I'm Alive!

Posting on my blog is like remembering to catch up with an old friend I haven't called in a year. Where to start. Well so I stayed with Noah on his farm for a weekend which was great and beautiful and relaxing and wonderful and not long enough. The farm is about a two hour bus ride away and 21 pesos which is like $5. Then I went to an Argentinian birthday party (with Cristina's cousin Patricia who I've been exchanging guitar lessons with) where they were dancing....capoeira, how frickin cool. Oh and I made some friends at the park who were playing guitar and speaking english. We have a lot in common and they're all from the south so that's cool cause I haven't really spent much time with all people from Mississippi and Tennessee before. On Sunday, me and Noah celebrated our one year anniversary :), didn't celebrate 4.20 on Tuesday :(, learned a few new songs on the guitar, both of the kids got chicken pox, I found a really good pizza place, and studied my butt off for my argentinian history and latin american history midterms which I had today and did well on. I still haven't taken any tango lessons which I want to do but I need to find someone to go with!!

Then last night I went to a party at a house a block away where a bunch of international students are living, taking spanish, and working with children in the villa miserias which are basically what they sound like, towns of misery except that I think they're more like neighborhoods. Noah and I had meet two of the girls who are living in international house at the post office cause none of us could figure out where to buy stamps. One of the girls is still here but the other girl's parents flew her home a week ago after someone broke into their house and she had a seizure. They were having a party so there were about 15 people just sitting around at the table, eating, drinking, playing cards, talking. They had the door open cause it was hot and two guys walked in with guns and tied everyone up. Tied everyone up. Guns. Yes crazy. They took four lap tops and then all the cameras and cell phones. Then apparently the girl we met had a seizure and really freaked the guys out so they left. And two weeks earlier their house was broken into while no one was home and other things were taken. Oy. I haven't been robbed at all luckily but wow. It's definitely obvious when someone isn't from Argentina and really obvious when someone isn't from Latin America so a house of international students is a pretty obvious target. It's some combination of trying to wear ethnic looking or 'outside of the box' clothes (women here generally wear white or really light really tight blue jeans with really tight tank tops and then a small scarf) nice backpacks, and sometimes skin color for instance if you see a black person they are definitely not from Argentina. I wish I could tell if I look a lot like a tourist. Probably some days more than others. Noah definitely looks like a tourist but not a tourist anyone would want to rob haha.

In terms of emotional stability I've been in and out, up and down and around. In other words there is no emotional stability haha. It's weird, when I'm feeling great I honestly believe that things are getting easier and that living in Argentina is great but then when I'm feeling down I honestly believe that things haven't gotten any easier and that I haven't learned as much as I would like to have which stinks. For example right now the latter seems ridiculous. Of course it's getting easier and of course I'm learning things! I've definitely been thinking a lot about why I'm here, why my life itinerary has me in Argentina. I don't regret anything but all the reasons I wanted to come here seem so feeble compared to what this experience is, so feeble that they hardly even relate, all because of one thing: I assumed that I would understand what I was going though, that I'd be able to feel my consciousness shift, that I'd be able to compartmentalize my new thoughts and the new things I was learning, that I'd be self aware enough to understand what I was going through! Feels like I'm stopped terrapin station ha. Well we'll see what the next three months have in store. Lista.