Bienvenidos

Bienvenidos! Yesterday was Argentina Day 1.

I only slept for about 3 hours on the 10 hour flight, but I’m not too tired. The travel part was all very easy; the luggage came out quickly, I exchanged some cash at the airport, Rose and I booked a taxi, and left. Only, there was some confusion about the sequence because the recommended taxi company was in an area that you could not return to, so we booked it first and then we couldn’t go out and find the IES people. The driver just whisked us away. So I gave them a call to let them know we made it alright.

The drive was really fun. The freeways were normal, but once we got into B.A. proper, all bets were off. There were usually no lines down the middle of the one-way streets to mark lanes. That made the streets nice and flexible; they could be one- or two-lane, as the need arose. One consequence (benefit?) is that you can jam more cars into a road without those silly lines telling you that you can only fit so many. At one stoplight I could have reached over and shaken hands with the bus driver next to me. The lights were also unusual—they go green, yellow, red, red-and-yellow, then green, so everyone kind of starts going when they are red-yellow. Maybe that’s because all the cars are manual? The motorcycles and bikes just drive between all the cars. My favorite part of all: no stop signs. At many of the four-way “stops,” the drivers just slow down, make sure no one is coming, and go. If two drivers reach the intersection simultaneously, they just slow down and decide who gets to go first (this could get risky if they played chicken!). It’s faster than stopping, that’s for sure.

My new home is a flat in an old but lovely apartment. At first we were confused about where to go, because 1st floor actually means the 2nd floor, so I went upstairs and rang the doorbell, and a shy teenage girl opened the door (Sophie). That was immediately confusing, and I forgot how to say “baggage,” so there was some awkwardness, and then an adorably tiny old lady appeared, figured out what was going on, and helped us bring the bags up in an old-fashioned elevator despite our protests that we could do it ourselves just fine. I gathered that she wasn’t Miriam, and I figured she was the grandmother of the household, but later found out she was the maid (her name is Maruja, I think. It's unusual so I keep forgetting it). A maid! That was a bit of a shock. She’s very sweet. I’ve already decided that she will be the subject of my documentary (if I end up getting into the How to Make a Documentary class).

We each have our own room, which are comparable in size to a Martel single; they just contain a bed and some shelving. The bad news: no air conditioning. It’s probably just not standard operating procedure here, because it wasn’t on in the airport either. Good thing it’s fall and not summer, so it's not terribly hot, though the humidity is hard to bear. The good news: wireless internet! Hooray Skype! Miriam needs to get the password for us though.

Miriam is very nice and talks slowly and patiently for us. She kept saying, “I want you to be comfortable,” over and over. Sophie is a little harder to understand; maybe her accent is stronger or something. She’s 15 (Kaily’s age!) and shy, and lives here. At lunch she did get into the conversation a couple times; once, when Miriam asked what kind of music we like, Sophie proclaimed vehemently, “Not Jonas Brothers!!”

Then there was this really awkward moment where a bunch of bananas were passed around on a plate, and I was the only one who took one. The plate really threw me off my game, and I became very self-conscious…perhaps they eat bananas differently down here? So I started peeling and no one was talking, and there was an empty plate in front of me (what for?), so I broke off a few pieces with my fingers, and finally I said, “I don’t know what is the normal way to eat a banana here.” Sophie thought this was hilarious, and said, “Well of course, there are two ways, you either peel it and eat it [she motioned this] or you cut it up into pieces with a knife and eat it with a fork!” She had a point. How else would you eat a banana?

Later Miriam took us out to (sort of) show us the school. She took us about halfway and then split to go hang with her homies. We didn’t quite find it yesterday, but we did this morning. It’s about a 20-minute walk.

I was a little surprised by the city. I was expecting something more glamorous, not so dirty and full of homeless people and covered in graffiti. I’ve never seen a homeless child before, and yesterday I saw two boys. Houston has its share of crazy homeless people (luckily the ones here don’t seem that crazy), but downtown is so empty; it’s just a place where people work and look for entertainment. People actually live here. I live here! Don’t get me wrong, it has beautiful architecture and big trees. It’s just a little shocking.

Tonight the family unit was complete with the arrival of María, Miriam’s 18-year-old niece who goes to college around here. Her family lives outside the city, so she spends most of each week here. She said she is studying medicine, which is a bit mysterious since Americans don’t study medicine at age 18. Maybe nursing? Maybe they start young? She’s not as patient with the language, but that’s ok. I’m hoping she can help us meet some Argentines.

The language is going ok so far. It’s a struggle to be coherent and to comprehend, but it’s not terrible. In fact, when I’m not doing things like writing an English blog, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I’m actually thinking in Spanish! Pretty cool! Good thing my thoughts aren’t too complicated yet since I haven't started classes.