With 26 days left in Buenos Aires, there are a lot of things I'm going to miss. There are also a number of things I can't wait to say chau to.
Here's a few things that I just simply need to do a little venting about.
The first thing being-
I'm tired of being "mami'd" and "puta'd". To the many doormen, young men, old men, boys still in their school uniforms...I am not your mami, bebe, chica, flaquita, puta or whatever else you want to throw at me as I walk or run past you. It's one thing to look me up and down like a machismo-ridden creep, but asking me if I wanna get with you as I'm running past you on the street, even though we both know I'd never actually respond, is getting on my GODDAMN nerves. This is one cultural difference that I don't feel flattered by and have a hard time getting behind.
The second thing-
Can a chick mail a letter around here? Once again, I understand and accept that there are both cultural and systemic differences that come with being in a foreign country. Having said that, I would like to introduce Argentina to the concept of a MAILBOX. To send any postcards back to the US, I have to go to a post office (which are not terrifically common) and buy the stamps there and watch the employee post them for me. I just want to buy some fucking stamps and post my own damn letters in a mailbox.
Third (and for now final) thing-
STREET SIGNS. Buenos Aires overwhelmingly must feel they are too cool for proper and consistent street signs. I can go for four or five blocks easily and not see a SINGLE, even poorly posted, street sign. I can tell you firsthand that when you're trying to figure out where to get off the damn bus in Buenos Aires, don't count on street signs to help you. It's such a simple (and probably silly) thing but proper street signs can go a LONGG way in helping you know where the hell you are.
That's all for now kids.
-j
Showing posts with label buenos aires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buenos aires. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
what's next with art is...?
Tonight Chelsea and I met up with a guy named Alejandro. He's one of three guys who operate a kind of graffiti/street art photo collective at www.escritosenlacalle.com We contacted them about participating in the Art Is...project about a week ago and they hit us back saying they were interested.
Consequently, Chelsea and I found ourselves at the corner of Cabildo and Lacroze waiting for someone we'd never met. Perfectly safe.
We finally located Alejandro(who on a sidenote smelled like sandalwood)and walked a few blocks to a quieter street and along the way we talked about the Art Is...project and his own website. Since the majority of our Art Is...phrases have been basically hit and run, meaning we ask the person on the spot, we haven't spent a lot of time talking about the project at length. Therefore, when Alejandro asked questions about the project I found myself not having a lot of well-formed thoughts (in Spanish at least)and was stumped when he asked what we wanted to do with the Art Is...project and where we saw it going. With a month left in Buenos Aires, I've started to ask myself the same question but haven't come up with anything yet.
In one way, the project has already been taken further via the larger organization that is FOKUS(www.fokus.org). The Art Is project is rather how the ideas of FOKUS have been taken further. Since the question of what "Art Is" is so central to what FOKUS represents, I can't mentally separate the two. Entonces, the question of what else to do with the Art Is project doesn't have an immediate answer for me.
Gonna let this one marinate...
-j
Consequently, Chelsea and I found ourselves at the corner of Cabildo and Lacroze waiting for someone we'd never met. Perfectly safe.
We finally located Alejandro(who on a sidenote smelled like sandalwood)and walked a few blocks to a quieter street and along the way we talked about the Art Is...project and his own website. Since the majority of our Art Is...phrases have been basically hit and run, meaning we ask the person on the spot, we haven't spent a lot of time talking about the project at length. Therefore, when Alejandro asked questions about the project I found myself not having a lot of well-formed thoughts (in Spanish at least)and was stumped when he asked what we wanted to do with the Art Is...project and where we saw it going. With a month left in Buenos Aires, I've started to ask myself the same question but haven't come up with anything yet.
In one way, the project has already been taken further via the larger organization that is FOKUS(www.fokus.org). The Art Is project is rather how the ideas of FOKUS have been taken further. Since the question of what "Art Is" is so central to what FOKUS represents, I can't mentally separate the two. Entonces, the question of what else to do with the Art Is project doesn't have an immediate answer for me.
Gonna let this one marinate...
-j
Friday, May 18, 2012
and in the end it's all about having fun isn't it?
This afternoon, this cold soggy rainy afternoon, my Visual Arts class piled in a van and went on a guided tour of some of the street art in Buenos Aires. For those who know me, you know that even the mention of street art makes my heart beat faster so even though it was a crappy day, I was still enamored by the rich luscious creative beautiful color disturbing thought-provoking whimsical street art I saw. The art ranged from murals to stencils to tags, combinations of them all. We learned about the artists and their histories, what materials they favored, the reasons behind their style. Something that our guide said stuck with me. She said, "...and in the end, it's all about getting your friends together and having fun, isn't it?" It's so simple and yet it's one of the truest things I've heard about art and what it means.
Art is...about having fun :)
-j
Art is...about having fun :)
-j
Sunday, May 13, 2012
living in an in-between
With roughly six weeks(!) left in Argentina, I've been taking stock of what I've done so far, what I want to do and how I'm feeling about everything now that time seems to be ticking down. I'll be the first to admit, Buenos Aires wasn't my first choice of a place to study abroad but I'm very glad I chose it. I have grown a lot in my time here and know that I'll only keep building on those changes once I'm home. It's hard to explain how I feel about being here but the best way I've come up with is that: I'm glad I'm here and I'm doing my best to get the most out of my time here but when the time is over I will be ready to go home. I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now and the same is true for when I go back to Ann Arbor.
Even this far into my time in BA, I feel like I am floating between two worlds, my world here in BA and my world in Michigan. Sometimes I feel frustrated, as though I'm not fully present in either of them and I have to remind myself that there is a time and a place for everything and right now is my time to BE in BsAs.
As this is Mother's Day, I'll close by saying that I could not be here without my mother's love, patience and support. She knows how to hold my hand and make me smile even from a world away. Te quiero mucho!
-j
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
"inhalo.....y exhalo....."-yoga in buenos aires
A few weeks ago, I was at dinner with my host mom and got talking about yoga and the Yoga Park. She said I could take classes at the same place she does if I wanted and she'd help me register the next day. For $130 pesos(about $30US)I got a month of yoga classes twice a week and anyone who knows the average price of a single group yoga class in the states knows that this is crazy cheap. I've been going for the last two weeks and so far, I've been the only person in class. Which means I'm basically getting private yoga lessons.
The instructor can't say my name properly so in yoga class, I'm Victoria (my middle name). She's a very calm middle-aged woman named Adriana who has been wonderfully patient with me. The instructions are always in Spanish and I'm able to understand almost everything Adriana says. It's been a fun way to learn some new Spanish vocab-a lot of body part names and motions. It helps that she demonstrates a lot of the exercises but there are times when I won't change a position because I didn't understand what she's said and she'll calmly correct me or say it a different way.
The class practices a form of yoga called Ashtanga which is very calm and low-key, focusing on breathing, posture and flexibility. It's a different cup of tea than the much more dynamic Hatha yoga I was introduced to at the Yoga Park. Although I think I prefer Hatha between the two simply because as a runner, I am used to very dynamic and physical exercise, practicing Ashtanga is helping me to slow down and think about different aspects of my mind and body that I don't when I'm running. Realizing how my breathing changes when I am carrying more stress is something I would probably never notice otherwise. Happy happy, namaste namaste.
Flash forward to today's class. I showed up a few minutes late meaning I was right on time. In Argentina, show up on time and people will look at you funny. Once again I was the only person in my class. Adriana asked me if I needed to borrow a pair of socks (she had a few clean pairs in her bag) but I thanked her and said I was fine. We began our session with the guided relaxation and I could feel the subconscious stress in my body start to shake out and burn off like some kind of early-morning stress fog. A few minutes later, we were doing an exercise where you lay on your back, pull your legs into your chest and grabbing the tops of your knees, you slowly rotate your legs in a circle. You would think this is an easy thing to do; lay down, move legs in a circle. But apparently there are a number of ways one can do this wrong. Almost every time I do this exercise, Adriana makes a small correction. Either my legs need to be a little wider apart or my torso shouldn't be moving, today it was my lower back coming too far off the mat. Even though I understand most everything she says, it can be tricky to get it quite right. The motions and positions are so subtle and specific that even in English I think it'd take me a few times to get the correct form down. It's always a humbling moment when I don't understand something simple and have to be told again.
Towards the end of the session, Adriana offered me a light blanket in case I was cold. Why the multiple offerings of blankets and socks? Because in the last few days, the weather here has turned a lot colder, from mid-80s to mid-60s and while I'm kind of enjoying the change,for porteños, it might as well be Siberia. I politely declined the blanket, explaining that this weather wasn't cold for me and that where I'm from, it snows most of the winter. I've discovered, when trying to convey the difference in Michigan weather/temperature to an Argentine, telling them you get lots of snow in the winter usually does the trick.
I left the class feeling calmer, stretchier and happy that finally, my high tolerance for cold weather is at least somewhat useful.
Patagonia on Friday-shoooop
-j
The instructor can't say my name properly so in yoga class, I'm Victoria (my middle name). She's a very calm middle-aged woman named Adriana who has been wonderfully patient with me. The instructions are always in Spanish and I'm able to understand almost everything Adriana says. It's been a fun way to learn some new Spanish vocab-a lot of body part names and motions. It helps that she demonstrates a lot of the exercises but there are times when I won't change a position because I didn't understand what she's said and she'll calmly correct me or say it a different way.
The class practices a form of yoga called Ashtanga which is very calm and low-key, focusing on breathing, posture and flexibility. It's a different cup of tea than the much more dynamic Hatha yoga I was introduced to at the Yoga Park. Although I think I prefer Hatha between the two simply because as a runner, I am used to very dynamic and physical exercise, practicing Ashtanga is helping me to slow down and think about different aspects of my mind and body that I don't when I'm running. Realizing how my breathing changes when I am carrying more stress is something I would probably never notice otherwise. Happy happy, namaste namaste.
Flash forward to today's class. I showed up a few minutes late meaning I was right on time. In Argentina, show up on time and people will look at you funny. Once again I was the only person in my class. Adriana asked me if I needed to borrow a pair of socks (she had a few clean pairs in her bag) but I thanked her and said I was fine. We began our session with the guided relaxation and I could feel the subconscious stress in my body start to shake out and burn off like some kind of early-morning stress fog. A few minutes later, we were doing an exercise where you lay on your back, pull your legs into your chest and grabbing the tops of your knees, you slowly rotate your legs in a circle. You would think this is an easy thing to do; lay down, move legs in a circle. But apparently there are a number of ways one can do this wrong. Almost every time I do this exercise, Adriana makes a small correction. Either my legs need to be a little wider apart or my torso shouldn't be moving, today it was my lower back coming too far off the mat. Even though I understand most everything she says, it can be tricky to get it quite right. The motions and positions are so subtle and specific that even in English I think it'd take me a few times to get the correct form down. It's always a humbling moment when I don't understand something simple and have to be told again.
Towards the end of the session, Adriana offered me a light blanket in case I was cold. Why the multiple offerings of blankets and socks? Because in the last few days, the weather here has turned a lot colder, from mid-80s to mid-60s and while I'm kind of enjoying the change,for porteños, it might as well be Siberia. I politely declined the blanket, explaining that this weather wasn't cold for me and that where I'm from, it snows most of the winter. I've discovered, when trying to convey the difference in Michigan weather/temperature to an Argentine, telling them you get lots of snow in the winter usually does the trick.
I left the class feeling calmer, stretchier and happy that finally, my high tolerance for cold weather is at least somewhat useful.
Patagonia on Friday-shoooop
-j
Sunday, April 22, 2012
art projects, underground music shows and alfajores:puro porteño
Entonces..
Yesterday afternoon I met Chelsea at the Recoleta feria to be the wing woman in her quest for a leather bag. It was one of the first days that truly felt like it was autumn and the break in humidity and high 80s weather was fine with me. Of the ferias I've been to, I've been to San Telmo twice and Recoleta about 4 times(it's a ten minute walk from my house)and between the two I like the layout of Recoleta better. It winds and loops and sprawls enough that people are not forced to explore its vendors like a strange sort of mass processional.
We began looking for her bag and almost immediately I saw a man selling beaded bracelets and necklaces. A blue bracelet caught my eye and when it comes to the color blue, I'm like a moth to a flame. Price was $25 pesos but I sweet-talked him down a little to $20. I then gave Chelsea permission to physically restrain me if I tried to buy anything else. We kept walking and found the vendor selling the leather bags she had seen before but the bag she wanted had been sold already. Tragic stuff. So we wandered around some more and saw some pieces of paper and drawings taped up on a big sheet-metal dividing wall just behind a row of vendors' booths. After a half minute of observing, I decided it looked like some kind of project that was (hopefully) open to the public. So we walked over and asked a young woman with a clipboard and paper what the dealio was and she told us it was an art project that her and another woman were doing for their class at UBA(University of Buenos Aires). Basically, they gave you a piece of blank paper to draw whatever you wanted to and afterwards they would ask you a few questions about what you drew and why. A free chance to draw whatever I want in the middle of a park? IN THERE like swimwear.
Chelsea and I grabbed some paint, water and brushes and started on our masterpiece which had no real theme or direction. There were a few cans of spraypaint and I kid you not, I lamented the fact I didn't have any stencils on me. Definitely going to knock out a few and keep them in the bolsa when I go wandering around. I painted the FOKUS eye and added "Arte es..." below it, then threw in the sun, some clouds and ocean waves for good measure. Chelsea painted a cat and some other dopeness I can't quite recall. While we were cementing our reputations as the next Picassos, a woman looking like Penny Lane 40 years of grass,pastillas and band chasing later, came by the project and after briefly talking to one of the women in charge, grabbed a can of spraypaint and went to town on the dividing wall itself. One glance at the faces of the two women in charge told me that this wasn't exactly what they had in mind and probably (meaning definitely) wasn't legal. She graffiti'd something along the lines of "leave us be, let us be free". We finished painting and answered the questions they had for us-why did we paint what we did, what did we think about street art. Afterwards, we hit them up with our own "Art is.../Arte es..." project and they were very willing to participate. One of the women quickly pulled up her sleeve and showed us her very own "Art is..." tattoo. It was crazy cool to find someone who had that kind of ink!
It was starting to get dark and we were starting to get hungry so we went to Palermo and hit up a Mexican restaurant. There were so much color on every square inch of the place that it was like a visual sucker-punch. Yummy yummy cheesy quesadillas and tacos hit the spot. If only they'd had jarritos.
Plan for the evening was a music show at the house of someone we knew in Buenos Aires. We were told to arrive around 9:30 and got there at 10p. We were mad early and Little Dragon was quietly hanging on the airwaves. Eventually more people came and the music started. Two acts played and while I liked both, the second act really went in. During the break, Chelsea and I talked to some of the musicians and collected some pretty great "Arte es..." phrases and photos.
After the music had winded down we hung around for a while and chatted with the musicians. All of them were independent musicians and artists and as party favors were passed around they gave us the heads up on a lot of great, off-the-beaten-boliche path places and people. As we headed out, Earth Wind and Fire's "September" came on the stereo-the vibe of the whole night was very chill and silly and warm and I'm excited about digging deeper into the underground art/music world of BA.
Woke up craving alfajores like nobody's business.
This concludes another random snippet of my life in Buenos Aires.
Over and out, amigos.
-j
Yesterday afternoon I met Chelsea at the Recoleta feria to be the wing woman in her quest for a leather bag. It was one of the first days that truly felt like it was autumn and the break in humidity and high 80s weather was fine with me. Of the ferias I've been to, I've been to San Telmo twice and Recoleta about 4 times(it's a ten minute walk from my house)and between the two I like the layout of Recoleta better. It winds and loops and sprawls enough that people are not forced to explore its vendors like a strange sort of mass processional.
We began looking for her bag and almost immediately I saw a man selling beaded bracelets and necklaces. A blue bracelet caught my eye and when it comes to the color blue, I'm like a moth to a flame. Price was $25 pesos but I sweet-talked him down a little to $20. I then gave Chelsea permission to physically restrain me if I tried to buy anything else. We kept walking and found the vendor selling the leather bags she had seen before but the bag she wanted had been sold already. Tragic stuff. So we wandered around some more and saw some pieces of paper and drawings taped up on a big sheet-metal dividing wall just behind a row of vendors' booths. After a half minute of observing, I decided it looked like some kind of project that was (hopefully) open to the public. So we walked over and asked a young woman with a clipboard and paper what the dealio was and she told us it was an art project that her and another woman were doing for their class at UBA(University of Buenos Aires). Basically, they gave you a piece of blank paper to draw whatever you wanted to and afterwards they would ask you a few questions about what you drew and why. A free chance to draw whatever I want in the middle of a park? IN THERE like swimwear.
Chelsea and I grabbed some paint, water and brushes and started on our masterpiece which had no real theme or direction. There were a few cans of spraypaint and I kid you not, I lamented the fact I didn't have any stencils on me. Definitely going to knock out a few and keep them in the bolsa when I go wandering around. I painted the FOKUS eye and added "Arte es..." below it, then threw in the sun, some clouds and ocean waves for good measure. Chelsea painted a cat and some other dopeness I can't quite recall. While we were cementing our reputations as the next Picassos, a woman looking like Penny Lane 40 years of grass,pastillas and band chasing later, came by the project and after briefly talking to one of the women in charge, grabbed a can of spraypaint and went to town on the dividing wall itself. One glance at the faces of the two women in charge told me that this wasn't exactly what they had in mind and probably (meaning definitely) wasn't legal. She graffiti'd something along the lines of "leave us be, let us be free". We finished painting and answered the questions they had for us-why did we paint what we did, what did we think about street art. Afterwards, we hit them up with our own "Art is.../Arte es..." project and they were very willing to participate. One of the women quickly pulled up her sleeve and showed us her very own "Art is..." tattoo. It was crazy cool to find someone who had that kind of ink!
It was starting to get dark and we were starting to get hungry so we went to Palermo and hit up a Mexican restaurant. There were so much color on every square inch of the place that it was like a visual sucker-punch. Yummy yummy cheesy quesadillas and tacos hit the spot. If only they'd had jarritos.
Plan for the evening was a music show at the house of someone we knew in Buenos Aires. We were told to arrive around 9:30 and got there at 10p. We were mad early and Little Dragon was quietly hanging on the airwaves. Eventually more people came and the music started. Two acts played and while I liked both, the second act really went in. During the break, Chelsea and I talked to some of the musicians and collected some pretty great "Arte es..." phrases and photos.
After the music had winded down we hung around for a while and chatted with the musicians. All of them were independent musicians and artists and as party favors were passed around they gave us the heads up on a lot of great, off-the-beaten-boliche path places and people. As we headed out, Earth Wind and Fire's "September" came on the stereo-the vibe of the whole night was very chill and silly and warm and I'm excited about digging deeper into the underground art/music world of BA.
Woke up craving alfajores like nobody's business.
This concludes another random snippet of my life in Buenos Aires.
Over and out, amigos.
-j
Monday, April 16, 2012
so i know it's real... [[finding thrift stores in buenos aires]]
Today something wonderful happened.
Today, I found a thrift store in Buenos Aires.
So? Why is this a big deal?? Well, what makes this a rather epic discovery is the near-total lack of secondhand and thrift clothing/anything in BA. The culture here is more one of buying high quality items and wearing them until they are falling apart. People don't tend to throw things out or donate old clothing anywhere close to the amount that many people do in the States. Great for them, but for me, this messes with my shopping style.
Let me back up by saying that at home, at least 80% of my closet is comprised of items gathered from Salvation Army, Goodwill, those random shops that have an "everything in this bin is $5". I love how much cheaper thrift stores usually are and paying full price for an item just confuses me. I won't buy my delicates secondhand (pre-worn underwear gives me the heebie-jeebies) and jeans are usually a full-price purchase but other than that I don't understand why you would pay $30 for a grey threadbare t-shirt at American Apparel(to pick an easy target) when you can find the same damn shirt for $5 at Salvo's. If this makes me a snob/hipster/whatever, oh well. To me, shopping thrift and secondhand is just logical. It takes time, patience, and you aren't guaranteed to find what you are looking for right away, but the payoff is huge...(pro-thrifting rant over)
Coming to Argentina and not being aware of their "buy quality and keep forever" culture, I was disappointed to realize that finding thrift/secondhand clothing would be a challenge. There's a decent amount of true vintage shops, meaning old clothing from major labels and investment pieces, but that didn't do much for me except make me wish I had a grown person's clothing budget and after a few weeks I'd all but given up finding something akin to Goodwill or Salvo's.
Until today, when I decided to take a different way home after class,originally in order to find a post office to mail some postcards. About halfway home I walked past a storefront with the words "Juan Perez Vintage" in big red letters, and then I saw a telltale pile of assorted clothing on a wooden pallet in the window below a sign reading "$5-10". My heart started racing, my pulse quickened, I was having a physical reaction to the unexpected presence of secondhand clothing.
I walked in and put my backpack in a locker, threw the keychain around my neck and started in on the long racks of clothing that ran along the walls. My hands shook slightly as I began methodically picking my way through each item. It's best to go thrifting with an idea of what you want to find but very low expectations about actually finding it and the only thing I'd really been needing was a cardigan to replace my black one that had been "misplaced" at the Yoga Park. Por suerte, I found a soft grey cardigan, the long kind that you can wrap around your body. It was $35 pesos (less than $10US). Did a quick check for major stains, holes and did a quick sniff of the pits and tucked it under my arm.
After briefly perusing the rest of the store, I retrieved my backpack and went to the counter to check out, but not before rooting through the $5-10 peso pile and emerging with a light navy long-sleeve shirt for $10. It would've been impossible to convey how stupid-happy I was to the cashier so I kept the reason behind my dopey grin to myself.
Floating out of the shop I walked home with a renewed sense of faith in Buenos Aires. This Friday I'm going to San Telmo to bum around and do some day-time exploring and not gonna lie, finding another thrift store would be alright with me...
-j
Today, I found a thrift store in Buenos Aires.
So? Why is this a big deal?? Well, what makes this a rather epic discovery is the near-total lack of secondhand and thrift clothing/anything in BA. The culture here is more one of buying high quality items and wearing them until they are falling apart. People don't tend to throw things out or donate old clothing anywhere close to the amount that many people do in the States. Great for them, but for me, this messes with my shopping style.
Let me back up by saying that at home, at least 80% of my closet is comprised of items gathered from Salvation Army, Goodwill, those random shops that have an "everything in this bin is $5". I love how much cheaper thrift stores usually are and paying full price for an item just confuses me. I won't buy my delicates secondhand (pre-worn underwear gives me the heebie-jeebies) and jeans are usually a full-price purchase but other than that I don't understand why you would pay $30 for a grey threadbare t-shirt at American Apparel(to pick an easy target) when you can find the same damn shirt for $5 at Salvo's. If this makes me a snob/hipster/whatever, oh well. To me, shopping thrift and secondhand is just logical. It takes time, patience, and you aren't guaranteed to find what you are looking for right away, but the payoff is huge...(pro-thrifting rant over)
Coming to Argentina and not being aware of their "buy quality and keep forever" culture, I was disappointed to realize that finding thrift/secondhand clothing would be a challenge. There's a decent amount of true vintage shops, meaning old clothing from major labels and investment pieces, but that didn't do much for me except make me wish I had a grown person's clothing budget and after a few weeks I'd all but given up finding something akin to Goodwill or Salvo's.
Until today, when I decided to take a different way home after class,originally in order to find a post office to mail some postcards. About halfway home I walked past a storefront with the words "Juan Perez Vintage" in big red letters, and then I saw a telltale pile of assorted clothing on a wooden pallet in the window below a sign reading "$5-10". My heart started racing, my pulse quickened, I was having a physical reaction to the unexpected presence of secondhand clothing.
I walked in and put my backpack in a locker, threw the keychain around my neck and started in on the long racks of clothing that ran along the walls. My hands shook slightly as I began methodically picking my way through each item. It's best to go thrifting with an idea of what you want to find but very low expectations about actually finding it and the only thing I'd really been needing was a cardigan to replace my black one that had been "misplaced" at the Yoga Park. Por suerte, I found a soft grey cardigan, the long kind that you can wrap around your body. It was $35 pesos (less than $10US). Did a quick check for major stains, holes and did a quick sniff of the pits and tucked it under my arm.
After briefly perusing the rest of the store, I retrieved my backpack and went to the counter to check out, but not before rooting through the $5-10 peso pile and emerging with a light navy long-sleeve shirt for $10. It would've been impossible to convey how stupid-happy I was to the cashier so I kept the reason behind my dopey grin to myself.
Floating out of the shop I walked home with a renewed sense of faith in Buenos Aires. This Friday I'm going to San Telmo to bum around and do some day-time exploring and not gonna lie, finding another thrift store would be alright with me...
-j
Monday, February 13, 2012
strong foundation
It's starting to get really real. In 11 days, I'll be on a plane headed to Buenos Aires. Mild terror and second guessing have officially set in.
But apart from the normal nervousness and double-triple-checking, I am ready to take the leap. There will be moments and even whole days that are pretty crumby because navigating an entirely new place has it's challenges but I know that I have a whole bunch of people who are excited for me, who are wishing me well and who can't wait for me to have this adventure.
It's a very reassuring feeling to know you've got people in your corner, even if it's a whole continent away.
besitos
-j
But apart from the normal nervousness and double-triple-checking, I am ready to take the leap. There will be moments and even whole days that are pretty crumby because navigating an entirely new place has it's challenges but I know that I have a whole bunch of people who are excited for me, who are wishing me well and who can't wait for me to have this adventure.
It's a very reassuring feeling to know you've got people in your corner, even if it's a whole continent away.
besitos
-j
Monday, January 23, 2012
calm before the storm
these days I have an almost sinful amount of free time. I wake up virtually whenever I want, do as much or as little as I want. I play with my dog, I fuck around on Tumblr, do some research for a friend. After almost a month at home I have somewhat accepted the relative nothingness that my days have the potential to be. As Argentina draws closer, there are more practical things to be done-exchanging currency, beginning to pack, signing forms, but the waters of my life are still basically undisturbed.
I know that in three weeks, with a few days before I leave, the world will launch into hyper-speed and all this slowly passing time will evaporate, replaced by hours and days where you feel cheated a few minutes here and there. I have come to see my time now as the calm before the storm, before the frenetic never-stopping rush that will be Buenos Aires.
besitos
-j
I know that in three weeks, with a few days before I leave, the world will launch into hyper-speed and all this slowly passing time will evaporate, replaced by hours and days where you feel cheated a few minutes here and there. I have come to see my time now as the calm before the storm, before the frenetic never-stopping rush that will be Buenos Aires.
besitos
-j
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