My time in Buenos Aires is coming to an end. It has been a wonderful two months here, really truly wonderful. Time to see the sights, meet people, eat, study, dance, play,...just live.
The rest of Argentina is now calling my name. I've mapped out a rough itinerary- basically a big loop around Argentina-beginning in the south and working my way up towards the north, swinging into Chile for a time .
Tomorrow I am heading towards the area that they call Patagonia: rugged mountains, ferocious rivers and looming glaciers. Well..ok this is what it is like in the best parts... the rest is just an expanse of nothingness. Trips between cities border on 15-25 hours on a bus. Nothingness. Nothingness. Nothingness and then incredibleness.
Destinations in March:
Mar del Plata (for some beach time)
San Carlos de Bariloche: (west side of Argentina in Andes: mountains, lakes, beautifulness)
El Calefate (more beautifulness and killer glaciers)
Ushuaia (the end of the earth- literally- remember Strait of Magellan from history class...yeah go past that! the southern most tip of the earth before you hit Antartica)
Puerto Natales (back up north on the Chilean side to this port)
*3 day boat ride from Puero Natales up the pacific coast to Puerto Montt in Chile
Then in April I will head north into Chile, eventually crossing over to Argentina to do the northern part of Argentina until returning to Buenos Aires on May 31.
Destinations in April:
Valdivia (meeting up with a friend here)
Santiago de Chile (capital- why not?)
Valparaiso (cool name, why not)
* crossing over to the Argentinian side
Mendoza (moutain town- incredible)
Cordoba ( in the middle of the country- college city, great people)
Destinations in May:
Salta (crazy terrain)
Jujuy (crazy terrain)
Corrientes (friend of friend who live here)
Iguagu Falls ( over in that little arm of Argentina bordering Brazil- makes Niagra Falls look like Brush Creek)
Rosario (on the way back to B.A.)
Definately hoping for at least one Sound of Music moment, twirling and belting out "The hills are alive...." in spanish of course.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Changes in Feb...
I made a few life changes last week- like leaving university and moving to a different apartment.
A little over a week ago, I decided for February, I needed a change of pace and different type of immersion. I found a great apartment in a different part of the city living with young people with whom I can practice my Spanish more intensively. My housemates are great. Right now there are 5 people including me. Laura is my roommate from Holland, here studying Spanish and linguistics. Flo is a German, here working on his thesis on aerospace engineering at the university of Buenos Aires. Paris is Argentinean a DJ, who works at a call center during the day and Cabe is Argentinean as well, the owner/"father" of the house, and a lifeguard. They are all super great. The first thing I saw when I walked in to my new room last Monday were freshly folded towels on my bed, keys and a hand-made card welcoming me to my new home. Hospitality- at its best…
For Spanish study, in place of university classes. I am doing my own self-study for about 4 hours each day. My classes are...
for listening: 1 hour of TV Spanish
for reading: newspaper/magazine articles/short stories
for vocabulary: make flashcards and review the new words from the TV and newspaper,
for grammar: study from my uni textbook, write out sentence structures.
for writing: writing out journaly type pages
for speaking: I pace in my room and read articles outloud or make up conversations in my head.
But the real speaking class doesn't begin until 6:30 when the roommates get home. Sitting around in the living room, eating, talking. I am still adjusting to the new rhythm of being home all day studying, but each day I try to get out of the house to explore another thing and practice on the streets. Lots of small grocery shopping trips to get fresh fruit or to a bakery for bread, running, sitting in a park, long walks, sitting in a café. etc.
I have also set up a few other Spanishy outlets. Katelyn (the American who I met here) and I are meeting 2 times a week to review grammar. Also I am meeting for private classes with one of the Spanish professors from the university I attended, once per week. We have already met once and it was such a great time. We watched documentary on the economic crisis in 1999-2002 and discussed the current situation of Argentina. For next class we are analyzing some literature and discussing it- a great opportunity to exchange of ideas.
On the weekends, I explore other parts of the city- there is always something new to do or see. This past Sunday I actually went to a small town about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. One of the famous places in this town in the country is an old pulperia- on other words a hole in the wall family owned pub/eatery. It was like walking back 75 years. We pulled the curtain back from the door and walked into this concrete, high-ceiling room, covered with pictures and memorabilia from the last few decades. A bar,floor to ceiling,of bottles of old wine. A stoic gaucho sitting behind the bar. His wife, the senora, offered us the food for the day- empanadas or a plate of meat. While eating them, two older men came in with a guitar and began singing at the top of their voices tango and cackling as they recounted stories. Such a moment. Had to pinch myself.
I am continually impressed with how wonderful the people are and how comfortable I feel here.
(pictures on facebook)
A little over a week ago, I decided for February, I needed a change of pace and different type of immersion. I found a great apartment in a different part of the city living with young people with whom I can practice my Spanish more intensively. My housemates are great. Right now there are 5 people including me. Laura is my roommate from Holland, here studying Spanish and linguistics. Flo is a German, here working on his thesis on aerospace engineering at the university of Buenos Aires. Paris is Argentinean a DJ, who works at a call center during the day and Cabe is Argentinean as well, the owner/"father" of the house, and a lifeguard. They are all super great. The first thing I saw when I walked in to my new room last Monday were freshly folded towels on my bed, keys and a hand-made card welcoming me to my new home. Hospitality- at its best…
For Spanish study, in place of university classes. I am doing my own self-study for about 4 hours each day. My classes are...
for listening: 1 hour of TV Spanish
for reading: newspaper/magazine articles/short stories
for vocabulary: make flashcards and review the new words from the TV and newspaper,
for grammar: study from my uni textbook, write out sentence structures.
for writing: writing out journaly type pages
for speaking: I pace in my room and read articles outloud or make up conversations in my head.
But the real speaking class doesn't begin until 6:30 when the roommates get home. Sitting around in the living room, eating, talking. I am still adjusting to the new rhythm of being home all day studying, but each day I try to get out of the house to explore another thing and practice on the streets. Lots of small grocery shopping trips to get fresh fruit or to a bakery for bread, running, sitting in a park, long walks, sitting in a café. etc.
I have also set up a few other Spanishy outlets. Katelyn (the American who I met here) and I are meeting 2 times a week to review grammar. Also I am meeting for private classes with one of the Spanish professors from the university I attended, once per week. We have already met once and it was such a great time. We watched documentary on the economic crisis in 1999-2002 and discussed the current situation of Argentina. For next class we are analyzing some literature and discussing it- a great opportunity to exchange of ideas.
On the weekends, I explore other parts of the city- there is always something new to do or see. This past Sunday I actually went to a small town about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. One of the famous places in this town in the country is an old pulperia- on other words a hole in the wall family owned pub/eatery. It was like walking back 75 years. We pulled the curtain back from the door and walked into this concrete, high-ceiling room, covered with pictures and memorabilia from the last few decades. A bar,floor to ceiling,of bottles of old wine. A stoic gaucho sitting behind the bar. His wife, the senora, offered us the food for the day- empanadas or a plate of meat. While eating them, two older men came in with a guitar and began singing at the top of their voices tango and cackling as they recounted stories. Such a moment. Had to pinch myself.
I am continually impressed with how wonderful the people are and how comfortable I feel here.
(pictures on facebook)
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