Peninsula Valdes, Blonde, Dating

First things first. You have to meet more of my friends. I need to bring these ladies to Chicago, you guys would love them.

Meet Tara. Tara is a Canadian bar tender whose interests include politics, stray animals, and travel. She manages to find something funny in every situation she encounters and is an excellent story teller.



Meet Cassi. Cassi is a spunky red-head from Canada. This jack of all trades has some expertise in almost any topic that comes up for discussion. She's smart, articulate and maintains a laid back attitude.



Penguins, and whales, and dolphins, oh my!: Our long weekend was beyond amazing. After a 20 hour bus ride Tara, Cassi, Leah, Ann, and I hit Puerto Madryn in Patagonia (Southern Argentina.) The next day we went toured Peninsula Valdes and in one day I saw southern right whales, magenallanic penguins, flamingos, elephant seals, llamas, and other crazy wildlife. I actually saw an elephant seal give birth in the wild. Incredible. Gross. But incredible.

Saturday night we figured we had seen most of Penninsula Valdes so we thought why not move on to another city. I suggested Bailoche which is clear across the country and everyone was in. We got dropped off at the best station and started looking for ways to get to Bariloche and back to Córdoba in time for out midterm on Tuesday. After 40 mintunes of running all over the bus station, canceling and re-booking bus and plane tickets we decided against the idea and opted to explore areas that are a bit closer. Not to worry, I'll probably go to Bariloche in November.

Sunday we just chilled out in Puerto Madryn and studied for exams most of the day. When we needed a break we walked to the shore and hung out on the pier. Such a great afternoon. The next day we went to Puerto Tombo to see one of the largest colonies of penguins in the world, over one million penguins! We hung out with the tuxedos for half the day and then went back out on the water to see cameron's dolphins. I have never seen anything swim so fast or jump so high. Fue re cool. One of the best weekends of my life. These girls we're great travel buddies, we had a million laughs. Check out the video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zidpgWnSwI8

So Tuesday is the day of our history exam and we wake up and go the airport in Trelew. The exam is at 2PM and our flight lands in Córdoba at 1:50. Without our luggage. And I lost my cell phone somewhere in flight. Talk about stress. So after dealing with our luggage thing we hop in a cab and head straight to school. We tell the cab driver our problem and he starts swerving through traffic and running red-lights to get us to the university faster. Scariest car ride of my life. We tip him the guy and sprint into the exam room 40 minutes late. The three of us sit down and are among the first to finish because we had been studying together all weekend. Aced it.

My Spanish exam was on Thursday and that was another huge source of stress. We have the worst Spanish prof on the planet and I haven't learned anything in the class all semester. So the night before the exam I had to teach myself half a semester's worth of Spanish. Not fun. But I think I did alright. Doing well on these exams is really important to me because if I ace these midterms and the exams at the end of the semester I don't have to take finals, meaning that I have an extra week to travel. So we'll see. I get my grades this week.

This weekend we a nice break. We absolutely nothing, which was all I wanted after midterms.

Another incident that reinforces my belief that these things happen when you least expect them: So two posts ago I wrote, "I need to get excited about something, or someone...Speaking of which, where is this incredible Latin lover that everyone told me I'd meet?" Well within four hours of posting that, I was asked on a date. Funny how life works.

Dating here is so different. Here I'm completely clueless. In the states, there are many phases to dating, there's a lot that builds up to it. Weeks of very subtle flirting, playing with each other's heads, the occasional eye contact that lasts for a moment too long, text messages, laughing at each other's jokes, it's all an art really. This period of flirt and frustration is commonly referred to as "the chase." And why do we put ourselves through this? Quite simply, it's cause we're scared. You could never just flat out tell someone that you like them. What if they didn't feel that same way? What if they turn you down? What if it makes the friendship awkward? What if you end up feeling like an idiot? The chase is safer. The chase is subtle. So you flirt a little and by observing their reactions you try and guess weather the other person is into you or not. And maybe after a few weeks of observation you grow the balls to actually say something to them. I mean think about high school. When people "asked each other out" they almost always knew what the answer would be, and furthermore all their friends usually knew what was going on. There was rarely a surprise. Thanks to the chase there's less risk.

In Argentina, there is no chase. I give a guy my number and before I get home he calls. You like someone, you tell them. Simple as that. But that's really only true for the guys, the girls here aren't supposed to be so forward. It's all very different here. Guys come on strong and girls are supposed to be more delicate and feminine. Relationships seem to get serious really fast. I still haven't quite figured it all out. I'm relearning the game.

How I've changed over the past week:

Let's start with the most obvious change: I'm blonde. Yes. Blonde. I went in to get a trim, and while I was waiting I decided I wanted to dye my hair. And so it goes.

Second: I've started drinking coffee. I had no idea what I was missing out on.

And most impotantly: I'm certainly out of the funk that I mentioned in my last post. Things are great, I'm happier than ever, that was just an off week I guess. I think I needed a few weekends of traveling. I keep having to remind myself that I'm in Argentina. This place just feels like home. This Saturday is the three month anniversary of our arrival but I feel like I've been here forever. I'll be home in almost two months probably. Returning to the states is going to be really difficult I think. But I'll explain all that as the time draws nearer.

Miss you all. Besos.

Stop Ignorance

Last night was the first time I was actually harassed for being American. There have been a few small awkward incidences, none of them really worth mentioning, but last night stirred me up. I met up with my friends at a bar and there were two guys sitting with them. One of them I knew, very nice guy, very funny, and not as shady as most. His friend however I had never seen before and sat at the table not saying a word. Within two minutes of me getting there, the bar closed so we decided that we'd head to another one down the block, and the quiet guy offered to give us a lift. While we were walking to the car he starts preaching about how terrible America is. I tell him that there is a huge difference between the people and the government of our country, and that I disagree with the actions of our government just as much as he does. Then he launches into this huge tangent, "Your people chose Bush for eight years! Don't try to tell me there is a difference! Your people chose that government!"

Let's take a moment to look at these sentences. First of all if you ever use the phrase "your people" you are an ignorant fuck. It means that you are lumping many many people into one category and judging the individual based on the actions of a few members of the group. Don't talk to me about "my people." Those are not my people. For christ sake I wasn't even old enough to vote in the last presidential election.

Now lets look at, "Your people chose that government!" Argentina is also a democracy, and is well known for having one of the most corrupt governments in the world. Argentines will go on and on and on about how their government doesn't represent their people. I could have very easily said to this Argentine, "You live in a democracy as well. How come you elect the most corrupt leaders in the world?" But I didn't because, unlike him, I'm aware that there is more to the story. Elections are won through bribery and fraud. Not everything is black and white.

Anyways, I really didn't feel like explaining, in Spanish, the electoral system and how technically we didn't actually choose Bush for eight years, so I opted to tell him how low Bush's approval ratings are and how many many people in America don't agree with his ideas. So we get in the car and this guy just kept flipping out, I mean he was absolutely livid. And the whole time he was talking he kept pointing to his "Stop War" t-shirt. He was actually yelling at me as if I were Bush himself. It was like he had all this hate for Americans that had been building up for years and now that he was actually face to face with one he decided to take it out on her.

We drive for about five minutes before the guy swerves over the side of the road, nearly hits two pedestrians, stops the car and tells us to get out. Both of my friends didn't really understand what was going on. The nice guy unsuccessfully tries to convince him to chill. I pull both my friends out of the car and he speeds off leaving us on the side of the road. The night didn't turn out all that bad, as he happened to drop us right in front of the only bar that was open at that hour, but still it's the principle of the thing.

There are people in this world that hate you simply because you're American. Wanna change that? Start here.

http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/VotingInformation/PDF/R-19.pdf

Get educated.

Hangover Hike, English, Mood

Hola todos,

We spent the weekend trekking in the Tucumán province in northern Argentina. We left Friday night and that was a bus ride I will never forget. Well at least the parts that I remember I'll never forget. It's illegal to carry alcohol with you in transit in Argentina. The police frequently stop buses and search every bag on board looking for booze, but that really didn't stop us. So when our bus got a flat tire we had a really dumb idea. We walked to the nearest gas station and while my friends distracted our academic director I bought a bottle for everyone and a carton of orange juice. Then I headed to the bathroom and drank/dumped the contents of the orange juice carton and filled it with the bottle of whatever alcohol I had just bought. So we successfully sneak the booze back on the bus. And from there....I'm not going to go into what happened next. We didn't get caught. But whatever bottle I grabbed in that gas station had to be the strongest most disgusting tasting liquor ever. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. The next morning was the second worst hangover I've ever had. (The first being the morning after that night at Common Ground for all the Ithaca readers...which I'm pretty sure is just Steve.)

One list of most terrible activities to do while hung over, I think hiking up a mountain while it's cold and rainy is pretty high up there. When our director questioned me about looking so ill, I told him I had motion sickness from the long bus ride. He suggested that I stay in the lodge and not do the hike. No way. I knew very well what I was getting myself into the night before and I did it anyway. Yes it was stupid of me. I decided to make myself do the hike. It was brutal and I totally deserved it. So up the mountain we went and I'm still shocked I didn't puke on the way. My friends sang me the Rocky theme song when I made it to the top. Great moment.

That night we stayed at a hostel in Amachia del Valle. This town probably had ten blocks total. It was very different from the huge busy Córdoba that I know and love. It was nice to get out of the city though. One major difference that I noticed is that the machismo culture is way stronger in the rural regions.

Day two was a million times better. We woke up around sunrise and went hiking near the Quillmas ruins. This isn't your Harms Woods or your Buttermilk Park hiking. There are no paths. It's steep as hell. Rocks constantly slip out from under your feet. And if aren't super careful it's really easy to go tumbling down the mountain. Overall a little scary and so not like anything I had ever done before. But so incredibly worth it. Check out the video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NRXXQ4Txvjk

Next weekend were going to Penninsula Valdez. It's whale season so were gunna hang out with orcas and penguins. It feels great to be traveling again.

So as of right now I have no idea when I'll be back in the states. I contacted that organization I mentioned in the last post to volunteer in Pisco, Peru. I told them I was totally in and bringing a few friends in early December if they would still be there then. They emailed me back and told me that they are still assessing the situation and figuring out how long they'll be in Pisco. No matter what I should be home for Christmas.

We speak a strange language: Tutoring English was harder than expected. I never realized how fast I talk, how much slang I use, and how I tend to slur all my words together. It took me a few minutes to adjust and I really had to concentrate on articulating my words. Overall a great experience though. Can't wait to do it again.

I can't imagine how hard it would be to have to learn English. One word in English can mean 80 different words in Spanish. Take the verb "get" for example. It has so many meanings. When you recieve something you GET it. You can GET sick, then GET better, so you GET over it. If you GET in to trouble and I want you to leave, I could tell you to "GET out," or "GET lost." But if I want to meet up I'll suggest that we GET together and when you arrive you GET there. When you are allowed to do something, you GET to do it. You're friends with the people you GET along with. And if you don't understand me, you don't GET it.

Another note on education: One thing I meant to mention last time when I was talking about college education in Argentina is that they need to choose a major from day one and they have no flexibility in the classes that they take. Once you choose a major all your classes are decided for you. People are shocked when I tell them that at most schools in the U.S. you don't have to declare your major until the beginning of your third year. Here you're allowed to change your major once without paying extra money but then you have to start over from the first year. Also they don't have minors or secondary concentrations or anything like that.

Over the honeymoon: I've been in a strange mood lately. Not depressed or anything just...uneasy. Not sure why. When traveling they say that the first month or two is called the "Honeymoon period" when everything is new and exciting and you're making new friends and exploring, and once you're a little more settled you start to loose that euphoria. I think that's what I'm going through. I'm not sure how to snap out of this. I need to get excited about something, or someone.
...Speaking of which, where is this incredible Latin lover that everyone told me I'd meet?

Not much else is new. Still working at the television station. Studying hard. I have mid-terms next week.

I miss you all so much. Get Skype so we can talk for free.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/helloagain.html

XO,
-Christina

Lesson Learned, Peru, Education, Film Shoot

Jesus Christ. Haven't updated in weeks. I've been super busy, this is the first free hour I've had in a long time. So much has happened. First things first. I turned 20. 20! That's so freaking old. At the stroke of midnight on August 24th I was eating dinner and watching a tango show with a small group of good friends. We popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. That Friday night we threw a huge party. It was a blast. One head count reached 42. Good music, every kind of alcohol you could imagine, and almost everyone I've met so far in Argentina.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times...: They say that wisdom comes with age, well on my 20th birthday I learned a very important lesson. I'm sharing this with you because I believe in learning from the mistakes of others. When it comes to dating there is a certain type of person that you need to watch out for. This type is the most dangerous companion and what sucks is that you wont realize the person you like is this type until it's too late. Until you've learned the hard way. The most dangerous person to be involved with is one who's really good at apologizing. Because this person will fuck you over repeatedly. Something happened on my birthday that made me realize how much of a sucker I am. This was the third time the guy apologized for doing the same thing. Hello! Christina! Wake up! He doesn't give a shit about you!

And once I realized this I looked back on a few of my relationships. I can certainly remember quite a few times when I thought to myself, "That's it! Enough! I am totally done with this person." I'd be all fired up, ready to chew him out, and low and behold before I could get a word in he apologize for whatever he did. The speech would go on and on, something to the effect of: "I'm so so sorry, I feel like an asshole. I understand if you don't even want to be friends with me ever again. I feel terrible." And of course I'd fall for it. I mean who wouldn't? Apologizing is never an easy thing to do. I'd think, "Wow, that was really nice of him to say sorry. He really does care. I can't believe I was ever that mad at him in the first place." The problem is that I've realized that I've fallen for the same act from the same people over and over and over. I don't know what it is that makes us overlook the obvious flaws of people that we're attracted to. It's dangerous.

Don't get me wrong. We all make mistakes. If you're dating someone who screws up and they apologize, I'm not saying that you should tell them to fuck off right away. Forgiveness is a powerful thing. But there's a limit. When this person screws up repeatedly maybe it's time to step back and reevaluate weather or not you're being taken advantage of. End rant.

Schooled: The education system in Argentina is worth mentioning. I've been meaning to write about this for a while now. In Argentina college is free. Yes, free. You can go to a top notch public university and pay NOTHING. There are private schools as well, like the one I am attending right now, that you pay to go to. The most expensive of which is $4,000 a year. Here's how the system works. When you graduate high-school you take a college entrance exam, and they accept everyone that scores above a certain percentage. There's no limit on the amount of students they accept, if you make the grade you're in, and you need to maintain the grade to stay in. This has some interesting effects. First, it means that public universities are ridiculously over crowded. They recommend showing up to class at least half an hour early if you want a seat. Because of the class size and because almost all the professors work at multiple universities, office hours are non existent. Chances are that you will never actually ever talk to your professors. So students who graduate are very independent, intelligent, and self motivated.

Now lets take a look at the private schools. No entrance exam. If you pay you're in, and as long as you keep paying you stay in. If you can't make the grade, you want to take easy classes, you need more structure to be successful, and you have the money, you're better off at a private school where the student teacher ratio is about 14:1. Needless to say, the private school students have a reputation for being lazy rich kids. The average behavior in class here at the Universidad Blas Pascal would be totally unacceptable at any school in the US. My film production class has 14 kids in it. People talk the whole time, at least 6 times in every class someone's cell phone will ring and they just answer it and have the conversation right there in the middle of the room. People wander in 20 minutes late. On the first day, half an hour into class one girl grabbed a cigarette out and a lighter of her bag, loudly asked the girl next to her if she wanted to join her outside for a smoke and then left class for a cigarette break. My jaw dropped. The teacher didn't even flinch. The faculty's behavior is not much better. The amount of classes that are cancelled here is outrageous.

There are of course students that defy the stereotype. My roommate, for example, is a law student and a bookworm. If she has an exam it she doesn't go out for the entire week before she takes it. And when we do get a chance to hang out she's totally down to earth. But for the most part I feel like I'm surrounded by snobs.

The free education system was implemented in 1992, and now because the amount of people with college degrees has skyrocketed over the past 15 years, they are having trouble finding people to do blue collar jobs. For example, there is a major shortage of electricians in Córdoba right now. Overall this has been a very different kind of college experience.

Inspired: While Ann and I were eating breakfast at the hostel in Iguazú on our last morning there, a television in the corner was blaring the latest update about the recent earthquake in Peru. Over 500 killed, 2,000 injured, and 40,000 homes destroyed. Just take a moment to think about those numbers. Hearing about this really affected me. I jumped on the nearest computer and searched for a way I could help. I was thinking about volunteering in Peru after the semester. I researched the Red Cross response and I was trying to find a way to contact them but The Red Cross is surprisingly difficult to contact. Their website kind of sucks, very hard to navigate. After reading about the reports of violent crime and absolute chaos in the disaster area I started to shy away from the idea, but I haven't ruled it out. There are a few organizations from the U.S. that are about to launch projects there now that the after shocks have died down. There is one group speciafically that I have been in contact with. You can check out the website below. We'll see where this goes.

http://www.hodr.org/index.php/2007/08/30/peru-announcing-project-pisco/

Anyways, so in the middle of all this I thought, 'Ya know, I shouldn't have waited for a natural disaster to happen for me to suddenly decided that I should volunteer. Volunteering should just be something that I do.' This lead me on a crazy search through tons of organizations looking for volunteer opportunities in Córdoba. Most of them turned out to be scams. "Charity" organizations that wanted you to pay them to volunteer. After a few fruitless days of researching I decided that I should just ask my academic director here if he knew of a place I could go. I was thinking about what type of work I could do, what skills I have to offer, then it dawned on me, "Hello! I speak fluent English!" So now I'm volunteering as an English tutor. I start this weekend.

Speaking of natural disasters: Yes, I did hear about God's wrath on Glenview. I'm sure you've heard a million stories like this recently, but here's what's going on at the O'Rourke house. Part of our neighbor's tree feel on our garage and my basement had nearly a foot of water in it, needless to say it was completely destroyed. Everything needs to torn out and replaced, furniture, carpet, drywall, everything. I would really like to know what happened to you guys. How are your families? How are your houses? How are you? Leave comments. I'm interested. My dad called me and goes, "Hey Christina! Happy Birthday! The house is destroyed." Great. I wanted to be home so badly to help my parents. I don't know what I could have done, but it felt wrong not being able to do anything.

In other news: The getting healthy thing has been working well. I'm actually starting to change my habits. Get this, a couple nights ago I actually turned down french fries. I know. Absolutely crazy. I've noticed a change in my mood too. I'm just more content in general.

However, I did have one bad day recently. One of our building managers was making fun of my American accent and saying how I didn't know any Spanish. I know he probably didn't mean it, but man did it sting. When you're in a foreign country trying to learn a language, that really shits on your confidence. It threw me off for the rest of the day. Ever had something bad happen, maybe you fail an exam, or you're super late to work for whatever reason, anything that seems like a big deal at the time but in the long run probably doesn't matter? And then once you get in that bad mood, it's like every little thing that goes wrong for the rest of the day pisses you off way more than it should. Yeah it was one of those. That night I sat outside and I made myself name five good things that happened to me that day. It worked wonders. Look for the good in everyday.

Back in production: I recently started my "internship" at the television station on campus. I say "internship" in quotes because the "interns" run the station, but we're all students and they don't pay us, so they call us "interns." I do camera and sound for professor presentations. I'll elaborate. Students that live in rural areas all over the country and don't have convenient access to a traditional university are able to watch their classes on TV and earn a degree. It's a pretty cool program actually. The students can even call in and ask the professor a question while were live on the air. I'm liking the job and it's a way to meet people.

In my film production class we were given an assignment to adapt Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" into a short film. We shot all weekend. It was such a great experience. For one, it's been too long since I was on a set, so it was nice to feel at home again, and I made some great new friends because we've been spending so much time together. Also, my Spanish improved drastically because I didn't hang out with my American friends for a few days straight.

Punked: I got in a cab yesterday and after I gave the driver the address of where I needed to go he asked me to show him my palm. I had no idea why, but I decided to play along. I show him my hand and he goes, "You're from Chicago aren't you?" WHAT!?!? I freaked out! I had no idea how he did it. You should have seen the look on my face. Then he told me that he had given me a ride a few days before and I told him then that I was from Chicago. He got me.

All in all life is great. I'm still itching to travel. I actually had to surrender my Lonely Planet books to Ann. Now I actually do my homework. She's now addicted to them. I've been planning my next trip. Penninsula Valdez awaits. It's a beautiful place in Patagonia, southern Argentina. Gunna spend three days with penguins.

I miss you all mucho. Besos.