the horror adventure of riding the buses

yes, i rode the colectivo (local buses) for the first time today and prayed the whole time through! the buses are super scary, they honestly don't stop or slow down for anything and a few times a was sure that we were going to hit a person crossing the street. AND.... if you happen to be the only person getting off at a stop, the driver will slow down, but never stop! and you just have to jump and hope you land on even ground!! I've seen how crazy and dangerous the buses can be this past week but never got up the courage to actually get on.
So while i have been waiting for my work in the hospital to start, i have been quite the sight-seer. I went and saw Argentina's version of our white house - except that theirs is pink! i read that a long time ago they used to stain the building with ox's blood to get the color... hopefully they have found a better way to mkae it pink. (you would think it smelled horrible!) this was also the same building were Eva Peron would make her speeches. The really interesting thing about all these huge government buildings down here is that some of them are surrounded by a huge metal gatse and all of them have these giant movable 'walls.' There are always protestors shouting and drumming about something - so when it gets really bad they put these 'walls' in a line to try and form a baracade. The police don't do much - they pretty much just direct traffic and let whatever is happening happen. I even saw a policeman today with a huge knife in his belt! E!
Everything is so cheap here! this could be good or very bad! But i do have to say that i have had very good self control so far with the shopping and the dulce de leche goodness that melts in your mouth :) In a nice cafe my lunch would usually be around 25 -30 pesos which is about $7. Bottles of wine in the suermarket can be bought for 10 pesos ($3ish)! the funny (and annoying) thing about buying things down here is that no one ever has any change. They look at your 100 peso bill ($23) and cant sell you anything because they don have change! that would be like no one being able to break a 20 at target! its crazy!
I'm keeping semi - busy with visiting the japonese gardens, botanical gardens, taking wine tasteing classes, reading my book in a cafe, eating ice cream :), and tongiht i'm taking my first Tango dancing lesson. On Monday night i went to "La Bomba" which was a group of about 15 guys playing the drums for hours! It was SO much fun - people were just dancing away non stop! My spanish is getting pretty good already because the people i hang out with either dont speak any english at all or their accent is too thick that it's easier for both of us to speak in spanish.
Tomorrow i'm going to the hospital to hopefully be matched up with a doc, intern, or nurse! Fingers crossed!
BESITOS!