Not so simple Simon

2004-06-27 / 3:16 p.m.

It wasn�t long ago that I finally got the whole story on Simon, but it�s a pretty interesting one. I would like to follow his example one day, should I be at a point in my life where it would work out well. Simon graduated college and job right away, but he was working on a particular project and knew he would probably be obsolete after it was over. For five years, he worked on this project for BMW. He made good money, and was given a new company car every few months. When the project was over, while they sadly took his BMW away, they gave him very very generous severance pay. Between that pay, and some money he had saved up he had more than enough to take some time off working. He decided to travel South America and learn Spanish. It seems to have worked out really, really, well. When he came here he didn�t speak a word of Spanish�English, and really excellent French�but no Spanish. He came to South America, took Spanish classes for several months, traveling without definite plans. He was originally only planning to spend 3 weeks in this house in Buenos Aires, but he grew fond of Buenos Aires�particular the soccer�and decided to stick around. He�s now thinking of staying even longer in Buenos Aires after he travels a bit more�.getting a trabajo en negro somewhere and continuing to live here for a few more months. His plane ticket back to jolly ole� England is good until the end of September or something like that. I think he feels a lot like I do�kind of without roots anywhere and without a whole lot of reason to rush back home. He misses his little sister a lot, but his best friend moved away not long ago, and he and his special lady are no more. He seems kind of dull at first, but it�s just because he�s quite and kind of shy. When he gets a little more comfortable, it�s apparent that he�s really interesting�though with a terribly dumb sense of humor. For someone who initially comes across as vanilla boring as Simon, he�s done an incredible amount of world traveling. I�m going to miss Simon, he�s a good guy.

Subway Stories

2004-06-27 / 3:15 p.m.

In the subway cars in Buenos Aires, there are often people selling things, performing, or giving out cards or leaflets in an attempt to make dinero. On occasion, I give a few monedas, but not all that often�but yesterday was an exception. A little boy was handing out little cards, almost like valentines, that are meant to give to others. So he put one on my lap. I didn�t notice it at first: I was too absorbed in my copy of the bus guide, trying to unlock the mysteries of route 111. So after I learn that 111 could actually be useful in a voyage from Puerto Madero to the mall, I go to put my guide away and prepare to give the little card back to the boy. Thankfully, I happened to look at the little card before I gave it back and left. It is the most bizarre Valentine�s-Day-esque message ever. Alongside a frightening cartoon character that looks kind of like that monster that Honey Combs cereal devised for those �me want honeycombs� commercial, it reads: �Me gustar�a ser bizco para mirarte dos veces.� Holy ducks. For those of you keeping score at home, that translates to: �I wish I were cross-eyed to be able to see you twice.� Nothing like a mild ocular disability to make into a piropo, eh? Anyway, something about it was just indescribably hilarious to me�How could I not give the little guy a moneda for that?

Speaking of mild ocular disabilities and the Subway (that segue deserves applause)�.Friday night, Simon and I were waiting on the platform for l�nea A and chatting when an old man came up to Simon on his other side and started talking to him. I couldn�t hear what the man was saying to Simon, he was speaking softly in old guy Spanish. He had a patch over one eye, and the eye he had functioning probably wasn�t so great, because he later solicited Simon for help getting on the train. I asked Simon later what the old guy had said, and apparently it was that I was a �mu�eca� and Simon should hold on to me. I find it perfectly ironic that the only guy who has been physically attracted to me in weeks was practically blind and over 70.

Snap...crackle...What the fuck?!

2004-06-24 / 10:15 a.m.

Had my bed two sides on which to exit, I would invoke the ole� cliche about getting up on the wrong side of the bed. Since it doesn�t, I�ll just say that I�m having an incredibly shitty morning. Fell down on the stairs, still reminded that I still can�t speak spanish worth a crap, out of money, stressed about school, weight is way way up, don�t want to come home, had a bad night before the bad morning....it�s not a happy day at 59 indonesia.

Best part: I think my leg is completely fucked. I had only been on the treadmill about 3 minutes this morning when my shin started to ache. I don�t know if its the same injury (the one I believe was a stress fracture) or a new one...but it started hurting. I ignored it for about two seconds when, I dunno, something happened, and it made some grindy poppy feeling and then hurt a whole lot more. I think my running days are suspended again. It really pisses me off, and I feel all weak and lazy. I know it�s not my fault ...well, being an over-use injury, I guess it is my fault...but it�s not like a personal failing to have something wrong with your leg, but I�m honestly just feeling irrationally uber-dissapointed in myself. Gah. I don�t know. And now, stupid-superficial-bad-moody logic is taking over, and I now know that not being able to run is going to result in me gaining a bunch more weight coming home looking like a giant cow. (turns self pity dial to level: "SuperWhiny") Not like it matters anyway, as I�m never going to meet any guys to try and impress (nudges said self pity dial a bit to the left). And it�s not like men find me attractive anyway (Self pity, level: "pathetic"). ::sob:: I�m going to post some angsty poetry now. I�ll see you guys later.

paseo por la manzana

2004-06-22 / 1:13 p.m.

I find that with the special combination of the character of this neighborhood and the novelty of being the friendly foreign girl my daily life here at times resembles something akin to Sesame Street (minus the puppets, of course. That would be frightening). In my comings and goings in my patch of Caballito, I often feel compelled to sing the �These are the people in your neighborhood� song. Today was a holiday (Argentine flag day, or d�a de la bandera) and I ran into lots of the people in my neighborhood. It left me with a creepily cheery feeling of belonging. In the morning, I pass by the cute dog walker. He smiles at me, I smile back. I go to the gym, and the girl at the desk asks about my ankle. I use the treadmill next to Hector�the middle aged dude that�s almost always there the same time as I am. We talk briefly about his son�s upcoming wedding before he goes off to do his own thing elsewhere. I went to study in the caf� on the corner, which has become a (rather pricey) habit. Many of the waiters there know me by name and greet me when I pass them on the street in front of the caf�some of them remember what I order (caf� double), and there�s even one that remembers which kind of complementary cookie is my favorite. Again I reiterate the cruelty of growing accustomed to living here only to have to go home in less than a month.

Other than my 2.5 hours of studying and working on my paper in San Carlos, and my 2 hours of working on various projects at home, I went to the book fair in Parque Rivadavia and later met with one of my group members for my Spanish project. I know I�m trying to save money, but with an 18 hour bus trip looming in my future, I thought it would be nice to buy some fun things to read. I bought (used) El Alquimista by Paulo Coelho, who was recommended to me by the young guy that works at the Kiosko where I sometimes by a bottle of water on my way to the subte. (Another one of those people-in-your-neighborhood acquaintances). I also bought (also used) Cien A�os de Soledad, which I�ve always wanted to try reading, but has seemed too daunting. � It still seems daunting, but if there�s any time in my life where I�ll have a lot of time to devote to reading, it�s on an 18 hours bus ride. I also bought a couple of bootleg CDs which I can justify because they�re cheap as all get out, and I have had good experiences with quality.

Icing on the cake: I got a gmail invitation from the wonderful, awesome, fabulous Casey. I�m not going to post the address here, because it includes my supersecret last name, but if you know me and I haven�t given it to you yet, hit me up with a reminder on my yahoo account.

My semester is starting its initial descent�it�s all willy nilly with going to two different universities and having stuff through my program. Wednesday I have an exam that (for the foreigners) means the end of the class. Saturday I have an oral presentation and a paper due for my Spanish class through the program, and that�ll be the end of that. The Thursday after that (the 1st) I�ve got a final in my other class at Universidad Cat�lica (which will constitute my one and only grade in the course, which frightens the crackers out of me). After that, I�ll have until the following Wednesday to finish my big, bad, paper for my class en la UBA. It�s in its working stages now, and while it�s still seriously lacking in length, it has the �bad� part of being �big and bad� down pat. And, well, after that it�s all over folks. The Wednesday I turn in the paper, I leave for my mini-trip to Iguazu. I come back Sunday afternoon. Sunday night I say goodbye to my host mother who is leaving that Monday to visit her daughter in Chile. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I�ll be messing about in the city. Unfortunately, I�ll probably be completely alone most of the time, as most of my friends here will be traveling or home; but no worries, I�ve got plenty of things I still want to do. I�m thinking taking a day trip to La Plata might be fun. I�m going to get my hair dyed. There are a couple of museums I haven�t been too. I�m going to go and see all the Argentine and International films that won�t be all over the place in the US of A. If you have any requests of goods from Argentina, remind me about them before this week of slackery�I forgot who I�m supposed to be supplying mate equipment for.

In completely unrelated news, I was thinking of asking my mother for an i-pod for Christmas�anyone have any opinion as whether it�s worth the money or not?

I should be studying

2004-06-21 / 10:05 p.m.

Cutest avatar maker ever I cant upload it now, but you can see mine in my LJ user info

Nuevo entry, proximamente

2004-06-18 / 2:08 p.m.

Unfortunately, while I have stuff I could talk about, this won�t be a full entry....I�m coming to you live from the locutorio this afternoon, which means that I�m paying for my time on this computer. Seeing as how someday I would like to be paid to write, paying to write seems counterproductive. Still, a few things:

As I have been busy with a ton of school work and disfrutaring, I haven�t sat down to write...Still, I think this weekend will probably be less insane-fun-party-time than the last, so I�ll probably write a good, solid, update. I cannot believe that Im leaving in a month. Woe doesn�t even begin to describe.

I never thought watching soccer could be as interesting as the semi-final for the Copa Libertador between River and Boca last night. Wow.

Did I mention that writing papers in spanish is hard?

I bought my bus tickets to go to Iguazu falls today. I hope they�re as incredible as everyone says, because I�ll be riding on a bus (albeit a comfy one) for about 18 hours to see them.

Coke is it!

2004-06-14 / 11:49 a.m.

I was searching around to try and find out just what the hell this new Coke "c2" or whatever bullshit is made of. Is it sweetened with Sucralose? Anyway, I can�t seem to find a list of ingredients, but I did find a list of other brand names owned by coke on Wikipedia. The whole article is mildly interesting, actually. Coke seems to own everything liquid that exists (Your cat�s urine is next). Corporations are scarilly huge.

"Comprehensive list of Coca-Cola brands worldwide

The following list not only includes brands owned by Coca-Cola, but also brands that are licensed, some of which in select places.

A: A&W, Accent, Ades, Alhambra, Alive, Almdudler, Ambasa, American, Andifrut, Appletiser, Aquactive, Aquana, Aquapure, Aquarius, Aqvaris, Arwa, Aybal-Kin

B: Bacardi Mixers, Barq's, Beat, Belt�, Beverly, Bibo, Bimbo, Bimbo Break, Bingooo, Bistrone, Bjare, BlackFire, Boco, Bom Bit Maesil, Bonaqua/Qa, BPM, Bright And Early, Bubbly, Burn,

C: Caffeine Free Barq's, Caffeine Free Coca-Cola, Caffeine Free Coke II, Caffeine Free Diet Coke/Coca-Cola light, Cal King, Calypso, Cannings, Cappy, Carvers, Chaho, Charrua, Chaudfontaine, Cheers, Cherry Coke, Chinotto, Chinotto light, Chippewa, Chivalry, Ciel, Citra, Club, Coca-Cola, Cocoteen, Coke II, Cresta, Cristal, Crush, Crystal, Cumberland Gap

D: DANNON, DASANI, Delaware Punch, DESCA, Disney Hundred Acre Wood, Disney Mickey's Adventure, Disney Winnie The Pooh, Disney Xtreme Cooler, Dorna, Drim, Dr Pepper

E: E2, Earth & Sky, Eight O'Clock, Escuis, Escuis light, Eva Water, Evian

F: Fanta, Finley, Fioravanti, Five Alive, Flavor Rage, Floatz, Fontana, Fraser & Neave, Freezits, Fresca, Frescolita, Freskyta, Fresquinha, Frestea, Frisco, Frucci, Frugos, Frugos Fresh, Fruitia, Fruitlabo, Fruitopia, Freeze, Fruktime, Frutina, Frutonic

G: Genki No Moto, Georgia, Georgia Club, Georgia Gold, Gini, Gold Spot, Golden Crush, Grapette, Guarana Jesus

H: H2OK, Happy Valley, Haru no Mint Shukan, Hawai, Hi-C, Hi Spot, Hit, Horizon, Huang

I: Ice Dew, Ice Mountain, Ikon, INCA KOLA, Izvorul Alb

J: Jaz Cola, Jet Tonic, Jinmeile, Jolly Juice, Joy, Jozuni Yasai, Jurassic Well, Just Juice, Juta

K: Kapo, Kapo Axion, Kapo Super Power, Keri, Kia Ora, Kidsfruitz, Kilimanjaro, Kin, Kin light, Kinley, Kiwi Blue, KMX, Kochakaden, Koumisoukai, Krest, Kuat, Kuat light, Kuli

L: Leed, Lift, Lilt, Limca, Limonade, Linnuse, Love Body, Maaza, Mad River, Magnolia, Magnolia Funch, Magnolia Zip, Malvern, Manzana Mia, Mare Rosso, Marocha, Master Chill, Master Pour, Mazoe, Meijin, Mello, Mello Yello, Mer, Mezzo Mix, Miami, Mickey Mouse, Migoro-Nomigoro, Milo, Minaqua, Minute Maid, Minute Maid Juice To Go, Minute Maid Soft Drink, Mireille, Mone, Monsoon, Mori No Mizudayori, Mr. Pibb, Multivita

N: Nagomi, Nalu, Namthip, Nativa, Naturaqua, Nature's Own, Nectar Andina, Nectarin, Nestea, Nestea COOL, Nevada, Neverfail, Nordic Mist, Northern Neck, Nusta

O: Oasis, Odwalla, Old Colony, Orchy, Oyu, Paani, Pacific Orchard, Pampa, Pams, Parle, Peats Ridge Springs, Pepe Rico, Pibb Xtra, Piko, Pilskalna, Planet Java, Play, Pocarrot, Pocket Dr., Poiana Negri, Poms, Ponkana, Pop Cola, Portello, POWERADE, POWERADE light, Pulp Ananas, Pump

Q: Qoo, Quatro, Quwat Jabal, Ramblin' Root Beer, Real Gold, Red Flash, Red Lion, Refresh Tea, Rimzim, Rio Gold, Ripe N Ready, Risco, Riwa, Robinson Brothers, Roses, Royal Tru

S: Safaa, Safety First, Safia, Samantha, Samurai, Santiba, Santolin, Sarsi, Saryusaisai, Schweppes, Scorpion, Seagrams, Seasons, Seltz, Sensation, Sensun, Senzao, Shichifukuzen, Shock, Signature, Sim, Simba, Simply Apple, Simply Orange, Sintonia, Slap, Smart, Sobo, Sodafruit Caprice Oranges, Sokenbicha, Solo, Sonfil, Soonsoo 100, Sparkle, Sparkletts, Sparletta, Sparletta Iron Brew, Splash, Splice, Sport Cola, Sport Plus, Spring Water, Sprite, Sprite Ice, Sprite Ice Cube, Sprite ReMix, Sprite Light, Sprite Zero, Spur, Squirt, Stoney Ginger Beer, Sun Valley, Sundrop, Sunfill, Sunfilled & Fruit Tree, Sunkist, Supa, Superkools, Superpac, Surge, Swerve

T: TaB, TaB X-Tra, Tahitian Treat, Tai, Tarumi, Tavern, The Tea for Dining, Tea World Collection, Ten Ren, Thextons, Thums Up, Tian Tey, Tian Yu Di, Tiky, Top, Toppur, Tops, Tropical, Tuborg Squash, Turkuaz

U: Urge

V: Valpre, Valser, Vanilla Coke, Vegitabeta, Vica, Vita, Vital, Vital O, Vitingo, Viva

W: Water Salad, Wilkin's Distilled Water, Wink, Winnie The Pooh Junior Juice

Y: Yang Guang, Yang Guang Juicy T, Youki, Yumi "

Only in Dreams

2004-06-14 / 11:49 a.m.

I had a bizarre dream last night. Rivers Cuomo, in an attempt to create a publicity stunt, parachuted out of an airplane into a tornado. Somehow, he also had an electric guitar that was plugged into some mystery amp. Anyway, Rivers took the leap into the tornado, and ovbiously died. The contact caused a big green cloud to appear and his guitar fell into a swimming pool (unharmed).

Hey Jealousy

2004-06-12 / 9:30 p.m.

Wow. I want a Gmail account. After reading a a zillion diaries of people people who have them, I looked at the sneak peak on google.com. Looks cooool.

Motorcycle deliveries--sin cargo!

2004-06-08 / 11:56 a.m.

My weekend was pretty fun. The only stain was a profound disappointment that I encountered on Sunday�but you�ll have to read through Friday and Saturday to get to that now won�t you? Friday Dan, Keith, and I planned to take Mercedes out to celebrate (belatedly) her birthday. In true BsAs fashion, she didn�t end up being available until late late late so I spent most of the evening just hanging out with los Norteamericanos. Before dinner, when we still thought we would be meeting up with Mercedes for dinner, we needed to kill some time. We ended up going to a favorite bar of theirs to play pool. It was a really nice, mellow, place. It was nice to go somewhere that wasn�t absolutely full to the brim with people�though that might have been because it was pretty early. Added bonus, it was also very very cheap. We shot pool for about an hour, and split a couple of Quilmes, and it only came out to 15 pesos total. I also did better than usual with the whole billiards thing, so yea for me. Afterwards, we got dinner in Bario Chino. It wasn�t the Chinese I had been craving, but it was decent. Like most other dishes here, �spicy� isn�t very spicy by my standards. Also like most other dishes here, the meat was cooked absolutely perfectly, so that made up for the lack of zing in the sauce. Afterwards, we met up with Mercedes and went to a bar in Las Ca�itas. I didn�t stay long, because I had plans for the next morning.

Saturday I got up fairly early and went and got tickets for �Goodbye, Lenin!� which David-who-is-going-to-meet-up-with-me-in-Iguazu accompanied me in viewing. I liked it, and understood it pretty well, but I�d still like to see it again with English subtitles. I think I�d enjoy it more if I didn�t have to work so hard to follow it; additionally, my host mother told me that she didn�t find the translation into very eloquent. The movie was about an East German woman who entered a coma shortly before the reunification. When she wakes up, any shocking changes she�d presented with could cause her serious harm, so her family has to keep her uninformed of the massive changes that the country went though while she was unconscious. It�s a sweet movie, and an interesting portrayal of an interesting time in history. It obviously isn�t laugh-out-loud funny, but it was clever and witty.

After the movie, I went with David to La Boca. He�s trying to do some project where he needed pictures Tango-related things. This was the first time I had actually gone to the touristy part of Boca, and I did not like it at all. Sure, there are other really touristy places in the city, but nothing that has been tackied up like La Boca. Plus, being obvious foreigners (the cameras gave us away without fail), we were bombarded with flyers for tacky tourist shops, restaurants with tango shows, and performers who kept offering to take pictures with us. It was fun hanging around with David, but I was glad when we left.

We ended up just chilling around his apartment for a few hours afterwards. One of his room mates had recently purchased a bunch of movies copied onto CD into some kind format playable on computers, so we made ravioli and watched �Shrek 2�, which was cute.

I came home early, and finished reading Boquitas Pintadas--a book assigned for my Spanish class�in a caf� until fairly late.

Sunday, ate lunch here, did some homework, not much interesting. By the time the late afternoon rolled around, my attention span was absolutely shot. Any more reading I did would have been in vain, as at that point, I was more looking at the words than reading them. It was an absolutely perfect time to so something I had been meaning to do for months: go to the Che Guevara museum. It�s only open on weekend evenings, I had nothing to do, and I was relatively close.

So it�s kind of out in the boonies�same barrio I live in, but deeper into it. It�s in a really nice residential area, and not filled with the zillions of cafes and stores that my part of the barrio has. Because of this, I had to scour my guia to find a bus that went out there. Finally, I was all ready to go. I had my camera, change for the collectivo, and I was wearing my best socialist revolution face.

When I got to the address, I found the doors shut, and the gate in front of them closed. Crap. It was still early, so I thought I�d take a few laps around the area and come back. I knew it was a fairly informally run museum, so I wouldn�t have been surprised if it didn�t open until later. So I strolled around the block. Saw some nice houses. Saw some dogs in sweaters. When I came back to the street, I saw a woman going in the doors. score. I went up to the gate, but when I got there, I did not find a haven for young hopeful revolutionaries, an informative lecture about the life of Che, nor the Mecca of Che artifacts the guide book promised me (advertised such things as Che�s actual water bottle, one of his berets and several of Castro�s cigar stubs). What I found was a grocery store. I politely asked the woman who had gone in where the museum was. Apparently, it was the museum�.but it isn�t anymore. All she told me was that it closed down a couple of months ago, and now the property is an autoservicio. Just for journaling purposes, I went to take a picture of the Che-museum-turned-grocer, but an Asian woman�presumably the owner�accosted me with emphatic prohibition of fotos. She really flipped out too. She absolutely would not let me take a picture of the supermarket. Maybe she�s afraid of people raising a stink about the museum, but I can�t imagine that happening. I took a picture from across the street just to spite her, but it didn�t come out that good, so I won�t bother to post it.

Later that evening, I went out for a beer with the Brit at our new favorite bar. � Something shady happened at Nordin Bar a couple of weeks ago, and it�s not open as much anymore. So anyway, we were out at this new little Bar/Caf� (which is absolutely divino, di-vi-no) and he mentions to me that there was an article in one of the newspapers just that day about Che and the museum and whatnot. Apparently, it closed down a mere seven months ago because it was out of money and couldn�t pay the rent anymore. It�s trying to find a new place to set up, but the city hasn�t granted it space yet. How sad is this?!