cuenta reg 05: FML

List #05: things about BA that I will not miss

1. Movistar: This is straight hate. You pre-pay for cell service instead of using a contract. Unfortunately said phone service is expensive so it’s never very long until your saldo está por aghostarse (you’ve exhausted your account), rendering you unable to send texts or make calls in crucial moments. Also they’re constantly sending texts to their customers, which leads to major let downs because who the fuck wants a text from their cell phone company? So much for thinking it was actually my friends, caring. I have friends?
2. switching into English: For all but the last three months of my life I have lived in America where I speak English every day. I did not come all the way to Buenos Aires to speak English. Yes, I know I am a gringa. Yes, I know I have an accent when in speak your language. But I seriously don’t need you to tell me that my empanadas cost “four pesos;” I promise I speak more Spanish than that. When you are trying to hit on my blonde friends and I in the street, you get no closer when you start yelling out, “Hello! Where are you from? What is your name?” I am thrilled that you a) passed elementary school English or b) speak English much better than I ever hope to speak Spanish without ever stepping foot outside of your country – and by thrilled I mean annoyed, so please allow me to fuck up so I can learn from my mistakes. (PS Movistar still annoys me more than this!)
3. honking at ambulances: I happen to live very close to a medical clinic and a major hospital, as well the major traffic artery and main road Avenida Corrientes. Every day at about 9 or 9:30 I lose the battle for my snooze button sleep because there is an ambulance and every driver on Avenida Corrientes decides to honk at every other driver to indicate the presence of an ambulance. Uh, hey guys, guess what? It has a siren for that! Ugh.
4. cubanas: The Spanish word for the phenomenon of dread tails / mullets. If I were Castro I’d be way more pissed that Argentines named their bad haircuts after me than I would be about American capitalism, sayin’.
5. that my professors smoke in class: Both of my UBA professors have lit cigarettes during class. Being the idiot American, I tend to sit in the front row in order to help myself hear/understand. Without any ventilation, this usually means I get to inhale some of that lovely cigarette smoke when I’m trying to learn. On some level I probably enjoy this because it’s so absurdly different from Tufts, but mostly it just makes me wish I wore a Swine Flu mask to class.