Ivanna has kept me plenty busy since we returned from Cafayate. We've gone somewhere new every night. Like I mentioned before, her older brother and his family came over Monday night for Ivanna's birthday party. Tuesday I met with Paulina, my tutor, to schedule class. I'll have 3 hour classes Monday and Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings.
After meeting with her Ivanna and I went to her friend (and classmate) Lucia's house because it was her birthday. We talked some and then decided to walk to the supermercado (grocery store) to buy some things I didn't want to pack. We also decided to buy food for hamburgers and cook them at Lucia's house. Her son fried the burgers (He was about 12) and we helped prepare the rest. We stayed there until about 11 and then took the bus home. Most place we go we use the bus and it usually costs about AG$2, so about 50 cents.
Wednesday I had class from 5 to 8. Paulina's apartment is just north of downtown and Ivanna's house is north of that about 15 blocks. After class Ivanna came to Paulina's and we walked to the main square where we met up with Daniel and Eduardo, two more friends of Ivanna's. We had helado (ice cream) at Blue Bell. It was very noisy so no matter how hard I tried to follow the conversation, I couldn't hear much anyway. It was still fun to meet them. Eduardo is very tall and Daniel is shorter that Ivanna so we make a funny-looking group walking down the avenue. There were maybe 100 people in the central park of all ages sitting, walking, playing, and enjoying the cool part of the day.
Around 10 Ivanna and I headed north of her house back to her aunt and uncle's house (who lent us the tent) for her uncle's birthday party. It was strange to me at first why where were so many birthdays this week, but once I realized it's the middle of summer and how many friends have birthdays near mine in June, it made more sense. The ladies made empanadas of chicken or beef and pizza. I couldn't each much because I had just eaten ice cream. We left around 1am.
L to R: random guy, me, Ivanna, Eduardo,
Jimena, and Zam (Sam)
We "danced all night" and had such a great time. Eduardo taught me some more salsa. Most of the songs were popular Spanish songs with a salsa beat. They played a couple in English that I knew. Two guys in their 20s came and joined us for most of the evening (morning really). It was too loud to talk or hear much and trying to hear another language in that setting is pretty much impossible. It was fine with me because I got to enjoy myself without having to work hard to communicate.
Ivanna, me, Jimena (waiting outside)
Friday I could barely get up at 9 to get to class at 10. Thankfully I woke up enough to ride Ivanna's bike safely and get to Paulina's on time. Soon after I got home (with plenty of homework for the weekend), Ivanna and I went to Jimena's house on the west side of town close to the foothills (el cerro). We spent the evening listening to folk music on the computer and talking. We had milanesa sandwiches (chicken or beef) with fried eggs. Yum! It's similar to BLT but with breaded and fried meat instead of bacon. It was much better than the one I had in Buenos Aires. About midnight we finished dinner and Jimena asked us if we wanted to go out with friends. I was really tired so we watched Grown Ups instead. Almost every CD and DVD is a burned copy of the original. I'm not sure if you can even buy the originals here.
Today, Saturday, we slept until 10 and left at 11 for Mike and Sherry's house. They were having the "American" (plus Ivanna) over for tacos. They have a pool set up in the back yard that I waded in for a while. Jimena then texted us asking if we wanted to go swimming at the club her family is a part of.
After going back to Jimena's, we went for an hour bike ride up almost to Horca Molle and back. We later ate milanesa again (easy to cook when mom isn't home to cook :), listened to more folk music, and got ready to go see some friends. We're heading out soon (it's 1am now). Tomorrow we will hang out here, possibly hike in el cerro and then go to the Borstad's church at 7pm.
The fun just never stops!
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