My Spanish Class I'm taking Spanish here in Buenos Aires, 4 days a week, 2 hours a day. It is a regular University class, in the Laboratorio de Idiomas. It is "semi intensivo," because it last 8 weeks as opposed to the full semester of 16 weeks. I tested into level 6, out of 8 levels, which I'm realizing is an advanced level. They expect us to basically know the whole grammar and just have a few "problem areas." Our first unit was "If, then" statements. Next we looked at uses of the subjunctive after various types of connectors and in adverbial clauses. Our next unit was use of Ser and Estar with adjectives. Our current unit is "polemica" or building an argument -- how to write a persuasive essay in Spanish! Some of it is ... read more

I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to get to La Boca. On March 24, several of us had a tour of La Boca with our trusty tour guide, Julieta. We were a large group (from the Casa Maria Tango): Cecilia from Sweden, SuZen from New York City, Maria & Tibor from Toronto, and Jacque - from Montreal. It was a nice day - not too hot. I guess La Boca can be quite smelly on a hot day since the river is very polluted. I learned that La Boca was the original site of Buenos Aires. It’s the place where two rivers meet. The city moved north mainly for health reasons - there were outbreaks of yellow fever in La Boca and people moved away to escape it. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_(barrio) Now La Boca is a tourist ... read more

On Friday, March 21, Dale and I decided to visit Recoleta and the famous cemetery there. We both had the day off of school because it is a “día feriado” for Good Friday. We took the bus to Recoleta and found the cemetery easily. It is enormous. All the guide books I’ve seen, say it’s like a city and it is. It’s very compact, with narrow passage ways between the monuments. And the monuments are not just grave markers, but elaborate crypts, with huge sculptures and decorations. The tomb of Evita is here along with many famous people from Argentina’s history, including Sarmiento, a president of Argentina who was instrumental in establishing their system of public education. We took lots of pictures of course. http://www.cementeriorecoleta.com.ar/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Recoleta_Cemetery In the evening, after a tango lesson, we decided to ... read more

Now that I’m back in Buenos Aires, I’m feeling like life is more "normal." Therefore, I find that my blog is shifting to more philosophical discussions of my experiences, with fewer photographs. So I may not win any awards in the Travel Category - oh well! I’m starting to feel more integrated into the culture now that I have a place to live, friends and a “job” i.e. the Spanish class I’m taking at the UBA. I take the bus back and forth to school. I do homework every day after school. I go dancing every couple nights and I have a tango class every few days. I do laundry (that is I take my clothes to the laundry and they wash them for 8 pesos, $2.50 US). I go grocery shopping at the supermarket down ... read more

March 10, 2008 I’m back in Buenos Aires and having some interesting new experiences. Dale and I are staying at the Casa Maria Tango in an apartment. It’s very roomy and comfortable. The weather has been cool and very comfortable this week. I haven’t felt good though. I had a cold and it turned into a sinus infection. So I decided to go to the doctor, which was an interesting cultural experience. I could have seen an English speaking doctor who specializes in seeing tourists and makes house calls for $30 (100 pesos), but I decided to go to the doctor in a more culturally authentic way. A few blocks from Maria Teresa’s house is a hospital (El Centro Gallego, or “Spanish Center”). Here is their web site. http://www.centrogallegoba.com.ar/ There is a walk in clinic/emergency room ... read more