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)