The Flyvemaskine Diaries

I started an intensive language course this week at a branch campus of the University of Buenos Aires called CUI. It’s a month-long program for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. Yikes! I’m glad I had Sara here to help me find this and get enrolled, since their Web site isn’t in English. Go figure!

My class has 8 people, from Malaysia, China, Japan, Italy, Ireland, and the United States. There is something fantastic about so many different people coming together from different places working on learning Spanish.

So far I’ve been very impressed with the level of professionalism with the language curriculum. This is certainly on par with other language courses I’ve taken at University. My only beef (no Argentinean pun intended) might be some of the formatting on the manual, as it’s a little confusing at times (minor details).

Earlier this evening Sara and I met Karine from Buenos Aires Daily for coffee. We really enjoyed talking to her! It turns out that the world is very small. Karine once interned at Mix 96 FM in Olympia, Washington, approximately 50 miles from Aberdeen. Hopefully we will get together again soon!

Today was another exciting and action-packed day in the Argentinean capital. We set out this afternoon on a quest to find CUI via the bus (our first time riding it) in order to pay for the intensive month-long Spanish class Eric’s taking in November - did I or did I not promise I would bring him home fluent for Christmas? The bus was just slightly different from buses I’ve ridden in other cities. There are so many of them here, and because they apparently follow the general rule of driving without ever braking for any reason, Eric and I emerged from the bus feeling like we’d jerked our arms out of their sockets holding on. Maybe we’ll stick to the Subte.

After our bus-riding adventure, we headed up to Recoleta where we took in Buenos Aires Photo, a week-long exposition of photographers and their work from all over Latin America. It was a very cool show - we saw a set of beautiful fashion photographs in black and white taken in the 1950s, some very cool modern photographs displayed in light boxes and light from behind, and some cool experimental stuff. We also saw a very graphic photograph of a woman giving birth, which we’ll be traumatized by until we’re at least 40.

At the photo exhibition, we took in a lecture on Photojournalism in the Internet Age featuring top photojournalists from Argentina, including the head photo editor at La Nacion, the country’s largest newspaper. It was great to sit in on, but as a recent graduate of journalism school, it felt like a lecture I had heard before. Also, Eric only caught a few words here and there. Between the rapid-fire commentary and the dreadful microphone the panelists were using, after five minutes Eric wrote me a note: “Is this an elaborate prank being pulled on me?”

The walk home from Recoleta is a nice one, about 20 minutes. Since it was so beautiful today, we started to walk home. As we paced along the sidewalk, we stumbled upon yet another craft brewery, Buller Brewing Company, so of course we had to stop and sample what they had to offer.

I tried the sampler of beers to make sure I had objective data to work with.

Verdict? The honey beer was my favorite. I think Eric liked the IPA.

Now we’re home again, home again, trying to get some work done and enjoying a quiet dinner. Hope all of you are well out there in blog world! I know tomorrow’s Halloween, so I expect to see some costume pictures in my e-mail inbox (that especially means from Forrest, Kailan and Draven, but others are welcome to jump in). Our Halloween plans include trying the special edition pumpkin ice cream at Persicco (I’m willing to admit I’m a full-on addict) and maybe catching a fun late-night party. Chau!

There are so many wonderful moments when you’re an American living abroad. There are also not-so-great moments sometimes, moments of insecurity. I sometimes feel like my hair is too light and I stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of the descendents of Spaniards, or that my accent (from Spain) outs me as a foreigner. I have trouble navigating a neighborhood or I don’t understand something on a menu.

Today was a day filled with moments of the first kind. If everyday was like today, I could stay here indefinitely, giving up things like plain, non-sweetened yogurt and fabulous Mexican food.

At 4 p.m. today, we met up with Juan, an Argentine guy about our age who read our ad for intercambios on Craigslist and wanted to meet up. We spent two hours over coffee talking about Argentina, politics, language and more. He’s a really great, interesting and nice guy and we had so much fun. We exchanged numbers and we’ll hopefully hang out again.

Then, tonight, we went to a function hosted by the Democrats Abroad Argentina, where they showed the presidential debate in a bar (it’s strange to be in a place here that’s full to the brim with Americans, speaking English) and we got some information about how to vote next month.

Turns out, we get to go to the embassy to vote on a special voter day for absentee Americans, so that will be sort of fun after years of vote-by-mail. Exciting! Here’s a question for all of you back home: If we vote absentee, what state do our votes count for? Will they count for Washington, where we were formerly registered to vote, or will they count in the electoral college for absentee ballots? We don’t know. Any of you?

P.S. We ran across a pet shop tonight with a whole cage full of Siamese kittens, which just about made us want to cry, they were so cute. They also had two 3-month-old Boxer puppies (they were brothers, but one was white with a little brown patch on its back and the other was all dark brown). I just have to keep telling myself that having a dog in the city would be a lot of work, and that I shouldn’t break down and get one. But these were really, really cute.

Buenos Aires isn’t know for its spicy food. In fact, Argentina is famous for a lack of spicy food. I have been mourning the loss of Tapatio ever since we left Portland.

I woke up this morning with a fire in my belly and a mission.

Today I will be eating spicy food.

Even if I have to tear apart every neighborhood in B.A. We went on a walk to Puerto Madero to find a restaurant we found on guiaoleo.com.ar called DF. Restaurante Mexicano. Mexican food, or something that resembles it.

Sara and I sat down outside, by the river walk. Our waitress brought us chips and salsa. The chips were good, but the salsa tasted like a very salty spaghetti sauce. Meanwhile, we overhear the ladies next to us raving about the salsa.

“Look, Sara ‘Burritas’!” I said. Yes it said ‘burrita.’ That’s funny, but I’m not into playing these mind games. I ordered my “burrito” and was quickly corrected by the waitress that it was a “burrita.”

When our food arrived, it actually looked good and like something resembling Mexican food. I was shocked since I’ve heard so many horror stories. One this was missing, however. Salsa. The giver of life.

“Quisiera salsa, por favor” (May I have some salsa please?)

“Picante?”

“Si, picante caliente!”

2 minutes later she returned with a smoldering green liquid, piping hot. You see, hot (spice) and hot (temperature) don’t relate the way I thought. So she gave me hot, hot sauce. Uff-da!

The salsa was actually kind of hot, or perhaps I was just getting woozy off the fumes of my piping hot picante sauce so I couldn’t think straight. I won’t say that it was the best burrito of my life, but maybe the best burrita?

One of our goals here in Buenos Aires is to practice our Spanish and to get better.

Now, I’ll be honest. You notice I haven’t written much about language or communicating, and the reason is that I’ve been really frustrated since we arrived because I’m having trouble understanding people. In Argentina, they speak with a thick accent, where they turn all their Y sounds to “SHH” sounds, and they use a verb form that I never learned.

I know, I know. Get over yourself, Sara. But it’s been awhile since I’ve been in a Spanish-speaking country and had trouble communicating. Watching TV helped a little, and Eric and I decided yesterday that we should put an ad up on Craigslist for an Intercambio - a meeting where you speak Spanish for half the time, English for half the time and everyone gets to practice. We got three responses.

This afternoon we met at a cafe in Plaza Dorrego where we drank coffee and tea and chatted with Raul, who is a late-thirties businessman who was very nice and had lots to tell us about the city.

Raul was extra hilarious because he doesn’t particularly like the city. Or the beach. Or anything Argentinean, really. He just lives here for his job. He would say things like, “The beach is really nice. I mean, not for me, but people seem to like it.”

The thing Raul seems to really like is American history, and he’s traveled extensively in the U.S. He loves New York, Washington (the capital, not our Washington) and he’s big on Atlanta.

It was really nice to spend the afternoon in actual conversation with someone who speaks the language and wanted to spend time with us. We’re hoping that next time Raul will bring his girlfriend, who is studying English at a local university, and we’ll all get to chat. No pictures of Raul for today, because I felt like a huge dork asking for a picture so I skipped it. Maybe next time we hang out.

Eric’s Spanish is improving a ton, although he probably wouldn’t tell you all that (he’s a pretty modest guy). I’m really proud of how he takes risks in order to learn more about the language and the culture.