I can't go to sleep : (

So I write on the blog. Oh my gosh you guys. It is SO HOT right now. Liiike I can't go to sleep. It was really warm today, and I was lugging a huge purse around so I got real hot, but tomorrow it's seriously supposed to be like 90 degrees. Where did this come from??? I wanted it to be warm, but not that drastic of a jump! I'm going to have to find a place with air-conditioning to hang out at all the time or just get used to be in a constant state of sweating. It almost makes me want to cut my hair! But it's gotten so long and at least until I get back to the US, I want to keep it that way. We'll see. I don't look good w/ short hair anyways. It just gets hot.
I absolutely have to mention the play I went to see tonight, called Medea. IT WAS THE MOST BALLER THING I'VE EVER SEEN. It was modern, messed up, great cast, in spanish, great set and use of "props" (water!), i had a seat in the second row!, and it was just nuts. The main character was a woman who just freakin went crazy in her life, and it was so messed up but wonderful at the same time! haha I have to read it to go back and catch everything... oops. I got the plot, just not all the social commentary.
Oh! also epic. I may have made another kiosk friend! haha okay. so he works the kiosk on the street perpendicular to mine that I always go down to get the the larger street, Santa Fe which connects me everywhere. SO. I pass him like every day when I'm either on my way home at night or leaving, etc. [He works the night shift... it's not that hard to figure out. It's not like a keep a neighborhood watch of his hours haha]
And so this is bad but a couple times when I've wanted chocolate and I don't have any at home of course, I would go to the kiosk [basically a vending machine... gosh this makes me sound compulsive !!] and buy one. from this guy. So he knows who I am, and every time I pass he always greets me. The equivalent of, hey, how's it going? And I always just say good and keep walking. So tonight on my way back from the play, it was crazy hot and as I hadn't been to my kiosk in awhile, I decided to get a water. And he normally has this crazy curly huge fro going on, which is a bit much, but i swear you guys he straightened it tonight, and he SOOO looked like Michael Jackson HAHAHA. like he should never do that again. but regardless. [this story is so pointless, sorry]
where i'm going with this is that he asked me my name!!! HAHA and his name is gabriel. how precious. such a latino name, esp. with the accent on the "e." anyways. it's just, how many kiosk workers really ask people their names.... isn't it normally like, yes, sir, that gum will be 50 cents. so I think this is a sign that we are friends. the true test is whether he remembers or not. If next time I see him, he says "Hey, Emily," it's going to be official haha. I want him to be my little buddy, but gosh that probably won't happen. But at least it's nice to say hi when I pass. I'm totally satisfied w/ the friends i have, but I've realized it's really really fun to make new ones too. so gabriel. always gonna remember him. nice kid. He's probably like 17 and that would be upsetting haha
I really need a break. that sounds bad! but it's so true. I am just tired. I am ready for these papers to be over. I have 3 and 1 take-home written final, and 1 is sort of almost done. Deadlines just give me hernias. That's inappropriate and not true, but metaphorically yes. I am actually very very happy with the capacity of info that I have learned about the complexities of this country in such a short amount of time. I probably know more about the history of Argentina than a lot of people who live here. Okay, maybe that's not true, but it's a lot. And I love it. Because it's so messed up and complicated and brings up so many themes. Which makes it hard to condense into 15 pages of analyisis haha
Okay. I am like literally in the inferno right now. Supposedly there's a fan somewhere under my bed... Immabout to whip that out. Like, how do you not be hot... I need to find strategies. Starting with the fan.
Peace and happiness. No, something that sounds cooler... ummm... haha the ebonics translator says: peace an' happiness and shit. I'm sorry. It's a translation. NOT MINE. "ain't nothin but a g-thang" translates to: ain't nothin but uh g-thang an don't make me pull mah gat!

and with that. love. emily

Emily, which translates to "girl who lives with cockroaches"

Also, did I mention there were cockroaches in my kitchen?? Yes. every night. they come out at night and scare the crap out of me when I go to get water. Only at night. Only in the kitchen counter/sink. SO NASTY. at least it's not spiders. then we'd really have a problem. I killed one tonight w/ the box of matches, and left it's half crushed body stuck to the side of the fridge. AS A MESSAGE TO THE OTHERS.

eww eww eww eww eww eww eww

[no] me encanta.

(I started taking a picture for each blog so you can see what I look like right now and so I can be honest with you all about the state of my hair sometimes... hahaha) I hate to admit this, because I don't want to buy into it, but let's be real with ourselves, McDonald's is quite possibly the best/most useful + company/service out there. I have been to McDonalds about 100 times more frequently here than I have in the US, basically because I hardly ever go in the US. Why? Because it's disgusting. It's straight up nast. Like, I might go for an iced tea in the summa, but it is like "legit I only have $1.05 in my life right now so I'm forced to go to McD" status as far as I'm concerned. If you're gonna get a salad, let's be real: you go somewhere where they make salads. And their chicken sucks, which as we all know is my preferred meal anyways, so moral: I normally don't actually like McDonalds.

Let's just go with the stats: so far here, twice I have spent quite a cantidad of time at McD, both nights which ended up being waaaay fun. Once, I stayed there from like 12? to literally 6 in the morning. And there were SO MANY PEOPLE THERE!! It was awesome. You know why? Because it's 1)super chill 2)super cheap 3)recognizable 4)predictable (except when they're out of stuff, like nuggets...) 5)and no one is ever going to be like, excuse me, ma'am, you seem to have finished your burger. please step aside so someone else can sit there and eat theirs.

also to prove the superiority, I went tonight for a cup of coffee (because it's 5.50 pesos, compared to 8 pesos+ elsewhere and it's like 2x the size... also half the taste, but I don't care. also apparently I'm into math today...) and I took my computer to write a little informe, and big shock: they have wireless. Like perfect wireless. Which I don't even have at my house. I mean I have wireless but it cuts out and sucks much of the time. Entonces. Como me encanta McDonalds, aunque es el diablo de empresas. How I love McD, though it is the devil of businesses. Hurts so good, right?

Also, I am going to be buying my weight in jewelry soon. I stopped at a store today, I just want to take a picture. It has 3 walls lined with jewelry. I bought like 5 things. And I'm going back. I wanted to stop and touch every single thing. Which I sort of did... I am like a little girl, but oh my gosh. So much sparkle. Soooo many beads. This is a throwback to my childhood and how I loved making crafts. I love spring!!

And sidenote today was mother's day. I bought my host mom a book, because she loves to read. and I love to read. So let's read. That's about how much I care. It's just weird, because she's NOT my mom, but I do appreciate her. Hence the book.

K. I'm going to try and do, whatever it was I was supposed to do... haha basically a lot!

-"Remember, world peace!" -quote from sergio text. I don't understand either.
Emily

real life.

you know how everyone has a smell? when i walk into my room, i smell me. and it smells good. i hope it doesn't smell bad to other people. HAHAHAHA

i also just finished one of the hardest 24-stretches of my life. it's so true that one day you are on top of the world and the next literally you can be wiped out on your back, but it's okay. i got up. and apparently, i smell good. haha

sometimes blogs are random. just keepin' it real.

Keep it real.

6 octubre 2009
soooo. I was thinking. (figure 1: me right now, so it's like we're talking.) Today i got really embarrassed during class because i couldn’t explain an idea i had, and i hadn’t prepared it before i said it, i just started talking WHICH I NEVER DO! And it turned out that the prof. Didn’t follow. And oddly enough, unlike EVERY OTHER experience like this in my life, my impulse wasn’t to freak out and be embarrassed. I did that a few minutes later of course because i’ve taught myself to do that! But it was kina of wonderful on many levels: 1. I saw that there is a tiny place inside me that says it’s okay to mess up, don’t get bogged down by it, 2. I practiced speaking spanish in front of a group and a native, which is ALWAYS scary for me, and 3. I MESSED IT UP, WHICH IS GREAT. I’ve decided i have to do this more often. I absolutely HAVE to mess up more. This is why i really don’t like to talk in class at all, which has been difficult in honor scholar classes where the nature of it is to discuss and not have everything figured out beforehand. So i really hope this is a step in the right direction: being wrong and being okay with it. I am so absolutely terrified of ever saying any remotely insignificant thing wrong because i immediately get uuuuber embarrassed and want to go crawl in a hole and cry. But i have to TRY more. And that’s much more important. I can’t spend my whole life crying because i said “la día” instead of “el día”, which is day 1 spanish but i STILL do that. I think that it’s okay to be wrong, just as long as you know you are wrong! Haha and understand how to fix it. I’m not suggesting it’s good that i’m making errors, but that it IS good for me to make them and recognize them as such. THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN, FRIENDS. I’m so used to getting 20/20 on all my assignments from elementary and middle school (and to some extent high school… before the academy, let’s be real) that i still haven’t gotten over the whole “missing one point=death.” Because really, i’m no where near being a 19/20 on speaking spanish, so let’s be honest with ourselves: we need to set more realistic goals here.
So here’s the goal: if i’m not embarrassed at least 3 times a day, i’m not trying hard enough. Think about that for whatever you’re trying to make happen but just isn’t going right, because that’s exactly where you need to be! If it’s not really complicated, why do it???
Also, goal 2: if i could go 1 day without random men making comments about me on the street, that would be a good day. But maybe i should just stick to realistic goals… or this could fall under the being embarrassed category!! such is south america i guess.
Keep it real.
Emily