a lil unannounced tour

13712 aright, so things are starting to pick up with the weekend coming. woke up early as per normal, and the commuter train got us to school in a record amount of time, we ended up sitting and waiting for about 20 minutes for class to start. class started, and we did a bunch more grammar, i think one of the girls is bumping up, i think after a day, ill grill her and possibly follow. after class Evan and i meandered around looking for food, we found our way to a cafe and i had a cheese and onion empenada, and a meat empenada. while seated 3 separate street venders ambled in and attempted to peddle their wares. Evan had never seen anything like this, i spotted the first guy before he even came in and mumbled some kind of lamentation, the dude walked straight to us, and placed a packet of highlighters and a crappy flashlight on the table, and distributed the same set to each of the tables. i guess so we could inspect it more thoroughly? without feeling pressured by his scrutiny?, anyways, we werent havin it, i shooed him away, and the next, and the next. after the cheesy incident of the ravioli, and the empenada, i had to find some kind of digestive/lactose aid, so we stumbled into one of the many pharmacies in the area and began to look for it. turns out its an over the counter med, not on the shelf, so i had to ask. and while i asked in spanish, the lady responded with english that it was expensive, and it was pretty expensive, something like 19USD for a packet of 10 pills, whatever i needed em. she put it in a safety magnetic theft-proof bag, and i checked out, swallowed a pill dry on the threshold of the shop, and continued to the meeting point for the architecture tour which we had learned of only minutes after class. so this is what i got from that: Buenos Aires doesn't have any colonial architecture like the rest of the spanish american empire, all of its character is copied from Europe, this and its 19th century focus on immigration, makes it a very European city. Until the end of the 19th century, there was a mass consciousness in the world of architecture, which proscribed the italian/french neorenaissance style as the way to go.

Pictured above: Italian and French neoreneissance inside-the-line designed buildings built circa 1870s, also note that shadow covers much of the picture, thats because we were taken an an architecture tour in the late afternoon, during winter, in the southern hemisphere, the sun goes down at like 630... im sorry By 1900, many architects had broken off and began their own styles, like the art nouveau (modern) style. Argentina did not have steel until rather late in the global advancement game hence their lack of turn of the last century tall buildings, early on they bought from the US, gogo Carnegie monopoly.

This statue was originally intended to go to chile, but the argentines grabbed it first, it was the first statue of San Martin in Argentina, which is kinda bananas, cause he is a big deal here. It was commissioned by the chilanos in 1878 to some french artist, but when the argentine ambassador to France heard of this, he orchestrated the delivery to be "delayed" to chile, so it was delivered to argentina while the chilanos waited an additional 6 months for their statue First Reinforced concrete building of Argentina, built in 1932, art deco style. While the inside is designed to look much like the palaces in the immediate neighborhood, so old and swanky and full of hardwood and scrollwork.

this was a the view from that park the statue was in

after this, we went home, did nothing, ate some food, and proceeded to find an entertaining and establishment for the consumption of of the (really overall awful) beers of Argentina. my roomate and i met up with a bunch of the other kids and we stood/sat around chatting and laughing and having an all around good time, well into the wee hours of the morn.

free musuems

12712 another day of class, other than the grammar heaviness of the mid level class, it seems aright, ill stick in it for a while, it sounds like i can still prolly switch out if i so choose later. after class we were taken to an art musuem. we went here ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Nacional_de_Bellas_Artes_%28Buenos_Aires%29 ). ill admit im a lil spoiled when it comes to art museums, but its collection was certainly interesting. the building itself, though over a hundred years old the building wasnt too impressive, the first floor had art from the middle ages through the 20th century, including some famous catz, Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, others. there was also a limited modern art collection on the 2nd (third) floor, but the 1st floor which had all the famous argentine stuff, was closed. i was a little disappointed, maybe ill go back there later and see that stuff. afterwords me and a handful of people wandered around the area, and hopped a bus home, sorry im so lame, im prolly gunna go to sleep shortly, we have exciting stuff going on this weekend, allegedly horses will be involved, stay tuned.

day drinking; not an argentine custom

11712

woke up early for class again, walk to the train station went more smoothly, today after the first break, i bumped up to the next level class. i liked this class more, but, it was a little heavy on the grammar and vocab building, it sounds like the next level up is almost entirely conversational, which is what i want. ill give it another day and see whats up. Claudia says that i should do what i need to do to learn, as this is my last class and grades are less important, and im not going on to more Spanish at NU n whatnot. again, give it a day, see whatsup. after class Claudia took us all to a cafeteria (read with Spanish accent) and purchased us a half-shitton of empanadas of various kinds, chicken, carne (beef), ham and cheese, spinach, all were delicious. also this happened

we then made our way back to class for a brief history lesson on Argentina, in Spanish. it was awesome, reminded me very much of my middle school days, lecture in Spanish, PowerPoint (though that was before PowerPoint, it was whiteboard in my day) in Spanish, it was fantastic. after that a good number of us, (all being of age that is) found our way to a bar and restaurant in the immediate vicinity of the instituto. had a few of the local beers (which were awful by the way, and im not just talking from spoiled experiences in the Czech Republic), and fancy mixed drinks. the place was empty when we got there, and remained empty till we left. i made my way home, screwed around on the internet, ate exquisite home made ravioli (ricotta, Parmesan and ham) now i write this, and will likely get to sleep, as early class times suck, and lone commutes suck more.

and so it begins

10712 class started today, and it sucked. class was aright, but waking up at 7am to GET to class sucked. we got up, i microwaved some water for tea as the stove would take too long, scarfed down some toast, and we got lost on our way to the train station. the train quickly got us to the center of town, and we found our way to the instituto without too much difficulty, and because we got there on time (which is actually early) we waited around some. class started, and i was placed into the intro level, because i managed to NOT take the entrance exam while on my other dialogue (oops). it was a little easy, Claudia our prof said i can pretty easily bump up, ill see how tomorrow goes, talking to people in the upper classes, im pretty sure i could handle that work as well, so i dunno, we'll see. after class me and my roomate and Evan wandered around, and decided to go see the new spiderman movie, we bought our tickets, came out to 40 peso (for 3d) so thats like 9USD. the movie turned out to be dubbed, which is ok, cause its spiderman and didnt rely on dialogue, though i picked up more than enough to follow. I can passively understand more than enough spanish to get by, i just trip up while actively using spanish. anyways the movie was alright, i thought the new spiderman was very much more spidery and comic spidermany, so it was certainly an improvement over the later of the last attempt. after that, came home, eat some steak, and now i am debating whether i should watch a movie and go to sleep, or read a book and go to sleep. sorry for the lack of excitement.

not quite the preakness

9712 Today was Argentine Independence day, there were parades and speeches and stuff, which i caught on television, i was resting most of the day, slept in late, and laid around reading and playing with the kitten. round 4pm my roomate met up with one of the other guys and we wandered around a bunch, found a cafe got some foodz, and continued wandering. we did find ourselves walking by the Hipodromo, the horse track, and there appeared to be a race/races going on. there were a number of gated security ridden entrances, then there was the paupers entrance, we figured we would give it a shot. we wandered in, the place is very swanky, very nice and clean and modern. the track is HUGE, i guess its like a 2 mile track, but it seemed alot bigger. there didnt seem to be anything specific going on as we poked around. we saw there was movement around the stables on the jumbotron, so we figured wed sit and see what happens. turns out, in this FREE area, we sat down right in front of the finish line/winners circle. so, a race starts, and the horses haul ass, and run by us.

they are the blurs on there, my 1080p HD cameraphone had a hard time with it. anyways, the race was close, so they raised the flag saying 8 and 3 were tied for number 1, and then i guess they went to the photo or replay or whatever they do in horseracing, and determined it was 3 that won, a bunch of people cheered, and a bunch more cursed. and the guy trotted forth on his horse for pictures with the owner and press n whatnot.

after this we wandered our way back to our respective homes, our homestay made us dinner, consisting of soup, salad, and some kind of patty, it reminded me of a breaded chicken or veal patty as i have had at home, but this tasted maybe a lil fishy? i dunno what it was, it was real good though. followed this up with more kitten-fighting. and will now read myself to sleep, we gotta be in the center of the city by 830 tomorrow, meaning we gotta be on the train round 740, and outta the apartment by 725. laters

basement hangouts

8712 after sleeping till 230, we got up and farted around the apartment till we had to meet up for the dinner and (as described) tango show at 645. we were to meet at the same hotel, we tried taking the bus, which was an easy and inexpensive ride, but it dumped us off a lil late, we rolled in at 7, BUT all was well cause the bus was like 45 minutes late. so the place was in a basement it looked like a wine cellar, but i think it was engineered to be that way, it didnt look as old as it was trying to look, another touristy type place, little did i know we would get a clusterfuck of Argentine culture that evening. started with dinner, obviously i went with the veal cutlet, and the appropriate Argentine drink to pair it with. the meat was aright, prolly cheaper than what i could have gotten back home, but not necessarily better. for desert i had Peras al Malbec, pears boiled in wine, it was very tasty. after another few minutes, the show started. it opened up with standard tango dancing, the men in their fancy suits (though one seemed to have a faulty cufflink that he adjusted every 45 seconds), the women in flowy sidecut revealing dresses. the dancing was cool, clearly alot of choreography/timing goes into it, as i could see it going horribly awry with a single misstep. there was an upright bass, piano, two violins and an accordion playin the music for said dancing. the next bit was an Evita singing, the people really did love that lady. with people waving flags and handkerchiefs. then came out 4 camposinos, one on drum, another guitar, another miniguitar? (ukeletar? guilele?) and another on varous lutes and flutes, and shakers. their music was interesting, and then a guy came out with spinning noise maker things. they looked like bolas, maybe used for catching particularly insubordinate cows? anyways he spun them, so they just hit the ground, and made a clicking sound, along with the music, and he put on a show. again timing seemed to be very important, with a catastrophe waiting with each misstep. AND THEN some ancient accordionist came out, with some apprentices (thats how you learn to play the accordion right? through apprenticeship?) and the dancers came out and danced somemore, then everyone came out and there was a song with dancing, and it ended, and they kicked us out. we hopped the bus back to the hotel, and then me and the other 4 guys, and 2 of the girls wandered around looking for a bar to have a drink in to end the night. however we walked alot before finding a bar. i was growing despondent. again i say, Buenos Aires has no obvious downtown, or bar area or shopping area or eating area or anything id expect in a big city. there are bars and eateries, and malls n stuff, but they are all in disparate locations. anyways shortly before i ran out of patience and hailed a cab we stumbled onto a place called Unplugged, which specializes in 80s music, awesome. we walked in, and they asked if we speak English (is it that obvious?) and how many were in our party, being 7, they said theyd open the downstairs for us. we went downstairs, had a cute waitress, and proceeded to have a few drinks and play lame drinking games. round 230, we headed home, and went to bed. tomorrow (today lol) is independence day in Argentina, so we will see whatsup.

So you dont party till 2?

7712 Today we met the our host-guy's mother, who is hosting an additional 4 of us. she walked over to pick us up, and take us all to the meeting point in town. this meeting point was Marriot Hotel, quite a swanky place in a swanky neighborhood. we then all hopped onto a bus to get a driving tour of the immediate area of the city. and here are the notes from said tour Buenos Aires was founded in 1536, in an effort to get closer to finding the Legend of the White King, which has something to do with looking for the silver, i dunno the guide lady wasnt too clear. unfortunately after disembarking the Spanish came upon the Pampas, the grass desert, no trees, no mountains, nothing of note, just a bunch of grass, which does not lend itself to building defensible positions,and the native peoples killed them. Those few Spaniards that escaped north left a bunch of their horses and cows, who were subsequently domesticated by the people living on the plains, as you know horses and cows are big fans of plain living. Buenos Aires was then founded again in 1580 as a port for the Spanish American empire, to siphon the copper from Chile, gold from Peru, and silver from Bolivia to the homecountry. On the drive we came upon this

Which is the 3rd largest opera house in the world, helped opera to survive WWII cause you know, Europe was busy being annihilated, and no one else really cares for opera. all the big shots fled here to make more art. Old city hall where the May Revolution was declared.

Also in this square was a cathedral, now dont go expecting anything on par with what was seen on the last dialogue, cause I did, and was a lil disappointed, i actually did not take an pictures of the outside, so gogo wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_Metropolitan_Cathedral )

Mausoleum of San Martin, buried standing, off the church as he was a mason. He's kind of a big deal to Argentina, as he freed a bunch of South America from Spanish Rule 1870s, as Europe ramped up its industrialization/in-infighting, Argentina became the foodbasket for Europe, producing grain and beef/leather to be sold to the Europeans. The rich expanded further west, pushing the native peoples out for more agricultural lands. As this happened the Argentine government needed labor, so they advertised in Europe, promising unlimited opportunity. The poor came, and lived in squalor here in the South of Buenos Aires much as they did back home in Europe. Making the southern part of the city the immigrant section, Russians, Danes, Jews escaping the Pogroms and predominantly Italians (in La Boca neighborhood). Church sponsored by Tsar Nicholas II in Southern Areas of Buenos Aires

Argentina has the largest population of Welsh outside of Whales. There is a famous Irishman who came over during the first war with the English, fell in love with Argentina, and helped to train the Argentine navy, who went on to defeat the British the next time they showed up according to our guide. here is wikipedias version of it ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brown_%28admiral%29 ) The La Boca neighborhood was built of leftover bits of the port. The port itself was the first port of the city, and the only access to the sea the city had, operated until the 1920s when ships got bigger and the port became obsolete. I didnt get any pictures of the area, it was kinda a tourist trap, we will likely go there again at some point, ill get pictures then. We ended our tour in a big fancy cemetery, filled with rich aristocrats, and heroes of the revolution. Evita Peron the Spiritual leader of Argentina through much of the first half of the 20th century is buried here, and there is a big story about her body before coming here. She died, was embalmed her body was stolen (kidnapped?) and kept in a closet for a while, and then shipped to the States, and then given back, and ultimately put in here.

after the tour broke, we wandered around the area, im not entirely sure where the downtown is in Buenos Aires, the city is HUGE, like metro area is 500 sqmi bigger than LA. and in our travels (as i am writing this late, even today) have not taken us to a central place of any kind, no specific bar scene, or downtown shopping area i dunno. the city confuses me. me and 2 of the 4 other guys had lunch at a place and paid waaaaay too much, and then wandered around a craft market. this market had stalls selling leather wares and jewelry and Yerba Mate straws and general Argentine crap stuff. we found our way home by subway, the Subte, and got a lil lost between the station and home. after dinner we went to meet people at a club thing, Club Araoz, which at only admitted grown ass people between 1100-1135 while we stood outside. we ultimately decided to walk elsewhere to the closest thing i have seen to a barscene here. the square had like 4 bars/clubs around it, we (me, my roomate and 10 of the girls) went into one place at midnight, which didnt pick up till like 130, then we went to a club and danced n partook in various beverages n whatnot till like 445, at which point we went home and slept through most of the day.