Tova and Alice: November 2005

Alice on top of the Lighthouse in Uruguay

Alice in the Rio

Alice and Michael (a man dressed in Colonial clothing)

In the city Colonia in Uruguay

This is inside the boat we took to Uruguay which is called Buquebus

Felipe, Nico, and Alejandro doing shots of Pisco

The Pisco bottle

Almost December...

Wow, we have been here almost three months now! So here is the weekend. First of all, we have been experiencing some power problems in Buenos Aires. The power totally shut off for the last 30 minutes of our class at the University on Thursday. We just continued in the dark... And then when we went to take the Subway home, it wasn't operating either!!! We had to take the bus, which took forever!! Just so you know, unlike Toronto, none of the buses or trains are air conditioned here, so they are really hot and sweaty the whole time, and they are PACKED ALL DAY! To continue the story... on Friday, we were riding the subway to school, when the train shut down a couple stations from our destination. And when I say shut down, I mean pitch black in the train and the station, like the power entirely cut off, and they don't seem to have any backup here... and we had to walk for about 40 minutes just to get to school.

On Saturday night, we went to an impov comedy show. It was pretty funny, from what we could grasp, though a lot of the more subtle or local humor was certainly lost on us. After, we went out with some friends for Japanese food, which is somewhat of a rare treat here. We were going to go to "Opera Bay", a really amazing club, but when we got there, it was closed (and no one seemed to know the reason). So we ended up going on kind of a double date with these two guys... Ok, here is the full story: One of the waiters from a restaurant that we love and go to a lot came into the gym on Friday while Tova was working out. He came over to say hi and they ended up talking for a few minutes. She thought that he asked her out for coffee and that he said he would meet her at the gym the next day. But on Saturday, when we went to the gym for our usual 11 a.m. aerobics class, he wan't there. However, that night, we were walking by the restaurant where he works at about 1:30 in the morning with a guy that Alice is kind of seeing. So the waiter started talking to us, and kind of invited himself along when we told him we were going to a bar nearby. We ended up staying at the bar until 4:30 in the morning (the bars are open all night here, it was still packed when we left!!). However, this guy was a total fool. He was really into himself and thought he was funny when he wasn't and was kind of rude at times. And he talked about us when he thought we weren't listening, or maybe he thought we would n0t understand or something.... And he spilt his drink all over the table!!! Tova was pretty pissed, and was telling me how much she hated this guy right at the table in front of him because she knew he wouldn't understand... it was kind of funny. So we went home and got a total of two and a half hours of sleep because we had to wake up at 7:30 the next morning to go to Uruguay.

We had to go to Uruguy because we only have a 90 day visa to stay in Argentina and need to leave the country or pay a 100 peso fine. So we took the "Buquebus", essentially a really big boat, to Colonia, which is a small colonial town, and very close to Buenos Aires. The boat ride took about three hours, and the chairs were so comfortable that we were able to make up some of our lost sleep on the journey. We spent the day in Uruguay. We climbed to the top of the old lighthouse and took in the view, had a nice lunch, went to the beach for a few hours, and walked through the old cobblestone streets. It was very relaxing. However, the entire time we were there we never realized that Uruguay is one hour ahead of Buenos Aires. So we arrived (thank God) an hour early to catch the LAST boat back to Buenos Aires, only to be told that it was leaving right at that moment. We had to race to the proper port and fly through customs just to catch it. The Uruguayans thought we was pretty funny... And on the boat back to BA, we met a guy from Montreal who just happened to be sitting beside Tova. He is here with an exchange from McGill and is one of the only Canadians we have met in Buanos Aires so far!! We took the bus home and had a really long night sleep to make up for the night before.

Bye for now...

Alice and Tova

The twins dancing

Lucia singing

Alice shot #4

The Twins

brother and sister shots

Alice, Pablo (Renata's boyfriend), and Tova

Alice shot #3 Joaquim

the weekend

hey all,

We had a pretty quiet weekend here, just some shopping, hanging out with friends. Alice had another cockroach attack in the shower... It is getting extremely hot here, in the low thirties with clear sunny skies, which is wonderful for tanning, but we are sweating!!! We don't have a fan or any air conditioning and it is hot, to say the least, which makes trying to sleep at night really difficult. However, we know we cannot complain, knowing all of you at home are braving the ice and snow as we speak.

On Saturday night, we went to Lucia and Renata's (they are twins) twenty-third birthday bash, which was a lot of fun. People here don't drink anywhere near as much as they do in Canada, and Tova and I decided to shake things up and add a lil Canadian flavour by brining some bottles of vodka etc... and some shot gasses. Well, as you can see from the pictures, people were loving the shot concept, which seemed somewhat new to many of them, and we managed to get half the party drunk (you must understand that these people are total lightweights). One girl was actually crying, we got her so drunk...So we quitely made our exit then and left the emotional damage and empty bottles for everyone else to clean up.

Alice and Tova

Lucia and Renata's Birthday Shots!

Alice, Tova, Mariela and Renata

Alice doing shot #2

Sunbathing on the terrace

So... Here is the week in review.

Tova and I went to see the final screening of the Canadian short dance films for which Judy, Tova's mother's friend (whom Tova babysat for last week), was visiting Argentina. Some of the films were really incredible, and, to our surprize, Ben Kamino (a guy from our highschool) was dancing in one of them! Also, one of the films was shot in front of a restaurant close to my (Alice's) house, and there was a TTC bus in the film!!! just the sight and sound of that big red bus brought tears to our eyes!! It really is the little things, people!!

On Saturday night we went to "Azucar", a salsa club, which was a lot of fun, and brought back many memories from Babaluu!! There were some really amazing salsa dancers there and we were inspired to take salsa lessons, which they offer every evening at the club. So we might start this weekend with a friend of ours. on Sunday we went to dinner at a restaurant around the corner from our hostel with some friends. Hovever, after enjoying our delicious meals, we ooked to thefloor to discover a cockroach crawling around under the table. I mean, the sight of a cockroach is not uncomomon here, but we are more accustomed to seeing them crawling in the garbage or on the streets, notall over our dinner!!! On that note, I guess I should tell you that Tova and I might have bed bugs or something, because we have these weird bites all over our arms and they itch like crazy, but they aren't mosquito bites and we haven't been in the woods and don't remember bring bitten by anything.... more on that mystery later.

Also on Sunday we went with some friends to Puerto Madero, the posh area of the city by the port. We had never been there before, and it really reminded us of Toronto, just very modern with wide roads and tall office buildings (and pricey!!!) On Tuesday we went with our friend Marcos to a hip hop event... there ended up being like 16 people there, including us, and we left after one drink, very dissapointing, but to be expected in a city where hip hop is not mainstream at all. Tova has started working with a neighbour of ours, Masao, in his origami workshop. She really loves it (and she better, because she is being paid about 2 dollars Canadian an hour!! I think the Canadian government needs to step in here and stop this exploitation!!) And finally, last night we went out to the hip hop club which we love, club Arouz!!! We went with our friends, Marcos and Felipe, and Marcos brought his dad, who was visiting from England. It was crazy, I mean his dad is only 39 (Marcos is 20 like us), but his dad looks about 25. It was crazy, and his dad was so much fun and bought us drinks and was hiting on so many young girls and they were loving it. I mean, woud any of you bring your father to Money or any other club??? We have a picture of Marcos and his dad together, and you seriously may not know which is the father and which is the son!!!

Much love to all of you at home, and congratulations to Rowena on her engagement. We are so happy for you and can't wait to be aunties!!!!

Alice and Tova

Whats up chicas!

Who's your Daddy???

Marcos with his bottle of Chondon

Alice being pimpin'

Alice and Marcos' friend

hi T.O.!

So, here we begin. Last Tuesday evening, Tova and I went to a goodbye party for Rhys, a friend of ours from England, who was leaving for Brasil, but had lived in Argentina for several months. The party was held at a bar a few blocks from where we live. It was a lot of fun, and we certainly met some interesting characters there. First, we met this man who is Swiss, but has been living in Buenos Aires for 20 years! He was hilarious: There was this Asian girl (who was actually from the US) at the party with big breasts, and he was saying that she was the only Japanese girl with boobs he had ever seen in his life! (Even though she had JUST said that she was Korean...) and then he said in his broken English: "Asian girls have eyes like lines and tits like....buttons!" I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. That night we were also introduced to Sebastian, a guy from Buenos Aires who has lived all over the world. We ended up having dinner at his house on Saturday night, which was an amazing traditional Argentinian meal with lots of wine.

On Thursday night, Tova and I went out with Marcos, a friend from our Spanish class, to a club in our area. It was amazing!!!! Buenos Aires has the worst music taste in the entire world, and we are usually subjected to a mix of heavy electronica and 80s music whenever we go out. But this place actually played amazing hip hop, with breakdancing, and cheap "happy hour" beers ("happy hour" here usually means before 3 a.m.!!!). The DJ was actually visiting from the US and was X-Zibit's DJ (the famous rapper who also hosts the show "Pimp My Ride!") As you can see from the pictures, we were all definately ballin' that nignt! We are going back this Thursday for sheezie.

On Friday, I (Alice) went to the protest march against George Bush, who was visiting Argentina for a political Summit. Let me tell you it was intense. There were thousands of people there in huge crowds, all screaming and chanting for Bush to "Get Out" or calling him a "Murderer", "Facist" and a "Terrorist". People were spray-painting all over the sidewalks and buildings, which usually featured portraits of Bush as Hitler, or changing the "S" in "Bush" to a Swastika. Some people were setting off loud mini-bombs and others were setting things on fire in the street, which was covered in flyers insulting the American government that had been scattered from buildings throughout the day. The windows of an American bank were totally smashed in and protesters were attacking ten riot police who were guarding a McDonalds, which had become a focus of a lot of anti-American sentiment during the march. (I considered joining the police for a moment to save my beloved Big Macs, but resisted the temptation). There were children, students and even pregnant women marching alongside even the most extreme protestors. All in all it was kept under control, but it was certainly an experience to remember.

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous here, and Tova and I took the opportunity to get a bit of a tan and spent some time outdoors. We were having a late lunch on a patio on Sunday, when this woman came around to everyone seated and asked them if they owned the car that was blocking the entrance to her parking garage. When no one claimed the car, she took out her lipstick and wrote all over the windshield: "parking prohibited etc..." When the guy came back to his car he freaked out! And he couldnt get the lipstick off, while everyone on the patio sat watching him!

On Sunday night we went to a housewarming party for our friend, Florencia, and her boyfriend, Yayo, who have just got an apartment together (she lived in our hostel until a week ago). Yes, her boyfriends name is Yayo, but it is actually pronounced "sha-show" in Argentina, so dont freak out too much, for those of you who know the slang word.

On Monday Alice taught some English and Tova went off to babysitt for a girl from Toronto, who is visiting Buenos Aires with her mother, Judy, who is a friend of Veroniques. In the evening, we went to see the film festival that had brought Judy to Buenos Aires. It was very interesting, with short films on the topic of dance. We shall return to se the final showings on Saturday night.

Lots of love,

Alice and Tova