Ocho de diez

Today is day 5. It still hasn't really sunk in that I am in South America. Then again with so much to do and see, I don't have time for dwelling!

So, here's the run down on the ARG thus far.

1. It's cold. And apparently the weather here is making its way to mainstream American news. A friend's Mom called her today and said she saw on CNN that Argentina is having the coldest winter in 10 years. It's not the coldest weather I've ever been in, but it's also been raining for three days. Luckily, walking everywhere keeps me warm!

2. We have a really good group! I wasn't sure how it would go with kids of all different backgrounds and cultures from all over the U.S. but we gel well! So far, a girl from Virginia (but goes to school in Tennessee) is my mejor amiga. Her name is Katherine and we just click! I think it has something to do with us both being Southern girls. With classmates from California, Illinois, Idaho, Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Alaska and Ohio it's easy to see differences in people from all regions of the States.

3. Apparently, my look doesn't scream gringa. The other night at the bar I had two guys ask where I was from and I told them to guess. Their first guess was England. Then Canada. I told them to guess the state and they went through about 10 before I told them. Also, an Argentine asked me for directions yesterday and one asked me the time today.

4. I have spoken more Spanish in the last 5 days than in my whole life. Actually, I spoke more Spanish our first night out than I have in my life. And as my Spanish improves, my English gets awkward. A few nights ago we were at a bar and our space was getting crowded so I found some American friends and got a table. I had two Americans on my right and two Argentines on my left. The Argentines wanted to talk, talk, talk and when I would turn to talk to the Americans I totally went blank. And when I clicked back into English mode, I couldn't eliminate tambien, pero, yo, ti, para, por, pero, y, puedo, cual, que, como, de, es, verdad, serio, bueno, malo, linda, dime, dame, quien, donde, cuando and more!

(Mom- those words are also, but, I, you, for, but, and, can, which, what, that, how, why, of, is, true, seriously, good, bad, pretty, tell me, give me, who, where and when.)

5. My host family is wonderful. It's me, a lady and her son. The son is 23 and works for el Minesterio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social. The mother is a social for el Minesterio de Educacion. The apartment is HUGE. It runs the whole length of the building, has 12 foot ceilings and at least 4 bedrooms. I have a TV, a desk, a chair, a twin bed, a night stand and 2 windows in my room. It's right in Recoleta on one of the avenues. Avenues here are truly avenues. They're wide and they are the only streets with traffic running both ways. And because the traffic goes both ways, the avenues are hopping! Also, my host mother doesn't speak any English but we have no trouble communicating. There is no language barrier. Just a language bump here and there. And my mother, brother and his girlfriend said my Spanish is wonderful. WOOOP WOOP! Que bueno!

6. Argentines are as beautiful as I thought they would be. And their accent is beautiful once you get used to it. And to all you Spanish speakers reading this, I've already adopted the zh sound for my double l's and I'm sure it will seep into my y's before too long. When in Argentina...

7. I'm on a mission to learn as many -erias as possible. In Spanish, a store that sells a particular thing ends in -eria. In English, a cafeteria is a place that has food. Here, it's a place that has coffee- cafe + teria = cafeteria. So far I have seen zapateria, fruteria, verduleria, ferreteria, tintoteria, vidreria, maquineria, carneceria, and a lot more that I just can't remember.

8. Dogs. EVERYWHERE. And most of them are pure bred. Never in my life had I seen one of those dogs with wrinkly skin. A shar-pei I think. But here I've seen two. There are lots of bischon frises, golden retrievers, German shepherds, beagles and dachsunds. Side note: Argentines call daschunds (sp?) salchichas which is Spanish for sausage! Get it? And the dogs wear clothes. But it's not like they're dressing them up, they all just wear the blanket-type things on their backs that have holes for their front legs. Kinda like a horse blanket. And I've seen a few with rain jackets. But it makes sense here. It's cold, it's rainy and the water dripping off the awnings of buildings is miserable. And all the dogs are well-behaved. I've seen several without leashes. They stick by their owners and if the owner goes into the store, the dog sits at the door and some stick just their heads in the doors and wait. And go figure, the only dog that I have heard bark was a beagle. I swear.

8. The streets are one way unless it's an avenue. But the subway system is UK style. So that's pretty damn confusing! If you're walking down the street and want to continue in the same direction, you have to use the subte station across the street.

That's all for now. I hoped to make it to 10 things but it's time to go meet Katherine and our other friend Kelsie!

Ciao!