Indecisiveness Strikes Again!!!

Hi everyone (aka the 4 people who read this blog)! Its been a year (or maybe two???) since I've written on this blog, but I figured new country, new posts.

So for those of you who don't know (but I'm sure if you're reading this you do) my boyfriend and I recently left Argentina and moved to Medellín, Colombia.  As the name of this blog suggests, it wasn't an easy decision to make.  There were plenty of reasons for us to leave --- the Argentine economy was tanking fast and neither of us were from there so we were paying insane amounts of money to go visit our families, but we had good jobs and we had created our own little systems to deal with whatever Argentina could throw at us.  We had a good apartment and great friends who felt like family.   Buuuut my boyfriend had always waxed nostalgic about how great life was in Colombia and I was sick of being an illegal in Argentina, so one Valentine's Day the boyfriend and I got good and liquored up and bought ourselves some one-way tickets to Colombia.  About a week later (the day after we sent his mom back to Colombia with the vast majority of his belongings) the buyer's remorse started to set in.  What had we done??? Sure we complained about expat life and how hard it could be at times, but we had become masters at dealing with it.  I had even found a way to wire my savings to my US checking account for free! We had it all!  What followed was a period of extreme indecisiveness about whether or not we would actually leave Argentina that ended in us basically losing our minds to the point where I suggested that we get therapy.  Does that even exist? Indecisive expat therapy???  In the end we decided to give Colombia a shot, so here we are, in Medellín.  I'm looking forward to all the new experiences that await me, and will try to keep the blog going this time so look out for lots of new posts!

Buenos Aires Graffiti Tour

As part of my job, I basically get to organize cool things that I've always wanted to do in Buenos Aires, and get work to pay for me to do them. Also, I bring a ton of students along. Anyways, one of the coolest things that we've done so far is a Graffiti tour. Buenos Aires is filled with all sorts of amazing street art, and I'd always wanted to go around and document it. An enterprising group of individuals realized that many people always wanted to do exactly that, so they started up a graffiti tour. They also maintain relationships with all the artists, so they give you background info on each of the works. Here's one of my favorites, but also check out my facebook for a complete album.

Crabby on the Collectivo 3

This post should more likely be called gross on the collectivo but it still fits in nicely with my Crabby on the Collectivo series.
I spend a lot of my time on public transportation, which means I see people do a lot of crazy shiz on public transportation. Here are two of the outstanding events from the past week or so:
1. I was waiting for the train, sitting on a bench on the platform. A woman sits down next to me, and starts digging around in her purse. She pulls out a q-tip, licks it, and then proceeds to sit there cleaning out her ears. I was just staring at her horrified (who cleans their ears in a public place?? let alone sitting so close to a complete stranger??). When she was done digging for gold she threw the dirty q-tip onto the train track. lovely, just lovely.
2. This next one is gross too, but its more a hilarious example of the things that parents will do when they're stuck in a bind. The other day I was on the subway when I saw this father get off at a stop with his preschool-aged child. She was obviously screaming that she had to go to the bathroom and NOW. There on the subway platform he pulled her pants down and held her basket-style over a wastebasket that was hanging from the station wall. The train pulled away and I cracked up laughing. Some poor subway worker is in for a nasty surprise when he has to take the garbage out...

Crabby on the Collectivo 2

The other day I was on the collectivo (public bus) and I saw this woman with a hard-core sourpuss face on. What was interesting about this particular crabby collectivo-rider was that she had obviously had insane amounts of plastic surgery. she was nipped and tucked every which way possible (maybe her face was just stuck that way from a botched procedure??)
Anyways, I got to wondering-- why is someone who has the money to have so much plastic surgery riding the bus? where is her car??? In the US, if someone has the money to have plastic surgery they surely have a car as well. I just couldn't stop thinking, what happened to her finances that she is forced to ride the public bus? did she spend all her money on surgeries??? did she have some sort of fall from grace??
I guess maybe the more interesting question is: is plastic surgery considered such a necessity in porteño life that one would chose to spend their money on that rather than a car? Plastic surgery does seem to be far more prevalent here than in the US...

Disorientation

For those of you who don't know, I have a new job! I'm the student coordinator for a group of 74 California kids who are studying abroad here in Buenos Aires. The job only lasts until May, so I've kept a lot of my classes and am still doing translating work on the side. Basically, I work an insane amount (which is why I haven't been able to spend so much time blogging).
Extreme exhaustion aside, I love my job. It provides me with the opportunity to do lots of cultural activities and travel throughout Argentina, and whats more is that I get to do it all on work's dime! Most of all, my job provides me with an endless stream of insane stories. Being in charge of 74 American, college-age students who are likely abroad for the first time in their lives means that I'm constantly dealing with someone's crazy.

The first few days the students were here we held an orientation session, which provided us with some truly classic questions. We held a little break-out session on safety and getting around town (how to use the buses, which taxis are safe and which aren't, etc). One girl asked me, in all seriousness, "If I'm lost, and I don't know where I am, can I call a taxi company and ask them to come find me? Also, can I ask them to do that in English???" I think my jaw dropped. "Ummmm, noooo" I responded, and moved on. This is what I actually wanted to say: "Where the f*** would you be able to do that??? How the f*** would a taxi be able to find you if you don't know where you are?? Also, this is Buenos Aires, a taxi driver does not speak English!!"
Two days later the students were all moved into their homestays and after working many 16 hour days during orientation, I was getting some much-needed sleep. then, at around 5 am my cell phone goes off (I have a work cell that the students can call in case of emergency).

RIIIIIINGGGG RIIIIINGGGGG
Me (incredibly groggy): hello??? what happened??
Student: yea, I forgot my keys at home and I went out so now I can't get back into my house.
Me: did you call your roommates?
Student: yea, they're inside but they aren't answering their phones.
Me: did you ring the bell??
Student: No
Me: Ok do that. (wanting to scream- "you called me at 5 am because you cant get in your house and you didn't try ringing the flippin bell first???? what do you think I'm going to be able to do for you??? do you think I have some sort of magic button that opens all the doors in Argentina???")

Well, at least its funny now....

Bariloche

When my family came to visit one of the places we went to was Bariloche, in Argentina's beautiful lake region. The landscape was gorgeous - stunning blue lakes set below the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Bariloche is a strange place though- its like a little German town. The architecture is Swiss/German (see picture), all the street names are German, there are Saint Bernarnds with little beer barrels around their necks placed in every plaza for your cliché photo op convenience. Bariloche is famous for their excellent quality beer and chocolate.


The thing that makes me slightly uncomfortable about Bariloche is its history- the town was founded by former Nazis who came to Argentina in an attempt to escape punishment for their crimes. Is it wrong to support the decedents of former Nazis by buying their delicious chocolates???

500 Days of Summer

Hi everyone! I know I've been terrible about keeping up with my blogging but I've had a really busy summer. Back in December I moved to my new house (more about that later), then my family came to visit and we went to Bariloche, Argentina and La Paloma, Uruguay. As soon as they left I started my new job (again, more about that later).
I've titled this post 500 days of summer because here in Buenos Aires it feels like summer weather lasts forever. Its not the fun kind of summer weather that we have in the US- its the insanely hot and humid, no air-conditioning kind. You're pretty much hot and sticky from late November to early April. Most of January it was like 95 degrees with 80% humidity. As we have no AC we spent the majority of the month taking several cold showers daily. At night it would feel so nice to just stand under the cold water for a good 1/2 hour to cool off before going to bed (I know- not very environmentally friendly, but you gotta do what you gotta do).
There are a few nice things about summer here though- its so insanely uncomfortable that the city kind of empties out. There's little traffic, lines are way shorter, and you don't often get stuck behind a gaggle of slow people on the sidewalk (actually a huge annoyance). Also, the heat provides a good excuse to eat ice cream all the time and feel like you deserve it.

i didnt need a study to tell me this...

So I've had a busy few weeks and I'll tell about that later but this is just a little gem that i found. Apparently, there was a recent study that proved that binge drinking is also linked to being a gym rat. I really really hope they called the study "The Jersey Shore Study". Half of America sees the living proof that the link exists every week on MTV. Check out the article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-stir/gyms-have-more-alcoholics_b_808547.html

Things Argentines Like: PDA

As I've written about before, Argentines loooove them some PDA. Its very common to see a couple making out on the street, or even in a restaurant (that one was pretty shocking for me- sitting down at a restaurant and seeing the couple at the table next to you just goin at it).
Its not just public DISPLAYS of affection that they love, they also love public DECLARATIONS of affection. Take the sign pictured below, it was hanging in front of the university building by my house. It reads "Xavier- I fell in love the moment I saw you". This one is a bit unusual because its from a girl to a guy, but nonetheless - can you imagine seeing something like this in the US? It seems like Argentines are much more free and open with their feelings. I'm not saying we should go around hanging signs everywhere to let the whole world know that we love our significant other, but maybe we could learn a thing or two from this? Who doesn't like to hear that someone loves them?

my gym's pool

Yesterday I tried to go swimming at my gym for the first time. Its summer here in Buenos Aires which means that its about 90 degrees and humid every day. What that really means is that its WAY too hot for my Upstate-NY ass to go running. I decided that the pool would be a much more comfortable work-out option. Little did I know how much would be involved...
As everything here seems to be unnecessarily complicated I had the sneaking suspicion that there might be some hoops to jump through here as well. Two days ago I asked the girls at the front desk if I had to do anything special to use the pool. "No just go in", they replied.
So yesterday I got into my bikini and headed over. I went upstairs to the womens locker-room and looked (unsuccessfully) for the pool entrance. I asked the attendant there.

A: Do you have a card?
Me: What card?
A: Your pool card. You have to go back downstairs to reception and get a card and then get checked by the doctor.

So, I went back downstairs, got a card, and then went back upstairs to the attendant. "Ok, I'll bring you to the doctor now", she said. This is where things got really strange. He checked if my feet and hands were webbed. (Is it good or bad that I don't have webbed feet? Wouldn't I swim better if I did?) Then he checked my armpits. I still have no idea what that was for. I guess I passed because he signed my card and sent me back to the attendant who finally showed me the way to the pool.
I got down to the pool and handed my card to the lifeguard.

L: And where's your swim cap?
Me: What? I don't have one.
L: No swimming allowed without a cap.
Me: You've got to be kidding me.
L: Go back to the locker-room and see if the attendant has one she can lend you.

So, back up to the locker-room I went. When I got there the attendant said, "Oh you don't have one? I figured you did." I wanted to shout at her "Lady, I'm standing here in a freakin bikini at the gym's pool. I don't even have a real swimsuit and you assume I've got a swim cap?!?!?!?"
Anyways, she handed me a swim cap and some goggles and I went back down to the pool. I handed my pool card to the lifeguard for a second time.

L: And you can swim?
Me: Yes.
L: Ok, hop on in. If you share a lane stay to your side.

What????? After all that you don't want to see if I can actually swim??? How much sense does that make??

My second expat Thanksgiving

As I've spoken about before, one of the hard parts about being an expat is of course, feeling homesick around the holidays. I think the funny part was that this year, for thanksgiving, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Unfortunately, we didnt get to have thanksgiving on Thursday because everyone worked (I spent half the day watching thanksgiving sitcom episodes with my students). However, we did have 2 awesome thanksgiving dinners, on Saturday and Sunday. One of the tricky things about thanksgiving as an expat is that they dont celebrate it in other countries so its not easy to find things like say.... turkey. We had to pre-order turkeys a week in advance. As we are all 20-somethings who are busy and scatterbrained, planning a week in advance does not come easily.
Saturday Thanksgiving was awesome--- shout out to my friend hannah who cooked the most amazing turkey i have ever eaten in my life. There were about 15 of us at this dinner and I think that Hannah and I were the only Americans so it was really fun to share this tradition with people from other countries. I made potentially the most sinful gouda mac and cheese known to man (an easy 2000 calories per portion) but it was awesome.
Sunday was really nice because while there were definitely some thankgiving first-timers, there was also a group of us long-term US expats. In a life that is often very transient, I felt really happy to be able to share thanksgiving with these friends for the second year in a row. The food was amazing again, and we made blueberry sauce that was unbelievably good!! (Cranberries don't exist here, but I discovered that blueberry sauce on turkey is actually really really good.)
Hope you all had a thankgiving that was as good as mine! I know I definitely had a lot to be thankful for...
Pictures to come soon!

things i would tweet 2

So today I saw a man in the most awesome pair of cutoffs. It made me a little homesick.

mood regulation...

One of the absolute hardest things about being an expat is learning to regulate your own moods. As a woman especially, we are often dependent on our support system to aid us in mood regulation. At home, if something crappy happens in your day, you call a girlfriend, bitch about it, she tells you it will be ok, and you move on. Crisis overted. As an expat, and especially an expat living in a country where cell phone calls are prohibitively expensive, thats just not an option. Its funny because I often feel like a baby, ferberizing myself. Just as babies have to learn to calm themselves down when something happens, or when their parents leave the room, we as expats, also have to learn to calm ourselves down all on our own when something bad happens.
The other day a friend of mine had a very unfortunate and disgusting run in with some perv on the subway (she had to go fill out police reports and everything). She commented that it wouldn't have been so bad if she were at home; she could have called her mom to come down to the police station and fill out the report with her, but having to do it alone just made the entire event hit her harder.
Thankfully, nothing quite so horrifying has happened to me, but I too have my bad days. My business is kind of always in flux. I get new students all the time. I also have students drop me (yet thankfully not ALL the time). Today I got dropped by a student, and while its not at all a dire situation, it just kind of sucks. Being dropped by a student sucks because you often become quite close to your students (as you spend several hours a week talking). Its kind of like getting dumped, except it has financial implications instead of romantic ones. The first thing you always do after getting dropped by a student is calculate what percentage of your income you just lost. The next thing you do is think of who can console you, tell you it will be ok. Can you go home and call them?? Is it worth the insanely expensive cell call? If you decide that you cant go home and you cant make a cell call, you then go through the process of trying to calm yourself down. Repeating in your own head "its ok... its only money.... you picked up a new student last week... it all evens out..."
The flip side of all of this is that when you have a really good day, or a high, its like extra extra high. you feel like "that was awesome!!! and i did it all on my own!!!!" I guess its just like I've been telling myself - it all evens out.

things i would tweet

So I decided to start a new section of mini-blog posts called "Things I would tweet... if I had twitter". I don't feel like I should actually get a twitter account because I would tweet maybe once a week at most, but the mini-blog posts will work just fine.
here goes...

So today, I saw this long line of really overweight people. I was confused because on the whole Argentines are thin, and you almost never see people who are severely overweight. The whole scene seemed really strange to me. Later I found out it was a casting call for a reality TV show on losing weight - like an Argentine version of "The Biggest Looser". oooohhhhhhh.

Halloween madness!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!! Happy belated halloween everyone! So, I had a wonderful halloween (but more about that in another post). This is actually a follow-up post to one I wrote a month or so ago. I was recently informed that Paula Deen dressed up as butter for halloween a few years ago. A quick google search revealed that this was true! Check out this picture!!!!

Re-creating Roma

I think most of us (by us I mean those poor, sad souls who are completely obsessed with food) have a meal in their head that was the best they ever ate. Mine was spinach gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce. I ate it in Rome, about 3 years ago, and have dreamed about it since. The gnocchi, so perfect and light. The gorgonzola cream sauce, so tasty and creamy. This meal was haunting my dreams--- I had to have it again.
So, Tuesday, after a particularly difficult day, I came home and decided that THAT was what I was going to eat for dinner. Lucky for me, I happened to have a professional chef coming to dinner, who helped make my dream a reality. We substituted Roquefort cheese for gorgonzola (because Roquefort is randomly a staple of Argentine cooking, and thus much much cheaper than gorgonzola).
Let me tell you, it came out AMAZING (picture above). it was soooooooooooooooo good!!! It was definitely rich, and not at all heart healthy, but 100% worth the calories. A bit of red wine made the meal perfect. Right now I have a bit of uncooked gnocchi dough left in my fridge and i feel like its screaming out to me "eat meeeeee!!!". We'll see how long I last...

Things Americans Like

So a few weeks ago, I returned back home for a brief visit. I've been living abroad for about a year and a half now, so I'm a little out of the US cultural loop. It was strange to return back home, yet to see things with the eyes of a tourist. So, here are a few of my cultural observations...
Things Americans Like:
1. Having an insane number of options. My first trip to the supermarket was a shocking experience. Granted, they haven't changed much, I had just forgotten. Anyways, this supermarket had a whole ketchup SECTION. like different brands of ketchup and all different sizes, etc. There were easily 300 bottles of ketchup there. I was amazed at how much ketchup there was! I was thinking "what, are they afraid there's gonna be a sudden run on ketchup???" My local supermarket has about 10 bottles of ketchup.
2. smartphones. it seems that EVERYONE has them in the US. Do we really need to have access to our email at all times??? Or is this just a sign of our collective impatience?
3. Highways. maybe its just because I live in a city and its been a long time since I've been on a highway but it just seemed like there were a lot of them.
4. apartment complexes. this one i'm sure isn't just me. there are definitely more apartment complexes than there were before. not that they're not nice, it's just that there are definitely more of them.
5. the jersey shore. people seem to LOVE it or love talking about how much they hate it. This one is not just the US though. The Jersey Shore is also on the air here, and they play commercials telling people to "JerseyShorearte" or "Jersey Shore yourself".
6. doggie bags. This one I think we actually have right. Restaurants serve horrifically huge portions, but at least we have the option of a doggie bag. this doesnt exist in other countries (and definitely should-- otherwise they're just going to throw that food out!!!)

All in all, it was a great trip and I was so happy to see everyone!

coming to (North) America!

After a 7 month absence, I'll be taking a brief trip to NY!
Here are the deets:
Binghamton/Ithaca from October 10-15 or 16 am.
NYC: October 16-17.
If you're around send me a text (or call--- do people still do that in the States? We don't here because cell phone calls are super expensive). I'd love to see you all!!!!!


Foods that I want to eat (keep in mind that I earn my salary in pesos so feel free to treat me):
1. Leroys (I mean any good West-side kid HAS to crave that). Also I'd like some good New York-style pizza.
2. Bagels (any good Jew has to crave that)
3. China Lake (ditto to the Jew thing)
4. Mac and cheese
5. Delgados/ any good Mexican food
6. good diner breakfast. I'm talkin pancakes, french toast, bacon, etc. MAPLE SYRUP.
7. chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream
8. Indian food!!!! I would do just about anything for a samosa and some saag paneer.
9. Shawarma
10. Wings and/or ribs. also corn bread. ok, I want dinosaur bbq. b alt this one is aimed at you.

ohhhh paula

So the other day I was indulging my food porn addiction and looking at one of my favorite sites for everything heart-attack inducing, www.thisiswhyyourefat.com. That was where I came upon this little gem: Paula Deen's deep-fried butter balls. Its literally little balls of butter that are frozen, and then battered and fried. You can see the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/paulas-fried-butter-balls-recipe/index.html
My friend Kevin has this theory that Paula Deen secretly (slash not so secretly) works for a butter conglomerate. I'm becoming more and more convinced that he's right. I mean I love that Paula takes liberties with those trans-fats. I also love how on those travel episodes, where she goes to places like France or Italy, she gets plastered on the local wine and then attempts to sloppily make out with the men who work in the markets as her big-bearded husband awkwardly looks on. I also loved that time where she randomly had Jimmy Carter on the show and called him Mista Jimmy every three seconds and flirted with him so much that he became visibly uncomfortable. Classic Paula.
But really Paula... deep-fried butter balls? I don't know if you've heard but America is suffering from an obesity epidemic. You just took your show from bubbly Southern to semi-homicidal. Shame, shame Paula. Shame, shame.

Crabby on the Collectivo

So I’ve been feeling inspired by Julia’s “Sassy on the SEPTA” series (check it out here: phillyinsideout.blogspot.com --- its awesome), and thought I should throw in a little bit of my own adventures in public transportation. I’m calling it “Crabby on the collectivo” (collectivo is the word we use here for “public bus”).

Anyways, as previously mentioned, spring has finally arrived in Buenos Aires. People here kind of make a big deal about the first day of spring- everyone buys flowers, people wish you a happy spring, etc. It’s actually quite nice. So there I was, heading home from work, on the first day of spring. I was in a good mood because it was gorgeous out, and it just kind of seemed like the whole city was in a good mood. Except… this one woman on the collectivo. Apparently, another woman accidentally pushed her in an attempt to get out the door before the driver drove away from her stop. The first woman (the crabby one) was holding a huge bouquet of gorgeous flowers. Anyways, she proceeded to rip this complete stranger a new asshole. It was brutal, and oddly hilarious. I think it was the probably the first time I’d seen someone holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers verbally abuse a complete stranger. The contrast between the beauty of the flowers and the hideousness of this woman's attitude was great…