Day 13: Tips

I can't believe I have already been here 13 days. Time is now flying. Not much new to report today so I'll just throw a few notes out.

Pollution: We think we have pollution in the states. Bs As is smog central. They have sooo many cars and sooo many buses spewing particulate. You can smell it in the air and there is really no escape. Buildings and ventilation. Unlike the US, Argentina has never experienced great periods of wealth. This means they don't tear much down and rebuild. Most of the buildings in the downtown are decades and centuries old. This means few of them have air circulation systems and rarely AC. Most of the heat is radiant. Rooms get stuffy in a hurry. Plentiful condiments are non existent, they are even stingy with salt. Building and electrical codes are extremely sub standard to home. They just run wires anywhere they want. From rooftops draped down sides of buildings, open junction boxes...lots of fire hazards.

Tomorrow we are going to try and hit up another futbol game so hopefully I'll have more to report.

Day 12: School

Ok, I have not told you all much about my school. I have actually been pretty dissatisfied with my school experience. It has two redeeming features, they have multiple locations and their teachers seem to be really good. Other than that, they load the classes with as many students as possible (maxed out at 8 now), they have no idea of customer service, classes start late, breaks go long and classes end early. They charge per classes by the block of 20 classes per week. This week has a holiday on Friday with no classes yet we are required to pay the same amount like we had 5 days of classes. The worst part is that the administration does not care. They seem to be a business first and educators second. They are not even apologetic about the fact that we are unhappy with the class sizes, class content and schedule adherence. Yesterday I watched one of the office staff yell at one of the other students (friend of mine) saying that "I know what customer service is. I work in states for 5 years and I know how to treat customers. You should not make accusations about this school." I calmly looked up at her and said in my strongest American accent (just normal talking)...in the States the customer is always right. Anyone googling this blog who wants advice on Spanish schools, please PM me and do not use COINED. There are much better, smaller schools that give more personal attention and are concerned about students learning. Today, I made a change. We found another school very nearby that is much cheaper and I will be in a class size of 2 people. The school staff is exceptionally nice.

Thats really it for today. Sorry for the rant but I am much happier about starting a new class next week and really ramping up my learning. Also, just a side note but if you google moth balls in urinals...my blog comes up....I like it.

Day 11: Moth balls again

Ok, so I'll get to some new events in a bit but first I need to expand on the moth ball situation in the urinals here. I have found them to be quite entertaining. After about a liter of beer its a fun game to pee on them really hard and try to walk them up back of the urinal....its like one of those carnival games where you hammer the ball up the pole but in this case its a moth ball up the back of the urinal. Last night I held off on the urge for a bit just to see if I get some more pressure.

Anyway, on with new events. Tonight we went to a drum exposition. At first I had some doubts about this endeavor. I envisioned a field full of pot smokers with dreads, swaying in place around a drum circle. Turns out I was pretty close but my hippie genes came out and I really enjoyed the night. Basically, there was a huge open courtyard with a large stage where they set up about 2 dozen drums and other instruments. They had a maestro to direct the rytmns and they really got the crowd going. I enjoyed the experience. It is also interesting that I have noticed that people here are very short. I am about 5-10 or so and I am really tall down here...like exceptionally tall. I can see over most people at the concerts. Its nice.

I was also happy today to finally find a friend who recommended that I not go to Iguazo Falls on the Brazil/Argentina boarder. Its an amazingly large and powerful series of something like 400 waterfalls....probably bigger than Niagara. However, its nothing but a huge tourist attraction. EVERYONE goes and I wasn't really excited to go someplace that everyone goes. I am thinking about trading off the $600 that it would cost me to maybe do Boliva instead. Finally I talked to a nice girl from Brazil who suggested I not go so my decision is made...no Iquazo.

Thats all for today...not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow but I'll come up with something.

Day 10: San Telmo

Last night ended up being very laid back. I went out around midnight and wandered teh streets a little. It became to clear to me that this is simply a culture of eating late and going out late. Even the older couples were just finishing dinner around midnight. I settled on a bar called 36 Billares (36 pool tables) who had a band starting at 1. I had a liter of beer and walked home.

Today, I headed to the historic barrio (neighborhood)of San Telmo. It is full of cobbled streets, street markets, fabulous restaurants and a vibrant art and Tango scene. I enjoyed a street Tango show that was amazing and picked up several souvenirs from the local vendors. I am enjoying walking around alone. I take in a lot more of the city. I stumbled upon a museum/unique site in San Telmo called Zanjon de Granados which was supposedly the center of the colonial settlement in Bs As. They had only recently discovered the site and a network of underground tunnels. The building (originally a mansion) had been meticulously restored. It was a neat place to see.

Day 9: Discoteca Dissapointment

This entire night turned out to be a pretty big disappointment. We started with a little pre game at our dorm. We caught cabs to the discoteca around 1am (that is when it opens) and arrived at Club Pacha around 1:15. On our walk through the parking lot I noted an awful lot of tour busses and what looked like very young kids. We reached the door and were immediately turned away. The club had been reserved for a giant party for 15 year olds. Some of our girls had to go in to use the bathroom and they reported that they were indeed serving milk. We were forced to walk to the only other club in the area called Jet. We had 5 guys in the group, all of the girls got in for free and the guys had to pay about $17 each but the five of us got two bottles of champagne. Overall, I thought the club was nothing special. The music was too loud and the lights were obnoxious...i really felt like I was stoned due to the LED strobe light effects...it wasn't really fun. Or...maybe I'm just getting old...whatever. I caught a cab back to the dorm around 4:30 am and my roommates did not get back till about 8am....crazy.

Today, I took the subway to one of the more ritzy barrios in Bs As called Palermo. This was a great place to explore. Tons of shopping along the streets, lots of street art, lots of bars, lots of street side dining and tons of markets set up in the street where local artists were selling their wares. I probably walked about 3-4 miles exploring the neighborhoods. This was truly where many of the beautiful people of Bs As reside. This is a great motivator to study my Spanish! Another interesting fact was that in some of the busier areas, they had stores that were bars by night and during the day, they sold clothes and other things. They roll out clothing racks, through table clothes over the pool tables and sell merchandise right next to the bar. You could drink and shop all day. It made me wonder why they don't do this in Georgetown. These places were selling food, drinks and merchandise...what a great way to leverage the prime retail space. Thats it for today, tonight I might find a local bar and tomorrow is reserved for exploring the San Telmo barrio and doing laundry.

Some of you may have noticed the slide show I put up, I'll update this about once a week. Right now the pics are pretty bad but i'm working on it.

Day 8: Traffic

Finally, I have a fairly uneventful day to write about. Really, nothing much to write home about today. The first week of classes are complete and I have a better understanding of the language but still a lot of work to do. After classes we seung by one of the "party" hostels just to take a look. Millhouse was big, with lots of amenities and definitely looked like a party hostel. They had their own bar and there was at least one person passed out in every room, even the common areas. It really looked like some people might not ever leave the hostel. It wasn't for me...maybe for one night just for fun. I think I should take a moment to note that Bs As is an amazing city with an amazingly unique culture and language. There are many things about this city that are found no where else in the world. The Argentinians are very proud of their city. My factoid for the day. In the states we take for granted that pedestrians have the right of way. Not in Bs As. Cars do not stop for people and you have to always be alert because they go fast and dart in and out of traffic. There is one street that is so wide it usually takes two cycles of the walk lights to cross all 20 or so lanes. The good thing is that nearly all of their streets are one way so its easier to look for traffic but they drive crazy down here. Taxi's are super cheap so we take them anywhere the subway or our feet cant go.

Day 7: The Museum and Machisimo

For the record...I want to let all you know my priorities. 1) Student 2) Tourist 3) Party

Good now that you know my priorities I can fill you in on last night. We started with a very affordable but average dinner. I paid about $13 for a steak, fries and a bottle of wine. Steak did not live up to my expectations. I was at the dinner with 4 girls from my school, 1 from Switzerland and 3 from london. Turns out, they had ulterior motives to go to a club after dinner. Buenos Aires is famous for their party scene so I was not averse to giving it a shot. So, this puts us finishing up dinner around Midnight (on a Wednesday!). This was not one of the true discoteca's. It was an "after work" club. Which basically just means that the dress code was relaxed. We arrived at the club called "Museum" at a little after midnight. The building was beautiful and was supposedly designed by the Mr. Eiffel of the Eiffel Tower. Cover charge was about $10 US but included a free drink + Speed. We enter the lobby then go into the main club through a large door where the experience really begins. I had been warned about the Argentine machismo culture and I knew I was with 3 good looking girls, one who looked like a baby doll and another with bright blonde hair which is rare in Argentina. I followed the girls from behind to monitor the situation. From the moment we walked into the club and for the rest of the night, walking around was like running a gauntlet for the girls. Literally, the guys would touch their hair, grab their rears, whisper things in their ears, kiss their shoulders and sometime grope a little more than just a rear end. At one point the Swiss girls was getting anxious and clung to me and pretended we were together, the guy was quick to show me that unless I want guys like him to continue, i should wrap her up in my arms for the rest of the night. I didn't partake in the shenanigans but I will admit that a small part of myself can see it happening on my return leg to Bs As when I have a better handle on the language. Anyway, the club was really great otherwise, great music, lights and effects. The floor was covered in broken glass by the end of the night. Turns out the Speed was just an energy drink kind of like red bull. We left about 3:30 and their party was still going strong. According to my priority list above, I still got up and made it to class on time. Seeing as this was an "after office" club, I can't imagine the real clubs...I need to get some new shoes.

Today, class was difficult. We learned pronouns which are very complicated. We picked up lunch at a local spot and took it to their big Plaza de Mayo where we enjoyed the warm sun and did our homework. Tonight should end much less eventful than last. I plan to pick a nice dinner spot with an amiga, eat and study these freaking pronouns.

Day 6: Cemetary cats

Weather was great today. Class was good. After class, we had what turned out to be a very affordable lunch at a nice lunch spot near the school. After which, we grabbed a cab and headed to El Cementario del Recoleta. This is where Argentina has put to rest all of their famous and influential figures. All of the sites are above ground tombs. This is also the cite of Eva (Evita) Perrone's resting place. It is difficult to describe this experience. The cemetery is walled off from the city but the cemetery itself has streets and alleys. There is something like 4,800 tombs and every tomb is unique. There is soo much marble, granite and crosses it is incredible. An artist could spend months here and a photographer could have a field day with interesting shots. The cemetery was not errie at all...no demon statues but there were an alarming number of what looked like stray cats living in the cemetery. Cats are strange enough as it is..always staring, judging, being aloof... This is exaggerated times 10 when the cat is staring at you from the steps of a tomb with a visible coffin just behind the doors. Interestingly enough, I did not see any cats "in" the tombs which would have been easy because many of them just had bars or broken glass as doors or windows. Tonight, we are headed to what is supposed to be a restaurant of notably good steak but also very affordable. I am looking forward to a juicy Argentine steak. Item of note for today. It is very difficult to find peanut butter in the supermercado. I was at a small one today and nada...no peanut butter at all.

Day 5: Moth Balls

As I feared, now that my classes are in full force, I have much less to write home about. I'm doing a solid push in the beginning to shorten the learning curve. Today, I attended my 4 hours of classes, stopped by a street side cafe for 4 delicious empanadas (1.30 each), studied for awhile then returned to my dorm for a siesta. I awoke studied another hour and here I am. I'll probably go to a local pizza parlor for dinner and study while I wait. I am enjoying closing out the nights in the dorm with fellow students and a few bottles of beer. Its really great meeting so many people from other countries...its crazy thought...they all speak english...some speak as many as 5 languages. My interesting factoid today is moth balls. When I enter male restrooms down here, they seemed to stink really bad. At first I thought it was the sewage vents in the floor, and then today while doing my business I notice that the urinals don't have those nice fragrance cakes that cheer up our restrooms back home but several moth balls. I detest the smell of moth balls but at least I don't have to worry about moth attacks in the rest room. I have yet to use the bide (sp?) but I'll report back when I do. Oh yeah, another funny story....so the portenos down here (Bs As residents) are famous for their machisimo culture. Yesterday I was walking to class with a girl from london and we came to street crossing that was crowded with construction workers. I didn't notice anything strange except that my shoe was untied. I bent down to re-tie it and then we proceeded to cross the street and left the dozen or so construction workers at the previous corner. The girl I was with then somewhat concerned tells me that as soon as I bent down to tie my shoe, all of the workers started staring at her and checking her out. As soon as I stood back up, they quickly turned away...I never noticed anything but I guess it made her a little anxious...I thought it was hilarious.

Day 4: April 20

Today was the first day of classes. They gave me a test and placed me in a group of 6 with similar abilities. I am already learning a lot and the teacher is really good. In fact, I was surprised at how good the teacher was. Besides the teacher, I am the only guy in the class. In fact, there are tons of girls here period...its nice. Not much else really going on today, I have some homework and want to study. I'll leave you with a few other tidbits from the country..some of which you may already know. 1) Sewage systems don't take TP, so you have to wipe and throw it in a trash bin beside the toilet. The shitty part is that at night, the city swarms with "cartejernos" (sp?)who dig through all the cities trash and pick out the recycling and collect $. The city even set up a special train that goes around early in the morning to pick up all the people and the trash they collect...its the best grass roots recycling program I have ever seen...but can you imagine sorting through all the bags of shit...literally shit.
2) I ordered a coffee and it became immediately clear that they don't enjoy excess like we do in the states. My cafe came in a cup fit to be in a doll house....it was like an exspresso shot but it was just coffee and it still cost about $2 american.

Day 3: April 19

Today was a busy day to say the least. Started off with me checking out of my Hostel, backpacking through the supte and ending at my new dormitory with fellow classmates. The new digs are pretty reasonable. Good people, plenty of space and again, Wi Fi..which is great. Still many English speaking people which is bugging me..I want to speak spanish and its fun..I am remembering words that I forgot I knew. Ok, back to the day.....I had managed to meet two other backpackers from Holland who were going to the Superclasico between Boca Juniors and River Plate. The bad part was that they spoke less spanish than I. We were not worried about our lack of experience or knowledge. We shed all of our valuables, cut cash to minimum, bought a disposable camera and put on nuetral colors. We walked two miles to the stadium, got bad directions from two policia (I think they didn't like touristas), saw a man getting his ass kicked litterally..the kind of fight where no one breaks it up and it goes until one man can't get up, then gets one more punch, and finally ended up near our section about 1 hour before the game...not nearly early enough. We were in a section with no seats and the entire section was already full. We were left to standing at the top along the rail and looking between people. Luckily portenos are fairly short so we could still see the game very well. It was amazing. They have so much passion for futbol. Here are the highlights: No bathrooms, people peed from the deck onto the bottom deck and in all the ramps...it reeked of urine. I saw several people get peed on. No one leaves their place. The game started with an amazing display of fireworks and I have no idea how much confetti and ribbons thrown from fans. When the crowd was rocking, the deck above litterally looked like it would crack off and fall...it had serious movement and as an engineer I was concerned. The home team scored first with a sharp shot and the same potenos who I had been trading elbows with for an hour were suddenly hugging me and jumping up and down. Next River Plate evened up the score with a well placed direct kick. All of a sudden it seemed like someone pushed a mute button...the entire stadium went silent..no one booed, I didn't even hear the opposing fans...either they were scared or they were not there. It was weird watching the plate players run around celebrating with no crowd noise. The game ended in a draw. I got the feeling that after the score was evened up, they both were happy with the draw..that way not as many people get beat up after the game???? We walked home through the historic san telmo neighborhoods of cobbled streets, street music and markets. We had a beer and called it a night. Now I have to drum up some energy to make friends in my new home. Classes start tomorrow. P....Out

Day 2: April 18

Big news today is that i scored a ticket to the Boca Juniors vs River Plate futbol game tomorrow. Its one of the biggest rivalries in the world. I paid more for the ticket than any other sporting event in my life...but hey I only do this once. I am going it alone but don't worry, the locals tell me its safe. If I get beat up, robbed or popped on, at least I'll have an entertaining blog. In other news, I have always loved ketchup until I had an Argentine hamburger...I might be broken of my ketchup slathering habit with carne that is this good. Peace out.

Background on the match: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/gregory_sica/03/28/superclasico/index.html

Day One: April 17

I have arrived safe and sound, made it to my Hostel, learned the supte (subway), signed up for a Spanish Language school, went grocery shopping and walked about 4 miles. Its been a good day. I am not sure I would have been that productive in the states. I didn't get robbed yet but have been aggressively panhandled. Its funny what I am finding that we take for granted in the states. I already miss things like good produce at the supermarket and clean streets with intact sidewalks. I am anxious to get started with classes. The language barrier is difficult but I've been getting along ok. I am already improving as I stumble through piss poor spanish.

Lots of good looking ladies down here. I think I need to worry less about getting robbed and more about making sure I don't hit by a car while I am checking out a good looking Porteno. The Hostel is having a BBQ tonight so I am going to partake in the festivities. Classes don't start until Monday so I have two days to get settled and get my bearings. Anyway, thats the update for now. Things are good and the weather here is fantastic..high 70's...and they have palm trees, which I found strange.

Thats the update for now....more later.

Countdown to departure

Welcome. I’m not sure I even know what the word blog means but this site uses it so I guess I should be welcoming you to my blog. To get everyone up to speed I will start with a short re-cap of my last 6 months. This post will most likely be the longest.

Ok….so I need to start a little further back than 6 months. Directly out of college I took my first job with Ingersoll Rand. 8 years and 5 cities later, I found myself living back in Virginia working as an Installation Manager for Ingersoll Rand. The job was good, travel was heavy and I was learning a lot. When the economy started to turn, stress levels grew, moral sunk, layoffs began and the walls were painted with doom and gloom. I never needed work to be fun to enjoy my job but the cumulative effects of two years of heavy travel and a business environment that was less than pleasant I felt it was time to make a change. I had always wanted to start a business and I was lucky enough to have the luxury of enjoying unemployment for an extended period. An opportunity arose at work to part ways on good terms. Even though leaving felt like the right thing for me to do, it was very difficult.

So, that took me to March 1st. I enjoyed the splendors of unemployment for a few weeks then headed to Georgia’s Springer Mountain with my mother who was starting the Appalachian trail and planned to hike to Harpers Ferry, WV. We hiked together for 4 days and 3 nights. It was a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to help her start such an ambitious journey. The hike was incredible fun. Mom nearly left me in the dust and we met an incredible number of great people. The scenery and mountains were amazing but the people you meet on the trail are amazing. One of the toughest good bye's in my life was leaving my mother to continue her journey up the trail.

After the backpacking, I spent my next two weeks preparing for my newest adventure. I am actually very happy with my current unemployment. I figure that while the economy is sorting itself out and while I can still (financially and physically) enjoy a semi early retirement…why not? I certainly plan to start a business sometime in the near future but for the next year I am going to build some new skills, enjoy life, work on the business plan and ensure that I have a complete and full separation from corporate America.

I leave for Argentina tonight where I will spend 3 months with a short visit to Chile and Uruguay. The main purpose of the visit is to learn Spanish through immersion and taking classes. Of course I would also like to see the country, enjoy the culture and possibly do some skiing. I really don’t have much of an idea of what to expect but I am excited for the unknown.

That gets us all up to date. Going forward, posts should be more entertaining. This one just sets up the base. I plan to post on this site every few days. Cell phone minutes to the US are in the range of $2.50/minute so I will not have the luxury of many phone calls. E-mail and this site will be my main mode of communication. Also, please keep me up to date with your lives and significant events. I don’t have any friends down there so e-mails from home will be refreshing.

I’ll miss everyone here and will hopefully get to see many of you when I return and devise another adventure.
Pierce