I just LOVE this city!
It was another whirlwind weekend here in Buenos Aires...and when I say ‘weekend’ I use the term broadly as the fun begins on Thursday night and doesn’t stop until the early Sunday- morning hours. On Thursday night I was invited to a rooftop asado, gorgeous view of the city, incredible food, wine and champagne. I stayed up till 5 a.m. talking to a friend about relationships, the death penalty, and other light-hearted subjects.
On Friday night I went to the Chemical Brothers concert, which took place in a large field underneath the stars. It was just about perfect until the rain came pouring down in buckets. At first I optimistically saw it as part of the fun, but eventually I gave up and went home in squishy red (fake) pumas.
Saturday was a gorgeous day so I found some time to lay out and read about the history of Argentina, Teorías de la Justicia (yes I do SOME homework from time to time) and a cheesy girl magazine, which I counted as work because it was all in Spanish. That night Danny, my friend from UT Law, was hosting a party at his apartment in the ritzy Recoleta barrio. The size of that lush, lemon-tree-adorned patio was absolutely palatial. We decided to make it a formal event and I was so surprised to see how many people actually came out dressed to the 9s (is that the expression?) We made homemade sangria and enjoyed the cool night breeze, but I had to call it quits when everyone decided to hit up a club at 5 a.m…please, that’s just too hard core for me!
Now we’re back to Monday and I look forward to reading more about Libertarianism and Sucesiones (wills/estates…I think???) Hope everyone has a great week!
Moonlight on the Patio
This picture is kinda messed up, but it relflects the crazy moonlight that we had on the patio- such a beautiful setting. My friend Gretel, from Buenos Aires, is on the right (it was her birthday that night!) and Peter, from Boulder is on my left.
Thomas, Caitlin, Fran and Kelly
From left to right- Thomas (Mexico), Caitlin (New Hampshire), Francisco/"Fran" (Buenos Aires)...
Kelly and Olivier
Here's a pic of me with my favorite French Canadian...
Mother's Day
Feliz día de la madre...that’s right, yesterday was Mother’s Day here in Argentina. I spent the entire day trying to recover from a weekend to remember. I slept, slept, slept, ate an omlette, wore FLIP FLOPS (finally!!), layed out, and watched Kill Bill Volume 2 (reminded me of Hassan).
Yes, yes, this weekend I went out THREE nights in a row- Porteña style, which basically means I stayed out till 5 a.m. Usually I hate to stay out so late- I waste the next day because I’m getting old and it takes me time to recover. Aurélien told me I had too many “personal rules” for myself and that I needed to cut loose just a little bit. I hadn’t even been to a club here in Buenos Aires and I’ve lived here for three months! So, I gave in and it felt great…even though I just turned 25, this weekend I was 18.
Thursday night was drinks and dancing. I was confused for a Canadian girl because a French guy heard my pathetic attempts at speaking/butchering his beautiful language. Friday night I was invited to go to Tequila, apparently it’s an exclusive place here (the type you can’t get into with reservations waaaaaay in advance). When you go to school with the rich Porteño kids that attend my school it’s not too tough to find someone with connections. I was actually complimented on my Spanish that night- “why do you speak so much better than your friends?” Okay, okay, it was probably b.s. but still, it made me smile. The major anecdote from this night was the crazy taxi driver who kept calling me “Candela”, I guess Kelly was too difficult to pronounce. He even sang to me, and did so quite well. The cherry on top was when he told me my eyes were like “miel” (honey). He made me promise to drink maté with him the next day and in my tipsy state I just laughed and pretended not to understand. Well, you guessed it- he showed up the following day asking for the “pretty girl that lives here.” My roommate responded, “we have two!” I stood at the top of the stairs shaking my head and pleading with Raúl to save me. Now he just walks past me in the house mumbling “taxi driver, taxi driver…” and laughing.
Last night my German friend Marcus threw a party that was quite the event. First we went to a designers’ fair near mi casa where I bought some early Christmas presents for my sisters. The party was fun, but I’m ready to get back to classes (including my Tae Bo class tonight!). I haven’t been to a class for about three weeks because we had time off during midterms, “reading days” as we say at UT law. I just hope I passed. Happy Mother’s Day mom, I love you!
un beso
Happy Mother's Day Mom...un beso para ti! (A Kiss for you).
Vacas
A beautiful shot of the country...mud and cattle and windmills, oh my!
Birthday
Gretel is in the grey sweatshirt. The girls on my left are the sisters who own the house.
mi cumpleanos.JPG
Here I am blowing out the candles...all 25 of them.
Feliz Cumpleaños
My birthday weekend turned out to be quite relaxing. Not long after I arrived in Buenos Aires I met a girl in an internet café who had previously lived in the U.S. Her name is Gretel and she has been such a good friend to me ever since the day I met her. This past weekend she invited me to go with her to her best friend’s country house. What an experience! We rode horses , walked around the countryside and looked at the animals: cows, pigs and piglets, ostriches, chickens, and sheep. The house was huge, with plenty of rooms for the 12 people that were staying there, and we kept the fire lit the entire weekend.
On my birthday I woke up late and walked around the property, picked up pecans that had fallen from the trees. Then we had an asado (for the umpteenth time, this is the traditional argentine bbq with every type of meat imaginable). They sang to me and we had a homemade birthday cake…what a treat! If only it hadn’t rained ALL day on Monday, it could have been a perfect weekend!! I learned several traditional card games and we played pictionary…what a challenge in spanish…I was most certainly the weakest link!
We drank maté all weekend long, sweet and "amargo" (bitter). For those of you who don’t know (I guess that’s probably all of you) Maté is extremely traditional here. It is a green tea that they drink practically every day. You see people in the parks, buses, etc. with their maté cups and thermos all day long. I will definitely bring some home for all to try. It’s a great tradition that originated with the gauchos and symbolizes friendship.
Now, it’s back to school…oh wait, I’m off till Monday! This weekend is a Che photograpy exhibit, the movies (I hope) and some city celebration…
Peanut Butter
I want to describe my wonderful trip to Córdoba this last weekend, but I am waiting till I have access to my pictures to do that. So this entry will be dedicated to my mom because she is the one who pleaded with everyone not to send me peanut butter...I managed to track some down, so hahh! I have a friend who was craving it so badly that she went to the American Embassy to find out where she could buy some (see, I am not THAT addicted!) So I broke down and made the trip in order to buy my 1/2 jar of skippy which was in the international isle right next to the seaweed paper and arabic bread. Apparently it´s worth its weight in gold here because I had to pay a pretty (Argentine) penny for it. It was SO worth it even though it wasn´t as good as the natural kind that I eat at home, no sugar added.
Also, I finally figured out how you can call me on my cell phone from the U.S: 011-54-9-11-5388-3009
I have my last midterm in two days and have been dealing with the stress via lots of kickboxing and yoga...and the weather just keeps getting better and better!
October First- this entry is dedicated to Hassan
I have been promising Hassan for two months now that I would get a cell phone and viola...today I finally have accomplished the task. I got really lucky because I am actually under a contract that was signed by a Porteño, so I don´t have to do the whole pre-paid thing that all of the other internationals do (which is waaaaay expensive). I also bought three mini cacti to keep me company because my room is so lonely without music. I have been listening to the same 20 songs that are saved on my MP3 player....my VAIO is in the shop.
Tonight I am off on the night bus to Córdoba, the hometown of Che Guevara. But first, an aperitif to wish my french roommate bon voyage. He is going back to France tomorrow...too bad because I actually have learned more Spanish with French accents then with Porteño accents!!!
Drum roll...number of my new cell phone to follow:
0115411(9)15-5388-3009
The nine i have to check on, it either doesn´t go in the number at all OR it goes before the 11...I will update you as soon as I verify. Until then, you can experiment!!!
Muwah,
Kelly
