two months / garden hose

Today is Wednesday, March 26th, 2 months since I left New Jersey on Saturday, January 26th. Approximately 4 weeks ago I left Iracambi, and 3 weeks ago I left Brazil. I've been in Argentina since March 6th. I've seen Buenos Aires, Los Cardales, had mate, dulce de leche, a ton of red meat, met insane Irishmen, then arrived finally in Rafaela last week...

To back up, after I updated my blog last Wednesday, when I was supposed to go to the bus station and catch a bus...I did, and I didn't. While I got the bus station fine, I was very rudely awakened to find the station a complete insane asylum. It was the first day of a 5 day weekend, and every Argentinean and their 8 family members was at that bus terminal. My bus was set to leave at 7:30, and didn't leave until 12. The platforms were so crowded that I couldn't move, so my only hope of catching the bus was to go inside and ask the bus company if it had come yet, or when it would be coming. They were no help at all, promising that it would come in the next half hour, then an hour later saying it would come in an hour, and at one point the guy told me to stop coming to ask them if the bus had left yet and to look at the monitor because it would appear there, in addition to the overhead speaker which was a drone that, if I tried really hard, maybe I could have understood, but was so hot and frustrated by the whole situation that I couldn't have been arsed (lol) to do so. Another while passed so I went up to the clerks and asked if it had left yet - they said it had. I was so pissed, because I had been asking them all night and their attitude was "Oh, sorry, not yet, don't worry." Then they were like, "This left an hour ago." There weren't any policemen or information booths where I could ask, and the monitor, though they promised me otherwise, struck me from the start as incomprehensive. The worst part was how many people were there, all with luggage, all irritated that their trips were delayed. You couldn't move, and even if I had wanted to stay outside to physically wait for my bus there was a range of 10 platforms it could fall on and it was impossible to move between them with all the people, and I would have had to go up to every bus that pulled in to ask if it was mine. Which I was doing for a while but they kept saying no. I talked to some of the people in the station and they were the ones who let me know Easter weekend is a big holiday and a big travel opportunity for Argentineans. But I never imagined a bus station could be so packed and so backed up as this one was. While waiting around, I got interviewed by a newscastor again, hahaha. I'm a star here. It was about 1 when they let me know I missed the bus, so I picked a hotel from my guidebook and called and asked if they had any free rooms - and they did - and took a cab off the street. My clothes were absoluely soaked with sweat when I got there, since I had been wearing layers to keep my baggage lighter, and since I have been lugging this big brown jacket all around Brazil and now Argentina. Anyway...

The next day, Silvia from the program I'm here with met me at my hotel and took me personally to the bus station. Much more manageable this time around. FYI, I didn't have to pay for either bus ticket. In the terminal, you could move - stairways were clear instead of lined with people and suitcases, and ordering a pizza and coke wouldn't have taken 45 minutes as it did the night before (I thought about how my dad would have left the line after 5 minutes and laughed). To show she felt responsible for what happened the night before, Silvia waited until I was physically on the bus before she left.

I arrived on Friday morning at 3:30 AM, and for the first day it was just me and Luiz, my 18 year old brother since the rest of the family was on vacation and I didn't meet them until Saturday night. I've gone swimming in our pool every day; met tons of Luiz's friends and all of the extended family (which includes witnessing an Argentinean man turn 77 and pay a pre-written [pre-typed!] homage to his family, slowly but surely bursting into tears; I looked on intent, trying not to show any signs of laughter) on multiple occasions; played soccer and didn't do half bad, probably because the people I was playing with were, at best, half good (but it's all for the craic, right?); had tons of red meat, except now that the Argentinean farmers are on strike the meat has literally run out!; met up with Thomas, an Irish guy who's also stationed here, at the pool party and at the clubs and at the cathedral for Easter Sunday! Oh, family, do not worry - the grandmother, whose birthday (74, I think) was also last week, and she gave me chocolate eggs. I am being taken care of. The immediate family is so nice to me as well. They got me a bike and a cell phone and I'm well on my way, and it's so clear that they're bent on making me completely comfortable here. They told me to give my family their house number so they can call whenever they want. Lol.

I've been to the school 2 days now, and am not really sure how it's going to go. They have me seeing every single class, and not teaching all that many hours per week; being that I'm staying only 3 months, I have this terrible feeling that I'm not going to get much done in that time. It doesn't help that Rafaela has had English speakers for 10 years in a row now, and I have so much to live up to. I thought it may make it easier - they'd be better equipped to use me - but now that I'm here, I just feel like I'm not going to be here long enough to make the kind of impact they're probably used to. In any event, I'll make the best of it. I remind myself that it's just the first week and things usually turn out fine anyway. So whatevs.

I have pictures finally.

Brazil: http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/dck249/Brasil/

Argentina: http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182/dck249/Argentina%20thus%20far/


I know I'm not the best picture taker, but I'll work on getting some good ones of Rafaela in the next 3 months, as well as getting some more pictures of Brazil (mine really don't do it justice) from my friends at Iracambi. Hope you enjoy.