life in the city

i have determined that i will not die in south america, friendless and broke (and probably fat off empanadas).

well, the money part is going to be okay at this point, at least. ha. i got my debit card in the mail, finally, four weeks after it was sent from seattle. the package it was in contained many, many lovely things. que sopresa! as i opened it at noemi's house, i got so excited that i made her look at everything too. trying to explain in spanish about my house was difficult, ha. "seis chicos en tu casa?" she kept asking with wide eyes. i nodded. "muchos chicos..." she muttered, shaking her head, walking on her tiny legs to the kitchen for some more coca.

even thought i didn't know noemi very well before, i am glad i had the package shipped to her because it gave me an excuse to hang out. at her house, i realized how lonely i really am. i have a few friends here in the city, but its difficult at times. number one, the language barrier. two, they all have work and school. three, getting from here to there is hard and confusing for me, with buses, subways and confusing streets.

yesterday, after visiting the MALBA, i was standing on a street corner, trying to decide if i wanted to go into a cafe or not. i have this great book that jonas lent to me, and i just wanted to sit, sip some cafe, and dive in. while i was standing there, an older guy, maybe 35 or 40, walked up to me and asked me if i needed directions. we got to talking, and i said i wanted to go to the cafe to read. he said, perfect! i was going there myself. then he invited himself to sit with me, and began talking about american authors. if i wasn't so darn lonely for some sort of human interaction (in english, spanish is so exhausting for me, always), i would have been one hundred percent creeped out. but i craved the conversation, so we chilled. after a bit, the waitress hadn't come to our table yet. it was busy, and so the guy asked me if i wanted to take a cafe at his apartment instead. now, don't even worry, there was never a moment's hesitation in my answer. i told him politely, no, i have a rule never to go to a stranger's residence. he nodded, and i felt a little more creeped out. an awkward excuse (i told him i had a boyfriend waiting for me to cook him dinner. not really true) and a chau later, i was on my way home.

after that whole day spent wandering parks, checking out the art at MALBA and getting hit on by creepers, i was really looking forward to saturday night. jonas had secured his friend's huge house in caballito for the birthday party. this house is amazing. double-tall ceilings, mysterious rooms, winding staircase and a huge open main room open to the stars. i dont know what happens when it rains.

well, jonas prepared a pretty kicking dance mix/mash up of music. we arrived a bit before the party started (at midnight) and turned on the beats. after an hour or so, people began arriving. i am so, so shy in groups of spanish-speaking people. i just hate feeling like a special child who doesn't really know how to talk. but hey, i am in the wrong country for this. so i just have to get over it. i gulped a little bit of courage down and attempted to make conversation. a few minutes later, lucci arrived. lucci is an old friend of jonas, and absolutely the craziest party girl ever! haha, she is definitely the ellen of south america. no joke. the goblins will understand that one. anyways, soon, lucci, her friend paz, and i were dancing in the middle of the room, not caring that no one else was partaking of the music. the three of us bonded, and were running around laughing and spilling stuff and etc. in the middle of this, jorge and miguel arrived. haha we all got pretty silly, and a good time was had by all.

so, during my travels, i have determined that certain people i meet are absolutely international versions of my seattle friends. example: lucci, argentine-ellen. amanda, dutch-steph. miguel, argentine-josh. jorge, argentine-nik. shawn, new york-micah dean (ok, not international here). i guess i just miss every one so much that i look for friends who remind me of the seattlites i love.

words / concepts of the day:

MALBA: museo de arte latinoamericano de buenos aires. one of the coolest art museums around. i got to see frida kahlo and marcos lopez, two of my favorites!
buenos aires parks: amazingness. there is a whole section, north or avenida de santa fe, that is full of parks, botanical gardens, zoos and a japenese garden. you can wander for hours and get lost or just forget where you are. also:
the mystery of the cats. amidst the roses, trees and occasional playground are hundreds of cats. yes, cats. steph wallen, you would be horrified. they all live happily, and no one really knows how they all survive on their own, fat and free. i see little piles of kitty kibbles in the parks though, so i imagine that hundreds of happy, crazy, south american cat ladies distribute food for los gatos every night.