Argentines and their obsession with ID's

Some of you may be wondering what happened to Katie, considering I haven't blogged in the past month. I could probably fill books with the ridiculous that is my life and all of the interesting things that happen, but I'll spare you the details (at least for now). Long story short, my computer stopped working and is now "fixed" except not... It is super frustrating! I've spent the majority of tonight trying to figure out why it won't read my sd card and with no luck. Thus, no pictures to upload and no idea how to save the pictures on my computer so I can take new pictures. :-(  The temporary soluation? Peanut butter mnm's, a nice hot shower and sleep.

But that's not the point of this entry...this entry stems from another frustration - Argentines and their obsession with ID's. Obsession you say ... isn't that a little harsh? No, they ask for your ID all the time -- for everything!! Not just any old ID either, your passport. Sure, in some instances you obviously need to bring your passport (if you were to fly somewhere or get money at a bank, etc.) but in order to get a free plastic card, which you can put money on to ride the subway or bus. Really!?? A bit ridiculous don't you think?

My favorite is when you purchase anything with a credit card they want your passport or sometimes they will just let you write down your passport number. (Who knows why my internationally-recognized ID card can't serve as my form of ID.) Maybe it's just me, but before traveling everyone tells you not to walk around with your passport. More so because pickpocketing is a full-time job here in the city. It's only logical -- think of all the pain and suffering you'd have to go through to get another one while in a different country, especially a country where running errands is guaranteed to take you at least 3 times as long as you originally had planned. This kills my efficiency and time management. :-(

Then there's the case of volleyball... we practice in a middle school gym not far from my house. It has a guard that buzzes you into the building and you sign in on a piece of paper. They want you to bring your school ID card (even though some people aren't students) or write down your passport number. I for one do not have my passport number memorized, nor would I randomly give it out in the case that I did have it memorized. This likely stems from our culture of not sharing personal information, especially given the amount of identity theft nowadays.

I just don't understand... I feel like asking for your passport number is as commonplace as saying, 'Hey, how are you?' while walking and not really looking for a response from the other person. (Try this - next time someone you know passes you and asks how you are, respond with something completely ridiculous like 'my liver really itches' and take note of how 95% of the people won't skip a beat!) Nobody here ever verifies, or has any way of verifying, if the passport number you are giving them is correct. Quite pointless if you ask me. :-)

Confession

Confession: I am a wanna-be blogger, but the truth is I would rather be out and about. When I get back, I completely forget about blogging or am too tired to write.

It's been awhile, so I'll give a short recap of the past 3? weeks...

I returned to Buenos Aires and started the process for my student visa. For the first step, I went to get fingerprinted and get a special paper, which I was told to pick it up in a week. However, I wasn't going to be in Buenos Aires at that point and if I didn't pick it up within 14 days (including weekends and holidays, even though the office isn't open) they dispose of it altogether.... That would have been nice to know before paying to start the process. I love how they don't ever tell you these details unless you happen to ask.

I broke one of my rules...avoid all American establishments aka McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Starbucks and TGI Fridays. Although it was worth it, as I went to meet up with Jessica and Katie (2 of the Cru STINT girls) at Starbucks. It was a good opportunity to connect with other believers and figure out what options I have for churches, etc. The best part? I get to be involved with Cru in Argentina (which they call VIDA)! Perfect study abroad -- classes about Argentina and Latin America, basically STINTing for 5 months and working an international internship. :-) Love it!!

Ceci returned and brought me my glasses and ATM card, if you remember my misfortune of the past month. Despite having a giant head, my glasses are too big! Shocker, I know. Not a huge deal since I got the broken glasses semi-fixed and can use them or contacts or my old glasses. Then there's the ATM card... Sunday we went to the bank and I tried to use my card, but the machine wouldn't even take it. The bank said to talk to my home back, which said they needed a error code to figure out the problem. There's no error code if the machine won't even take the card. Just my luck. I still haven't figured it out since the card worked in the U.S. and is identical to the one with the bad magnetic strip.

As if the day couldn't get any worse (we walked around all day trying to find an ATM to take my card), we went back to Maty's and half a block away a guy had been pushed/jumped from the 3rd floor balcony. It felt like I was in a movie...neighbors gawking in the street, police tape, a body on the curb. Not something I wanted to experience during my study abroad. Thankfully we left the next day for a  much needed vacation to Mar del Plata! The first 2 days were perfect weather for going to the beach and frolicking in the ocean. The next 2 days rained, but we went to the aquarium, shopping and saw Black Swan.

Now I'm going to Corrientes to watch carnival, visit people, go shopping and walk around downtown, just like before. The weather is still gorgeous and classes don't start until March 14th, although I have orientation the 9th. I probably won't write until I get back to Buenos Aires on the 8th, but you never know...I seem to be doing a good amount of academic paperwork during my vacation. :-P

The Norm

Last time I studied abroad, my flashlight was my new best friend. The electricity went out nearly every day and at night they would walk around with candlesticks, which isn´t exactly ideal. The electricity hasn´t gone out that often (so far), but it frequently gets really weak -- the fans stop turning, the tv shuts off and the internet is nonexistant. As a result of these electricity bajones (lows) as they call them, lots of the wires burn and then the residents are continually calling technicians to come fix the wiring.

Another kicker is the water. You never know when you´ll have access to water, or so it seems. One minute it is running fine and the next you can barely get two drops to come out. This proves to be problematic if you were planning on showering, cooking or washing your car. Unfortunately, you also never know when it will come back and when it does come back, it often is a rusty color. (Due to the fact that the dirt here is a rusty brown color.) Lack of water has been more frequent than lack of electricity thus far. It´s funny though, this fall when Ames flooded people were freaking out and running to Wal-mart to stock up on bottled water. The majority of people were tweaking about not being able to shower. Nobody here is running to buy water and nobody complains about not being able to shower. (Sidenote: it is much hotter here than it was in Ames in August.) 

Despite these outages, we have had plenty of water in the house....one day I woke up from the siesta to a wet rug and floor. (My bed is in front of the window air conditioner.) Somehow it was leaking droplets of water, which accumulated over the hour or so that I took my nap and resulted in a huge puddle under my bed. Not cool. I keep all of my things (electronics, money, clothes, etc.) at the foot of my bed on the floor. Thankfully the water had just reached that point and had only gotten part of my bag wet, but I am still apprehensive about leaving my things there when I go to sleep.

Yesterday, water was dripping from what I thought was the swimming suit in the bathroom. Wrong...over the course of the night, water dripped and dripped and dripped all over the bathroom and hallway and left rusty brown dirt specs everywhere. It stopped and got cleaned up this morning, but by the siesta water was consistently falling from the bathroom ceiling again. I´m not sure what happened exactly, but the tank overflowed and the water heater broke? Something of that nature and we won´t have hot water until they install the new termotanque (water heater). At this point, I´d just assume shower with cold water as opposed to not shower at all, so no complaints here. :-) 

Another interesting topic is the gas...it is produced here in Corrientes, but goes to Buenos Aires and all other parts of the country before coming back to Corrientes. Not only does this make it extremely expensive for them, it also doesn´t make logical sense. A lot of things don´t make logical sense because the same thing happens with other services, like the electricity, and nobody does anything about it. People complain around the table, but nobody in Corrientes goes out and protests for the goverment officials to do something about it. In other parts of the country like Missiones, the people complained and now they rarely lose electricity. It´s frustrating that people are so used to the lack of these services that it doesn´t occur to them that this the norm in most parts of the world.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

My mother is amazing!! Despite being extremely busy with work, Kristin and Trenton's extra-curricular activities, and other odds and ends...she always saves the day, even when I am halfway around the world. (More on this later...)

The Bad

Where to start....it seems like a multitude of things have gone wrong - from when I sent in my application and they lost it to things like getting sick or breaking my glasses. Saturday night we went to the Chamamé festival in Mburucuyá and all was fine until Maxi wanted to see my glasses. Gaby also wanted to see them, so he handed them to her and then they broke.  I just got these glasses in August, so it was quite random that they broke, and I wasn´t really sure what to say. Thankfully I could push it back into the frame and still see because we didn´t leave the festival until 5:30 AM and this was around 3.

Gaby´s mom was going to Corrientes on Monday, so she offered to take my glasses to the eye places and see if they could fix them. Unfortunately, they all said that nothing could be done because the frame was bad. If they glued it, it would only be a matter of time until they fell apart again. Despite my light packing habits here (shocker, I know) I happened to throw in a pair of contacts for my trip to Santa Rosa or I would be as blind as a bat at this point, since the glasses are still in Corrientes.

The Ugly

When I was in Corrientes, on my way to Santa Rosa from Buenos Aires, I went to the ATM to get money. No big deal - other than the fact that every ATM has a huge line 10+ people long, the machines sometimes run out of money and have really low limits. (It's not the limit you have on your card.)

By 11 AM it was already a hot day and there was no breeze. The ATM is housed in what looks like a phone booth and people were taking foreverrrrr once it was their turn. It was finally my turn and I went in and tried to get some money. However, it kept telling me that my magnetic strip was damaged. I had used the card three times prior - once in the States and twice in Buenos Aires. Not too worried, I went to another bank and ATM - same problem. This scenario happened another 6 times before we went inside the bank, took a number and sat down to wait. Everything involving the bank and money involves lots of waiting around in Argentina. When it was finally my turn, they said they couldn't help me and that I should call my bank. Super! I have an ATM card that is identical to the one I used the entire time I was in Corrientes in 2006-07, and never had any problems.

Thankfully, I have an amazing mother and best friend! Ceci texted and called my mother for me since I can´t and my mother called the bank and got me a new card, which I will get in a few weeks when Ceci comes. They also figured out what Western Union service to use and my mother sent me money so I wasn't walking around without money. To clarify, I was never homeless or without food and if I needed money, Nora and Dolfi would lend me money. However, it's much easier to have my own money since it would take forever to pay them back by going to the ATM with their ridiculous limits and expensive fees! To take out $150, it's $6+ in fees.

My wonderful mother also went to the eye doctor and showed them what happened to my glasses, in order for them to make me a new pair. So in a few weeks when Ceci and all of my things arrive, I will be much more relaxed -- with access to money and good eyesight! Just in time for vacation. :-)