Friday, April 18, 2008

Guest Blog


Hola Amigos,

This is Meghan's Dad guesting today.

After sharing a tiny apartment for the last 2 1/2 weeks Meghan and I continue to be friends. Our school schedules are different and that makes a big difference. My classes go from 9:00 until 1:30 while Meghan does not start until 2:30. That gives us time to live our own lives.

School has been great. The pace is rapid and we get several new concepts every lesson. It's hard to know how much progress I have made because I usually can't bring these new ideas forward fast enough to use them in "real life" conversations. But, I am able to do the basic stuff so I don't feel like a complete fool when I am in a correro, tienda or restaurante. I was amazed yesterday when our phone rang and I was able to explain that the previous tenant has gone and we don't know where she went--easy in concept but a breakthrough for me at conversation pace on the phone.

I buy the paper every day and have learned a lot from it, both about Spanish and life in Argentina.

Buenos Aires is an endlessly fascinating city. There are dozen and dozens of impressive buildings, parks, plazas and museums. Before I came here I had very little idea of what a fully developed cultural, political and sporting life is centered here. Music, plays, opera, literature, visual arts are everywhere. The politics are more civilized now than in the terrible days of the dictatorships but they still seem chaotic to an outsider. (Just as an example--I have been told the reason the government can't provide enough coins is because their metal value is more than their face value. Sometimes the ticket offices in the subway run out of change so to avoid a riot they close the booths, open the gates and people ride for free). Futbol is everything in this town and there are several hugely important clubs here. Some of the teams are infamous for the lawlessness of their fans. River, currently the best team, is being punished for some recent violence by being forced to play some games in an empty stadium.

Bs. As. is huge, polluted, and noisy but there is an energy here that I have felt in few other places. Think Paris without the river or the tower, but with more buzz.

Last night I went again to the Bs. As. Symphony--another fine concert. Meghan went to "Rent" (in Spanish). This afternoon I am going to the film festival. There are venues for it all over town and it is only $2.00! This weekend I'll take some long walks and study Spanish--it's a great city for both.

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