Let me start by saying British Airways sucks. Yes it could be the fact that we had three 10 hour flights back to back to back and that flight was in the middle but I almost had a panic attack on the plane. We were in the back row, middle aisle, next to the bathroom. I've never seen a plane crammed full of so many seats. There was no room whatsoever. The middle aisle had four seats and somehow Bill and I ended up in the middle two seats. I have this thing about disturbing people on the plane if I have to go to the bathroom so on big flights I always choose the middle aisle end seat. Always. And this time around for whatever reason we couldn't choose our seats online and we were late checking in blah blah blah and we got really shitty seats and I sat down and buckled in and I started to have a cow. Like, I literally thought I was going to give birth to a moo-ing miniature little cow thing. Fortunately the woman on Bill's side was separated from her husband so when another couple got upgraded (assholes) the woman moved with her husband into the empty seats. I politely explained to the steward that we were coming from Delhi, on our way to Buenos Aires and I would need copious amounts of wine. THANK GOD Zoolander was on the movie menu. After our "dinner" I watched my favorite movie of all time and passed out drunk immediately afterwards. What I do need to mention is how utterly astounded I was when our baggage actually shimmied its way onto the conveyer belt in the Buenos Aires airport. I was almost counting on it being lost so I could go shopping but there it was. 2 transfers, 3 airlines and 15,000 miles later, safe and sound. Except for Cap'n Carryon which Bill told you about previously....
Let's skip ahead to Buenos Aires. We thought, for a hot second, we were going to have a repeat of Berlin with a no show key guy for the apartment we rented. It turns out he didn't hear us buzzing and he came downstairs to find me sitting dejected on the sidewalk with all of the luggage while bill was looking for a pay phone. Ha! A pay phone! Where on Gods green earth is there a pay phone these days?! Do you know we went to an antique market in SanTelmo and they had telephones for sale. TELEPHONES! Like, not rotary phones, the ones with buttons! I'm either getting old or the whole world is going to shit if a telephone with buttons is an antique in 2011. Maybe it's both all at once, yeah, the world is def ending. Omg I just want to die, I can't deal with being an outdated model of society.
Anyways, the apartment was really nice. It was clean, bright, a real mattress with fitted sheets, which you don't think is a big deal until you spend 5 months sleeping in beds that do not have fitted sheets and you wake up every morning hopelessly tangled in a mess of sheets with your face pressed against a dirty naked mattress. Oh, and the apartment had a toilet instead of a hole in the floor. These are all multiple pluses for BA.
We immediately located the nearest super duper huge supermarket, appropriately name "JUMBO" and I reveled in their wine selection. I've decided to try every single wine that's either Malbec or made in Mendoza that's under 25 pesos. So what if I'm cheap? After two bottles you don't know the difference anyway. Bill immediately fell in love with Quilmes beer.
It took us a couple of days to readjust to the time zone. I spent lazy, rainy afternoons in my underwear writing about India, singing along to Radiohead's In Rainbows. It was a great way to transition between continents. India instantly becomes the love of your life as soon as you step foot off her shores. I effortlessly waxed poetic on our time spent there, cozy in my new, comparatively luxurious apartment. If you had asked me my opinion just five days earlier you would have received a very different response.
We went to the Recoleta cemetery which was quite charming despite my crippling fear of the dead. We went to the SanTelmo Sunday market which really had some interesting things,not just the usual crap you see every where. We've made very messy empanadas and have taken to eating steak for breakfast. We trolled Santa Fe for cheap shopping, and I totally scored with a dress and shirt. When it comes to the clothes I'm totally channeling my inner Caro to get my South American groove going. That's right Caro, I called you out girl!
We signed up for Spanish lessons after Bill realized he had no idea what anyone was saying. I never have any idea what anyone is saying to me anyways, I just give them a blank stare and say "um... que?" with a furrowed brow. This was not the Spanish we had heard in NYC or Spain. It turns out Argentina Spanish pronounces the ll/y sound with "sh" and the Tú becomes Vos. So "pollo" is pronounced "posho" and "Yo mi llamo" is pronounced "sho mi shamo". Very weird, we are having a difficult time adjusting. Our language group is pretty diverse, there's a French guy who teaches autistic children, a Scottish girl who's and actress and singer, and a girl from the UK who's a ballerina. We have class two hours a day, every day for the length of our stay. The school has a smattering of events throughout the week so we are going to be social tomorrow night and go to their evening language exchange. Half the battle of learning a new language is having the confidence to speak it in public, which is something I really struggle with.
Bill already is completely in love with BA. I haven't met anyone in my life that has spent time here and didn't leave loving it. I am warming up to it very quickly, I will feel more comfortable if I can leave understanding a teeny bit of Spanish. If I could choose a super power it would be the power of genius and with that would be the ability to speak any language the world, but for the time being I'm going to have to get back to my vocabulary flash cards.
-Claire
If seeking that magic power...see the movie "Limitless" It's awesome
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that the city of BA has is that there are shows and plays almost every night of the week. When I was there, I used to go to the theatre all Thursdays. My buenos aires apartment was located in downtown, so all of the theatres in Corrientes St. were close to where I lived. The tickets cost around 100 Argentine pesos. And all artists are great, you will see great quality shows!
ReplyDeleteKim