata."  Now Alex has a few moments of sheer stupidity.  1.  While he knew it was obvious this kid wanted SOMETHING, alex forgot what plata meant (money).  2. Alex actually stopped (yes, stupid Alex) to engage this tiny person in some sort of conversation.  3.  Alex starts giving a total 'tud.   

So the whole flow of the conversation is.....

*Boy comes in front of us, with his hand down his pants in that "Hey, I have a gun" sort of way.  

 

Boy : "Dame tu plata"

*Alex stops, Jojo continues walking

Alex: Plata?

Boy:  Plata plata

Alex:  Que significa Plata?  (trans - What does plata mean?)

Boy: Dame tu plata.

*Alex figures out what plata is.

Alex:  No! No voy a darte mi plata (No, I'm not going to give you my money)

At this point, I hear Jojo call me because in her persuit of escaping the situation, 3 more boys have come up to her while I was dealing with the "handgun" kid (pun completely intended).  One of them was apparently telling her to give him her stuff, one was apparently begging for money and who knows what the 3rd was doing.  I tell handgun kid "Gotta go" and go and grab Jojo and we get out of there.  Jojo was pretty shaken up about it, and deservedly so, the girl had her wallet, her camera, her international phone, and her ipod all in her bag.  If you had told me that something like that was going to happen to me, I probably would think I would be overdramatic and traumatized about the whole situation.  But truth be told, I found the whole thing hilarious.  Now I've talked to some people who have said, "they could have been armed, there could have been a gang of adults around the corner, something bad could have happened....." and not that I don't agree to the potentiality of all of these, but yeah.  I'm not going to hand over my money (I didn't have any at the time anyway, it all got spent at dinner) my bag, or ANYTHING just because someone sticks their hand in their pants.  Even if he had a knife or something, I'm pretty sure that even though it's been 4 years since I ran varsity track, I could outrun a ten year old.   Jojo eventually calmed down about the situation and then proceeded to tell everyone the following week. 

It does raise the realization though that in many cases, people who do things like that, dont' do it because their @s$holes or anything, they do it because it's just something they do to get by.  It doesn't make it right, but that's honestly we way I feel. Also doesn't change the fact that I would be super pissed if someone stole anything from me, but that's really the idea. The thing that does suck is that there are children in the city learning right now how to do these sort of things, of course they weren't successful in the situation with Jo and I, but I'm sure they'll keep doing it, and they'll get better.   It's really hard to see that. Kids shouldn't be out trying to mug people and sleeping in the streets.  I don't care what country it is, or if it's viewed that I'm comparing another country to the States.  That's just heartbreaking nonetheless.

Anyway, didn't mean to make the switch from lighthearted to serious.  I just really wanted to share some "comical" stories about how to survive a mugging.  Obviously, if anyone has a knife that looks like it could be thrown or a gun, you go ahead and hand over that ipod, otherwise, tell them to "besa mi culo"  (I don't really suggest you do that, plus I'm not even positive it's correct.)

New Experiences, New Discoveries, and a New Year!

Holy crap!  It's been over a month since I blogged anything.  Time flies eh?  I finally got internet back on my laptop after a week of nothing, so I thought I'd UPDATE!  I have absolutely no idea where to start.  But since a lot has gone on, I think I'll just post what I can now and if I remember anything else interesting, then I will just throw it into the next blog post.  

Here goes....

General Update...

  

"Alex, when are you coming home?"

After much craziness, I was able to change my flight home.  As it stands, if I am able to finally support myself down here, I am going to stay here until A) my spanish gets perfect or B) I decide I want to come home....whichever happens first.  If the I'm not able to work a sweet deal for myself job wise, I'm going to stay in Buenos Aires until the end of February, travel around during march and head home back on April 1st, getting back home on the 2nd.  So it's pretty much in the air.  

Housing Update.....

I'm out of the apartment with my homestay family, Hugo y Susy.  It's completely tragic.  I really miss them.  They were such a fun couple.  My biggest regret is that they never got to see too much of the crazy happy-go-lucky Alex.  I'm not sure why.  I'm sure they think I'm this really boring person.  I do miss them, but I will be able to see them since I'm staying in the city, so that's nice.  

I moved a week ago to San Telmo.  VERY traditional-type area.  Tall apartment buildings, very (Insert a word that means "it looks old") looking neighborhood.   Also a little dangerous.  It's definitely not the most dangerous place to be in buenos aires, but it's not well known for being safe either.  After a week of getting acquianted, I like the area.  The apartment I'm in is very quaint.  Tiny, but I like.  There's no microwave, so I've been having to learn how to use the stove for something other than heating water.  (*gasp)  I'm living with Juan.  He works with antiques, goes to cooking school and works in a restaurant.  His boyfriend Juan Cruz (I know, Juan and Juan, weird huh?) is also insanely helpful.  The apartment is 2 blocks from a subway station which is INSANELY convenient.  I haven't really done a tour of the area yet.

School Update....

  I am currently in a little break between my schooling.  I finished my originally allotted 12 weeks.  I didn't know I needed to set in stone my free two weeks that I won with the school, so when I showed up (late) last monday, I was told I would have to wait to take them.  I'm actually pretty thrilled.  The week off was nice to have time to adjust to my new surroundings.  My Intermediate 2A teacher, Ariel was amazing.  I loved him.  He was a really cool guy.  Spanish 2B was with Silvia.  Very nice woman, a little subdued, but we had fun nonetheless.  It's weird to not be going there regularly since I did for 12 weeks.  It's where the mass majority of the people I know in the city are.  I'll be happy to go back next week.  

Job Update....

  Still can't believe it happened, I REALLY can't believe it has lasted this long, but I GOT A JOB!  It's only on fridays and saturdays.  I'm working at a bar as a Mozo/Moso (don't know how to spell it) I essential tend the tables and get drinks for people.  There was a salsa class through the school at the bar.  I asked the people there about a job, one of the girls from the school talked to the boss and then I got the job.  I know it sounds impressive and most people think "oh, your spanish must be AMAZING"  it's totally not the case, haha.  90 percent of the people want either un litro de cerveza (liter of beer) un daikiri (daiquiri, but not the US version) or soda.  So I only have to call upon my spanish when there is a question.  Usually I can understand 2 to 3 words in the sentence and try to figure out what they're asking me for or to do.  Usually it works, but there are times I have to call upon a coworker.  After my first night a month ago, I thought I wouldn't go back.  I didn't know what I was doing, I had 0 confidence with the whole thing, and people kept staring at me like I was from mars.  But I decided the next day I was going to tough it out, and I'm glad I did.  It's been a wonderful learning experience, and my co-workers eventually warmed up to me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about being in a smoky bar (with asthma) being on my feet for 9 hours, working until 7 am for what is realistically $1.83 USD/hour, but I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to practice my spanish and get a better idea of life in Buenos Aires.  

Amongst all the bar craziness...Alex has a job interview on Wednesday.   About a month ago, I answered an ad (thank you craigslist) of a company looking for an english speaking actor.  I answered the add, talked briefly with a rep from the company, was told to wait for an email about an interview, and didn't hear anything again.  Then on Sunday of last week, while sorting out my flying home arrangement, I checked my professional email and saw that I had received an email from the company about an interview.  As it stands, I go in for an interview on Wednesday of this week.  If they like me and I accept the job, I would rehearse for a few months and then tour around South America for the rest of 2009.  It would be quite the commitment I think, but I really would like to do it (pending what is discussed at the interview).  It could be the deciding factor on whether I stay or leave south america.    

Christmas update:

   Navidad was pretty nuts.  Hugo and Susy, their grown offspring Paz y Matias, and I all venture to the city of Chascomús (pronounced Jackomoose) to spend the holiday with their family.  It was VERY intimidating because not only did I only know a few people who were going to be there, I didn't speak the language.  We arrived at this petite camp-ground type thing equipped with a mess hall, pool, cabins with bunkbeds, the whole nine yards.   Susy's nephew Mariano was cutting hair and immediately I was hit with comments about getting my hair cut.  Yeah, I felt immensely better.   In general (can you tell I've exhausted my desire to type a lot?) It was a total blast.  The kids found me to be interesting.  I found everyone fascinating, so it was a good vibe.  There were times where I REALLY didn't know what the heck was going on due to the language thing, but it was ok.  Then someone dressed up as "Papa Noel" (Santa) and gave out the presents.  Here in BA, it's a little different than in the states.  Christmas is more like new years.  They wait until midnight, and then they go ape-crazy.  It was pretty funny to watch.  In general, I was doing really well with the whole, away from home on christmas thing.  That was until Papa Noel pulled out a gift with my name on it.  Then the idea really hit me.  It made me think of home and miss the people I care about most.  I was still ok though.  Christmas hasn't been a big deal for me in over 5-6 years.  It was just the idea of family being together and me missing out on it that bummed me out for about 20 minutes.  At the end of the day I ended up with a keychain and a bottle of shaving cream.  Totally adorable if you ask me.  

We all went to sleep, and in the morning we hung out, went swimming, etc.  It really was one of my favorite memories of being in Argentina.   I really felt like part of the family.  It was a great time.  We came back to the city of Buenos Aires, and I chatted with my family on skype for over an hour.  Truly awesome amazing blessed times.  It was great seeing all of them.  I miss them a whole lot.   

New Years...

  Was pretty tragic.  I was expected to work (I think) and I was trying to get out of it so I could go to El Tigre with friends, and then spend the weekend in Iguazu falls with new friends from the school.  Essentially I was expecting to have to quit or get fired from the bar......but funny how the tide changes.   Taking care of my ticket problem with the airline took out all but 39 USD of my bank account.  I went from not wanting to work at all last week to working 3 days, in a weird and wacky way almost for survival.  There was a dinner at the bar with some of the employees.  The fireworks display was absolutely fantastic.  we were on a roof and we set some off and watch from some of the other areas as well.  Truly inspiring.  At midnight, much like Christmas, everyone goes around the circle and kisses each other on the cheek.  Afterwards, we worked until about 8 in the am.  I was so thrilled to finally make it home.  

 

That's the highlights of what's going on.....I'm to tired to keep writing.  

Next time on Alex's Thought Bubble:

*Crazy antics of the month of December in buenos aires.

*Pictures

*Reflections and goals of 2009.