Kahtin en Parque Norte

So this week has been completely crazy, what with Migraciones stuff every morning, class in the afternoon, and then I had a big oral presentation today that I was trying to prepare for. I’ve been pretty dead the past couple of days because staying up till 2 or so doing homework and then waking up at 5:30 in the morning doesn’t really give you much time to sleep ☺. But I randomly had Internet in my room the past few days, which was soooooo good. Because really, I have no idea how I would have gotten this project done without it, because you can’t really stay in an Internet café until 2 in the morning. Even here. But sadly, my Internet disappeared Thursday.

Anyway, I had my presentation Friday. We each had to research all of this stuff about another province in Argentina and talk about it to the class for 15 to 20 minutes then write a couple articles about different provinces. It was a lot of work, but not too terrible. Except that on Friday I remembered exactly how much I really really hate oral presentations. Really. In English or Spanish. They turn me into a complete mess! I get so so nervous and my voice gets really shaky and I go too fast and completely forget everything that’s not written on a outline or note card! Horrible! It doesn’t matter if the presentation only has to be 5 minutes, or 30 minutes, English or Spanish, I always get this way. I can know all about something and be able to explain it really clearly and calmly but as soon as I’m up in front of the class it all falls to pieces. And I really knew a lot about Formosa. And it was all pretty grammatically correct (I think) in my head before I started. Ridiculous. And I have no idea why, but I always completely forget that I hate oral presentations until I actually do them. People will say things like “Man, I hate speaking in front of people, I get so nervous.” And I’ll think, hmm…doesn’t really bother me. Until the moment I start talking and it all comes back to me.

But thank goodness it’s over! And I don’t know what our final oral exam is like, but I think it’s more like an interview, which I can totally handle.

Oh and random, but I got on the Subte Thursday on my way back from the ISA office and randomly saw my MWF teacher, Viviana. Except it took me a long time to realize it was her which was pretty funny. I was standing right by her and was wondering why this woman was giving me such a funny look but thought maybe it was because I rushed onto the train at the last minute and looked really ridiculous. We just stared at each other awkwardly for a sec until she said, “Kaitlyn?” And then of course I figured it out. But then felt ridiculous for not recognizing her. But first of all, I’ve always been really terrible at recognizing people out of context. And second of all, there are 14 million people in this city and I know maybe 20? What are the odds that I would know someone on the subte in a neighborhood far away from school or my house?

But have I mentioned how much I love the frutería next to my apartment? I really really love it. I go there just about every day and only buy 1 or 2 things (which I think maybe is unusual because they always kind of laugh at me) so they’re really getting to know me. The woman who usually works the register is so sweet and always gives me coins for change when I ask for them (monedas are really hard to come by here). Every day it’s “Qué tal, chica?” and “Chau chica.” I really like her. And today I was talking to this man, Dante, who I think is her husband. He’s very friendly too. He asked me my name and why I’m here and all that and school and stuff. And a little boy (the son of somebody who works there) works there sometimes too and he’s sweet. And when I walk by they always wave or say hi. It’s just so fun to get to know random people that way.

But it is always really funny to me how people react when I tell them/they see my name. It’s so common in the U.S. that it never occurred to me how strange it is here. But I say it and the people always look at me as if I said my name was “kjshfkzidjwke” or something. My friend Hedvig from Norway always gets those looks too. And it’s weird to think about my name being as strange here as Hedvig would be in the U.S. Or I went to Starbucks here once and the guy made me write my own name on the cup. Which is then just really funny because when someone else goes to hand out the drink they just stare at the name and take a guess. Miriam pronounces it “Kah-TIN.” Usually I get something like “kite-een” sometimes Karen, you never know. But in the Spanish language it really is a weird combination and not at all how it looks. At least Hedvig looks exactly how it sounds. And the other day a new girl started coming to clean the apartment so I was talking to her and I introduced myself and went into my room. And then a little while later she was like “Ohhh…..you’re Kah-tin?” It was really funny.

So my friends and I had originally planned on going to Gualeyguaychú this weekend to Carnaval, which is like the Argentine version of Carnival in Rio in Brazil, but of course the plan fell through. I don’t even know why, someone couldn’t go or something, I don’t know. So then we planned on going to Tigre on Saturday, but that fell through too. Actually, what we ended up doing, was going to this place called Parque Norte in Palermo. It’s this big country club-ish type thing and has a huge area of swimming pools. So fun. Saturday was a wonderful and relaxing day, but since we didn’t get there until around 3:30, we decided we better go back Sunday morning too. So I spent the whole weekend at the pool, basically. In February. How wonderful is that? The whole time we were feeling so summery and just kept thinking that when we come back to the U.S., we get to do it all again! Best idea ever! I’m thinking I should probably come to Buenos Aires every winter and just head back to the U.S. when the weather’s nicer. It’s just so pleasant enjoying summer in February. I could really get used to this. And what a relaxing weekend to a stressful week!!!!!