Patience
What. a. week.
A great one, but at times so frustrating. If there’s one thing I can suggest to my friends who are about to leave to spend 6 months-a year in a foreign country, it’s that patience will get you through a lot of weird, uncomfortable experiences.
The girl who lived with my host mom last semester told me that she tried to stay sane by remembering that she would do and say at least one stupid thing every day, and that’s part of being a foreigner. In that sense, it’s really important to have patience with yourself—especially if you’re trying to communicate in your second or third language.
It also takes patience to become accustomed to the way people interact. I definitely continue to remind myself when I take the bus that Argentines just like to stare at everyone.
Last night, I was trying to meet some friends at a bar in Palermo, the neighborhood next to mine, to hear some jazz. I busted out my Guia T (the book of maps for Buenos Aires buses) and found one that would take me within walking distance of the club. I walked several blocks down the major Avenida near my house not finding the bus stop, trying to take the subte (subway) only to find that the last train left 2 minutes prior, and eventually flagging down the next 161 that passed me. When I got on the bus, the bus driver asked my destination. Technically, I think you’re supposed to give the intersection or street where you are going to exit the bus, but I just gave him the maximum fare amount knowing that would cover my distance. He asked again what my destination was (which was not far—within 20 blocks) and when I told him he more or less yelled at me to get off his bus and take another one. I don’t think my spanish was failing me either, I just think he was a jerk. The next bus sailed past me, and I eventually hailed a taxi and paid approximately US$2 to get to the bar. I missed the jazz but it was still a fun night.
Moral of the story: sometimes other people do and say stupid things. Patience goes a long way in dealing with that.
A couple of days ago, I had a fiasco involving getting locked out of my apartment and having to wait until my host mom woke up after sunrise to get in. I was less than patient with the situation, but was glad that I wasn’t the one messing up (rare). I guess the other thing besides patience that has really kept me from being homesick or frustrated with my experience here is the nice people I’ve met. My amazing friend stayed up with me until 8 am so I wouldn’t have to be alone at a cafe in the middle of the night. Besides locking me out of our apartment, my host mom has also taken such good care of me that it’s hard for me to feel lonely or very confused about anything here.
One more piece of advice to friends studying abroad: trust in yourself. You may forget the word for cookies and accidentally tell your host mom several times that you want to prepare chocolate-chip chickens for her (gallina and galleta are similar words!), but when it comes to using common sense and safely getting around a big city or knowing how to interact with a family in a small village, these skills are inherent. Todo bien que termina bien, no?
Besos,
Elena
