Thoughts through the sweat

I came home today to an full inbox.

My first instinct was to scream, rip the computer off the table and smash it against the wall a few times for good measure just to make sure life couldn't reach me anymore.

Luckily, i am too poor to buy a new computer and my senses returned to me quickly. Instead of destroying property, i went for a run and thought long and hard through my sweat. And i seem to see things clearer now.

It is true that stress exists everywhere although different cultures handle it differently. Argentine seems to have the "don't worry, it will get done somehow" attitude. And i am starting to think it might be a good attitude to adapt right about now.

There will always be 3 people demanding your attention at the same time. There will always 5 more essays you should read and 2 more papers you should be writing. There will always be more things to do than time you have to do it.

But i will not always be in Argentina.

I have one more month to enjoy Argentina and take in all it has to give me (and exchange what i don't like for something better.)

And today, as a ran, i decided i am going to take it all in.

During my run, I took in the slow-walking, snobby old ladies who demand half the side walk for themselves and their poodles with booties. I took in the school kids passing the soccer ball back and forth with more skill and talent than most of the pro-soccer players in the United States. I took in the old men playing chest in the park with the tattooed punk kids smoking pot next to them. I took in the annoying group of 17-year old boys at the corner saying crude piropos to passing women (and i decided to exchange them for the cute curly haired argenine boys at Ramos Mejia.)

I took them all in because they are what makes up my memory of Buenos Aires. I will not remember these articles i am reading or the paper i will present. I will remember the good, the bad and the real of the characters of Buenos Aires.

Because that is what they are; they are characters in this crazy chapter of my life titled: Oh the places you will go.