Being a Tourist Part 1

SO this is part one of what I am assuming will be a multi-part series called Being a Tourist!


Yes....while here in Buenos Aires for as much as I want to blend in and have someone confuse me for a Porteño I will be having some touristy moments/days. The first of these touristy days was on my very first Sunday here in Buenos Aires. 


Myself and a new friend Alyssa (Shout out!) decided to head to Ave. 9 de Julio and to San Telmo to see both La Casa Rosada and the San Telmo Street Fair. One might thing trying to locate a massive pink house amongst a bunch of grey and black buildings would be easy, but let me assure you it is no easy feat at all. We must have searched for almost two hours and were on our way home before we actually found it. I took a lot of pictures....very touristy....and here they are with all of my lovely commentary of course!

I'm actually really proud of this picture....I managed to get the weird Don Quixote statue along with the wire dedication to Eva Peron on the side of this building. 

I have no idea who this man is
 but he is on a billboard in the middle of a major thoroughfare
 so he must be important right?

I don't exactly know what building this is but it looked important so I figured I should snap a picture....what do you think important or just someone being an ass and making a building look important to fool tourists.

La Escuela de Presidente Roca this is the link to their blog....feel free to check them out if you feel so inclined.

El Teatro Cervantes....one of the many theaters we saw on our journeys....I 'm thinking the number of theaters here actually outnumbers Boston and is coming up on NYC...I smell another blog post about BA theaters....thoughts?

Alyssa, my tourist partner in crime for the day in front of what I think is the equivalent of our minister of defense office, the building was Pentagon-esque...I mean besides the weird Glade artwork flowers you can sort of see in the left side of this picture....I mean nothing says protecting your country like a giant rainbow colored, smelly, Glade flower right?

This is the national Bank of Argentina. Its funny that all of these building are so close together to me and appear to have so little security around them. I guess that's what happens when most countries in the world don't hate you.

This building itself is actually pretty cool...if you look at the top you'll notice a scene of what I'm thinking is the Israelites and Moses v. the Egyptians...why its there I'm not sure but it certainly is interesting. 

The next two pictures are of La Casa Rosada. This is the equivalent of the Argentine White House. Currently the Argentina President is a woman. I only point these things out because I think its very interesting that in a country of Latino machismo they have a female president who lives in a pink house and they have pretty flower statues outside their minister of defense office. Again not drawing any conclusions about the masculinity of a country....but its very interesting...

La Casa Rosada

La Casa Rosada

                                  

  Last but not least a picture of me in front of a very large Argentine flag....If you notice I am smiling in this photo....its not because I'm happy its because I have officially lost it. At this point we had been searching for La Casa Rosada for at least 2 hours or so. I saw this really large flag from a good mile away and down a large hill and assumed that it must be the site of La Casa Rosada. Clearly you can tell by the picture there is no large pink house there. I suppose maybe why they don't need a lot of security isn't because a lot of countries hate them but that most people couldn't find them if their lives depended on it.

Making Friends

I've now been in Argentina for 3 days and am actually starting to have a semblance of a friend group. It reminds me so much of when I first went to college and was trying to decide which friends would be good friends to have and which ones I was definitely going to have to find a way to ditch (sorry if you're reading this and you're one of the ones I ditched......wait a minute who am I kidding the ones I ditched couldn't read ). 


There are some things that I have learned while being here for 3 days that really are the dos/don'ts of making friends in foreign countries. I think I'd like to share that list with you now:


1. Do help people remember their home country fondly and commiserate about the things you find weird about your new residence


         The commiseration really helps to create a bond with a new stranger. Neither of you is alone now because you share a commonality of thinking all these new people really do something weird. You're not abnormal, they are!


2. Do help people from the new country forget where you're from/commiserate about how weird people from your country are.


     Since coming to this city I have been confused several times for a local, once was on the street when I was asked for directions, once was in the supermarket when a patron asked me where to find the jelly, and several times at the bar people assume I'm Argentine. So long as I fake my Spanish well and tell them honestly where I'm from they suddenly are thrilled to have met me.


3. Do bake 


     I learned this lesson, I think it must have been from my mother. If you bake food and offer it to people, Instant FRIENDS! Its amazing what a batch of brownies can do to make people like you more. This is what I did to meet my neighbors actually. Worked like a charm (I think)! And the best thing is it is universal.....however you have to make sure people realize you didn't make special brownies, that's just a little side note because they become greatly disappointed if they're waiting for something to happen and all they get is a sugar high. Just saying.


4. Do NOT sit in the middle of your friends at the bar/when you're out


     Always sit on the outside...not because you don't like your friends but because by sitting on the outside you are the one any new people will likely talk to first in order to introduce themselves to your group of friends. You become the gate keeper and people wishing to meet anyone in your party must introduce themselves to you first. This way you know everyone that everyone else is talking to.


5. Do NOT be shy or demure


    If you're trying to make friends your best bet is to be all up in everyone's shiz....act like you're having a blast and they should be too because they're with you...hello! In all honesty, people like to be with others who are having a good time...so have a good time and enjoy yourself.


Those are my five rules and they seemed to have worked well so far.


Now some pictures from my brownie baking experience....and let me tell you it was an experience....the Argentine oven, the Spanish directions, and the metric units tried to stop me but you can't keep me down, especially with a bottle of wine from the Mendoza vineyards!

This is really the key to baking brownies in a foreign country on your first full day there....it helps jump start the creative juices...it lets you think "Yes this will be fun and Normal".

The directions: notice the metric units and the fact that they are in Spanish!
You know I always thought it was stupid they taught you things like
recipes and food in Spanish class before help I need an ambulance...
but clearly, which one did I need to know first?? I guess there's something to that.

I know its a pot and not a mixing bowl, but whatever!

My oven baking the brownies.

                                       

                                              The Final product and its inspiration!

El Apartamento

Last night I went out for drinks with bunch of the people from the program, including another HUSKY, "what, what Northeastern" kids all over the globe you don't even know about! (Sorry about that).

I digress, we were all talking about our apartments and I've got to tell you I definitely made out. I was unsure about not wanting to live with a host family. Everyone says its such a nice experience you get to really understand the culture, but quite honestly after some of the stories I heard I am thrilled that I am in my OWN place. Okay Okay I know you don't care about reading this and just want to see the pictures so here they are:

First stop the door. My door is wonderful. Its so protective that I actually couldn't get into it the first time I tried. Luckily, the landlord (because the super also couldn't figure it out) came down and taught me the trick.

This is the red button that I have to press everyday to turn the light on in my outside hallway....the little kid in me is THRILLED!!!!

Next stop on the tour is my inside hallway.....that was boring so instead I'm going to show you the artwork on my hallway walls...

I don't know if there use to be a picture of an elephant here and its missing, but I use it to hang up my keys....pretty convenient I think

Okay now I realize that none of those really show you my apartment, but come on, a montage dedicated to an elephant getting submerged and then reemerging....its a little funny!

Next stop...my bedroom(I guess)...

My bed...Looks comfy right....it is!

This is the shelf over my bed.

This is again the shelf over my bed....can you
guess which books they provided and which ones I brought??

That's the first stop on the apartment journey....next stop my kitchen/hallway!

I realize that this picture is probably going to upset some people, i.e. my mother and grandfather....You might ask yourself why, there is one simple answer the tea kettle is on the outside burner and someone could just knock that down or off.....well good thing I live alone and won't do that. :)

Where should we go next....I know let's head to the bathroom...

Yes....I have a bidet...no I have not used it.

This is for you LB....that's right I have a world shower curtain too....I say we have a country off or a major city off when we both return to the states??? You game?? And I know you read this blog I saw people viewing it from Germany!

So funny story about that bath mat...I slipped on it and banged my shin on the bathtub.....so typical.

A razor came with the apartment...go figure!

Just my sink...nothing special.

Okay ten points to whoever can tell me what this is and how I hook it up in my bathroom?? I've got to tell you when I first saw it I was a little disturbed and still am a little....

Hmmmm....what else oh yea...my dining area and my balcony!

my kitchen table....which is quickly just becoming my desk...but it will stay neat ....who am I kidding this is probably the neatest it will be the whole time I'm here.

My TV and a very very comfy chair!

My balcony....no I have not pulled an Evita yet...but I will....actually I talked about Eva Peron for like an hour yesterday at the bar...they seemed to be impressed that an American knew so much about one of their leaders (I didn't tell them I knew all that from the musical...you have to keep some secrets right...)

I have potted plants and chairs for children.....hopefully I don't kill the plants....and hopefully no one lets children out on the balcony alone!

Last but not least...I think you should get to see the view from the balcony right...I have some pictures from last night and some I just took...enjoy... I know I do!

I guess that's it...my apartment in a nutshell....Oh I guess there is one more thing...my mirror....I am only doing this because I never had a myspace and therefore never got to take one of these pictures!