Orienteering was probably not the right word to use but it is our first day of orientation in Mendoza, and I didn't want to simply say Orientation, because that is boring. It is also our first day of visiting one of my potential universities, Congresso, which is also exciting, but those weren't until later in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day out and not too cold for once so I decided it was a grand idea to go for a walk and explore what Mendoza is like before lunch time. So I let Carmen (our housekeeper) **side note: we have a house keeper who cooks lunch everyday, cleans the house [and my room] and does all the laundry, which is neat but kind of awkward** ok so I let Carmen the housekeeper know where I was going and told her that I would be back before lunch time.
Note to all who decide to go on walks in Mendoza during the middle of the day in winter, unlike most places, it gets colder as you walk around not warmer, it's strange I know but true. Before coming to Mendoza I was really excited to be in a place where it is totally normal to say hello to random strangers around town. Because I assumed that all people in South America regardless of their regional location were generally just nicer than people from the United States. (This is not saying that I don't love living where I do, but customarily you don't really go around saying hello to random strangers if you are meandering in the middle of Washington D.C.). So as I was walking around for my first time alone in Mendoza, I smiled and said "Hola!"to everyone I passed. Naturally, the men would all return a greeting, though they would pair it with an awkward glance which pretty much screamed, "wow what a freaking weirdo, maybe she's special..." Whereas the women, would merely shoot me a mean glare that screamed, "Who does this girl think she is...does she think she knows me?" Either way it is definitely NOT okay or customary to walk around saying hello to everyone you pass on the street.
I also found that it is very typical as a generally okay looking female you should learn to expect the obligatory cat calls and whistles from the groups of men who pass you buy. Oh but not only just simply cat calls and whistling should be expected, also honking, waving, yelling, marriage proposals, and just random english words should also be expected; I even had one group of men slow down in their car in the middle of the highway to tell me I'm pretty. Granted the attention is lovely and it truly does make you feel good to have everyone telling you how great you are but it can get pretty old when you are just trying to enjoy a lovely walk in a new country and all you can hear are the voices of old men overpowering the songs of the birds and the sound of the wind. --The best thing to do is simply ignore it or give a slight acknowledgment, under no circumstances should you respond, that is something we learned during our orientation in Buenos Aires.
Even though I had hoped to be able to make it to the main part of the city and back before lunch I realized there was really no time for that so I quickly made my way back to the house and luckily had enough time to buy some water sin gas from a local kiosko. For some reason no one drinks just plain water here it is bizarre. My fam has practically 20 bottles of these funky looking containers with nozzles to make sparkling water, but they never have just regular tap water. I was almost tempted to buy one of those brita water filters to drink some normal people water.
Lunch was a lovely display of tomato salad, guacamole, and some sort of marinated beef, It was very good and the whole family was able to make it back for lunch and a siesta. Another thing, the television is always on during meal times, regardless of how many people are over; and it is totally normal to have conversations over the television. Sometimes it is really interesting though, we will watch the discovery channel or the news and it will spark some interesting conversation topics.
After a short siesta, it was time to head to Congresso. For the first day Marina would go with me to teach me how to use the trole which would be my normal mode of transportation to the inner city. Apparently she had some terrible experience with the Micro system ( busses) and she ended up in the wrong part of town. I will have to remember that if ever I attempt to use the bus system that I better know where I'm going and ask them if they are headed towards where I need to be.
So we arrive at Congresso, which thank goodness is right in the middle of the city and is pretty much convenient to everywhere I would ever want to go. Marina dropped me off and gave me a kiss on the cheek goodbye and I was on my merry way. I met Coral at the front doors and headed on in.
The orientation was pretty boring, we just went over our placement exam and how we shouldn't be worried, even though I was pretty much freaking out about it. I felt so behind after not taking a spanish class last semester so I was hoping to do at least ok on the placement test. After that we all went out for coffee and ice cream at one of the local cafeteria's close to congresso and I trollied back home for dinner.
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