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After one week, o uno semana, I´m pretty much a fluent castellano speaker.
It´s been a fast-paced, fuzzy-headed vieje so far. But as we rolled into Bariloche on our big delux bus Sunday morning, I was so grateful to be here... and not just because it meant the 22-hour bus ride was over.
Bariloche es mui bonito. It makes me think of Alaska, with sky-scraping Dr. Suesse peaks lining a giant blue lake. The air was so crisp and clean and the town feels so comfortable and friendly. I remembered my original plan to study Spanish in Santiago and turned to Guinevere, my Rifle roomate, to thank her for presenting this alternative. Im really excited to spend a month here.
As I walked along the lake, snapping photos, Luis approached me. He´s a friendly Argentine man with a couple missing teeth. He tried very hard to have a full on conversation with me in costellano. All I could understand was "Comes?" Indeed, I had eaten. So I said, "Si, como con amigas." I was pretty proud of myself. Still am. I made a sentence in Spanish. Whoo-hooo.
As our chat continued, I resorted to "no intiendo" again
and again. And Luis asked about it being frio. I said I needed a hat and asked "como se di se?" as I tugged on an imaginary beenie.
"Gorro."
Bingo, a new word to add to my vast arsenal of vocabulario.
Yesterday, I woke at 8 a.m. in the dark. The sun doesn´t rise until about 10 a.m. here. Yesterday was the season´s first nieve. It´s been a bit cold and snowy ever since. But my Spanish instructor, Flavia, and I have had several chats about the forthcoming ski season. The mountain doesn´t open until June 22. I´ll only have about a week of skiing before I head out.
I´m enrolled in a group class, but this is a slow time of year in Bariloche and there is no group, so it´s just Flavia and me.
I moved in with Mara, my Argentine mama, today. I´m staying in the same room Andy, Guinevers´s boyfriend, had up until Sunday. Andy and Guinevere are still staying with Mara, but in a basement apartment. They leave tomorrow for Mendoza.
My head is swimming with a bizzar mixture of English and Spanish words. And while my speeling has
Luis at the lake
This hombre wanted to take my picture. I told him I´d take his instead. never been good, I suspect this post will not be one of my better showings. I´ll blame some of it on the funky keyboard.
I arrived in Buenos Aires Thursday, June 1 at about 11:30 a.m. That´s about two hours later than I was supposed to get there. But Guinever waited it out in the airport for me. We left our things at the hostel in San Telmo and comenced our two-day routine of wandering through the streets of the city without a sense of direction.
When the situation became more dire, we would pull the map out and people would immediately stop in their tracks to ask if they could help and to instruct us on how to carry our bags so that they would not be stolen. It´s a friendly, friendly city.
On Friday, Guinevere and I aimed to see the cemetary in Buenos Aires. It was quite a hike so we decided to take the subway. But we kept going the wrong way to get to the subway. Evantually we walked in a giant square around the city back to the subway stop two blocks rom our hostel. When we were just three blosk
Guinever con mapa
This was a commom pose for Guinever during our two days in Buenos Aires. Someone always stopped to help and we always understood ... about one in 20 words. from the cemetary, a torential downpour comenced.
We tried waiting it out for a while before flagging down a taxi and getting a ride back to the hostel. Bueno. Next time.
Last night, we had salsa lessons at South Bar. I guess the school organizes several salsa lessons, so I´ll be a pro at that when I get home, too.
A "small world" event -- Adam Lee is staying at the hostel where I stayed my first two nights in town. I don´t expect you to know who Adam Lee is, because I didn´t know who was either until Sunday. But my friend Kelli from Rifle knows who he is. Their parents are good friends. They both grew up in Minnesota and taught English in Korea together.
This info came out as we walked to dinner Sunday. Loco, no?
I don´t have much planned yet. I´m just hanging out and eating good food and learning new things and meeting new people. It´s great. I probably need to buy another long sleeve shirt or two. I only have two with me and they´ll probably get pretty stinky in a month of constant wear.
Send me
Hostel guy
This man was moving from one house in Buenoa Aires to another and decided to stay at the hostel to save money and to work on his English. e-mails and let me know what is happening at home when you can.
Bueno.
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Sheila Remley
non-member comment
Bueno, Amanda!
Your spelling will get worse as your Spanish gets better. Happened to me, too. It might have been lucky you didn't make it to the cemetary as that was the most dangerous place in our travels. U. John has a whole long tale about us going there. Just NEVER take a taxi going from the cemetary. It even made the national news how they trap you. We made a run for it from the taxi and escaped. Your description of the area is very good. If you need long sleeve shirts, check out their wonderful wool things if you can wear wool. They use wool and leather together. Don't go to stores, though, check the booths along the roadway. Loved hearing from and about you! I love you, too so be careful. Aunt Sheila