Lessons Learned in the First Week

From my trips overseas I have learned a major rule that one should always follow when traveling. It's called watching where you walk. Much like other cities, in Buenos Aires, people with dogs tend to ahem... Let their dogs crap everywhere!! With how many dogs that I've seen in the city, there must be a sidewalk cleaning service because it doesn't look as bad as it could be.

Today after my follow up interview with a language school, I grabbed a diet coke, a strawberry popsicle, and some Cheetos and headed to what has become my favorite place in the city, La Plaza Libertador. This park is amazing! It has this great playground for kids, tree branches that hang low enough that they have become park benches, and bums sleeping in the shade (wait that's not nice, so lets just move on); my favorite is this large grassy hill. So, while walking to my own personal Garden of Eden, I had forgotten the golden rule; make sure you watch where you're walking. I was so wrapped up in the beautiful day and the newness that surrounded me, that I managed to walk right over a grate. Now you might ask, "it's a grate, what's the problem?" Well, the problem was that I was wearing a flowy skirt and very small panties when I encountered my first Marlin Monroe moment... Yes, many tourists, workers, and policemen saw my bitty panties (it's so freaking hot here, the smaller the better!). I couldn't see myself, but I'm sure it wasn't as graceful as Ms. Monroe. I received many whistles and cheering, enough to make me hustle out of there like I was on fire.

So after my enjoyable lunch in the park, I went to look at an apartment in San Telmo, the oldest part of the city. This place was great! Amazing view, super nice roommates, but it wasn't in Palermo; Palermo reminds me of an old town Chicago, very chic and young. After I was done looking at apartments, I got on the Subte (the metro) and headed back to San Cristobol, where I will be living for a month. I turned on my iPod and grooved to the music. What I didn't realize, was that while I was enamored with the funk of the Nappy Roots, I was at my stop!! I quickly hopped up to get off, but not quick enough...

Enter rule number two that I must keep in mind daily; you need to pay attention on the Subte. While running to get off the train... I got stuck in the doors... Completely and hopelessly stuck. At first it was my entire upper body. I managed to pull my shoulders out of the door, but then I saw a fallen solider, my bag; it was stuck and the train was announcing that it was pulling out. I yelled a few obscenities (hopefully no one understood english too well) and tried to save my bag along with my dignity. Thankfully a nice gentleman helped wedge the doors open so I could safely run away without showing my face again.

Ahh, the learning curve hasn't been very forgiving but it's all apart of the adventure! Well, it's time to go lay out on the terrace.

Ciao!