¡muchas cosas!

I’m back! 5 days in Argentina under my belt (I actually didn’t bring any belts. Another thing that did not make the cut in the final space-making frenzy. Total shocker for those who see me all the time, I‘m sure) and I feel like it has been way longer than that. Not gonna lie, I’m pretty impressed with how much I’ve already seen/done in such a short amount of time. Despite the rain and now intense heat/humidity, I have been a serious walking maniac. Trekking all around, trying to be discreet as possible with my map and camera in tow. I don’t seem to stand out as a foreigner until I pull those outta my bag.
This weekend I also conquered the subway system in order to visit another really interesting neighborhood called Palermo, an upscale area of boutiques and café/bars. I never shop in boutiques in the US but this place is dangerous! Unique, boutique worthy summer shirts and dresses are currently $10-$20. I bought 3 great items that now comprise almost my entire wardrobe, as I really don’t want to wear anything I brought here. I knew that would be the case!

On Sunday I moved my stuff to the apartment where I will be living the next 4 weeks, and yesterday I started school. The apartment sitch is just ok, but granted I have only been here 2 days. Maria the owner of the apartment lives here (which was unexpected), along with myself and 3 people from Holland who also recently moved in. Another room will soon be filled as well. Maria is an older woman, nice enough, but it is reeeeeeally quiet in there, everyone kind of keeping to themselves in a stranger’s home. It is essentially a home-stay without the coming together for meals, which is the best part of a home-stay! And Maria speaks to me in broken English for her own practice, while I respond in Spanish. Oh well, I guess we are both practicing. So yeah, this is not exactly what I imagined, but it will suffice. On the bright side, I have my own space in a nice apartment in a really great area called Recoleta. Yesterday the sun finally came out and I had a glorious day walking around the amazing green spaces close by, and enjoyed a lovely lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes. I found several museums to return to, 50000 shops, and a beautiful running path. I also had my first complete grocery store experience and loaded up on fruits, veggies, and eggs for home cooking. HURRAY for local produce, especially Argentinean avocados, $1 for 5! There are also small produce stands all over the city (was able to get some great fruit right by my hostel) so I will usually go there, as the grocery store around the corner was packed and mostly selling the same packaged stuff from the same corporations as the US, just different names. My first time going into “Disco” the grocery store, I made the BIG mistake of bringing my one banana to checkout without weighing it first. Clearly I did not know that you have to take all your produce to a man at his weigh station in the back, where he weighs and places a sticker with barcode on each bag. Well, my un-weighed banana caused an embarrassing stir and as I walked away from the frustrated clerk he told the next man in line “so sorry about that, I can’t believe she forgot to weigh her banana, how strange!” Haha, now I know!

Yesterday was also the first day of class and it is going to be really great. I was wrong, my class is from 2-6 every day and just me and my fabulous teacher Paola! My first two classes went well and I think after 80 hours of one-on-one this month I will be feeling pretty darn good about my Spanish. It is kinda funny because I feel like I am doing a version of my college Madrid experience all over again, but this time with more flexibility, more on my terms. The appearance of the city itself is very reminiscent of Madrid from what I have seen so far, but with a little more flair and quirk to it, more green open spaces, nicer and quieter neighborhoods to explore. More variety in architecture and use of space I guess you could say. And the people…To seriously generalize here, there are even more Anglo-Saxon looking faces speaking Spanish than Spain, but basically take Spaniards as a whole, swap out Flamenco for Tango, one wild Castellano accent for another, throw in some heavy Italian influence and that is the Argentino in a nut shell. Again in general, I get a really good feel from people here. I love that people seem so much more friendly and open to one another than Americans, so much affection amongst men, and people expressing their exuberant personalities. And they are really curious and genuinely interested in foreigners visiting their city, rather than being annoyed by them.

This photo series is my ode to the amazing green public spaces that I have encountered along my meanderings thus far.





This thing is awesome! A huge metal flower in La Plaza de Naciones Unidas that curls up at night and opens up in the morning.





Ok, now these pics are dedicated with love to Stephanie, Shannon, and sister Emily - my favorite feline fawning females ( ya like that?) I happened upon a lush park/botanical garden the other day and came to find that it is where people of the city discard of their unwanted cats. No joke! Verified by my guide book and by the 1000000 cats of all types roaming the grounds. Seriously, Ernest Hemingway’s house ain’t got nothin’ on this place. It was absurd. I think people were mostly visiting the park to hang out with the cats of the park - every bench was filled with either a cat or several people with cats on their laps.

Kitty hogging the prime Vitamin D spot!


There are 9 kitties in this shot! See if you can find them!




Alright, time to head home after class #2 - about a 30 min. walk or a quick ride on the colectivo (bus) which I have not yet tried.

Besos!

J