It started with me having to go downtown to get some money. I am always nervous when I'm downtown with a lot of money, so I asked someone to come with me. Besides, I also promised my family. So my friend agreed to meet me outside of Patio Olmos and we would walk together to my destination. Before I left, I told Sophi to tell our host mom I woudn't be here for lunch, and then I hopped on the bus. I had been to downtown enough to learn the roads that would take me... Av Caraffa to Castro Barros, then left to Av. Colo---why did he turn right? I started to think that I got on the wrong bus. Unfamiliar stop after unfamiliar stop, I watch nervously, desperately trying to recognize something. This bus said Patio Olmos, didn't it?
Then we crossed a bridge and we were on a familiar street. Whew! This bus just takes a different route. Feeling a lot better, I try to find the seat I had gotten out of, but it had been taken. Oh well. Well, the ride was starting to get longer than I felt was right, so I got off and asked a candy shop owner to direct me to Patio Olmos. "O go 1 more block and you're there." Sigh. I got off too early again.
I started walking, and then I understood why the bus ride felt really long. Traffic is terrible because there's a protest in the streets! Some Youth Organization was waving flags and beating drums and shooting fireworks into the sky. There were police nearby to keep an eye on things, but they let the protest go on... I tried to take a video from a safe distance...
So I went to Patio Olmos and waited. Soon enough, Tatsuki showed up. We walked to the place, I got my money, and hid it. Tatsuki joined me as I got on the bus again. We talked about Japanese culture, history and language on the way. He got off to go home, and I went on to the university. When I got there, I put down my money for the Buenos Aires trip (Yessss!) and then I went out with all of the other exchange students. We all got on a bus and rode back downtown. It was crazy. All of us filled almost the entire bus! We must have been frustrating to the people already on.
After the bus ride back to the place I was at before, We walked to the Center for Human Rights, or something like that, to get our fingers printed and to establish that we have not been in trouble with the law in Argentina. That process went relatively quickly, but we're not finished. In a week or so, we have to go finish the process to get our visas. But for today, we were finished. So Lucile and I went "shopping" since we were downtown, where all the shops were. I was looking for a place to recharge my bus card, and she was looking for jogging pants. We also had an ice cream. While we ate, we talked about each others' blogs and cultures. It was pretty fun. She's a nice person.
We didn't find her jogging pants, but we did find a place to reload our bus cards, so we went to the bus stops and got on a bus to go home. I have had enough of bus riding for the weekend! When I got home, my head was hurting, and it was probably because I ended up not eating lunch, but I took some Tylenol and took a nap. When I woke up, my host father was getting ready for an asado with his friends. Pia was in the kitchen making dinner for the rest of us. It was farfalle, an arabic dish. It was good! Our host father did end up bringing us some of the meat from the asado. Pia, Patricia and I watched movies on the TV until we were all tired and went to sleep.
You're a really nice person too Marcos ! I'm glad I met you here in Argentina :) And keep writing your blog it's very interesting to read you !
ReplyDelete