amerika on the 4th

i spent my first five hours of our fourth of july holiday in 'amerika'. (the gay club in b.a.)

what a night. as always i love going there for the source of entertainment. at times it can be a little visually over stimulating. the music is good and only 50% of the men there are grabby because the other aren't interested in females.

i couldn't stop watching one man. he was dancing on a platform sporting long hair but with a receding hair line, a little summer dress with his masculine defined shoulders and arms while wearing grandma pumps. his dancing style looked like a grandma trying to be sexy. awkward yet i couldn't stop watching.

when i was in the bathroom washing my hands a tranny approached me with a comb. i thought she wanted to comb my hair so i told her no, but she was asking me to comb her hair. i thought about it. sure, why not help her out....wait....this is too weird. when i left the bathroom my friends told me she asked them to comb her hair too. was that a tranny pick up?

(photo above: the people in B.A. who aren't scared of the swine flu)

el cantante del paraguas

after i taught this morning i came home to prepare for a new private student next week. it's a nice day out so i opened the balcony door. a while later, while sitting in my bedroom i heard a guy yelling / singing.

'eh, it's the city', so i didn't give it much thought.

since he kept it up, i went out onto my balcony to see what he was yelling/singing about. it was warm, especially in the sun. so, after looking over the railing, through the trees that still have their dead leaves, i could see a man carrying an open umbrella. yelling loudly 'ahhhhhhhhh, paraguas. muy bueno paraguas!' (umbrellas. very good umbrellas)

this would be normal behavior if he were in the centro or along one of the busy streets, but my street is quiet and it doesn't have any businesses on it (at least on my block). he hung around for a while too. when my spanish teacher arrived she called him 'el cantante' (the singer).

i think he'd have better luck selling face masks and sanitizer these days.

(photo below: dead leaves still on the trees, but flowers still blooming)
(photo below: dead leaves still on the trees, but the plants are still green)
(photo below: umbrella sales on a sunny day on a quiet street)

swine news

i've become a little obsessed with reading the news, or trying to find argentina swine flu news in english.

i've learned that argentina has the 3rd most cases in the world, but some speculate they have more, maybe surpassing mexico and the u.s.. only severe cases are tested for the swine flu and there is also only one clinic in buenos aires that is testing for the flu. one clinic?

just this past sunday argentina held elections. it is mandatory to vote, so all people had to gather in a public space to cast their votes. just 3 days later, the government told the public to stay out of crowded spaces?

only one testing center in b.a.
http://www.fsrn.org/audio/argentina%C2%B4s-capital-declares-swine-flu-emergency/4994

argentina has the most cases?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/02/2614325.htm?site=news

the recent elections may have contributed to the spread of the flu.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/americas/02argentina.html?_r=1

change of schedule

since i no longer teach majority of my students, due to the swine flu, i slept in today until 1pm. it was nice, but i felt very lazy doing so.

if i would have had work, i would have taught 6 students, but instead i just taught 2 private students today.

the private universities in b.a. have also closed for a month, some cultural centers / community activity centers have also closed (my roommate works at one of them). more people are wearing the face masks on the subte, but i really think they should read more about how to use them or how they work. 3 or 4 ladies were holding them over their mouths and one's hand was touching her nose. i would think your dirty subte hands touching your face would be more of a danger than breathing in subte air?

i called united and expedia again to see if i could move my flight time up due to the swine flu, but i didn't get anywhere. i have a travel agent looking into it, but i think i'll just have to sit tight for a week and a half until my scheduled flight leaves.

pork flu

the swine flu or as some of my students try to translate it the 'pork flu'. call it what you want, it almost seemed to be old news...until now.

i've noticed more people wearing masks or girls with scarves pulled up around their mouths and noses while still on the subte which is normally warm and packed with people. yesterday, or was it today that the buenos aires government closed schools for one month due to the swine flu. the kids were already set to have a two week winter vacation (normal thing here) but due to the increase in cases, the winter holiday (shut down of schools) will start on monday july 6th and go to august 3rd. 4 weeks instead of the normal 2 weeks.

in the newspaper today it was reported that there was 'talk' of closing theaters, malls, discos and clubs. but this hasn't happened.

when i arrived home this evening after teaching my boss called me. she told me she had some news for me. she said it wasn't all bad. her news was, the company where i have majority of my students (around 20 students) has decided to stop all training courses for one month due to the swine flu. i guess they believe the less people coming in and out of the office the better? my boss told me that i won't be working until further notice. she said i'll still get paid, but i'll have to make up the time once classes resume.

this leaves me confused. is it really that bad? probably would be my guess since it's rumored the the argentine government skews statistics. maybe there are more cases than they let on?

since i now have nothing to do and it's winter i thought i could maybe come home early so i looked into changing my flight. unfortunately it would cost $200 (booo) and united airlines doesn't have any wavers yet due to the recently declared health emergency in argentina.

here's what i've been reading:

health emergency declared
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/5362

quarentine the sick in britan?
http://momento24.com/en/2009/06/23/swine-flu-malvinas-argentinas-hospital-will-be-evacuated-to-concentrate-all-virus-pacients-there/

governement official(s) infected
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/5286

'on' day

'on' days and 'off' days.

as for my language progression, yesterday felt amazing. when i read the newspaper, i could really read. typically i just read the headline and the first paragraph, but today i was able to read a full article; i still used my dictionary, but i didn't use it for every word this time around.

while i was waiting for a student, another student of mine walked past and greeted me in spanish. i said something in spanish back, but i totally messed up. how could i read so well that day, but not speak a simple sentence?

i read more of the newspaper when i arrived at my second to last student of the day. when i entered his office he was on the phone with his son. so i sat down and continued reading (and understanding) i was also to understand his conversation with his son too.

it feels like some days spanish is in my head and there are no walls up that block it from coming through. other days i get so mad and frustrated because i know it's in there. i know that i must have read a word 3-4 times and i still don't know what it means. is it really in there, but i'm just setting up blockades?

dreary

at 8:30 this morning i was explaining the word 'dreary' to a student. my definition was 'today. today is dreary'.

the winter is here. i hate it, but i know it's not as bad as it gets at home, so i feel sort of guilty complaining. when i left my apartment this morning it was cold, dark and raining. luckily i only walk around the corner to catch the bus.

this past week my boss fell back into her normal self. i knew it was too good to be true. here i had faith that people could change. nope, i'll keep hoping. last week i sent her 2 emails asking for the remainder of my may salary (tomorrow is july). she paid me the majority of may, but there is still money owed. then, last night at 10:30pm she called in a tizzy. she promised a new student that i would meet with him but forgot to tell me about it. i had time open in my schedule so i agreed to meet with the new student. i was surprised that when she thanked me, she actually sounded like she meant it.

so, this morning i taught 3 students at one office, than got on the subte to the other office. it was about a 6 block walk to the subte stop and then a 5 block walk once i got off the subte. it took only 35 min, but then i found out my new student canceled. this is typical. i think i have about 5 cancellations a week. i welcome cancellations. if the student cancels less than 24 hours before the class i still get paid.

so, i headed back to the subte (just 1 block this time). when i went down the first set of stairs i make a turn and then go down another flight of stairs. there is always the same man standing on these stairs. he is always holding the same 5-6 year old child and the child is always sleeping on his shoulder. i would say that 1 out of 3 times (various times of the day) he is always in the same place with the sleeping child. is the child sick? is the child part of his begging act and told to stay still? is the child napping? does the man's arm get tired from holding such a large child for a long period of time?

when i arrived home i dove into bed only having 1/2 hour before my spanish teacher arrived. this past weekend, both friday and saturday night i didn't get into bed until 4am. so, by last night i couldn't fall asleep for the life of me.

my spanish lesson went well. i still make silly mistakes that i should not be making at this point. lazy / forgetful or a little bit of both.

after my spanish lesson i headed out for a private english lesson and then after teaching i stopped at 5 veggie stands looking for small red potatoes. after not finding them i settled on large white potatoes.

for dinner we had lemon chicken with basil and potatoes.

money spent
----------------
1.20 pesos for the bus to work
1.10 pesos subte
1.10 pesos subte
30 pesos spanish lesson
1.62 pesos 10 potatoes
4.67 pesos chocolate bar
4.30 pesos 1 mango