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.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Photos from Cordoba Summer 2009
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
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!
Typical Argentine Scene
You´ve got the red wine (Argentine of course) olives, salami and fresh bread and the bbq grill in the background. mmmm...
Theater
We went to see the Philharmonic (from Philly PA!) play at this amazing theater! It was lovely...
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Un beso en la luna
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
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
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
We took a daytrip to Tanti, about an hour away from the city, where our friend Diego's family has an amaaaazing weekend house. This creek is in the backyard. Nice!
Tanti
We took a daytrip to Tanti, about an hour away from the city, where our friend Diego's family has an amaaaazing weekend house. This creek is in the backyard. Nice!
Emilio and Jere in Tanti
Our friend Diego's kid and his friend. These boys liked to play hide and seek with me but got mad when I didn't look for them for a while. They called me "that American girl"
My Mannequin Obsession
Look at this big daddy. We don't have these guys in the US, do we??? He made me laugh...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunset on the Road
Franco took this dreamy shot from the top of the double-decker bus on the way home. It was an incredible sunset...
Agua Caliente for Mate
Remember how I told y'all about the mate drink and the special mugs they drink it out of? Well, this is the hot water tank and the mugs for sale at the bus station.
Bike Ride
snapped this bike rider girl in front of a corner shop in Arroyito, a small town we went to for a daytrip.
Dreamy Riverside
We took a daytrip to Arroyito, a small town an hour or so from Cordoba. Franco's family lived there for 8 years. They don't have much besides a really lovely river!
Suspended Bridge
(taken with my special Lensbaby lens) What a gorgeous river in this little town Arroyito
Suspended Bridge
(taken with my special Lensbaby lens) What a gorgeous river in this little town Arroyito
Bicycle Town
(taken with my special Lensbaby lens) Everyone in Arroyito rides their bikes everywhere!
Soda with Bitters!
We drink this all the time- soda water (comes out fizzy in this special bottle) mixed with bitters- an herbal drink. Mmmm... like a healthy coke!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Land of Wonders
At first when I realized I was going to be going to winter weather here in South America, I was bummed because I love the heat (well, not exactly as hot as Texas summers, but…) but now that I’m here, I’m really enjoying the chilly weather. This is the Argentina I knew before- chilly mornings and evenings, but mostly sunny and nice in the day. I love being in our warmly heated apartment after walking the cold city streets. I also am loving the tea-time they observe. They actually drink maté, which is a type of tea with a different kind of caffeine called matiena. Now you have to understand that maté is a national obsession here- it seems that everyone drinks maté all day long, seriously. You put a whole load of dry leaves into your maté cup which is actually a dried-out gourd and then you have your bombilla which is a metal straw with holes in the bottom of it. You then have your hot-water thermos (yes, it’s a bit involved to drink maté but they don’t care.) and you’re constantly filling your cup with the hot water, drink, drink, drink, then refill. Anywhere you go, everyone’s slurping on these things- it’s really funny! And there are lots of places you can get refills on your hot water- like a water cooler but with hot water. I promise I’ll take some photos of the obsession! I’ve tried it in the past, but didn’t care for it too much (it’s kindof bitter) but I’m thinking I’m going to give it another chance. I’ll let you know if I give in. Can you imagine me lugging all that stuff around Texas, slurping on my straw like that? Haha!
Another thing I love about chilly weather is I get to be a homebody and do lots of reading and cooking and movie-watching. We went to Up in 3D (and in Spanish, unfortunately…) which was so touching and really incredible! We both loved it. We rented Déjà Vu with Denzel Washington (great) and Night at the Museum I (we’re going to see Noche al Museo II this week at the theater.) And last night we rented a movie that blew my mind- I loved it so much! Have you guys seen Across the Universe? It’s about the 60’s and I guess you could say it’s a musical, but with all Beatles songs…amaaaazing! We were both really impressed by the quality of the movie- it’s an example of cinematic art, truly. I love to watch films that are a work of art, you know?
We’ve been really creative on ways to fill up our time here. For example, yesterday we went to a SUPER nerdy place- the video game lounge (what an awesome girlfriend I am!) It’s a place that has a dozen or so areas set up with a couch and a flat-screen TV with Playstations and Xboxes. You rent a station for an hour and get to play games. We thought Tennis would be a good choice, but we were wrong because it’s tricky to figure out how to make the players hit the ball. Then we switched to a car racing game and that was awesome for us (due to all my Nintendo playing years with my brothers.) While we were playing, there were two cops playing a soccer game for an hour really loudly next to us and the best thing?- they were on duty! Oh, Argentina!
When I ask my curious questions-
- · Why are those cops not on the streets but playing PlayStation?
- · Why is that dog sitting in the middle of the busy intersection?
- · Why did all those 5 cars just run the red light?
- · Why are all the DVDs at this rental place pirated?
Franco just tells me “Don’t ask questions like that- You are in Argentina, Land of Wonders!”
Another really odd thing is that no one seems to have change here. Franco says the past couple of years it’s been like this; he says the government is not making new bills or coins (which I believe by the disintegrating bills we get.) So whenever we pay for a cab or a coffee or something like that, everyone’s always asking if we have any coins to make exact change, which we usually do, but here’s a crazy story- today we were in the big supermarket and our total was 25 pesos (like 8 dollars) and we paid with 30 pesos and the lady of course asked for coins but we didn’t have any. She looked at us and said “Sorry, I don’t have any change. You’re going to have to put something back.” A freakin supermarket had no change!!! So we had to buy a chocolate to balance out the total… Weird, huh? There are some things I guess I take for granted in the States, like being able to pay with a $20 bill no problem. We carry equivalents of $20 bills and I swear, people nearly faint when we try to pay for something with it. Oh, Argentina, good thing you’re charming!
Well, we send you lots of love from the Land of Wonders!
Chau!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
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