I tried all afternoon to upload pictures but had absolutely no luck whatsoever. I have a bunch I wanted to put up... I will try again later.
So here is the breakdown of my first week in Buenos Aires:
Monday: Started classes at Ibero school in San Telmo. I was place in beginner spanish and of course I took the director aside and was like ¨I have taken spanish before, i should be in another level, this is to easy for me...¨ you know, the works. All of the other classes were full, and a good thing too! even though this class was review, it was much needed! just basic things, like por and para, and tan and tanto... which I still dont know, but it was great review and they gave me extra work to study past tense. I stayed in a hostel in San Telmo called the Garden House my first two nights and in all honesty, I was not impressed. Lonely Planet claimed it was a great little place, relaxed, etc... which it was nice. Clean and quiet... not particularly what I am looking for here. It wasn´t near anything, so I decided to look for another place. I found this great hostel in Palermo Viejo called Bait. Love it. http://www.baitba.com/ So I made a reservation to come the next night.
Tuesday: Checked out of Garden House and came to Bait and then ran to class. Tuesday night, went to Sachin´s and ate Indian food from Bangladore and watched TV and then came home and passed out.
Wednesday: Went to class and ate more empanadas. No more empanadas!!! Wednesday night came back here and talked to Juliette (from Sydney, moving here to BA and just travelling around for a while... living it up! So, so happy I met her.) and we decided it was a good idea to go to a club called Museum that is big on Wednesday nights. We got there and a lot of people had come from work, ate dinner and then started partying, so they were in their suits and sweating their asses off at 1am. It was jamming for a Wednesday, we drank a few too many vodka and Speeds (BA´s version of Red Bull) and came back at around 2 something and immediately showered. Go to Museum on a Wednesday, it was so fun!
Thursday: Woke up late and had to stop and eat on the way to class cause i was starving! I stopped at this little shop that had roasted meats and just got a chicken and salad. They brought this hot sauce, which shocked me since people here don´t even eat pepper because its too spicy, and he warned me that it was very caliente... it was fucking sweet. No spice here. At all. But the chicken was good. So got to class late and then got back to the hostel and tried to go for a run. Its like 100% humidty here and I was also trying to explore the neighborhood while I ran, so I didn´t get very far. Came back, showered, and just hung out.
Friday: Woke up and walked around the hood, which has awesome shops. I wish I could blow my savings on new clothes, but there is so much more to see, hah. I graduated beginner spanish! yay! Walked home and hung out for a bit. We decided to go to the salsa club, so me, Jules and Risa (South Africa, leaving on Tuesday, she´s been fabulous! Such a fun girl!) made a quick dinner and drank vodka sodas and listened to the Colombians sing (Pablo, John and Juan Pablo are from Colombia and working here at the hostel, fun crew, and great to practice spanish with). We got to the club and I was so tired I almost slept on a couch in the club. I couldn´t snap out of it, I hate that feeling! I was so pissed, but I had to go home early. Grrrrrrr.
Today: Everyone was hungover except me since I didn´t drink too much... just slept, so me, Risa and Jules went to the markets and did girl stuff. Jules and I went to the graveyard, which was amazing. You think graveyard and you think grass, stones, trees, not much. This graveyard was like being in a mini city. The tombs looked like mini courthouses and banks, it was so creepy and amazingly beautiful at the same time. We saw Evita´s grave, which was only half as impressive as some of the others. We decided to take the long way home to walk through Palermo Chico, which is this cute neighborhood with super nice houses, and then through the parks and around the ponds. It started raining on our way and we brushed it off thinking it would pass, but after 15 minutes of solid downpour, we realized we weren´t going to get out of this one anytime soon, but we kept walking. We walked about 30 minutes in the rain with water up to our knees!!! It was a mini flood, but it was so much fun. We stopped at the supermarket (which are all owned by Chinese here. Its weird to see Chinese speaking fluent spanish), and bought some well deserved wine. Finally got back to the hostel, which was also flooded. We walked into the hostel and everyone had buckets trying to empty the rooms of water, it was just a mess today, but also so fun. So we showered, the electrcity came back on and everyone just hung out. Jules and I grabbed a bite to eat, pizza, and decided its too wet to go out. So we are staying in, which is why I finally have time to update my blog!
The Street today.
So here is the breakdown of my first week in Buenos Aires:
Monday: Started classes at Ibero school in San Telmo. I was place in beginner spanish and of course I took the director aside and was like ¨I have taken spanish before, i should be in another level, this is to easy for me...¨ you know, the works. All of the other classes were full, and a good thing too! even though this class was review, it was much needed! just basic things, like por and para, and tan and tanto... which I still dont know, but it was great review and they gave me extra work to study past tense. I stayed in a hostel in San Telmo called the Garden House my first two nights and in all honesty, I was not impressed. Lonely Planet claimed it was a great little place, relaxed, etc... which it was nice. Clean and quiet... not particularly what I am looking for here. It wasn´t near anything, so I decided to look for another place. I found this great hostel in Palermo Viejo called Bait. Love it. http://www.baitba.com/ So I made a reservation to come the next night.
Tuesday: Checked out of Garden House and came to Bait and then ran to class. Tuesday night, went to Sachin´s and ate Indian food from Bangladore and watched TV and then came home and passed out.
Wednesday: Went to class and ate more empanadas. No more empanadas!!! Wednesday night came back here and talked to Juliette (from Sydney, moving here to BA and just travelling around for a while... living it up! So, so happy I met her.) and we decided it was a good idea to go to a club called Museum that is big on Wednesday nights. We got there and a lot of people had come from work, ate dinner and then started partying, so they were in their suits and sweating their asses off at 1am. It was jamming for a Wednesday, we drank a few too many vodka and Speeds (BA´s version of Red Bull) and came back at around 2 something and immediately showered. Go to Museum on a Wednesday, it was so fun!
Thursday: Woke up late and had to stop and eat on the way to class cause i was starving! I stopped at this little shop that had roasted meats and just got a chicken and salad. They brought this hot sauce, which shocked me since people here don´t even eat pepper because its too spicy, and he warned me that it was very caliente... it was fucking sweet. No spice here. At all. But the chicken was good. So got to class late and then got back to the hostel and tried to go for a run. Its like 100% humidty here and I was also trying to explore the neighborhood while I ran, so I didn´t get very far. Came back, showered, and just hung out.
Friday: Woke up and walked around the hood, which has awesome shops. I wish I could blow my savings on new clothes, but there is so much more to see, hah. I graduated beginner spanish! yay! Walked home and hung out for a bit. We decided to go to the salsa club, so me, Jules and Risa (South Africa, leaving on Tuesday, she´s been fabulous! Such a fun girl!) made a quick dinner and drank vodka sodas and listened to the Colombians sing (Pablo, John and Juan Pablo are from Colombia and working here at the hostel, fun crew, and great to practice spanish with). We got to the club and I was so tired I almost slept on a couch in the club. I couldn´t snap out of it, I hate that feeling! I was so pissed, but I had to go home early. Grrrrrrr.
Today: Everyone was hungover except me since I didn´t drink too much... just slept, so me, Risa and Jules went to the markets and did girl stuff. Jules and I went to the graveyard, which was amazing. You think graveyard and you think grass, stones, trees, not much. This graveyard was like being in a mini city. The tombs looked like mini courthouses and banks, it was so creepy and amazingly beautiful at the same time. We saw Evita´s grave, which was only half as impressive as some of the others. We decided to take the long way home to walk through Palermo Chico, which is this cute neighborhood with super nice houses, and then through the parks and around the ponds. It started raining on our way and we brushed it off thinking it would pass, but after 15 minutes of solid downpour, we realized we weren´t going to get out of this one anytime soon, but we kept walking. We walked about 30 minutes in the rain with water up to our knees!!! It was a mini flood, but it was so much fun. We stopped at the supermarket (which are all owned by Chinese here. Its weird to see Chinese speaking fluent spanish), and bought some well deserved wine. Finally got back to the hostel, which was also flooded. We walked into the hostel and everyone had buckets trying to empty the rooms of water, it was just a mess today, but also so fun. So we showered, the electrcity came back on and everyone just hung out. Jules and I grabbed a bite to eat, pizza, and decided its too wet to go out. So we are staying in, which is why I finally have time to update my blog!
The Street today.
Tonight we sitting around. This is a list of people in my hostel:
In my room: Me, Jules, Risa - taught in Bolivia and is heading back to South Africa soon.
Denmark ladies- also so fun. They took spanish classes in Quito and are just travelling now.
Rik and Dan- Travelling around the world on their motorcycles. www.thebigbiketrip.com also awesome guys. Marcia from Toronto, dating Dan and just meeting up with him here and there.
The Colombians - here working, so helpful and fabulous and funny. and great dancers!!!
Melvin and Pablo- Melvin from CA, living here now and working at Bait, and Pablo who is the head manager here. Everyone is great!
I leave Tuesday for southern Argentina, I will try and add more pics tomorrow!
In my room: Me, Jules, Risa - taught in Bolivia and is heading back to South Africa soon.
Denmark ladies- also so fun. They took spanish classes in Quito and are just travelling now.
Rik and Dan- Travelling around the world on their motorcycles. www.thebigbiketrip.com also awesome guys. Marcia from Toronto, dating Dan and just meeting up with him here and there.
The Colombians - here working, so helpful and fabulous and funny. and great dancers!!!
Melvin and Pablo- Melvin from CA, living here now and working at Bait, and Pablo who is the head manager here. Everyone is great!
I leave Tuesday for southern Argentina, I will try and add more pics tomorrow!
