The tale of tat and other adventures

Classes STILL haven’t really got going yet, so this was pretty much my last week to relax all I want before I have to study hard. Last night I went out with some people from the program and I met a girl from London!! Studying abroad here. She is in a class with my friend angelica, and she is so sweet. I also met angelica’s host sister, who is 34 and lives at home, and we spoke Spanish together. She was kind of indie and plays the drums apparently haha. I love meeting new people, and just going to a restaurant, sitting outside with a group and talking for hours. It’s such a fun way to pass the time. We should do that more often in the US.
My human rights class met this week, and we met the teacher’s aid, manuel who is working on his doctorate here. It’s so weird because at depauw we don’t have any grad students, but this upcoming week the professor isn’t even going to come to class, manuel is going to teach. He seems cool. Once again, love meeting new people. I’m so weird haha
ALSO, this week I got SICK. Well, not really, I just got a bad dolor de garganta, pain of the throat thing. So I had to go to the HOSPITAL to see a doctor! I was so scared to go. Walking into a hospital in a foreign country, not knowing where to go. And of course I went by myself… great idea. But, it all turned out alright. It was the hospital aleman, and just like the Germans (as my host mother told me) it was extremely clean, precise, organized, and austere haha. I talked to the doctor in Spanish (kind of bad but oh well) and he gave me an antibiotic and a scrip for ibuprofen. So, all in all an good experience in trying something new in the language.
But let’s be real, this week gets a lot more interesting than a hospital visit. However like any good “news” report, the title tempts the real story, and after boringness we have it. TAT. Okay. So last Saturday me, angelica, michelle, casey and scott went to a restaurant where there was supposed to be a live tango show during dinner, so we were like score this will be fun. So part of the way through our meal, our waiter changed from a lady to a man who spoke English to us, so we all assumed it was because the restaurant people were trying to cater to our needs. But this guy keeps making comments, and near the end of our meal he was like, so where are you all going tonight? And we didn’t know, so he comes back with a list of places that he thinks are good, and he hands it to me haha and of course, it has his phone number on it, and he’s like, if you ever want to go, just call me. And he also says I have beautiful eyes. The standby. Oh! And we dub this guy “tat” cleverly because his arms are covered in them. Tat.
So when we go to leave, tat is standing at the door holding it open, and I’m the last one to leave and tat is like, oh you have to get used to the argentine ways and does the side kiss thing they do here. It’s not actually a kiss, like a greeting or goodbye. Sooooo when we left, everyone I was with was like find out if we’re hanging out with this guy. So I texted him, and as it turns out ol’ boy had been working hard all day and offered to take me to lunch the next day!! How precious. Like really. Precious.
So like a nice guy, he actually followed through and took me to lunch on Sunday. And he paid for it all. And I met one of his friends who stopped by, se llama (named) diego, who works in a classy restaurant in Puerto madero, a really nice area of Buenos aires. And it was good. And tat is extremely nice. His parents live in Virginia by DC, and he is Mexican-chilean-american so his English is really good. So after lunch we walked around San Telmo, which has an outside fair on Sundays every week.
So then on Wednesday, he took me to my first futbol/soccer game here! And once again, he paid for it. It was river plate against lanus, and tat is a diehard river plate fan. That was such an experience… it took forever to get in, and we had to switch lines multiple times because the police were being jerks and singling people out. Like I think they saw that me and my friend angelica were foreign and literally pulled us out of the line because of that, even though we were really close to the front. Jerks. But, so we eventually got in, and these people are freaking nuts. It’s so much more intense than anything I’ve seen in the US. They have songs for their teams, and no joke they did not stop singing THE ENTIRE GAME. There were about 3 people in the amount of space one person should be! And people were leaning on me, using my shoulder to hoist themselves up past me, it was ridiculous. Also, 90% of the crowd were males and 10% were women and children haha. Why you would ever take a child there I have no idea! It probably makes people move out of your way easier I guess. But we went with him and two of his friends from work who didn’t speak English, so we spoke some to them. And sadly, river plate lost. Only 3 goals the entire game! Soccer is so different. 1 us, 2 them haha and everyone in the crowd was wearing a jersey or jacket or hat or something from their team. It’s diehard. I’m really glad I didn’t try to go with just Americans, because we would have gotten eaten because we don’t know what we’re doing haha
So yesterday I also hung out with tat haha he had to go to work though so we just walked around a little before he had to go. He’s an extremely nice person, smart, intuitive, treats me like a princess, and proof that nice guys do exist haha. Some of the guys in Argentina make me wonder… but yeah. How lucky am I? I have made great friends in the program, have tried so many new things, and am hanging out with a really nice guy. Oh, and his name is Sergio haha not tat.
Off to shower and then dinner with the Americans. Maybe I’ll meet another waiter HAHA just kidding. Tat, I didn’t mean it : )
Shout out to alana for reading this!! Haha love you guys
Emily