Buen dia :)

Another week has passed from my last post. I have opened this page several times to start writing but for some reason the inspiration has not come to me, maybe because it was too hot :) Now that the weather is showing more mercy to an Estonian who is not used to 30 degrees I will write again.
Last Friday I moved in to the apartment where I will stay for a while. It is quite nice, my room has a balcony and the owner is very friendly and nice but if I plan to stay longer it would be more convenient to rent something where the owner doesn't live in :p

So far, living in Argentina has not caused any major problems. Not considering the fact that I got ripped of by a taxi driver the other night (the good-old trick of oh-I-have-no-change-and-then-I-forget-to-give-you-the-100-peso-bill-back) and it wasn't because I am a girl who is obviously not local because I had an Argentinean with me, but simply because the driver was a bastard from hell (I hope he chokes on that money!!!). But that's just money, right :)

Another thing that forces me to use all my efforts in order not to get angry every time is ... the perception of time and understanding of agreements. In most cases, "see you in 10 minutes" becomes, if you are lucky, "see you in 1 hour". And then I feel like a hysterical control freak when I start sending messages after 30 minutes. But the main thing is to understand that nobody is being late just to make you wait or anything. It is just the way it is. As it is with the agreements, if someone says "lets go there on wednesday" and you book you wednesday for that thing and for that person... the probability is quite high that it might not happen. It's even higher a probability that the person who "stands you up" meets you the next day with the smiliest smile ever and really doesn't think there is anything wrong. And as some of you might have experienced ... I am not the best person to handle broken promises :D But with time, I think I can get used to it... although I cannot promise that I can take up the habit of being late for one hour. However, I think I can consider myself pretty lucky because most of my friends are pretty good with time so I don't have to suffer too much :D

As to my skills of the Spanish language... the last days I have had a sort of a block, so I cannot really speak in Spanish and immediately switch to English as soon as I can. It is funny that, there are moments when I think "woooow, Im pretty good at this!" and then I get a major blow to my confidence... which usually happens when I go to buy something. Then the conversation usually looks like that:

On the way to the kiosk I practice in my head "hola, do you have this or that?"

Kaidi: Hola! Do you have this or that?

Salesperson: 256 words per second?

Kaidi blushing and thinking: ok, that was obviously a question.

Kaidi: What?

Salesperson: 246 words per second?!

Kaidi: DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH???

Salesperson: Nonononono.

Kaidi puzzled.

But funny enough, I always manage to get the thing that I need along with the feeling of "I will never ever speak spanish again". But welll... it will come to me and one day I will speak castellano like an Argentina =)

Last week Buenos Aires saw some major thunder storms. I realized something is off when I heard the rain from my hotel window and like two minutes after the rain started... significantly increased amount of traffic accident sounds and car horns. Later I learned that that day more than half of the normal amount of rain for february had fallen down in just some hours. Some streets turned in oceans, houses were filled with water and some neighborhoods lost electricity which all lead to an obvious Argentinean solution for any problem... people expressing their opinion on the street. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen in Estonia if let's say half of Mustamäe was flooded and without electricity.... :) I doubt anyone would go and start shouting and making fires on the street. Here nobody gets surprised if there is some angry gathering on the street. For me, it still is a bit scary, even after seeing stuff happen in Tallinn last April.

Last Saturday I went to a party of someone's friend's sister's graduation (or something like that). Here it is very popular to rent a place and then have your party with your friends and innumerable amount of people you don't really know. The bar works as a normal bar, only that you can more or less choose the people who are there :) It was a great party and I learned to dance cuarteto (I am so proud of myself, although it still needs practicing :D) and the entire evening I was wondering if they are going to play any songs that I know. And in the end they did, but not a single song in English! Not a singe Rihanna, Beyonce or whatever song. And it was really really cool. People seemed to know and loove almost every song, me, Jaago and Tanja (Jaago's Belgian friend) were probably the only freaks that didn't sing along :D After the party came the obvious, which happens in all countries. You go to eat junk. My friend Gonzo thought it was about time I ate a pancho (also known as hot dog). I am afraid to think what was in there, it had gazillion different things and it was slightly sprinkled with french fries featuring all the most important food groups - fat, fat and more fat. But it was disgustingly delicious :D

This week I will be getting more into my work rythm, you have to live on something, right? :D It's going to be quite difficult, since I am used to working in the mornings but due to the 4-hour time difference I would have to wake up extremely early. =) But everything can be arranged =)

Gotta run to the laundry now (I just love when people wash my clothes for me for just 30 EEK :D)


Besos!