Friday February 4 Life has settled into a pattern here in Argentina. Usually it is sunny in January and the rain comes more in February (photo is view of the street from our window during the last big storm). This January was very rainy contributing to the strange weather all over the world. It’s been abnormally cold and snowy (24 days of Jan) back home in Minnesota. I’m sure glad I picked this winter to leave. The mosquitoes have been out more and it looks like I have chicken pox on my feet, but I’m am Minnesotan and I can bear it.
My classes have gone very well. One of these days I’ll remember to take a photo with my tutor. She has gone to school for education and therefore does a great job at organizing the lessons and homework. I’ve learned a couple songs (goal # 2) during class and a couple more fun ones at home with Ivanna. I’m 3/4 through Level 2 book, so I might start level 3 before I leave. Paulina, my tutor, has even offered lessons over Skype after I get back to Minnesota to keep my learning progressing. It’s definitely a good idea. I’ll have to see if it would work out.
Last Tueday I went over to Eduardo and Gabi Luna’s house to visit. I stayed with their family quite a bit last time I was here with Kim. The girls have gotten so tall and Micky is in 2nd grade! I was able to talk with them so much more than before. They’ve invited Ivanna and me back for dinner (tonight, Feb 4th).
Last Friday night we went downtown to Cicilia’s (Ivanna friend) apartment and had pizza on the patio on the roof (14 stories up) overlooking the lights of the city. Ivanna and I got bored after a while because the other girls there looked like (and acted like) they were 16. They invited us to go camping with them near Tafì del Valle (3-4 hr car ride) but after we saw how young they were, we decided not to. Later Cicilia said the trip was very boring and there was nothing to do in that town. We are so glad we didn’t go!
Sunday we went to Borstad’s church again. Augusto, one of the youth I met last time, stopped by the church for the service. It was neat to catch up some on life and actually be able to converse with him. I also had a long conversation with Pastor Antonio about life in Minnesota. They are all currious about how we survive when it’s colder than the freezer and are surprised that it’s actually warm in the summer. After church we had ice cream and then pizza with Sami and Lili. The pizza was from an Italian place and was the best I’ve had so far.
Monday was Alvaro’s birthday (Ivanna’s brother). He turned 27 and a bunch of his friends and Nicolas (aka Niki, their older brother) and his family came over for a party. In the photo, Alvaro is in the back and then from the left is his daughter Luli (who lives with her mom), Liliana holding a friend's baby, Cris (Niki's wife) and Niki. Liliana baked a delicious cake with chocolate on top. People here don’t use the oven for baking cakes. They have a square pan made of thick metel that they use to bake cakes on the stove. I guess it works something like a Dutch oven. I was very shocked the first time I saw someone make cookies on the stove!
I enjoyed the pizza and meat pockets (Arabic empanadas called sfijas), the folkmusic one of them played, and Ivanna’s nephews. I did NOT enjoy how much the friends smoked. It was incredible! I also didn’t like that when I tried to go to bed at 2am I could still hear them over the air conditioner and earplugs. They were here until almost 4am.
On the upside, I did get to hold the baby of one of the friends. She was a gorgeous baby and slept most of the time they were here.
We finally found Eduardo, the friend that had stood us up for breakfast a while back. His mom had gotten suddenly ill and was in the hospital. Then after she was better his brother got stung by a scorpion and had to have shots and be in the hospital also. I guess he had a good excuse. I’m glad his family is all OK now. He plans to stay there a few more day and then we’ll try breakfast again once he comes back.
I can’t believe it’s February already. I’m starting to really work on my goals and also my plans for Chile. Thanks to Andria’s boost of confidence, I think I can travel around to some of the areas near her by myself! I just need to cram in as much Spanish as possible before then to feel even more confident. I hope we get to see the penguins! I plan to leave here around Feb 22nd and spend about a week in Chile. I haven’t decided yet about Santiago, Chile. I may like Pategonia too much to leave early!
My bedroom (door is to the bathroom) and the view from the kitchen window towards the front door.
My giant hamburger. And yes, I did eat the whole thing!
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