Bucket List 2012

MY bucket list, but limited to things I can complete in 2012

• Learning more about Website management
• Learn more about countries other than Argentina
• Understand the political situation and how it influences the economy in Argentina
• Study hard
• Be completely independent and in a new apartment
• Watch less TV and read more
• Pay more attention to how my Fiance feels in a new country

 

American Culture

KFC- American Culture?

Today I’m not going to write about what ‘argentinean’ culture is, although it would probably be a good post. As I’m preparing to move back to the states I hear funny comments and observe things here about what American Culture perceived by Argentineans really is. And it’s nothing like what I thought it would be. Except for McDonalds, that will always be an international ‘american’ symbol
So, when my fiance mentions what he wants to do in the US, the first thing he always says is:
Eat a bucket (all for myself) of KFC chicken wings. A WHOLE BUCKET (that’s the part he emphasizes). I think this is from TV sitcoms or something
Drive on Route 66 (Definitely the song)
See an NBA game (he doesn’t even like basketball)
Go to NYC. (When I mention Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C, Miami, nothing convinces him. It has to be NYC)
Eat chicken wings at a sports bar.
Drink beer from a can

Other people think USA is:
Katy Perry
Cheerleaders
Two and a Half Men
Big Bang Theory (It’s on TV all the time here)

I used to think the US was about Starbucks, Kanye West, Hamburgers (it is), Hollywood, the White House, etc. But there are things that pop up even more than that when people think of the US here.

 

Wedding Differences

Ok, so for those who didn’t already figure it out from little hints around the blog, I’m getting married in June (2012 this year) to my fiance who is from Mendoza, Argentina. I never thought I was a girl to get excited by all the wedding commotion, I just wanted to formalize the bond I knew we had formed and share the moment with our family and friends. BUT… you do get caught up. There’s such a big ‘wedding’ culture in the US that its hard not to see all the fuss online, the blogs, the pictures, the services and gifts you can buy, etc. So I started planning, and while doing that I have inevitably noticed or been told some big differences between weddings in Argentina and the US. I thought I would list them here, to make it easier to understand.

IN AR:

• There is no engagement party but there are bachelor and bachelorette parties (and just as crazy as the US)
• There are NO bridesmaids. There are one or two friends called ‘padrino y madrina’ who are basically a godmother for your wedding, and the person who signs the official document.
• There is hardly ever a diamond ring involved and especially at the ‘engagement phase’, but yellow gold wedding bands are important even for the guys to sport. I think this also has to do with the level of theft here, a diamond ring is just asking to get robbed.
• The bouquet is usually much more conservative for the bride (ie a lot of same color roses, or something similar)
• Invitations are more basic, a simple envelope with a 4×6 invitation to the church ceremony, dinner, and/or reception.
• On that note, there is often an option to invite people only to the ceremony or only to the reception, to cut down on numbers. Plus, it’s what your friends really care about, a good party!
• Your first dance is usually the Waltz (Vals in spanish). No ‘our song’ until later on in the night.
• It is expected for the bride and groom to stay until everyone leaves and dance until 6 in the morning (I sound like I’m joking, but I’m not!)
• Typically, the wedding is held in a ‘salon’ which is a big event room especially designed for …events! Sometimes its a sit down dinner, but more recently people have opted towards food stations and passed hor d’ oeuvres.

The rest of the ceremony and reception and style of dress is very similar to the US, they still toss the bouquet, they still cut the cake and sometimes it ‘appears’ on the grooms face, the dresses range in many different styles, and the couple still takes a honeymoon (Europe, Colombia, and the Caribbean are popular options).

So, it’s been interesting planning this, considering that the wedding is happening in Vermont, with the majority of my family and about 5 invites from Argentina, but my fiance wants to include some things from Argentina and his tastes of course. So the mixture will surely be interesting!!

Has anyone else noticed any Argentinean wedding differences? Add them in comments, I’d love to hear!

 

Best Coffee- Green Mountain

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Local and Great)

I truly believe, hands-down, that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (from Vermont, maybe I’m partial) has the best coffee for ‘normal’ coffee drinkers out there. Not the type of person who buys the whole bean, grinds it, uses an espresso machine, and then drink sit slowly, no. Just the ‘give me a coffee and go’ type of person, who wants to enjoy their coffee on their way to work or to start the morning.

I especially have been known in my household to have a ‘blueberry streak’ where I will buy for two months a single flavor of Green Mountain, and it is always Wild Blueberry. This just has no equal. It has the flavor so right, yet its not sweet! So, if you’re looking for a good coffee to bring abroad (to share with friends) or help you study late at night or early in the morning, or even to accompany your pancake breakfast, this is the one.

 

Visa!

Normally when people think Visa, they think ‘Visa or Mastercard?’. But a different type of visa has been on my mind for a very long time now, the K-1 Fiance Visa. This allows my fiance to enter the U.S so we can marry there, and then stay there for however long he wants, basically getting a green card. BUT before he can do that, there is so much paperwork to go through, not to mention the costs! 

I first had to turn in a petition in the US, which made its way over to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then we had to wait about 3 months (which seems like eternity when they don’t communicate with you) until they finally gave us a visa appointment in one month. We had to gather a lot more documentation, vaccinations, my taxes (thank god I’ve been filing!), job history for both of us, pictures of us together, and of course, confirmation you’re not a nazi or terrorist by checking a little box LOL. Who knew the simplest part would be that? 

Now when we go to the consulate, they basically decide our LIFE in that one hour. It’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ situation, you either can marry in the US and stay, or NOT. It would be very difficult and expensive to reapply, and I’m sure there’s a waiting time. Right now, we’re planning to fly in May to Vermont and get married in June, so if anything goes wrong, our future plans have to completely change. 

I understand of course that they want to know he won’t become a hassle on the US government, that he has someone to financially support him while he finds a job, etc. And I think in the back of my head that we will get the visa. But in reality, the ‘buts’ are so big, (pardon the pun) that I can’t stop and worry! 

We’ve already been living in Argentina two years now, and like i mentioned in my last post, the economic or social (who knows here, they always combine) situation is not improving. After working like crazy (teaching 6 one and a half hour) classes per day and him working full time as well, we officially have saved up 200 dollars after paying for one of our airline tickets back. That basically gets us… a nice dinner at the airport. And we’re not the type of people to ‘live it up’ or buy crazy gadgets, so I don’t think its unreasonable to say that it’s impossible to save on a teacher’s salary here in Mendoza. If I had been working in an office, or an american company maybe it would’ve gone better. But my skills didn’t land me any of those options. 

So I’ll just keep praying and waiting two more weeks, until someone else decides for us, what life we’ll have in the future. 

 

I’ve started a new blog!

Hi everyone! So I had promised a more focused travel blog, so if you want to follow, heres the link:

http://abroadtips.wordpress.com/

I’m going to be giving tips about how to fit in abroad, and not be taken as a typical ‘ignorant’ american (note, I don’t always agree with the stereotype).
I’d love any comments or suggestions!

 

este pais se va a la…%&$&$ (this country is going to..)

I was (and for the most part) still am an avid lover of Argentina. But right now, there are a few depressing things happening that make it every day closer to the Venezuelan ‘government’ (dictatorship).

• Changes to a Closed Import Economy
• Regarding that, no iphone sales at all are possible and no factory will be placed here.
• Traffic control is getting worse everyday and no solutions are put forth. In Mendoza, there is one dead person per day because of crashes.
• You cannot exchange pesos for dollars if you either 1. don’t pay your taxes, 2. Work under the table 3. can’t prove you work legitimately 4 Can’t prove where those pesos came from 4. Cant prove what you’ll spend that money on! 5. Are a tourist and don’t have any of this documentation and didn’t save the receipt from the cash exchange when you first got pesos!
• The minimum wage supposedly should be at 5000 a month (for basic survival) yet as a teacher, working 4 different jobs, you might earn 4000 a month maximum! The bus drivers get more than that.
• It costs more money to send a letter to Buenos Aires, Express shipping, than to the United States!

That’s what I can think of for now, and I don’t mean to complain, but many of these things were under control 1-2 years ago, and just this past year it has been changing. Who knows if its the president or just a combination of badly thought or controlled policies. They’re making the average experience of an Argentinean or expat horrible here.

 

A Tattoo…

• Has the greatest significance to you at the beginning even before it physically appears. 
• Establishes a physical metaphor of the views you hold in your head, if it’s done right.
• Has to have meaning attached if it’s going to last you a lifetime.
• Represents keeping a belief for a lifetime and it’s okay with you.
• Hurts like hell, even after all the warnings.
• is freedom
• Allows you to do what many tattoo-less never could: blatantly stare at other people’s tattoos and then share yours without any weird stares.

My Tattoo: Fits all the above, but the design of a girl doing a broken handstand across the sunset with her feet blending into the fiery colors, obviously means something even more special to me. It represents:

• When I met my fiance (didn’t know it at the time)
• Overcoming a really rough patch with my ex (and getting over him)
• Balance (in one word it makes sense to me, because I thought of it. I guess to other people it doesn’t resonate as much in just one word). Balancing your work with life, balancing your heart with your head, balancing your past with your future, balancing stress with leisure, balancing one country with another, balancing family with friends.
• Freedom to do what you love, no matter what others advise.
• Memories of my two best friends
• Always keeping the feeling of awe at sunsets or dawn.
• The city where I got it done is very close to my heart as well, and where I currently live. So when I travel, I always keep a memory with me.
• Always keeping positive that the sun will come up in the morning (and that things will get better).

So for those who are thinking of getting your first tattoo, another (like I have often thought but rejected), I hope what you decide has as much meaning for you as it did for me. I was never a ‘tattoo’ person before I got this. You don’t decide to ‘do a tattoo’ if you’re serious about it. You decide to represent your inner feelings on the outside.  So when I felt the constant urge to do that, the design I developed, with a friend of mine who knew me well, just fit me perfectly and I have never regretted getting it. Yet a second tattoo for me would just lose meaning, because the other fits so perfectly with what I think. 

 

Muse worthy chocolate-Vosges black pearl bar

This bar contains sesame seeds, wasabi (flavor without the burn) and ginger. What makes it seem inspired by a geisha muse is that it’s the only chocolate I’ve tried that allows you to taste all those flavors separately in About 10 second intervals. It’s great if you love Asian flavors, or sushi, or even just want a small bite of great quality dark chocolate. I got this bar at a little chocolate shop in greenfield mass, and wish I could go back again!

 

Interesting and provoking websites for this week

I want to just list my top 5 sites for this week that have really changed how I think of using the web, especially for online learning.

http://www.voki.com/create.php

http://teacherswithoutborders.org/

http://cnx.org/content/

http://distancelearn.about.com/od/studyskills/a/StudyOnline.htm