A long break

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As you may be able to tell, we've been busy, and as a result, tired. Now when you're tired, the logical thing to do is sleep. So of course we went out clubbing until 6:00 am again. Luckily, with the weekend and all, we were able to sleep and relax for quite a bit of time.

I pretty much hung around home until about 1:30, at which point I went out to meet a friend. We were trying to change dollars, which is very interesting here. There are basically 4 exchange rates: the official one, which is currently around A$9.15 to $1.00 (they use the same sign for their pesos, so I'm adding an "A" to avoid confusion), but can fluctuate a dozen centavos (A$ cents) a day. Then there's the "middle man" one, which we got for our first exchanges, which is about A$11-A$12 to $1. Then, there's the "backdoor" one, which is A$12-A$13 to $1. Then there's the street one, which nobody on the dialogue (I hope) knows, because the bills are most likely counterfeit. On Florida, one of the main shopping streets, and the one we walk down every day, there are literally between 3 and 7 people (sometimes more) per block, who will call to you as you walk by "Cambio? Cambio dinero? Change? Change money? Dollar? Cambio?" It's both funny and annoying. I can't imagine there's nearly enough people trying to change for probably-counterfeit bills on the street to warrant even a tenth the number of people offering street exchanges, but it is what it is. Or maybe it's a drug front. Who knows.

Anyway, we were going to change money on the "backdoor" rate, to cut out our middle man and get a bit more bang for our buck. A couple other students found a place that's legit (or at least as legit as a backdoor exchange will be), but it was unfortunately closed. So we went to lunch instead.

After lunch we went home to change, because tonight, we learned how to tango! Frankly, the lesson was very questionable...I've learned more steps to the waltz and foxtrot in less time. And they didn't give us music to dance to. But it's okay, because after we had an incredible 3-course meal, paid for by Northeastern (or, I suppose, indirectly by us), complete with unlimited wine. Hilariously, our Argentine professor (we have one from Northeastern and one who we work with that lives here) was the one who took the most advantage of the nonstop pouring. And, of course, because it's necessary, we got to watch a full 2+ hour tango show.

Although there wasn't much we could do to top that, we tried to: Sunday is two girl's birthdays, so we had to go out to celebrate at midnight. And the bar had mini-kegs for the table. Between 30 of us, we could manage that, no?

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Photos

Still dressed to tango...
but also to enjoy a mini-keg