SNOW!!!!

Tuesday 10 July 2007

I was so on the ball yesterday, that I posted my picture by mid-afternoon. And see what happens when I am up-to-date? I miss amazing photo opportunities!

Shortly after I posted yesterday, it started to snow! Yes, snow, in Buenos Aries! This has not happened in about 90 years! It is extremely rare for the temperature to even drop below freezing. Everyone was out and about, amazed by the snow. For most of the people here, it was the first time they'd ever even seen snow.

It had been nearly 5 years since I'd seen snow, although I was perfectly happy to keep that count going. And it was certainly the first time I've seen it snow in July!

EDIT: I would just like to add that although the snow didn't stick at all in the city, and only collected a few inches for a couple of hours in the suburbs, and was completely and totally gone the next day, the airport canceled all international flights for 24 hours. And, although the snow came and went on a holiday, over a hundred schools canceled classes the next day because of the "extreme cold." I figured you guys up in Michigan and Canada would get a kick out of that!

Nueve de Julio

Monday 9 July 2007

Today is Argentina's Independence Day! The holiday itself has the feel of a bank holiday, of just another day off, probably because it's in the middle of winter. Nothing like Fourth of July.

But Ryan and I braved the cold and went down to Plaza Congreso to see the ceremony. This is a picture of the flag-raising, which turned out to be a very religious event. Before they raised it they said a very very long prayer to Mary, asking for peace and whatnot, and asking all the different Virgens to pray for them. They even blessed the flag with holy water! Lots of signs of the cross and a Hail Mary later, the flag finally went up. It was the most religious national ceremony I've ever seen.

We also had some churros and chocolate (nothing like a traditional Spanish dish to celebrate independence from Spain!) and the band played, lots of groups marched, some high school kids carried flags, gauchos danced, it was quite the parade.

Pigeons in the Park

Sunday 8 July 2007

In Plaza Congreso

Climb right in

Saturday 7 July 2007

Interesting piece of art in the San Telmo neighborhood.

Almacen

Friday 6 July 2007

This is a price board outside of an almacen, or small grocery store. You may notice that they've just given up on the painted prices, and go with paper ones taped on. This is because prices change all the time here. And I mean all the time. Even in our year here we've seen incredible inflation, with prices constantly on the rise. The government claims that inflation is low ("well, the price of shoelaces hasn't changed in a very long time") but everyday items just keep going up. Stores all advertise in paper like this, and many have given up, leaving ads with dollar signs empty, not bothering to show the price.

High fashion

Thursday 5 July 2007

Speaking of Argentine fashion . . . .

I can think of so many uses for this belt . . . what do you think?

Happy Birthday to Ryan!

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Well, he may not be a real-life nephew of my Uncle Sam, but Ryan was indeed born on the fourth of July. My gift (which wouldn't have to be packed later, adding unwanted weight to suitcases, only to us. But there is no weight limit on people at the airport!) was a cheesecake, one of his favorites. This was my very first attempt at cheesecake ever (I love cooking and can do a pretty good job of that most of the time, but I don't have much natural baking talent) and it wasn't quite perfect. The edges were a little burned and the bottom crust was missing something. But, it was smothered with chocolate and raspberries and still tasted cheese-cakey, so we enjoyed it!

Lottery

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Lottery tickets here are sold exclusively in lottery stores, where the only thing you can buy is lottery tickets. They usually hang the tickets in the windows, like this. I'm not sure why - so you can pick out one that looks ripe?

New Job

Monday 2 July 2007

Well, I started my new job today, which is located in the neighborhood known as "Caballito" (pron: cab-a-shjee-toe), a word which literally means "little horse." So, here's my little horse!

I am still teaching a few classes this week, but I'm really excited about this job. It was actually a lot of fun today, although all I did was check translations of kids' stories.

Park Cats

Sunday 1 July 2007

Ryan and I went to the Parque Lezama today, to start setting up the photographic scavenger hunt we're designing and putting on in the spring. (It's going to be so much fun!) There was a corner of the park reserved for cats, as usual. Many of the parks here have resident cats, of varying degrees of friendliness. (The cats at the botanical gardens were really affectionate.)People just dump them when they don't want a kitten any more, or strays move in. Here's a bunch of resident cats in the roots of a tree.

Jardín de Cactus

Saturday 30 June 2007

This is my friend Carolina, reading her poetry. I couldn't understand a lot of it, because 1. it was in poetic Spanish, and 2. that guy playing the violin made it super-hard to hear anything. But it was a cool little night with music and photography and poetry at a gallery downtown.

Graffiti 6

Friday 29 June 2007

Some nice graffiti at a cultural center/school.

Maxi

Thursday 28 June 2007

This is my student Maxi. He started out as a big pain - spoiled, difficult, speaking disorder, probably ADD, who knows what else. But after a few months of rigid discipline and lots of reward games, he ended up being one of my favorite students. One of the few people in whom I saw progress, which is always nice for a teacher. Unfortunately, today was my last class with him - one of the few students I will miss.

Fashionable Ladies

Wednesday 27 June 2007

I may have mentioned that I often have classes up in the garment district of Flores. Pretty much every shop is a clothing shop around there, so I walk past dozens, if not hundreds, of display windows on my way to class. Lately, this is what I've been walking past. This is the newest style to hit Buenos Aires. Some have neon pink, some neon purple, some neon blue, but they all have one thing in common: yellow tights. One pair, at the very least, in every window. Usually more. But one thing I can say for sure about winter fashion in Argentina: Yellow tights for everyone!!!!!

Self Portrait 5

Tuesday 26 June 2007

These are the buzzer buttons to people's apartment. Doorbells, I guess. And me. It's getting pretty cold down here.

The Tooth . . . Mouse?

Monday 25 June 2007

This is the Ratón Perez, who is the Argentine equivalent of the tooth fairy. He is a mouse that creeps into children's rooms at night and replaces the teeth under their pillows with money. I asked my Spanish teacher Emiliano what happens if the house has mouse traps, but he was a little vague on that point.

This is a poster of a kids' movie made about the Ratón Perez (which, by the way, just means the Mouse Perez, which is a surname. I will try to find out where this comes from.)

Mourning Gardel

Sunday 24 June 2007

I think I've mentioned this before, but the Argentine people have a rather morbid tradition of celebrating the deathdays of their heroes instead of their birthdays.

Today is the 72nd deathday of Carlos Gardel, the most famous tango singer ever. Ryan and I headed up to Chacarita cemetery, where he is buried, to see if anything was going on, and we were not disappointed. Dozens of people were gathered around, talking and taking turns singing tango songs. We met a singer named Paloma Valdez and a professional tango dancer. They were very excited to meet foreigners interested in Gardel, and took us over to meet the world's foremost expert on "Carlitos" (as the porteños affectionately call Carlos Gardel.) He has written more books on the singer than anyone else in the world! We stayed around chatting with these people and listening to stories about Gardel for a little while, then eventually gave into the cold and went home.

Oh, but one thing that they always do is leave lighted cigarettes in Gardel's statue's hand, so that he can join in the party. This is a picture of the guy who would climb up and replace the smoke every time it burnt down.

Health food

Saturday 23 June 2007

In this picture, Ryan is enjoying the healthiest McDonald's hamburger that exists in the world. Mickey-D's uses 100% pure beef in Argentina, after the locals complained about the "meat" that they serve everywhere else in the world. After all, when you've got the best beef in the world, why on earth would you eat at McDonalds? So, now it's all cow.

Furthermore, this particular restaurant near our house is located in a very orthodox Jewish neighborhood. So, the beef they serve is not only all beef, but is also kosher! How's that for a special burger!

And to tell you the truth, it was a heck of a lot better than I remember McDonalds hamburgers being back home. Maybe it's psychological or because I haven't had one in so long, but this was actually pretty good! Still not as good as home-made burgers, of course, but not bad.

Graffiti 5

Friday 22 June 2007

Check out this awesome graffiti! I took a different route to class today, and stumbled upon this little gem.

The reason I took a different route to class today is that I had an interview with a publishing company where a friend of mine works. It went well, and they want to hire me on full-time for a couple of months to do some proofreading and translating! I am so excited by this! First of all, I will get some useful translating experience, which is something to think about in the future. But also, thankfully, I will not have to spend 12 hours a day running around the city anymore!

Placa

Thursday 21 June 2007

You see a lot more old, rusty, beat-up, and repaired cars on the road here than we did in Taiwan. (Feels more like home this way.)