As I was walking through the park on Monday and seeing how involved/active everyone is, I thought to myself: Man, I have to meet a local and figure out how all of this works. I need to get involved and do stuff. (wise thoughts, I know)
Tuesday - Irregular class schedule of 11:30-1:30 and 4-6. Between classes, I had lunch with the student group at the same American owned spot (seems to be the hands down favorite) and Claudio (Stephanie's husband and also a teacher at the school) helped me buy a bus card and put money on it so I get around and do more stuff. He stood there while I did all of the conversing in Spanish, and then he told me he was proud of me. *blush*.
Like I mentioned before, every Tuesday, Claudio gets soccer together at 9pm, and I was so excited to play. It was 5v5 on turf and almost all guys from the language school so the game was basically in English and super fun. I proudly wore my Argentina jersey all day (shoutout - ZC and TXPTS) and was happy to be doin stuff. After the game, one of the local players gave me a ride home and I quickly prepared to go to a social event at a bar with some of the other classmates. It was a "multi-lingual" event, meant for people to practice different languages, so I was hoping to meet some locals who spoke or wanted to speak some English. I left the house at 11:30pm on a Tuesday and it felt completely normal (because that is normal in Argentina).
This bar was a tango bar so there was a sweaty room in the back and some hang out space otherwise. I saw some of the students from the language school, and soon enough I met 2 groups of locals, exchanged numbers, and made plans to experience night life and to kayak on the lake. Successful night.
- The taxis' price seems intimidating, but it really isn't that bad (like the prices of almost anything here). It starts at $15 when you get in, and the 10-12 minute ride to the bar ended up being $50, which seems expensive. But on my last exchange, I got a 12/1 "blue chip" rate, so it was really only just over $4 USD. Not bad at all.
- Also, they sell beer here in Liter bottles. You can buy it in a normal 12oz sized bottle, but the Liters are much more economical. But, it is ill advised to drink from the bottle. So, the culture is to get a liter bottle and some glasses to drink from, and then pour the beer into the glasses. However, at this bar, they had no more clean glasses. So, when I walked up to the bar, 3 dirty glasses were being returned. When I asked for 3 glasses, the guy promptly went to the back, cleaned them and dried 2 of them (he left the soap on one), and delivered them to me. Then he realized he needed to dry the 3rd, so he laughed and did. It is a very laid back culture.
Wednesday - After class, I took a bus to Gabi's hostel: La Casa de Don Jaime. To me, taking a bus for the first time was a big deal. It is a pretty unorganized city (strike 1 and 2 in my book, but I am getting used to it), so there is no master bus map or schedule. There is an app, but it closes spontaneously a lot, and really doesn't give you all the info you need. So basically, you have to ask people or know from experience which bus to take. Also, the buses and traffic in general seem to be in a huge hurry. The doors on the bus open before the bus stops, and it starts moving as soon as the last entering rider has left the pavement. So there really wasn't much time for a Gringo to accidentally get on the wrong bus or mess up the card system or not know his stop. But, long story short, I took the bus and got to the hostel. The hostel is pretty cool, and seems absolutely ideal for a traveler (I had never been in a hostel before, so I didn't know what to expect). The part I really liked is the large dry-erase board filled with weekly social events. Snagged a pic of that. And they have fun opportunities through the hostel that I (awesomely) have access to. Home boy that I met while there was from french Canada and he was already taking advantage of such things on the first day he was there. Wednesday evening was laid back at home and that's that.
It is currently Friday night, and I simply don't have time to finish these days at the moment, but I wanted to get some kind of an update out to y'all. I promise I'll post pictures here at some point and continue sharing my daily experiences!
** Once again I am sorry there are probably grammar and spelling errors galore in this post :(
- Buen fin de semana
Tuesday - Irregular class schedule of 11:30-1:30 and 4-6. Between classes, I had lunch with the student group at the same American owned spot (seems to be the hands down favorite) and Claudio (Stephanie's husband and also a teacher at the school) helped me buy a bus card and put money on it so I get around and do more stuff. He stood there while I did all of the conversing in Spanish, and then he told me he was proud of me. *blush*.
Like I mentioned before, every Tuesday, Claudio gets soccer together at 9pm, and I was so excited to play. It was 5v5 on turf and almost all guys from the language school so the game was basically in English and super fun. I proudly wore my Argentina jersey all day (shoutout - ZC and TXPTS) and was happy to be doin stuff. After the game, one of the local players gave me a ride home and I quickly prepared to go to a social event at a bar with some of the other classmates. It was a "multi-lingual" event, meant for people to practice different languages, so I was hoping to meet some locals who spoke or wanted to speak some English. I left the house at 11:30pm on a Tuesday and it felt completely normal (because that is normal in Argentina).
This bar was a tango bar so there was a sweaty room in the back and some hang out space otherwise. I saw some of the students from the language school, and soon enough I met 2 groups of locals, exchanged numbers, and made plans to experience night life and to kayak on the lake. Successful night.
- The taxis' price seems intimidating, but it really isn't that bad (like the prices of almost anything here). It starts at $15 when you get in, and the 10-12 minute ride to the bar ended up being $50, which seems expensive. But on my last exchange, I got a 12/1 "blue chip" rate, so it was really only just over $4 USD. Not bad at all.
- Also, they sell beer here in Liter bottles. You can buy it in a normal 12oz sized bottle, but the Liters are much more economical. But, it is ill advised to drink from the bottle. So, the culture is to get a liter bottle and some glasses to drink from, and then pour the beer into the glasses. However, at this bar, they had no more clean glasses. So, when I walked up to the bar, 3 dirty glasses were being returned. When I asked for 3 glasses, the guy promptly went to the back, cleaned them and dried 2 of them (he left the soap on one), and delivered them to me. Then he realized he needed to dry the 3rd, so he laughed and did. It is a very laid back culture.
Wednesday - After class, I took a bus to Gabi's hostel: La Casa de Don Jaime. To me, taking a bus for the first time was a big deal. It is a pretty unorganized city (strike 1 and 2 in my book, but I am getting used to it), so there is no master bus map or schedule. There is an app, but it closes spontaneously a lot, and really doesn't give you all the info you need. So basically, you have to ask people or know from experience which bus to take. Also, the buses and traffic in general seem to be in a huge hurry. The doors on the bus open before the bus stops, and it starts moving as soon as the last entering rider has left the pavement. So there really wasn't much time for a Gringo to accidentally get on the wrong bus or mess up the card system or not know his stop. But, long story short, I took the bus and got to the hostel. The hostel is pretty cool, and seems absolutely ideal for a traveler (I had never been in a hostel before, so I didn't know what to expect). The part I really liked is the large dry-erase board filled with weekly social events. Snagged a pic of that. And they have fun opportunities through the hostel that I (awesomely) have access to. Home boy that I met while there was from french Canada and he was already taking advantage of such things on the first day he was there. Wednesday evening was laid back at home and that's that.
It is currently Friday night, and I simply don't have time to finish these days at the moment, but I wanted to get some kind of an update out to y'all. I promise I'll post pictures here at some point and continue sharing my daily experiences!
** Once again I am sorry there are probably grammar and spelling errors galore in this post :(
- Buen fin de semana