Amor y Perros

This weekend was uneventful. It rained for about 4 days and I got sick. AGAIN. That pretty much sums it up. (I think it's the water?) I really thought after the last time my immune system would be tough but I guuuessss not. I've pretty much got the white rice/7UP diet down to a science now, so hopefully I'll make a quick recovery.

This is a look outside my window when it was raining:

This morning, I woke up still sore in the tummy but surprisingly more optimistic. The sun was out today. That's probably it. Oh, and my first class was at 3pm. AND in the morning I got to talk briefly with Silvio and Karina, which was all sorts of awesome.

Mmm..... I love skype....

Below is a picture taken while walking across 9 de Julio y Carlos Peligrini, two streets which lie directly parallel to one another.

It's near impossible to cross the street in one streetlight cycle without running. Unless your legs are eight feel tall. I cannot speak for those people. I could maybe speak for the gnomes, but not the daddy-long-legs out there. Anyways, this somewhat gives you an idea of the kind of traffic in el centro (downtown neighborhood). The building with my classes is just to the right of this view.

My only class today was poetry, which makes Mondays wayyy better.
Aca son unas fotos del profe:

(Muy precioso, no?)

After class I went to go for a little walk, but my stomach couldn't quite handle the movement. I was able to catch a photo of these two men relajando y disfrutando each others' company, which made me happy.


Oh, friendship. Oh, Coca Cola.

I hopped on the bus, which was packed, and when I got off, I felt a bit out of it, so I decided to sit down. When I did, I faced the old building at Pueyrredon and Las Heras (cross-streets) which I pass every day. It's not a museum or anything, and I had a feeling you have to have a purpose to be in there so I never really bothered. HOWEVER, I was sitting there, and the lighting was just right and I saw some people on the balcony and I decided, Yep. I'm going to go THERE.


It used to be a church and is now a school for engineering classes. From what i understood from my host mom, it was built by an architect who ended up killing himself because he got the measurements wrong on the building. Don't quote me on that though. There's a good possibility something was lost in translation haha.

Anyways, I just walked in and fortunately no one asked to see any sort of identification. Oh, South America.... I had to walk through some study hall to get to the balcony but if you act like you know what you're doing, no one bothers you. Anyways, these are from the balcony:




(A view of my neighborhood)

After, I decided to stop by the park I pass every day and had never been to.

While I was there, I sat in the lovely, dead grass, and made sort of a list poem of what I saw. I will share it with you now because (a) you clearly have nothing better to do and (b) skimming while reading is your right as a human with functional eyes. Exercise it as you wish.

Friends all lie on each others' stomachs.
Grandpa makes monster hands,
girl screams and runs across the jungle gym bridge.
He is too tired to chase her.
Little boys in white turtlenecks feed the pigeons.
Were their outfits coordinated?
(The boys, not the pigeons.)
The mosquitoes are coming back.
The college students are existential with their cigarillos,
mate, bombillas.
This is the oldest they've ever been
and it feels so
old.
The girl with the white ribbon shows the boy in earth-tone stripes
how water from the fountain plus back of toy drump truck
driven very slowly over to sandbox
equals FUN.
And dirty jeans. Which
equals FUN.
The man sits on the park bench next to two women
both with short, white hair. They look alike.
They sit near the carousel.
A very pregnant woman is still not tired
of pushing her daughter on the swing.
A man with a cart will sell yo a windmill, a Hello Kitty balloon,
candy to rot your teeth
'til the park closes.
Behind the cart sits a large woman with a blank expression
and a bad dye job.
She holds her purse like she'll be ready to leave any moment,
but she's not going anywhere, and no one would notice if she did.
An old woman wearing orange sits alone
and stares at the construction.
That boy is an airplane in his mother's arms:
still young enough for her to lift him over her head,
still young enough for him to want her to.

I think I'm starting to get what Frank O'Hara was about with his Lunch Poems. Maybe. Maybe I like the concept of it more than the guy. I don't know anything about him but when I think of him, he's wearing a sweater and being condescending. Whatever.

After a while (this was probably about 7pm?) I got reeeeaaaallly hungry so I made the very short trip back home. Before I got into my building, though, I saw this AWESOME dog on the street corner in front of my house trying to walk himself.

(Yes, this dog is peeing/posing....)

I LOVE DOGS!!!!!!! Last week I went to pet a Shar Pei puppy and he jumped on me and started licking my face. It was sooooo precious. Hm.... maybe I've been getting sick because I pet just about every dog on the street? That's ALSO probably why I'm always late to class... Either way I'm totally buying some dog biscuits to keep in my backpack.

OKAY. It's time to sleep.

Chau!

(Y amor, si estas leyendo esto, buenas noches. Estas en mis pensamientos.)