Like anything and anywhere, there are good and bad things about Buenos Aires, and I am slowly discovering both of them. As a service to both myself and anyone curious about this city, I will list the things that I am learning:

GOOD:
- There are a multitude of things to do; famous musicians come through (Manu Chao a few hours ago, it was great!), fun circuses, fairs, and museum exhibitions to visit, and celebrities (although only Argentine ones) around every corner

- Delicious restaurants to try

- Exposure to the Spanish language (obviously), thus making it easier for me to learn it. This including watching Watchmen here in BA, an interesting experience (I give it a 6/10...feel free to let me know what you thought of it in the US)

- Cheaper than the US

- Behavior on the subte (subway). Although usually it is literally as packed as possible, there is still room for the subway staple: the person trying to make money by whatever means possible. The people who entertained me today were particularly good; on the first ride an 8 year old girl juggled on the moving car wile holding a small child ( she received a standing ovation), and my connecting subte had these African drummers/saxaphonists who managed to rouse people to their feet to dance before they both got off at their their stop. They didn't even ask for money. This would never happen in New York, where not only would we never deign to look these people in the eye, we would also never stand up out of our valuable seats and applaud.

BAD:
- Many people on my program have been robbed or pick-pocketed. One girl has been held up at gunpoint, a few have been robbed multiple times, a couple have been threatened by knife, and while some have run away successfully, most have been successfully robbed. Tonight at Manu Chao, three girls with purses (luckily I do not carry a purse) got their bags slashed, and then through the slash in the purse offenders stole whatever he/she could reach. I actually just realized I have a few small, almost unnoticeable cuts in my palm, I'm sure because of jumping up and down next to somebody holding some sort of purse slashing tool (.....a knife.) It is a dangerous city, though not so bad if one exercises street sense and caution.

- A lot of ham, on everything (which is clearly bad for me). Description of a hamburger: meat, bun, ham and cheese (jamon y queso), if you want to pay extra you can get lettuce and tomato. This also happens to be the description of everything: most sandwhiches come with jamon y queso, as do many of their pastas and empanadas, pizzas, and meat dishes like steak (yeah, they put ham on steak. what!?)

- 24 hour delay on episodes of Lost and The Office

-No laundry machine in my building, I need to walk two blocks to the laundromat to pay to get it sone


I like BA a lot...but I'm not sure if this list of Good vs. Bad works out in my favor?