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