Early retirement comes to an end.

As many of you may recall, last semester was most accurately compared to the likes of early retirement. I spent a good amount of time lounging in parks with friends, having long, leisurely lunches and generally taking as much time as possible to do anything and everything. This was all facilitated by a light workload and an extremely favorable exchange rate. This time around, I've slowly had to come to terms with the fact that just as the seasons force the weather to change, the same goes for my own schedule. 

I haven't posted for over three weeks, due to both the fact that I haven't done much of anything I've deemed interesting enough to entertain y'all (reaching back to my southern roots), as well as my busy schedule. Between classes, work, homework, and the very necessary social distractions, there's not a whole lot of energy left to do much of anything. Not that I'm unhappy, I'm actually enjoying being so busy and productive and am slowly coming to terms with the fact that growing up means actually having Friday class (or work as the case may be). I've gained a whole new appreciation for weekends. 

On Saturday afternoon, as I was running errands and buying art supplies for class, I found myself face to face with some of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen at a corner bakery a few blocks from where I live. Ever since I was a kid, my love of climbing trees has instilled in me a strong affection for monkeys, so needless to say when I stumbled upon monkey cupcakes, I was filled with joy. Until I got a closer look and much to my dismay, realized that they weren't in fact monkey cupcakes, but instead labeled "Africanitos" (or "little Africans"). I'll be posting a picture just to prove I'm not making it up, but it was one of the strongest "only in Latin America" moments I've had, ever. 

Other than that, there's not much news. I'm off to Mendoza this weekend with 60 other Americans from my program. I'll just leave it at that.  

Pictures!!!

Fishing on the Paraná

What?!?! Government imposes forced vegetarianism?

I have about an hour before my next class starts (that's right, I actually have a schedule and go to class, much to Popsy's disbelief) and I thought I would take advantage to write a quick post.

In light of the ongoing political situation, an update on that front seems timely. Apparently Kristina (president) and her cronies are trying to negotiate with the farmers to see if they can come to an accord. They've made a few attempts already and nothing came of it, both parties being completely unwilling to budge. So no one knows or even has a guess as to how much longer this will all go on...

Butchers around the country have had to close their doors, not having anything to sell. What little meat there is goes for up to 40 pesos a steak at the grocery store (it used to be around 13 pesos for two steaks). Meat is not stocked anywhere, except for a few restaurants who have dwindling frozen reserves. One of the biggest (if not THE biggest) meat packaging and exporting company in the country has completely, 100%, halted production because they have no beef supply and their employees have been given an indefinite, paid vacation until they can start production again. The Economist predicted this would go on for another two months, and their guess is as good as any, but no one really knows.

Never in my life would anyone have guessed that I, steak lover since before I can remember, would EVER become a vegetarian. But I've gone from eating steak 3 to 4 times a week last semester to not havig eaten steak in over week this semester. I've been eating lots of pasta and a fair amount of fruits and vegetables, as well as quesadillas with my coveted and personally imported Valentina sauce which is safely stowed away in a protected corner of my fridge. I got an email from Eddie this morning expressing concern for both my digestive system and my safety, but mostly my digestive system (I found his email so amusing that I feel the need to quote him directly, "Sounds like a fascinating if a bitunsettling situation down there. I guess I'm more worried for thestate of your stomach than your physical safety, as I'm sure Fran'ssix pack will protect you from any harm.") Brotherly love at its best...

Along the same note...I went for lunch today to a little open restaurant owned by a Syrian woman. They sell the equivalent of Greek gyros, in addition to what I think is the best baklava I've ever tried, falafel, and many other Arabic delicacies. Not only was this new discovery amazingly delicious, but she also amazingly had meat for the gyros! One of her butchers shut down yesterday and the other closed his doors today, so she only has a few more day's worth of meat but it was nice to get a protein fix.

In other news, I finally have a concrete class schedule and as of next week, will have full weeks shuttling myself between my five classes and my internship at HelpArgentina. For those interested, I'm taking a New Argentine Cinema class and a Service Learning class at FLACSO, as well as a drawing class, a graphic design class, and a printmaking class at the National Art Institute, which I'm really excited about starting next week. And that's right...for those of you coming back from spring break, my summer break if just now finally dwindling to a gradual end. The downside, of course, being that I'll still be going to class halfway through your summer break...what goes around comes around.

I'll sign off for now and see if I can go call Mama for a quick hello.