mood: level-headed
music: tegan and sara - i know, i know, i know


so classes started this week. so far i´m taking 9 credit hours of spanish, an anthro class, and at least 2 types of dance (modern, flamenco, and perhaps tango). however the dance classes do not commence for another 3 weeks since they are actually taken at a legit argentine university. for now, i have only 2 classes a week.

i´ll give you a moment to let you overcome your jealousy.

spanish class is fantastic. in the spirit of truly learning through immersion, the the sessions are conducted entirely in spanish. this is fine for me, since i can generally understand everything that´s going on. it does not, however, work for everyone else. this fact, however, worked doubly well for me today, as it was amusing when our prof stopped the class to ask one of the students if he was actually on the verge of tears. i say this not out of a mean spirit (well, perhaps slightly mean), but because he´s a jerk. if he´s stuffering in class, it´s merely his comeuppence.

as for the anthro class, during our introductory period we discussed the power dynamics of the male gaze, use of the words punta (bitch/whore) and puntita (¨dearest whore¨), the ironic identity crisis of the gauchos, old-school eurocentrism among porteños (middle class people born and raised in bs as), and some of the parallels between the roots of tango and 50 cent.

the best part of it was that all of this discussion occured within 20 minutes. after that, we were dismissed for the day.

i like the man´s style.


all in all, i´d say things are looking up. i´m getting used the city, to the people, to the lifestyle. sometimes i even begin to feel a porteño-esque...that is, until i have to have any sort of human contact with someone who is actually a porteño. but for the most part, i´m doing alright. i´ve now managed to take the bus TWICE without serious incident. i consider this a victory. half of the locals cannot figure out the bus system here, so every time that i do, i celebrate...with a little dance. don´t judge me.

in addition, i´ve become the resident expert in two areas:

1) amongst my friends, i am the official navigator. my good sense of direction and handiness with maps has assured me a temporarily excellent social standing (many thanks are due to my mother, who forced me to learn to read a map against my very stubborn 8-year-old will). this is more crucial than you might think, given that this program is like one giant repetition of high school where you risk being ¨dropped¨ at a moment´s notice. it´s not that i´m desperate to have the most friends, it´s just that they speak more spanish than i do. and it helps to have them around to assist me when i accidentally order 62 cups of coffee. you might say that i´m using these people. i call it taking advantage of my resources.

2) my host family has discovered the joys of humus. they are in awe of the chick-pea and all of its health benefits. they also find it to be quite a cute little vegetable. since i explained to them that i eat humus all the time in the states, they have designated me as the pseudo humus ambassador. they ask for different suggestions for flavorings, and whenever my host father finds a combination of seasonings that he finds suitable, the final concoction must past my standards in order to be served to the rest of the family. it´s fairly hilarious. the only problem is that there is now always a tiny bowl of humus floating around somewhere in the loft. and the fam seems to think that i will partake of it all the time. every day. don´t get me wrong, i love humus. just not on a never-ending-supply basis.



well, yet again i leave feeling as though there are significant parts of my experience that i´d like to relay to you, but you see, i´m a little bit lazy. and in the battle between my blog and my bed...the bed ALWAYS wins.

so...

besos
t