01-07-09 post spanish lesson

Holy shit i can´t believe that it is 2009! I haven´t written in a while, sorry. I´m very lazy. I wanna say, straight away, happy late birthday Grandpa, I hope you enjoyed it! and happy early birthday Ryan! To auntie Teresa-yes i still call you that behind your back-i decided to spend a long time in Argentina because I really liked it. When i came to south america all i had planned was a plane ticket arriving on october 18th and departing april 10th and i knew that i wanted to go to brasil to see my dad. I have ended up staying in Argentina, in buenos aires, because its totally rad. I want to spend as little money as possible here in south america because i hope to travel to europe and i have plans to road trip with my friend david for the summer/fall. buenos aires is cheap compared to us, a lot of people speak english and there is loads of stuff to see and do. I also happened upon a fabulous hostel full of wonderful people, most of whom i feel priveledged to know. I am learning some spanish, a little everyday, in hopes of being more prepared when i travel to places were the people only speak spanish. It looks as though i will be going to uraguay soon, maybe in the next week to visit a friend from Germany. I´m so excited, they have beaches there, lots of nice beaches and as it is in the 90s and humid almost everyday here, i could use a break in the way of the ocean. In feb/march i hope to travel to chile and peru and maybe bolivia, equador, and columbia. I would also like to get around argentina some more, its a awesome country with lots to see. I´m having a great time and loving every minute of being here! I have taken lots of pictures and hopefully i will be able to put them up for all of you. Ok I think that answers your guestion and catches everybody up. I had a great new years and I hope you all did also. I have been spending the last week shopping and walking to different places in the city. I ventured to Tigre by train and that was fun. Public transportation costs like 25 cents a ride, its crazy awesome! I eat delicious food everyday, but for the last 2 days i have had smoothies and french fries, what could be better....mmm my love for fried potatoes continues, though i have given up chocolate(heather, tell betty never to come here, there is no dark chocolate) and chips. I´ve only had one hamburger and it wasnt near as good as ours. The hot dogs are awesome though, they are called super ponchos and i dont know what kind of mixture of processed meat they are made out of, they are delicous. I´m getting browner, but i have a total farmer tan cause everytime i go out i cover up as much as i can, cause i hate sunscreen. im brown from the elbow down, half a calf and top of my foot and around my neck, its just makes me look like i dont bathe, its hot. I found an american/european fancy mall that has a tiffany and a MAC. At first i was really excited to be in the mall, but then everything was American and just the same as at home and i hadnt seen it in so long it made me sick. I had to get out of there, it was so much to look at and it was all lame. It was horrible, but then I saw the MAC(you know the makeup store) on the way out and my inner american came out and i decided it was all crap but the MAC was ok...silly i know. An american guy showed up and the hostel a few days ago and he is the same age as i am. It was very odd to be around him. He was from berkley and said "hella" and fuck every other word and was so sarcastic like typical young american guy. I started swearing again and being sarcastic, it surprised me how fast i just fell right back into that way of speaking. Hes gone now and my mouth is a bit more appropriate now. The longer i stay here the less i want to go home. My trip is very close to half over and I feel like i´ve barely started my journey. love and kisses to all my family and friends. To those of you that use this blog as an opportunity to check up on me and see how i am doing: I miss you and please feel free to email me and tell me what you are up and what is going on in your life. I could really stand to hear some stories. Besos. Gracias para todo haces. Te extrano mucho. No espero a ver sos.