Finally...A New Entry

Okay, here it is for all of you who have been asking us over and over when the next entry is coming (....Melina!!). I will begin with last Monday evening, when we went out for dinner with Kathy, Tova's mother's friend who was visiting Buenos Aires. We chatted about Argentina and everything we had missed in Toronto in the three-and-a-half months we have been gone, which was really nice.

On Thursday we went to the Good Charlotte (they are a popular American rock band) concert/interview at the Much Music building in Buenos Aires (yes, they have their own version of Much Music here!). The reason we went was because of a connection we made about a month ago with Lucas, a man who works for the station. We met him while he was covering the Canadian section of the short dance film festival that we attended. He emailed us to offer us places on the guest list and we accepted the opportunity. First of all, we were 45 minutes late for the concert because we didn't realize how long it would take to get there!! It literally took us an hour and a half by bus, which is about ten times as long as we have ever been on any bus in this city. It was way out in what I suppose you would call the suburbs of Buenos Aires (though here, they are far from the wealthy, manicured suburbs of Canada... it actually gets more rundown and, in some areas, dangerous, as you leave the inner city). It should only really have taken us an hour to get there, but as we were about to cross the train tracks, a train came along. After it had left, the bars that come down to stop traffic from crossing never rose, and everyone was stuck for about half-an-hour. It was ridiculous..... We had to listen to half-an-hour straight of nonstop honking from about 50 cars...as if honking would have made any difference to the situation since we couldn't move!!! And, at one point, cars, buses and even huge trucks decided to manouver around the bars, which just caused more confusion and chaos!! And motorcyclists started riding on the sidewalk to get around the traffic and people waking on the sidewalks neary had a fit... one man actually did have a fit!!! But we eventually got to the concert safe and sound!!! It was a small venue, but the fans were absolutely crazy!!! They knew ALL the words, even though they were in English, and they were all screaming, pushing and crying. Tova and I sat at the back near to the mothers who were waiting for the show to end so that they could take the children home. Seriosly, most of these fans were between the ages of twelve and fifteen... we felt just a little old. And, perhap the funniest part were the signs that these girls were holding up for the band to see: "We LOVES Joel!" and "MARRIED me Billy". Hahahaha... We really wanted to help them out with those!!!

The bus trip back from the concert is another story altogether.... When we got on the bus it was nearly empty, and the driver asked us where we were from as soon as he heard our accents (you have to tell the driver when you get onto the bus how far you are going so he can punch in the correct amount into the machine that you insert your money into... very different system). We said we were from Canada and basicaly he didn't stop talking from there on, and he wouldn't let us pay for the bus!!! In the hour or so that it took to get back home he told us about his travels all around the world, and how he can speak Chinese (but he can't speak English...) At one point he actually stopped the bus and opened the door when he saw some random Chinese guy standing on the street, just so he could speak to him in Chinese for us!!! And the guy wasn't even waiting for a bus!!! On top of that, the driver nearly crashed the bus about three times because he wasn't looking forward at the road, but kept turing back to talk to us. And we only understood about half of what he was saying because he was speaking so fast and rather quietly, and because half the time he was facing away from us, driving. Other people on the bus were pretty mad at us becuse it was the slowest bus ride EVER!!!

That night we went back to Club Araoz, where we get our weekely dose of hip hop. We are becoming friends with some of the DJs and organizers there, wich is really exciting. We met this really cool guy, Santiago. He's from Puerto Rico and he organizes many of the hip hop and reggaeton events here. We are gong to his birthday party at a club tommorow night, which we are really looking forward to!!

On a rather sad note, Luz, a good friend of ours, moved out of the hostel this week, but we will be staying in contact with her until she leaves for Australia for a year this January. Also, our friend Bjorn from Sweden, who was one of our first friends we made here, went back home a few das ago!!

To continue... On Friday night we went out to see a Bosa Nova band at a bar with some friends and on Saturday we went to Tigre, a small town just outside of Buenos Aires with our friend Mati (who we met through Hilel and spent Rosh Hashana with a few months ago). Tigre is about a thirty-minute train ride outside of Buenos Aires... but it is right on the river and is kind of the country spot, like Wasaga or the Hamptons, for wealthy Porteños (people who live in BA). We weren't sure what we were going to do there for the day, but Mati had a plan. We ended up going to this Jewish country club that his friends are all part of. Let me tell you this country club was INCREDIBLE. There were tons of tennis courts, swimming pools, rowboats, kayaks, a gymnasium and more!!! It is such a contrast from the poverty of most of Buenos Aires. Basically all the youths of the club were having a party/gathering out on an island that the country club owns, which is about 20 minutes ride by rowboat down the river. The island was gorgeous with a playground, manicured lawns, a beach, a soccer field, immaculate bathrooms with toilet paper (really something we cherish here) and a huge barbeque, where we cooked burgers for lunch. After lunch we started to play some games, but the sky got realy dark and it started to POUR!!! And it didn't stop for hours. The guys were all playing a football game and didn't want to stop and the girls were just trying to stay dry... but it was just too wet and we all got soaked from head to toe. Several hours later we had to come back by rowboat in the pouring rain (it never let up) with garbage bags over us... it was a pretty funny sight!! We eventually made it back to our hostel and dried off before meeting our friend Lucia to see the movie "Everything is Illuminated", which was really good (Lucia cried) and we would recommend it to everyone!!

On Sunday we went down to "Puerto Madero", the port of Buenos Aires, where you can walk along the boardwalk and go into galleries and see art exhibits, which was nice. And on Monday we went to the Canadian Embassy to let them know that we are in the country.... finally!! It was funny, you sign your name, and other info in a book to let the Canadian Government know you are here. We noticed when we signed it that almost everyone who had signed were just staying in Argentina for a week or even a few days, yet had still let the Embassy know they were here... and we have already been here for over three months and said nothing!!! Ooops!! We also registered to vote for the upcoming January election at home, and let me say to eveyone reading this, if WE are voting all the way from Buenos Aires, you all had better be voting when all YOU have to do is walk down the street!!

In the evening we watched "Law and Order" on TV for the first time since we got here, which was a pretty momumental event for us, seeing as we are the biggest fans possibly in the world, of the show!!! And, what's even more exciting is that we will be getting a TV to put in our room from the owner of our hostel tommorow... which means even more "Law and Order"!! We cant wait!!!

Yesterday we had our Spanish exams at the University of Buenos Aires. We had to do an oral and a written exam, but both went really well.... we get our marks back tomorrow. Also, we went back to the Much Music building to see the concert of "Catupeku Machu", a realy popular Argentinian rock band. We invited our friend Mati to come along, as he is a huge fan, and it really was a lot of fun. We liked the music, and Mati is going to burn us a CD to listen to. It looks like we are going to be seeing a lot of concerts thanks to Lucas!!!

Well, that is it for now. It has been quite a week I guess. Love to you all.

Alice and Tova