86 views!

Hot damn! This blog website shows my statistics about how many views my blog gets and I have acquired 86 views within the past 2 weeks! As cliche as this is about to be: You like me! You really like me! haha


Anywayssssss, I am sitting at home on a saturday night for a few reasons:
1. There are elections tomorrow and I guess people take them very seriously...aka they stopped selling alcohol at noon today (mind you the elections are TOMORROW). Why spoil my fun 24 hours in advance? Rude.
2. I need a break.
3. My señora made homemade empanadas. (as quito always says:) PUM!!!

There is much to report. I am going to make an outline so I don't forget...
1. Class Schedule
2. Interviews
3. Language differences
4. Empanadas, Pizza, and ham and cheese
5. what I did today
6. What I am doing next week

Chapter 1: Class Schedule
What a hot mess. Seriously, though. Latin America does not know how to keep things simple and easy. In fact their definition of easy is "the more complicated, the better!" What a terrible definition, I know. So after a week of extremely stressful situations, I have a preliminary schedule (preliminary because if I fill out a bunch of paper work and make multiple office trips, I can still change my schedule to add or drop classes. I guess that's sick?).

Luenes/Monday:
11am-1pm: Spanish with my program (IES)
3-4:30pm: Argentine Poetry (IES)

Martes/Tuesday:
5-8 pm: Argentine Literature (IES)

Miercoles/Wednesday:
11am-1pm: Spanish with my program (IES)
3-4:30pm: Argentine Poetry (IES)
6-8pm: Internship Seminar (IES--Joke of a class)

Jueves/Thursday:
11am-1:50pm: La lenguaje de photográfica (UCES-local university; It is essentially a photo class)
                   (and no, mother, I know you are thinking I just busted out another annette-ism, but alas, you are wrong! (haha, I love saying alas...so entertaining!) It is not photografia, here they specifically told me it was photografica. I have the syllabus to prove it! Win for Annette!)
2-6 pm: taller de pintura, nivel III (UMSA-local university; I will be paiting with real argentines!)
7-9pm: Etica professional (UCES; Ethics class...I need one for Santa Clara and I figured, why not?)

Viernes/Friday:
LIBRE!
FREE!


I know it is a heavy load for being abroad, but I did that on purpose. This next week I plan on selecting which ones I like best and dropping 1-3 of them (I am in the position where I can do that). I have a feeling I will drop the painting class because painting requires soooo much time that I just do not have and I am not about to produce half-assed art. That just will not happen.
I will post my final schedule at the end of next week!

Chapter 2: Interviews
I had one interview with Round Table on Responsible Soy and it went splendidly well! So well that they offered me the position, actually! I have yet to accept it because I want to hear back from the other potential internship, but I think this would be really a really great experience. I am hesitating for two reasons, though. The first is that I would be doing a lot of administrative work and only be exposed to the same 6 people day in and day out. Not that they aren't nice people, but they are kind of old and dull. It is just not as appealing as the other job, even if it would be great for my resume. It's the sad truth, but I am in Argentina, I am not looking for the mundane, I am looking excitement! I want to be swept off my feet everyday! Which I have been thus far, but that internship sounds like a drag. Plus, they have some cracks in their infrastructure. I won't go too much into it, but I just noticed that there may be some details they don't seem to concentrate on that I consider to be important. We will see, though, it would be an amazing opportunity that I am definitely not ruling out!
The other interview went well, but I was disappointed because to save time, they did group interviews. It just wasn't as personal as I would have liked and for that reason, I don't think I stood out as much as I could have. I still think I made myself noteworthy, but I have many traits and interests that I think would have been of interest and value to them that I just did not have as good of an opportunity to expose. I tried, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't as successful as it could have been. It is a cool company, though. They focus on making public the underground music/art scene in Buenos Aires. They are starting to focus a little more on more marketable things, like what tourists can do once they get here, but they still have the underground feel and focus. I would still be doing a lot of administrative work, but its with awesome people and I would have awesome connections to the social world of Argentina/South America!  How can I resist!? haha It is just much more alluring than the other.

Chapter 3: Language
I feel like I am definitely improving, but in the constant presence of spanish, I have picked up a few things:
1. Argentines speak spanish as though they have are speaking spanish with an Italian accent. Every thing is WAY more dramatic. For instance, in Mexico you would say "No quiero ir al boliche (club)." in a pretty fluid rhyme. In Argentina, you would say it more like this "no QUIERO ir al boliche!" It is just melodramatic if  you ask me. haha They also pronounce the "ch" like "sh"...so annoying. They do the same for the double L's (calle: Mexico: "Caye" Argentina "Cashe"...how the hell am I supposed to understand that!? Especially when they just decide to throw in the accent to words that that rule doesn't even apply to!? RUDE!) It makes life extremely challenging.
2. VOS. What the hell. You use "vos" when you are asking something about a person ("A vos os gusties[?] ese coche?"--Do you like that car?) you say "tu" when it is about an object ("Es tu coche?" Is that your car?). Que horror. I don't know. It is very confusing and unsettling, though. Here, you only always refer to children as "tu." With adults that you are trying to show an extreme amount of respect (aka an elder or the president were the two examples given), you use "Usted", but aside from that, you use "vos." You can see why I am unsettled. If I say tu, it could be taken as an insult but as usted, I could be indirectly insulting them by saying they are old enough to be referred to as "usted"
Conclusion: Vos sucks, they're over-dramatic, and pronounce things incorrectly. Hence, I will be sticking to my version of spanish (a perfect blend of annette-isms and Mexican spanish--my host family says I speak with a heavy mexican accent...they giggle but I'd much rather speak like a mexican than an argentine...no offense to all of the argentines...)

man i dont feel like writing anymore.
emapandas are divine. particularly homemade ones.
pizza here blows the pizza in the states out of the water. yay for italian influence.
Ham and Cheese here...a staple in latin america--BLOWS. They're ham SUCKS. they only place that I have actually enjoyed ham and cheese is at a starbucks! (sad, I know, but it was quick, cheap, and convenient... don't hate.)
We found awesome parks today. and a fair and other cool stuff.
we are planning a trip to Uruguay for this upcoming weekend. We have monday off for some random holiday and we might as well hit the beaches in Colonia!

ok, buenas noches Buenos Aires

(but really, they are lying to themselves by calling the city Buenos Aires...the air here sucks. My lungs hate me. Everyone smokes and the cars are definitely not up to american standards...they should consider changing it to "Malas Aires" o "Buenos Aires...afuera de la cuidad" new motto, what?

ok 4realz, good night all.
annette