And ye even again...

My WHAT THE FRENCHTOAST Moment
Within the last couple of days, the price of transportation has gone up almost an entire peso! This is due to the "Subway Strike". The subte, which is the fastest and most convenient mode of transportation, has been shutdown for over a week and a half now. This has also caused millions of pesos to be lost and as I've mentioned before, Argentina is not a country where pesos need to be lost. Needless to say, those people who are frequent bus riders, such as myself, have to deal with buses being filled to over capacity everyday AND the inflated bus prices as well. Today, however, I witnessed something quite remarkable. As I was en route to my house, the bus made a quite stop to pickup more passengers...mind you the bus is already packed. As the doors open, the people who couldn't fit onto the bus through the main entrance decided to sneak on the bus through the rear entrances...AND THEY DIDN'T GET CAUGHT. I sat there and imagined myself sneaking onto buses, huddled in the back and subsequently getting free rides everywhere, unbeknownst to the bus driver. Then I thought about the fact that I'm the only chocolate chip walking along the streets and how the bus driver would remember if a "morena" has boarded the bus or not and in turn would have me hauled off to jail. So I've decided no to partake in such activities so as not to create my own episode of "Locked Up Abroad".

Code-name: Exasperated

My WHAT THE FRENCHTOAST Moment
I'm guessing people here don't care about life or death because not only does EVERYONE indulge in a smoking habit (legal or illegal), there is an evident disregard for important vehicles, you know like firefighers, ambulances or police cars. I was walking along Corrientes Avenue and watched as NO ONE moved their car, truck or mo-ped to allow an ambulance to pass by. As the result, the ambulance sat for a good five minutes with the rest of the 'common' vehicles, sirens blaring the entire time.
Of course there's always two sides to a story. On another occasion, while walking down Junin Street, I witnessed another ambulance attempting to bob and weave through the street. Of course, I'm sympathetically watching as I plead the blood of Jesus over whatever 'situation' this ambulance is rushing to assist in. To my surprise (but not really), the ambulance, with sirens blaring I might add, is allowed to pass through and zooms through the red light. Immediately after crossing, the sirens are turned off and the ambulance resumes regular speed down the street. Waitta minute! Come again? You mean to tell me the only pending emergency was their need to run a red light-_-

For those of you with no Facebook...

Congreso Nacional

El Pensador a.k.a. The Thinker

Petting a female lion at the Zoologico de Lujan

Spending time with the elephants too!

Eating my first Arrepa at the Colombian Independence Day Fair

Found a colorful collage while walking down Callao Avenue

Sleeping with the angles in the third largest cemetery in the world

Touring La Boca on Argentina's Day of Independence

Como se dice....

For the past week, my roommate Destiny and I have been teaching our new Colombian friend, Kharold, how to speak English. I can liken this experience to teaching a little kid how to talk. Being an English junkie, I can barely manage the run-on sentences, fragments, double negatives and sentences ending with articles that many American adults who call themselves fluent in English make in their everyday speech. But with Kharold it's different. She so desperately wants to learn English because she hopes to one day become either a news anchor for Fox Sports or a famous Hollywood actress. Ambitious isn't it? Of course, it's imperative that anyone working in the public eye in the United States speaks some kind of English whether they like it or not; it's just the way life in North America goes. While my initial instinct was to feel honored to have a part in making her dreams come true, reality hit me pretty fast when I realized I ACTUALLY HAVE TO TEACH HER TO SPEAK ENGLISH. I can't just daydream about the day when she thanks little-ole-me from the Oscar podium after receiving an award for best actress for teaching her how to speak English. So how do you teach a 23 year old woman to speak English?
I started with small phrases such as 'Good Morning', 'My name is Kharold', 'I am from Colombia' and so on and so forth. I've found that my translating English sentences to Spanish has actually improved my Spanish speaking abilities. Who would've thunk it? If all else fails, I just teach her North Carolina Central University slang. She is very familiar with the terms 'homegirl', 'bruh' and 'ayee'. Needless to say, she could survive on my campus just by knowing those three phrases:)
My 'WHAT THE FRENCHTOAST' Moment
There is dog and bird crap ALL OVER THE SIDEWALKS, not to mention the trash that clutters the streets TODOS LOS DIAS! The trash I could maybe understand because there are so many street venders...BUTT DOG CRAP(pun intended)?! Really people...clean up ya @$%#-_-

Sharing is caring...

We've all had that momentary(or permanent) selfish feeling flares up inside when someone asks for something: "Can I have a piece?" "Ummm no? Can you walk yourself down to Food Lion and make your own?" Nevertheless, I've always possessed a natural conviction to share my earnings with others, spreading the wealth if you will. Sometimes my kindness is returned and other times I gets no love. The point I'm trying to make is that I perform acts of kindness because I enjoy bringing other people happiness. Gone are the days when hospitality was common no matter what country you're in. Nowadays, it's imperative that you  give and give and give only to receive one fourth of what you've given. I've noticed that in the Latin American culture, more specifically Buenos Aires, the people are more hospitable toward not only their family but their guests. In my residence hall, the landlord checks on my roommate and I several times throughout the week to make sure we have everything we need to feel comfortable, for example, allotting two laundry tickets a month to have our clothes washed, ironed and folded for us. Just recently, I met a Colombian girl who immediately befriended myself and my roommate so much so that, having only known us for a week, has cooked for us on two separate ocassions.  On another ocassion, I found myself lost in the streets of  Buenos Aires and a delivery boy deviated from his destination just to make sure I got to my destination safe and sound. Here in Argentina, people do for others out of the kindness of their heart, not for gain. So yes, I can walk up to any person on the street and ask for directions and, although I receive the most dumbfounded looks because of the color of my skin, I can trust(so far) that portenos are kind enough to point me in the direction that I need to go.

Everything isn't peaches and cream...

I used to think the grass was greener on the other side and sometimes it is. But sometimes there are crispy, crackling patches where grass used to be. So far, my time in Argentina has taught me to be EXTREMELY grateful for the privileges that I am afforded in the United States. In one of my previous entries, I touched on the exchange rates. As I stated earlier, the "official" exchange rate is 4.5 to 1, or 4.5 pesos for every 1 dollar. As you can imagine, the American dollar is in high demand because its value is far greater than that of a peso. Strangely enough, Portenos, or inhabitants of Buenos Aires, are forbidden by the government from having or trading dollars because it messes up the equilibrium of the monetary system in Buenos Aires. The government has to be able to manage the amount of dollar bills coming in and out of the system. If there are more dollars in circulation, the value of the pesos drops even further. "To have a dollar in your wallet is good luck", said one of my residence mates. I quickly realized that having dollars in one's possession is a delicacy when he asked me if I could trade his pesos to dollars. He wanted to begin saving in dollars because over time, dollars retain their value. I can honestly agree with Lee Greenwood when he said he was "proud to be an American". 

My WHAT THE FRENCHTOAST Moment

Everyone smokes on "cancer sticks"...and I mean EVERYONE! In the streets, in the stores, by the gas pump, in the hospital(well I'm actually not sure about this one...but it flows with what I'm trying to say), in the clubs, etc. It's impossible to get away from it! 

Second entry...but clearly not the second day

Ever tried to pronounce a "ghetto" name? Take this name for example: "La-a". Can you guess it's pronunciation? Yeah I thought not. Well, I couldn't figure it out either at first...until one day my cousin Pierre informed me that you pronounce it "La-DASH-uh"-_-. Word pronunciation in Spanish is like trying to pronounce this name, leaving you confused and bewildered on how you got THAT pronunciation from THAT spelling! Alas, pronunciation has turned out to be the least of my problems, as I've recently realized that I never know how and for what situation I use a particular word. There are so many Spanish words that have similar definitions but are used in completely different ways. For example, If I wanted to say "For my trip, I need to bring a jacket" I would translate this as "Para mi viaje, necesito llevar un abrigo". The mind boggling part of this sentence is that the verb "llevar" means "to take" and the verb "traer" means "to bring". It's incorrect to use the verb "traer" for this particular sentence. Why? I have no idea, that's just what my teacher told me. 

My "WHAT THE FRENCHTOAST" Moment

1. In my previous entry, I only mentioned four modes of transportation: the train, the subway, the taxi and the bus. There is, however, another mode of transportation: personal vehicles. It is my sound advice that when visiting any city, but Buenos Aires most especially, DON'T DRIVE! Everyone here drives like a bat out of hell! There's no regard for pedestrians and no regard for driving in one's lane, although all the lanes are CLEARLY marked. I've lost count of how many times I could've met my Maker because some non-driver wanted to make a hasty turn WHILE I HAD THE RIGHT-OF-WAY! They can keep playing if they want to because I know one thing: if I get hit by a car or bus while walking across the street, somebody is paying for ALL OF MY GOOD TUITION to North Carolina Central University! Try me-_-