With the exception of a few more things I want to do/see, I think I'm (almost) ready to come home. The city is great and I could totally live here someday, but without having any kind of schedule or responsibility, I'm starting to get bored. There is always something "fun" to do, but I get the impression that it's out of the ordinary for girls to go out to bars or clubs without a boyfriend or at least some male companions. Humph. And the next time I hear, "well, women usually do/don't like this" I think I will scream. Also, I was talking to a guy one day and the theme came up that my apartment was messy. He looked at me and said, "It can't be, not with two women living together". SERIOUSLY? For a country that has elected a female president (even if she is Kirchner's wife), there are some serious issues with stereotypes about women and their role in society. A common joke between Joyce and I is that a woman's reason for doing anything (including being born) is to find a boyfriend/husband. I personally had the intention of finding a man to marry, moving to the Argentine countryside to be a full-time housewife, and start having children when I decided to study abroad. That's about the attitude here. Or maybe we just attract idiots. Who knows? Ahh, but enough of that. I can already hear my dad saying "See, aren't you glad to be an American?".
I have met some more interesting characters recently as well. Yesterday Joyce and I went to a boutique pretty close by and a middle-aged woman and a girl around our age were working there. They were SO interested in hearing about where we are from, what we're doing here, what we think about Argentina. The woman was asking me if I'm from Poland or Russia...In fact, I've never been targetted as an American. Even when a neighbor in the building came to our door one day when I was home alone, she assumed I was the Brazilian...But, aside from these two women in the shop, it seems like almost everyone I've met here is interested in hearing about the Argentine experience from a foreigners' perspective.
Another interesting character: our taxi driver last night. With the flu being pretty bad, we are avoiding the subte as much as possible. On our way home last night, we were going to take a picture in the back of the cab but I wanted to make sure the flash wouldn't bother the driver so I asked him first. He was a greasy older man and started saying, you can take a picture if you kiss each other and weird stuff like that. And then he continued to flirt the whole ride home, and asked for our numbers. Errr, no thanks...and, please, get a different job.
Today, we went to Alicia's birthday. Alicia is best friend's with the aunt of one of Joyce's friends from Brazil and they always invite us to do things with them. We were also a little out of place at her party (it seems like we're always a little out of place, haha). Joyce is 24 and I'd say there was at least a 20-year gap between her and the next youngest person. Despite that, we learned a lot of Argentine jokes...not all very appropriate, but all very funny. We had a good time, except that Alicia has a cat and Joyce and I are both allergic...hello itchy nose and watery eyes!
This is us showing the flu what's up/impersonating ducks (I'm not sure why there's so much extra space in the mask).
In one of many old-school elevators.
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