It's been awhile since I've had a first day of school experience, but Monday was certainly a REAL first day of school as I've never taken classes outside of the US. The school where I'm taking Spanish (aka Castellano) lessons was recommended by Dan O and was super easy to set up.
Diego went with me the first day to (according to Tia) check that it wasn't sketchy, because almost everything is sketchy or dangerous in BA (according to Tia). :) It was great. I'm taking 5 hours of class each day (M, T, W, F). 2.5 are spent on grammar, like conjugating verbs properly, and the other 2.5 are spent in conversation. Also, there won't be class on Thursday because it's a federal holiday and federal holidays basically shut down the whole country. So...20 hours for the week and I already feel like I'm getting my money's worth.
There are 2 guys and another girl (Diogo from Brazil, Fabian from Germany, and Fiona from England) who are pretty much at the same level as I am. And our maestra is super cute (and according to Diego, Tio needs to take me to school to check out this particularly good looking young lady...Mom, maybe Uncle Scott should go too!).
After class on Monday, Diego's other aunt and uncle (Pochi and Goni) picked us up to take us out to lunch. It was 2pm, a bit late for lunch, but everything is much later here. We went to a fantastic restaurant called Happenings. And boy was it tasty!!! We had chorrizo, different types of fried cheese with salsas, bread, more meat, and salmon. Notice that there's really no mention of vegetables. I did have strawberries and cream for dessert though. I'm going to be DYING for green things when we return to the states.
(I have to interject here that as I'm typing, I keep trying to write in Spanish. :) That's SUCH a good sign because it means I'm spending less time and energy translating and I'm understanding. It can only get better from here!)
Here are a few pictures of the drive we took with Tios around Buenos Aires.
This is where Abuelo Emilio Vicente used to live.
And here Pochi, Goni and I are taking a walk along the river, just outside BA.
Monday night, we took Diego to the bus station for his overnight trip to Cordoba. I'd been nervous about this because it would be the beginning of my time alone with Tios, but it really has been great. More on that later.
Let's see...I'll just give you highlights from Tuesday -
- I was in class until about 3pm.
- I had a GREAT taxi ride home with hilarious driver, who kept telling me I was pretty and that I spoke great Castellano. HA!
- Tia and I chatted about my fellow students and my family; we went on a walk around their neighborhood, Recoleta.
- We stopped at La Biela for coffee, medialunas, chatting (more about my uncle. Tia LOVES Uncle Scott).
During this whole time, there were not too many crazy looks from Tia at me (really, this is a HUGE improvement) and she even offered a few tips on grammar and vocabulary.
I'm starting to really and truly understand what it is about this city that Hubster loves so much. Not that I didn't know before.
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