imagine this only spanning two floors connecting two benches ... Pablo Reinoso
this, only in white? i guess she has done more than one or other people have copies of it .... Maria Martins
don't know who this picture is by but thats andy warhol and marta minujin (who i didnt know before but she is an awesome portena artist)
anyways i guess i should get back to talking about food? haha of course the empanadas all over the city are the best things in the whole world. for all the russians reading this they are just like larger perogi. for everyone else, they are pastries filled with anything from beef and onions to tomatoes and mozarella and they are usually so cheap and so full of flavor. i also am really glad that my host mom cooks such yummy food! tartas (kind of like quiche) y sopa de verduras y pollo!
on saturday after my oral exam, Mando, Molly, her friend Jacob, and I explored Plazo de Mayo. If you dont know what that is plz just look on wikipedia because its only the most important place in the city. We got lunch in Monserrat which is Annie's neighborhood and has cobblestone streets, not to mention narrow. It's really nice that we can order wine with lunch here. Then we explored Palermo Soho (further north) along with Casey to get celphones and see what all the fuss is about. That is actually where I thought I was living but I live on the boarder of Villa Crespo and Palermo. So like 10 blocks away from the hip/bohemian neighborhood.
getting to my homestay situation, its pretty great! My host mom is ukrainian jewish argentine! her grandparents were from Kiev, so thats awesome. My host dad is so porteno its not even funny. He is of italian and spanish decent and has super italian mannerisms. and on to the third member of the family, Kaia the dog. SHE IS ALMOST UP TO MY WAIST. she is so smart and nice and calm. i dont think ive heard her bark once. she loves to play and to sit on my feet during dinner which seriously warms them up.
okay here comes the real kicker, if youve made it this far in my entry this is a treat: I LIVE ON THE CORNER OF AVENIDA ESTADO DEL ISRAEL AND CALLE PALESTINA! LOLZZZZZZ so while there is incredibly hilarious irony in my address, i kind of wish i didnt live on such a huge avenue because its kind of scary of night and there are lots of cars and not so many little shops and there isnt really a neighborhood feel. but eeezzz okay because today i walked all the way home from FLACSO and if i go down side streets there are plenty of shops and panaderias and verdurarias y todo eso!
but in terms of my room ....... its quite small. and has no heating. and there is a window right by my feet so they are always cold when im in bed. also my bed is four feet off the ground and is about three feet wide and takes up most of the room. also all of my storage space is underneath, aka i have no closet just makeshift cupboards with exposed pipes behind them. then i have some shelves above my bed. but i guess i also have a toilet/sink just to myself in my 11 ft by 6ft room with a lil door that separates them in to a 4ft by 4ft minibathroom.
FLACSO is great. i love all the advisers there. they are so chill and beautiful, like the rest of the argentines. I also found out that I am in the advanced spanish level II so that means I have to take 1 class at UBA and 3 at FLACSO. but i was worried I wasnt going to be able to take any clases at UBA at all so here i come 400person class!
also today is the anniversary of eva peron's death so i just saw on the tv while my host dad was watching the news that the city is going crazy right now! might go and join the fesitivites or might spend all night waiting for dinner and looking at classes online.
IN SUM/feelingstime: everything is great. lots of adjusting. extremely overwhelming and tiring. cant believe i still have so much time left. miss everyone and everything familiar so much.
ok CIAO for now! (ppl say ciao here)
BESOS!
PS. i guess this blog is gonna be all over the place because my thoughts are still completely scrambled all the time.
