Day 22 - The Salt Shaker

Today was a really wonderful day. I learned so much today and had the chance to try new things.

My Morning
When I woke up this morning, I was feeling kind of tired, but I didn't want to waste any of my day, so I promptly started my morning. I got up, took a shower, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and had breakfast.

Shower AppreciationI have really enjoyed being able to take pressurized showers multiple days in a row. It was also nice to be able to utilize space without having to worry about cleaning and putting away all my stuff since I was living in one place with the same people for a period of time. I have definitely enjoyed being able to root for a couple days, no matter how short of time the days added up to. It is something I have come to appreciate.

The Fruit
My fruit salad was so delicious. About two days ago I paid 20 pesos for four bananas, two apples, two plums, two lemons, and two pears. That comes out to about US$7. The fruit was so fresh too. Argentina has the best pears. I am most certainly going to miss the fruit stands here. I am going to miss the markets so bad too. I love them. A good shower, clean cloths, and a fresh fruit salad made for a good start to my busy, but good day.

My Date with Kate
By 12:30pm Kate and I were on our way to Florida St. to do some shopping and be a part of the ever so busy center of Buenos Aires. First thing we did was go see the pink house. It is like the white house. The president works there. She does not live there though. She has a home in the suburbs. Following a few pictures of the old buildings we headed down to Florida St. I went and did some shopping and Kate went to a cafe where she relaxed, watched the people walk by/the life of Florida St., drank her beer, and enjoyed some time to herself. Once they leave Buenos Aires tomorrow there will not be a lot of time in which the girls will have to themselves. My shopping experience consisted of buying two pair of pants, a jean jacket, and a duffle bag, nothing too exciting. Shopping here can actually be quite discouraging because everyone is so skinny. It is hard to find cloths that will fit.

At about 3:30pm we headed to the subway then back to the apartment. I was going to take a siesta, an afternoon nap, but decided against it because I had taken one yesterday and it made me tired the rest of the day. I did not figure I would be out too late tonight so I did not find one to be too important, turned out I was wrong. Since I decided against the siesta I made my way to the mall where I bought a new pair of earrings for our dinner party tonight. Then I came back and used the computer to do some travel planning for my trip to Kotzebue with Hunter then Homer in a month.

The Salt Shaker
After me and the girls were all ready we headed off to our house dinner party. The girls were in their black dresses, Courtney wearing stilettos and Lisa and Kate in their ballet flats. I was in my white shirt, new jeans, new black high heeled leather boots, new earrings and the most makeup I have ever worn in my life (Courtney put on my makeup) and we were off.

What we were going to was a dinner prepared by some folks at their house. I think their website is saltshaker.net or something of that sort. It is these two guys, one from MI and one from I am not sure where, who cook dinner twice a week for those interested.

At the dinner were a couple from New Hampshire, originally Costa Rica, an Argentine, a girl from CA, Lisa, a girl from NY, Chris, her fiancé from Saskatchewan, Ryan, two people from China and us four girls. We had a great meal. Each meal was served with a different type of wine. Of the five glasses I only liked and drank three. All of the food was pretty darn good. It was quite elaborate though, so I am not even going to try and explain what the courses were.

Also while we were there, there was a lady from the local newspaper. She was writing a little article about the house dinners for the paper. We are going to watch the paper to see if Sunday or Monday one of the pictures of us eating is in it. If there is I will have to pick up some copies since I will be the only one in Buenos Aires.

Our Night Life
Following dinner we were supposed to go to this private party at some club. Courtney's old roommate Lacey's boyfriend Juelo's friend was having a birthday party or something. We ended up having a change of plans so we went to another bar instead.

Taxi Driver – The One Who Did Not Like Americans
On our way to the bar we caught a cab. The cab driver, it turns out, hates people from the US. When we got in Courtney asked him how he was and he said something along the lines of good until you got in my cab. Courtney asked him if he had a problem with people coming to Argentina and he said he does not have a problem with people from Europe or Central America. His reasoning was because we come here and take advantage of the economy since our dollar is worth so much more then theirs. To calm things down Courtney changed the subject.

This really irritated me. I think if you are going to have an issue with something you should have a legitimate argument. This man did not have one. When we were sitting down at the bar Courtney attempted to explain it to me. At first her explanations were going no where until she explained to me how many Americans come here with the mantality of I am better then you. They do not attempt to learn the language. They are here because it is a cheap place to go and to take advantage of the economy. One of the explanations she gave me was about how most people ask me if I am from Europe. They think I am because I attempt to communicate with them in Spanish and I do not treat them like I am better then them. That is the reputation Europeans have developed in Argentina whereas people from the US have developed this “I am better then you” reputation. Honestly, I can see how that could be. It made a lot of sense after she put it like that and in the end I was not upset with the cab driver anymore. I can think of a few people I know who would fit perfectly in the category people from the US are put into. The majority of them are spoiled people who I myself even limit my time with. If I were that man I probably would have the same perspective, but probably would not have been so forth right about it. I think Courtney's experiences from traveling have taught her a lot which gives her a very good understanding quality, definitely not a bad thing.

We had a good time at the bar. We did not stay too late. While we were there, there was this guy who kept trying to teach us how to salsa dance. I do not know what his deal was. There was not even any music.