Today

ok... So we felt the need to make an entry today as we have a lot of news to tell everyone and we couldn't wait until the weekend!!!

So the first item of news is that we got a job!! We both work for a software company called "Panda", which is based out of Spain and is trying to expand to North America. Our job is to call people in the US and Canada and get them to fill out a survey. We get a whopping 5 pesos per survey (6 if we complete 10 surveys in a shift, which is four hours). And, believe us, this is harder to do than it seems and some people are sooo rude. We have worked for the last 2 days, and are enjoying it. We are making almost nothing by North American standards, but this is decent pay for Argentina and we will take work where we can get it. So we are working there 20 hours a week!!

Today classes started for our final level of Spanish at the University of Buenos Aires. However, as we approached the University this afternoon, we realized that a large section of the street was blocked off with huge barracades manned by about 20 policeman with riot gear. This is actually rather common here, people protest something everyday and the police come, but it is usually not a huge problem, so we didn't think to much of it. But then it became incredibly noisy with the sound of drum beats and shouting all around us and we could see a lot of banners and signs in the distance coming toward us. We ducked into a cafe across the street for something to drink as it was really hot and we suspected that there wouldn't be any classes anyway, as no one could get near the building. But just as we went into the cafe, the protesters (who were some sort of communist rebels with masks and shirts tied around their faces... very scary looking!!!) somehow came around the police barrier and surrounded the cafe. All the people in the street freaked out and ran into the cafe, so the cafe was jam packed. Then the owners of the cafe got scared that the rebels were going to smash the windows of the building (which is pretty common), so they lowered the sheet metal security coverings over the windows and doors. This meant that no one could come in or get out of the cafe, and they kept everyone in there for about 10 minutes until they felt it was safe. (It was really funny because the news was on in the cafe and everyone was watching it to find out what was going on, but they were covering another protest in another part of the country!!) Then the waiters started letting people out through this small gap in the door, and Tova and I managed to duck out and escape through the demonstration. Then we meet up with some friends from our class who were hanging around a few blocks away. We went for coffe and now we are just waiting for our shift to start at the call centre, which is about five minutes from here.

So it has been an exciting day so far, who knows how much more exciting it will get!!

Tova and Alice