First Real Day of Class, Plus an Observation

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Well, I'm now officially studying Castillano (the form of Spanish spoken in Argentina). My class promises to be very helpful and interesting, but plenty of work. The person who created the workbook got creative with the sentences, and I have to look up lots of words to get the very obscure meaning of many of the paragraphs. I like that, though, because I'm learning tons of vocab during even simple conjugation assignments.

Our teacher speaks only in Castillano, which means that I have to pay attention every single second or I get totally lost. I understand more and more all the time, but I still have a long way to go before I can communicate. There are still lots of funny slip-ups: When we were listening to a song yesterday, one of the boys in the class thought that the young female singer sounded really attractive. He announced to the teacher, "¡Ella es muy caliente!" (she is very hot) at which she looked horrified and exclaimed, "¡Vos estás muy caliente!" (vos is the Castillano form of you) He was flattered until it was explained to him that in South American countries, refering to a person as "caliente" means "hot" in a different way. (think of the possible sexual meaning of "hot")

I had a significant language breakthrough tonight. At dinner, my host family speaks in three different ways. They speak quickly in Castillano when they are talking with each other, very slowing in Castillano when they want to help us learn, and in English when they actually want to get a straight answer to something. I was listening to their conversation tonight (and understanding the majority of it) when I realized they were talking at their normal speed! I've never understood a porteño (person from Buenos Aires) talking normally before. Hopefully things will keep improving. Now if only I could speak back to them.....

I went for my first city run this morning. I got to see a lot of the nearby neighborhoods in the 45 minutes I was jogging, but I completely confused all of the people around me. First of all, even though the women are stick-thin, people in Buenos Aires don't really exercise. As my host mom explained it, either they are naturally that way or they don't eat much at all. A jogger, while not completely unheard of, it not a normal sight. On top of that, I was jogging in a t-shirt and running pants. It's chilly here, but people dress like they are in Antarctica. Everyone had sweaters and coats and hats and gloves, and I was wearing only a t-shirt. (my teacher today was wearing a turtleneck under a sweater under a thicker sweater. Buildings don't have heat, generally) The good part of the run, though, was that while people looked at me strangely, it wasn't the same kind of look with which they regard us when we speak in English on the streets. I felt like an oddball within the society rather than outside of it. That's a step up, right?

Finally, my observation: The one thing that no one warns you about when you are headed to Buenos Aires is the danger of stepping in dog piles. Everyone, seriously everyone, in the city has a dog, and wild dogs and cats roam the streets freely at all hours of the day or night. Because of this, and because of the fragmented sidewalks, it is nearly impossible to walk looking up. I've done well so far, but many of my other comrades have already fallen. Take heed, travelers.....

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Comments

[Nichol]

running
I was wondering if you'd look like a total oddball running. I'm trying to keep up with it - I need to go again tomorrow. Tonight I went to Custard Cup instead. I'm easily swayed.