day 3 in Buenos Aires

(written tuesday november 25th in the evening (internet doesn't work at the host family's house))

7:30 i woke up to my cell phone alarm. it's strange to see no service on the phone. yesterday while waiting for the subway i had the urge to check my cell phone...what cell phone? It's been canceled.

8:05 tea and 'cookie's' with the chinese girl

8:20 the three of us students walked to the subway together. the weather was perfect, not hot or cold. both the chinese girl and i got splashed with water when we stepped on a loose sidewalk tile. (the sidewalks consist of large tiles. some are loose and a couple are missing. if you step on a loose one and there's water underneath...splash in/on your shoe you get) it wasn't a problem, but i can see how this could be a nuisance.

8:30 the first subway car was too full for all three of us to board, we waited for the next one. the second car wasn't much better but there was room for us to squeeze in.

9:30 class started. 'senor smarty pants' from yesterdays class moved on. he made sure he stopped by to tell everyone that this class was too easy for him. i was relieved, adios!.

for majority of the class it was just me, two other students and the profesora. half way through a swiss girl joined our class. the class was enjoyable, but towards the end i started to get tired, especially with my cold that's been lingering. the last hour of the class i could hardly understand anything and speaking was almost non existent. i couldn't put any words together. oh, so frustrating for me because yesterday i was on my toes with words and comprehension, but today....nada (nothing). i'm going to make sure i get enough sleep tonight, but it's so strange to eat and go to bed immediately. we eat at 9pm and finish around 10.

1:30 i stayed at the school to use the internet. my host family has internet but the password they gave me doesn't work. they insist it is correct and i don't want to disagree.

4:00 i came back to my barrio (neighborhood) Palmero and had a glass of wine and a small pizza. surprisingly (for me) I sat inside. normally i am crazy about sitting outside, but the mosquitoes are so bad i didn't want to get any more bites. my first glass of argentine wine was mm mm good. i also had a glass bottle of water 'sin gas' (without carbonation) and a small pizza (it looked like a pizzahut personal pizza) with mozzarella, provolone and onions. It cost 41 pesos ($12.50)

After some food I walked to 'farmacity' (the argentine CVS) and bought some desperately needed 'OFF!' cream to prevent more mosquito bites. Farmacity has many many American products like; Pantine shampoo, dove soap, etc... the small bottle of mosquito cream was 7 pesos ($2)

6:00 the german and chinese girl asked me if i'd like to join them for argenine ice cream, so i did. we walked just 2 blocks to the 'heladoria' , it was good, but i prefer american ice cream. the argentine ice cream is like the italian icecream we have in the states. a small ice-cream (american child sized ice cream) and a coffee was 16 pesos ($4.80)

7:00 we all wondered over to an internet cafe. 1.5 hours of internet was 2.5 pesos (75 cents)

8:30 i went back to the house to take a shower before dinner. it's really hot out and sticky too. it was around 78 degrees.

9:00 dinner. Another pie looking dish with corn in it. It was good, but plain with no spices. We also shared a large salad, but there was too much salt and oil on it.

after dinner mirta spoke more english with us and alejandro cleaned up the table and did the dishes

11:00 bedtime. i really wanted to go to bed earlier, but it was fun to stay up talking to the other two students and mirta. the chinese girl is really funny. both her and the german girl speak near perfect english.

12:00 still awake. it's really hot. i had to move the fan closer to the bed. the sheets felt like winter sheets. i didn't sleep very well. (am i doomed? this is just spring! summer isn't even here yet.)

money spent today:
1 peso for the subway to school (30 cents)
1 peso for the return trip
41 pesos for a glass of wine, small pizza and bottle of water ($12.50)
7 pesos small bottle of OFF! mosquito repellant($2)
16 pesos for a child size ice cream and cup of coffee($4.80)
2.5 pesos for an hour and a half of internet at a cafe across the street (75 cents)
___
68.5 pesos