To clarify:

I do not, in fact, have a mullet. I have very short hair and the back was, briefly, awkwardly longer than made sense. Said situation has since been rectified by the hand of Hannah. Trevor's mullet has also been fixed; I don't think I did too bad a job, either.

Also, I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving. I celebrated in the most festive and American way I could. Pictures soon.

WARNING: MULLET ATTACKS

I feel it is my duty to inform the world of a startling phenomenon that is taking place in Argentina as well as, I fear, in many other countries outside of North America. The situation is this: the mullet*, which in the United States is generally considered either extremely outdated or extremely ironic (do you know a hipster who can pull it off? Maybe. It's still not a good idea, though), is here not only acceptable but COMMON. Normal! There are mullets in suits walking around Microcentro. Mullets in aprons frying milanesas. Mullet couples sipping Fernet colas in bars. Mullets on the subte, mullets on the dancefloor, mullets on TV. Business in the front, party in the back, and ridiculousness all over.

You can talk all you want about cultural difference, culture sensitivity, blah blah blah, but there are some issues on which I simply do not wish to be open-minded. And the mullet is one of them.

But what's really problematic is the fact that the mullet is spreading. You can tell me that Halloween in Argentina is cultural imperialism but what's REALLY cultural imperialism is the Argentine-style mullet striking down upon me and my American friends without consent. The first victim was Hannah, who somehow acquired half a head's worth of bangs and valiantly fought this mullety outcome with a 'fro, a.k.a. a rock-star-awesome perm. Then it was my turn, and my requests for "no more layers, as long as you can leave it, all the same length" left me with what I regret to admit was an extremely short MULLET (Hannah trimmed the back for me, rendering it slightly more acceptable). And now Trevor too has been subjected to this; he didn't heed my warnings and now he will have to live with a somewhat dire party in the back situation until I find time to attack him with a scissor.

I should probably get back to the scary psych paper that's due tomorrow, but this alarming situation just could not wait.


*If by some chance you are not aware of the mullet phenomenon, I recommend Google image search or Argentine telenovelas.

What's left

• two weeks of school (two papers and a final)
• one week of waiting
• ten days of traveling (Chile then Mendoza)
• about four days back in Bs As
• plane flight home the night of December 22 to get me home early the morning of the 23rd

So the family visits, which involved a lot of fun, shopping, delicious food, and great wine, have come to an end. And now I find myself facing a few weeks of academic misery before my semester essentially ends. Already? Yeah. Went fast, no? Wish I could just jump over the finals stuff and right into the travel part, but I'll try to make the best of my last few weeks in Buenos Aires.

What else is new...

• My dad and Melanie got fake bills from a taxista.
  
• I got my hair butchered by a scissor-happy Argentine.
  
• Spring in Buenos Aires is beautiful and full of purple trees.
• Apparently my Spanish really has improved a lot here.
• Probably a lot of other stuff.

But I gotta go deal with my psicología social paper.

Uruguay

On Thursday afternoon, Trevor and I hopped on a boat to Uruguay. Fifty minutes and some odd customs/immigration checks later (a Uruguayan and and Argentine sit next to each other and pass my passport along and I'm done? All on one side of the river? Ok...), we were in Colonia. Lonely Planet calls Colonia "charming and quaint," and they pretty much hit the nail on the head. While there wouldn't be much to do there for more than a day, it's very cute, full of historical sites and solid restaurants, and worth seeing. Highlights include the view from the lighthouse and the beautiful colonial architecture in general.

Next stop: Montevideo, a city which I'll admit I knew nothing about and made me think only of memorizing Latin American capital cities in high school Spanish class. And... it's one of the weirder capital cities I've visited. I think maybe a day and a half wasn't quite enough to understand this place, but from what I've gathered, it's a smallish city in a quiet state of crumbling decay with bright spots of activity here and there. The part of the city I liked best was the old town, the Ciudad Vieja - old buildings, narrow streets, lots of vendors, plenty of cafes and bars - the only place that seemed to have anything going on at night, even on a Saturday.

Another highlight of Montevideo is the Mercado del Puerto, which, strangely enough, is a collection of bustling restaurants--mostly parrillas (grills)--crammed into a wrought-iron building of sorts. Unique atmosphere and, at least at El Palenque, where we ate, great parrilla. Sensory overload, though: voices, clattering, various wandering street musicians, crowds, the smell of meat cooking, etc. It's also home to Roldó's, a cafe that's been there since 1886 and is known for serving medio y medio, a mix of sparking and white wines--which, I might add, costs 25 Uruguayan pesos a glass... about $1.25 US.

Late Saturday afternoon, a relatively expensive cab ride took us across the city and up to El Cerrito, site of the Museo Militar, and more importantly, a great view of the whole city and a panorama of everything around it. As usual, the photo doesn't do it justice.


Now I'm back in Buenos Aires and excited to spend this week with my mom and aunt Lisa, who arrive tomorrow morning, and then the week after that with my dad and Melanie. And then the semester's kind of almost over...!?! Never a dull moment...

brave?

This morning on the subte, smooshed in by people on 3 sides and a wall on the other in my usual commute to class, I started thinking about how many things I've done since I got here, from the daily trials of living in a foreign city to all the trying, unpredictable obstacles and issues. And the good stuff, too, of course. And it made me feel tired just thinking about it (the Halloween party I went to last night and left early--at 3--probably didn't help)--and I thought, "Wow, if I had known it would be like this, would I still have decided to do it?" I remember before I left for my high school semester in South America, people kept telling me how brave I was, and my response was, "Brave? All I did was send in an application." But I'm starting to think it actually does take being kind of brave to do this stuff. And I'm kind of proud of myself for doing it.

I gotta get back to class. And then get to Uruguay this afternoon. Chau!