Oh, Hi. I'm New Here And Everyone Talks Too Fast.

[MilhouseKoh]

Oh hi,
My name is John and I'm from San Francisco, California. I freelance (digital marketing/advertising) and I'm bouncing around South America for a few months with BA as my homebase. I've been here for a little more than a week now and these are some thoughts/questions I've compiled:

1) Spanish is difficult. Especially when it is spoken to you at 5000 words per minute.
2) Why does a normal t-shirt cost more than all of my lunches this week? Should I be eating better lunches?
3) WHERE CAN I PLAY BASKETBALL?
4) I can't tell how old anyone is.
5) How much sleep do people in BA get? Everyone stays out so late!

I've been thinking about attending a Spanglish event to meet people and learn how to count to 5 in Spanish. If there are other events that would be fun or helpful, please let me know. I am also down to just hang out, but no holding-hands.

 

[nlaruccia]

There are basketball leagues at the YMCA in Microcentro.

 

[EricLovesBA]

Oh hi,
My name is John and I'm from San Francisco, California. I freelance (digital marketing/advertising) and I'm bouncing around South America for a few months with BA as my homebase. I've been here for a little more than a week now and these are some thoughts/questions I've compiled:

1) Spanish is difficult. Especially when it is spoken to you at 5000 words per minute.
2) Why does a normal t-shirt cost more than all of my lunches this week? Should I be eating better lunches?
3) WHERE CAN I PLAY BASKETBALL?
4) I can't tell how old anyone is.
5) How much sleep do people in BA get? Everyone stays out so late!

I've been thinking about attending a Spanglish event to meet people and learn how to count to 5 in Spanish. If there are other events that would be fun or helpful, please let me know. I am also down to just hang out, but no holding-hands.

1. It's not you, we all went through this. Unfortunately after years here, it's still a struggle for me with some people. I bet spanish speakers might have this same problem if they go to a big city like New York.
2. I imagine you're eating fine. The short answer is: import taxes. The easy solution is shop in the barrio called "Once" (pronounced like the spanish number 11). Or if you want to take it to the extreme, have a very street-smart local take you to La Salada - the world's largest black-market flea market.
3. See answer above.
4. I've found they can't tell how old you are either. This can be fun when you're my age. A wise old porteno told me to look at their hands.
5. I do think some do catch-up sleeping. Like maybe sleeping practically all day Sunday, but this is not always the case. I think it's fairly common to mix something strongly caffeinated with the drinks. Honestly I could never keep up. I've even heard people from neighboring South American countries say the same - how do they do it?

Welcome, and enjoy your stay!

 

[vidavidz]

1. My team members told me that among South Americans Argentines in Buenos Aires spoke the fastest. The other South Americans are too nice and sweet for them. Argentine Spanish they say is commanding too in tone than other Spanish speakers. Reason: mixed Italian passion and Spanish language and there you have it.

@EricLovesBA, you got me cracking up with the "look at their hands" response... omg...

 

[Frinkiac7]

2) Why does a normal t-shirt cost more than all of my lunches this week? Should I be eating better lunches?

Really restrictive imports meant to foster a "domestic" clothing industry. This results in overpriced, Argentine-made clothing that is of poor quality, overpriced, and from some bullshit brand that has no cachet or recognition outside of Argentina. More commonly, it's just poor quality, expensive off-label stuff that no one has ever heard of anyway, but you're still paying insane prices for it. My pre-departure advice would have been to bring a LOT of clothes if you care about clothes.

 

[EricLovesBA]

@EricLovesBA, you got me cracking up with the "look at their hands" response... omg...

Heh, yeah, the full context of the advice was an 80 your old tangero telling me that "Women here lie about their age, and sometimes it's very hard to tell. If you want to know for sure, look at their hands.". He was a funny old guy, full of stories/ tall tales.

 

[arlean]

Welcome to Argentina and to Buenos Aires in particular. To answer one question accurately, Nah, they do not sleep. I figured that out. It must be in the genes or something. They tell me I don´t need as much sleep as I think either and should adjust to Argentina culture now that I´m here, because they can go to bed at 2 and be at work at 8 the next day.

 

[vidavidz]

@arlean, If you're partying, maybe yeah... try doing that everyday because of work... you WILL WANT to hit the sack (speaking from experience) hahaha!

 

[robwerwe]

Why they hell do things start at 2am in the morning? This is really pissing me off now.
This city is getting really difficult to enjoy if your a grown up and have a real job.

 

[citygirl]

Many take a nap between getting home from work and going out. They also sleep really late on the weekends. Like I had friends back in my going out days who would sleep until 3 or 4 in the afternoons on Sat/Sun. And Mon/Tues weren't late nights, Wed-Fri, they would come home and sleep for a few hours after work and then go out at 10 or so for dinner and then out for drinks.