21 Celebrations!

Friday, July 31st!

I got up this morning with a major lack of sleep, and I headed to my lesson with Betty. We worked on asking questions. I just went down a list and asked her questions, and then she asked me questions. At the end, I asked her if I could have a picture with her for my records. She was really excited, took off her classes, fixed her hair, called in her maid, and had us move to the sofa. It was really cute. We also exchanged emails and I asked her to let me know how the conference went.

I headed back to my house, ate breakfast, made copies for class, and also picked up another phone card. I actually use my phone quite a bit when communicating with Monica about my classes. Plus, I don’t like my account to be so low it won’t let me make a call in case anything happens.

I went by the Roadhouse, and Rebeca and I got Chinese food. I’ve gotten it several times, and it’s really good. Rebe found a lunch special, so I got more than I normally do. I just kept my leftovers at the Roadhouse.

Then, I headed, somewhat reluctantly, to Quilmes. I don’t take my Ipod anymore, after being mildly reprimanded by Pablo. Most people here, if they have one, only have a shuffle, so mine stands out for its size. And apparently even just seeing my headphones is asking for it. So I don’t take it out anymore, which is kind of a bummer because I had enjoyed walking around the city with it.

I had kind of hoped today would be one of the short days, but no luck. It was ok though. Both Pablo’s attended class, which is rare, and I went through some phrases which I had pulled out specifically for the Pablo who never attends. He was grateful, and gifted me with an alfajor. To which the other Pablo asked him if he knew it was my birthday. He didn’t, and I don’t think I got a good look when I told him I was 21. It seemed more like, what kind of baby teacher are they sending to teach me English. Oh wells!

My second class was just with Jorge. He’s good, and we sped through everything and just ended up talking for about an hour. I apologized, but I told him – his English is really good, and most of the stuff I bring for the other guys he just speeds through. He brought me a whole roll of alfajores (6 total) as a birthday gift, which was really sweet.

I returned home, ready for tea time! I checked my email, and received the awesome birthday news that I was selected as one of the student ambassadors for a conference in China! My shouts were transferred to my parents via email, which my mom “shouted” back, so that was good.

Maria Laura came back and put together the teach party, and I sincerely appreciate her enthusiasm for making me feel special. This was a crazy hectic week for her, and she really put forth an effort to put on the “tea party”. We set the table, and at 6:30 (Maria Laura made fun of her punctuality) Rebe came over. Lulu and her friend Agust attended as well. We had hot chocolate, mini sandwiches with ham and cheese, AND a dulce de leche torta, complete with a 21 candle that sparked! I also got a gift of some lotion with a hint of lemon.

All in all, it was a really fun and sweet time. After that, we talked with Maria Laura for a while, before turning on some music, dancing, singing, and just being goofy. Poor Uma. I don’t like the dog, but she got danced with, as well as dressed up in some Halloween costumes.

Then I changed, curled my hair, and met Rebe at the corner. We tried to hail a cab, which was actually harder than we thought it would be. We finally awkwardly got one, but he was crazy. In that he stopped in the middle of the road, swerved facing the wrong way of traffic on the cross street. That probably should’ve indicated to us not to get in, but we did. He was grumbling about our faulty signaling and commented that we must be American. I didn’t say anything, but I wrote to Rebe to say something fast in Spanish so he wouldn’t think that. So we ignored his questions, gave him the address, and just went. But I tell you, we nearly crashed about 3 times. It was the worst taxi ride I’ve been in. After he heard us talking, he was like, so you’re from argentina or what? But we again just ignored him.

We finally scrambled out of the car, and rang the doorbell to Sebas house! He let us in and there were lots of people. Aside from a few Road people, we didn’t really know anyone. We just talked with Blanca and David, who work at the Roadhouse. I also talked to a girl who went to school with Sebas. I did get a picture with him though, which required my taking off my purse and jacket. So I’m pretty sure he knows I’m mildly obsessed with him. There were pizza and drinks, and I also was able to pick out the other members of his family. Beautiful family. And it’s crazy because from the outside it looks like an ugly building with graffiti, and then on the inside it’s this beautiful home that his parents have created.

After a while, we headed out. I reminded him to keep his blog updated on his adventures throughout Australia and China. We taxied to Plaza Serrano and walked around outside the various locales trying to find a place. Neither Rebe nor I are good at this kind of thing, so we finally ended up at the restaurant we had visited with Stacy on one of our first nights. We had just ordered when Jon showed up. Even though we were indoors, I was still cold, so I borrowed Jon’s jacket…which I ended up keeping the entire night. We stayed there for a couple of hours, until past 3, then hopped in a cab and headed to a boliche. It was this place called Mint, which some of the people from the gathering last night were going to. Pues, as the cab driver went outside of the main city, and then dropped us off in this weird place, our guard was up.

There were lots of people, many cars, and more people waiting in line outside. We got in line, and we told to wait there to get inside Mint. Pues, it was FREEZING. And the girls were all dressed REALLY nice. It seemed like the top of the porteno crowd, not to mention their heels were outrageous. I felt underdressed. We made it through the first line, only to go up a hill and still not be able to see where the entrance was, nor how many more lines there were. So we left, which I only felt a little bad for making Jon leave because it was really cold.

We were just going to taxi back to our neighborhood, but we asked the driver if he knew of any other boliches near where we were. He said maybe, and he actually radio’d his supervisor and checked on one called….Shampoo……for us. And that’s not a translation either, it’s really called Shampoo. Well, it was open, and so we asked him where it was and were going to get out of the cab. However, he offered to carry us the rest of the way with no extra charge. We accepted, and it turned out to be about 10 blocks so I was thankful for it.

Pues, apparently this place used to be a strip club. I think there’s still some remanants. There was a bouncer in front of the entrance, and a rope extended from the door to the sidewalk. People were crowded all around, some begging some bribing him to get in. We stood there confused for about 5 minutes before deciding to just walk home.

We made it back, and at first we were going to stay up to head out to the flower when the sun rose. However, with the toasty room, fatigue hit, and we watched an episode of Friends and part of 90210 before deciding to just go to sleep around 6:30 a.m.