Oh Canada

2004-04-26 / 9:55 p.m.

The Canadian lady is gross at meal times. First of all, she talks with remnants of food in her mouth waaaaay too frequently. I�m not a huge stickler for manners in casual settings, so this is the kind of thing I can excuse every once in awhile, but she does it altogether too frequently. Furthermore, her mouth makes swiggy noises when she chews. I know that �squiggy� isn�t exactly a great description, but it�s gross, trust me. Furthermore, she ate something yesterday that squigged me out more than the chewing sounds. Ante de todo, I need to remind you kinds that I�m probably the most open minded people you�ll ever meet when it comes to food. Most of you probably know me well enough (either from knowing me, or reading me) to know that I�m very adventurous about food. I will try anything that I know is safely edible, and furthermore, there are few things that seem unappealing by sight alone. This makes my revulsion with TheCanadian�s dessert last night all the more surprising. She was drinking her usual after-dinner cup of milk, and decided that she was also going to finish the last of the peach Jell-o (It wasn�t Jello brand, I use �Jello� anyway for readability�s sake. Aren�t we all total tools of branding?). I didn�t take much note of her actions (outside of my mild annoyance that there wouldn�t be anymore peach jello left) until she poured half of her milk into the dish of Jello. Okay, has anyone ever seen anyone consume Jell-o with milk before?! I couldn�t hide my surprise at her decision to mix the two; I had to ask her, �Is that common in Canada or something? Adding milk to your Jell-o?� She claimed that it was in fact, common to add milk or cream to gelatin in her world. I only half believe her. If she is telling the truth, I�m one step closer to agreeing with my mother that Canada is just weird.

My experience with Canada is limited. I went to Toronto in 1999. It was very clean, and the people said �eh� a lot. Their money was fun colors. That�s about the only direct contact I�ve had with the country. As far as Canadians I�ve known�none come to mind except for Se�oraCanada who lives here now. I�m hoping that she isn�t representative of the typical Canadian. Famous people from Canada? The first ones that come to mind don�t do much to improve my thoughts on the country as a whole�.Celine Dion? Alex Trebeck (he�s okay I guess, though he�s always seemed to have a little bit of a supercilious attitude that makes me a little suspect)?

I still really want to visit Vancouver sometime in the next few years, though I guess I�ll probably have to wait until I make some money or something, but whatever. I�m hoping that Vancouver will redeem the nation of Canada for me, because right now, it seems to be a strange place from the things I�ve learned. I mean, seriously�.Milk in Jello?

movies

2003-04-26 / 12:55 p.m.

Not too much to report. Enjoying life in BsAs, but also stressing over midterms and papers to be written over material I don�t completely understand. The next two weeks will be a wing and a prayer that my professors have enough heart not to fail a gringa.

Hillary comes in two weeks. Among other things, we will be spending Saturday kickin� it in Recoleta, and going to see De La Guarda, which is supposed to be crazy. I tried to get tickets today, but they only sell them a week in advance, which means I have to haul my ass _back_ to that part of town sometime after the 1st and pray that they don�t sell out before I get there. I have yet to find a collectivo I like taking to get to the centro cultural Recoleta�The current winner seems to be 132, but this route involves too much walking if its cold or rainy. I�m sure you all care.

132 is a useful bus, though often crowded. It�s probably my favorite. L�nea B is my favorite subte line, because it has the best subway musicians. There are sometimes ambitious musicians who board the trains with amps and equipment and the like. They make my trip from UCA to UBA on Wednesday afternoons more pleasant. Last week, it was a keyboard player and a saxophonist, the week before: electric bass and violin. I always give change to the good ones.

The 6th annual BsAs independent film fest just ended today, so I�ve been to a handful of movies this week. They were showing Avi Lewis� documentary �La Toma�, and I heard Naomi Klein was actually going to be there for a Q&A afterwards, which was VERY exciting. Unfortunately, when I went to buy my ticket (three and a half hours before) it was already sold out. Fuckers, fuckers, fuckers.

I viewed three movies in the fest. The first was a French movie called �No Rest for the Brave.� I hated it, and it isn�t worth wasting time talking about. Went to see one of the Argentine films in the official competition, it was pretty good. It was called �El Amor, primer parte� (Love, part one�.kind of a no-brainer to translate, but I thought I�d throw it out there just in case). It was like a documentary of the creation and decline a fictitious, but believable couple. It had moments that were very funny in a cute kind of way, but it also left me a bit depressed�the moral of the story seemed to be that falling _out_ of love, or being unable to sustain a relationship is common if not inevitable. I�m hoping that I was reading it wrong�because not even I am enough of a pessimist to believe that all relationships are hopeless. The last one I saw, Grimm was definitely my favorite. Started off as a modern re-telling of Hansel and Grettel, but unexpectedly abandons the path pretty early in the movie, and doesn�t turn back. Twisted and weird, it�s the kind of movie that makes you laugh at things you know shouldn�t be funny, generally violent things. The ending was a bit abrupt, but on the whole I really liked the movie.

Anyhoo, the fest was cool. Saw some good flicks, and met some interesting people there. Met one dude who studies film here who�s a real riot. We�ve had some spotty e-mail correspondence since.

Really wanting to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but I haven�t seen anything about it premiering here. As far as things I�ve seen advertised as �pr�ximamente� in the theaters here, I want to see �Goodbye Lenin!� �La Ni�a Santa� and �Roma� (which actually already came out, but it isn�t in any conveniently located theaters at the moment). Also, I�ll probably end up going to see �Troy� when it comes out in may. Humpp�.probably going to see �Harry Potter� here too. I was going to wait until I got home to see it, but now that the Bliss won�t be there, I think I�ll end up going to see it when it comes out here.

hummm�What else. Bought a CD I enjoy: �Bajo Fondo Tango Club.� It�s classic tango mixed with electronica. It�s fun on a bun.

Everytime I think my ankle is pretty much better, I�ll chase a collectivo or move my foot weird, and it starts hurting again.

It�ll be a miracle if I make it though the second half of this trip alive, as I�ve become fond of dashing across streets rather than waiting for the light to change and proper right-of-way.

After five months of limited communication abilities, I predict that in the first few weeks back home I will either talk a lot, or way less than usual.

Argentina has caused me to revert to my old ways of being an alarm hitter. I no longer get up at the crack of dawn with the ease I did at home. Still going to the gym in the mornings three days a week, but I frequently can�t get my ass out of the house before 9:00. This wouldn�t be a problem if I didn�t work so much better in the mornings than at night. I get so much more school work done if I give myself a few hours to get it done before lunch. My brain is generally scattered in the evenings after a whole day of disfruiting, worrying, learning, seeing, hearing, thinking in English, thinking in Spanish�..I can�t concentrate.

I guess the second step (the first was admitting I have a problem) is to go to bed now. Hopefully, I�ll be _back_ from the gym by 9:00, and finish at least one class� worth of reading.

sighs

2004-04-22 / 2:22 p.m.

I know I haven�t updated in awhile, but as I expressed oh-so-eloquently in my last update, school has been difficult. Three (real�Spanish through the program is the 4th) classes, with real live Argentines, and real life Spanish-speaking professors, adds up to a hellofalot of stress and reading and work.

Also, most of the non-school things I�ve been doing aren�t interesting to write about. Disfrutage has occurred, but it has been in the form of appreciating little things. Examples: While I miss the release that driving can give me when I�m in the mood for it, I now love being able to function perfectly well without a car. I like that there are a zillion things in this city that I feel comfortable doing alone. I like fat free crema de queso, something which is similar to fat-free cream cheese, but better. It makes me happy that after a couple of months here, while my Spanish still (honestly) sucks more than anyone I know, I can understand most of the lyrics in Shakira songs.

I love living here, and my family is awesome, awesome, awesome. My host mom kicks ass, I absolutely adore her, and I think she genuinely likes me too. Apparently, she�s hosted some real shitheads from the same program I�m in, and tells me frequently that I�m way better than the average American chicks she�s hosted in the past. We chit chat a lot, which is good practice for me. The only thing I don�t like about the house now is that the Canadian lady moved in. Fortunately, I think she�ll only be here for another week. Good riddance.

Hillary comes to visit in m�s o menos two weeks. I absolutely have to get these stupid papers done by then. Urrrgggh.

That�s about it.

let�s go shopping

2004-04-21 / 10:12 p.m.

School is hard in spanish. ::cry::