Devon Alter

BUENOS AIRES FASHION WEEK!!! :-) February 25, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 7:03 am
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So I am officially in LOVE! I want this to be my real life! (And not just my life that is avoiding real life!) After one full day I am physically exhausted, but can not wait to do it all again today! I can not even describe how wonderful BAFWEEK is for me. Between the makeup station (HEAVEN!), the runway, the models and rallying the reporters (all in Spanish by that way), I just couldn’t be happier. I honestly fell into the most perfect internship in the world!

More to come later but I will throw a few pictures your way as I run to get ready for day two!!!

 

“Traffic Laws” February 11, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 4:57 pm
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Ok so one thing I have learned very quickly around here is that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. The only right we have is the right to be run over if we don’t get the hell out of the way fast enough! I the past few weeks I have been honked at and glared at more times than is necessary! Sometimes, they even speed up to either scare you or hit you to make an example of you.

And regular traffic laws don’t always apply. There are lanes, but they are mostly just for show. The speed limit is pretty much just for show, too. Sometimes, being in a cab is just as scary as being on the street. They speed, cut in and out of traffic like it’s their job and cause more “almost accidents” than I have ever seen in my life! I once had a cab driver who didnt want to wait in the turn lane which had about 7 cars waiting. So he pulled up in front of them into the middle of the intersection. Just cut in line and sit in the middle of the intersection!

But my favorite “traffic sign” are the arrows on the major streets dicating the flow of traffic. Normally that would be nothing to note, but aside from the basic arrows such as this,

they also have one that looks a little something like this.

No joke. Some streets have traffic that goes in different directions. But I am not sure when it changes. It’s a little crazy!

It all reminds me of this driving video I once saw. I watch it now and have flashes to running across crazy Buenos Aires streets!

Other random stuff I thought I would end the post with:

Yes! The toilet does flush spinning the other way! Most of the toilets don’t actually spin like they do in the states, but when they do, it is a little weird!

The universe is upside down! Right now in Buenos Aires I can see my favorite constellation, Orion, The Hunter. It is my favorite because it is easy to find him and his belt, and because one of his shoulders is a red star called Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice). Also, his foot is blue, but I don’t see that as much as my favorite star, Betelgeuse. Well here, he is UPSIDE DOWN!!! Betelgeuse is his foot here! I thought I was crazy when I saw it to think the sky was upside down, but it is upside down!

Off to Cordoba for the weekend! Look out 10 hour bus ride, here I come!

 

Old, and a little crazy! February 7, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 8:35 am
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Today (Sunday) is a very sad day for me. My best friend I have made down here left Buenos Aires today to head for Cordoba for two weeks. Hopefully I can visit her while she is there. But even Buenos Aires is sad she is gone, yesterday was nice and sunny and today it is a torrential downpour!

Otherwise, this week has been interesting. After the futbol game, I was cold and tired and didn’t feel like paying for a cab, so I stayed at my friend Mayara’s place because she has an extra bed in her room, and the owners once told her I could stay whenever I want. Well, apparently they were not ok with it. When I got up Thursday morning, they got mad at me, told me it was not a hotel and that I had to pay. They told me that people pay per person and not per room. So even though Mayara pays more to have her own room, I still had to pay. It was RIDICULOUS! That night when I went back over there I avoided all contact with them because I was furious! I have had bad luck with some of the older Argentinian population this trip!

The next night when I went over there, Antonio, the man who owns the place, decided that, for the police and for his records, he needed all of my information, including my name (first, middle and last), place of birth, date of birth, passport number, phone number and email address. I gave him most of it but drew the line at email address. I want no correspondence from them! On top of all of that, on Friday during the day, Christina (Antonio’s wife) went in to my friend Rafa’s room while he was not there, took all of his stuff out and put it in his sister’s room. Because even though he had paid to have the room until today (Sunday), they had booked someone else in his room starting on Saturday. And the same thing happened to my friend Neil on Saturday morning. He woke up and was booted out! It is craziness over there!!!!

Other than that, Thursday night a bunch of us went to a dinner/Tango show with Mayara’s grandparents and cousin. It was great! And the food was pretty delicious too! Friday night we all went out for Mayara, Rafa and Eva’s last weekend here. We went back to the Mexican food place (which was better than I remember) and then to a club called Asia de Cuba. It’s a great club but there was one group of guys that were like vultures!! I almost got in to it with a few of them because they wouldn’t leave me and my friends alone. Luckily we had three guys with us that would intervene when necessary.

But one of the guys decided at around 6 am, it would be a good idea to do the worm in the middle of the club! Needless to say it was a bad idea. He managed to cut his chin open on glass or something and had to go get 5 stitches!!! It was a strange but fun night!

This weekend has been pretty lazy and tonight we will go to a bar to watch the Superbowl. WOO! As much as I love football, I LOOOOOOVE Superbowl commercials! I wonder if they will show them here or if they will show Argentinian commercials. I will be pretty upset if I don’t get to see them! Pues, vamos a ver! (Well, we will see!)

Besos a todos!

 

Come sun or come rain February 4, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — Devon Alter @ 8:01 am
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Ok so I have wanted to update for some time now, but it has been pretty crazy for me here! Any free moments I have at home I am working or sleeping! So here is a quick update:

This weekend I went to a beach in Uruguay called Punta del Este. It is supposed to be the ritzy Hamptons-like get-away for Buenos Aires. But it just seemed like any other beach town to me. Not to mention, NO ONE accepted credit cards and we were only able to find one working ATM. It of course was in the farthest area of town from our hostel. But what I did love, aside from the beach, was the exchange rate. For two nights, our hostel cost 950 Uruguayan pesos, or 49 US dollars. They had towels for 40 pesos, or 2 USD. And even though no one accepted credit cards, everyone accepted Uruguayan pesos, Argentinean pesos, US dollars and Brazilian reals.

But after we finally checked in we hit the beach and it was BEAUTIFUL! Cold, but BEAUTIFUL! And even though we applied and reapplied sunscreen, some of us fried. We rented umbrellas for the next days! Other than that it felt like one very long day of beaches, no AC and fun. We ended up being a group of 12 and we had a blast!! But I must say, one of the best parts of the trip was the Peruvian restaurant I went to one afternoon. It was the best food I have had since arriving in South America. LOVE!

Since then I have been absolutely overloaded with work! I started off with a normal amount and suddenly this week everything blew up! I will definitely be doing some work from home from now until BAFWEEK. I am still trying to learn all the designers and may have a summary post to help me!

Last night my friends and I headed to a futbol game (soccer). It was a ton of fun but it was POURING!! I had a pancho and I was still soaked through! I am still a little cold! And after we left it was IMPOSSIBLE to find a taxi. Since my purse was under my pancho, I held it up and put my hand on my back to look pregnant hoping a cab driver would take pity. But my friend got a cab before I had a chance to strut my stuff! But I know it would have worked!

Ok, off to work! Tonight, TANGO SHOW!!!

*new favorite translations:

- hip hop in Portuguese in Hipi Hopi (the spelling may be off but you get the idea!!)
- this one was found by a friend at a restaurant – burrito de pollo o carne = little donkey of chicken or meat

 

 
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