Day 2: Las Facturas

After falling asleep a little later than expected, I got up this morning at 07.30 and was greeted by a great breakfast of cheese, jam, butter, bread and facturas. Facturas are little pastries that have a similar consistency to a croissant or pan au chocolat and they are quite often filled with dulce de leche. With some orange juice that I squeezed, they tasted pretty fantastic.

We left the house at about 09.00 to take "El Subte," the subway that has a station quite close to the school. It was quite the experience. Starting at about 08.30 every morning the entire system is packed completely full. After purchasing tickets (very cheap), we were unable to take the first train that arrived since the people were packed so tight they almost fell out of the doors once they opened. It was ridiculous. We rode the metro about eight stops before walking the rest of the way to the school. We walked on the street "Florida" which is full of shopping centers and restaurants.

The school is on the third floor of a building the serves many purposes depending on the side and level, and I had two group classes until about 13.00. The classes were no larger than 5 students, of different ages (starting at my age and going to probably early 60s). After I grabbed a quick lunch, a sandwich "de jamón and queso" and a piece of pizza, I had my private lesson for two hours where it was really nice to ask questions as soon as the came to mind, on topic or otherwise. I will later be using these private lessons for learning "medical Spanish," but we did not start that today.

On my way home, I wandered a little bit before getting on the subway. Florida and the street next to it, Reconquista, were now full of people, with musicians and vendors on the street. It reminded me of the streets of Florence, but the streets here are not as wide.

So: the first full day here was great! It feels great to be speaking Spanish and I feel like I am going to learn a ton - and be able to use it immediately - even within this week. I've been told that I have to try the Argentinean ice cream, so I suppose I might just have to drag myself to a little shop tomorrow.

Above is a picture of (l-r) Me, my host mom Betty, and Judith who is from Canada. We are all glowing and shining with the glorious heat that persists well into the night. It only reached 30C/86F today, but with the humidity it can be pretty intense.

Chao.