Dirty Vegas

"Days go by and still..."

Here is a brief account of the last few days.

Monday

Monday morning I went to Veronica's office (that's the Rotary member in charge of the Youth Exchange) who told me that I was moving houses that afternoon. I knew that I had to move soon, but the suddenness of it took me by surprise. I'd been living with the Colomberos for almost five, so to clean out my room and pack my things felt almost like leaving home a second time. Of course, this time I get to see my "family" whenever I want because even though my new host family lives on the other side of town, that's only about six blocks.

Tuesday was a fantastic day. Here's basically how my inauguration day went.

I had to create a Powerpoint presentation for my Tuesday night English class, and internet is necessary for the pictures and some information that I don't know off the top of my head. My new host family (who I'll get to in just a minute if you will aguanta, por favor) has a shoddy connection so I took my laptop to the bus terminal with wifi.

I first went to the New York Times website for their live coverage of election day activities, but even at the fancy bus terminal, the internet is not so fast. The bus drivers in the terminal were flipping between the news and a talk show and then eventually, when the Republican cabal started walking in (looking like the end of a bad political thriller), I grabbed the remote, turned up the volume and asked the attendant to turn off the radio. Essentially: It's Barama time. Shush.

Obama's speech was very mediocre in Spanish which made me a little bit disappointed. Fortunately, Malia's picture-taking was so hilarious I couldn't really pay much attention to anything else. Then I got to read the speech online in English and it was, as always, moving, inspirational, intelligent, etc. So I was very happy to be American and ready to continue working on my presentation about the American political system.

In spite of the Inauguration Day fervor, Tuesday's class was a let down. A few students were on vacation, one was sick (probably a bad case of Obama fever), and a few more simply forgot. That left only two. The two who came, however, are two of the most advanced English-speakers so we were able to have a more in-depth talk about Argentinean and American politics in English (and Spanish). One of the girls told me she was jealous of how much we learn about government and politics in school and that she feels embarrassed to know so little about her own country. Like almost every other Argentinean I've talked to, she is very much against Cristina Fernandez Kirchner's policies, but doesn't know enough about the government to actively take a stand for a viable opposition. In Argentina, there's the Peronist party, and then about 5 other opposing parties who end up taking away votes from each other. The conversation put the importance of voter education in a new light for me - but this is a simple life update and I don't want to get too philosophical or political. In short, the class was informal but interesting.

Later that evening I rode my bici (I have a bike now!) to Nadia's house to celebrate her birthday. It was a lovely night with mis amigos, the usual suspects (Fede, Franco, Migue, Ezequiel, Roci, Yami, Luisi, Sofy and Nadia), haciendo boludeces in the plaza until the early hours of morning.

Today we all gathered at Fede's pool, tomando terere and mesitas. Later I had dinner with my new host family, followed by a bit of reading and a bike ride to my old host family to say hi to Norma, and now I am here, updating all you yanquis on my life.

About my new host family: the first thing I noticed about the family is that they live on a dirt road. Dirt roads now seem completely normal - both Nadia and Yami live on dirt roads and it didn't strike me as anything odd. But putting myself back to my pre August 2008 self, dirt roads couldnt seem more foreign. While one might expect to find only shacks and shanties there, my host family lives in a very pretty, new home. My host family is part of the Cuneo family which owns the main factory in San Vicente. My host "father," Muneo, works in a laboratory and my host "mother," Mariela, is a veterinarian. I put these words in quotations because they are both only in their mid-thirties and childless (except for my host father's son from a previous marriage in Buenos Aires). This means I have the house to myself from 8 AM until 5 PM, except for lunch at noon. It's a completely different environment from the Colomberos, where everyone was rushing in and out at - literally - all hours of the day and night. The other member of the family is a blue-eyed, brown-, gray-, and black-haired cat named Kiki who I'm starting to like. She reminds me of Calvin, my piano teacher's cat. The only other felines I know are Scooter and Mrs. Tibbles and those are, at best, reserved, and at worst, straight-up MEAN creatures. Kiki and Calvin are both cool cats who still like to snuggle. Another perk to the Cuneo household is Muneo's guitar. I have big plans on adding to my knowledge of three chords. And of becoming a trendy folk singer.

That is everything of importance in my life since I last posted (I think). I promise to update more frequently now that I'm settled in my new house. But por ahora...

Paz y Amor,
La Pirata