No hay monedas

Today, Argentina finally got to me. I think it was a combination of things that led to it, but i finally snapped and for the first time wanted to leave the country. The funny part is, it was something incredibly stupid that made me so angry (or at least that was the main focus of my anger).

To start I think it is important that I mention all of the things little (and not so little) things that were bothering me that allowed me to reach a point where I could snap.

First, like nearly every Monday since I have been in this country, I was running on less than four hours of sleep. I don't know why this happens, but no matter what, something always conspires to make sure that I am not able to sleep those nights. Usually it is my own doing, I go out Saturday nights until 6 or 7am and then don't wake up until well into the afternoon. As I am basically incapable of going to sleep if I've been up for less than about 12 hours, those 2 or 3pm mornings make for 2 or 3am nights when I have to leave for class at 6:45am. However, there have been nights where I went to bed early (relatively) and still had things prevent me from sleeping. One time it was some girls who live above me blasting music into the central courtyard to which my window opens until 3:15am. Another time I had such a bad cough that it actually caused me to throw up, keeping me away until well after three. Last night; however, I thought I had avoided that. I was in bed by 1:15 and asleep before 1:45. The fates though, conspired against me and at 5:15 this morning I awoke for no reason in particular, and was unable to fall asleep again before I had to leave. For those keeping track at home, that puts me in at about 3 hours, 30 minutes of sleep for the night.

Second, this weekend I went to Pinamar to stay with a some friends at a house one of their families owns. This was a very fun trip, and since Pinamar is a beach town and the weather was nice, we of course took the opportunity to go and tan. Me being the northern-European decendent that I am, got burned to a crisp. Although only on my back and shoulders. As I am sure many of you know from experience, when your back is sunburned, it hurts to sit in chairs, which over the course of a day really wears on your patience.

Third, my phone decided to stop working this weekend and into today (although it miraculously turned itself on about an hour ago). I don't really use my phone a lot here for calling and texting (I have more money charged onto my phone than I have spent in my first 3 months here), I do use it as a watch and I still feel rather naked without it.

Four, I did fail my Organismos Internacionales parcial. I got a 2.5 (rounds to a 3) and needed a 4 to pass. The recuperatorio is on Thursday and I am really starting to stress about it (although apparently not enough to prevent me from taking time to study tonight to write this entry). This class is the only one that will give me credit for a class I need for my major, so it is the class that I most have to pass, yet is the one I am in the most danger of failing. This really freaks me out, especially with issues going on that I may or may not discuss here later.

Finally, one of my very closest friends in the world is going through a lot of hardship recently that was magnified by a very calamitous event last night. For her privacy I won't say more, but needless to say, I have been very concerned for her, especially since last night when I found out.

All of these things led today to my meltdown against Argentina. I have been reading a book for the last couple of weeks that I am finally close to finishing and really enjoying (Delirio by Laura Restrepo, for those of you who are interested), but due to my concerns over my pending recuperatorio, I cannot just read it for pleasure at home whenever I want. I can, however, read it on the bus on the way to and from class because, according to my rationalization, I would just be staring out the window if I weren't reading. Anyway, as such, I wanted to take the bus and not the Subte (BsAs Metro) to class tonight so I could read. Only one problem, though. I didn't have any change to pay for the bus.

Now in the United States this would hardly seem a problem, I could likely go to most any store and ask for change for a dollar, five dollars, maybe even more, and likely I would receive it with no hassle. In Argentina, though, things work a little bit differently. Although Argentina is a cash-based economy (it's almost impossible to use a credit card outside of major stores and restaurants), there is a severe lack of currency here, especially of coins. As such, I went to my local kiosco to buy chips and a soda to go with my sandwich for lunch, planning how I could make sure they would have to give me change. To do this, I had to add an alfajor onto my purchase (although that is hardly a shame) and that took my total up to A$10.30 for which I carefully selected A$12 from my pocket to pay for, guaranteeing myself A$1.70 in coins, which combined with what I already had would be enough to cover my bus fare both directions. Wrong. The man at the counter handed me back my A$2 note and told me to pay him the .30 that I owed still when I had it later. "Great," I thought, "Now I'm going to have to go to another Kiosco to get change." Which I did. Except the next kiosco didn't haven't coins either, choosing instead to just eat the difference on my Coke. One more kiosco and I had managed to finagle only .50 leaving me with .85, or .05 short of the bus fare, but with a Coke a Gatorade and a bottle of water in my backpack.

This seems like a pretty small thing to get really upset about, but with the weight of everything else, and after deal with this for more than 3 months, I guess it was just too much. I rode the Subte and then walked to school, likely with a glare that would scare little children across my face, thinking the entire time how fucking annoying it would actually be refused coins at a store. I found Vandana sitting outside reading for class and vented to hear very loudly in front of a number of Argentines who likely could understand a least some of what I was saying about how I can't wait to get back to the US, go to Starbucks get my change and put it all in the tip jar, just so I can say, "Fuck you, Argentina!"

Pretty lame, I know. Currency should not be the thing that makes me want to go home for the first time, but something I have discovered being here and in Costa Rica is that you miss the strangest things about home.

Anyway, I apologize for the length and pointlessness of this entry. I'll write a bit about Pinamar soon hopefully, although it shall be sans photos because I didn't take any.