Spring Break

So we get into Santiago yesterday, around 12 hours after the earthquake hit. Very exciting...... Even woke up to an aftershock this morning. Luckily, we didn't decide to leave any earlier on the bus, or we might have been going through the Andes when it hit.... That would not have been good, judging by some of what we saw when we did go through.

One more time....

For those who have difficulties in reading the spanish, apologies. It has been pointed out that I wrote the pertinent part of last post (what I have been doing in general) in spanish. Ops. Anyways, here is translation of it.

Everything is pretty good here... I've visited a couple of museums, the Museum of Bellas Artes (Fine Arts) and theMuseum of Arte Popular. They're both pretty interesting, but the Arte Popular is pretty small, so that was a short visit... It didn't really have a whole lot either, which was a pity. The Bellas Artes was pretty neat, though... Three floors and a lot of stuff to see. Something else that I have enjoyed doing is visiting used bookstores (because, if you know me, you know I love to read and purchase and browse books). Anyways, I've bought some stuff by a few different Latin American authors like Jorge Luis Borges, Rubén Darío, and Federico García Lorca, among others (in spanish, of course) It's prett interesting stuff... Borges' stories can be pretty neat, if you like stuff that deals with the surreal and things like that (Buenos Aires was his stomping grounds too, which is neat). I've also been looking for books of Asterix, which can be hard to find. I really enjoy them, and reading them in spanish has been fun.

Anyways, I've also purchased a copy of Don Quijote in spanish (for 20 pesos, about 5 bucks...). It's hard cover, two volumes, and in good condition, so I was pretty excited about that. Had the final today for the intensive month of classes..... A little more intense than I was expecting, but I think it went alright. It had a 2 hour written portion and then an oral presentation, so yeah... Anyways, I'm looking forward to classes starting after our spring break here, but I'm looking forward to heading to Chile tomorrow even more at the moment. Get on a bus and ride across the continent. Whoop. Apparently the buses are pretty nice though, so it shouldn't be too bad. If I get a chance I'll write some while I'm there.

Hace tiempo.....

So I guess it's been about a week since I last said anything? Anyways, not a whole lot to say, really. The weather is honestly beautiful right now.... Been about 75 degrees and sunny the last couple of days... Just fantastic.

However, I have learned that when it rains here, it stuff gets really fubar.... I'm talking like literal rivers flowing down the streets and people wading to get anywhere. Buses not running and the subway shut down. Power cut off and the whole bit. A friend of mine had to walk home 40 blocks, a good portion of which was wading through water at least to his knees, when not higher. And the power was off in the apartment when he got there. This happens when it rains hard, which happens often enough around this time of year. It happened monday before last, last friday, and again on monday. Stuff like this, although that doesn't quite do it justice.

Anyways.... Almost done with the intensive month of classes, the final is tomorrow, which should be fairly interesting. I am excite. Next week is our ''spring break'' before the semester starts, so I'm going to chile with some friends. Taking the bus, which should be interesting. If you take the bus, you don't have to pay the $130 (US) entry fee that you pay if you fly in. That is, of course, just for US citizens (and it is good for 10 years). It's not the price for the visa (you only have to pay once every 10 years....), but it's a kind of 'reciprocity fee' because we (the US) charge their citizens that much for a tourist visa. Have to pay the same to enter Argentina as well. Kinda sucks, but hey, you know, it's only money....

Bueno, para los que quisieran practicar español, voy a escribir un poquito para que puedan hacer esto (y también para practicar mí mismo...) Todo está bien aquí, he visitado a dos museos, lo de las Bellas Artes, y lo de la Arte Popular. Los dos son interesantes, pero el Museo de Arte Popular no es muy grande, y era un viaje cortito. Otra cosa que me gusta mucho es visitar las librerías de libros usados (porque me encanta comprar y buscar libros, todos saben esto...) He comprado unos libros de las obras de escritores como Jorge Luís Borges, Rubén Darío, y Federico García Lorca, entre otros.... Claro, son libros en español. Los cuentos de Borges especialmente son interesantes (y también, Buenos Aires era su ciudad). También he buscado libros de Asterix (alguien sabe Asterix? ---> Asterix), libros que son difícil de encontrar.... Son muy buenos, y es interesante leerlos in español...

De todos modos, quizás escriba cuando esté en chile la semana próxima.... vamos a ver.

THE INTERNET

This whole thing with not have teh intarwebs in my apartment is kind of two-sided.... I like the not being quite as addicted to it anymore, but the not being quite as well connected is starting to wear a little bit. Oh well, things are as they are, and I like them that way.

Things are going pretty well... I'm really enjoying my host mother and her little dog. The weather is a really nice (a little hot some days... maybe up into the 90s... and really humid too, but it's good). It's kinda funny to think that the ''winter'' olympics are going on right now.....

Last weekend was alright, the trip to Tigre was postponed. Again. It's cool though, because I spent all saturday walking around Recoleta, one of the neighborhoods here. Went to the Bibioteca Nacional, the Cementerio (where anybody who was somebody in BA is buried... It's basically a massive walled-in area full of huge mausoleums...), the Museo de Bellas Artes, and the Feria (a huge market sort of place with lots of vendors and neat things).

Blargle argle argle

Wooooo..... monday. I just love mondays. Actually, all things considered, today was pretty good. Had a good night's sleep, and the weather today has been just beautiful. Sunny, not too hot, with a nice breeze. Too bad that I've had to spend most of it indoors..... Anyways. A good day.

Had a pretty good weekend, as well. Our trip to Tigre was cancelled due to impending rain, but it did not, in fact, rain really at all. Cloudy all morning and sunny all afternoon.... Spent the morning basically exploring one of the city's neighboorhoods, Recoleta, with a friend. Saw the National Library (didn't go inside.... that's a trip for another day. An entire day, I believe)... It's a pretty intense building. Has some really neat architecture going on... Walked through some parks, saw some neat statues, and visited the open market. The market is pretty big... lots of stands with plenty to see. Saw some stuff I might buy next time I'm there.

Hopefully this week goes pretty well.... weather forecast looks like sunny with scattered thunderstorms.... highs in the 80s all week. That's right. You read that correctly. We have a test on thursday, but that should go alright.... I've got a presentation on Jorge Luis Borges for tomorrow. Should be pretty exciting. I've realized in doing research on him that I want to read more of his work..... Pretty interesting stuff.¨

And so...

Bueno.... Hace unos dias, regreso a mi blog.... Well, I have been quite busy, what with orientation meetings, and a city tour, and whatnot. The apartment does not have internet, but you can get 30 min for 2 pesos, so that is pretty neat (about 55 cents). The food is pretty awesome here, although they have not really heard of spicy stuff. I knew I should have brought that bottle of tabasco...

De todos modos... The city is really fantastic, though I have not done any extensive exploring, I have spent some time walking around my neighboorhood. I have not spent any extensive amount of time talking to any locals yet, but that will happen eventually... (If you have noticed by now that I am avoiding using conjunctions, it is because the apostrophe is in a different place and harder to use.... No conjunctions in Spanish) I have not taken a great amount of pictures yet, mostly because I do not want to look too much like a ridiculous tourist taking pictures of everything. I forgot it on the city tour, so more´s the pity...

Anyways, that is all for now. No ridiculous stories or anything like that yet, though they have told us a few...