There's a she wolf in the closet...

Normally I would be happy to hear Shakira blasting in my neighborhood, but this is not the way I prefer to be woken up at 10:30 on a Saturday when I went to be bed at 6:30 am. Actually, this is probably a very good way to be woken up- I'm just opposed to the unreasonably early hour that my neighbor decided to turn the volume up.

In any case, this serves as a wonderful example of the music here. Pop music from the US is played constantly here, typically with a remixed, techno beat in the boliches (clubs). I am personally a fan of the 'bad' pop music that is replayed endlessly on the radio in the US. But I was very amused yesterday when I was siting in a small, independent cafe, taking a break from shopping and eating empanadas and cafe con leche for lunch at 5 yesterday, and Justin Bieber started playing. This cafe appeared to be owned an operated by men in their 60's and 70's. I think I'll just credit the music selection to streaming internet radio.

This just serves as one example, but I managed to get really excited whenever I here music that I know. This occurs pretty much everywhere, but especially at the gym, in stores, and in the boliches. The boliches that I have frequented also play reggaeton and cumbia. For those of you who care to know, I've met an Argentine amigo who has tried to teach me how to dance to this music here. It involves very fluid hips and small, quick steps. Let's just say I need a lot more practice, and Renato is a very patient man for bearing with me and multiple unsuccessful lessons.

Here are a few songs that I enjoy and seem to be popular in the clubs:




I spent Thursday night with Cailey and other friends, celebrating Cailey's 21st birthday. I went shopping yesterday and finally bought a pair of leather boots. Leather boots are worn by pretty much everyone here. I bought dark brown boots that hit mid-calf, and are fairly simple. I wore them out last night and they stretched a bit in the width with is what I needed. Last night we went to a bar called Sabbia. There was a group of Argentines celebrating a birthday, and we joined them in the festivities for a few hours. We had to insist that they speak Spanish a few times. In they end, we just practiced our Spanish and let them practice speaking English. I did learn one interesting thing though through an English explanation. The preface to the story- my Spanish professor at Whitman will occasionally say 'sí, sí,' which means 'yes, yes.' The explained his usage as being more or less equivalent to the common ticks for 'um' and 'like' in English. It appears I picked up on this and was affirming that I understood this guy by saying 'sí, sí.' He eventually starting laughing, explaining that it was my usage of 'sí, sí' that he found funny. Apparently this has a connotation of yes, I already know/get out of here/go to hell. I guess I'll have to work on my usage of that.

Today I'm going to a festival at the Japanese Garden, eating with friends, and meeting up with Renato. Tomorrow we're going to la Boca neighborhood where the famous colorfully painted houses are. There's also a tango show there. I should have some more pictures soon.

Off to the gym and then showering to cleans myself of the odor of smoke. This is a futile activity since the results will last 5 minutes tops.