Friday, November 28, 2003
Party pictures!
Here is the most delicious chocolate mocha dulce de leche birthday cake.
I didn't take any pics of the meat on the grill, but i should have because it was a lot of meat and it looked great.
Here is the most delicious chocolate mocha dulce de leche birthday cake.
I didn't take any pics of the meat on the grill, but i should have because it was a lot of meat and it looked great.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
this will be a message full of joy and also a touch of sadness. the sad is because i love thanksgiving and i'm homesick today, for the first time. when i think of my family all together today, in the living room and in the kitchen and around the table, it makes my chest hurt.
but i'm also very happy because i will soon be the proud renter of the most lindo apartment in the most lindo barrio in all of buenos aires. it's nicer than any apartment i've ever had. it's in a tall modern tower in a neighborhood that is otherwise old and funky and the greenwich village of buenos aires. in front of the building is a big metal automatic gate controlled by a security office. the building has an outdoor pool and laundry in the basement.
the apt. is a big furnished one bedroom on the 14th floor with an amazing sunset view. WITH air conditioning (rare here), tv and cable, cd player/radio, phone w/ answering machine, etc. it's much bigger than my last apt. it has a big balcony with a table and chairs. dining area with table for 6-8 plus chairs so i can entertain. fully equipped kitchen. fold-out couch (come visit!)
additionally, it's 3 blocks from the subway, near the intersection of 2 busy streets which have almost all the bus lines, (santa fe and scalabrini ortiz) and it's near my old neighborhood which i loved and which i am familiar with. also it is 3 blocks from the salsa club Calle 24.
it's about $300 US a month, plus utilities. they're putting in new carpet and painting, and i can move in a week from saturday. kate the american lives there now. she was on a fulbright studying public parks.
last night my school had a field trip to the broadway of buenos aires, corrientes street. we saw a musical about the life of a famous tanguero, discepolin. it was great though none of us understood a word. it used a lot of lunfardo, the local slang. sometimes in lunfardo they reverse the syllables. in one scene, discepolin was praying and he said, "que sapa señor, que sapa". and that means que pasa, or, what is happening.
then eliza and i went to a cool club called museum with a swedish girl named elka. (the guys there just swarm these blond girls, it's a trip). then i went to meet rodrigo for salsa dancing at my regular wednesday night place. after it closed rodrigo and i went to a gas station, they're 24 hours and have little cafés and people hang out in them after the clubs close. his friends work there and there's salsa on the radio. we danced and drank coffee and watched the prostitutes come in for cigarettes. we left when the subway opened. i got home at 6am!
but i'm also very happy because i will soon be the proud renter of the most lindo apartment in the most lindo barrio in all of buenos aires. it's nicer than any apartment i've ever had. it's in a tall modern tower in a neighborhood that is otherwise old and funky and the greenwich village of buenos aires. in front of the building is a big metal automatic gate controlled by a security office. the building has an outdoor pool and laundry in the basement.
the apt. is a big furnished one bedroom on the 14th floor with an amazing sunset view. WITH air conditioning (rare here), tv and cable, cd player/radio, phone w/ answering machine, etc. it's much bigger than my last apt. it has a big balcony with a table and chairs. dining area with table for 6-8 plus chairs so i can entertain. fully equipped kitchen. fold-out couch (come visit!)
additionally, it's 3 blocks from the subway, near the intersection of 2 busy streets which have almost all the bus lines, (santa fe and scalabrini ortiz) and it's near my old neighborhood which i loved and which i am familiar with. also it is 3 blocks from the salsa club Calle 24.
it's about $300 US a month, plus utilities. they're putting in new carpet and painting, and i can move in a week from saturday. kate the american lives there now. she was on a fulbright studying public parks.
last night my school had a field trip to the broadway of buenos aires, corrientes street. we saw a musical about the life of a famous tanguero, discepolin. it was great though none of us understood a word. it used a lot of lunfardo, the local slang. sometimes in lunfardo they reverse the syllables. in one scene, discepolin was praying and he said, "que sapa señor, que sapa". and that means que pasa, or, what is happening.
then eliza and i went to a cool club called museum with a swedish girl named elka. (the guys there just swarm these blond girls, it's a trip). then i went to meet rodrigo for salsa dancing at my regular wednesday night place. after it closed rodrigo and i went to a gas station, they're 24 hours and have little cafés and people hang out in them after the clubs close. his friends work there and there's salsa on the radio. we danced and drank coffee and watched the prostitutes come in for cigarettes. we left when the subway opened. i got home at 6am!
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
hey - the asado party last night was so great. they were very sweet about my birthday and there was a cake and a card that everyone at the hostel signed, and presents, etc. i've been going on about how everyone is from a different country and how cool that is, and even though they're not nearly as impressed as i am about that, they all wrote me birthday wishes in their own language.
the guests were an eclectic mix as always, but everyone seemed to have a good time. we were up on the roof, and there's a big grill thing up there. many bottles of beer and wine were consumed, a lot of bread and cheese and olives, chicken and steak on the grill, chorizo sausage on grilled french bread, and dulce de leche birthday cake which was truly delicious.
the photos are pretty hilarious, i will post them soon.
i'm so tired my eyes won't stay open. they are droopy. the hostel is so fun and a party every night with fascinating people, but i also have stuff to do during the day, and it's killing me slowly! i'm sharing a room with my friend jessica and she stays up all night until the morning and then sleeps all day. it's hard not to go out with everyone. i hate feeling like i'm missing anything! anyway, i'm looking at two apartments today.
the guests were an eclectic mix as always, but everyone seemed to have a good time. we were up on the roof, and there's a big grill thing up there. many bottles of beer and wine were consumed, a lot of bread and cheese and olives, chicken and steak on the grill, chorizo sausage on grilled french bread, and dulce de leche birthday cake which was truly delicious.
the photos are pretty hilarious, i will post them soon.
i'm so tired my eyes won't stay open. they are droopy. the hostel is so fun and a party every night with fascinating people, but i also have stuff to do during the day, and it's killing me slowly! i'm sharing a room with my friend jessica and she stays up all night until the morning and then sleeps all day. it's hard not to go out with everyone. i hate feeling like i'm missing anything! anyway, i'm looking at two apartments today.
Monday, November 24, 2003
Saturday, November 22, 2003
i moved out of my apartment and, as i did not have another one to move to, i'm in a hostel in palermo viejo with my friend jessica. it's a very nice hostel owned by a cool brazilian jewish couple. but my back hurts from the mattress and i miss my old neighborhood and privacy and a phone. it is really fun here though. there's free internet that i'm using now, and behind me in the living room, there's an irish, british and swedish guy watching england beat australia in rugby. i mean....you know! how cool is that. soon we're all going to chinatown for sushi.
meanwhile, i'm looking at a different apartments and considering different living situations. i'd like to live with argentinians to improve my spanish, but it seems hard to arrange. in any case, i'll have a decision for december 1.
as for the rest of it, every day i spend with eliza. we have so much fun together. somehow every day we look up and it's 7pm. i don't even know what we do. but we know argentinians from our school, we practice our spanish, we shop. she has an apartment in the city now. last night we made ravioli and salad at my hostel, then a friend from our school came over and we had some wine, then went to a party at a club. i'm doing it the argentine way - went out at 1am, then at 4am we were bored and the music turned awful and we wanted to leave. i wasn't even tired! i wanted to go somewhere else. but eliza didn't.
last night i stood up on a table at the edge of the club and looked out over the crowd. big club full of argentines dancing. the rolling stones "start me up" came on. everyone got all excited and they were dancing and trying to sing the words but they didn't really know them and got them all wrong. i loved looking at them dancing. i so love being here. and i love being american! yesterday we went to a club that meets every week to practice their english. it was a nice group, seems fun. so many people have helped me with my spanish (not that you could tell from my speaking skills) i just want to give something back to them. and more argentinian contacts here are always good.
what else. wednesday i went salsa dancing again at the same place, la trastienda. i will go there every wednesday. it's big, and although there are lots of people, there's still room to dance. it's 1 peso 50 centavos to get in. this week it was 2.50 and there was a live band. i always dance with rodrigo, he's an awesome dancer, he's also a tango dancer who gives lessons and travels to new york to perform in shows. i know him and all his friends now, so i can go alone and have people to dance with.
for my birthday we're having an asado at the hostel! that's like a barbecue.
meanwhile, i'm looking at a different apartments and considering different living situations. i'd like to live with argentinians to improve my spanish, but it seems hard to arrange. in any case, i'll have a decision for december 1.
as for the rest of it, every day i spend with eliza. we have so much fun together. somehow every day we look up and it's 7pm. i don't even know what we do. but we know argentinians from our school, we practice our spanish, we shop. she has an apartment in the city now. last night we made ravioli and salad at my hostel, then a friend from our school came over and we had some wine, then went to a party at a club. i'm doing it the argentine way - went out at 1am, then at 4am we were bored and the music turned awful and we wanted to leave. i wasn't even tired! i wanted to go somewhere else. but eliza didn't.
last night i stood up on a table at the edge of the club and looked out over the crowd. big club full of argentines dancing. the rolling stones "start me up" came on. everyone got all excited and they were dancing and trying to sing the words but they didn't really know them and got them all wrong. i loved looking at them dancing. i so love being here. and i love being american! yesterday we went to a club that meets every week to practice their english. it was a nice group, seems fun. so many people have helped me with my spanish (not that you could tell from my speaking skills) i just want to give something back to them. and more argentinian contacts here are always good.
what else. wednesday i went salsa dancing again at the same place, la trastienda. i will go there every wednesday. it's big, and although there are lots of people, there's still room to dance. it's 1 peso 50 centavos to get in. this week it was 2.50 and there was a live band. i always dance with rodrigo, he's an awesome dancer, he's also a tango dancer who gives lessons and travels to new york to perform in shows. i know him and all his friends now, so i can go alone and have people to dance with.
for my birthday we're having an asado at the hostel! that's like a barbecue.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
hola que tal, soy raquel. on saturday a group of us went to creamfields, a huge outdoor electronic music festival. it travels around to ibiza, london, etc. our group got larger as people met friends. we bought tix for 50 pesos, then went across the street to a bar as it was only 9pm. creamfields went until 7am or so, adn the party moved somewhere else after that.
soon the skies opened up and it began to pour. POUR!
so we were pretty happy at the bar so we stayed a while,
soon the skies opened up and it began to pour. POUR!
so we were pretty happy at the bar so we stayed a while,
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
anyway we ended up not going, two girls stayed but the rest of us sold our tickets (for face value because they need the pesos more than us right?) and went to another club. but apparently it was muddy like woodstock, crazy people and costumes and drugs everywhere, sounds like quite an experience.
lots more fun stuff i've been doing but this computer sucks...will try to post more soon.
am trying to paste together some thanksgiving plans. someone posted on lonely planet about collecting americans to make dinner that night, so i wrote to him. it will be sad for me! i love thanksgiving!
lots more fun stuff i've been doing but this computer sucks...will try to post more soon.
am trying to paste together some thanksgiving plans. someone posted on lonely planet about collecting americans to make dinner that night, so i wrote to him. it will be sad for me! i love thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Ok, going back through the week in pictures. On Sunday, Inessa and i went to the Recoleta fair, which was big and really fun. we looked at lots of jewelry, bought art, got balloon hearts from a clown, and I got a henna tattoo!
Monday after class Eliza and I went to a museum that has a big exhibit on Diego Maradona, the esteemed argentinian soccer player. fabulous! here is the sign outside:
It says 'Queres ver al Dios? Veni a su templo.'
'Do you want to see God? Come to his temple.'
that should give you some idea of how they view maradona here.
the exhibit was great though. here's eliza at the entrance.
Today it's raining, cold and misty and eliza and i have spent the whole day in the internet cafe. then we're getting manicures and going salsa dancing tonight. spanish class is going really well. we went to conversation hour on monday and talked to some argentinian people who were there. the school is great b/c there's a lot of argentinians learning other languages, and they always want to meet foreigners and practice their english. my friend martin takes english class there too. he wants me to come talk to their class, he says the teacher wants them to hear how americans speak. i never thought i would be a novelty for speaking english!
Monday after class Eliza and I went to a museum that has a big exhibit on Diego Maradona, the esteemed argentinian soccer player. fabulous! here is the sign outside:
It says 'Queres ver al Dios? Veni a su templo.'
'Do you want to see God? Come to his temple.'
that should give you some idea of how they view maradona here.
the exhibit was great though. here's eliza at the entrance.
Today it's raining, cold and misty and eliza and i have spent the whole day in the internet cafe. then we're getting manicures and going salsa dancing tonight. spanish class is going really well. we went to conversation hour on monday and talked to some argentinian people who were there. the school is great b/c there's a lot of argentinians learning other languages, and they always want to meet foreigners and practice their english. my friend martin takes english class there too. he wants me to come talk to their class, he says the teacher wants them to hear how americans speak. i never thought i would be a novelty for speaking english!
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
dios mio! i haven't written in a while. i've been really busy and having a blast. spanish class is great. i wish it was more hours a week. but i can supplement it with conversation clubs and my friends who don't speak english and whatnot. the german girl, eliza, and i are both really strong in the class, and we're at about the same level. there's also a brazilian guy who's really struggling, though you'd think it would be easy for him since he speaks portugese which is basically the same language. our class goes on excursions. sunday we went to san telmo. this is eliza and me and her italian friend guiseppina in a beatiful courtyard in san telmo.
luz leads the tour in very slow and clear spanish and i can understand almost everything of what she says. it makes me giddy with excitement.
here are the girls looking at jewelry on the street in san telmo. these girls can shop, let me tell you.
luz leads the tour in very slow and clear spanish and i can understand almost everything of what she says. it makes me giddy with excitement.
here are the girls looking at jewelry on the street in san telmo. these girls can shop, let me tell you.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Friday night i tried the sephardic shul near my house. it is a gorgeous sanctuary. men downstairs, women in the balcony. i know a guy who works there, diego, he showed me where to sit and then he had to leave. it was hot up in the balcony and i was wearing a long black skirt and blouse and jacket, so i took off my jacket. i could not follow the service at all. i could barely hear and didn't know the tune and just didn't get much out of it. i guess sephardic is just really different. so i guess i won't go back, because it's sort of hard to meet people at a shul like that, and since i don't like the service, not much point in going. i stood up to leave and i could not find my jacket. someone took it! i'm sure it was an accident and i hope they'll return it. so, not a good experience at the shul.
chabad is really the place that is set up for people like me, where there are free shabbat dinners every week, foreigners and young people, etc. but i never want to go where i'm supposed to go - i like to go somewhere else on my own!
My first Spanish class was fun yesterday. the building is very large, has a cafeteria, a movie screening room and more. most of the classes are foreign languages for argentinians, but there's a little clique of us english speakers trying to make our way. i went back to the school monday afternoon for conversation hour. it ended up being just me and a girl from san francisco, and the argentinian moderator. i knew more spanish than her but i got practice by explaining spanish words, in spanish. No English Allowed!
i got placed in level 3, out of 6. pretty good for hardly taking any spanish in my life! i think how much i'll get out of the class depends on the others, how much they know and how fast they learn. there's two others, a german girl and a british girl. the brit only understands what the teacher is explaining if we tell her what it is in english (the teacher doesn't speak english). but i fully intend to be speaking fluent spanish as soon as possible.
another boost for my spanish is hanging out with gerardo, which i've been doing a lot, and he barely speaks english. no rico suave jokes please. gerardo drinks mate todo el tiempo. he lives in san telmo and is a real porteño.
when people travel to new york, they visit the statue of liberty and central park, and then they say, i love new york, i know it, i've been there. i did that. then i kept going back. and the more i went back and the more people i knew that lived there, the more layers of the city i could know, and then it became this totally different city to me. A more colorful and individual city, with special secrets that i knew about, a city where i could make a place for me. And i'm waiting for that to happen here in buenos aires, and that's why i want to live here for so long.
and people like gerardo show me parts of the city that i would never otherwise encounter.
i went to his house on sunday, we were going to go running along the river. well he was going to run and i would ride his bike, b/c he's tall and i can't keep up with him. i walked into his house and it was a club, and he was standing at the bar.
turns out his american/argentinian friend matteo rents the whole buildling and owns the club, and gerardo lives upstairs. gerardo pays rent but everyone else in the building are squatters!
In roommate news, leah left early this morning for peru, and costa rica. inessa will stay with me until 11/25.
Tpmorrow i will meet a girl who i've been corresponding with since before i left. we both are 30 and did the exact same thing. she ended up at an apartment maybe 4 blocks from me. She suggested this cool bar to meet at. i checked out the drink menu and saw some kind of dirty martini type drink with truffle oil (aceite de trufa, i think is truffle oil). i know what i'm going to order!
chabad is really the place that is set up for people like me, where there are free shabbat dinners every week, foreigners and young people, etc. but i never want to go where i'm supposed to go - i like to go somewhere else on my own!
My first Spanish class was fun yesterday. the building is very large, has a cafeteria, a movie screening room and more. most of the classes are foreign languages for argentinians, but there's a little clique of us english speakers trying to make our way. i went back to the school monday afternoon for conversation hour. it ended up being just me and a girl from san francisco, and the argentinian moderator. i knew more spanish than her but i got practice by explaining spanish words, in spanish. No English Allowed!
i got placed in level 3, out of 6. pretty good for hardly taking any spanish in my life! i think how much i'll get out of the class depends on the others, how much they know and how fast they learn. there's two others, a german girl and a british girl. the brit only understands what the teacher is explaining if we tell her what it is in english (the teacher doesn't speak english). but i fully intend to be speaking fluent spanish as soon as possible.
another boost for my spanish is hanging out with gerardo, which i've been doing a lot, and he barely speaks english. no rico suave jokes please. gerardo drinks mate todo el tiempo. he lives in san telmo and is a real porteño.
when people travel to new york, they visit the statue of liberty and central park, and then they say, i love new york, i know it, i've been there. i did that. then i kept going back. and the more i went back and the more people i knew that lived there, the more layers of the city i could know, and then it became this totally different city to me. A more colorful and individual city, with special secrets that i knew about, a city where i could make a place for me. And i'm waiting for that to happen here in buenos aires, and that's why i want to live here for so long.
and people like gerardo show me parts of the city that i would never otherwise encounter.
i went to his house on sunday, we were going to go running along the river. well he was going to run and i would ride his bike, b/c he's tall and i can't keep up with him. i walked into his house and it was a club, and he was standing at the bar.
turns out his american/argentinian friend matteo rents the whole buildling and owns the club, and gerardo lives upstairs. gerardo pays rent but everyone else in the building are squatters!
In roommate news, leah left early this morning for peru, and costa rica. inessa will stay with me until 11/25.
Tpmorrow i will meet a girl who i've been corresponding with since before i left. we both are 30 and did the exact same thing. she ended up at an apartment maybe 4 blocks from me. She suggested this cool bar to meet at. i checked out the drink menu and saw some kind of dirty martini type drink with truffle oil (aceite de trufa, i think is truffle oil). i know what i'm going to order!
