Mi ultimo dia

The last day here...

First of all, Happy Anniversary to my parents (yesterday), Happy Birthday to Abuela(today) and Happy Birthday Mom (tomorrow).

Today is my last day here, I leave for the airport in 6 hours. The past 5 months went by fast! I remember the day my plane touched down 5 months ago, on a rainy day wondering to myself how the next 5 months will go by. I have really enjoyed my stay here with my host family, taking classes at the Universidad del Salvador and meeting new friends from all around the world. My Spanish has improved and I now have a lot more respect for international students. I am eager to get back to the States but at the same time I am really getting comfortable with going out on my own and holding conversations with people in Spanish. If I could stay another 5 months without having to do things with a program and without being able to use English as a crutch to fall back on.

I am also really blending in as an Argentine now. When I first arrived, as long as I didnt speak, nobody could tell I was an extranjero. Once I opened my mouth people could tell. Now I can go through the ferias or the streets and not get hustled by the tourist trappers. I used to meet people and they would ask me where I am from, now its how are you doing and what do you think about the last cancha de Boca Juniors. If people can tell Im a foreigner they usually guess I am from Puerto Rico or Brazil.

When I get back I will want to tell some stories about my time here so feel free to find me and we will talk. If you ever want to come to Argentina, well Buenos Aires, let me know and I will offer some advice on where to go, what to see, what to eat and when is a good time to come to the city.

Well I guess this is it for my last blog post in Argentina. I still have some stuff to post on the blog when I get back to the states and have a steady internet source so keep an eye out on the blog, and hopefully I will be able to return to Buenos Aires and update you guys with some more neat things around the city.

Chau

Last Thursday in BsAS

Hey guys,

I just wanted to write to you informing you what I have been up to as I sit here and enjoy these last few days in the city. This past Sunday I went back to the San Telmo feria to look around and see what they had for sale and see what kinds of entertainment they were offering. I saw some of the same tango shows and puppet shows from three months ago but also saw an art exhibit in the street. One street was broken up ready to be cleaned and repaved and I guess the workers decided to finish up the job on Monday so they left it there. Some guy decided it would be a great opportunity to make it an art exhibit. It was pretty neat.

I then walked down to Plaza de Mayo where the Casa Rosada is located and found out that the Casa Rosada was open for visitors to walk through! The government put on an art exhibit inside of the building, celebrating the 25th anniversary of democracy in the country and beginning the bicentennial countdown for 2010. The Casa Rosada is a very nice building inside and I was glad I could see parts of it. Now only if I could get a tour of our own White House that would be great!

Monday I said goodbye to two friends. We all went out to eat at a pizza spot in Palermo. They had what are called pizza boats, which are pizzas, in the shape of boats with a sail and fries. I dont have pictures of these boats but some friends do so I will post them once I get them.

Finally, today I finally saw a graduation celebration. I had always heard of celebrations here for college graduates in which their friends throw eggs at the graduates to celebrate. (Its an Argentine thing) I saw 8 people lined up outside of the University of Buenos Aires today, covered in eggs, chocolate syrup, flour, sprinkles, pretty much any cooking product you can think of was thrown on top of them. Weird right?

Zoo

HOOOLLLAA!

Im now in my last week here in Buenos Aires! I leave in 4 days. I am a excited to leave and get back home to see my family after 5 months but at the same time I really enjoy the nice summer weather here. For the past few months I have wanted to go to the zoo here in Buenos Aires and finally got my chance on Friday, and it was free! You can get into the zoo for free if you take your passport to a small side entrance located almost in the back of the zoo. Show your passport and student ID and you can get in for free. The zoo was nice to see, I cant remember when the last time was I went to the zoo. I was actually impressed by the zoo and how well kept it was. I put the pictures up online in Picasa, the link in the top right corner of the blog

Argentine Oreos

When I arrived here 4 and a half months ago I searched for some snacks I enjoy eating in the States and ran across Oreos. Oreos dont come in large packs here like they do in the States, they come in individual packs of ten but arent as good as the ones in the States and can not be found as double stuff. Within the past few weeks I have ran across some other forms of Oreos here which are delicios, haha. My host mom bought me some Oreos covered in chocolate and they were very delicious. Then I ran across some Oreo Alfajores and decided to try one. I was amazed, three large layers of Oreo cookie covered in chocolate. I will definitely miss these two versions of Oreos when I return to the states. Less than two weeks to go

Futbol!

Yesterday I went over to Belgrano to a futbol game put on by the church I go to down here. I dont know who the teams were but they werent the big teams down here but it was fun to watch the game at a soccer stadium that held a little over 7000 people. Entrance was free as long as you brought some non-perishable items for the people in Formosa, Argentina. There will be a group from the church going up there in the next few days to give all the stuff to some people up there for Christmas. I took a couple shirts and a sweatshirt over to donate and had a blast. It was hot yesterday but fun and I enjoyed it. Now I cant say I never saw a soccer game while here. Next time I visit I will make sure I see a professional game although from what I hear they are very dangerous to attend which would probably make for a good story.

Restaurantes sin carne??? no puede ser

This past Friday I met up with a Venezuelan friend from one of my classes down here. My host mom wasnt cooking so she gave me 20 pesos to eat that night. All of my COPA friends were out of town so I decided to see if my friend wanted to go out. I met up with her in Palermo Soho, a nice area of Palermo where you can find just about anything to eat for decent prices too. She asked if I had tried Hindu food before and I didn't believe I did so we went to a spot called Krishna, un "pequeno restaurant vegetariano". We arrived at Krishna and sat down in one of the two rooms they had. The spot was decorated with various religious artwork and the tables were very small with small chairs. The waiter made a comment on how small the table looked with me sitting there. We got the menus and I immediately realized there was no meat offered, at all!!! Sure, they had tofu and all but no real Argentine carne. After a few minutes of asking what some of the stuff was, I settled for a typical Thai plate called Plato Thai. It consisted of beats, white rice, some sort of rice mixed with vegetables, a spicy sauce, fried zucchini and a tortilla. To my surprise it was verrrry delicious. For drinks we had some sort of lemonade concoction, real lemonade with I believe ginger mixed in, I could be wrong though.

I just wanted to let all of the veggie lovers out there that there are places to eat in BsAs that caters to everyone. Krishna was packed and the food was great but if you are tall make sure you stretch because sitting down on the small chairs at a small table can hurt after a little while. The pictures of the food and restaurant will be up on my link to Argentine Photos in the top right hand corner of this blog in the Palermo album

Chau

Lomo a la mostaza

Above is a picture of the delicious mustard steak I wrote about in a post a few months ago. A couple weeks ago, one of my friends invited a few of us out to eat with her parents and we decided to grab some food at Desnivel, the spot with the most delicious steaks in the city (my personal opinion). Just like last time, the steak fell off of my knife as I cut it. VEEEERY delicious :)