Week Number 1

Not sure how it's happened, but I've been in Argentina for about a week and a half now.  It seems like such a long time ago since I left, and yet, everything here is still new. Time is a funny concept and I've never been able to understand it.

So far, Buenos Aires has been such a friendly city, which makes living here with a language barrier that much easier.  From old ladies carrying flowers to policemen and elderly men noticing my confused expressions- they're all willing to help a lost, blonde American out.  The fun thing about asking for directions, is that you never know who you'll end up talking to.  One afternoon, Sally, Stephanie and I were walking around our barrio in search of a river (which is nowhere near us) so we asked a lady carrying flowers for some help.  She gave us directions, but also invited us to an art show her friend was having later on that night (and where the flowers were going). So of course we accepted, and spent part of our evening sipping wine and admiring local art (hey, I can pretend to be sophisticated).   In search of a good place to eat one night, and elderly man noticed our "tourist" look and gave us a wonderful suggestion that had us sitting on the balcony of a restaurant with an amazing chicken dish.  And as we thanked this man for his suggestions, he gave us his business card in case we ever needed anything in the city (I guess this could be creepy, but I think he was genuine).  While we were eating at this balcony restaurant, our english gave us away to the table next to us.  It turns out, this man writes Spanish text books to be sold in many universities all over.  I absolutely love meeting people and learning a little piece of their life. So so cool!  

My feet have become my preferred method of transportation, and I've learned very quickly that crossing streets here is very much like playing the game Frogger. Sure, there are crosswalks, but really, what do they mean? I had a pretty close call today, but made it out alive- an adrenaline rush for sure! Typically after school, we will walk around the city for several hours, trying to get a feel for where we are.  Now, I'm really great at directions at home, but this city has me so turned around! Nothing makes sense! I've been banned from giving directions to places for a while...

Since I've been doing so much walking, I've noticed just how many homeless people make the city sidewalks their home.  I don't know if Buenos Aires has any kind of a homeless shelter, but from what it looks like, they don't.  My heart breaks for these women that I see sleeping on the sidewalk with all their children.  On my way home last night, I say one woman holding her 3 year old over the curb so she could use the bathroom.  I'm still working through that scene, I just can't fathom that.  My heart aches. I need to check out some volunteer opportunities down here, because Buenos Aires is so much more than it's rich neighborhoods and never ending nightlife.  Poverty is still very real.

Classes at the University of Belgrano started last week.  I'm there Monday-Friday from 9:30-2:30 for an intensive Spanish course. Thats a long time. I had my first test today, as well as a presentation on Prilidiano Pueyrredón (an artist). I'm not a fan of Spanish tests, so we'll see how that went. Good news is, that after 4 semesters of overlapping material, I think I've finally figured out how to use the past tenses!!! Major win!

Food. Something needs to be said about the food I've been eating.  I've actually gotten used to eating dinner around 9:30-10 at night- it probably helps that the sun is out until about 9 anyway. My diet has been consisting mostly of empanadas, which I loooveee.  The cool thing is, they all have their own taste, even if you consistently order a ham and cheese one.  I could eat those things forever! And they're so cheap too! About $1.50 USD for 2. I've also eaten a lot of tartas, which is like a quiche, just without the egg.  Now. The bad. Loly (my of my host ladies) made marilla the other night.  She told me it was parts of a cow, but I didn't think about which parts until I began to notice there was still gristles of hair baked in to this, well, cow pie. The first bite went down ok, but then I processed what she said, "Argentines like to eat all parts of the cow..." All parts. After doing some research, I found that marilla is a blood sausage (meaning its cooked blood).  That right there is enough for me, but throw in the intestines and what tasted like bone...yeah... I went to bed hungry that night.  But at least I can say I tried it.

CEA took us on a tour of Buenos Aires on Saturday- mostly just a bus tour, as we'll be going to many of those places in the coming weeks.  But it was cool to get a glimpse of the greater city.  We did get off at Boca- the poorest area of Buenos Aires.  This is where BA got its start, as it was a port city.  The streets are lined with houses made of different colored sheet metal (from whatever the river brought in).  Caminito is the only street available/safe for tourists, but it is filled with great food, local artists and tango dancers.

On Sunday, we had planned to go to San Telmo, a barrio which hosts a huge arts and crafts fair every week. Unfortunately, ten minutes after we got there, it started to pour down rain, so we quickly took cover and stumbled upon a restaurant called the Puerto Rico.  Very much a tourist spot, but it was a great place to stay for a few hours.  They had a live band playing as well as some tango dancers that performed many different styles of the dance.

Bomba de Tiempo.
I don't even know where to begin with this.  This event has been, by far, my favorite thing I've done yet. I really wish each of you could experience it- I'll try to post a video on facebook, if I can figure out how to resize it. But basically, every Monday night a group called Bomba de Tiempo performs in well, a not so nice area of Buenos Aires. But there's so much culture there! Bomba has about 15 percussionists lined up on stage and they perform for about 2 hours of pure improv work. The crowd goes wild, and dances the entire time.  Some kids even set up a pit for some hardcore dancing- not sure how that worked out. Ahh, but I danced my little tush off! Such a great experience and I'm looking forward to going on many more Monday nights.

I met Loly's boyfriend the other night, and he works for the local news station as director and producer.  It was cool to relate that with what my parents do, and it gave us more to talk about than "so, where are you from? Do you like Buenos Aires?..."

I am getting a little frustrated with the language because it's so tough not being able to say what you want when you want to.  I love every opportunity I get to engage in conversations, but I hate that I can't carry on a lengthy conversation.  I can't wait until I understand that the ice cream woman is asking me how many people I'm paying for as opposed to how many scoops I'm getting, and that I'm supposed to weigh the fruit myself before I bring it up to checkout. I want so badly to be conversational!!!

Nacho just came in and scared me a bit since no one is usually home at this time. We are having a party at the apartment tomorrow so he's preparing tons and tons of empanadas. I don't think the party is for any purpose other than hanging out, which is what I love about this culture.  I'm excited to meet more of Loly and Mary's friends.  Have I mentioned how much I love my host family?? Because they're so awesome!!!

Well dear friends, thats a little snapshot of my life these past few days.  I have some pictures uploaded on facebook now and of course- many more to come (I tried including some here, but the files are too big I guess).  I pray you all are doing well, and I think about you all often!

Love from South America