Settling In

I have certainly had a busy week! This was the craziest "shopping"week by far - I went to three (different) classes one day. After finding some classes that were so/so, some that were terrible, and others that I just didn't understand, I have finally found classes that I like! So far I am taking a mandatory Spanish class through my program and two classes at the Catholic University. One is a class through their Latin American Studies department on Peronism, which is a class of mostly foreigners (a lot of Americans, a few Brits, etc.) and a few locals, with about twenty students in total. The other class is Theory and Constitutional Law, a second year polisci class focusing on the Argentine Constitution. It is FASCINATING, the professors are really interesting, and I'm the only foreigner in the class. Plus, I have met some really nice students who helped me with words and topics I didn't understand. When I take notes I use two notebooks - one for my class notes, and a small notebook I always keep with me for unknown words. Well, some of the students saw my list of "Palabras Desconocidas"(unknown words) and gave me a few English translations or corrected the ones that I had. I took the subway home with one of the girls one day, and we had a long conversation about school, activities, and our families. Its nice to start having a real schedule and things to do. This week I begin classes at UBA, the public university. I am going to try three different classes, but I **HOPE** I will end up taking a seminar on Latin American Film from 1995-present. And the best part of my schedule? I only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! I purposely chose not to have class on Friday, and it just worked out so that I didn't have any class on Monday either. Hopefully, that will give me a nice bit of time to travel, etc.

Luckily, this week wasn't all class (though sometimes it felt like it!). I saw two movies - "Los Simpson" (The Simpsons - in Spanish!) and "Tocar El Cielo," an Argentine film. One of the things my friends and I like to do is go and see movies in Spanish, both local films and dubbed American films. It's a really good way to practice comprehension and a lot of fun! Plus, it's much cheaper than a movie in the US (a ticket is between $3-6US), and I actually have coupons for a movie + a popcorn for $2.50US. I rented another movie that I'm hoping to watch tonight before bed... I'm not really sure what it's about, but I told the guy in the video rental store that I wanted something funny from Argentina.

I'm also starting to feel like I belong here a bit more. I hardly ever walk around looking at a map, and yesterday someone actually ASKED ME what street he was on, not the other way around (and I knew the answer!). It's a nice feeling to know where you are living and begin to settle in. Plus, I'm starting to recognize faces - there's the nice girl at the front desk of my gym, the guy who works in the gym who makes sure I can get on a machine, the people who work at the laundry place down the street, the man at the kiosk where I buy phone cards, the guy who works in my building, etc. Basically, this place is starting to feel a bit more "homey", which is what I wanted all along!

A bit about what I've been doing... Friday night my friends and I (two Americans and twolocals) tried out yet another synagogue, where I ran into Susanna (Vivian's almost-relative) and her husband! I was thrilled to see them, and really enjoyed talking to them, catching up, and meeting other people there. Afterwards we went out to dinner, then met up with some other friends. Saturday night I saw a movie (Tocar El Cielo, a movie for people thirty or so years older than I am, because Hairspray was sold out. We thought we understood most of it, however the people next to use overheard us talking about the few things we didn't understand and explained them to us. After their explanation the movie made a LOT more sense!), went out to dinner at a fun Middle Eastern restaurant, and then went to a cool place that was a restaurant, bar, and board game place. You order your food/drinks and go over and pick out a game! My friends and I played Tabú, otherwise known as Taboo, girls versus boys and the girls won :-). For those of you who have played Taboo with me and know how much I love it, just imagine what it was like to play it in Spanish!!

Today my friends and I decided to go to Tigre, a city about an hour north of BA. I had already visited once before, when I went to Hacoaj a few weeks ago. This time we did the touristy things in Tigre, which were a LOT of fun! We started off by taking a train to Tigre, which was so easy and inexpensive ($0.60US round trip!). We started walking around and found a boat company that does a two hour tour of the river, and has a restaurant on board - so we had lunch on a boat while riding around and seeing the sights. It was really pretty, though I think it would be even nicer when the weather is better and its not so cold! Afterwards we walked around this city and went to the fruit market, which the city is known for. However, there was not much fruit, seeing as it was the middle of winter! Still, a good time was had by all, and we all went back to Buenos Aires very tired after a full day.

That's all for now - lots of reading to do tomorrow! Sending lots of love back to the US!

Becca
The winning team for Tabú!

Out boat in Tigre

Jenga