Day 34: The Unanticipated Farewell

I have some sad news to share. I am sorry to tell you all that I did not manage to get a 'sad' photo of my classmate Dirk who left the school after yesterday without giving me any notice. I knew he was planning on leaving soon, but I assumed he would finish out the week. Well I do not know about 'you' but I sure made an ass out of 'me.' Apart from that failure, I had a great day.

Classes with Marta were very nice, we talked a lot about movies, ghost stories, and I learned a bunch of new words and synonyms. With Marcelo I took a mini field trip. He had had a super busy day the day before, and so we walked to Puerto Madero just a 7 minute walk to the east, and looked at the boats that were there. There is a tradition (an annual, I believe), that a proper sailing ship from each Latin-American country with a navy completes a tour around South America, stopping in quite a few of the major ports. Each ship is manned by sailors from the respective country and the ships are adorned with patriotic flags and colors. We walked onto the ship from Ecuador and saw the ships from Paraguay and Colombia. It was cool to look along the edge of the city horizon and see masts sticking up from behind the buildings.

Ship from Colombia, view from the street

At the bow of the ship from Colombia

On board the ship from Ecuador, note 'Popeye' on the mast

View south from bridge with buildings on both sides of dock

The ships were docked in an area that had buildings on both sides. There are docks with connecting passages that have bridges from the mainland crossing to a slice of land on the other side. The whole area is Puerto Madero, named after a man, and was converted from the slums of Buenos Aires to the most expensive dining section in the city.

Paula joined in my private lesson for a little bit at the end today to play the game "¿Qué Hago?" a game of guessing the profession using 'yes' or 'no' questions. We normally end the lessons that way, or with a different version of 'where am I' or 'who am I.'

This afternoon, after retrieving my laundry from the Lavanderia, I rode the subway back into town and purchased three tickets for a show tomorrow evening. It is a stand-up comedy show, that I am very excited to see and very interested to see how much I am able to understand. Comedians in English usually speak quickly, and so I think that I will understand only a little. But we shall see.

After a dinner of omlettes with Betty's friend, Roberto, Luke and I made the trip to Las Malvinas. Not the islands, for those of you who did not thoroughly read the previous posts, but a fantastic ice cream shop super close to the apartment. I had my standard vanilla with caramel and maltesers, along with some chocolate that had some flakes of orange in. Not orange flavoring, actual real orange. Important distinction. We waddled happily back up the stairs (not the elevators because I felt guilty about my exercise:dessert ratio) and I am planning on not joining Luke on a night out, although it is Friday night because I am wiped.