goals revisited

So I haven't fully met my two goals that I aimed to meet a while ago. 1. Ride the bus 2. Buy a phone

BUT...the good news is that I've ridden on the bus like 3 times now! Yaaaaay, turns out getting onto a bus, paying, sitting down, and then getting up and getting off at the appropriate stop is not so hard. Although, last night when i was using the coin machine to pay once I got on board, I managed to open the machine to expose the inner workings of the giant contraption when I thought I was turning a lever for my ticket. The big door came right open when I turned it and shocked the hell out of me, but luckily I swiftly closed it right back up, took my ticket, which came out on its own, and sat down.

The phone, unfortunately, has yet to be purchased. However, other big things have happened. haha! Some good, some bad, mostly good.

#1 - I'm moving
I am leaving my place and I haven't even shared any pictures, so, here they are. Better late than never.

My little bed & nightstand


My dresser


Bathroom


The hallway & front door. Okay, that's enough I'm tired of loading these.

I'm moving in with a very nice Columbian guy in an area of town called Caballito. I'm super excited because my new roommate is aware of how bad I want to improve my Spanish, so he'll help me immerse myself and hopefully introduce me to some of his lovely Columbian friends? Maybe he knows Shakira.

#2 - I've got a ton of teaching hours each week starting April 4
I have been patient, (haha, mostly), sent out countless resumes and emails, but finally, the company I have been working a few hours for every week has finally come through and they're giving me the hours I need to survive here, starting next week. I'm excited about getting productive again, and it's a pretty smooth schedule.

Just keep on putting one foot down in front of the other. :)

the sounds

This is a pretty loud place. Sometimes even when I'm walking down the street with my headphones on at near-full blast I can still hear the random roars of the city around me. Here are a few things you might expect to hear here (here! here!:) -

Whistling buses - Not sure why but many of the "colectivos" or public buses that drive around the city are accompanied by a high-pitched and inexplicable whistling noise. This combined with the fact that they go very fast, making a roaring engine sound, helps to create a consistent vibrating hum on the street during the day and well into the night.

Screeching sounds of the subte - In between certain subte (subway) stations as you pass through there is a horrendous sound of metal scraping against metal. These seizure-inducing screeches are pretty bad. It's like when you have your iPod turned up loud already and then a song comes on that you downloaded, (legally or illegally?), which was recorded extra loud, (because you downloaded it legally or illegally). That moment when the song pierces your ear drum and you could drop to the sidewalk from the shock is comparable to this scraping sound on the subte.

Random music - Sometimes I hear songs that are under the radar even in the US. There are some radio stations that have a great mix of indie music and 90s and 00s. But then sometimes, you're in a cab at 2 in the morning and your middle-aged, male cab driver is playing Super Trooper by ABBA and tapping cheerily on the steering wheel.

Morena hermosa! - If you at least even resemble a woman here, chances are, you will receive cat calls. If you are not a woman and you get cat calls, I would encourage you to show your true self to these men and scare the hell out of them. If there has been one man who has succeeded in picking up a woman through cat-calling, I would love to meet him. This man would be an international hero, because 10 times out of 10 women want nothing to do with these assholes, myself included.

More sounds to come, I'm sure...

metro

I rode the red line home late the other night after a show in Arlington. The train stopped at Fort Totten and everyone on board was told to get off to take a Free Shuttle downstairs to the next stop.

Slightly inconvenient, but understandable given the horrendous crash last month.

I walked down to wait in line for the bus, a large crowd was forming already. I see a middle-aged woman standing in front of a Metro employee giving him an earful.

"It's almost midnight and we're all waiting around here!? Metro is fucking worthless!! *obscenities* *expletives* ...

I realize the Metro employee isn't having a conversation so much as providing a Metro-uniformed-representative-soundboard for this woman to unload on. I feel for the guy.

Unexpectedly, she drops the conversation and crosses the street, pulling out her phone and holding it up like she's taking a picture of the crowd waiting for the bus. How she will use this evidence I'm not quite sure.

People are being assholes about this. Metro was poor before the accident, now they're being sued by everyone which means even less money. How much is "less money?" Less than zero, or boat loads of debt.

I do my part to help Metro now by smiling at the employees. I would do this even if there wasn't any turmoil because:
A. I like Metro
B. Many of the workers are older black men, and this is one of my favorite demographic groups in this country. I imagine all of them as Aesop, waiting to share fun and colorful tales with me which also teach me a life lesson.