Day 58: The Last Class

Today I slept in a little bit since I did not have my group classes this morning. I got my laundry from the cleaners and started packing before heading to school for class at 2.00p.

It was very strange to realize that I will not be spending a good 50% of my waking hours in the school. I had a good class. At the end Germán gave me a little gift from him and Marta: a graphic novel called El Eternauta and it is fairly substantial. It has a wonderful dedication on the inside, and I plan to take it to read (or start reading) on the way to Mendoza tomorrow.

Photo credits go to Paula

Two silly children got ahold of my camera

I realized after he had left the school that I did not get a photo of me and Germán together, so I will have to return to the school and take one during my time at the hospital. Both Germán and Marta were incredibly kind during my time at the school, I feel very lucky to have had them as my teachers.

I am essentially all packed, just need to wait until tomorrow when I can zip everything up. My bus leaves at  7.00p "en punto" so I think I can assume they will actually leave on time. I just heard a bit yesterday, and some more today, that the main exit bridge from Buenos Aires is closed, so we might have to make a lengthy detour tomorrow evening. Something around the 6 hours out-of-the-way mark. Hopefully it will not be that extreme.

Unfortunately, I do not think that I will be able to post blogs during my time in Mendoza. I am not expecting to have internet connection, and I will not be bringing my laptop. I will, of course, have my camera and I will be sure to report on every important detail (and probably more than a few unimportant details too) upon my return. I am scheduled to get back into the capital at about 06.30 Monday morning.

So, I will wish everyone a Happy Easter now, and you all can just read this line again come Sunday.

There is not much more to say, I got a haircut today so I will not have to think about that issue for a while, Luke went with me, and it is slowly getting cooler, although right now it feels pretty warm. I am off to Paula's once again for a farewell meal because she is leaving tomorrow as well to go back to her home town. Poor Andrés will be all alone for a little bit. He'll appreciate the quiet.

Until Monday,

Chao.

Days 56-57: The 11th Hour

I am sorry for not posting last night, I know I am doing a lot of double-day posting, but last night there was a power outage, so I really had no way to post anything.

I slept in on Sunday morning, knowing that the only thing that I wanted to do was go to a concert in the evening in the Parque Centenario. At about 4.30p I headed off to the park to pick up tickets that were free, but required for entry. I wanted to get 5 tickets, one for me, Betty, Roberto and also for Paula and Flor, but the lady handing out tickets would only give 2 per person in the line. And they said that there would be no entrance without a ticket. So, I told Betty about the situation, and she and Roberto very nicely opted not to go. We still needed one more ticket, though. Flor arranged that we would all meet at the corner by the subway station near my house (since the park is super close to my house) and that we would all walk together. Paula, however, did not show. We called her mobile and home phones repeatedly, growing more and more confused and worried. Flor and I had both talked with her earlier in the day, but when there was only 10 minutes before the start of the concert, we left the corner. The concert was Beethoven's 9th 'en Re Menor' which is the the Spanish way of saying 'D Minor.' If you are confused, think Sound of Music. The music was very nice, with a full orchestra and chorus including four soloists. The only issue was that since the concert was in open air, they used microphones. The speakers they used to project the sound were not quite enough to handle the volume and output from everyone singing/playing simultaneously, and there was a bit of white noise on top of the music. After a bit, it became a little less apparent, and it was fantastic for a free event.

Afterwards, Flor and I went out for pizza at a little pizzaria that is across the street from my house, and for ice cream at Las Malvinas. Then Flor had to leave since she lives quite far away and has to take the subway and a train to get home.

We found out while we were eating that Paula had fallen deeply asleep. What more can I say?

Today was my last full day of classes. That was sad, but I am excited for what is coming my way shortly. I have a picture of my one-day companion, Christopher from Berkeley, California with a face that was supposed to be 'happy' but I need to take a 'sad' photo of myself tomorrow to complete the series. Christopher is working here for 6 or 7 months as a Bikram yoga instructor. He was very friendly.

 

Christopher

Me and Marta

Marta

With Germán, with whom I have my final class tomorrow afternoon, I started Libro 6! What a surprise, but I will be able to look it over more on my own.

There are only 2 more days until my trip to Mendoza. I am getting very excited. I will finish my laundry tomorrow and hopefully get a haircut so that I do not have to think about that for a while. I am just waiting for 'the crisis' to occur, since there always is one in some form or another, hopefully it is nothing major. A little crisis. However contradictory that sounds.

I get to sleep in tomorrow, although I think I will get up relatively early so I can maybe go for a walk or something.

Chao.

Day 55: The Plaza Revisited

Firstly, I have to expand on last night's blog and explain the dinner I had at Paula's house. I am just going to say it flat out: I had McDonald's. Now for an explanation. I had heard rumors that it was better than in the U.S. (I had sure hoped so, given that it could not really get any worse...) and I was further intruiged by the fact that Mickey D's is really not that cheap here. I ordered a 'Triple Bacon' burger, yes they used that name along with some french fries. The burger patties were nothing special, just as small as in the U.S. but it tasted better, like meaty styrofoam (versus just styrofoam). The fries were essentially identical: fatty and super salty. The biggest difference was the bun, which was surprisingly yummy and looked like it actually was derived from a grain.

Alright, so after a night with a new group of people including two new Argentinean acquaintances, three Argentinean friends, and a guy who is visiting from Australia and knows Paula, I was super tired this morning. I was nonetheless very happy to get to talk to my Grandma this morning, or rather midday. I tried to also contact my Dad, but we had some technical complications so we will have to connect at a later time.

At about 2.15 I headed off to Paula's place before going to Plaza Francia, again. There we met up with two of (my!) friends: one, Emerson, is a friend of mine from high school who is doing a short work experience here, and the other was his host a girl called Andrea who had visited my high school on an exchange program a couple of years ago. It was really great and bizarre to see an Austinite friend so far from Texas, but we had a good time wandering around the stalls. There were a lot more stalls open today than before, probably because of the time of day; there were also a lot more people. I had a great time searching for presents and was successful in what I had been looking for, although I did buy myself two items as well. I bought myself a new wallet, leather with a very Gaucho patterned strip on the front side. I also bought myself some Gaucho-style Argentinean pants that are white with a blue pin-strip, with loose and very light fabric. All I need now is a poncho and a hat to be completely Argentinean. I plan to do some very serious lounging tomorrow in my new pants.

Andrea, Emerson and Me in Plaza Francia

View of a guitarist and some of the stalls

There was some Tango-ing going on too

After saying goodbye to Emerson and Andrea, Paula and I chilled for a little while on the grass before heading back to the apartment. We picked up some food at the supermarket, an event that demands some description. Being close to Easter, there was a lot of chocolate on display, but Paula told me that it is not as big a deal here because of how expensive all of the chocolates are. For a little egg with a toy inside with the volume of about a grapefruit, the price tag was 40 pesos, essentially USD10. Outrageous for Argentinean standards. We picked up some veggies and meat and got to ride (or rather use, but it was a fun enough experience to warrant 'ride') a moving walkway up to the second floor of the supermarket. There were two floors (as always amusingly labelled as 'ground' and 'first' floors) because the price of square footage in the neighborhood was too high to build a sprawling supermarket like those that cover the United States. The moving walkway that heads back downwards is magnetized so that the wheels of the carts stick and do not go rolling down the ramp causing massive damage. Paula said that a friend of her's got stuck on one when he was wearing his soccer shoes in the store one time. Amusing imagery.

We had a very low-key dinner, both being quite tired, and after laughing excessively at a terrible (shamefully) American television show, I came back home when Paula received a call from her cousin who lives in Buenos Aires and was having a really rough night with a parental argument. Paula decided to stop by since both of the girl's parents (angry at each other, not the girl) had stormed out of the house separately leaving her along.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get some more touring in, if the weather holds, and there is a music performance in Parque Centenario which I would really like to see. Today was the perfect temperature, but Paula read the bug's activities and is predicting rain tomorrow. Apparently it is something you pick up on living in the countryside, but I think she just read a paper or is guessing. Either way, I am hoping all sources are wrong so I can see some new parts of Buenos Aires.

Chao.

Days 53-54: The End of the Classic

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, the weather has been so nice this whole month, I am forgetting the weather drama we had during February.

I had classes with Frank again, and he was a little more comfortable in the 'group' so I got to see more humor out of him. Marta was coming down with a little something, and Paula was sick too, so I've been barricading my body with vitamins and water and have been power-washing my hands every break. I will not get sick just in time to ruin the end of my time here.

I cannot believe that I only have one and a half days left of classes. I sent an email yesterday to the doctor under whom I will be observing, but I have yet to receive a response from him. If I do not hear anything from him over the weekend, I'll give him a call. I have mixed feelings about ending my academic time here: on one hand I am getting a little tired of the school routine and the full days, but at the same time I love being in an environment where every time I have a question about anything grammatical or otherwise, there are people who can always provide an answer. I think I have been spoiled in that way.

Yesterday was the conclusion of the River Plate vs. Boca Super-classic soccer match. The game started just at the end of my private lesson with Germán, so I packed up my things super quickly and sat in the Rotiseria where I get my fall-back lunch of empanadas. They know me quite well now, and were more than happy to let me sit in there an watch the game on their TV even though they were slowly getting ready to close.

The game was pretty good. I missed the first goal that Boca scored within the first 15 minutes of the match. I did see the second though, that was essentially sealed the deal. River just had nothing to offer in response, so the rest of the game went relatively uneventfully. I headed home towards the end of the second half, but caught the last minute outside a television/electronics store along with a small group of men who like me had stopped in their tracks to see the final seconds. Everyone in the Rotiseria (except one poor bloke) were Boca fans and were therefore very happy today. Marcelo supports River though, so I tactfully stated my sympathies for his recent tragedy. He said that River has been losing so much recently that it was not the loss that hurt, but the loss to Boca specifically. It is quite a legendary rivalry.

In the early evening yesterday I talked with my sister and mom using Skype, which was very nice. I also got to say 'hi' to my dog. It was strange to see the house and hear about normal life in a place I know so well - it felt weird to be disconnected from my own home.

That night I had arguably the best meal I have had in Argentina so far. And when I say what it consisted of, you all are going to think "how ridiculous, how can he chose that as his favorite meal," but trust me, it was yuuummy. Betty made some chicken that had a wonderful brown sauce drizzled on top and then spiced fantastically. She also made some homemade french fries that were super, thin, crispy, and still warm from the pan. She served it all up in a very fancy, modern-looking plate that was square and had the chicken on one side and a modest mountain of fries on the other. We dug in and devoured the whole plateful between the three of us (Luke joined in for dinner, Rafael was out cruising the streets, I do not know where).

Today was essentially just as beautiful outside. A little cooler, so that I felt the breeze on the walk to school. Classes were great, I have a photo of Frank giving an excellent 'sad' face... Marta still felt a little under the weather, but Paula was feeling almost completely better.

One of the more exciting parts of the day was when my debit card arrived this afternoon. Now I can withdraw money and pay back my loaned money from Betty as well as go out this weekend gift-searching. I need to buy myself a wallet as well...

I'm heading off now to Paula's house for some dinner before meeting up with the Ecuadorian (that is most likely not the politically correct term, but it sounds nice) friends of Paula and Juan Pablo's.

Days 51-52: The Beautiful Days

Yesterday's weather, in contrast to Sunday, was fantastic. The day itself was relatively uneventful, I had no after school plans, it felt great. I have a new classmate to introduce, his name is Frank and guess where he is from? Yes, Germany, you might have seen that one coming. It seems only the Germans are traveling right now. Frank is a dad, here in Buenos Aires with his latin wife (I think she is from Ecuador, but I am not positive) and his little daughter. He and his daughter are in classes for this week, but the daughter is naturally not in my classroom. He seems very nice, holds the same strong opinions that I saw in Andi and Dirk, and speaks quite good Spanish. He is a bit more slow and precise than I am, I tend to just go with the flow and learn and correct mistakes as they materialize. We are working hard on Libro 5, jumping from section to section with each class.

Today Marta bought me the Clarín newspaper so that I could read the little free book that is an optional additional purchase on Tuesdays. It is always an abridged version of some book that has each page in English and Spanish facing each other. This is a fun way to learn phrases and some vocabulary, for me, because the Spanish in the book is good. I did have to warn Marta that there were some errors on the English side. This week's book was H.G. Wells' The Time Machine or La máquina del tiempo. The first line of the book is the same as the original, but I am not sure how much more. Today was also exquisitely beautiful outside. The only sad part about the cool(er) weather is that I missed my daily sauna today. But that is the price I pay...

Momentary interlude: There is a siren outside and I have to express one of the more amusing aspects of city life here in Buenos Aires. For those of you who have not played Domino Trains this will not be quite as entertaining until you have a friend explain it, or you look it up online. The ambulance sirens here sound almost exactly like the tones from that game, without the one that has the sound of the wheels on the tracks, but it starts out with a whooping that warps in crescendos, then it changes to the alternating pitches followed by a horn... I looked around wildly when I first hear the sound, I could barely believe it. OK, back to the feature presentation:

We talked a lot today in our classes about current events in Argentina, with one in particular. During the dictatorship in Argentina that ended not so long ago, a large amount of people disappeared and died in concentration camps. Mainly enemies of the military, the governing force during the dictatorship, these people were taken from their families without a trace. They are now called the desaparecidos, essentially the 'disappeared ones.' There is a group of elderly women who have adopted the name of las madres (The Mothers) who have committed themselves to discovering the true identities of the hundreds of orphaned kids, many of whom were illegally "given" to military sympathetic couples. One hundred individuals, no longer children, but in their early 30s, have been found and identified.

The first two children identified were adopted by a couple who realized that their new children must have been the son and daughter of concentration camp victims and immediately went to last madres. The  children were identified and reconnected with their biological grandparents and maintained a loving relationship with their adopted parents as well. This is obviously the ideal situation, but there are many who were not/have not been told that they were adopted illegally, or that they were adopted at all.

The current news story concerns the adopted children of one of the richest and most influential women in Argentina. The owner of the newspaper Clarín has two children who las madres believe were adopted illegally. Las madres are requesting that the children, now adults, submit to a DNA test to confirm their biological genealogy. The two children, however, do not wish to know the truth for if they were adopted illegally they would not be inheritors of the family fortune, and their adopted mother would be revealed to be a very different person. The question debated now is if las madres can legally and morally collect a DNA sample with or without the consent of the children. Most if not all of las madres are grandmothers who do not know where their grandchildren are.

This topic is startlingly emotional, a far cry from the normal news stories of accidental death, murder, or robbery so commonly portrayed in the news. I find the work of las madres to be impressively dedicated to finding the truth and reuniting grieving families after a national tragedy. The key point is where to draw the line in pursuit of the truth.

Dovetailing to this topic is the holiday tomorrow. The 24th of March is a memorial day for 'truth and justice,' remembering and learning from the last military coup. There are no classes tomorrow (I will relish in the fantastic late morning wake up time I will have tomorrow) and there is a concert in the Plaza de Mayo (see previous blog post) in the early evening. This location is pertinent because las madres work inside the Casa Rosada located on the eastern side of the plaza.

Not quite as upbeat as most of my blogs, but I think that this theme is important enough to sacrifice my attempts at humor. I ask that you find a moment tomorrow to think of and remember my description of a part of a terrible ordeal that Argentina withstood.

Chao.

Days 49-50: The (Not So) Super-Classic Weekend

I took a quiet morning on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, spotted clouds with sunshine but without the normal humidity or killer heat. In the early afternoon, I packed my backpack with some water, a book, and my iPod and walked down to the Parque Rivadavia. There, after strolling around for a bit, I settled myself down under a tree and read for a while. Well, honestly, I did about as much people watching as I did reading. After a little while two kids came over and started playing on the tree. This was not just some little cherry tree, but a grand old tree with a trunk wide enough that four or so people would need to form a circle to hug it. They were both very cute and I was pleased to be able to understand most of what they said when they were on my side of the tree. I think that being able to understand people under the age of 7 or so is a good sign. However cute they were, once they found some drunk's leftover plastic soda can that still had some wine inside and decided to toss the bottle back and forth between the branches of the tree, I decided to leave before I was killed in friendly fire. I took my time all afternoon and enjoyed it a lot.

When I got back to the house, Betty told me that Paula had called, so after reaching her I headed out at about 5.30p to meet up at Paula's house. Paula took me to a market full of artisans that were selling all sorts of crafts, this weekend being specifically more handmade items. There were tons of stalls that lined large grass patches, one of which had speakers and chairs set up for live music. About half way through our viewing, we settled down on the grass to listen to some folk music from a few different genres each of which (according to tour guide Paula) have a different style of associated dancing. I bought myself a pair of alpargatas, which are shoes traditionally worn by the Gauchos in Argentina. They are sort of zebra-stripped, very comfy, and I wore them all day today. I might have to buy another pair since there were some that had great patterns on them, and they were super cheap. Paula bought a little leather bag that had hand-done pressed and stained designs decorating the skin. I may or may not have purchased a gift while I was there, I was definitely on the hunt. I hope to go back again since the stalls are not always the same, next time I will be bringing more money.

In the evening, Paula and I ate some takeout Chinese food (yummy, cheap, and essentially the same as in the United States, go figure) and then met up with Juan Pablo (Paula's friend who was mentioned in a previous blog) at his apartment. We went to Plaza Serrano, where I had met up with Anique and Thijs so long ago, and spent the evening with some friends of Juan's from Ecuador.

I had another sleepy morning today, because when I first woke up the sound that I immediately noticed was rain. It rained essentially all day today, not hard enough to cause flooding in our neighborhood, but a constant shower. So, with no huge drive to go out and walk the city, I lounged in my new shoes, sweatpants (yes, it was cool enough to wear sweatpants). The biggest downside to the rain today, of all days, was that today was scheduled to be one of the biggest days for Argentinean fútbol, the super-classic between River Plate and Boca. Unfortunately, the teams only were able to play 10 minutes of the game before it was suspended due to the wet conditions. They kept hoping to resume play, but now it will have to be rescheduled. Quite sad for everyone. Luke had even bought himself a River P. uniform to wear while watching. It looked very nice, I might have to buy one, although I think I'll go for the Argentinean national uniform so I am not beat up for supporting the other team. Besides, I do not have a very strong bond to any particular team.

Well, for this week's agenda forecast: last full week of classes coming up, with a national holiday on Wednesday and a slight chance of receiving a PIN before the weekend. From Buenos Aires, Argentina, this is Dylan Sabb signing off, thank you for tuning in and see you next time.

Chao.

Day 48: The Full House

Friday. Another week of classes completed. It is satisfying to think back on how much this trip has changed me. I think that it is a little hard for me to really know how much I have learned here, I was thinking about the accent of the Spanish here and how I am completely used to the 'shhh' sound. Now the pronunciation of ella as 'eh-ya' is comical and foreign.

School was good today. I am doing a lot of conversation now just continually refining my errors verbally, and then writing for homework to cover that area. I am also doing a lot of reading aloud which is great for my pronunciation as well as vocabulary. Each class definitely has a different feel, due in part to the teacher and also the time of day.

Paula was super tired today (join the club, right) because she has been scared at night the last two evenings. Two nights ago she woke up to the sensation that someone was roughly kicking the bed, and she assumed it was Andrés but he was fast asleep. So, last night she found it hard to sleep, her nerves being hypersensitive. This is the second or third spooky experience that Paula and Andrés have had in their short time in the new apartment.

I did not go to the concert tonight in the park, there was an orchestra playing because I was taking a siesta and it had started by the time I was ready to leave the house. But as it turns out, Betty and one of her grandchildren could not get in either because it was so full of people. Apparently we were not the only ones informed about the music.

There is another body in our little apartment. A boy called Rafael arrived last night from his home in the province of Tucumán. I did not include him in yesterday's blog because I only met him briefly before we all went to bed and I had promptly forgotten his name. He is here to renew his passport and is taking the time to enjoy the city and beach at the same time. He is finishing up his schooling, about to head out into the working world and has been very friendly. He is quite a tall, thin guy but he was really sweet with Betty's grandson, who is also spending the night tonight and who barely is as tall as Rafael's hips. Rafael is sleeping on the couch in the living room, how he fits I have no idea since the couch is quite small. He has a girlfriend who is American and lives in California and so he is renewing his passport so he can visit her in Sacramento. It is a grueling process to apply for a visa to the United States, he told me briefly about some of the monetary and work restrictions and requirements, none of which I needed for my (under 90 day) visit here. I do not know how long he plans on staying - here at Betty's house or in the U.S. later on.

I have been looking into events in Buenos Aires, one is a sort of interactive show that has similarities to Cirque du Soleil but where the audience is standing and the event takes place for part of the time directly above. The idea certainly sounds interesting, so I need to look further into acquiring tickets. Also Rafael is a Tango dancer so he wants me to join him when he goes out at some point. Should be an excellent opportunity to tease the foreigner (I do not know how to dance Tango at all. Yet).

Luke is at a friend's house participating in March Madness. What a dedicated fan.

In Argentinean fútbol, Estudiantes (the team that Germán supports) is playing Atlético Tucumán (who Rafael naturally supports) right now so I am conflicted as to who I want to see win. I suppose I will be happy and sad regardless of the outcome.

Chao.

Day 47: The Sauna

The day after Saint Patrick's Day was my lucky day. Go figure.

Today during my lunch break, I ran to Western Union that was about 8 blocks away and easily retrieved my money. It went so smoothly, it seemed surreal. I rushed back to classes and arrived literally just on the hour. I had not eaten my lunch, and in case you had not noticed how important food is in my life, I could not merely skip over lunch so during our mid-point break I dashed over to a new sandwich place that is around the corner that makes fresh made-to-order sandwiches.

Classes went well today, I had enough energy, and besides my coughing up a lung every now and again, I feel pretty healthy. I think there is something in the air in the subways though, because every time I use them (without fail) I start coughing and I can hear everyone around me thinking that I have some horrible respiratory disease with which I have infected the whole train.

After classes I went with Paula to buy her bus ticket home for Easter weekend (in two weeks). In exchange she agreed to make the hike out to pay for Mendoza with me. I got the better end of the deal. The subway was super hot and crowded since we were leaving the city commercial center at essentially subway rush hour. Hence the 'sauna' experience. Paula and I came up with the awesome idea that if I had been here during October, we would have worn towels into the subway on Halloween and pretended we were actually in a sauna, that is how hot it was in there. To err on the side of way to much information, we were quite positively dripping.

Paula informed me as we were walking to the office (which is in an apartment complex) that this area of town is not considered safe. And there I was walking around with 1000 pesos and my passport. Thanks to my day-after Irish luck, nothing happened and now I am all set and ready for Mendoza. There is a costume contest one night on the trip, and I really hope that Flor and I can manage to put together something to win.

I went to Paula's house for ravioli, which was very nice, but what was super exciting was when I called Betty to tell her I had dinner plans and she told me that she was making the chocolate torta! I have invited Paula around for cake tomorrow because she has fed me multiple times now and I feel like this is a super important experience for her to have.

Well, I had a great day, no I am tired after spending a few hours in the subway and walking 'miles and miles' as Paula would say, so I am off to bed after doing my homework (translating one of my blog entries into Spanish).

Day 46: The Saint Patrick's Day

Unfortunately, Saint Patrick's Day was a disappointment, as far as a holiday celebration is considered. First off, almost no one wore green at all. Now, that is essentially the extent of my experience with the holiday in the U.S. especially as a kid. I am proud to say that I wore a bright green shirt.

Paula and Marcelo in the school office

Flor and me demonstrating how (not) to wear green

In the evening, police closed the remaining non-pedestrian roads around the school and there were tons of people, with more and more arriving by the minute. Everything was shaping up nicely until the rain started. It rained hard and without stopping. Andrés, Paula and I stopped in a restaurant for a little bit and met Flor wet outside on the street, but Andrés had just going through a breakup and since the water was dampening our Irish cheer, we decided to all head home.

Flor and Andrés as the rain started

Three of my (wet) Argentinean friends

My other ironically unlucky event today was my attempt to retrieve the money my Mom wired to me. I have been told repeatedly that for absolutely nothing do I need my actually passport. For everything, I could use my photocopy which is preferable in every sense as it is very unsafe to carry a passport in the streets of Buenos Aires. Apparently to retrieve money, however, you must have the original document. I had a little talk with the attendant, asking why they needed the original document as they will not scan it or be checking my travel history or anything similar, but all I got was that I must have it to get my money. Even my attempt at an irresistible smile failed (for those of you who have heeded my recommendation to see El secreto de sus ojos will find that comment more amusing). I can safely assume the woman was not feeling any Irish cheer. 

Flor and me drenched after running to the subway

So can anyone guess what I am going to do tomorrow? Thank goodness the men organizing the trip to Mendoza are letting me pay any time before Friday.

The only 'lucky' thing that happened to me was that I found about USD10 in my pocket this morning.

Scary fact that has been repeatedly surprising me this week: I only have one more week of classes!

Chao.

Day 45: The Sleepy Day

For some unknown reason, I was excessively tired today. I feel like I slept all weekend, but this morning I had a hard time getting out of bed (usually it is not a problem for me) and up until lunch the classes were super difficult. When you make the teacher yawn, you know you are looking tired.

I am working on three separate topics of the Subjunctive mood right now, so I feel like each class is quite different. This has benefits when I am working by myself in that I do not go crazy looking over the same thing for the whole day.

Tomorrow is a large celebration in the evening for Saint Patrick's Day. There is a large Irish population here, and right next to the school there is a pedestrian area that is supposed to be the place to be. I will be wearing my green shirt tomorrow.

I found out that there is only 1 student expected to arrive next week, so I can only hope that they are my level. The odds are against me. A funny Argentinean custom that I have recently learned is that for good luck, women touch their left breast. It is important to note that it is not considered good luck for anyone else to go around touching left breasts.

Well, I received word that the wire transfer went through on the United States side without problems so tomorrow I will go directly from the school to pay for the rest of the money I owe for Mendoza. I am sure that there will be no problems getting the money from Western Union, all the same I wish the left-breast superstition applied to men.

Betty made a fish pizza tonight that had filets of fish in an egg crust with tomato, cheese, and onion. I am slowly adjusting to a later mealtime, I ate at about 8.30p, which is still on the 'early' side for the locals, but is significantly later than the 6.30p I am used to.

Before eating I had a little siesta. Normally, I avoid sleeping midday because I find it hard to restart after only a little while, but I needed some shut-eye this afternoon. In fact, everyone at school was pretty sleepy. Marta was sleepy, Paula could not wait to get home and take a nap and Marcelo stated without any prompting that he felt like he had run a marathon yesterday. Something was up.

Luke had is first day of university classes today, and everything seemed to go fine. He had one credited class along with a Spanish class earlier in the day. Of course his classes are in the evenings so that each morning when I am dragging myself to the shower I can see his closed door, a door that is still firmly closed when I leave the house and join the Argentinean rat race.

Oh, tomorrow there is a subway strike scheduled for 11.30 (providing my Spanish skills properly translated the flier in the subway train) so I am hoping that the subway will be functioning tomorrow morning before school. I might head out earlier than normal. I always have the bus as a 'plan B' but the bus is a magnate for theives and is (if at all possible) more congested than the subway. Betty says that the whole world uses the bus system, which leaves me wondering who on earth are the gazillion people using the subway?

Off to bed at 11.00p local, my blog changed time zones even though Argentina did not this year (for the first time; it was deemed an unnecessary inconvenience and an ineffective benefit).

Chao.

Day 44: The PIN

So I am once again solo in my 'group' classes; there are only six students in the entire school. On a personal note, I graduated (without pomp) to Libro 5. Everything academic went really well today, I enjoyed myself despite the fact that my voice sounded like some monster. I had tea and I had minimal pain, but either my throat was irritated or I started a new phase of puberty.

After lunch my new Visa card arrived from the U.S. after a priority shipping from Ohio. I was super happy as I opened the envelope and saw the card, but my innocent bliss quickly was smashed to smithereens when I read the fine print saying I had to call in for a PIN. The very nice robot lady on the phone told me in monotone that I would be receiving my new PIN in approximately 7-10 days. I have no idea where this PIN will be sent (United States, Argentina, Land of Oz), but I was able to surmise that I would not be getting access to my money any time soon.

I called my darling Mummy (what better way to solve all of life's problems), who was at a family reunion that I missing out on in Arizona, and explained the situation. We talked about possibilities and have decided that she will transfer me some money through Western Union. Hopefully this monetary transaction will be sin complications. We also exchanged pleasantries and conversed a little.

Luckily, the tour group said that I can pay the other half of my dues for the Mendoza trip any time this week, so I did not lose my deposit or my seat on the trip. Silver lining.

Luke is back from his trip; he told me where he went, but I promptly forgot and he did not know where it was geographically in relation to Buenos Aires. He was at the beach, had great weather and got sunburned on the last day there, of course.

Speaking of weather, today was in the mid 60s Fahrenheit and very fresh. I loved it. It is not supposed to get too much warmer the next couple of days. Muuuuy bien.

Well, I have finished my Subjunctive, not subjective, homework and I have a terrible Spanish joke to share with you guys after this brief explanatory note: Every day (without fail) Marcelo receives a chiste at between 1.15 and 1.30p. Today's was almost funny.

¿Cómo se dice 'sastre' en japones?
How do you say 'tailor' en Japanese?

Yokoso Tusako
This translates directly to Isew Yourcoat

Hope you laughed, smiled, raised your eyebrows, felt a positive emotion...

Chao.

Days 41-43: The Sick(ish) Weekend

Fairwell to Oliver.

Friday night was Andi's birthday party, hosted at Kai's apartment. From school I knew Flor, Paula, Andi, Kai, and Oliver, and there was a pretty much 60-40 split between Argentineans and German-speaking people. I was the only native English speaker. Kai has a really nice apartment, quite sparsely furnished, but quite large and with a great view of a park. A group of us went out to a boliche a club that had reggaeton music. Had a great time dancing the night away. I got home, however, rather late. In fact I should say early. I only slept for a bit though because I had promised my Grandma that I would be able to talk Saturday morning. We had been trying to arrange a telephone call for a while and it had not worked out yet, so I could not just sleep through morning.

Paula and I with the Birthday Boy in the elevator

After a really nice talk with my Grandma, the day was pretty inactive. I felt borderline sick, and I really did not want it to develop any more than the dry throat and sniffles that I had. So I decided not to go to the ballet in the park (a different performance than the one I had seen before) and just let my body focus on convalescence. Still somehow, I slept super late on Sunday. Maybe it was because I did not have my alarm set and I felt no obligation to get up and do anything, but I slept until close to 1.00p. Rather shocked, I got up and had some homemade orange juice and toast. After some more chilling time because I had a pretty low energy level I had some honey and apple tea, crackers and jam before going to Paula and Andrés' apartment. Paula had two friends visiting from her province of Entre Rios, which is to the north-east of the city of Buenos Aires. We, or they since I was not hungry enough to have more than a nibble or two, had some cheese and little of ham and sausage with red wine. Yes, Mother, I had water to maintain my hydration. 

The ever-changing colors

We had thought about going out but Paula is feeling a little sick too, she swears that it is only allergies but I know better, and Andrés wanted to sleep. After Camilia and Franchesco, the friends from Entre Rios, another friend of Paula's from when she first moved to Buenos Aires called Juan Pablo came over. He was really nice, very subdued and calm but good personality. The three of us went to a kiosk to buy ice cream, even though it was 15ºC/60ºF which to them is essentially snowing. We tried to go to a restaurant, but almost everything was closed and we had very little money. I took a bus back to Juan Pablo's house since the taxi fare from there is cheaper and I only had 14 pesos on me. 

Juan Pablo and Paula

We had to take some of these photos

The replacement card for my bank accounts is supposed to be at school tomorrow and I really hope it is because I need to take out some more money and pay back Betty what I borrowed. Also, I need to pay for the rest of the trip to Mendoza, I only paid the deposit before. 

This week in school there are only going to be 6 students. In the entire school. Apparently this time of year is very slow, so needless to say I have 6 hours of private lessons tomorrow. Anyone want to come and learn Spanish?

Chao.

Days 39-40: The Blunder

Sorry about not posting last night, I meant to but was distracted by a certain event that will not be one of my best memories of my time here.

Yesterday school was great. Marta was back and we had a good time, and I had Paula as a teacher for my private lesson (because Marta and Germán are moving, so they needed the afternoon to attend to all of the associated complications). It was very nice, we essentially just learned, or rather I just learned, a lot of new vocabulary. I just asked for all of the words that I could remember needing but not knowing. We also played a huge game of Memory (paired cards spread face down on a table, whoever gathers the most pairs wins) and I won! Now, I should explain my enthusiasm by saying that my sister has soundly beat me at that game ever since we learned how to play. Maybe Argentina is good for all of my gaming skills: solitaire, memory, I just need to play monopoly to complete the list of games I never win.

Paula had me over for dinner yesterday night as well as one of my vocabulary questions was a traditional food ñoquis and she wanted me to taste it. They are little pieces of a potato-based dough that is shaped into little pieces that look like swollen grubs. Now please imagine the bowl with bits of meat and pepper with about 25 grubs lurking throughout. It tasted really nice.

Now, I am hesitant to share what I did that night because I feel like such a fool, but I must sacrifice my pride for the benefit of truth. I hailed a taxi for the trip home, per usual since the silly subways close at 10.30p on weekdays, and after paying the driver I stepped out of the cab and immediately realized that my wallet was not in my pocket. After scanning the ground around my feet and where the car had been, I sprinted down the street to try and catch the cab at a red light up ahead. But I was unsuccessful. I hailed another cab who told me that the only way to contact the radio system for that particular taxi company, 'taxiya,' was to call from another cab from that specific system. So I spent about 45 minutes scanning every single cab that passed. Just my luck that not a single 'taxiya' cab was driving along my street. Well, I went back to the apartment after failing to get the company's number from a kiosk and Betty was still awake. It turned out that she did not have the number either, but looked it up online.

She called in and I described what I could of the driver, that he had short brown hair and a trimmed beard, he had accepted a call for a client on Av. Corrientes after dropping me off, but they could not identify the man. I have learned my lesson, and in the future I will always call for a cab so that I can know for sure the my trip is recorded; it is safer and more reliable that way too. Well, I sent an email to my Mother asking her to call in and freeze the credit and debit cards that I had on me. I only lost about USD30-35 along with my Texas Drivers' License. Since I have a photocopy of my passport with me and the license will not be expensive to replace, my only concern was that the driver, or more just as possible, a client would take the wallet and charge using the cards and my I.D..

I called this morning to both the credit card company and my personal bank and made sure that both areas were blocked. I have ordered a replacement card and nothing was withdrawn from any of the accounts before the block was put in place. Gracias a Dios, thank goodness.

One thing that gives me the heebee jeebees is that I had just paid the deposit on my trip to Mendoza earlier that day, for me and Flor at the same time. Only hours before I lost my wallet I had more than 900 pesos, about USD240 in my wallet. Got to find the silver lining.

Anyway, for now things have gone as well as could be hoped for, and I have certainly beat myself up enough about the whole deal. I still cannot believe it happened. My conclusion is that I was aiming to put my wallet in my little bag and it just slid down the outside onto the floor. Ridiculous. I had been so cautious on the subway and on the streets in regard to thieves, when in reality I should have been just as worried about me. Another frustrating thing is that I remember looking back onto the seat before closing the door to see if I had left something behind, talk about the subconscious knowing more than it is given credit for...

So classes were a little tougher for me today, just because I was distracted and I did not get much sleep last night. To ice the cake, Luke has been feeling poorly the last few days, and today my throat bothered me throughout the classes. I had some tea with lemon and took a multi-vitamin; I will not get sick. It is not in the realm of possibility.

On the brighter side, tomorrow night Andi is celebrating his birthday, so I am going to a small party that he is having at a friend's house. It will be nice to talk to him again, as it turns out he is roommates with Oliver, the guy in my 'group' classes with me. They are both from Germany, so I have a feeling that the primary language in that apartment is not Spanish.

I have been teaching Paula the wonderful English words like 'discusterous' and 'redunkulous' and 'anywho' so this feel quite appropriate:

Anywho, I am off to bed to go to 'dream with the little angels' as the Porteños say (how much nicer is that than 'don't let the bed bugs bite'?!).

May my foolish error serve as a lesson for more than just me.

Chao.

Day 38: The Secreto

Day two with my new classmate, Oliver. It turns out that he was in Santiago, Chile during the earthquake that just happened there. He was out at a club (it was Friday night) and he said that the noise and trembling lasted for about 30 seconds. That is so long, I cannot even begin to imagine how that must have been. He said the electricity was cut almost right away, that people smashed their way out onto the streets; he said he was really worried that the lights and speakers above him would fall down onto the heads of the people. Luckily, where he was living, the walls withstood the majority of the shaking. He described deep cracks in the walls, but no collapses or serious concerns as such.

After school, I hung around the office again because I wanted to talk with Flor about the trip to Mendoza and she had a private English lesson with an Argentinean student. Our plan is that I will go tomorrow with the money to the address given on the program's website and pay for the both of us since it makes much more sense than going separately. I am really excited to be able to visit another part of the country, besides one city. Mendoza is essentially directly to the west, a tad to the north near the boarder with Chile. It is mountainous there and Germán said that with the low annual rainfall, I should have good weather the whole time I am there. We are going to be taking a bus there, a semi cama as they call it where they have reclining seats, but not 'beds.' I have actually heard that the beds can be quite uncomfortable, so the chairs should be fine. The trip includes some hiking, rafting along a gorgeous river, going out one night to a bar or to a club, and to a winery for a tasting among other activites. Now, Argentinean wine is supposed to be quite something, so even though I am not a drinker, I feel I really ought to have the experience. 

I left the school with Paula and we went back to her house in Recoleta and had an amazing time talking in Spanglish and laughing at what things we should choose to say in English so that the people around us in the bus did not think we were crazy....

Anyway... we tried to go sit in the park, but there were mosquitos (and I just had a lunch with Tine who is an MD, by the way who speaks four languages and is now learning Spanish, and she had told me all about this horrible daytime mosquito disease) and I was not interested in playing mosquito Roulette so we went up to her apartment and talked with Andrés.

This evening I ate some yummy fish with Luke, after which I finished up my homework quickly so I could watch the new movie I had been lent by Germán: Los secretos de sus ojos. Now if that title rings a bell, it is because that film just won the Foreign Film Oscar on Sunday. I would definitely recommend the movie, to an adult audience, because of great quality acting, fantastic cinematography, and you can get the DVD with subtitles in English. I watched it with them so that I could follow the plot fully, but even so, I noticed lots that the subtitles skimmed over so I would really like to watch at least parts of it again with subtitles in Spanish to catch the syntax and word choices. A bit about the movie? It is a somehow warm story about a dark topic. It takes place in Buenos Aires and will leave you thinking for long after the credits. My questions to those after seeing the movie would be: What would you have done? What is fair?

Today was slightly cooler, I wore jeans during the day, a first for me, and I was warm in the subway (as always) but it was nice outside. It is supposed to fluctuate a little between a little warmer than today and about the same, but the real factor is the humidity level. Being a sea town, the humidity can rise up into the 90% range with an easterly wind, so it can get pretty thick. 

Well, I keep getting distracted from my writing because I am thinking about the film still, so I will head off to bed to let my subconscious form some personal answers to my questions above.

Chao.

Day 37: The Day of the Woman

Well, you all will never guess who showed up this morning at about 5 minutes before classes started: Dirk! So, I had a companion for today, but as it turns out he is leaving 'officially' for country-wide travels... I still do not know exactly what happened last week. But, most importantly, I managed to get a 'sad' photo of him; so I did not fail you guys after all.

Marta was not there for the first lesson, so we had María Paula instead. Classes were pretty much normal, Marcelo's was fine, nothing especially fantastic or terrible. For lunch I went to a new little deli where I bought some sandwiches that were good, not super... I think I like the empanadas better, and they cost less.

With Germán, we looked into another tense and more importantly, he said that he owned the DVD of 'Los secretos de sus ojos,' which is the Argentinean film that won the Foreign Film Oscar last night. It is a very well known movie here, and most everyone I have talked to has really enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to viewing it very much.

On the subway on the way home today, I saw the sweetest little thing: for those of you who are not aware of the manner of salutations in Argentina, it is very common to give a kiss on the right cheek of the person you are greeting, more commonly used with women, but not exclusively. Well, this little moment showed that the cultural tradition was engrained from a very young age. A little girl was talking to (I assume her father) on a cell phone in the seat next to me, and when she said goodbye to the other person, she kissed the screen of the phone.

Well, after our communication nightmare yesterday, Paula and I had talked about going down to Puerto Madero regardless just to walk around, but there was a big complication with one of the students at the school and Paula did not get home until much later than expected, so we decided not to go out.

That is a little too bad since there was a music show, that we did not know about, right by the iconic Puente de la Mujer (a bridge named 'The Bridge of the Woman') because today was the national Day of the Woman. Similar to the idea of Fathers' and Mothers' Day in the United States, this was a day to recognize and appreciate the women. Betty thinks it is a ridiculous holiday. (There is no Day for the Man.) But all the same there was a concert by the water with a bunch of performers of which I saw a little bit on the ol' telly. Oh well.

I had the pleasure of going to a Locutorio today, which despite similarities with the Spanish word loco was not a psychiatric facility but instead an internet cafe. I had to scan a signed document for my taxes this year, yes the IRS was kind enough to let me give my taxes despite my current location, and there was no scanner at home or at the school. Nothing particularly interesting happened there, I paid under 4 pesos for the scan and emailing of the document, I just wanted to bring up the story because of the name of the store.

Well, a factoid I learned today at school: the last (and only other) time that Argentina won an Oscar, the next World Cup was also successfully won... so I am betting my life insurance that Argentina is going to whoop some booty this summer in South Africa. If I am correct, you heard it here first, if I am wrong, I'll come back and delete this little paragraph and then claim that you all are delusional.

Chao.

Days 35-36: The Weekend of Contrast

Saturday I went out with Flor and Paula to a stand-up comedy performance in Palermo. It was an expensive event, titled "Ellos," and our meager meal cost us 100 pesos (only USD26, but it was considerably more than I have been paying everywhere else), but the atmosphere was great. I have never actually gone to a stand-up night in the US, but I have seen some on television, and it was quite similar last night. We had a great table up on the 1º floor, where we could see and hear everything perfectly. The performance featured two people, a woman and then a man, who both were very funny, but very relatable. They had Paula and Flor shrieking with laughter. The woman, who was first, talked a little more slowly and so I got most of her jokes, whereas the man I really only understood the situations, not the actual jokes.... Except for the more 'adult' humor, which essentially transcends language. 


Afterwards we got to meet the woman downstairs, which was nice, she was extremely short (without her shoes I am not sure if she made 5'0"), but she had gone to the same university as Flor, and was very bright and with a great, social personality. Afterwards we went to Godoy which is a restaurant/bar in which you can sometimes spot famous people (last night Paula saw a woman from a television show she watched as a kid). The three of us had a great time fooling two Argentinean guys that we were from England and barely understood Spanish. We pulled it off flawlessly, I must say, and had a great laugh afterwards. 
I slept in quite late today, Sunday, and had planned with Paula that I would call her to arrange where we would meet up to go down to Boca and then later in the evening go to Puerto Madero where there was a light show. As you have probably surmised from my manner of phrasing everything, our plan did not go as anticipated. Betty had taken my borrowed phone back because of some problems, that are not relevant, but had written down the important numbers for me. Now either she or I wrote Paula's number incorrectly and so for the entire afternoon I kept calling a phone that was off. Paula did not have my home phone number, nor does she have a computer, so I had no way of contacting her. I sent a message via the website Facebook to Flor asking her to give my home number to Paula, and later this evening Flor got the message, passed it along, and I was finally able to find out where everything had gone wrong. It was a very frustrating day. 


To just dash a little salt into my wounds, the Oscars (an event I do not adore, but enjoy the awards section) was dubbed, not subtitled in Spanish. That would not have been too bad, except that the sound mixing was bad so you could hear too much of the English at the same time, and the translators were not very good. The only other channel covering the event was E! who only showed the red carpet, a topic I could not really care less about. I mean really, it is just the moment between the car and the main event. Oh well. 


Paula and I are planning on going to the light show tomorrow night, which is the final night of the event, and we'll have to re-plan our trip to the district of Boca.
In other news, I am looking into the idea of going down to Mendoza for the Easter weekend, I will post more as things are clarified. 


Al fin, for the food entry (since I did not get a photo of the amazing dulce de leche crepe I had at "Ellos") I will mention that Betty baked a white cake with a hint of orange today. It is very light and that is only a problem because I feel I could eat the entire thing at once. 

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.

Day 33: The One Hundred Pesos Bill

I had a slow start to the morning today, so I had to walk a little quicker after getting off of the subway. Once I started classes today, with another new teacher called Silvana (who was also great; this school is so full of so many high quality teachers, it is ridiculous) I realized that I had finished my packet of crackers the day before and so I was without a snack. Now I would have normally just gone down at the first break and bought some, but I did not have the correct money.

A little context is needed here: When I take money out of the bank, I receive the majority in 100 peso notes and then the smaller denominations in 50s or 10s. This is surprisingly unfortunate in that the 100 peso note is hard to use. Since I do not go out to eat at fancy restaurants, nor do I make regular large purchases, the 100 peso notes are hard to break. It is like buying a lollipop with with a USD50 bill. You get disgruntled looks and with the taxis you have to make sure the change is not fake money (which is a common con). 

I had given Flor most of my small change to help pay for a bottle of wine to give to Paula at dinner, and then used the rest up on the taxi ride home that night. So, there was no way I could walk into the little kiosk and ask to buy a 2.45 pesos package of crackers with a 100 peso note. 

Therefore, my blood sugar dropped really low during the second 2 hours of class. I have never fallen asleep during a class before, but I came the closest ever during that period. I drank massive amounts of water and concentrated really hard on the conversation. Needless to say, lunch was fantastic.

I went to the little hip restaurant that is very close to the school, I believe I mentioned it before in reference to their extremely slow service, it is called "Suckewer." No one knows how to pronounce it. It sounds and looks awkward no matter how you say the vowels. Anyway, I ordered a salad with chicken and a fruit smoothie. The smoothie was fantastic, cold and huge on a pretty hot day, and made from fresh fruit on display in the restaurant. The salad had chicken that had been cooked right then and then mixed in with tomatoes, onions, avocados, and some herbs. It was super-dee-dooper.

There I was able to break my 100 peso bill because my total was 39 pesos. So now I am very happy that I can open my wallet and see 10 peso bills.

I met one of the new students today at the school, a woman named Tine from Norway who is just learning the beginners basics in Spanish as well as taking private classes in medical Spanish as she is a doctor. We had a funny encounter as we left the school together when we introduced ourselves on the stairwell. She spoke to me in English, since Spanish is obviously not her most comfortable language, but I had no idea she was not a native English speaker. After saying I was from Texas, I asked her where she was from, expecting a state, and when she said Norway I half thought she was joking. It was actually scary how all of her umms and uhhs and little details that you notice only if they are wrong, were spot on. She spoke better English than any of the teachers in the school. Well, she seemed very nice, although still unfamiliar with the city (it is still her first week), so I hope to talk more with her tomorrow. Hopefully, I will notice some accent or minor error to make it a little less unbelievable.

Well, I had the evening to myself. Luke was off at a soccer game (or so Betty told me), and Betty was visiting with her daughter and grandchildren. So I had some rice and chicken, finished up my semi-difficult homework and I am aiming for a nice good sleep tonight. Although the act of sleeping is absurdly unproductive and an evolutionarily retardant, there are some days when sleep sounds like a fantastic activity. Especially towards the end of the week.

Chao.

Day 32: The Success Abroad

Day number 2 with a classmate. Classes were good, we had a teacher that I had not met before subbing for Marta, called María Paula. She was very nice; she had just come back from a vacation to Brazil and was very tanned, but we worked well and the only problem that we had was when Marcelo came in for the second period, he had no idea what we had covered because she only put in the notes that we had used Libro 4. But that was no big issue. Marcelo and Germán were getting excited all day for the football game in the afternoon between Argentina and Germany, in Germany.

I got home just before kick-off, and I watched the game (of course supporting Argentina), and in the 45th minute of the first half Argentina scored the first and only goal of the match. There will be some very happy faces tomorrow at school...although Dirk is from Germany, so class with Marcelo might prove interesting, depending on how passionate Dirk is for soccer.

This evening Paula invited a group around to her new apartment in the Recoleta district. Besides me, there was Kai, a German student currently working as a resident in a hospital here, Flor, the teacher from school, Eduardo, the co-owner of the school, and Andrés who is Paula's roommate. We had a lovely dinner of homemade empanadas along with some hotdogs and some special cheese dip and some red wine. It was a really nice relaxed evening, we had planned on going out to some club or party, but we opted for a more chill evening. It was nice just to talk about general life with them, essentially all in Spanish. I had a hard time keeping up with some of the conversation because it was really quick, but it was really good practice, and whenever I had a question they happily gave me a quick translation or synonym. I've found that synonyms are really helpful for me, because translating the word each time I use it slows down the speech pattern, but if I get a feel for the word still in Spanish, I feel that I can understand the word and use it more easily, which is interesting.

I have pictures of some (unfortunately not all) of us so you all can finally put a face to the names Paula, Flor as well as Andrés and Kai.

Paula y Yo

Andrés y Paula

We took an excessive amount of terrible photos

Kai and Flor strike a pose

    Andrés using a makeshift ironing board

But one of the highlights of my day was when during my break between the first and second classes the package arrived at the school! I am super to have two things from the package in particular: a small pocket electric dictionary, and my retainer. I have missed those two things dearly and have used them both already.

Day 31: The Classmate

Today I had another human being in the group classes! A man called Dirk, a father from Germany, is going to be at the school until the end of the week, if not for next week too. He was a student back in November, so Marta and German (in particular) were happy to see him. He is a little more grammatically advanced than I am, having already done the subjects we are now focusing on, but verbally we are more or less compatible. It was very nice to have more conversation during the classes. Marta perked up quite a bit and had much more enthusiasm and excitement than last week. So all in all, I am very happy to have a classmate.

To talk about food, which seems to be a common thread now, I had my weekly dose of facturas this morning. During the mid-morning break I went to the panaderia and bought 3 croissants. I picked up one of their handout menus as well and went back there for a sandwich at lunch. It was nothing special. I have realized that Argentinean menus tell you everything that is included in/on the plate. A ham and cheese sandwich has no lettuce, tomato, onion, sauce. Happily, I got a 'bandeja' a small portion of fruit salad from a different deli and together I had a nice luncheon. As I mentioned before, I have taken to munching crackers to ward of hunger attacks during the day, and I have shared them with different members of the faculty, all of whom have experienced the addictive powers of these crackers. Paula admitted that she has bought some to have at home now, and the school director came back over to me for seconds today after sampling one. It is nice to see that I have an influential presence, for the better or worse.

I feel like a lot of Americans have visited Buenos Aires while I have been here: Beyoncé came a while ago, Coldplay just had a huge concert on Friday, and Hillary Clinton is currently trailing the Argentinean President Christina Kirchner around. President Obama tried to visit me, but he got stuck in Cancún. 'A' for effort.

I do not know who watched the Closing Ceremonies, but I have one more observation to add about the event. I am quite sure that Russia, the host of the next Winter Olympic Games in 2014, has the longest national anthem in the world. A choir sang it for what seemed like eons. According to my sources on YouTube, the anthem is about 10 seconds shy of 4.00 minutes long. The American anthem pushes 2.30 minutes with a bunch of ornamentation. Apparently Russia really has something to say. Pity I speak no Russian.

Just finished up the homework, which I am pretty sure I completed to the highest standard; now that I have inter-classroom competition, I must step up my game. I hope to read a bit of Harry Potter, oh wait, I forgot about my fantastic plan to have some chocolate ice cream and a banana. Looks like Mr. Potter will have to wait a few minutes.

Chao.

Day 30: The First of March

Well it is official: I have been out of the U.S. for 30 days. It has flown by and so much has happened that I am super glad I started this blog, I am already starting to forget when and what things happened.

Today we got a new 'batch' of students, but yet again, no one of my level. My level, which I might add, has graduated into Libro 4. That means I am currently holding the bronze medal, in a manner of speaking because the last book is Libro 6. Academic Olympics. Not quite has popular or famous yet. Give it some time.

I am feeling more and more at home with the faculty at the school. I am having a blast and I feel like I am learning as much about the way Argentinean people think outside the classroom, as I am learning about grammar etc. inside the classroom. For those of you interested in what I am currently studying in Spanish, I am working with the Moda Subjuntivo. I appreciate having three teachers a day because they all work differently, so if they happen to cover similar, or the same, material I get an entirely new perspective.

Paula, the school secretary who I have mentioned before, just moved to a new apartment closer to downtown. She had been living in one in the Palermo district, but it was dirty and very expensive, whereas her new one in the Recoleta district is clean, larger, air conditioned, and cheaper. What a deal. She is having a sort of 'just moved' dinner at her new home this Wednesday that I am looking forward to very much. It will be interesting to see what food is there.

Speaking of food (and yes, I sort of planned the transition, just a little bit), we had some lovely chicken, rice and corn on the cob tonight for dinner. Luke was out of the house working on a small photography project for his classes in Palermo, so he ate later. After my homework, I had a small serving of ice cream that Betty had bought this weekend. As she said it was not "Malvina's" (the ice cream store named for the islands, that is located right on the corner), but it was yummy nonetheless.

Today the primary schools started in Buenos Aires as well as in most of the country. The subway in the morning was not too bad, but I left quite early. Next week when the high schools start it is supposed to be "even more chaotic" as my teacher, Marcelo, says. I cannot wait. I cannot wait, because I cannot imagine it any more crowded.

Well, I will not be going on the school's field-trip this week because they are going to the Tramatango performance that I saw my first week in Buenos Aires. That is too bad, but with a school of full mostly new students, there is bound to be some repetition.

Well, the mundo de Harry Potter is calling me so I will close off my first month as usual:

Chao.