Living Just enough for the Citaaaayy
Well I got through my first week, and I´m still alive…but personal hygiene habits may have been killed off during in the process. The water heater in my apartment has been broken since I moved in, and it just got replaced today. Have you taken a cold, I mean totally bone-jarring, ice-cold shower in awhile? Well, it´s not much fun at all. The first night, Sunday, I gritted it out. The second night, I had to psych myself up for it. And by the third night, well…let´s just say I´ll be taking an extra-long one tonight, just so no one makes the mistake of thinking I just got off tour with Phish (RIP).
The above is a picture of the Avenida 9 de Julio - I won´t bother translating it, if you don´t understand what it means, I´m ashamed to know you so please stop reading my blog. Anyway, this street, which runs North-South through the city, is considered the biggest street in the world, even bigger than Champs de Elysees. I live about 2 blocks east of it, and in the business district. Whereas it´s really crowded and bustling during the day, at night the area is pretty much a ghost town. Most of the nightlife in the city isn´t based there, so it´s not the best location, but it is 4 blocks away from my school. Quite convenient…but I´m definitely looking for better housing for next month. For all I know, I could be doing the ¨apartment shuffle¨(as opposed to the Oki Doki or Truffle Shuffles, respectively) all year. Much to my surprise, school is REALLY intense. I mean, basically it´s 7 hours a day of work, and at night you need to develop lessons plans. I think I´m learning two things from this whole experience: 1) teaching is alot more work than just telling kids they can have naptime, and 2) thank G-d I didn´t go to any school this year that would require a time committment of alot more than 7 hours a day for 4 weeks…because it SUCKS to be back.
Socially, everything is still awesome. I´ve been meeting so many cool people from all over the world, and pretty much gone out with different people every night. Considering dinner starts at 110-11ish here, an early night like the last will have you in bed by 3 or so. Also, my Spanish is improving alot. Fortunately I keep finding myself in sticky situations, like being utterly lost in the city with no money for cab fare, so my spanish is constantly being forced to improve. The thing is, the spanish in this country is so different than spanish in Spain or even the spanish you learn in class. For one, every ¨ll¨or ¨y¨is pronounced like ¨zha,¨ as in zsa-zsa-gabor. Not to mention, everyone may think I speak fast - ha. I really believe every conversation here is a contest to see who can break the world record for words spoken in a minute. Going back to the social thing, I´ve been hanging out alot with locals, called ¨porteños¨ alot. My friend Adolfo actually invited me over to his house next week for that Asado, which should be very exciting. Also, one of my students who is a stockbroker invited me to the Buenos Aires stock exchange for a tour next week. I´ll bet it´s a tad different than the NYSE.
I´l try to end these postings with random observations or musings. There´s alot of ifs, alot of what´s, and definitely alot of what have you´s.
- According to official figures, I think the poverty rate in the country is around 40 % (since the 2001 economic collapse). This is interesting on two fronts: 1) whenever I go to the mall to withdrawal money, it seems like the designer stores are all packed, and 2) everywhere you look, there are people sifting through trash to find whatever thet can salvage. This practice is so widespread there´s even a name for these people: the cartoneros. Nice area or bad, you can´t escape them, or, oftentimes, their kids either. It´s really sad.
-On a personal note, I always feel a little uncomfortable whenever I´m visibly walking around with groceries or food. I mean the only time I went food shopping I spent probably 15 pesos (about 5 dollars), and it was mostly toiletries…but I still can´t help but feel like I´m being rude, parading my goodies around while so many people are sifting through trash. Today I brought home a pizza from school, it cost 4.5 pesos - about $1.75 US - and some guy tried to get a slice from me. I felt like I might as well be walking home naked…the way he was staring at me. It´s really sad.
-Didn´t mean to put a damper on things, but that´s reality after a devastating economic collapse. Otherwise, every thing is fantastico and I´m having the time of my life. And, on the flip side, I can get empanadas delivered (1.20 Argentine each) with no minimum - that´s about 40 cents worth of food delivered for free!
Gotta head out, the owner of the internet cafe is about to throw me out…Anyway, take care.
Hasta la vista, baby
Adam
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires
September 17th, 2005 at 2:45 pm
See, I would have thought living in Baltimore county would have prepared you for the destitution in Buenos Aires. One time I even saw someone driving a 1994 Honda CR-V through the streets of Pikesville. How do you feel about parading your “goodies”, i.e. a 2003 Toyota Avalon, in this case? Noooo, you didn’t give it a second thought, did you? This trip will be good for you as it will teach you the value of a dollar/peso, and a half eaten pizza.
September 19th, 2005 at 8:28 am
Don´t knock the CRV - someone was telling me just the other day that they are ¨really expensive¨ down here…like the equivalent to $50,000 USD. So there.
September 19th, 2005 at 8:40 am
Ok, so here’s the deal. I’ve arranged for a mob boss to fund a little project of ours. I’m sending you $100,000 USD, and I want two of those super duper Argentinian CR-V’s. All those years of Mrs. Teplitzky driving them have wet my appetite for the compact little devils. I’d like one in metallic mint green, a white convertible top preferably using Michelin Model XGV tires, size 75-R-14 (what movie?). The other one can simply be in a Burberry pattern, if not that, then Chanel. See what you can work on while I try and stop The Man, which is now a movie out here starring Samuel L. Jackson and the unparalleled, always memorable, Oscar nominated, Eugene Levy (Scott and I are planning a nice statue in his honor in the middle of St. Charles St- think it’ll fly?).
Holla
September 19th, 2005 at 10:17 am
Just make sure you stay in school so you don’t have to start dumpster diving like the bums in Ann Arbor….
On another note, I saw Lt. Daniels (from our favorite show the Wire) at Runyon Canyon Park yesterday! It was my first “star” sighting so, needless to say, I was pretty excited. Although, I should have asked him where I can get some spider bags out here…
September 20th, 2005 at 11:40 am
shwag youre an idiot because there is no such thing as a 1994 honda cr-v. i would like to personally thank alex parkhomenko for setting a new high on the unintentional comedy scale with his response to your joke about going to kazakhstan which read “Visiting Kazakhstan is easy: any route to Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Moscow and you’ll get on an Air Astana plane to Alamty or Astana” haahhaaaaaaaaa. atta boy alex. he will face off for the unintentional comedy title of 2005 with this kid that i saw at the baseball game on saturday who had some serious issues with his ice cream. i cant even describe the amount of chocolate that ended up on this kids face – places on his face that weren’t even near his mouth. unfreakinbelievable! he looked like cartman at the end of the passion of the jew episode when mel gibson spray-craps all over his face. you had to see it to really understand the extent of it. and the funiest part about it was that the kid was like 14, definitely old enough to understand the concept of putting your food in your mouth. once he stood up and cheered for a hit, which sounds pretty normal, but he then awkwardly sat back down when he realized that he was cheering for the WRONG TEAM. i mean, my mom doesn’t pay attention at all at the games but at least she wasnt rooting for the devil rays. then he jokingly asked the beer guy for a beer, but then got shot down by my man clancy, who said what are you like 12. he was probably just bitter because he thought that the kid was trying to perform a blackface routine. highest of high comedy. then clancy said that he wasn’t going to be working at the game the next day because after 8 straight seasons of losing baseball he just wants to watch the ravens. that ended up being more embarrassing than anything the orioles have done in the last 8 years. “if you want it fancy, you gotta get it from clancy.” anyway, everything is pretty much the same here except the whole city is depressed about the ravens. i cant even think about football without crying. plus i’m offended that you left the ickey woods shuffle out of your list of shuffles. how dare you, rosen, how dare you! also could you maybe not end all of your paragraphs about your observations with “it’s really sad,” its really sad. this posting is waaayyyy too long because i just realized that i managed to talk about every aspect of my life (the orioles, the ravens, south park, and alex parkhomenko) without actually saying anything of consequence. later.
“always and forever,”
seth
September 20th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
what the hell happened and who is this Seth character? Hes writing some hilarious shit without using the internet (Keith must be typing for him). Im glad Im not in Baltimore right now with the way we are playing but at least I get to see pissed off White Sox fans who cant believe they are on the verge of being overtaken by the fing Indians.
Yo, new season of Curb in less than a week. The first episode is entitled “The Larry David Sandwich” which I believe is a #86 at Amer’s although it takes 35 minutes to make and costs 4X what it should.
Speaking of which, we better turn this season around. The moron Notre Dame fans at work were going nuts after they beat us, and now the even bigger moron Michigan State fans are going nuts cause they beat ND and think they are going to destroy Michigan. It better not happen. if it does im taking the first one way ticket to Buenos Aires, and Ill have the CRV shipped and we can sell it.
Anyway, im out…season 3 of the wire is on demand…gotta catch up before the new season in 2006, ya heeeeeeeard…
September 21st, 2005 at 4:48 pm
First off…damn. I´m glad to see they keep all you busy at work. Doesn´t having 5 lines on your business card (phone, direct phone, cell, fax, e-mail) imply that you actually do something all day, Seth? Anyway, Michigan and the Ravens are a huge dissapointment…but I´m gonna try to catch a game this weekend if I can, anyway. Wish me luck.
September 21st, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Let me start by saying how sincerely proud we are of Seth Franz and his big move into the Age of Information. Using this thing called the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T will surely broaden your horizons. I think I speak on behalf of everyone in the continental United States, even Randalstown, when I say that seeing you put coherent words together in things called SENTENCES really is a shocker (and i’m not talking about P.E. for American Sign Language).
Adam, spread the word in Buenos Aires that Seth’s degree from Wisconsin might not just be warranted because of the large amounts of money Keith forked out, but rather due to the fact that his deviant son received an education. CONGRATS and Mazel Tov.
On a more serious note, the CR-V, while perhaps not in production in 1994, was certainly a thought in the minds of Toyota executives. Very similar to the conception plan for Brandon Sortman- Mr. and Mrs. Sortman might not have wanted something of his caliber coming from their loins, but the thought of a productive son was there.
With regards to work, the lines with contact information you spoke about in your previous posting are simply ways you can get in touch with us to make sure we are being as inefficient and unproductive as possible.
In conclusion, and in the wise words of Sef, “If you want it fancy, ya gotta get it from Clancy.”
Shwag
November 8th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
Adam I cannot believe that the Neo-Nazis have not tied you to a banana tree and beat you. I dont have much time but will write later. I found this site by googling my own name in and this site came up. How ridiculous. I just farted and there are still tears coming out of my eyes.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:45 am
I’m glad to see that your eyes are being opened to a whole new world of poverty, economic collapse on a 3rd world scale, loose women at every turn, and dumpster divers- sounds like the inner Sortman household come to think of it. No I’m giving myself too much credit, it sounds more like the Rosenswag household. How could we forget about “Rambunctious Rena” - the woman that ravaged my virgin body of its innocence when I was still a fetus in Suzanne’s womb. And the movie is My Cousin Vinny.
No time left- girlfriend needs me to survive another day.
ciao,
Brandon