Dev's Delights

The variety of things I delight in

Besos and Elbow Room January 26, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 5:29 am
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Ok so does everyone remember the School House Rock song “Elbow Room“? Ok, I know it is about manifest destiny and all but I always think about it when I think about the American need for personal space. Weird? Anyway, there is no such need for a personal bubble in other parts of the world. For example, in Spain and here in Argentina, everyone greets with cheek kisses. In Spain it’s one on each cheek while here it is just one cheek.

Normally I love it, but sometimes it can get a little awkward! With friends it is great. But I also greet everyone at work hello and goodbye with cheek kisses. Lucky for me there are only 6 people other than me that work there! Otherwise that could take a while. So that was a little weird for me, but nothing I found too strange.

Then when I went and visited the doctor for my stomach, and SHE greeted me with a kiss on the cheek! That was way bizarre! All I could think was that this simple greeting could be the source of lawsuits in America! But everyone here does it. This one is still a little odd to me.

Then the other night at a club, we were directed to follow someone to the pay counter to get in, and HE kissed me on the cheek as well. Did I know him? Nope! Did my friends? Nope! But hey, I went with it and next thing I knew he was handing me and my friends VIP wristbands. Not too shabby for a kiss on the cheek!

Other than that all is well down here in Bs As. I finally figured out how to use the “colectivo” or bus system. But it is very confusing and even the locals use the guide book I had to buy to figure it out!

A friend of mine had her purse stolen last week which was terrible. Luckily it was a quick cafe grab and nothing violent or in the street or anything. But it still sucked! She lost everything, la pobrecita! :-(

Work is going well and is about to get really busy I think. On top of that I have to learn everything about every designer that is going to be showing at Buenos Aires Fashion Week (BAFWEEK). So far there are 26 with more to come and I only know one from before, Puma. I am working on making myself a study guide for all of them!

I did a little more touring this week. The bus tour on Tuesday, went to a museum here that had an Andy Warhol exhibit, and Saturday I went to the cemetery where Evita is buried. This weekend my friends and I are planning on taking a beach trip to Uruguay! So excited!

My brother just moved to Israel for the next 6 months so our only way to see each other is Skype. But luckily my whole family now has web cams and we can all chat! :-) So excited! And so excited for him!

Hope all is well where you are.

Besos!

ps – favorite new translation: sassy = rompe pelotas (ball buster!)

 

It takes two to TANGO January 22, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 9:19 am
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So I had my first Argentinian Tango show experience last night. Not only was it FREE!!! But it was also an AERIAL Tango show. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! Anyone who knows me well knows what a nerd I am when it comes to anything theatrical. Plays, Broadway shows, ballet, all of it I LOVE. This was no exception. Within seconds I was hooked. All I could do was stare with a giddy expression on my face. I was sitting in an outdoor amphitheater in Buenos Aires with a sky full of stars above me and an aerial tango show in front of me. I attempted to take some pictures but they of course do NOT do the show justice and the lighting and movement of the dancers made it difficult.

After that my friends wanted some Mexican food! YUM! We stumbled upon a place call Lupita’s and was delicious! Even I, who am super particular when it comes to my Mexican food, thought it was great! I did not see queso on the menu which is still a mild failure in my book, but the flavors were great and there was a sauce that was actually legitimately spicy!!! I will definitely have to go back there!

***I forgot the funniest part about the Mexican restaurant!! We sat down and started looking at the menu when 75% of the people at the table looked at me and said, “Devon, what’s a burrito?” I was stunned! “You don’t know what a burrito is?” So I told them:

“It’s a tortilla rolled up with stuff inside.”
“Oh, and enchiladas?”
“Tortillas with less stuff rolled up and cooked with sauce.”
“Ok, and quesadillas?”
“Tortillas with stuff inside but grilled and flat.”
…”Devon, what is a tortilla??”

I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!! It is always amusing trying to explain thing in Spanish to people from all over!

So what a night, a wonderful show and delicious Mexican food. What more could I ask for?!?!

**On top of that, we were at a kiosk today and there were PEZ dispensers, and my friend had NEVER seen PEZ before! Again, shocked! So I bought her a Tinkerbell one and she was like a 5 year old! LOVE IT!

 

HEARTS January 21, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 6:05 pm
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The little one made my day with this the other day!! :-) Love you goober!

 

Maria, Mariaaaaa…. January 18, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 9:23 pm
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So this weekend has been pretty full! Friday I went back to my first host house to get the paper I needed to pick up the box of things I left at home from the post office. Graciela took this time to sit me down, once again blame me for her broken toilet and more or less call me a liar. It was fun! She then spent 10 minutes telling me a story about a German lady at a hotel. It was supposed to prove that she is a good person and not a liar and she sees no reason why I was unhappy and unable to take responsibility for the toilet. Like I said, fun.

The post office was fun, too. I make my way there after the lecture from Graciela and it is PACKED! Everything here is a “Take a number” and wait. So I pull my number, 61, and look up to see they are on 85. So I had to wait for them to make it up to 100 and then back around to 61!! It did not take nearly as long as I thought it would but it was still a good while. I then get up there to be told that without my actual passport I could not get the box. I had a copy and another student ID and someone (ahem, Graciela) told me that would be fine. So I had to leave and come back.

When I went back later, with my passport, I again pulled a number in the 60′s. But this time they were on 19, so the wait was not as long. I finally get up there and hand over my papers. The man looks at me, laughs to himself (still not sure why), and hands me back a smaller paper and sends me into another waiting room! This one is more open with more seats luckily. But then I sit and wait while someone who needs to learn to enunciate mumbled numbers over a blurry loud speaker. Once your number got called you went through to a back room where they hand you your package. It was all very weird and I was just relieved to be done with it!

That night my friends and I went to a fiesta at a hostel, where someone I met the week before came up to me and said, “Hey Maria! How are you?” I just smiled and said, “Great, how are you?” No need to correct anyone anymore. I now officially respond to Devon, Elizabeth and Maria. I have started using that name occasionally too. When I get that “What the heck did you just say your name was?” look, or when someone seems to be a bit of a creeper, my name is Maria!!!

The next day was raining and gross. So we headed to the movies. We got our tickets and were eating lunch in the food court when another friend joined us and sat with his backpack in his lap. I thought nothing of this until I heard someone whisper, “….dog…..backpack.” Sure enough I glance under the table to see a little fox terrier sticking his head out of this grown man’s backpack.

He is a grown man, a doctor, who thinks bringing your dog to the movie theater in your backpack is permissible and normal. He will never be my doctor! But it was a cute dog and the looks on the mall patrons’ faces after the movie with the dog’s head sticking out of the backpack were pretty priceless!

Sunday was a wonderful lazy day full of sun, pool and naps! Just what I needed after 2 very crazy weeks! Though it did feel weird to be in a swim suit in the pool in January! LOVE IT!

 

OY! January 13, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 5:12 pm
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Oh my, I have had quite a trying two days since my last update! Yesterday, my glorious, wonderful stomach I love so much decided it was going to hate me for everything I have put it through the past week and half. (OY!) So that plus a terrible rain storm kept me up all night! I have seriously not been afraid of a storm in a long time, and this one made me very nervous. It kept blowing my window open! I found out when I woke up the next day that it had blown open our living room windows and it was filled with water! Teresa (new host mom) was sweeping the water into a bucket. (OY!)

So I attempted to go to work but with my stomach being the way it was, I only lasted an hour before I had to leave. I came home and just crashed. I had the wonderful parental units call my trusted doctor while I lay in bed pitifully. (OY!) I get the name of a medicine and head to the pharmacy to try to see if I need a prescription or not. I get there, tell them the name of the medicine. I even spell if for them and they have no idea what I am talking about. I call home and have my mom look up alternate names and such that I could try with the pharmacists. I sat there for 30 minutes while they just stared at me. I got a few other names from my mom and showed them to the wonderful pharmacists who think I am just a sad little sick American. At that moment she says, OH! we have that! It was the exact medicine I asked for initially, even spelled the same way! (OY!) But I was just glad to have it!

I also met my German house mate that day. It was a nice awkward, “Nice to meet you, excuse me while I run to the bathroom” moment. (OY!)

Today, with the medicine, I was feeling much better. I still felt very weak because I didn’t eat yesterday, but better. I managed to get to work and even successfully made it to my lunch break. (YAY!) On my way back in, it sounded like it was raining in the elevator shaft around me. (For anyone who lived in Towers with me, they know what its like to have rain in the elevator! oy.) So I tell my boss who freaks out a little and calls downstairs. Not ten minutes later, water starts POURING out of the light fixture in the bathroom, and dripping from the bathroom door frame, 3 places in the meeting room, inside the closet with all of our electronics boxes and from the balcony above. (OY!!!!) We ran around like crazy putting buckets and trash cans under the water while shutting down and unplugging all electronics. I was trying so hard not to laugh while everyone looked very stressed. We sat there for another hour or so waiting to see if it would stop or someone would come fix it. I ended up getting to leave early, but have to go in an hour early tomorrow! (OY!)

I need a break from all this craziness!!! I get out of a crazy lady’s house to have a crazy stomach and rain in my office building?!?! OY!!!

 

A Rose by Any Other Name… January 11, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 4:47 pm
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Yesterday, my friends and I went to El Tigre, a riverside pueblo about an hour away from Buenos Aires. It was so much fun! After taking the train over and buying river tour tickets, we went to a random little place for lunch. We ordered essentially a plate full of meats. The waitress said its meant for 2 but 3 can share it. Well there were 5 of us and we did not eat half of it!!! Not to mention half of what was left were things I didn’t even want to see on my plate!!! I will try ALMOST anything once, but when I look at something and KNOW it is animal intestines, I’m plenty happy with my ignorance. Then there was another lump that was obviously some internal organ, I am not just sure which one. :-/ Luckily we all ordered side salads too so we got enough to eat even though the waitress commented that we ate nothing! OY!

Then we took a river tour on a very comfy little boat! We found out that in this town everything is done by the river. EVERYTHING. There is a “school bus boat,” a “mail boat” and even a “supermarket boat” that comes directly to your house/dock!!! The houses have numerical addresses but each one is also named for easier identification. Some were people’s names like Vanessa, some were things like Mi Tesoro, and there were even three in a row named Athos, Porthos and Aramis, which just made me smile!

After that we went over to the amusement park and hit up a few roller coasters. The lines were LONG so we only got to do a couple of them, but it was still a lot of fun!

There are also a few things I have found out since my last post:

I LOVE my new home stay. The woman Teresa is WONDERFUL! I came home from work today to find a giant candy bar on my bed! I also told her about my stomach this morning and found Pepto on my desk this afternoon!

Also, my first day here, as I left to go exploring I heard Spice Girl’s Wannabe blasting from the land lords apartment. It was a very nice welcome and I enjoyed dancing to it by myself in the hallway for a minute.

One problem, Teresa thinks my name is Elizabeth. So does COINED. I told her the first day its Devon, but she keeps calling me Elizabeth. I think I will just let her call me that.

I also have a 3rd name I go by now. Maria. I found out the other night that my name is too hard for my Brazilian friends to pronounce, so they all started calling me Maria when I was not around. Even the American they live with calls me that! Their host mom thinks thats my real name! They have slowly began to call me Maria to my face also!

So now I am responding to Devon, Elizabeth and Maria… 3 names, 1 me! :-)

 

No I did not break your toilet! January 9, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 3:43 pm
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Ok so the lady I lived with until today is, well a bit NUTS! Here is a quick look at my week at her home:

Sunday:
She serves me brown mush and soupy oatmeal for dinner.

Monday:
The toilet was broken when i woke up.
She tells me that my room is not organized enough and that I can not keep stuff on the tables in my room.
The internet goes out and she tells me 15 times that the guy will com fix it

Tuesday:
Got upset with me that I did not put the stool and squeegee (which she keeps in the shower) back in to the shower. But the shower was not draining and thats why I waited. I told her and she freaked. She had no clue. When was the last time she showered?
Internet went out again
She bought (essentially) Drano for the shower. Here is what happened between 7 and 8 PM:

G – I got “the liquid,” can I put it in?
D – I am going to shower first.
G – Ok it needs 12 hrs
D – Ok I will shower now
G – Ok let me know when you are done – When do you want to eat dinner?
D – 8
G – What time is it now?
D – 7 oh and the internet doesn’t work again
G – But the tech came yesterday.
D – I know but its broken again.

D – I am done, do you want me to put in the liquid?
G – no no no I will do it. Are you done showering?
D – (in new clothes with wet hair) yes
G – Are you going somewhere? You are not going to eat here?
D – Yes I am eating here. I am leaving afterward.
G – So I can put in the liquid? It needs 12 hrs
D – Yes you can put it in.

G – here is 50 pesos. Go buy dinner. There has been too much tonight between the internet and the shower for me to cook (this is at 8, one hour later) There are good restaurants on X and X corners and pizza on X corner. Don’t spend it all.
D – Ummm ok
G – Are you going to go now?
D – No I am going to wait for Magaly and we will go together.
G – So you are not going to go now?
D – Mo I am going to go with her
G – Oh ok good. So I can put in the liquid? It needs 12 hrs
D – Yes you can put it in
G – Ok I will shower first then put it in.
10 minutes later
G – Have you showered yet? I want to put the liquid in the drain because it needs 12 hrs.
D – YES!!! (WTF?!?!?!)

So ya she gave me money instead of food, and I was fine with that!

Wednesday:
After all of it, the drain was still not much better
My room was not organized enough and its not the Argentinian way and I need to do something about it. These are COINED’s rules not hers… (so she said)
Yelled at my about not having a constant dinner schedule — but asked me what time I wanted to eat.

Thursday:
Barely saw her :-)

Friday:
Told me that mail is bad here when I asked her if it was ok to have a box sent here a week ago and she said yes – what?!?!
She tried to make me pay for the toilet that I did not break and got mad at me when I told her I didn’t do it and wouldn’t pay for it.

That is just some of the great times I had with Graciela and why I now live on the other side of town with a woman named Theresa in MUCH nicer place.

 

Sho me shama Devon January 8, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 8:00 pm
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…in other words Yo me llama Devon (My name is Devon). But yes, they pronounce it like it is shown above!

Well yesterday and today were jam packed! Yesterday was almost the best day ever… almost. I started my job and it is going to be very cool. The office I work for handles all the press for Buenos Aires Fashion Week (BAFWEEK) and the event is in February and I therefore get to attend! I am so excited!!! The day-to-day stuff though is pretty typical PR work. Although, most of what I have done is translate press releases from Spanish to English to be sent to the US. The office itself is actually in a one bedroom apartment. I figured this out when I went to the bathroom and there was a tub and shower and everything. The bedroom is the meeting room and living room them main office. It is small but cozy and the people are really nice.

What is also great about it is that it is on the other side of town from where I am staying right now, which means I GET TO MOVE!! Graciela, the lady I live with now, is a bit nutty (stories to come hopefully tomorrow after I unpack in my new place) and her place is not as clean as I would like. And as I said, its super far from my office. I will now be just a few blocks from my office and will even be closer to where all the friends I have made live.

So yesterday after my first day of work, I went and met a friend for a Happy Hour at a great little place before heading over to El Alamo to watch the National Championship. I carried my UT shirt with my in my purse all day! Everyone here laughed at me when I explained how important this game was to me! But hey, I HAVE PRIDE!

I went over to El Alamo two hours early and it was already JAM PACKED! They had an upstairs but I was told they were not showing the game up there. Well as luck would have it a group of MBA students from RICE (many former Longhorns) had convinced them to show it up there and reserved the room. They let me and couple of people I met come in, but were being very rude about keeping most people out. I think I just got lucky enough to be there early when not many people were there. Either way, I was just glad to be in a room full of fans!

The game was disappointing but I am proud as hell of my Longhorns! They fought hard! With Colt out of the game it was not a fair fight, and they still managed to make it a close game at the end! And I am excited to see what Gilbert will bring to the table in the coming years! I still wear my burnt orange with pride!!!

1 week down, 11 to go!


A ROOM FULL OF LONGHORN PRIDE!!!!

 

Scary Ham Lady January 6, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 4:00 pm
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So quick update for today. Today was pretty easy. Although I did take my first adventure to a “Super” (super market) to get some lunch food and other snacks and things. Well this “Super” was super tiny with super little selection. Basically, it was not so super! I wanted to get some sliced turkey or ham or something for sandwiches and was surprised to find people fresh slicing meat and no pre-packaged meats. This sounds great at first, but there was no turkey and 5 different kinds of ham! I didn’t know the difference and the lady did NOT feel like explaining it to me. She just gave me one of those looks until I picked one. I was a little afraid of her and her big meat slicer.

Anyway, I got my things and came home. And well, it just was not that tasty. It was ok. I ate it. But something about it was off and it did not thrill me. I was heading to COINED because I was supposed to go to see my office today but that got delayed until tomorrow. But I still had to go meet at COINED and then walked around a bit. I mostly went to find a bar that I can watch the big game in tomorrow (YAY!!! HOOK EM!) I had marked it on my map where Google Maps had marked it and headed over but it was nowhere to be found! And no one in the area knew what I was talking about. So I headed home to look up the place again and call.

Well it turns out I was quite a few blocks away but on the correct street. But on my way home I passed a real “Super.” It as a chain name I know from Spain and it really was SUPER! It had a huge selection of all sorts of things and it all looked fresher and nicer and cleaner! I was thrilled just to be in there. I was never so happy in a grocery store! I will happily walk the extra 15 minutes to go to this nice store and avoid the scary meat lady!!

Anyway, I found where I can watch the game tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED! I am also VERY excited for my job tomorrow! I will not spill the beans just yet (in case it doesn’t live up to the hype,) but if it is as half as good as it sounded today when they told me about it at COINED, it will be pretty great.

Pues, vamos a ver. (Well, we shall see.) Big day tomorrow on two continents for me! SO EXCITED!!! HOOK EM!

 

Bienvenida a Buenos Aires January 5, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 10:38 am
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So I am finally here in Buenos Aires after months of talking about it and planning it. I am very nervous and very excited all at once! No matter how much I travel the first couple of weeks are always pretty nerve-wracking! So lets recap my last few days!

Friday night before I left I was trying to finish packing, because my last-minute self did not pack in advance at all, when all of the sudden I started to feel terrible! Well, I got a 24-hour stomach virus. I was sick all night, could not pack, was miserable and terribly afraid I would miss my flight. Luckily my flight left at 9 PM on Saturday so I had all day to try and finish packing and relax. I managed this but still felt awful on my way to the airport. Luckily, by my flight, the worst of it had passed and I just needed to relax and sleep as much as I could on the 10-hour flight.

The flight was easy. I slept a lot and just picked a little at my food because I was afraid of getting sick on a plane. Mind you the only thing I had eaten since the night before when I got sick is some french fries at the airport. For some reason, my stomach loves them when I am sick! Anyway, I make it to Buenos Aires where it is HOT!!!! So far it has been mid-80′s every day. I know I am from Texas but the 40′s to 80′s jump while still not feeling so great was not awesome.

So I make it to my host house and the woman, Graciela, seems nice and there is a Brazilian girl living here also named Magaly. For dinner Graciela makes me what she called chorizo and I called smelly brown tube of mush, “soup” that looked and tasted like runny oatmeal and salad. Needless to say, I ate the salad and the bread. I tried the other things, but brown mush and runny oatmeal just aren’t my favorite. Then I went with Magaly to a bar in San Telmo and met some people she had met in a hostel, Benny from Liverpool and Jules from Australia. They were playing music in the bar so when I arrived I was serenaded with classics ranging from “Hey Ya” to “No Diggity,” “Stand by Me” to “Use Somebody,” and “Twist and Shout” to “Wonderwall.” It was entertaining but I was EXHAUSTED! My body hated me for flying in that condition! So to bed I went.

Yesterday (Monday January 4) I went to COINED, which is the local office for my program, for a welcome lunch (empanadas) and city walk. This is when I discover that of all the people at COINED, probably 95% are Brazilian, if not more! I saw one French girl, met one American and heard talk of another but that was it! One the walking tour I made friends with a good group of people who all live together in a student residence. Part of me wishes I lived with them! So after the city walk I went and bought a cell phone and came home just in time to leave again with Magaly to see a drum group called La Bomba de Tiempo who play every Monday. Basically it is the ultimate drum circle, ever! But we met up with Benny there and I quickly became the third wheel. I left them to go meet the city walk group for dinner.

That dinner was my first real meal since before I left America! My stomach is still adjusting to here, but it was nice to feel full and eat something other than bread and water. We then ended up at a place called Madagascar Bar and walked in 5 minutes before they started charging people. Then an Argentinian woman got on a stage and started singing. Again we heard American classics ranging from “Sweet Dreams” to “Poker Face” to “I Will Survive.” Then the Spanish music started. I knew a few songs but it was fun to just relax and enjoy the local scene.

That is all for now. I meet with COINED again tomorrow and will see where I am working and then start work on Thursday! More to come! Wish me luck!