Argentina: It's easier for the cars to hit you than to break. Pts. 1 and 2

And we're back! Thank GOD! I was beginning to panic about my living situation but now everything is 21st(ish) century here so all is right with the world. Now I have two days to catch you up on, so if you have to stop reading half way through and take a break I would more than understand. Hell, I slept between the two parts ;)

Yesterday, I didn't have anything to do until 1:00pm so I woke up, made my lunch, and headed off to school. Outside, I saw a group of gringos sitting in a protective circle so I knew my friends where here. Spanish was really entertaining because we talked using phrases/slang that were used everyday. It was helpful and funny to see what some of us came up with. After class, I headed with some friends to go to the IFSA-Butler office to work on credits and classes. Basically, I need to make an entirely new schedule which is of course stressing me out. After looking at the schedule of possible classes, I thought it would just be best to wait until I got home, and do it there but, of course, when I got home, the Internet was down and the IFSA office was just about to close. Given this new change in plans, I elected to go out into town with my friend Elizabeth. We walked through the city and bought cards to load minutes onto my phone (I had been running seriously low). The problem was that the automated computer voice spoke a bit too fast for me so I decided to wait until my host mom got home to see if she would help me. Elizabeth and I stopped at a cafe called "Dulceria de la Abuela" which was really good. I'm not a coffee drinker, but that place might convert me, and they had the best croissants (called 'medialunes' here) that I have ever tasted. After, we saw some more of the Mendoza Crew walking the streets, looking for someplace to sit and chill. Elizabeth and I recommended the Dulceria and after talking to them for a bit, I headed home.

I thought the internet would be up by then, but the day was not working that way for me and it wasn't. To add my situation, my phone ran out of minutes the second I crossed the threshold into my house, and to make things worse, no one was home. I was alone with out Internet and a phone in my house for 3 hours. It was terrible! I WAS SO BORED! To pass the time, I watched the television, which actually was a bit entertaining because they had Nickelodeon and Disney Channel in Spanish and it was cool to see some shows that I knew English in Spanish. Finally, my host-mom got home, we ate dinner, and we talked about our house which was situated firmly between 1980 and 1985. I asked her if she could help me load my minutes onto my phone and she told me that, while she had never done it before, she would try. Let's just say that, together, we spent 30 minutes trying to load 30 minutes, to no avail. she told me that she would ask Dan (my host-brother) when he got home from his night classes (around 3am). After this stressful day of no Internet access (a fate worse than death), and losing telephone capability (worser than worse than death) I decided to shower and just get to bed.

**INTERMISSION**

The next morning, I woke up and my phone was on my nightstand. Apparently Dan had figured out what was wrong with it and had fixed it. I walked to the kitchen, and there was a man that I did not recognize just standing there. I looked at him. He looked at me. Then told me something in Spanish (which is still not my 9am language) to which I responded, "Bueno".  Let's pause a moment to reflect on how my choice of words probably could have been an inappropriate response:
"I'm here to rob you blind." "Bueno"
"I'm here to kill you." "Bueno"
"Can you make me some pancakes?" "Bueno"
Neither of these were situations I was prepared for so note to self - A little clarification never hurts... in fact, it's probably best.

Anyway, apparently he was there to do some work for my host mom, so while she was getting everything ready, I sat there, ate my Honey-O's and banana, and stared at him in total silence. Awkward is a universal language. I left the house to go to the IFSA office so that I could continue to try to work out my schedule (because they have Internet there) and did that for about an hour before heading over to campus for my Spanish class which continues to be entertaining and today it was only 2 and 1/2 hours! We are still discussing interesting government events as well as culturally relevant topics which really help our Spanish. After class, I trekked, once again, back to the office to finalize my class changes and send out emails to advisers. Once finally done there, I headed back to my house where there was once again no one, but WE HAD INTERNET PEOPLE!!! I surfed that web like a boss just because I could and was actually afraid to get off of it just in case it went down again. But I realized that staying in my house looking up videos on YouTube that I didn't really care about just because I was afraid of losing access was probably a little sad and not cute at all, so I went out with my friends Elizabeth, Bryan, and Kathy. We went to a little cafe (which beat the hell out of Starbucks everyday and twice on Sunday) and talked about tonight's events. A group wanted to go to a party that was a A$30 cover (roughly US$7 cover) for All-You-Can-Drink, but Kathy and I planned on doing what we are lovingly referring to as "Dry Bar Hopping" followed by a movie. We ruminated on how pathetic our nights sounded compared to everybody else's between sips of cafe con leche. After window shopping for a bit, we went our separate ways making planes to meet up again for our PG-13 activities. I got home, relaxed, and watched television while I waited for my host mom to come home so we could eat dinner. Dinner was fantastic! It was chicken with a vegetable sauce and vegetable bits thrown together as like a stew and it was the best thing with vegetables that I have ever tasted. I may have to seriously reconsider my disdain for green foods if this is how they do it! Now I'm getting ready to go out. I'm going to stop here because a) you've done enough reading for the day and b) I'll probably be getting back late. See y'all tomorrow!