Rain or Shine

Okay so I caved and got ice cream again today. Woops! Many women here are tall and have bodies half the width of my leg. It’s quite ridiculous. People put a lot of effort into their appearance, and they definitely look beautiful. I don’t care too much about creating an image of perfection; I hope they don’t think I’m an insult to their cultural atmosphere.

The dog Tango and I are at best friend status now. It is quite swell. I also made another friend from the study abroad program named Whitney; she is lovely. She lives a few blocks away from me, which is very convenient because we can take public transportation together when we go out at night. We have a lot of the same interests and we also try to speak in Spanish as much as possible. We went to a kiosk to add money to her pay-as-you-go cell phone, and we tried to communicate what we wanted in Spanish. I thought we did a very good job, but the vendor could tell that we are Americans and made fun of us. It was hard for me to tell that he was being sarcastic at first with the language barrier, but we left the kiosk feeling a bit confused and uncomfortable. One minute later, a man and his girlfriend who were buying something at the kiosk came over to us. The man spoke in English and asked if we spoke English also. He had such a good accent that I thought he was from the States, asking for directions or something of the sort. However, he said he was from Argentina and that he wanted to apologize for the vendor’s behavior. He confirmed that the man was insulting us, and said that this was awful behavior since we were making the effort to speak Spanish. He told us that this is not the typical way that Argentine people speak with Americans, and hopes it doesn't reflect badly on their culture. I really appreciated and was reassured by his efforts to make us feel comfortable with the city and the people here. As I have said previously, the majority of the Argentines that I have encountered radiate warmth and helpfulness.

I talked with Ana Lucía today, the daughter of mi mamá. She is 26 years old and lives a few blocks away from my apartment, but sometimes teaches students here during the day. I had a conversation with her about her students and adapting to new cultures. She is very open and very sweet. I hope I am able to spend more time with her in the future, but I know that she is very busy with her many jobs and classes at an art institute. Hopefully, by the end of the program, she will feel like my real sister!

Everything is making more sense, even since yesterday. I didn’t get lost today - Horray! In time, I will recover from “culture shock.” Things seem friendlier, but I have to make sure not to put my guard down since things can still happen. During the day I feel comfortable to walk alone, and it is really liberating to explore my surroundings. It rained most of the day today, but it was a nice rain, and still warm. I walked around Palermo and saw a shop with lots of pretty dresses from India; I hear that clothing from India is fashionable in Buenos Aires. I still need to get used to the greeting; a kiss on the right cheek of everyone you are friends with, and everyone that your friends are friends with. I have been hanging out with mostly norteamericanos at this point because of my orientation, but I am really excited to further integrate into the culture and make Argentine friends when I start attending the universities in a month.

In some barrios of Buenos Aires, the majority of the population is of the middle class. In mine, there are more extremes on both ends of the spectrum. Palermo is a high-end barrio, but I pass many homeless people on the streets daily. It breaks my heart to see moms with small children, begging for pesos. Sometimes parents have the little children beg, which makes it even harder to refuse their pleas. I feel so conflicted because I want to help, but I feel like I can’t just give my money to every person that asks. I hope I’m not being cold-hearted.

I had a written Spanish test today in orientation in order to see what level I’m at and put me into an ability group for.. something. It wasn’t horrible but at first I couldn’t understand any of the words in the newspaper article that I had to write an essay about and then my mind went blank due to anxiety for about 5 minutes. I skipped to the second part, which was an essay asking about American culture, and then later returned to the first one and understood it mejor (better). Tomorrow I have an oral interview with one of the instructors. Wish me buena suerte!