I successfully found a large amount of my favorite alfajor! Thank the god of dulce de leche. It rained all day yesterday, my last full day in Argentina. Don't cry for me Argentina; I will cry enough for the both of us! My host mom Adriana's new host student moved in yesterday. I wish I had the chance to meet her and get to know her a bit but she is at orientation today and I am leaving tonight. I have no use for my Argentine cell phone so I will just leave that and a note with the doorman, and hopefully she will be able to make use of it! I remember the process of buying a cell phone as being super annoying and confusing upon arrival.
Anyway, I will discuss reflections and final thoughts when I return home, but for now I thought this was an appropriate last entry while I am still in this country. The students in my IFSA study abroad program made a facebook group through which we have been communicating all semester. There was a specific post that was continually added to throughout our 5 months that I think is a humorous and truthful summary of memorable points about our experience living in Buenos Aires. A girl named Arlin started a post with "You know you're in Buenos Aires when.." and then everyone posted things about everyday life here that reflect the culture and a foreigner's experience living in this crazy city. Below I have posted a few of my favorite additions.
A few clarifiers on vocabulary in case you haven't picked up on them throughout my entries:
*colectivo=bus
*subte=subway
*moneda=coin (basically gold in Argentina.. Necessary to ride the colectivos but no one in restaurants or stores ever seems to have any change)
*manifestación=strike
*pollo=chicken
*porteño=resident of the capital of Buenos Aires
*boliche=club
*calefacción=heating
*superclásico=huge fútbol (soccer) tournament
*extranjero=foreigner
Note: These are personal experiences that really happened and do not necessarily reflect all of Argentine culture or the culture of Buenos Aires as a whole.
You know you're in Buenos Aires when...
-You are constantly being kissed by people you have never met before.
-Your professor's cell phone goes off during class and he answers it, continues with class, and then answers it again when it rings 2 minutes later.
-You go to the doctor and they prescribe you antibiotics without any sort of test or even telling you what your diagnosis is.
-Middle-aged mothers find it the most convenient and natural thing in the world to start breast-feeding on the subte or colectivo.
-You're on the colectivo filled to capacity with a strange man's face less than 6 inches from yours and the driver pulls over, turns off the engine, and waits in line for 10 minutes to buy cigarettes.
-Your dad emails you to thank you for the post card you sent a month and a half ago.
-The calefacción is on and it's 60 degrees outside.
-The bus company still hasn't emailed you your tickets and your bus leaves in less than 12 hours.
-Possible obstacles to getting to class include but are not limited to: 1. oddly protruding sidewalk squares or lack thereof that cause you to trip every other step. 2. dog poop that is never picked up. 3. manifestaciones. 4. pickpockets. 5. buses that seem to be competing for which one can run you over first. 6. random people on the subte selling you things you could never conceivably see yourself buying.
-No one else on the colectivo thinks it's a problem when the chofer opens the bus doors while still going 50 mph and swerving through traffic and then practically closes the door on your legs as you attempt to hop off.
-Your doorman tells you that he's sure that Bin Laden is alive, and then proceeds to compare it to the "situation" of Michael Jackson, who is also still alive in his opinion.
-What to you feels like t-shirt weather has every other person wearing winter puff coats and wool scarves.
-The English translation on the menu explains the plato de pollo as "chicken attacked with spaghetti and cream of saffron".
-Taxi drivers, store workers, and kiosk vendors get mad at you when you don't have change.
-It's just as likely to see a sticker of the Virgin Mary as it is the Playboy Bunny on the mirrors of the colectivos.
-Your host sister stays home from work because she has a cough so she lays in bed and smokes all day.
-You never pay attention to when the "walk" sign lights up, opting instead to watch for a group of porteños crossing the street that you can walk behind, protecting yourself from collisions.
-You are at a boliche with Argentines and at 6 AM you say you have to leave and then one of them says, "No podés, es temprano!" (You can't, it's early!).
-You can't get into the superclásico with tickets that you paid for because Argentina sold too many tickets and the police show up and start charging children with horses while firing their guns.
-Leggings are officially pants.
-You've been going to a class for over two months and your professor just now tells you that extranjeros are not allowed to take his class.
-You wake up with a pocket full of monedas with no idea how you acquired them, but you feel like it's Christmas morning.
-A lady is walking down the street with a bag that says "control de tobacco" and is simultaneously smoking a cigarette.
-You don't know how to react when your doorman gives you a necklace.
-The bookseller thinks it appropriate to caress your arm creepily as an apology for the absence of a book you need for class.
-The supermercado has 15 different kinds of mate but no eggs.
-In the airport on the way to Calafate NO ONE checks for any form of ID to make sure it matches the name on your boarding pass.
-You are stopped by a random John Lennon look-alike on the street who asks if he can draw you. You are flattered until you realize that he asked your friend the same thing last week.
-When the primavera sandwich listed under vegetarian options has ham in it.
-When the front desk people at a hostel give you the key to someone else's room, lose your key, and then tell you everyone leaves the doors open anyways.
-When your psychology professor tells you that it is common for women to have fantasies about living their lives as a phallus, and is completely serious.
-You are 20 minutes late for class, but you're not worried since your professor is on the same colectivo.
-You buy wine instead of water at a restaurant because it is the cheaper option.
Man am I going to miss this country :)
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