Anyway, after paying my fee and picking up my bags I left to find a taxi to take me to my apartment. Stepping out of the airport was like getting punched in the lungs, as the hot humid air engulfed me. According to my Taxi driver the last few days have been unusually hot for a typical BA summer. They have been having lots of thunder storms as well and as I write this I can see the menacing clouds rolling in to cover up the blue sky. The airport is located about 38 km outside of the central city, so I had plenty of time to chat with my talkative taxi driver. He pointed out different landmarks along the way and explained to me the soccer team rivalry between the two most popular city teams: River Plate and Boca Juniors. We passed the River Plate stadium and it was HUGE! The taxi driver informed me that it can set 60,000 people. The current situation is that River Plate has been placed in Division 2 instead of Division 1, so the intense rival game between the two teams has been effectively eliminated. Exuberant River Plate fans are not to happy about the step down and it has increased the animosity between the already fiercely opposed teams.
Anyway, moving on. My taxi driver took me to the address I had been given and I went up to ring the doorbell for my floor. A man answered and didn't seem to know anything about me or the roommate I was informed I was to have. But I checked with the Taxi driver and the address I was given matched exactly with the apartment number I had rung. The guy finally came down after I buzzed again and let me in to figure out what the problem was. He said he had talked to the lady who I had been arranging my apt with, but she had not confirmed that she had a student to rent one of his rooms. I managed to email my program director here in BA to find out what the problem was, however I could tell that this other guy didn't really want me to find my other living accommodation, as he would rather secure someone to rent the space in his apartment. He was nice and helpful though in getting my actual apt situation figured out. After being thouroughly confused for an hour or two on where I had gone wrong, I finally received an email from my program director informing me that I had been given the wrong address. My actual apartment was 6 blocks farther down the road. Relieved I got a taxi and arrived at my apartment to meet Melina, my roommate--who was actually there expecting me! Whew!
The apartment is on the 7th floor of a tall white apartment complex. To get in I have to use three different keys. One for the front gate into the complex, one to get through a glass door into the elevator room (then I have to get into the rickety elevator with a manual accordion style door) and then another key to get into my apartment. The apartment itself is wonderful! I have my own room with a little balcony. There is a spacious living area and a nice open kitchen. The refrigerator in the kitchen is so cool! Its an old retro fridge that I have been informed never to touch without an oven mitten otherwise I might get an electric shock. The front patio has a great view of the apartment complexes across the street. Along with Melina I share the apartment with a miniature Schnauzer with bad breath named Froy (inspired by Freud). Across the street from my apartment there is a Hyundai dealership and three banks along the block.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my apartment:
This is the view from the balcony--where i am sitting writing this blog post :)
Here is the living room:
This is the view from the street.
And here is the kitchen with the retro fridge (complete with blue oven mitten for protection)
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