On Friday's, I don't have any classes so I decided to go exploring. Feel like going on a journey with me in Buenos Aires? Please keep your hands and feet inside the bus at all times...
Stop One: The Japanese Gardens: For those of you from the Dayton area, the Japanese Gardens are kind of like Cox Arboretum, but nicer. There are lots of greenhouses all over the place and while it would have been prettier in the Spring, it was still nice to walk around and take in the sights. Before I went to the gardens, I stopped at a bakery and got a ham and cheese sandwich (they love their ham here) on a french loaf...very tasty. I sat down on a bench in the gardens, ate my sandwich, and enjoyed every bite of it.
Stop Two: Parque Palermo: I believe this is the second time I'm writing about Parque Palermo, however, it is one of my favorite places in the city. I went there, again, a few days ago and brought my homework with me so I could do some reading. I read for about an hour (it was a beautiful day outside) and then decided to walk around the park a little bit. While walking around the park, I got a little hungry so I got a "super pancho" from a vendor in the park. A super pancho is the Argentine equivalent to a foot long hot dog. They're pretty good and they're extremely cheap (less than $1 American.) When the weather starts to get warm for good, this will be one of my favorite places to go in the city.
Stop Three: The Alamo Sports Bar: Last night, I went with some of my friends to the Alamo Sports bar to watch the Argentina/Nigeria Olympic gold futbol game...needless to say, Argentina won the gold! Once they won, the place went nuts. Everyone (who knew it) started singing the Argentine National Anthem and then they started chanting "Ole ole ole ole, ole, ole..." It was a lot of fun and a neat experience to be with Argentines when watching them win the gold metal.
Stop Four: La Boca: Today, I went to a neighborhood in BsAs called "La Boca." The weather was GREAT: about 65 or 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. La Boca is known for their colorful buildings and also for being a very dangerous place at night (don't worry Mom, I went only during the day.) I liked La Boca a lot, however, it is pretty touristy (When walking around La Boca, different people such as restaurant owners or what not would ask me in broken English, "Where are you from?" Sometimes I would say the US, sometimes Canada...it depended on my mood.) Each restaurant we walked by, someone was always asking us to go into their restaurant, sit down, and have a meal...it kind of reminded me of Little Italy in New York...they're always telling you how their restaurant is the best and why you should eat there. For lunch, we ordered a parrilla for three people. Argentina is known for their parrillas. A parrilla consists of a plate of grilled meat (sausage, pork, chicken, steak, etc.) The majority of the meat was very good...very well seasoned, very tasty, but a little expensive. One of my friends, Amy, was feeling adventurous and decided to try the blood sausage. I don't know if any of you have ever had or heard of blood sausage before or not but it did NOT look tasty. You do not want me to describe what it looked like, trust me. After eating, we walked around the different shops and stands on the streets and then came home after about four hours or so there. It was a 30 minute bus ride from Palermo (where I live) and was well worth it.
This weekend was fun and I'm glad I got to see different things around BsAs. I'm putting pictures up on my website so take a look and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoyed your trip...please come again soon.
Chau (thats h0w you spell ciao in Spanish) for now!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cmaddoxjr
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Class, class, and more class
Well, classes started yesterday...which is good and bad. First the good: I love having a schedule and something to do everyday. Second, the bad: With class comes homework. With homework, comes me being bored out of my mind...its a win lose situation.
Most of my classes are about 2o people. I'm taking five different ones: Argentine Literature, Cultural Icons, Spanish, Argentine Poetry, and a Teaching Internship (I go to an elementary school and speak in English to Argentine students to help them learn English.) I think I'm going to drop my Argentine Lit class and take a Media and Society class because it conflicts with my internship times. All of my classes are in Spanish and I can understand all of my professors pretty well. Back home, all of my Spanish-related classes were in Spanish so it isn't a huge deal to be taking only Spanish classes. I have Fridays off which is nice if I want to travel some weekends. Instead of having to buy books, we have to go to a place next to the school where they have copies of all the materials for us. It is very inexpensive and a lot easier to carry copies around than books.
Overall, everything is going great...thanks for all the encouraging comments, thoughts, and prayers.
Miss you all.
Most of my classes are about 2o people. I'm taking five different ones: Argentine Literature, Cultural Icons, Spanish, Argentine Poetry, and a Teaching Internship (I go to an elementary school and speak in English to Argentine students to help them learn English.) I think I'm going to drop my Argentine Lit class and take a Media and Society class because it conflicts with my internship times. All of my classes are in Spanish and I can understand all of my professors pretty well. Back home, all of my Spanish-related classes were in Spanish so it isn't a huge deal to be taking only Spanish classes. I have Fridays off which is nice if I want to travel some weekends. Instead of having to buy books, we have to go to a place next to the school where they have copies of all the materials for us. It is very inexpensive and a lot easier to carry copies around than books.
Overall, everything is going great...thanks for all the encouraging comments, thoughts, and prayers.
Miss you all.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Chinatown
There is a Chinatown in BsAs! On Saturday, some of my friends and I went discovering and we found Chinatown, a quaint town about 30 minutes via subway from where I live. It is nothing compared to NYC Chinatown (with people saying Gucci Prada Gucci Gucci Coach Coach Prada in your face all the time...) it is a lot calmer.
There are about two streets that compose Chinatown. We ate lunch there and had an excellent assortment of food. We all got a different dish and then split all of them so we could try different things. The Chinese food here tastes the same as the Chinese food at home (but I think I like the Chinese food at home a little better...AND I know what I'm eating when I'm at home. We still don't know what some of the food was that we ordered haha.)
I enjoyed Chinatown and would love to go back soon.
There are about two streets that compose Chinatown. We ate lunch there and had an excellent assortment of food. We all got a different dish and then split all of them so we could try different things. The Chinese food here tastes the same as the Chinese food at home (but I think I like the Chinese food at home a little better...AND I know what I'm eating when I'm at home. We still don't know what some of the food was that we ordered haha.)
I enjoyed Chinatown and would love to go back soon.
Bike tour
Today I went on a bike tour of BsAs (thats how the locals abbreviate Buenos Aires) and it was amazing. Since I was sick on the day of the city tour via bus, it was great to be able to see all the different sights and to have someone explain to me the significance of each place.
We started at 11:45 and it was pretty chilly. The wind was blowing and the sun was behind some clouds. After we started biking, it got warmer and more enjoyable. We mostly biked on the side of the road because there were a lot of people on the sidewalks. Our tour guide was from Argentina but spoke very good English.
We started off in San Telmo, a neighborhood of BsAs. It was all cobblestone roads at first so it was a little hard to ride on. I saw so many different sights it is hard to describe everything (pictures will be coming soon...check http://picasaweb.google.com/cmaddoxjr). One main sight we saw was Plaza de Mayo, a central place in the city for demonstrations and protests. At the Plaza de Mayo is the Casa Rosada (the pink house.) This is the house where the Argentine President does all of her work and has all of her governmental affairs. She doesn't live at La Casa Rosada; she lives 3o minutes outside of the city and comes to work via helicopter everyday. When she is inside La Casa Rosada, two flags are raised above the building; when she is not there, only one flag is raised. Another sight we saw is Recoleta Cemetery. In this awesome place, hundreds, possibly thousands, of bodies are in mausoleums in this cemetery. No one is buried underground in Recoleta Cemetery, only in mausoleums. Evita Peron is in this cemetery. She was originally buried in Europe but her body was constantly being stolen so her husband, who was the president of Argentina at the time, had her moved to the Recoleta Cemetery where he knew she would be safe.
Among many other places, we went to Puerto Madero (the newest neighborhood in BsAs.) Here, there is water, similar to the inter-coastal for those of you from Florida, and lots of fancy restaurants. It is no longer a working port because the waterway is not big enough to handle the big ships that come to and through BsAs. Also, we went to a giant park, which I think is called El Parque Palermo (but I may be wrong.) It reminds me so much of Central Park in NYC. Here, you can rent paddle boats for the lake, bikes to ride around the park, and roller blades. Also, they have lots of vendors selling cotton candy, honey peanuts, hot dogs, soda, etc. It was a very cool environment and I would love to go back sometime when it is warmer outside.
The bike tour was splendid and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see all the main sights of BsAs in a short period of time. It wasn't a strenuous ride; it was enjoyable and peaceful. The overall time of my tour was about four hours; however, there are shorter ones available. I loved seeing the different buildings and places I've been told about and I will definitely visit them again in the future.
Today was a good day.
We started at 11:45 and it was pretty chilly. The wind was blowing and the sun was behind some clouds. After we started biking, it got warmer and more enjoyable. We mostly biked on the side of the road because there were a lot of people on the sidewalks. Our tour guide was from Argentina but spoke very good English.
We started off in San Telmo, a neighborhood of BsAs. It was all cobblestone roads at first so it was a little hard to ride on. I saw so many different sights it is hard to describe everything (pictures will be coming soon...check http://picasaweb.google.com/cmaddoxjr). One main sight we saw was Plaza de Mayo, a central place in the city for demonstrations and protests. At the Plaza de Mayo is the Casa Rosada (the pink house.) This is the house where the Argentine President does all of her work and has all of her governmental affairs. She doesn't live at La Casa Rosada; she lives 3o minutes outside of the city and comes to work via helicopter everyday. When she is inside La Casa Rosada, two flags are raised above the building; when she is not there, only one flag is raised. Another sight we saw is Recoleta Cemetery. In this awesome place, hundreds, possibly thousands, of bodies are in mausoleums in this cemetery. No one is buried underground in Recoleta Cemetery, only in mausoleums. Evita Peron is in this cemetery. She was originally buried in Europe but her body was constantly being stolen so her husband, who was the president of Argentina at the time, had her moved to the Recoleta Cemetery where he knew she would be safe.
Among many other places, we went to Puerto Madero (the newest neighborhood in BsAs.) Here, there is water, similar to the inter-coastal for those of you from Florida, and lots of fancy restaurants. It is no longer a working port because the waterway is not big enough to handle the big ships that come to and through BsAs. Also, we went to a giant park, which I think is called El Parque Palermo (but I may be wrong.) It reminds me so much of Central Park in NYC. Here, you can rent paddle boats for the lake, bikes to ride around the park, and roller blades. Also, they have lots of vendors selling cotton candy, honey peanuts, hot dogs, soda, etc. It was a very cool environment and I would love to go back sometime when it is warmer outside.
The bike tour was splendid and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see all the main sights of BsAs in a short period of time. It wasn't a strenuous ride; it was enjoyable and peaceful. The overall time of my tour was about four hours; however, there are shorter ones available. I loved seeing the different buildings and places I've been told about and I will definitely visit them again in the future.
Today was a good day.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
My BIRTHDAY!
Today is my birthday and it was a great day. I woke up this morning to take the Spanish placement test so they know which Spanish class to place me in. After the test, we went to El Campo, a "dude ranch" with lots of animals, great sights, and even better food.
We pulled up to el campo (after a two hour charter bus ride.) There were chickens running around, cows in the field, and horses prancing around. When we got there, they had some food setting outside ready for us to eat. There were empanadas, chorizo, cheese, water and soda. After about fifteen minutes of snacking on that food (which I thought was my lunch) we went inside to a feast: there was a huge salad bar with lettuce, all the fixings, potato salad, veggie salad, and lots of other salad. I put a lemon vinagrette on my salad and it was very good (it reminded me of something Nana would make.) After the salad bar, they started bringing around all different types of meat on giant knives, ready to cut pieces off onto our plates. I tried a little bit of everything: beef, chicken, and lamb. After all the meat was gone, they brought out dessert: giant ice cream sundaes! Vanilla ice cream, nuts, chocolate sauce, and raspberry sauce. We all finished eating and then went outside. After sitting around outside in lawn chairs, relaxing and enjoying nature (it was beautiful outside,) they brought out even more dessert! This time they brought out flan, tiramisu, chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate mouse, and dulce de leche. After being COMPLETLY full and ready to vomit from eating so much (like thanksgiving day full,) we went to ride horses!
The horses were free (cost of money) and also free (not having to ride in a line.) I got on a horse, which I think was named Tostado, and we were off. There was a fenced off area we could ride in but it was pretty big. My horse had a hard time starting off but once he got going, we had a nice trot. Tostado and I were together for about fifteen minutes and we had a nice time. After riding horses, we went and looked around the farm at some different animals they have ( there are lots of pictures on my website.)
Once I got back to the main area of el campo, the director of IES (the program I'm over here with) called me over because they had a birthday cake for me with a candle lit in it. There were two other people in my program that have birthdays today so they had cakes too. They sang to us in English and Spanish and then I blew out my candle (forgetting to make a wish...oh well.) Since we were SO full from all the food they gave us, they wrapped up our cakes in foil and I brought it home with me.
I had a wonderful birthday and couldn't have asked for anything more than if I spent it with my family and friends from the states. Going to el campo was lots of fun and them having a birthday cake for me made my day complete. Take a look at all the pictures on my site...chau for now.
We pulled up to el campo (after a two hour charter bus ride.) There were chickens running around, cows in the field, and horses prancing around. When we got there, they had some food setting outside ready for us to eat. There were empanadas, chorizo, cheese, water and soda. After about fifteen minutes of snacking on that food (which I thought was my lunch) we went inside to a feast: there was a huge salad bar with lettuce, all the fixings, potato salad, veggie salad, and lots of other salad. I put a lemon vinagrette on my salad and it was very good (it reminded me of something Nana would make.) After the salad bar, they started bringing around all different types of meat on giant knives, ready to cut pieces off onto our plates. I tried a little bit of everything: beef, chicken, and lamb. After all the meat was gone, they brought out dessert: giant ice cream sundaes! Vanilla ice cream, nuts, chocolate sauce, and raspberry sauce. We all finished eating and then went outside. After sitting around outside in lawn chairs, relaxing and enjoying nature (it was beautiful outside,) they brought out even more dessert! This time they brought out flan, tiramisu, chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate mouse, and dulce de leche. After being COMPLETLY full and ready to vomit from eating so much (like thanksgiving day full,) we went to ride horses!
The horses were free (cost of money) and also free (not having to ride in a line.) I got on a horse, which I think was named Tostado, and we were off. There was a fenced off area we could ride in but it was pretty big. My horse had a hard time starting off but once he got going, we had a nice trot. Tostado and I were together for about fifteen minutes and we had a nice time. After riding horses, we went and looked around the farm at some different animals they have ( there are lots of pictures on my website.)
Once I got back to the main area of el campo, the director of IES (the program I'm over here with) called me over because they had a birthday cake for me with a candle lit in it. There were two other people in my program that have birthdays today so they had cakes too. They sang to us in English and Spanish and then I blew out my candle (forgetting to make a wish...oh well.) Since we were SO full from all the food they gave us, they wrapped up our cakes in foil and I brought it home with me.
I had a wonderful birthday and couldn't have asked for anything more than if I spent it with my family and friends from the states. Going to el campo was lots of fun and them having a birthday cake for me made my day complete. Take a look at all the pictures on my site...chau for now.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
First week in BA
Well, I have been here for a week now and I'm having a good time. It was a little hard to make friends but I have found a group I get along well with and it has been nice to hang out with them throughout the week.
I've been eating in a lot of different cafes and restaurants...the coffee is great and the pastries are even greater. I love sweets and this is the place to be if I want good pastries. The food is super cheap but the water is expensive. You can't get water for free at the restaurants; it only comes in bottles. They have two types of water: water with gas and water without gas (meaning carbonated water or regular water.) The soda water is more popular here but I like the regular water a lot better.
We're still doing orientation activities this week. I am taking a class at the University of Buenos Aires and that starts tomorrow. It should be interesting because I am one of two Americans taking this class; the rest are Argentine students. The dynamic at the universities here are a lot different than at the United States: there are protest signs everywhere and they are a lot older and dirty here. People smoke in the classrooms and there is spray paint all over the walls. It will be interesting to take a class here.
Overall, I've been having a good time here in BA and I look forward to many more experiences.
For pictures, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cmaddoxjr
I've been eating in a lot of different cafes and restaurants...the coffee is great and the pastries are even greater. I love sweets and this is the place to be if I want good pastries. The food is super cheap but the water is expensive. You can't get water for free at the restaurants; it only comes in bottles. They have two types of water: water with gas and water without gas (meaning carbonated water or regular water.) The soda water is more popular here but I like the regular water a lot better.
We're still doing orientation activities this week. I am taking a class at the University of Buenos Aires and that starts tomorrow. It should be interesting because I am one of two Americans taking this class; the rest are Argentine students. The dynamic at the universities here are a lot different than at the United States: there are protest signs everywhere and they are a lot older and dirty here. People smoke in the classrooms and there is spray paint all over the walls. It will be interesting to take a class here.
Overall, I've been having a good time here in BA and I look forward to many more experiences.
For pictures, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cmaddoxjr
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