Once Friday hits, Insha’Allah, I’ll be totally done with my exams and papers for the semester. And after that? Grad school applications and hopefully a trip down to the Dirty South, which in this case means southern Argentina.

How weird is it to run into a pair of Pakistani Americans from California when waiting in line at an ice cream shop in Buenos Aires with another desi from the US? It’s so odd to run into your “own kind” in such a random place. I mean, I see plenty of white Americans around here, but I’m totally not used to meeting other brown people with American accents in Argentina. Ah, the joys of living in the South Asian diaspora.

I can’t get the following songs out of my head:

And one of the thousand Spanglish covers spawned by the original:

Okay, back to studying.

I like the song! It’s pretty catchy, especially if you understand the lyrics. I actually heard a guy whistling it on the subway two days ago. Go to the web site and click “Bajate el mp3″ to download it if you absolutely love it.

Based on their choice of cumbia, I’m guessing they’re aiming the campaign towards the lower classes, who are at a higher risk for HIV/AIDS than their more well-off counterparts. Cumbia, like hip hop back in 1980s America, is particularly popular among the poor and disenfranchised in Argentina, especially those that live in the massive slums surrounding the capital. Nonetheless, I’m sure the message does everyone some good.

Although the campaign has a funny name, it’s probably more effective than the dry, not-so-catchy ad campaigns in the US that attempt to raise awareness of the dangers of STDs.

I still think nothing can beat the Telugu condom song.

I’d like to hear Argentine songs and not American ones once in a while.

My eyes are tired.

Three weeks and four days left before I return to Illinois, home of Barack Obama, Chicago, and the Springfield Race Riot of 1908.

Argentina, te voy a extrañar. (Argentina, I’m gonna miss you.)

I really have no clue what they’re saying, but the beat is pretty damn infectious. The song reminds me of the “put your hands in the air/and wave ‘em like you just don’t care” days of American rap back in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Except this song came out only within the past few years.

I first heard “Som de Preto” a year and a half ago after listening to Slum Dunk Presents: Funk Carioca, a funk carioca (a rowdy Brazilian genre of rap similar to Miami bass) compilation album.

Only if Argentina had music this funky.

Fantastic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad impression.

Oh, and I just love this part:

We can take a trip to the animal zoo
And laugh at all the funny things that animals do

I’m totally using that line on a girl one day.

“Iran So Far Away” is actually a pretty good song, despite it’s comically odd, homosexual subject matter. Andy Samberg, you’re a genius.

NBC pulled the video from the SNL web site because the song used an unauthorized sample from an Aphex Twin song.