Rainy Week

Last weekend, I made two goals for the remainder of my stay in Buenos Aires.  They were: 1.) Spend less time on the computer and 2.) run X miles per week.  With the bit of free time I would have away from the computer, I would spend more time exploring some of the nearby sights, and start my load of homework earlier than usual so that I wasn't swamped when the weekend came.

Of course, after 3 weeks of wonderful autumn-ish weather--clear skies, low 60s--it rained this week.  So, I failed both of my goals.  I did run, and I spent time away from the internet, but not nearly the extent I hoped I would.

All the nasty weather got me sick, so I spent much of the week trying to hold my head at a perfect angle to avoid nasal drippage.  I rarely have tissues on me, so in the classroom and on the bus I have to resort to more primitive measures.  Although a perfectly balanced head often keeps a pretty good equilibrium in my nasal cavity, I occasionally have to sneak a hand swipe past my nose to clean things up, and just hope no one's watching.  Having a cold is just an all around bummer.

On Thursday a few friends and I went to Chinatown, which turned out to be pretty run-down and unexciting.  We found a place that seemed clean, and ate dinner there.  When we walked in, the restaurant was nearly silent, even though people were eating in it.  We whispered our conversations in an awkward attempt to be inconspicuous, and although at first the quiet atmosphere struck us as eerie, eventually we managed to fit in.  This was my first Chinese food experience in a different country, so I sought to find out whether Chinese food is 'Americanized' in the US, and more 'genuine' in other countries.  The verdict: it's the same in the US and in Argentina.  Everything I tried tasted exactly the same as your typical American Chinese food restaurant.  Next step on this cuisine adventure: eat Chinese food in China.

Last night I ventured out to see some more of the night life in Palermo Soho. I had a really awful batch of beer, which I think was left out in the sun, so I spent the rest of the night trying to stifle the residual taste of it in my mouth.  Even the thought of a cerveza right now makes me a bit nauseous.  Thus, tonight I'm staying in.  After all, I am pretty swamped with homework, and I would like to save some money anyway.  First, however, I have a mandatory Tango lesson which I have to attend.  I'll let you all know how that turns out.

 Yesterday, in my history of Argentina class, we watched Diarios de Motocicleta.  I had been meaning to watch this movie, although I had no idea what it was about (I'm not really a motorcycle guy, so the name  sort of threw me off).  I did not know it was about a trip that Che Guevara took in his younger years which changed his career path from being a doctor to a revolutionary, and I did not know it would be so good.  I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't seen it yet!  If you aren't inspired to travel, at least you'll walk away with a bit of knowledge about how Che came to be the man he was. I don't know that the trailer does it justice, but I posted it anyway in case anyone is interested.

Also, in case anyone is worried about my health: I am doing quite a bit better today than I was earlier this week.  I just got back from a really fast run (there's a mile long loop in the park around this pond which I frequent, and there was a guy running super fast around it today.  We tacitly decided to challenge each other, and it felt so good to have the competition for a few miles), and I'm feeling great. I hope everyone back home is doing well also.

(All pictures complements of Jordan Koontz's flickr account).