Iguazu Falls

Last Wednesday, I went to my 9 am class as usual, then met my parents in a cab and took off for Iguazu Falls. We flew from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, the small airport for domestic flights located very close to Retiro/ Recoleta.

The 1.5 hour flight was smooth, and we soon found ourselves in the sunny, sup-tropical wilds of Misiones. Our hotel was actually located inside Iguazu National Park, and we could see the falls from the pool area! The hotel itself (a Sheraton) was basic but comfortable, and the location was perfect for access to tours, boating excursions, and park trails. We ran up to our room, changed into bathing suits, and made our way to the first activity, a rafting trip that would take us right next to the falls.

To get to the boats, we rode through the jungle in (very hot) trucks, while a guide gave us a little bit of info about the wildlife in the park. There are 70 species of birds and something like 400 species of insects (ew) in the park. It's also home to lizards, caymans, monkeys, and these raccoonlike mammals called Coatimundis. We never saw any monkeys (boo), but the lizards and coatis were especially unafraid of humans, coming right up on the pathways and sometimes eating out of garbage cans.

We were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we got into the rafts, but the spray from the falls cooled us off nicely. Then it got a little stronger. Then we were practically UNDER the falls, getting completely drenched! The people wearing ponchos, who must have felt like microwaved leftovers before we got to the falls, stayed dry, but I for one enjoyed the refreshment.

After the rafting trip. we climbed up the cliffs near the falls and rejoined the trails. There are two main trails (the Upper and Lower Circuits) and they connect to many beautiful lookout/spray points around the falls. There are many waterfalls in the park, at different levels and angles. Instead of one huge wall of water, you can see about a hundred different little falls coming together at different points. It's one of the most beautiful places I think I've ever seen.

We had dinner at the hotel that night (delicious if sort of Americanized), and prepared for our early start the next morning. We planned to leave at 8 am for the Brazilian side of the falls. Iguazu (or Iguacu in Portuguese) sits in both Argentina and Brazil, but the majority of the waterfalls are in Argentina, so Brazil's national park has the best views. Technically, Americans need official Visas to be allowed into Brazil, but it is often possible to go over for the day. Our amazing tour guide/taxi driver, Mario, got us into Brazil with a little sweet-talking (we didn't even need to bribe anyone)!

We got into Brazil at about 8:30, and the Parque Nacional do Iguacu didn't open until 9, so we decided to make a quick stop at the Bird Park (Parque das Aves). Mario said this place was great, but I have to admit I was a little skeptical. A bunch of birds? Sure they're colorful, but so what? I've been to zoos before. To my surprise, the Bird Park was AMAZING. Have you ever really looked closely at some of these exotic birds? They're RIDICULOUS. I can absolutely see how they directly descended from dinosaurs (part of the reason I loved them so much). That, plus they're strange calls/interactions, and the awesome Portuguese-to-English translations on the signs, made for an awesomely entertaining detour. We had intended to spend 45 minutes with the birds, and ended up staying for over an hour and a half.





The unexpected hilarity of the Bird Park unfortunately meant that we didn't have as much time to spend on the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. We had to be back in Argentina by noon to check out of the hotel (since we'd only booked one night), so we rushed to the lookout points and pushed past slow tourists. It was totally worth it. The falls are even more breathtaking from the Brazilian side, and there are a couple of lookout points that allow you to stand right next to the water. You can just FEEL the power and energy and general awesomeness emanating from it.






That afternoon, back on Argentine soil, we hiked over to the Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's Throat), another set of falls on the Argentine side that we had seen from Brazil but not gotten close to. Looking over the edge was an amazing experience. This part of the falls is enormous. From our viewpoint, we could see the wide, calm, unassuming river flowing quietly to the edge, where it suddenly seemed to explode into the air with unexpected force. The air is filled with mist all the time because of the power of that water.

This another amazing thing about Iguazu. The constant mist combined with the bright tropical sunlight creates rainbows EVERYWHERE. There are also about a million butterflies of every size and color. The combined effect (aided by the heat, I'm sure) was that of a surreal, otherworldly haven. I can't believe a place like this actually exists on Earth.




That night (Thursday), we flew back to Buenos Aires. It was a short but unforgettable excursion into a little piece of paradise.

More pictures coming soon!

What to Do in BsAs

My parents are coming on Sunday (yay)! I've been trying to think of Must-See/interesting things for them to do while they're here. I'm not sure if any of you readers are currently in Buenos Aires or have been here before, but if anyone has suggestions, help me out. Here's what I have so far (they have guidebooks too, so it's not like this is a complete list):


Restaurants
Dinner: Tancat (Paraguay and San Martin), ***Cabana las Lilas (P Madero), Estilo Campo (P Madero), Happening (P Madero), Piegari (La Recova), Plaza Mayor, Juana M (near la Recova), Olsen (Palermo), La Cabrera (make sure you get free champagne), Siga la Vaca?
Lunch: Pizzeria Guerrin, La Continental, Sabatico, California Burrito Company?, that sushi place on 25 de mayo

Bars
Milion (Recoleta), Antares (beer, Palermo), Foro Ghandi (Corrientes- library/cafe/bar)

Sights
Feria de los Mataderos (Sunday)
Tango show? (Cafe Tortoni?)
Palermo: Parque 3 de Febrero, Japanese garden
Recoleta: Cemetary, market, Centro Cultural de Buenos Aires, el Ateneo Grand Splendid (bookstore)
Centro: Calle Florida, Galerias Pacifico, Obelisco, Plaza San Martin, Teatro Colon, Tribunales, Holocaust Museum (Museo de la Shoa)
Montserrat/Congreso: Avenida de Mayo, Plaza de Mayo (Casa Rosada), Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes
San Telmo: Calle Defensa (antiques etc.), Plaza Dorrego, Parque Lezama?
La Boca: Caminito, other touristy crap
Puerto Madero: Boat musem (near Azucena Villaflor), Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman)

Important Stuff: Try mate, try Malbec wine


Iguazu- 2 days
Airline: LAN (NOT Aerolineas Argentinas or Southern Winds)
Hotel: Sheraton
Bring: Passport (in case we can get into Brazil maybe???), sunscreen, bathing suit, BUG REPELLENT, walking/hiking shoes

Tigre- 1 day?
Restaurants: Gato Blanco, Rumbo 90
Do: Casa Foa exhibition, amusement park?
www.tigre.gov.ar

Halloween!

Halloween is next weekend, and while I don't know of anything specific going on, I'm sure something will come up. Argentines tend to jump on any excuse for a party. What should my costume be? I didn't bring much stuff with me (the panda ears and grass skirt are both at home), and I can't really afford to buy much unless I can later use it as actual clothing. I've seen a couple toy stores selling masks and costumes, but the selection looks pretty limited.


Also, the Christmas store in the Galerias Pacifico opened last week, and there's a year-round Christmas store on Roque Saenz Pena. I like the way these people think. One week until I can bust out the Christmas carols!

A tale of woe and horror

I have something very personal and disturbing to share with you all. This may come as a shock; indeed, when it happened, I was surprised and disgusted with myself. Argentina has apparently changed me in more ways than I could ever have imagined. A few days ago, ashamed as I am to say it, I was faced with temptation, and I gave in. In the past, I wouldn't even have batted an eyelash over this kind of evil, but I guess I am now a different kind of person. Somewhat sadly, I admit to you that I ate ham.

It wasn't a decision I made lightly. I haven't had ham in 9 years, and I don't think I ever seriously considered eating it in all that time. However, since being in Buenos Aires, meat has become strangely appealing. I don't want to analyze that too much. One of my favorite empanada places, La Continental, also makes pizza with crispy onions called fugazza. If you want melty, delicious cheese on the pizza as well (fugazzetta), the ham comes along with it. One day, my curiousity got the best of me and I decided to get the cheese version, braving a ham encounter. It was just a thin layer, but it came between the dough and the cheese/onions, so it could not be removed. Fortunately, I couldn't really tell it was there at all, but who knows, if I had I might even have enjoyed it more. What is happening over here?

A big T-bone steak might be next.

Wow, it's Been a While

I hadn't realized it's been about three weeks since my last post. I can't think of much to share. I'm still entertained by the prospect of living my "regular" life here, so the time has flown by. My students continue to be entertaining and delightful. I'm up to about 20 hours a week, but one of my regular students is traveling for work until the middle of October, so I won't have her for a while.

Surprise surprise, I have moved again. I've told a few of you the story of my last house already, but here's a summary: the place was big and nice, and in a pretty good location, but it was much less "homey" than I was hoping for. In the first place, the people who own the house actually lived there too, with their little BABY. I didn't realize that this would be the case, prrobably because I don't speak Spanish :-P They were nice people, but, understandably, had some rules about coming home late and waking up the baby (I came home late, but I NEVER woke up the baby, just fyi).

Secondly, they promised me WiFi, and after much struggle, Dad managed to figure it out for me. After about two days, however, my landlady decided to change internet providers, which messed the whole house's internet up (even the desktop), and of course cut off my wireless connection.

The third major problem was that they were having major reconstruction done in the kitchen, so space and dishes were limited. Somehow, this led to other people using and throwing away my food, even if it was marked. I don't have a lot of money (especially since I STILL don't have my credit card, but more on that in a sec), so throwing away half my container of ravioli is a problem for me. This is a problem with renting a room in someone's house: they always think they can do whatever they want. Mi pasta es tu pasta? I don't think so.

A fourth and more minor point is that after the first week, a German couple and another, separate German woman moved into the other rooms in the house. While they were all very nice, clean, and considerate, they talked to each other in German ALL THE TIME. The spoke to the family and me in Spanish, but it still created a weird language barrier. If they were having a conversation in German, there was no way I could join in and get to know them better. Not a big deal, but kind of too bad.

My new place is definitely smaller than the last one, but it's much more comfortable. I now live with an Argentine guy, a Swiss girl (though I just found out she's leaving in 3 weeks), and an American English teacher who plans to be a lawyer (I didn't know him before). They're all really nice, and younger (but not as young as the baby!) Everyone speaks English, but there's a general houses agreement to speak Spanish unless it's really necessary to use English, and we've all been good so far.

My room is small, but I still have a double bed (most rooms for rent seem to have twin beds), and there's WIRELESS, my favorite thing ever. Also, the location is perfect. I am now right downtown, very close to the Subte and lots of the places I work, and there's a nice big grocery store just a few blocks away. That was another bad thing about my previous location: small, weird grocery stores only!

As I mentioned before, my credit card STILL hasn't arrived. I lost it about a month ago, and the new one should have been here last week (if not sooner). I'm a little worried I messed up the postal code, and that's what's causing the delay. Hopefully it'll get here soon! In the meantime, I'm spending a quiet weekend vegging out at home to save money and stress. I was sort of sick last week, and my right foot is all bruised for some reason (I don't remember this happening, but apparently it did some time on Tuesday). Since I walk pretty much everywhere, I thought it would be a good idea to give it a break.

Well, this wasn't an especially fascinating or deep post. I promise to do something exciting soon!

Visitors!

Quick shout-out to those of you who are planning to come visit me! My parents are coming November 16-22. I think we'll be going to Iguazu Falls as well as having fun in Baires! Marissa K. Lipton will be gracing me with her presence in December (17-22), right before I come home for Christmas. I'm so excited! It'll be great to see some familiar faces!

Dia del Maestro

Unbeknownst to me, this difficult day is also el Dia del Maestro (the Day of the Teacher) in Argentina.

Feliz Dia del Maestro to all the teachers! My hope is that education and open discussion can help prevent the cultural and political rifts that led to the horrible event of this day seven years ago. I know I´m learning a lot. Can´t hurt, right?

Colonia, Uruguay

One of the reasons I was most upset about losing my stuff was that I was supposed to go to Uruguay with some friends on Saturday morning. Since we don´t have work visas for Argentina, we have to leave the country every 90 days to get our passports stamped. The easiest way to do this is to go to Uruguay by ferry for the day or the weekend. There are two options for the ferry: the fast boat (1 hour) and the slow boat (3 hours). My friends and I had bought tickets for the 9:30 am slow boat, but OF COURSE I missed it in my frenzy to find my bag and get ready to go. I got to the Buquebus port station at 9:20, but I wasn´t allowed on the boat. Fortunately, I got a seat on the fast boat leaving at 11:30, and arrived in Colonia at exactly the same time as the rest of my group (literally- I walked off the boat and heard people yelling my name from behind me. I had no cell phone so this was verrrry lucky). Both ferry options are pretty swanky, with flatscreen TVs, a bar/cafe area, and a duty-free shop. The one hour boat costs about 30 pesos more, but it was totally worth it on Saturday morning.

Once I got to Uruguay and found my group, I felt tons better. Saturday was rainy and cold, and Colonia is a tiny little town, but we still had fun wandering around, eating at el Drugstore, and watching the Argentina-Paraguay soccer game on TV. Our hostel was pretty comfortable, despite the fact that I had to share a room with 7 guys (5 of whom were with our group). groooosssssss. :-P

On Sunday, we rented dune buggies (Matt and Charles rented bicycles) and drove around Colonia. It´s a very small town, but we had a lot of fun roaring down the little roads in our ridiculous buggies, waving to strangers, and chasing each other. It was FREEZING on the coast road, and the buggies were completely open, but that didn´t cancel out the awesomeness factor. After dune buggying for most of the day, we walked down to the edge of the Rio de la Plata (the body of water we crossed to get to Uruguay) and hung out. We could easily have been somewhere like Scotland or Ireland, everything was so green and rocky. Not how I pictured Uruguay at all, but completely amazing.

I lost my camera as well (boo!), so I´ll have to steal some photos from others. Stay tuned!

Edit: Here are some pics:




The group: Charles, Ethan, Me (bad face!), Sam, Dan, Natalie, Daniel, Matt. Also a stray dog that loved Charles

Tragedy strikes!

On Friday night, I lost my purse. Luckily, my passport and alternate credit card weren´t in it, but my cell phone, keys, etc. were all lost (in addition to my Marc Jacobs clutch and coin purse- boo). I was being careless, and I don´t think the purse was stolen, I think I just lost it (toooool). Everything seems to be back on track now, but I was completely freaked out for a while.

New Apartment Pics!

Here are some photos of the new place. I only included rooms I actually go in, but there are 4 other bedrooms and an upstairs bedroom-thing-but-without-a-door that is currently under construction. There´s also a bathroom, but it´s small and I couldn´t get a good shot. Plus, you all know what a bathroom looks like.


My bedroom. A bit messy, but sunny and cheerful. I forgot to take a picture of it, but through those doors there´s a little balcony. So cute!

My new bedroom again. Note that this one has walls, a desk, and more than 2 feet of floor space!

The closet again, with a view of the side wall, so you can get an idea of how big it is.

This is a weird space. It´s the foyer/hallway, but it´s also where the tv and computers are, and there´s a couch. Go figure.


The hallway/foyer again, from the opposite direction. There´s my room in the background.

The hallway. The other bedrooms and the bathroom are off of this hallway. Plants.

Through the doorway at the end of the hallway... the kitchen! Under construction at the moment, but you get the idea.

The actual sitting room. Not used nearly as much as the hallway/foyer.


Hopefully this paints a clearer picture of where I live. My other apartment was much more ¨Recoleta,¨all white and metal and light wood, but this place is funky and charming. I like it!

New Apartment

FYI, I have now moved to a new apartment. It´s in the barrio of Montserrat (north of San Telmo I guess), on Calle Mexico. The place is very different from my old one. My room even has real walls now! Still no wireless, but the house has a desktop I can use, so I´m taking advantage. Maybe I´ll add some pics to this post soon. Fun!

:,(

RIP black ballet flats from Paris that Marissa gave me. You are completely destroyed, but you'll never be forgotten.

Things I Love

A few days ago, I was having a bad day, and started thinking about all the things I miss about the U.S. To get myself into a better mood, I made a list of good things instead. Thus, in no particular order, I give you all the things I LOVE about Buenos Aires:

-Empanadas
-Ferias (Mataderos and San Telmo)
-Calle Lavalle at night
-The fact that Calle Lavalle is pronounced "Ca-zhey Lava-zhey," and all "ll"s sound like zh (as in yoozh or zhuzh)
-Nights that end at 9 am
- "Como como?" "Que cosa?" and all the other responses I get when i try to speak
-Castellano, the "bastard child of Spanish and Italian," as Ethan says
-Cafe con leche
-Medialunas and other facturas (pastries)
-People-watching in cafes, on streets, in the subte, etc.
-Every neighborhood, and sometimes every few streets, looks like a different city entirely
-Golf Sauce
-la Bomba de Tiempo (drum show)
-Crossing the street amid crazy traffic and feeling like a badass
-9 peso wine (but NOT 4 peso wine)
-Ridiculous Spanish subtitles on American shows
-My slouchy boots fit right in! (esp + leggings)
-Porteños' fascination with beef and animal products in general
-Everyone between the ages of 5 and 30 wears Chuck Taylors
-Walking everywhere I possibly can
-Meeting interesting people (students and friends)
-Old ladies with pinky-orange hair
-Random words that are different here than anywhere else (gaseosa, frutilla, pedes/queres/tenes, colectivo, etc.)
-Dogs everywhere
-Old, Spanish-style buildings mixed in with modern buildings
-Quilmes
-Did I mention empanadas?


As you can see, most of my love is directed towards food. And sometimes shoes. This is not a mistake.

Teaching

Time for an update about work, and my wonderful students.  It seems like everything is still up in the air, even after a month, but I have started working a bit, and I have to say, I'm loving it.

I'm working with 3 different institutes right now.  As Marissa says, I'm basically a private tutor.  All of my classes are one-on-one, and many of them are "conversation" classes with advanced English speakers- I basically get paid to talk to interesting people about news, their lives, etc.  For the lesss advanced students, I have workbooks provided by my institutes, and we work on the lessons together.  My favorite student is a 10 year old girl named Azul (like Blue in Special Topics in Calamity Physics- shout out to Xtine).  She gets English homework from school, so we do that together.  She is ADORABLE, and loves High School Musical- we get along great! :-P

My amazing apartment fell through (of COURSE), but I think I found a different, almost as amazing one.  I'm trying to ENJOY having lots of free time in an amazing city, instead of worrying about the unknowns all the time.  Everything will work out one way or another.

Hope everyone's work/school/summers are going well.  I wish I were at Myrtle Beach with you family type people right now, the house looks awesome!  I miss you all, besos y abrazos!

Sometimes

Sometimes you hate life because you´ve been running around the city all day, and your roommate´s raw chicken juice dripped all over your delicious leftover pizza, and you don´t have internet in your house.

But then sometimes you walk down a city street at twilight, and it´s not too cold out, and your ipod plays the perfect song, and you forget all the bad things and smile at Buenos Aires.

It helps to be as Zen as possible about the whole thing, and to have a good book with you at all times.

More Pictures

Ask and ye shall receive.  Here are some pictures of our trip to Mendoza, wine country, over the weekend.

At the first winery on the tour, first day- Karla, Kate, Victoria, Day, Me, Jess.

View from the top of the mountain we trekked up, before going into the mines

Jess and me wearing our (very important) helmets
What's left of the buildings from the mining town

Rappelling into a mine!

Plaza Independencia in Mendoza.  So cute!

Menorah statue on Calle Israel in Mendoza, and people imitating it.

Finally, some pictures!

I haven't seen a lot of sights around Buenos Aires yet, because I've mostly been going to class/interviews and hanging out with awesome people!  Here are some highlights:

Here is a large portion of the residents of the Road House hanging out.  People in BsAs don't GO out until 1 or 2 usually, so that leaves a lot of time for socializing in the evening.

Clockwise(ish) from left: Charles, Blanca, Leah, Natalie, Roxanne, Dan, Juan, Thomas, John, Sam, Victoria.

This is the good food stand at the Feria de los Mataderos, a huge weekly street fair.  It's awesome, and the choclo (corn mixture) empanadas from this stand are deliiiicious!

Residents go to The Spot a lot, because it's a close, chill bar.  Here we have Dan, Caitlyn. Dayanna, Sam, and Victoria.

This church borders the famous Recoleta Cemetary.  It's gorgeous inside and out, especially at night!

The second time we took the hour-long bus ride to the Feria de los Mataderos, a man on the bus had a bag with something moving in it.  It was a dachshund puppy!  We all got to hold him- he was so soft and cuddly!

Argentines like their cow, and they like to use as much of the cow as possible.  This is a glass bottle fit inside a hoof.  Fill it with your favorite beverage and drink with a big steak, or tie it to your leather belt.

La Boca is a pretty touristy area of BsAs, but it's also adorable!  The little houses are painted bright colors (as you can see), and there are little shops, restaurants, and artists everywhere.  Even on a cloudy winter day, it's a cool place to see.  I don't know those people.

Mendoza and money trouble

My card FINALLY worked at an ATM this morning.  It was stressful in Mendoza, being broke and having to depend on the kindness of friends, but it was a great time too.  Matt, Jess and I all had money issues yesterday, so we (plus Sam) walked around the town instead of doing a tourist activity that cost money.  Ethan, Victoria, and Kate did the "Bikes and Wines" tour, which sounded like a great idea, but ended up being a lot of (somewhat sketchy) biking and not a lot of wining.

Sunday's activity was totally worth the money though.  We went on a trekking/mine tour.  This included climbing up a mountain in the Andes, then going INTO IT and wandering around in the mines of Paramillo for over 2 hours.  We rappelled down a hole from the first to second levels of the mine, then climbed down ANOTHER level.  It was cold and dark and dirty and awesome.  After all the adventuring, we had an "asado," which usually means "tons of meat," but since our guide was a vegetarian, he made sure there were also delicious grilled vegetables.  It was sooo tasty!

The rest of the time was fun as well.  We did a winery tour by bus on Saturday, visiting 2 wineries and an olive oil factory.  The rest of the time we hung out around the hostel or elsewhere in Mendoza.  If you have the time, it's a great little town to visit.

I have moved into my apartment, and it's fine, but the internet isn't working for me (OF COURSE), which makes it a LOT less convenient.  I'm going to start looking for a new place to move after this month, but I am DEFINITELY staying there for the month because I paid so much for it.  [For those of you who haven't heard, my apartment ended up costing a LOT more than I thought it was going to, primarily because I can't speak Spanish].  I have an interview tonight, and hope to start teaching as soon as tomorrow or Thursday.  It's winter vacation for a lot of people right now, so some of my classes won't start until next week.  One guy gave me a bunch of hours, but needs to get back to me to confirm.  I hope he does, because I want those hours!  I've been turning down other jobs at the same times because I'm counting on him.

Jason left on the third. :-(  I saw him on Thursday night, we went out to dinner and hung out at his apartment.  His friend Noosh was supposed to be staying here until December, but she changed her mind and left on Sunday.  Boo!  She was nice.  Maybe I should ask where she was planning to live...

I'm working on posting photos!  Stay tuned!

Love love love

Endings and Beginnings

Amazing weekend.  Graduated with Merit, had many delicious meals, hung out with awesome people.  5 interviews lined up so far.  Plans all set for Mendoza (wine country) Friday night- Tuesday morning.  Awesome people have started to leave already, which is sad, so I'm trying not to think about it.

Went to La Boca today.  It's a touristy area with brightly colored buildings and lots of restaurants and little shops.  Despite the cold, gray weather, everything looked adorable.  Tango dancers performed in the streets to live music.  Pictures forthcoming.  After that, i went straight to my first interview.   The pay isn't great, but it could be a pretty good job.  I have to go back tomorrow to present a sample lesson (thank God i have some from EBC!), and then I'll find out if I got the job.  We shall see!

FYI: I don't think lots of people are going to be sending me random presents, but if you do (and i would encourage it!), DON'T use Fed-Ex or UPS.  Stick with regular post.  For some reason, Fed-Ex packages get held up at the airport (1 hr and $50peso cab ride away).  I'm also not sure I'll ever get notification that I HAVE a package, even if I do.  Lame, but who knows.

Love and miss you all, besos!

To clarify

Ok guys, I am not leaving BsAs any time soon.  It's amazing and I love it and I just got here.  I'm just saying that maybe in the future I would like to go somewhere else, and I COULD with TEFL certification.  Don't worry though, I'll definitely be here long enough for everyone to come visit!

Whaaaat

We've had two job workshops this week, one dealing with working in Buenos Aires and one about jobs in other cities.  The international one really amazed me.  I can literally go anywhere and live for six months, a year, or even more.  Every place our teacher talked about sounded amazing, and I want to go everywhere! Every city needs TEFL teachers, even in countries where most people speak English. It's hard, because BsAs is great, but I was definitely tempted by the descriptions of some of the other cities.   Is this my life right now?

I'm not homeless!

I found an apartment today! After many unreturned emails/phone calls and a sketchy time last Saturday, I finally found a place I’m excited about, and it’s only about a block away from the hostel I’m staying in now (in a really great area of town). It’s pretty much the smallest apartment ever, and the room is DEFINITELY the smallest room that exists in the world (if I were living under the stairs at the condo in Carmel, I’d probably have more space), but it’s bright and clean. It also has heat and air conditioning, an adorable balcony with pullout shades, a nice bathroom with a full sized shower and bidet, a washing machine (!!!), and soon a new fridge. There’s a little TV in my room too, and we have cable and Wi-Fi. Everything is included for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH!
My future roommate seems really nice. She’s a waitress, so we’ll have nearly opposite schedules, but hopefully I’ll see her occasionally! She speaks pretty much no English, so I’m excited/scared to see if we can live together. Her current roommate is going home to Peru, but I met her today, and she was nice too. The real selling point for me is that they have a PUPPY! It’s a tiny black fuzzy thing, named (I think) Eve. When she told me the dog’s name, it sounded like “eh-beh,” which I suppose could actually be a lot of things.
I’m so excited to finally be moving into a real apartment. Some of the other people from EBC are sticking around, and they have an apartment in San Telmo, so hopefully I’ll get to see them sometimes. I hope everything will work out. This first month has been so amazing, I can’t really ask for more.

Chau, besos!

Last night's dinner

How good is Armenian food?

la vida

      Today I visited the first of my potential apartments in BsAs.  It was probably the sketchiest experience I’ve had in a long time (and that’s saying a lot)!  I managed to find the first building with no problems (of COURSE the landlord was late, it’s Argentime).  It was a tiiiiiny little box with few windows to speak of.  The people who live there seem really cool, and “my” room was big, but overall it was a dump.  They had a tiny adorable gatita though.  I’m not a cat person, but I liked this one.  The location of the place was great: in San Telmo, near la Avenida 9 de Julio and many shops and restaurants.  The price was right too ($300/month), but it was just soooo small and dark.

            The next place, nearby but not in quite as good a location, was a lot brighter.  It was a little bigger, and had a balcony from which you could see the whole neighborhood.  Cute!  The bedrooms were tiny though, and the apartment doesn’t have internet at the moment (pretty much the only thing I NEED the apartment to have).  Another issue is that the current residents are leaving in December, so I would have to move too.  It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I don’t really want to have to go through this process again in a few months.

            Between these two visits, the landlord disappeared multiple times to go talk to other tenants.  He was really nice, and apologized for keeping me waiting, but he definitely took his sweet time.  At one point, he left for twenty minutes and returned with a broken (?) water heater.  He put it in his scummy little car, and then we had to drive to his friend’s (?) house to deliver it, making me wait another half hour.  Neither place was worth that much time and sketchiness.  Tomorrow, I’m supposed to see a place right around the corner from la residencia (where I’m living now).  Hopefully it’ll be better.  I wanted to change neighborhoods, but I do like this area a lot, so I wouldn’t mind staying if the apartment looks good.  We’ll see!

            Tonight, a bunch of us are going to a Middle Eastern restaurant for dinner.  Roxanne is leaving soon, and she wanted to go.  I’m excited for falafel!  She had a goodbye dinner with more people on Thursday, because the majority of the kids living here went to Iguazu Falls this weekend.  I have a LOT of homework to finish up; we’re starting our last week of classes!  I can’t believe how quickly this month has gone by.  I hope the rest of my stay in BsAs is as good as the first few weeks!

Skydiving

Skydiving is amazing!  I survived, but it was pretty scary for a minute there.  I wasn’t all that anxious until my tandem instructor opened the door to the airplane, and I could see the ground two miles below me.  I panicked for a moment, then the instructor pushed me out of the plane, and we started to fall.  The most surprising thing about free falling is that it doesn’t feel like falling, it feels like being pushed up by a big

 gust of air.  It was hard to breathe, and my hair was whipping around, but there was not stomach-drop the way there is on big roller coasters.

            Once we let the parachute out, the ride down was very peaceful.  We floated gently down to the landing site, and didn’t even have to run too much when we reached the ground.  I would love to do it again if I ever get the chance.

            Jason jumped right after I did.  The company videoed us as we fell, his video turned out great!  I haven’t seen mine yet, because it was

n’t ready when we had to leave, but they’ve promised to send it to me at the hostel.

            It was a long day for us.  I left the hostel at 8 am, met Jason at 8:30, and we got to Aero Parc de la Plata at about 9:30.  It would have been sooner, but there was a lot of waiting around for the other six people jumping today: a group of Israelis visiting BsAs for a few weeks.  (They were really nice, but mostly spoke to each other in Hebrew.)  Only one or two people can jump at a time, because the plane is small and each jumper needs a tandem instructor and a cameraman with him (or her).  Here’s a picture of the plane, maybe Pete can tell us what kind it is?  They had a bunch of planes at the aero park (I definitely saw a Cessna 172), but I forgot to ask what this one was.

            We were up in the air for about 30 minutes total, mostly in the plane.  We got about a minute of free fall, then about 10 minutes floating down with the parachute.  The harnesses are NOT comfortable, and they make you arch your back strangely, but it kept me alive, so whatever.  From the air, we could see BsAs, the oil refinery, and the edge of the Rio de la Plata.

            Well, I’m a lot poorer now, and very tired, but it was an amazing day over all.  I would highly recommend falling out of planes whenever possible!

First Weekend!

            My first weekend in Buenos Aires was a great success.  On Friday night, I watched some of the other TEFL students eat steaks at Payuca (I’ve been told they were pretty good), then we went to the boliche (discoteque) Liquid.  It was a little bit lame.  I liked the 90s dance music, but no one else seemed to.  The bar area was crowded, and no one was dancing, they were all just standing around smoking.  We got out of there pretty fast.

            From there we met up with some of Daniel’s friends (Hernan and Segundo), who live in BsAs, and followed them to a most low key bar.  It has guitars along the walls, and anyone who wants to can just pick them up and play them.  A few of the people in our group took turns playing, and there were also other tables of performers.  One group did classic tango music- it was great!  They weren’t professionals or anything, just talented people with a passion for tango.  We stayed there until about 6:30 am, then came home and passed out J

            On Saturday, we went to a silly bar called the Alamo, which specializes in American music.  We stayed on the top level, but apparently on the first floor they also play American sports games and such on big TVs.  I wasn’t too sorry to have missed that.  After the Alamo, we went to Hernan’s sisters’ house to hang out and listen to some more guitar music.  It was a fun night with a true Argentine vibe.

First classes!

  I taught my first two classes on Thursday and Friday nights.  They both went pretty well, considering I had never taught anything before and was scared out of my mind!  Both classes were intermediate level, which is nice because they know enough to communicate well, but still have a lot of grammar and vocab to learn.  We talked about amusement parks on the first night, and train travel on the second.

I felt overwhelmed when we were first told we’d be teaching classes the first week, but classroom experience really is a great learning tool.  I’m already thinking about what I will do differently next time, and how I’ll have to go about teaching beginners and advanced students.  It’s a huge relief to be done with my first two classes!

Bienvenidos

Laziness and vanity have prompted me to start a blog.  It's easier for me than telling the same story a million times (I have tendinitis already guys!), and it's easier for YOU than listening to a bunch of stuff you already heard while I get around to the latest news.

That said, this first post will probably be a recap for most of you readers.  I really do spend most of my time in class, frantically trying to remember everything I'll need to be a real English teacher next month.  I've had a great time so far though, and it seems like there will be many more to come.

Getting down here was an adventure in itself.  Due to some stupidity on my part (and definitely also Delta Airlines'), I couldn't leave on Saturday like I was supposed to, and had to go home and drive back to Philly on Sunday.  There was a major lightning storm in Atlanta, but the delays weren't too bad, and I got to BsAs at about 8:30 am local time.  I made it to class only about half an hour late, so that wasn't bad.  There are 11 people in my class, and they're all pretty great.  We all went out to lunch on Monday at a pizza place around the corner.  Three of my classmates live in the residence with me (it's not just next door to EBC, it's the same building!), and most live in the area.

Jason lives in the San Telmo neighborhood, which is about 40 minutes away.  He's been great, but I don't see him that much, so I still have to figure a lot of things out about the city myself.  We're going skydiving, and maybe also to Iguazu Falls.  He's leaving at the beginning of August, so we'll have to hurry up and plan some of this stuff!