Bombing thru Boulevards

Alright, so I started my work at the farm, called Pecohue, yesterday. It`s through the university of agriculture, I don`t remember if I had said that before, so I get to work with college kids. It`s awesome because they`re my age and they know what`s good in the city. And they`re really nice. I did some seed planting, some shoveling (mostly watched shoveling being done) and dug up weeds. We`re growing spinach, lettuce, radishes, corn, squash, it`s great. I love the smell of the farm, and getting dirty and all that.

I had my last Spanish class today, so I`m basically fluent. HA! yeah right. It`s crazy how fast you pick certain things up, yet how long it takes to really be able to speak properly. When someone talks to me, I understand them, but when it comes to responding, I can, but not with proper grammar. It`s coming along, but I`m a little slow.

I`m kind of in a funk today. Last night started off great... well the whole thing was great, but... I`ll explain. First off, I have a friend named Sarah, from Sweden, who lives at the volunteer house, and used to live in the Dominican Republic. We were talking about tostones the other night at a barbeque (which was amazing-grilled corn, potatoes, manioc root, and, of course, tons of meat, and 3 salads for 20 pesos, $5) then I found plantains at my supermarket yesterday. So I called her and made her come over for dinner and it was just lovely. I had plans to go to this place called El Palacio later, so we figured we`d eat then go our own ways. I got a ticket to enter for free when I was at another club last weekend, so I had to go no matter what. We decided to go to Piola after we finished dinner, and I ran into my pal Charly, the guy who gave me a bag full of his clothes. Then one of the waiters who I "talk" to had a bunch of friends who were also going to El Palacio, so we all went together. By "talk" I just mean that I try to make myself understood in Spanish. Great, so we got to the club and it was insanely fun. Great music, great crowd, even more fun than the one we went to last week. Sarah and I split off from the huge group, so we ended the night together around 6, she caught a cab then I walked home.. it`s maybe 20 minutes from there to my apartment.

On the way, I bought candy at a kiosk, and the guy there buying other stuff started talking to me and whatever. He sleeps on the street, pretty close to where I live, and we had kind of a crazy experience together, which could only be properly recounted by speaking it, but anyway it kind of messed with my head a lot. This city, as cool as it is, and for all the amazing thing it offers, kills you at the same time. Of course, any city does, I mean it sucks to see people living in the street, but here it`s ten times more intense. Anyway.

Other than that, this city is a great place. Anyone who likes the whole city thing would be comfortable here in an instant. The only thing that drives me crazy are the most ridiculously massive roads that shred the city into segments. Like, ten lanes in each direction. It drives me crazy, because crossing one of these avenues is like crossing 3 blocks, it`s nuts! It`s like they took the Parisian boulevard idea and American-sized it. They are pretty, with trees and plazas, art and monuments, but stupidly wide. Rarely do you cross without having to run before you get slashed by motorcycles and buses. But my street is small, and most of them are.

OK I have to get outta this place. Hope everyone has fun at Papa`s birthday party!