Unbeknownst to me, this difficult day is also el Dia del Maestro (the Day of the Teacher) in Argentina.
Feliz Dia del Maestro to all the teachers! My hope is that education and open discussion can help prevent the cultural and political rifts that led to the horrible event of this day seven years ago. I know I´m learning a lot. Can´t hurt, right?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Colonia, Uruguay
One of the reasons I was most upset about losing my stuff was that I was supposed to go to Uruguay with some friends on Saturday morning. Since we don´t have work visas for Argentina, we have to leave the country every 90 days to get our passports stamped. The easiest way to do this is to go to Uruguay by ferry for the day or the weekend. There are two options for the ferry: the fast boat (1 hour) and the slow boat (3 hours). My friends and I had bought tickets for the 9:30 am slow boat, but OF COURSE I missed it in my frenzy to find my bag and get ready to go. I got to the Buquebus port station at 9:20, but I wasn´t allowed on the boat. Fortunately, I got a seat on the fast boat leaving at 11:30, and arrived in Colonia at exactly the same time as the rest of my group (literally- I walked off the boat and heard people yelling my name from behind me. I had no cell phone so this was verrrry lucky). Both ferry options are pretty swanky, with flatscreen TVs, a bar/cafe area, and a duty-free shop. The one hour boat costs about 30 pesos more, but it was totally worth it on Saturday morning.
Once I got to Uruguay and found my group, I felt tons better. Saturday was rainy and cold, and Colonia is a tiny little town, but we still had fun wandering around, eating at el Drugstore, and watching the Argentina-Paraguay soccer game on TV. Our hostel was pretty comfortable, despite the fact that I had to share a room with 7 guys (5 of whom were with our group). groooosssssss. :-P
On Sunday, we rented dune buggies (Matt and Charles rented bicycles) and drove around Colonia. It´s a very small town, but we had a lot of fun roaring down the little roads in our ridiculous buggies, waving to strangers, and chasing each other. It was FREEZING on the coast road, and the buggies were completely open, but that didn´t cancel out the awesomeness factor. After dune buggying for most of the day, we walked down to the edge of the Rio de la Plata (the body of water we crossed to get to Uruguay) and hung out. We could easily have been somewhere like Scotland or Ireland, everything was so green and rocky. Not how I pictured Uruguay at all, but completely amazing.
I lost my camera as well (boo!), so I´ll have to steal some photos from others. Stay tuned!
Edit: Here are some pics:
The group: Charles, Ethan, Me (bad face!), Sam, Dan, Natalie, Daniel, Matt. Also a stray dog that loved Charles
Once I got to Uruguay and found my group, I felt tons better. Saturday was rainy and cold, and Colonia is a tiny little town, but we still had fun wandering around, eating at el Drugstore, and watching the Argentina-Paraguay soccer game on TV. Our hostel was pretty comfortable, despite the fact that I had to share a room with 7 guys (5 of whom were with our group). groooosssssss. :-P
On Sunday, we rented dune buggies (Matt and Charles rented bicycles) and drove around Colonia. It´s a very small town, but we had a lot of fun roaring down the little roads in our ridiculous buggies, waving to strangers, and chasing each other. It was FREEZING on the coast road, and the buggies were completely open, but that didn´t cancel out the awesomeness factor. After dune buggying for most of the day, we walked down to the edge of the Rio de la Plata (the body of water we crossed to get to Uruguay) and hung out. We could easily have been somewhere like Scotland or Ireland, everything was so green and rocky. Not how I pictured Uruguay at all, but completely amazing.
I lost my camera as well (boo!), so I´ll have to steal some photos from others. Stay tuned!
Edit: Here are some pics:
The group: Charles, Ethan, Me (bad face!), Sam, Dan, Natalie, Daniel, Matt. Also a stray dog that loved Charles
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tragedy strikes!
On Friday night, I lost my purse. Luckily, my passport and alternate credit card weren´t in it, but my cell phone, keys, etc. were all lost (in addition to my Marc Jacobs clutch and coin purse- boo). I was being careless, and I don´t think the purse was stolen, I think I just lost it (toooool). Everything seems to be back on track now, but I was completely freaked out for a while.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
New Apartment Pics!
Here are some photos of the new place. I only included rooms I actually go in, but there are 4 other bedrooms and an upstairs bedroom-thing-but-without-a-door that is currently under construction. There´s also a bathroom, but it´s small and I couldn´t get a good shot. Plus, you all know what a bathroom looks like.
My bedroom. A bit messy, but sunny and cheerful. I forgot to take a picture of it, but through those doors there´s a little balcony. So cute!
My new bedroom again. Note that this one has walls, a desk, and more than 2 feet of floor space!
The closet again, with a view of the side wall, so you can get an idea of how big it is.
This is a weird space. It´s the foyer/hallway, but it´s also where the tv and computers are, and there´s a couch. Go figure.
The hallway/foyer again, from the opposite direction. There´s my room in the background.
The hallway. The other bedrooms and the bathroom are off of this hallway. Plants.
Through the doorway at the end of the hallway... the kitchen! Under construction at the moment, but you get the idea.
The actual sitting room. Not used nearly as much as the hallway/foyer.
Hopefully this paints a clearer picture of where I live. My other apartment was much more ¨Recoleta,¨all white and metal and light wood, but this place is funky and charming. I like it!
My bedroom. A bit messy, but sunny and cheerful. I forgot to take a picture of it, but through those doors there´s a little balcony. So cute!
My new bedroom again. Note that this one has walls, a desk, and more than 2 feet of floor space!
The closet again, with a view of the side wall, so you can get an idea of how big it is.
This is a weird space. It´s the foyer/hallway, but it´s also where the tv and computers are, and there´s a couch. Go figure.
The hallway/foyer again, from the opposite direction. There´s my room in the background.
The hallway. The other bedrooms and the bathroom are off of this hallway. Plants.
Through the doorway at the end of the hallway... the kitchen! Under construction at the moment, but you get the idea.
The actual sitting room. Not used nearly as much as the hallway/foyer.Hopefully this paints a clearer picture of where I live. My other apartment was much more ¨Recoleta,¨all white and metal and light wood, but this place is funky and charming. I like it!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
New Apartment
FYI, I have now moved to a new apartment. It´s in the barrio of Montserrat (north of San Telmo I guess), on Calle Mexico. The place is very different from my old one. My room even has real walls now! Still no wireless, but the house has a desktop I can use, so I´m taking advantage. Maybe I´ll add some pics to this post soon. Fun!
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