Whirlwind California Return Home...and New Blog Colors

Hi everyone, yes I made it back to the States safely and yes this is the same blog, I just tweaked it for my next journey. I hope you like it.
Whew, I have a very quick 4 days in California before my flight out to the UK and boy was it a whirlwind trip! I got in Saturday morning to LAX where my lovely boyfriend Nick picked me up and whisked me away to Palm Springs for the day/evening. It was wonderful, so hot and sunny, I was really missing warmth, summer is my favorite season and I never understand why I go to the other hemisphere during Summer here. Nick and I had a wonderful Saturday drinking out by the pool at Hotel Zoso, which was more like a Vegas pool party than the relaxing resort we were hoping for, but when in Rome! We spent the early evening playing 9 holes of golf, well Nick golfed and I drank the "free" beer, well I say "free" because we payed $20 for the golf, the golf cart and they gave us 4 Budweisers on top of it. I don't know how they make any money and it made for very bad golf on my end. After dinner we spent the evening entertaining the lobby band by practicing our Tango moves.
Sunday we cheered on Argentina on our drive to San Diego, Vamos Argentina, they listened in their victory over Mexico. We had our relaxing afternoon at Nick;s parents in San Diego, topped off with a fantastic BBQ and the delicious Familia Tommaso Reserve Malbec brought home from Argentina. Monday, I got up and surfed with Nick's roommate, who got laid off 2 months ago, yay friends without jobs, then spent the rest of the day doing laundry and re-packing for the UK, exciting, I know. I did manage to sneak in a run on the beach and balcony yoga, so proud. Since I have been craving sushi for the past 3 months, Nick took me to Buddha's on Lido Peninsula to get my fill. Tuesday, I had the luxury of driving up the 5 home to the Bay Area, and I also got my In-N-Out Burger fix. Perfect, I am now ready for bad English food (note: I got my Mexican food fix for dinner Tuesday night courtesy of my mom's wonderful cooking).
A rant:  I am however concerned on the state of farming in the San Joaquin Valley, and all the poor farmers who are now out of work and farms left to turn into dust bowls due to our declining California budget and water shortages. People, California is a dry state, 80% of the rain comes from the north and 80% of the use is in Southern California, hello, So Cal is a natural desert, so get rid of the lawns and please stop watering your sidewalks to clean them, you are hurting the farmers and shorting our water supply and thus our food supply, and less water for farmers equals less food for us and higher prices, which is disastrous! So please, please, please California, STOP wasting water. Okay, I am sorry for the rant, but we are in a water crisis here, and people need to be more aware. Mono Lake website has a great article on how and why to conserve water, Water Conservation.
I am off to England now and hope to keep you all updated on my new travels, adventures, thoughts, and soul seeking moments that entertain but, hopefully also help me pick out my passions and find a career path.

Saying Goodbye to Buenos Aires

As I sit in the airport, I ponder my time in Buenos Aires. It has been an exciting three months. I was told I am the model international intern for Connect 123, I came to Argentina with limited Spanish, and leave with a proficiency that let me live for three months in a Spanish speaking house, have meaningful conversations with my roommates, and the confidence to ask questions and give answers in Spanish. I leave with the understanding that I have become “really good” at Spanish, as my professors, roommates, Brazilian friends and random Argentines have told me. Exciting. I also added value to my Spanish School through my marketing skills and I leave knowing that they have a 10% student increase for this winter (our summer) due to my hard work. And I made the most of my nights and weekends. I learned to eat medalunas and cake for breakfast with coffee, enjoy maté (and share), eat lunch when I got hungry, and have dinner at 10pm. I made valuable friendships with foreigners and locals, made it a priority to enjoy my evenings, had the discipline to practice yoga, alone in my room 4 days a week and make it to Spanish class every day at 9am after being out till 3am every evening. I even walked about every square inch of this city and can give restaurant and sightseeing recommendations. Heck, I even somewhat figured out the Guia-T (or Buenos Aires bus guide), a major feat, mind you. Yes, I leave Buenos Aires feeling good and fulfilled and a little more sure about myself and my wants and needs from life.

Now after three months there are some things I have decided I won’t miss and more that I will; first, I won’t miss the pollution; broken sidewalks and the dog poop; waiting 30 minutes in line to buy my groceries; walking in circles to find the thread store, only to be told they don’t have black and having to walk 15 blocks to find another store (I know have a greater appreciation for the Target’s and Wal-mart’s of the world, I like one stop shopping for things like thread, b-day cards, toiletries, etc), I didn’t like walking all over town to find the sock store or to buy medialunas; hanging all my laundry to dry and the musty smell when it rains while your clothes are air drying (although clothes last longer air dryad, I miss the softness of dried clothes); and the medialunas or cake or alfajores for breakfast, well maybe just a little, but my hips won’t miss the extra fat and carbs.

Some things I will miss; speaking Spanish, world cup fever, my new friends, the beef – it’s the best in the world and so cheap, alfajores – even though they are so fattening, coffee and the cookies that come with it for free, agua con gas without all the added salt – just plain water and bubbles, empanadas, the exchange rate, my street parilla that sold the best steak sandwich in town, the fact that I can wear anything I want and it’s fashionable because I’m  a tourist, Liter beer at a restaurant, gancia baitida (not fernet and coke though), facturas – again bad on the waistline, walking, public transportation….oh man, that’s a lot to miss.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Buenos Aires; however, I am ready to go, it’s time; I’m looking forward to dryer dried clothes, warm weather, the beach, sun, fresh fruits and veggies, oh wait, I am off to England and these things won’t exist for me their either, ah the horrible life I lead, guess I will be another month for these things, I guess I can wait, but I am getting my Sushi and spicy food fix in before I head out, and a bit of sun, I can’t be the whitest person in England! This is the end of my journey in Argentina, but I have decided to keep writing, so look forward to reading about my adventures in the UK! (I am going to change the title page too, so don’t get worried)

Last Week in Buenos Aires

My last week in Buenos Aires started off with an Argentina Soccer win. I decided to watch my last Argentina game in Buenos Aires, crammed into the outdoor lawn area of Plaza San Martin where they had a big screen set up to watch the event. And boy was I crammed in there, I think there were 50k people there, and it was incredible! The cheers, the horns, the costumes, so exciting, and made even sweeter with an Argentina 2 goal victory. The only thing that made it better was some Irish people asked me to translate some of the things the announcers were saying, score for my Spanish.

Now I am not too sure about these World Cup referees but I am proud of our American last minute goal win against Algeria on Tuesday, made my whole day. The night was even better; we had an asado at my house as a going away party for me with my friends from VOS. It was pretty much my first time cooking alone for a large party. I ended up with 13 pounds of flank steak, a mountain of pasta with veggies, a variety of snacks and dips and fruit salad and a flan (cooked by a friend). I basically cooked enough food for a small army, but no one starved and it all came out perfect so I can officially say now that I can cook (with some help from Carlos who was the asador, and some g-chat advice from Natalie, and my roommates’ extra hands at preparation; thanks guys). We had a wonderful evening eating and drinking and speaking Spanish, since half of the attendees were VOS teachers and employees. I will really miss VOS and everyone I met through them, the school and people there really made my time amazing here.

I spent Thursday packing, running and saying more good-byes (and a few hellos). My last night was spent repeating one of my first nights in Buenos Aires with VOS and Connect-123 where we went to Bangalore for drinks then Carnal to celebrate some birthdays; it’s funny how things happen. I guess I like to close things out the way they started; I first went to Bangalore with VOS for a good-bye pint, then around the corner to Carnal with the people from Connect 123. There I met some new interns and gave them some advice and said good-bye to the others. It was a pretty relaxing night, and I was just trying to take it all in that I would leave the next day, bittersweet, because I am sad to leave but also excited for my next journey. I came, I learned a new language (and got pretty damn good at it), and I met new friends, re-connected with an old friend, experienced amazing adventures and learned a bit more about myself. I think it was the right decision to be a little “crazy”, quit my job and come down here.

Friday was quiet, finished packing, said good-bye to my roommates and landlord and was off to lunch with Peter and Mari who first picked me up in Buenos Aires. We had a wonderful lunch and leisurely drive out to the airport. I will defiantly miss this place, but am ready to come home, even if it’s just for four days! 

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Visiting the Holy Land…..

Forgive me Father for I have sinned, it has been 13 years since my last confession and it took me attending a religious themed park to realize this. What? Yes, Buenos Aires has a religious theme park and it’s called Tierra Santa or Holy Land; although, I can hardly call a place where mannequins re-enact the Nativity, Last Supper and Creation, and where a 40ft Jesus rises again from the Calvary mound a moving religious experience, I guess some do. I still don’t know how I feel about Tierra Santa, with its plastic mannequins depicting every scene from the Old Testament, employees in full Jerusalem era garb, over the top kitschness ( I created this word, I know), and ridiculous traditional dance shows where the dancers look like over-grown children who are slightly off and look at each other for guidance. I can say that the park is very informative on the Judea-Christian Religious beginnings, and it is probably a good place for a child to learn about the bible. As for the Lonely Plant quote, “most are visibly moved when the over-sized Jesus gazes upon them,” I doubt this is actually true, but, maybe. I wasn’t moved, only slightly disturbed, maybe that’s my Catholic upbringing and the sheer ridiculousness of the land. It was interesting though to see their rendition of Creation, where God created light, then land, then went straight to African animals and Man, I kept thinking what happened to the Dinosaurs? But you can’t show everything, right? I left feeling a bit off, like maybe it was a sin to attend this park, but I kept telling myself it was informational, which it was. I guess you can all look at the photos and decided for yourselves…..

Moving on to a brighter note, the Referee who got suspend for robbing the USA of a win can share his sins with the Referee from the Brazil and Ivory Coast game. That ref was horrible, and don’t get me wrong, I wanted Brazil to win, I was a bar with 150 Brazilians and 2 Brazilian friends, but he was horrible, two “Brazos de Dios” on Brazil and no call, you could even see him laughing with a player later in the game about the bad call, or red carding Kaká for no reason except acting on the half of Ivory Coast. Ugh! Who is paying the Referees to swing this World Cup? It was a fun game, and Brazil did win, and a Brazilian at another table told me my Spanish was really good (um, that’s making me think it’s bad, but hey I’m learning).  The evening was spent at an Asado at my friend Nicole’s, oh how I love Chorizo and Chimichurri. Delicious evening.

Monday was “tranquillo,” I feel the Spanish version of this word sounds so much better than the English version “tranquil,” the Spanish version rolls off the tongue better and just sounds more relaxing. I went to VOS to film, but it was a holiday and only the teachers were working, so I hung out with Lucio and watched the Chile and Suiza (I like this Spanish word better too) game while writing blogs and happiness lists. I feel like it was a productive day, after school I walked down to the Mall (about 1 mile), and reminded myself why I hate shopping (I didn’t buy a thing), but I would love to come home and shop, wearing the same clothes constantly for 3 months wears on you, and I brought all my favorites, so I am really sick of them and want to donate them all, but then I would be naked and I don’t think anyone would hire me, or at least the companies that I would want to work for. Ugh, my dilemma, I am ready to work again though, I miss having an income, now I just need to keep thinking about what it is I want to do….Such is the question of my quarter life crisis. I went to dinner with my roommate Jessica, we spent an hour taking bus and subte all over town to 2 different sushi joints, which were closed, which is the norm in BsAs, I am getting used to things being closed, but I did get to see the neighborhood of Villa Crespo, briefly and I got to ride on the oldest subte line A, in the old cars, so the night worked out, we ended up eating just down the street from my house at my third favorite restaurant here, La Cholita. After a great beef kebab, corn empanada and a bottle of wine, we decided it was a good night.

* More Tierra Santa photos are posted in the link on my previous blog

Me Gusta Mucho El Fútbol….Creo Que Estoy Una Hincha del Mundial

So I am going to bother you guys more with Soccer talk. I am sorry but, it is just so exciting to be in a Soccer country for the World Cup, they eat, breathe, and sleep soccer here. Work stops when Argentina plays, games are streaming all day long in bars, shops, and at places of work. It’s madness.

Wednesday started off with the South Africa game, which was a bit of a disappointment, but still a fun fiesta at school. I started writing another film script for our second YouTube film, about soccer terms in Spanish, but I am not sure we will be able to film before I leave, which makes me a bit sad. We have had many good reviews about the first video though. That evening I watched “Un Novio Para Mi Mujer”, an Argentine comedy, at VOS cine club.  It was an entertaining movie, because the husband was too weak to get a divorce so he hired a man to seduce her and gets her a job at a radio station, well she becomes more fun, and he decided he wants to be with her, but she also likes the seducer whom has now fallen in love with her, so the husband tells the truth, and she leaves him. In the end they are in counseling and divorce procedures when they decide to reconnect their love. I like the movie but it is not a comedy in American comedy standards, none of the Argentine comedies fall into the American standard. I can say that watching The Hangover or Wedding Crashers in Spanish is entertaining but still not that funny. ¡Que lastima! I finished the evening finally nursing my thirst for spiciness at La Fabrica del Taco with friends. They had 3 sauces on the table, one for Argentines (no flavor or spice), one regular (hardly spicy), and one spicy (had some heat but needed A LOT more), so we asked for it and were given a bowl of spicy heaven (FINALLY). I had been needing the spice. Argentines think that a bell pepper is spicy; they don’t know anything about spice. We had a fantastic evening eating tacos and drinking margaritas, and of course speaking mostly in Spanish (because it was an international group and Spanish was the common language).

Thursday we had a huge fiesta at school for the Argentina contra Corea del Sur game. I have never seen so many medalunas, facturas, sandwiches de jamon y queso and other braded items in my life. I had a gluten hangover after, which is probably good because I now don’t need to eat another delicious medaluna in my life (or at least in my time here). The game was amazing as well, 4 to 1, Argentina win. Although the first goal for Argentina was by Corea del Sur, but we’ll take it! Not good for that player but he semi-redeemed himself by scoring for his own team on the right goal. That evening I took a bunch of my Brazilian friends, an Australian and Norwegian to watch the Lakers v. Celtic final game at Casa Bar. Since I am from Northern California, I naturally root for any team playing against the Lakers and my friend from Boston needed a group to cheer with him. It was a disappointing loss on our side, but a great game nonetheless. It was also awesome to watch everyone in the group speaking Spanish, even when two people whose native languages were English were in conversation. Love it; we have all come a long way in our learning.

On Friday the USA got robbed of our win. I was devastated, mostly because I spent the entire hour and a half sitting outside in the cold watching the game on the giant screen set up in Plaza San Martin with 10 other Americans. I wanted that win! That night my Brazilian friend Simone and I went to 1810, a traditional Argentine restaurant for dinner and then over to our friend Gaudte’s for a good-bye party for our “amigo borracho del Australia”, Martin. It was a small group of students and teachers, but a good time where the aim was “rompe todo.” 

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Random Information 1: Diego Maradona “La mano de Dios”

I have been getting a lot of questions about Argentina, especially since the world cup started (I have been here for 3 months, and now everyone is interested). Most importantly everyone has been speculating or asking about Argentina’s coach, Diego Maradona, whom is one of the greatest futból players in the world. He was a phenomenal futból player as well as very controversial in life and on the field.

To start, NO he is not an Argentine drug dealer, like many of you have been asking. He has had his drug problems, for example he was suspended from soccer for 15 months for testing positive for cocaine, then sent home from the 1994 world cup for ephedrine, and later after retirement struggled with his cocaine addiction, which he eventually kicked (after gaining a lot of weight) to become a popular Argentine TV host and now the Argentine National Futból coach for World Cup 2010. So you were on the right track with drugs, just missed the path a bit.

Second, he is known as one of the best players in the world. He played for many clubs in Argentina and Europe, often setting world record contract fees, and wining numerous titles. He played in 4 world cups, most notable, the 1986 World Cup where he was captain, won the Golden Ball award for being the tournament’s best player and brought Argentina to victory over West Germany in the final (their last world cup win). It was this same tournament that he earned the nickname “La mano de Dios” and why all of England hates him (Brazil too but that’s just because the countries are Futból rivals). In the quarter final round, Maradona scored 2 goals in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England. The first was an un-penalized handball “La mano de Dios” and the second was a 60 meter weave through 6 England players dubbed the “Gol del Siglo”. Argentina baked Maradona and their team in their victory saying it was revenge against the Falklands (a war where Argentina tried to re-take the Falkland Islands from the Brits but lost).  Years later Diego admitted the first goal was off his hand! I love the drama.

Third, he is just a crazy Argentine who is passionate about Futból and his country. After an exhibition match during Argentina’s Bicentennial (I was there) against Canada, Maradona told news reporters that if Argentina wins the Cup in South Africa he will run down 9 de Julio (the widest street in the world) to the Obelisk naked! If that doesn’t make you love him, I don’t know what can. They guy has spirit. The End

After note: I hope they do win; I want to see the news coverage about the crazy naked Argentine! Jajaja (hahaha, in Spanish)

*Historical information and photo taken from Wikipedia and Google Images

El Copa Mundial…Let’s go USA y Vamos Argentina

I don’t know a thing about Soccer, but I love being in a Soccer country for the world cup, it’s just so exciting. Everything stops for the games, betting pools abound and good spirits are to be found all around. After the disappointing start on Friday (two ties), Saturday started off with rain here, and as I told you in the past, the rain here is relentless. I went to the University of Buenos Aires to watch the Argentina game with my Argentine roommate and her friends, I was surprised at how quiet it was, but then the game was early (11 am on a Saturday is early for Argentines) and it was raining, most Argentines didn’t miss the game, they just stayed inside and watched it at home with family. I was happy to get an Argentina win. After the game it was off to see USA play England at a bar in Amargo. My friend works for the Argentimes and the bar was full of Brits with a few Americans. I am happy that we tied, but would have loved to have beaten the Brits, oh well next time, at least our goalie played great, I can’t say that for England, although I should thank him for our goal.

Sunday was full of more game watching and an Asado at my friend Nicole’s house, too much food and beverage but so delicious, at least the rain stopped on Sunday for the BBQ, made for a nice evening. Monday was back to work. After 10 weeks of Spanish lessons (9 because I took a week off to travel with Nick), I am done. I have 1 week of work left, which has been mostly spent watching world cup games, since we have another pool going, as a side our student coordinator Cechu won the first pool and received 14 one liter beers, I am hoping to win the second one, but I am not doing so well. Anyways, like I said, work stops for El Mundial, but I can’t complain, I am learning to love fútbol. I just wish for the last world cup, when I was in New Zealand, that they had played in it, but I will take their last minute score to tie and actually prove that they deserved to be in the Cup.

Since we have tons of Brazilians at our school, the Brazil game was huge. Everyone came over to the school in the afternoon and we had a small picada and drinks, I can say that I don’t recommend drinking Fernet y Coca in the middle of the day. And to make it sweeter Brazil won. That night I decided to be an American and head to Casa Bar for the Lakers and Celtics game. It was a pretty sad game (I’m one of those fans that roots for the team playing the Lakers, but that’s about all I care about basketball), but it was fun because 10,000 miles away I met up with a friend from middle school who I haven’t seen in over 13 years. Small world, it would be better if I told you I just ran into him, but we had known we were both in BsAs and it took almost a month to meet up, pretty small world anyway. I do have to say after watching the basketball, I would have rather been watching Soccer; I am defiantly a hinca (fan). Now I am just debating if I should get a jersey….hahaha(Messi? Maradona? a better one would be the EEUU)

Filming, Research in Casetllaño, and Asado

At VOS I have been working on writing a script for a short, 2 minute, YouTube film to advertise our Spanish lessons on Skype. We filmed Monday and I worked with our marketing/film guy to perfect it for YouTube (VOS ESpanish Film). I can say for the next one, I am going to hire someone to do my makeup! Hahaha. It was fun and a great learning process, I am now working on the sequel and we hope to film before I leave.  My Spanish is now at a level where I am doing research in Spanish for my class. This week we researched the different types of urban tribes among young Porteños, the music of Argentina, and the history of the World Cup. I can say it was pretty awesome to be able to read articles in Spanish and understand in order to write synopsis in Spanish, I have finally learned the language.

After a tranquil start to my week, the Spanish talk became predominant and the festivities began. Wednesday I saw the Argentine film “Derecho de la Familia” at cine club and then went to Million for Happy Hour with my classmates and wrapped up the night with dinner at Piola Pizza. (Remember Porteños eat around 10pm, and we didn’t make it home until after 12, due to the good times we were having at the restaurant). Thursday was crazy; we had a Picada, or finger food, evening and fiesta. I even learned a bit of Portuguese that evening, but I won’t be using it as my pronunciation in Portuguese is a joke; I cannot speak properly at all! I was not blessed with the ability to speak in an accent, sad. I am definitely a gringa, but I am okay with that.

Friday is when the festivities really began……..La Mundial and an asado at school for lunch. Soccer is just so much more exciting in a soccer loving country. I may not know the rules but it’s just so exciting with all the viewing parties and paraphernalia. We started a pool for all the games this weekend and the losers have to buy the winner of this weekend’s games a beer. I am already losing, but still loving it, especially since I am sitting in front of the TV at work “working” while watching the games. Can’t wait for all the festivities this weekend, Saturday is already booked up with the Argentina v. Nigeria game and then USA v. England at two different bars with mixed groups and Argentina has set up large screens in two of the main city plazas for viewing as well, so exciting!

New Friends and Positive Outlooks

At the end of this week I will have 3 weeks left in Argentina. I am a bit sad but excited to be ending this chapter in my life and heading out to Great Britain for a vacation with my mom. I’m nervous about coming back to California in August, fully knowing that if I don’t find a job by October, it’s going to be a long and cold winter for me. Although I do have the shining light that if nothing happens, I am going to use my Southwest flight credit and fly out to North Carolina and help (more like crash or sponge on) my dad with his marketing and sales plan for his brewery, if all the permits come in on time. Might not be a bad idea, but I would love to find that perfect job in sunny Southern California, I am not one for harsh winters, if it’s under 65 for too long I start hibernating. In my last blog I talked about all the good-byes to my Buenos Aires friends, but with good-byes come hellos as you encounter new people. Connect 123, the company who found my internship, has 8 new interns, mostly university students or fresh graduates, but its 8 new personalities, experiences, lessons and additions to my network.

Since I am one of the “oldest”, that’s relative in age and time, spent here, when I met the bright-eyed, optimistic new people, I was immediately happy at their energy level but also a bit nervous because they already knew so much about me and were looking for recommendations right away. It was weird since I have never met them, but exciting as well.  I will get to share my knowledge and love of the city with them before I leave, be able to share my employment history and lessons as well as be renewed by their sheer enthusiasms and optimism. Exciting!

To get on to a bit of the fun in my life, Tuesday I went to “happy hour”, they don’t have a term for this here; they just use English, with my friends from California and a friend from school. It was fun conversation and since they are like me, a few years out of college and stranded in careers, we had a pretty good conversation session on happiness in work and life, as a note all 4 of us have NO idea what we want after this, and it’s comforting to have a group just like you. Wednesday, I went to Bar Seis in Palermo to meet the new Connect 123 crew, like I said they were wonderful and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better on our city bike tour Saturday. Thursday I went to the Recoleta Cultural Center for Festival Ciudad Emergente, an art, film and music show, all for free, with VOS. It’s a four day event spanning the weekend, where you can view new art styles (including graffiti), short films and an array of rock, indie, electronic, fusion artists. I would say the festival was fun, but we spent most our time drinking beer and talking in Spanish at a café nearby, while we were waiting for a “good” band to perform. It was interesting to say the least.

Friday night, was Sexy and the City 2, Porteño style! We ordered Empanadas in, had wine and beer, got dressed up and headed to the movies. Fun! I do have to say that, a lot is lost in translation! The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles, and as with the other movie I watched, I tried reading the subtitles and there are so many things they say in the movie that don’t really translate over quite right, a shame, but everyone seemed to love it and be laughing hard none-the-less.

Saturday, I went on a bike tour of Palermo and Recoleta with my internship company, Connect 123 and Bicicleta Niranja, it was nice to be on a bike although it was the first time in my life I voluntarily wore a bike helmet (the Porteños are known as bad drivers, especially the bus and taxis, I have to pray when I use those, which is everyday). It was a fun tour, and I convinced the group (well hunger did) to eat at my favorite Parilla (street vendor); everyone was content with my recommendation, which was awesome to hear. That evening I went out to dinner with some of the girls from the program to an Italian Mafia restaurant (or a restaurant that bastardizes American Mafia) but the gnocchi’s were incredible. Now you may wonder why I am eating Gnocchi or Italian for that matter in BsAs, but along with casserole dishes (from the north), empanadas, carne, and milanesa; Gnocchi is a main dish of BsAs, due to their heavy Italian influence. Sunday, I would like to say was relaxing, but was not. I hate shopping and decided to get my entire souvenir shopping done this day, so I can enjoy the rest of my time here without thinking about it. I am proud to say, I attained everything for very cheap, but that’s because I staked out all the markets in my time here. This shopping trip led me from the street market in Plaza Serrano, Palermo, to Defensa in San Telmo, down Florida Street and all the way over to the Recoleta Fair, whew; I probably accomplished 15 miles. But, I am done, exhausted, because I am not really a shopper (would love to be one, but I hate spending money and traveling from store to store when I am on a mission, to meander is another thing). When I got home I headed back out to see the free bands at the Recoleta Cultural Center, but there were so many people, and I was so tired of people from shopping all day, I headed to the supermarket to grab dinner and had to wait in a 35 minute long line! Ugh, such my luck. I did get to see the final product of the graffiti art at the Cultural Center, which was fascinating, especially since some of the artists weren’t completed even after working for 4 days, good graffiti can take ages. I have a new appreciation for mural graffiti and would welcome more graffiti if it was mural graffiti; it makes ugly places more colorful and interesting. But I am digressing, after my LONG wait at the supermarket I came home to cook, only to have all the lights go out. In an apartment, that’s dark, and at least we are on the top floor but still when the whole block goes out, it’s dark. At least we have gas appliances and I could continue cooking. It wasn’t all bad tough, because my roommate cooked too and we had dinner together and a great conversation, in Spanish, of course. The silver lining to the power outage actually was the best part of my day. I am grateful for it.

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I’m Lucky to Have the Opportunity to Take This Journey

So I have found writing this blog a bit therapeutic, and I know you guys are now getting to know me better, which is good for me because I feel like I am still in your lives even though I am so far away, and though chatting with everyone I feel like I am still in yours. It’s been great knowing that I have such a great network of family, friends and acquaintances back home supporting me. This blog post has nothing really to do with Buenos Aires so I understand if you want to stop reading, I won’t even know!

But like I said writing is helping me. Since I have 3 weeks left here in Buenos Aires and then a month of travel after (yes I am very very lucky), I have starting thinking about the “real world” and starting analyzing my time here to see if I have figured “it” out, or at least have a better idea on what I want to do in life; and as of now, I still have no idea and that has been depressing me. Especially since the eternal worrier and accountant in me has just done a check of the finances, and while I am secure for awhile(although donations are accepted); I know that I’m going to break down when I come home and have to start using my safety net (aka. my grandmother’s will money). This hurts a bit because I know she would rather have had me spend that money on a wedding (not any time soon) or on a home (that won’t happen either because I don’t even know where I want to settle down). But I also know deep down inside that my Nana (on my mom’s side, I luckily still have my dad’s mom) was adventurous and would be happy to know that I left and tried to figure “it” out and travel the world, learning new languages, and  discovering myself. She had those opportunities twice in her life, first, when she traveled half the world with her mom (her father died mid-trip and her mother couldn’t go alone) and when she traveled the world a second time with my Papa who was in the military and film industry. She may not have seemed like the most adventurous person later in life, but she was full of stories and I know she would think the money well spent in the end, even if she did give me a hard time at first.

I also have something to get off my chest and that is my intense jealousy, but also extreme elation for my friends who have been able to move to the places they always wanted to like (aka all you SLO guys) and those of you who have attained that “perfect” for the time being job. You guys have all worked hard in jobs you hated, extra schooling, and living apart from your loved ones to get to where you are today, and although I am green with envy, I am so proud of you guys for sticking with “it” and ending up in your dream life. I hope to one day (soon, please God, soon) get there too, at least with a job, since that’s my biggest demon right now. I am, however; very excited to have so many houses to stay at when I am in SLO or the Bay Area, so you all better watch out; I may never leave your guest-rooms!

Everyone has different paths, and I know that, and as envious as I am, I know that many are envious of my path. It’s tough to quit your job, lose your income and general security to head to another country without a backup or return plan, you have to be a bit crazy, and well,  I think I’m a bit crazy, the accountant on my shoulder tells me every day, but deep down I know I needed this. I needed to leave to figure “it” out, see the world, see different perspectives, meet new people, be alone and most importantly learn a new language, something I have wanted to do for many years, ever since my babysitter, Elva, planted the seed at a young age, and then it took Mrs. Charnow in High School to start the growing process, and now this trip and VOS to help me realize my dream of speaking Spanish. And as crazy as I think I am, I am really glad I am doing this. I may worry day to day about what will happen in two months; will I get a job quickly?, will I spend all my savings and go into debt?, what’s going to happen?, but I am learning to let it go. I know that my loving parents and family will never let me starve (they may not let me go on another trip until I find a job and pay them back) but they will always be there for me, no matter what. I am lucky for that. I am lucky for Nick who has great patience to let me come and figure “it” out. I am lucky for all my caring friends who send messages just to say hi, and all my new friends. I know I have no right to be jealous of my friends who moved and got great jobs, one day I will have that too, but right now I’m on a different path, and I think, no, I KNOW, it’s a great one. Who gets to just drop everything to live in another country? Not many and then who gets to come home to a vacation? Even less. Every path is different, I chose the less traveled one, and it’s scary (because it’s different from the rest) but I know will be worth “it” in the long run. I’m lucky to be on my path.

As a last note, I know I told you all the books I have been reading, well the Happiness Project has been wonderful and I am going to start applying some of those principles to this blog. You will still get fun trip updates but I am also going to start applying my “soul searching” to the blog in separate posts. I hope you all don’t mind. Much love and thank you everyone for your love and support, and a huge congratulation to all my friends living and doing what you love, you have worked hard and deserve it!

*It is in quotes because I don’t know what it is, yet.