schwarzenegger cup of noodle

2000-04-09 / 11:08 a.m.

Quick quick quickity quick:

Having a great time here. It�s a holiday weekend, so there�s been stuff abounding. I�m spending the day out doing various things today, tomorrow I�m spending the day in Colonia, and Sunday I�m going to a soccer match. I�ll make sure and post about all the coolness sometime next week. Te prometo.

In stateside news, I found out yesterday that I have an absurdly good housing number: two. Jubilation. If things go as they should, I assume that I will get the room I want: A split loft single on the first floor. �Que divina!

Chau. Feliz Pascua.

best. referral. ever.

2004-04-08 / 9:28 a.m.

Today, there was a link to my journal posten in LeeboZeebo Adventures. How cool! Like a giddy school girl, I couldn�t help checking my stats. Looking at my referrals, I noted that someone arrived at Elcielo by Google searching: "schwarzenegger cup of noodle." What they were looking for, I know not; however, when one searches schwarzenegger cup of noodle, my page is the first result. Huzzah!!

wait a second...all these classes are in English?

2004-04-06 / 9:20 p.m.

For the love of cheese and crackers�I did not think that registering for classes at The College would be such a hassle in this beautiful digital age we live in. It has been a pain in the ass times three and I�m not even DONE. Furthermore, it seems that my department blew its proverbial load in offering interesting seminars this semester, and next fall the offering is pretty dull. Ducks. Excuse the terribly vulgar imagery I just attributed to the Political Science department�I�m just disappointed that I happened to go abroad the semester that two of my favorite professors offered super-interesting classes. J Actually, all things considered, I�m fairly pleased with my schedule. Not unlike the anal retentive grasshopper who worked through the summer while his pal the ant fucked around, I�m in for fairly smooth sailing this winter. I could get by with just taking fewer hours, but I think I�d just get bored. Rather than cut my hours, I�m just taking some stuff for fun. As it stands now, fall will be: US foreign relations since 1945, Latin America in Film (a Spanish class), strength training (my last requirement in college, god help the American educational system), either Marx and Rethinking Marxism, or Globalization in Latin America, and Creative Nonfiction. The last is an absolute gift to myself. Granted, it�s not an easy class (I�ll probably use my remaining pass/fail on it, actually), but it should be fun as all get out. Basically, I�ll be taking a class where I�ll be writing the same kind of stuff I write on my own anyway. I anticipate writing some kickass journal entries as I take this one. In the spring, I�m going a little more slack, as I�ve got my big, bad, senior capstone stuff to do. So there�s that�specific topic TBA. In addition, I�m going to take either intro to statistics or macroeconomics, and hopefully do a for-credit internship/research paper. Hell, and if I can get in before it fills up, I think I�m going to take introduction to drawing�because, well, I like to draw. Why the hell not, no? Might as well get my money�s worth in my last year of school.

In other news: I think my ankle is finally improving�.though it�s one step forward, two steps back half the time. It hadn�t been hurting much at all lately�until yesterday when I tried to chase down Bus 132 before it left the stop. That hurt like a mother afterwards (though I caught the bus!). I�m hoping that after a few more weeks of babying it, it�ll be all better. I hope hope hope hope to be able to start getting back into running the first week of May. I want to come home in July an improved chick in every capacity possible, and that includes still being able to run a couple of miles without falling over dead at the end. Still, I can hear the cautionary advice forming now, and I�m going to preempt it: don�t worry; I�m going to start up again slow. I realize that if I keep giving myself dumb minor over-use injuries, they�re going to pile up, and I�m going to have to quit for longer than a few weeks.

Pregunta

2004-04-06 / 4:25 p.m.

More than a few people have told me that they don�t check my page very often, because it isn�t on livejournal. I�ve come up with two solutions, and I would like your opinion on whether either of them are worth carrying out. I can either A) post an update to my LJ account whenever I update here or B) created a notify.com list that will send any interested parties a little reminder when I update. What do we think? Should I even bother? Comment on Le Forum, or E-mail me at my new home for non-official correspondence:

revelation

2004-04-06 / 4:18 p.m.

...hey...why the fuck does the clock on my laptop say its an hour later than it is?! That�s right! she thought daylight savings time. Along with not having April Fool�s day, BsAs also does not have the crappiness of changing the clocks twice a year. This works out to my favor though, as now I guess I�m only one hour ahead of the Atlanta folk.

El fin de semana

2004-04-06 / 10:38 a.m.

This weekend is getting expensive. Expensive is, of course, a relative term here. While I�m spending more pesos than I do in an average weekend, it�s comforting to remember that an expensive weekend here isn�t as bad as an expensive weekend at home. And on what are all these pesos being spent? you ask...here we go:

Friday started out normal as normal can be. Went to Pol�tica exterior Argentina en la UCA (8:30-10:30), came home, went to the gym, ate lunch, showered, and got all dressy-schmessy to go to the Opera with my opera-themed spanish class. But before the opera, I went to try a class (the last class I�m going to try, BTW) en la UBA. This was the big name-dropping class taught by the Nobel Peace Prize winner. (and fuck you, auto-correct, for making "Nobel Peace Prize" into "Novel Peach Prize") I dunno, um, I mean, Mr. NovelPeachPrize was absolutely fascinating to listen to, even if it was only just the opening lecture�but I wasn�t terribly impressed with the class as a whole. I don�t think I�m going to take it, as there�s another UBA seminar I like more. Added bonus, I went to class dressed up to go to the opera and looked really stupid.

I planned on leaving early enough to take the Subte and walk the few remaining blocks to the opera, but Dr. NovelPeachPrize waited until way past midway through class to give a recess, and I didn�t feel like leaving while he was speaking. No problem though, "it isn�t that far" I thought, "I�ll just take a cab." So I walk outside of the building and to the corner to hail a cab, and I can already tell something is wrong. A bazillion cabs are going down the road, and not a single one has it�s "libre" (free) light on. Granted, it was Friday night at peak time�but I was on an important street, and there are generally plenty of cabs to go around. I walked up a few blocks, and finally found a cab in the process of letting some people out. I dashed into the back seat just in the nick of time, as about three other people had the same devices in mind, and were right at my heels. Once I gave the driver my destination, I started listening to the news on the radio and discovered the source of the insanity: the subway workers were striking, and all the trains had been stopped for the last two hours. It�s around the time that everyone is coming home from work, and there is no subway. Insanity. Busses are so full of people that they�re just passing by stops, and there isn�t a cab to be found. The story about the strike is actually pretty interesting (to me), but I doubt there are a whole lot of you itching to hear about the deatils, so I�ll continue recounting my Friday night.

So I was lucky, and got to the Opera in time. Many other folks did not. We went to see a very modern adaptation of Verdi�s MacBeth at Teatro Avenida. It was only my second opera, so it�s hard for me to judge its quality. It was fairly enjoyable, but I�m eager for the next opera excursion which is located at the super-famous, super-quality, Teatro Colon. Afterwards, a couple of the cool kids in the program invited me out for a drink with them. Me soprend�I thought I had a fairly solid reputation of being weird and anti-social with the study abroad program populace, but they seemed genuinely interested in my company. How�s that for parallel universe? (afterthought: It might even beat the insanity of me with straight hair�but I digress (again)). Going out with people from the program isn�t something I do a lot. Not that there aren�t tons of nice, interesting, fun people, but I tend to feel kind of out-of-place. I�m not sure why, as I�m not exactly what you�d call even remotely shy or timid. Friday was a different story, what I wanted Friday night was distraction. I didn�t feel like going home alone and thinking, thinking, studying, thinking, thinking in my room until I fell asleep. Thus, I threw caution to the wind and went out. It was fairly successful.

We went to a bar in Palermo. You might remember from a few entries back me mentioning how much I like Palermo, but I hadn�t been there at night before. The evening bar scene was nice and tranquilo. We went to one bar with a divine little porch outside and sat outside and chatted, then went to another that had live Jazz. Caipirhinas (sp?) were imbibed (mmmmmm), music was enjoyed, words were exchanged�and in true Buenos Aires style, time flew by. Before we knew it, it was about 4:00 am. Honestly, BsAs is like bizarro-world in this capacity. I am not the type to stay out super late, but here you don�t even notice how late it�s getting because the whole world is still out. It is completely normal to hang out in a bar or caf� or restaurant or whatnot until 4 am-ish, and in clubs until 6 am-ish. All things considered, it was an above average night.

Saturday, my inability to sleep-in kicked me in the face, and I was up and about by 9:00 am. Son of a bitch. Nine. Nueve. No matter what language you�re speaking, that�s too freaking early when you don�t get home until 4:30. Saturday was way hot. Way way hot. I�m from Atlanta and I love hot weather�so if it�s too hot for me to be comfortable, something is rotten in the state of BsAs (it�s a province not a state, but who�s counting?). Apparently, this heat wave is absolutely unprecedented here�the hottest first week of April in the last 130 years or something like that. Literally�this is not my general Emily hyperbole. I spent most of my day working on a mountain of reading for class with a fan aimed directly at my face. When the sun went down, the heat abated a bit, and everyone was in better spirits.

Simon and I went out to have a beer at El Nordin. Simon is the 30 year old Brit who is renting a room downstairs, and El Nordin is a super friendly, small, cozy little bar down the street. Simon and I have a common bond in that we both are less-than-good at Spanish, and speak the same native language (well, almost� Simon "speaks British" in the immortal words of Steven). I know I shouldn�t be hanging out and speaking English, but it�s a much-needed break sometimes. El Nordin is fantastic; I�ll have to take some pictures sometime. It�s run by a Moroccan dude who is incredibly nice. I�m always impressed when people remember my name, so when we went there for the second time, and he greeted us with an enthused "Hola! Simon! Emmy!"�well, ::sob:: he "had me at hello." The d�cor is simple and reminiscent of the mosques I�ve seen pictures of in southern Spain�there�s an adorable semi-covered porch with a fountain in back with ivy running up the walls and a bit tile work on the floors and walls. It�s always dark and cool and fairly sedate, I prefer it to the super crowded popular bars I�ve been to in the center where there isn�t a space to sit down, much less have a conversation with someone. The only waitress I�ve seen is also super cool. She�s young and pretty and sings Jazz there on Friday nights. She keeps a cat there, Fidel, who sits on the end of the bar and stares at you. She talked to me about going to Cordoba (Argentina). She�s from there, and gave me advice on places to see when I go. It�s a unique place, I like it.

This is getting long, isn�t it. Wow. You might want to take a break now�take a stretch, get a soda�whatever

Intermission.

***

ready? Okay.

Sunday after lunch, I went to San Telmo�the barrio known for its Sunday antiques fair and Touristy Tango shows. I took the number 26 there, which was a bus I hadn�t ever taken before�and Sunday was a peculiar time to become acquainted with route number 26. San Telmo is very close to the barrio La Boca�.Other than its brightly colored houses, Boca�s claim to fame is being home to one of the most popular (and enthusiastic) football clubs: The Boca Juniors. Because I don�t really follow football all that much, I was unaware that Boca was playing in their home stadium Sunday. Oh man�I swear I could hear the bus coming before I saw it. I boarded the Collectivo, and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was instantly assailed with a flood of blue and bright yellow (Boca�s Colors). It was like a big, happy, mosh pit. Instead of the usual fuzzy murmur of talking one usually finds on a bus, the whole bus was (loudly) singing (in unison) team songs, keeping the beat by beating on the ceiling of the bus. Several times, we passed by men on corners waving the colors of the day�s opposing team. At time point, everyone near a window would lean out, flipping the bird and shouting various insults about their mothers. Absolutely wild.

The antiques fair in San Telmo was also superfun. I bought an antique magazine ad for mate. It depicts a woman looking more than a little wired, drinking mate, and talking about how this particular brand of mate is so good, that you just want to drink it all day. The ad also expounds on the nutritional benefits of mate, which amuses me. I also bought some dangly clip on earrings from the 40�s that are very glamour.

Okay, that�s about it. I�m tired of writing and need to haul my laundry o�er to Laverap. Chau!

�planchita!

2004-04-05 / 9:35 p.m.

okay...now, I know I promised you a real entry next...but this is just too insane. To those of you who know me in real life, and have seen my hair, you know that it�s pretty freaking curly. Every attempt to straighten it has pretty much been a disaster, and a few years ago, I just resigned myself to living with the curls. Not anymore, dude. I now really do believe that anything is possible in Buenos Aires. ha!

�C�mo se dice "sucks"?

2003-04-05 / 11:19 a.m.

Heh. I wrote a looooong ass entry, and it was good too...really good. Unfortunately, I left my diskette at home, so it�ll be up later today or tomorrow. Come back, read it, disfrutar it. Lol.

Today is a national holiday for Malvinas Day (which was actually Friday, but whatever). This means that tons of stuff is closed, and I can�t find anything to do. I think I�m going to go to the movies and see Mi Vida Sin Mi today, which looks depressing, but the newspaper said it was uplifting...so we�ll see.

Oh. My. Gawd. One of my favorite 12% Beer members is posting in MY FORUM. I need a moment...::faint::

I can�t seem to find a word in spanish that is equivalent to "sucks".

Enough of this. I´m not inspired to write in the locutorios, and because I´m writing this on an international keyboard, its probably going to end up full of nonsense characters. ºª!çÇÐ+Ê....To the movies. Entry later, te prometo.

lo explicar�

2004-04-03 / 2:46 p.m.

So yeah. I assume the, oh, three people left reading this journal know what happened. �that Joe broke up with me on Monday. I care not to rehash the circumstances here, for those who need detail, I will refer you to his journal. For any of the mutual friends, generally interested, or the avid online diary readers who keep up with the journalistic exploits of both Joe and I: While our breakup it isn�t something I really want to write about, I do want to make it clear that I bear no ill will toward Joe. I�m not angry, and I don�t resent him�I couldn�t if I tried, as he is one of the most incredible and fascinating human beings I�ve encountered in my lifetime, and he has enriched my life significantly. Furthermore, I respect him for the decision he made, and I�m sure it was a difficult one. Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I value honesty, even when it isn�t the easy route. I hope that after a little bit of time, he and I can start over, and build a new kind of relationship, as I can�t imagine life without him. What happened is no one�s fault; it�s just one of those shitty things that happens in the course of human interaction. Broken hearts are an occupational hazard of being an individual with feelings and a soul. Not that it doesn�t hurt more than I know how to express, and not that it won�t continue to for awhile�but�(pens� en Forrest Gump) "That�s all I have to say about that."

That said, the earth will continue spinning no matter what happens between Joe and I. Time will not stop for me to spend time being sad. Whether I lie in bed, crying and eating alfajores, or get off my ass and live life, roughly the same things will occur in the world around me, and furthermore I still won�t be able to change what happened. I�ve made my decision between the two routes, and I�m not about to miss a second of life in Buenos Aires. Things like this are always better when you can distract yourself, and I couldn�t be in a better locale for distraction. Gah�I�m running in verbal circles�what it boils down to is this: I�m sad, hurt, all kind of sorry adjectives; but I can�t dwell on them, as it�s a waste of time and life is quite short. I�m a resilient chick. When I get home, I�ll be starting over in a lot of ways�in more avenues than just my love life�and that�s scary as hell. I�ll also have a lot to think about, a lot to sort through, a lot of important decisions to make�but it�s also three months away, and I�ve got a lot of South America to soak up in the meantime. There�s a great word here, a verb: disfrutar. Disfrutar is kind of like "to enjoy", but I think the meaning is a little broader. No just "to enjoy", but to really relish experiences, and to reap the benefits of them. I�m not exactly on the path to being a huge breadwinner in the future, and this could be my only chance to see a different part of the world. I need to really really really take advantage of it, all of it. every. single. second. Some days are good, and some suck, but it�s all part of the experience. Maybe the distance isn�t so bad after all. I mean, ignoring and denying problems is one thing, but having some space from them for a few months isn�t as bad, is it?

That said, regular entries will start up again soon, as I�ve got lots and lots and lots to say. In the realm of my academic life: I�ve finally picked out a schedule. I�m taking very interesting classes at two different schools: The private, religious, conservative and fairly affluent Universidad Cat�lica Argentina; as well as the public, dirty, VERY prestigious, VERY rigorous (and more than a little bit Marxist) Universidad de Buenos Aires. Honestly, the two couldn�t be more different, and it�s absolutely fascinating be able to take political science classes at both. And personally? I can honestly say that after a mere 6.5 weeks, I�ve learned an immeasurable amount of things about this city, this country�it�s culture, it�s problems, it�s paradoxes, its (somewhat indefinite) national identity. What�s more, I�ve learns tons about myself as well. It�s funny what pushing your limits can teach you. Gah. It�s hard as hell, but rewarding.

I am going to be okay.

Me, disfrutar-ing the beautiful weather and mate on my roof.