Meet Cute.

I was going to write you today about my lovely afternoon walking through a lovely cemetery with a lovely new friend, but that post has been superseded by this one. I'll post that one tomorrow, I promise. I have been sitting at my computer since 4pm with this one, and am sore and my stomach hurts from the stress of it. So here it is. Good, bad, and indifferent.

The guy from last weekend? The one who taught me to be careful with Argentinos? Well, he taught me that lesson again, along with a second lesson: Argentinos better not mess with me.

When I went out to dinner last weekend, Jaesoung and I were discussing how we remembered new words we learned, and so I dug into my purse to show him the digital voice recorder Mom and Dad bought me before I left. I thought it would help to be able to record my lectures or any other bit of Spanish I might want to take down without getting out a pad of paper and stopping life. Thing is, I couldn't find it. I figured it had fallen out of my purse, but when I got home, I couldn't find it in my room.

For almost a week, I have thought that I got robbed within 72 hours of hitting the ground in Buenos Aires, and I felt...awful about it. This kind of life change is bound to make you feel a little incompetent - I don't know my way around, I can barely communicate... But to know I had SUCH poor city sense on top of it? Man, I was not feeling too good about myself.

And then, on my bus ride home from the cemetery this afternoon, I was flipping through some of the lovely pictures that I'll post online tomorrow, and I found this one. The tricky boy from last Friday waited for me to go to the bathroom, took my voice recorder out of my purse, and left a picture of himself stealing it on my camera.


A meet cute is a writer's way of introducing two characters such that the reader or viewer knows that a romantic relationship is in the works. And how does the reader ascertain that a meet cute has occurred? A: it's something that never happens in real life. On paper, in a script, this would be incredibly romantic. It'd be frustrating, but also romantic and adorable and cheeky and smart. In the script, I'd have found the picture quickly, rather than feeling like a piece of crap for a week. Thing is, what looks brave on the surface is actually quite cowardly, because it was the only way he could make SURE that I'd HAVE to see him again. Come on, dude. Grow a pair, and ask a woman out to her face. Don't resort to petty theft.

Anyway, as I said, I came home with the intent of just sending the romantic sit com of a story to a couple girlfriends, but I ended up sitting by the computer for the rest of the day waiting for him to get back to me, since I don't have his number. I'm now achey from being tense all day, breaking out from stress, and unable to IMAGINE how I'll get to sleep tonight.

I sincerely hope that this is not an indicator of what to expect from my future experiences with Argentinos. And I sincerely hope that he calls or writes me very quickly, so I don't have to keep feeling like I'm hanging here, at his disposal.

I'm so sorry this post sounds grumpy. The good news is that I wasn't robbed, and that I'll have my voice recorder back by the time my language classes start next week if it takes threatening to call the damned cops. And also, no matter how bad my day goes, I am still in Argentina. It's quite a salve, I'll tell you. :)

I love you all.

xoxox
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