Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Argentina day 5

Saturday 21/02/2009

Woke up at 11h30. With a headache, ears still hurting, happy that breakfast was waiting for me.
Then I discovered our fourth resident as I turned the corner into the kitchen... a turtle! (between roger and this, I'm really unlucky) Greta has a pet turtle and it happened to be eating its morning lettuce just then. I dunno, it was weird to see a turtle in the context of getting milk from the fridge. Greta came by a few minutes later with his introduction and then put him on the balcony. She informed me of the potential "bichos" problem (I smiled because thanks to a special someone I learned this word yesterday) but claimed they came from other apartments..

Went out with a little group by the port. Discovered my new delicious equivalent of Hawaoushi... don't remember its name though. And bonded a little with Gregor, a German student who is 'double' studying abroad.

Read some more of "your inner fish" a pretty good book so far, talks about how
we're descendants of fish, really interesting and well written.

Went out again, took the subte, after dinner with like 9 people, we went out for drinks, Gregor and I shared two liters of beer (quilmes) the local Egyptian stella equivalent.


استيقظت في ساعة عشرة مع صداع و أدني بيجاني على طول و سعيد إن الإفطار كان ينتظرني.
ثم اكتشفت الربع ساكن في سقتنا عندما دورت في المطبخ... صلحفاة! (بين روجر ال فار و هذا، لا عنددي حظ) جرتة عندها سلحفاة و حدث هي بيكل خسها في هذه لحظة. لا اعرف، ممكن دي غريب جدا ان سوف صلحفاة في سواق الاخذالحليب من الثلاجة في السباح. جرتة ذهبت بعض دقيقة بعد و عرفنيه، و جاءته في البالكون. اعلمتني إن المشكلة الحشرات.

خرجت مع مجموعة صغيرة نحو الميناء. اكتشفت مساوني جديد الهواوشي... ولكن لا اتذكر اسمه. و اسبحت اكثر سضيق مع جرجور، طالب الماني من جامعة برينستون.

اكرت اكثر من كتابي، كتاب جيد جدا ان كيف نحن يصلون من ال اسماك.

خرجت مرة اخرة و أخذت المترو. غدءت مع ٩ افراد، و بعد ذلك شربنا بيرات، غرغور و انا شربنا يثنين ليتر بيرة يسمها "كيلمس" و مي متل بيرة ستلة مصرية.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Argentina day 4

Friday 20/02/2009

First day of Porteño class. Really liked my teacher. She remembered my written exam, said that she corrected it at 2am and it made her really hungry. I excused myself, people laughed. We have an assignment to do for Monday which is designed to have us go out and discover more of the city, I have two other partners, still need to contact them.

oh, also I tried buying a cell phone, but I don't have enough money. I think there is $1 left on my account. So I'll be living on the 200 pesos that are left in my wallet until Monday at the earliest. I'm glad I didn't buy a phone earlier because I would have had to not eat/go out this weekend.

Around 1h I met up with some people. We went out for a few drinks, had a corona and a caipiriña (brasilian drink, Fe, you still make them the best). Around 2:30 we went into this club niceto which started off with a live indie rock band. They were alright. Bu then this awesome 80's electro pop music started playing. I loved this. It was basically all the music that influenced current techno. I could recognize a good amount of the beats and besides that, it was just generally really good music/dj. As the night moved on, the music did too, towards more modern music. M and I spent the night trying to figure out if P is gay.

Anyway, got home super late. horray for headaches, no hangover though.

Taxi drivers don't drive with their lights on here, just like in Cairo.

Argentina day 3

Thursday 19/02/2009

Had the written exam first thing. Ridiculous text, but whatever. We had to synthesize it and also write another page about an object we would choose to represent our country. I chose France, and Camembert cheese and bla bla bla...
some others students chose the constitution, a starbucks drink, their family, another a tree(in a really cool way though)...

After another orientation session about concentrations which didn't concern me, I went out to eat with this German kid and Jewish girls. The German guy seemed cool but I don't think the American girls understood his humor. He sort of ran off to buy a cell phone after the meal, don't blame him though. Then I learned the meaning of "JAP"... they decided to go shopping... I don't know why I tagged along, I guess I had nothing better to do. I suppose some good did come out of it though. I took the bus and the train for the first time. I also talked to one of them who was not so into shopping and liked speaking Spanish but was interesting because was really traditionally jewish, culturally, linguistically, lived in the mother land for a year, yet seem really open minded and just plain old nice. Another one didn't know what a kufaya is... (Palestinian scarf) (but thought it's stylish, again jap)

Also met a different jewish girl who is also taking Arabic. She speaks hebrew though, so she'll be able to use it in a useful way, hopefully.

After splitting off from them, got lost, while reading a book. Finally came home around 8pm. Took a cold shower. am sweating now, again, 15 minutes later. sigh...

Argentina day 2

Wednesday 18/02/2009

I befriended a guy named Sam today. He seems nice but one thing we have in common so far is that we both only speak Spanish. We met during an architecture tour provided by a travel agency via our school. By the way, I live in the nice part of town... clearly, it's super wealthy based on the shops, apartments, hotels, embassies, etc... Architecturally, Buenos Aires looks exactly like France. Even more so, the streets do, everything does, the side walks, I think they even use the same asphalt... So yea, really, I'm studying abroad in France with a Castellano tango.

Oh, we had our oral exams today. I think mine went well. My interviewer, Diego, seemed to be happy with my level. And besides not really remembering the past tense anymore, I think I did well. Just basically asked me to talk in Spanish which is fine because that's what I've been doing all day. I've gotten a few comments from other students how my Spanish is pretty good compared to theirs, so we'll see, the results will be in on Friday; not sure at all what they'll mean though.

Sam and I met a girl who is Serbian who is learning Arabic. It was cool speaking in Arabic a little but she can't say much. S and G and J could have said more with what i've taught them.

I went for a walk before my copious dinner. My goal was the French Embassy and back. Got lost, but it's ok here because I live in a good neighborhood. There were people in the streets sorting garbage at almost every corner. It seems like they were sorting the plastic from the rest. Strange to see that in such a nice neighborhood.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Argentina day 1

Tuesday 02/17/2009

Arrived on time. Shared a taxi with a student who is coming back for his second semester here. Got the down-low from him.
My program sent me directly to my host family. There I had greenbeans and pasta for lunch. Then I went right back to some session on how to use the Bus system in BA. Kinda useful although I lost the map/pamphlet right after...
Met some people, walked around with them, trying to find cell phones.
came home, ate, slept from like 22h til 8h30 with at three hour pause in between.

Written during some orientation session which was held in Spanish (everything is): I miss Arabic. I really want to speak it instead of Spanish. I keep on hearing Arabic words when people are speaking Spanish. I keep on thinking of everything I'm going to say in Arabic first, then in Spanish, then I say it. Speaking is a slow process for me and I still blurb out words in Arabic and barely catch them.

Also, it's going to be really weird going back to class again and taking "academic" classes per se. Especially when they're all in Spanish.

Chicago departure

Monday 02/16/2009

Packed all morning. Went to the airport. Upon arrival, was told I could not go to Argentina without proof that I would be studying abroad. Wow, stress, more of it. Called my study abroad provider, found out that this was not my fault, that 5 other students had encountered the same problem. The visa requirements just changed: a tourist may not stay in Argentina for more than 3 months without a visa, except if they're studying. Had to go to the UPS store and print out proof of acceptance.

Anyway, now I'm in Dulles listening to Loscil (thank you Zac). Talked to S for 45 minutes. Warned her about the problem.

Looking forward to finishing this french novel T gave me about three years ago.

Looking forward to arriving there and taking the taxi directly to orientation.

Looking forward to stealing a wireless connection in Buenos Aires.

Looking forward to studying 30 minutes of Arabic a day while Sophie does 30 minutes of Tibetan... ( predicted lifespan: one week)

Looking forward to finding a mosque and stealing an Egyptian to practice with.

"Frankly, R, Cairenes whores don't appeal to me."

Friday, February 13, 2009

Chicago day 4 Why are Chicago streets so full of potholes?

Thursday (R)

Why are Chicago streets so full of potholes?

5h wake up, which I really enjoy, mainly because of the 21h bedtime. Got some paper work done.
At work, talked to Peter about how he got into the Prosthetic business. Helped pass time. Went out for a quick sandwich with my dad which mainly consisted of him talking about my aunt and the possible deal that could go on between them. Not very fun to to listen to.
Came home and talked to Nayru for 3.5 hours. Quite enjoyable.

Then about the time that ended, my dad and my sister came home. My sister stay only as long as it took her to change into a cute outfit for a birthday dinner she went to. For her friend R.

Dad and I had a relatively peaceful meal. He left to do some errands and Then I took off to Z's around 21h40.
As usual, same smell, same pristine apartment. Makes me want to work there and study there. It also makes me want to clean up my room. Perhaps this would make my mind more clear as well.
Z gave me a bunch of music which I am now copying to my computer. Good stuff.

I left around midnight. Oh, and he has a really nice place.