Good Air

Last night, in our Own Clothes costumes (Bay Area Punk Rocker & Portland Hipster), Jess and I hit the Irish pub King's Town around the block.  I've been laying on the Sad Bastard attitude pretty heavily, lamenting that my favorite holiday is ruined, lame, etc.  (on top of all the Sad Bastard griping about the apartment situation, job situation, missing home situation...)  But when we walked into King's Town, the whole bar was covered in fake spider webs.  A candle burned in an empty Guiness bottle.  The bartenders all wore gray scraggly wigs under pointed witch hats.  The radio was playing Lady Gaga, but whatever---Halloween is new to Buenos Aires, and I can't expect them to get everything right.  She is, at least, a costumed character.

Happy hour at King's Town runs till midnight, 2 rail drinks for $14 pesos ($3.50 US).  We drank tequila sunrises because the grenadine at the bottom looked like a pool of blood.  No one else was in costume (except the bartenders) but we didn't really stand out because we were Wearing Our Own Clothes.  But I got a brief infusion of Halloween spirit, thanks to King's Town.  Maybe Halloween isn't an Argentine thing, but they were trying.  I should try, too.

This post is about saying good things.  Of course, nothing has yet worked out the way it was supposed to.  But we do have a place to live---we won't be homeless, we won't have to buy plane tickets home for Thursday morning.  Craigslist has a ton of jobs listed for English speakers, writers, etc.---I'll be applying soon.  I miss everyone in the states---my Spokane and Pittsburgh running crews, my family, Molly and Mya, my other favorite dogs.  But at least Jess is here---bff & travel partner extraordinaire.  She's taught me cribbage, and she found a shop selling tortillas.  Nice work, J.

Yesterday afternoon, we bought a kilo of strawberries for $5 pesos---about 2 pounds for $1.25 US.  We spent part of the afternoon playing cribbage and eating strawberries and drinking wine with sunlight sinking through the windows.  I'm in Buenos Aires, halfway around the world, with it's beautiful, scrolling architecture and it's amazing red wine, and all its hard bullshit, like any other place.  I'm really here.  And even if it isn't perfect, even if it is only for 5 months, I'm here.  That's something to love.