Ann Arbor Adventures

Steve and I decided to go to Ann Arbor last night for dinner and the night took some unexpected turns. We have known for some time that the tires needed to be replaced on his car and we just hadn't gotten around to it. We drove into a parking structure and decided to walk around for a few minutes before dinner. We walked into a clothing store and we saw a bandana that we knew would be perfect for Beau the dog and we decided to splurge and spend the $2.

It was a really hot day and I was carrying a purse that I didn't need, so we decided to drop it off at the car, so I didn't have to carry it around all day. When we arrived back at the car, the front passenger wheel was flat. Very flat. So, we called a tire shop and it was about 6:30. It turns out there was a Firestone Complete Auto Care .3 miles away so we drove to it on the flat. They closed at 6. Because of the fancy wheels on the car, there is a special tire size that not everyone has, so we decided to call around and see if anyone else had it, but everything was already closed. We figured that Firestone would be able to inflate the tire enough to go to a place with the right size. So, we decided to check into a hotel for the night, but the only problem was that we had left Beau at home in his kennel. Poor Beau. We were an hour and a half from home and he would have to wait until the morning to go out, but there was no other option.

So we look at hotels within walking distance. Our options were all at least $250 per night, so we decided to rough it. After all, we would already be spending at least $200 for new tires, and we had already been staying awake until about 6am everyday (watching Harry, Home Alone and the Godfather) and Firestone opened again at 7am, so we decided bum around and bar hop until morning, its not like we had to drive.

After a delicious dinner at Jerusalem Garden we had Turkish coffee and baklava and it was delicious.

We moved on to Bar Louie (pretty uneventful), then to the Raven, where I accidentally set a small amount of my hair on fire, but there was only minor damage. I also saw an antique bottle of Fernet Branca from 1900 and it just so happened that they had Fernet in the bar and Steve tried it and liked it. I think he was Argentine in a former life. We finished the night off with a round of wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and then we retired to the car and waited for sunrise for 4 hours.

When the Firestone Complete Auto Care guy showed up he couldn't get the cap off to put air in the tires and would not order the special tire size for the car. Some "complete auto care". So we called AAA and Brian came to our rescue and towed us to the Discount Tire on Washtenaw and let me tell you, I have never seen people be so cheerful at 8 am about tires. They fixed us up and got us out within the hour. By this time poor Beau had been in his doggie prison for 18 hours with no food, and no water and we felt terrible, so we hurried home to Beau. He quickly forgave us and accepted his new bandana as a peace offering.

Another Medical Mishap

I think I am having an allergic reaction to the Dove soap that I bought here in BA. I told the insurance company that I wanted to make an appointment with a dermatologist. Their response was to email me at 5pm today to let me know that I had an appointment but I had to get there before 8pm. This would not have been a problem other than the fact that I didn't get out of class until 7:30pm. I wrote down the address and I hopped on the #152 and made my way down Santa Fe to the 2400 block. The address is Santa Fe 2472 (they put the street name before the numbers). I hop off the bus and I cross the street to the even side to see the numbers. I see 2470 and I walk further up to find 2472, but all I saw was a corner. It seemed to me that the building did not exist. It was almost 8pm and I was looking for this non-existant building and I was fed up and I just started to walk home.

I have a SUBE card which enables me to pay a lower rate ($1.20 AR) for the bus, but it only had $.70 AR left on it and not shockingly, when I went to reload it, the machine at the Post Office was broken, so I had to pay $2 AR for the bus ride. However, I didn't have enough change for fare back home, so I was gonna stop at a kiosko and get change, but I  didn't feel like it,so I just walked the 15 blocks back home and saved by 2 pesos and got a little exercise. On the way home I bought some Johnson and Johnson baby soap and if that doesn't work....well, we will have to cross that bridge when we get to it.

Day #37

I woke up this morning afternoon and I decided to get a jump start on my homework for Monday (tomorrow). I started with a bit of lite reading on slums for my class on Drugs and Violence in Literature and Arts in Latin America. It turned out to be heavier than I anticipated and I decided to have a spot of tea in the kitchen while I read for a little motivation. I went into the kitchen and put on some water for my tea and I get an orange and a plate and set my books down on the table and I am all set to get to work when my host mother comes in and tells me that I should go in my room and study because she was about to have some tea. Of course I felt awful for not being able to read her mind and I grabbed my things and left the kitchen while she helped herself to the hot water I was going to have tea with. I put on my shoes and I got myself ready to go because I didn't want to let her know how I really felt. I packed up my books and some Oreos Bañadas and headed for the door. When she saw me on my way out the door she looked puzzled as to why I was leaving. I hope that in the 6 hours I was gone it dawned on her that I left because she was rude and dismissive. Ironically, I don't think it did.

So, my adventure began. I decided to go to a park about 3 blocks from my house. I checked the weather and it was about 69 degrees outside, so I wore long sleeves and pants, but I did not know that there were serious winds.

I sat in the park for about 10 minutes before I knew I had to abandon that plan. I could try to find a café (they were all closed because it is Sunday) or I could go home (not happening) or I could explore. I heard tell of a mall 2 blocks from my house and I decided to see if I could find it. It seemed like the most rational choice considering that my house was not an option and it was too cold to stay outside.  I found said mall and also saw some other interesting stuff along the way.

Inside the mall I found a bench near the entrance and I sat there for about 30 pages and then after that I decided to take a break and explore the mall. I window shopped until I saw this store full of gidgets and gadgets that were soo cute! I unfortunately my alarm clock was broken during my voyage to Argentina, so I have been in the market for a new one. I found a super cute one that was only $45 AR, which is about $9.50 USD. Isn't it the cutest little thing you have ever seen?

After that find, I went to the food floor and I went to the tried and true Starbucks and I became the proud owner of a Café Mocha Blanca, whatever that is. It tasted like coffee with sugar and cream.

I decided to head home about at about 8:10 and by that time my host mother had eaten dinner without me and I am having dinner alone, but I think today, I would prefer it that way. Over and out.

¿Shoe Pie for Dinner?

This is a picture of what is for dinner.

 I asked what it was and my host mother replied "Tarta de Zapallitos" (In Argentina the double L is pronounced like a sh, so it sounds like "zapashetos"). My mind went to my internal dictionary and I scrolled through the words in my vocabulary that start with Z. The only thing I could think of was shoes, which is "zapatos", but my host mother always says "zapatitos" which is like saying "shoesies"or "little shoes". I then pointed at my shoes and asked her to confirm that she was telling me that there was a shoe pie for dinner. At this point my host mother and our maid Emmy laughed at me and went to the fridge and showed me some strange vegetable that I have never seen before and said that was the main ingredient in the pie. It is a squash, which is on my list of do not eat foods, but I am going to try it. We will see how it goes. 

 Emmy with a zapallito. She is awesome. 

Bonus Pic: This is the view from my classroom at school. I have crossed 9 de Julio in one light without running. Be impressed. 

The Spinach Scandal

In my homestay I am provided with breakfast seven days a week and dinner five days a week, but I am on my own everyday for lunch. For breakfast I used to have toast, but my host mother kept burning it, and I don't want to eat crusty burnt toast, so I decided to buy some cereal. When the bag that I bought ran out, she bought one like the one I bought and some other kind that looks like frosted mini wheats, but it is stuffed with the gross looking strawberry stuff that I know I am not going to like. Anywho, dinner is mostly meat. Sometimes meat and potatoes, so I decided that I would buy spinach and have it for lunch this week in a salad to get some vitamins and nutrients.

I went off to the fruit stand and I bought a huge bag of spinach, a bag with two romaine hearts and a lemon (for dressing) for 11 Argentine pesos (~$2 USD). The only catch was that the spinach was the dirtiest that I have ever seen in my life. I'm talking visible dirt, roots, just nasty. So I figured it must be extra fresh and I would have to wash it a lot before I ate it. I got home and I showed my host mother my purchases and explained to her that I was going to take the spinach to school for lunch so I didn't have to spend money everyday on lunch and she seemed to understand at the time. She even got me some bowls to wash it in and some newspaper to put it on to dry. I washed and washed like little Cinderella until it was clean and the water was clear. Then I put it in a bag and put it in the vegetable drawer in the fridge.

The two days later I went into the kitchen for lunch after a hard day at school and I was excited about my salad because I bought an avocado the night before and I was excited to have half of it in my salad. I open the fridge and to my surprise, there was no avocado there. I asked my host mother what happened to it and she surmised that my host brother must have eaten it. I could not help but be a little perturbed because she allowed him to eat something she knew she did not buy, but she went out later and bought some more, so I let it go.

The following day I was going to have salad at school so I got up early to pack my lunch and when I went into the fridge to  get my spinach, I noticed that there was a plate already in the fridge with some of my spinach on it that seemed to be leftovers. I thought that was strange, but I went ahead and packed my lunch and went on my way. I had lunch and I had an evening class, so I was happy to get home and eat dinner. When I arrived everyone was waiting for me at the table and as soon as I sat down the maid brought out a bowl of salad, made with my spinach! I could not believe this and I was doing everything I could to stop myself from falling out of my chair. I ate the salad but I kept thinking that maybe they bought some, and mine was still safely tucked in the veggie drawer waiting to be eaten by its rightful owner! To my disappointment after dinner I snuck into the kitchen and there was no trace of my spinach, not a leaf!

I am not sure what to do. What is the world coming to when a woman cannot have spinach in her own house??!! I could talk to them, but I feel awkward about it because they clearly don't think there was anything wrong with eating something they know I paid for with my own money, but I explicitly told her that it was for my lunch, but I don't want to seem like I am selfish, even though it was my spinach. I could just talk to her or write my name on my food, but I don't really think that would do much. I am going to keep my lunch in the fridge at school and write my name on it. I could just write my name on it and keep it at home, but I feel like that is passive aggressive and overtly saying that I have a problem with them eating my food, which I do, but I don't want them to know. I think here are some cultural differences here when it comes to the idea of what is personal and what is communal, but I have a solution for all of this to bypass the awkwardness and confusion of it all. I am going to keep my food in the fridge at school and write my name on it because at least then I don't feel bad about writing my name on it because it is semi public. I just dont want to make waves. I have 3 more months here and I am just trying to keep the peace and not shame Americans everywhere with my selfish ways, but I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Over and out.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

After starting the OotP last summer I was not a fan. I thought the story started out too slow and it took me a year to get past the first 200 pages, granted, I only read it when I brushed my teeth. Nevertheless, I thought it could have picked up a bit faster. After struggling to fit it into my carry on I brought it with me to Buenos Aires and I finished it yesterday. I have to say, the book was excellent. After being so happy about the way it finished, well not necessarily the way it finished because Harry´s life sucks, I was ready to read the next book. Unfortunately, there seems to be a shortage of Harry Potter books in English in Buenos Aires, so I will have to listen to it as an audio book or read it on my computer through Pottermore. I pledged to myself that I would not see the movie until I had finished the corresponding book and now that I have finished the Order of the Phoenix, I decided to see if I could watch it online. I must say I am terribly disappointed in the movie. I cannot say with confidence that the director even read the book!

They changed important plot details, like the fact that the prophecy broke before Harry could hear it and Dumbledore had to tell him what it said, and that he never gave it to Malfoy. Also, they totally botched the entire character of Garwp and made him so much more pacified that an actual giant would be, as if I have personal experience with giants. Also, there was not enough emphasis placed on the emotions that Harry felt after he realized that Sirius was never coming back. Oh! and I have to admit that Dobby is not one of my favorite characters and he is always stirring the shit pot whenever he comes around, but he is always trying to help and they totally snipped him by letting Neville discover the Room of Requirement and not ever mentioning Kreatcher´s betrayal that helped the Dark Lord realize that he should use Sirius to lure Harry. In conclusion, they left out the fact that Hermione knitted all those hats and socks for house elves and as a knitter, I feel like this was worth mentioning because, well hello! KNITTING IS AWESOME! Overall, when it comes to keeping to the plot of the book, the director gets a D-. Get it together. 

A Few Pictures

I have not had much time or internet access to upload pictures, but I have taken a lot of them here. Here are a few of the ones I thought were decent. the top left is a picture of coffee and a media luna, or as we would call it in English, a crossiant. However, they are a bit different here. I am used to seeing them as a sandwich or kind of crusty on top with flaky layers but here they are more of a breakfast or snack food with a very thin but sweet glaze on top. Very delicious. There were also some other sweet treats that came along for the ride.

 The others are of architecture and a statue that I saw in a walking tour of the historic parts of Buenos Aires. Enjoy!