Friday, September 4, 2009

Photos from Cordoba Summer 2009

Well, I guess I should call them "Photos from Cordoba Winter 2009" right?

And guess what? When I got back to Argentina in a week, I get another summer!!! 2009 is the year of Angie's Endless Summer! :D

(You can click on the slideshow photos for more info and to go to my flickr site.)


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Oh my gosh, she's arisen from the dead!!!

So, yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have totally abandoned the website for a while. So sorry!!! I've got a good excuse: I've been too busy having FUN outside and with my family and friends than to sit for hours on the computer....it's kinda like having an essay you know is due looming over your head. But in my case, there is no professor waiting to give me a crappy grade for being late- wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! But I do apologize. I promise I'll get better about being consistent with the blog after my big move. (I leave the 12th of Sept.) In the meantime, take a look at some of my photos I've been editing and posting to flickr.

(You can watch the slideshow and click on a photo for more info or even go to my flickr page from here.)

This first photo slideshow is actually from March of this year when I went to Cordoba, Arg. to meet Franco's family. Our original plan, if you can remember, was to leave Arg to move Franco to Texas to start our new lives together. Well, now we all know that didn't go as smoothly as planned!!!;)
Enjoy!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Friday, July 10, 2009

It´s the Little Differences...

Like I said before, I have really started to look at this city in a different light with the very real possibility of moving here real soon. And the funny thing about coming from a country like the US and moving to a country like Argentina is that the differences aren’t really that big. It’s like they say in Pulp Fiction “It’s the little things that make the difference.” (and they talked about how in France a Big Mac is a Royale with cheese, remember?) And here it’s the same- it’s not like Japan where people eat on the floor and wear slippers in the house and use chopsticks and other things really different from my native culture. But the little things do add up…Like what? Like….let’s see…

Time Schedules. That’s a big one. I have come to the conclusion that they do all the same things we do in the States, but they just shift the whole timetable 3 or 4 hours ahead in the day than us (Europe is the same way.) For example, they tend to eat the big dinner of the day all together as a family, but at 10pm. The restaurants are completely empty at our dinnertime, like 6 or 7pm- empty! But from 10pm til midnight (and even later) all the places are packed. That’s an adjustment for me to get used to eating so late (and going to bed with a super full stomach.) And the whole nightlife schedule- whoa, don’t get me started on that one! Franco and I have tried 2 times since I’ve arrived to go out to a dance club or see music here and we failed both times (we concluded that we’re too old for going out here!) Here’s the deal- you take a nap in the early evening to prepare for the night and then you meet up with your friends for drinks or whatever at a bar around 11pm or so. After staying there for a good 3 hours or so, then you go to the dance club, usually around 2 or 3am. The boliches (nightclubs) really get going around that time and they stay open until 8am, when you leave the club to eat a choripan (like a hot dog) on the streets and then go home to sleep. I give up, Argentina! I can’t do it! I fail at your nightlife! (which is a bummer because I would love to go out sometime… maybe I’ll try again…and drink a dozen coffees before!)

Shopping: I’ve come to realize the majority of the US was developed after the invention of the automobile and therefore our urban planning reflects that. (I guess the big early cities like NYC and Philadelphia were different.) But Europe and cities down here were made with the city walker in mind, and you can still see that today. One thing that I really do enjoy is the way we walk everywhere (everyone does) and you’ve got all your stores on your walk home- hop in and pick up the meat at the butchers, stop by the bakery for bread, get meds at the pharmacy, and veggies at the corner vegetable store. It makes shopping a whole lot easier and more enjoyable (in my opinion) than getting in the car and parking in the gigantic lot and then taking an hour or more to do the week’s shopping. Sure, it probably takes less time all together to go to the supermarket, but there’s something nice about stopping into places on the way home. And even though I’ve only been here for a few weeks, I’m starting to get to know some of the store employees and we chat. Franco says his mom goes food shopping every day (she’s retired) because she loves talking with all the people. My friend Rebecca is really into buying local and organic, and I realized that’s the way it here, naturally. All the butchers have local meat (they open the cabinet with hanging carcasses and chop off what you want) and we see the cattle grazing in the fields on our trips out of town. And the vegetables and fruit we buy are mostly from here, and organic because I don’t think the farmers can afford the pesticides… and the prices are not Whole Foods Organics prices (come on, $4 for an organic apple???)
And speaking of stores, it´s funny for me to see all their specialized shops. For example, yesterday I went to replace our broken TV remote control and guess where I went? To the remote control store of course! It was right next to the battery store which was next to the light bulb store. It´s like as if every aisle in WalMart has its own store. Maybe that´s what it was like before Walmarts?

Anyways, those are 2 differences I thought of today. I’ve got at least a dozen more, I’m sure. Like how our broom at the apt drops peeling paint from the broomstick while you are sweeping, so you constantly have to clean up after the broom itself. How maddening is that??? Haha! You can ask Franco how cussing mad it makes me! “It’s the little differences…” , no?

Well, until next time, CHAU!

chillin with the dog


chillin with the dog, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

At Carlos Paz, our friend Pablo´s place. He´s an artist and makes big stuffed animals with big stuffed bones among other art. Fun!

The Boys at BBQ


The Boys at BBQ, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

Franco and Pablo in Carlos Paz making the traditional Argentine BBQ

Typical Argentine Scene


Typical Argentine Scene, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

You´ve got the red wine (Argentine of course) olives, salami and fresh bread and the bbq grill in the background. mmmm...

Theater


Theater, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

We went to see the Philharmonic (from Philly PA!) play at this amazing theater! It was lovely...

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Jump!


Jump!, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

Hanging out with the boys in Tanti (Diego's son and friends)

Un beso en la luna


Un beso en la luna, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

If you look closely, Franco is disappearing, like Marty's family in Back to the Future! This photo was set for a 30 second exposure.

Moonlit


Moonlit, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

This photo has a funny story- I was figuring out a good spot to place the camera to put it on automatic, and we were at the moonlit river bank and I stepped onto what I thought was a soft patch of grass but was actually a soft covering of waterplants over some deep stagnant water. You can imagine my surprise! Luckily, I managed to save my camera and most of my body from the nasty water. But you can see in this photo that I am wet to my knees and in wet socks. Yuck! Worth the photo, though!

The Boys in Tanti


The Boys in Tanti, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.

We took a daytrip to Tanti, about an hour away from the city, where our friend Diego's family has an amaaaazing weekend house. Diego's son and his friends were a trip- we played some really fun rhyming games in the car- lots of rhymes with fart, of course!

Tanti


Tanti, originally uploaded by La_vida_magenta.