Long Days and Pillow Fight Failures

It's been a little while. Sorry about that. I've been kind of stalling on writing an entry because I had a series of pretty shitty days. It seemed odd to put up a downer post right after "Freedom". Alas, such is life and I should be real.

My series of shitty days began 2 weekends ago, which was a pretty big social failure. I should note that people in Argentina, even expats who have now assimilated, are not known for their punctuality nor reliability. I had a weekend packed with plans involving 5 different people and only one plan/person didn't fail me. Thanks, Jorge! I had a lovely dinner at Sarki's (an excellent Armenian restaurant) with Jorge and his parents. They were both awesome and it was a fun time. After that, the weekend went downhill.

The week that followed was not any better. I was very stressed and after coming off a weekend of being bailed on, I really missed my dependable friends back home. In no way did it make me homesick, just friendsick. Keep the emails and Skype dates coming guys, because you are dearly missed.

I guess I cannot truly pinpoint why the past week was such an overall failure. I guess it was a combination of being stressed about budgets, receiving an email with unwanted information, being told I looked fat in a very matter of fact way right after an intensive workout, being bailed on multiple times, and plans just not working out as I had hoped. This weekend was supposed to make up for last weekend, I'll give it a B- for effort.

Friday night I went out with a new friend, Gaston. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant and I had delicious enchiladas for the first time since my arrival. I'll be honest and say these enchiladas were nowhere near as tasty as the Enchiladas Yolandas from Chimichangas, which I enjoyed with Ellen and Ben on my last night in STL. However, it was certainly the best Mexican I've had here. Gaston is one of my students so we started in English but thankfully we quickly switched to Spanish. Speaking English to my students actually is very tiring and literally hurts my face. You all know how fast I talk and how big my chipmunk cheeks are. I really have to force myself to concentrate on talking slowly and exaggerating my facial expressions. My cheeks are a lot of weight to move around and I generally end the day with face aches. Anyway, end of face ache tangent. The food was good, conversation was also fun. The night ended early, around 12:30 (that's really early here). I could have gone to a friend's house who was having a get together but I wasn't feeling up to a social disappointment so I worked on Travelated and chatted with Adam and Cole online. I enjoyed Friday night.

Saturday was supposed to be pretty awesome. It started great, with a delicious delivered sushi lunch with Jorge. After that, there was an event, LUCHA DE ALMOHADAS (PILLOW FIGHT) that involved thousands of people gathering in Bosques de Palermo (a big outdoor green area) and having a giant pillow fight. Obviously, this sounds amazing. The event has happened twice before and had great turnouts. This was not the case this year. Jorge and I walked through the streets, carrying our pillows and became more and more aware of the fact that no one else was carrying pillows. We arrived and found a group of maybe 40 people. It was so awkward we decided to turn around and leave. Disappointment.

However, Jorge and I did manage to salvage the day a bit. We walked though the Bosques de Palermo, enjoyed the scenery and Jorge snapped some nice shots of our pillow adventures.
As we walked home we had several of our own spontaneous pillow fights, most of which Jorge won. He's very tall, serious height advantage. We decided to get ice cream (I swear it was Jorge's idea first!) and we went to one of my favourite places, Crepes and Waffles where Jorge and I ordered the same waffle which included chocolate sauce, dulce de leche, bananas and a scoop of vanilla.

After that, we both felt happier and sleepier.


I spent a large part of my Saturday evening watching bad television and working on Travelated. Jenny and Jorge came over for dinner and drinks but after dinner I was so tired and spaced out/upset I just wanted to go to bed, which I did.

Sunday was hectic. Gracia was supposed to call me on Friday or Saturday to let me know what time she needed me. I generally work 4-9 but this Sunday was the party for Coca, the grandma. Yes, her name is Coca. Gracia forgot to do this so I got a text at 11:00, which was 10 minutes after I woke up, telling me to be there at 12 or 12:30. San Isidro is far away, especially when taking into account the slower schedule of Sunday buses. I would have needed to leave at that moment to be sure I'd arrive on time. I quickly showered and had to kick Jenny out (she was crashing on my couch) and headed to work. I spent most of the day being sassed by the 13 year old and scrubbing outdoor chairs. I didn't mind so much, I was kind of looking forward to the family party. This was a mistake. I was thinking, families tend to like me and include me. I speak great Spanish so no one will be afraid to speak to me. Wrong. I sat awkwardly at a table of food that I mostly couldn't eat due to the meat content and tried to work my way into family conversations. Once I realized I couldn't make that happen I ate a lot of cake and cookies to occupy my time and hands. I hovered between the small children who were too young for me and the adults who were too old for me. My best social interaction of the night was with the 1 1/2 year old who took quite a liking to me and pulled me around the house in circles. I continuously cleared dishes and tidied up, feeling more like a maid than anything else. It made me miss the Mortons terribly and saddened me to know that I really have no family celebrations to look forward to at all.

That made my outlook for the week look bleak, but today did not turn out so bad at all. I tutored early as usual but did not have to work after 11am due to a lot of student cancellations. I actually hate cancellations because they affect my salary, but today I just went with it. I had lunch plans with another potential new friend, Andres. I had a nice lunch then worked out a lot. I also love Mondays because it is Travelated meeting day. I had an excellent meeting with Alex and Emily and we are all very confident the site will be in excellent shape for the big push on Monday, October 4th. I am so passionate about this site and my partners, I know it's going to be a success. There will be a blog about the push, don't you worry. I feel as if I have a weekend love affair with Travelated; I await the extra time all week then cram in as much work as I can during all hours of the night. I think it's a great relationship.

Things to look forward to:

• Several new friend hang outs
• Weekend in Colonia, Uruguay with Jenny this weekend
• Getting off the boat at 3am in Colonia and immediately going out drinking
  
• Bike rides in Colonia in 70 degree weather
• Another Sunday off work
• Travelated launch!

So, in conclusion, I think the rough waters are clearing up. Here's to what I hope is an awesome week and weekend.

For more photos and overall awesomeness check out Jorge's blog.