Voyage of the Blonde Treader: Quilmes and Pinamar

Just finished week 2 here in Argentina. It was the first full week of classes and pretty busy. I really enjoy working with the younger kids though, they are all really cute and ask the craziest questions: “Miss, do you go to casino night in Texas?” Here is a picture from the St. George's campus where I live.

Last week Manu brought me to see his favorite team, Estudiantes, play at their new stadium in La Plata. It was fun and the stadium was nice, but I guess JumboTrons are pretty rare here because they didn’t really know what to do with it so they just put a picture of the stadium on it. The stadium that we were inside. A game clock would have been more useful, but eh, they'll figure it out. I enjoyed it though, a grateful change from the MLS, and Manu is determined to make me an Estudiantes fan.

I joined a gym here in Quilmes to go to spin class with Mikaela and Peggy (some of the teachers here at St. George’s). I even went on my birthday. My mom would be so proud!

Facundo took us gappies out in Quilmes on Thursday. The place was pretty crazy for a Thursday night. We met some really cool people and I was glad to see a little more of Quilmes. It was a good time, I’m just going to have to get used to staying out until 6/7am again. Wasn’t very prepared for Friday morning, or as Barrett once told me, “she just aint what she used to be, is she?”

On Friday, a bunch of the teachers and gappies went out for happy hour and afterwards a few of us went on the Buenos Aires pub crawl. Got to see some neat areas like Puerto Madero and we met some really cool people as well as some very…interesting ones. The walk/subte/train/taxi ride back was a bit longer than desired, so we’re going to have to learn the bus schedules for this place.

Chris, me, Jeff, Thomas, and Sam at Krakow Bar.

Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires

Manu: can't get rid of this guy, jeez.

I had to go to the dentist here because I messed my teeth up snowboarding/falling down the mountain. It was awesome (if the dentist can be awesome?). Not only did it take just 30 minutes, but it only cost $30 for a filling as opposed to $181 in the states. I’m going back tomorrow just for fun!

And then this weekend was a holiday weekend -for Carnaval- so the other gappies (Sam and Jeff) and I went to Pinamar to enjoy the beach. We camped at a campground right next to the beach which was nice except for the parrots that would start screeching at 7am. I should have brought my air soft gun. We pretty much just relaxed and enjoyed the sun, well, enjoyed it until Sam and I realized we were fried. Wasn’t very hard to spot us on the beach though, just look for the giant glare radiating from our stomachs. Too bad I forgot my thong bikini, rats! We went out quite a bit in Pinamar too since Facu showed us around. Still couldn’t keep up with the boys though and fell asleep mid conversation at the dinner table. And then again the next night. I’m trying! The boys played some cricket on the beach so I’m learning a little more about that sport. Now I just need to work on my meter/mile and liter/ounce conversions. Got back to St. Georges this afternoon and getting ready for another week. And sleep!