*I found the apostrophe, but its in a random spot so I cant guarantee that I will use it. I am also aware of the extraordinary number of errors in my writing. Its not that I don't know it, its just that I'm took lazy to go back and proof-read.
One of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, was once invited to be a writer in residence at a conference. Over dinner with the directors, she asked them 'just exactly what do you want me to do, these 2 weeks?' One of the directors responded 'I was hoping it would emerge'. I myself was wondering (and worried) about my trip before I came, so much that I didn't want to go on the trip anymore. What exactly was I going to do, these 2 months? I realized as I read those sentences, that I too was sort of hoping that it would emerge. And to my complete amazement and surprise, it has.
Its true that you can't plan a trip like this. No amount of researching (which I must admit I didn't do) can prepare you for the people and places you will encounter. You never know how you will respond to a place and you dont know how much the people you meet will affect you or what kind of information you can gain from them.
One thing that emerged is Spanglish. Maybe if I had researched more, I would have discovered it, but who knows what I would have thought of it. One of the girls I met at school told me about it and I decided to go. It was one of my major triumphs here. Generally speaking, I absolutely hate to arrive some place where I don't know anyone. I would rather stay home. I also don't generally go someplace if I don't know exactly how to get there. I overcame both obstacles with Spanglish. (At least in this instance). I was supposed to meet the girls and go with them. I never found them. I wanted to go home so badly, but I forced myself on the subway and followed the map. A little bit to my amazement, I actually found it. I had a wonderful time meeting new people and speaking Spanish. One of the other girls finally made it as well.
Another thing that emerged was a place to stay and what to do for the last week here in Buenos Aires. This has been stressing me out a little bit. I figured that if all else fails I could just go to school for another week and pay for the host family, but I really wanted to do something different. The school has a hostel they use (which actually isn't very nice), but they charge extra to set it up for you. This Friday I went out with the girls to this great bar called Milion. (Its an old building like a mansion that has been restored. Its beautiful and elegant and filled with lots of young natives and foreigners. It was a blast) Some other students, who are in the TEFL program, were there. We were talking, and I discovered that one of the guys was in a different hostel and he absolutely loves it. I met another girl, from Sweden, who lives there as well, and she loves it too. So I got the address from him and I went and checked it out. It seems really great and its so cheap. I will be moving there on Saturday. It also has a school that it is connected to, so I'm going to try another language school as well.
One other really great thing that has emerged is the people. I hang out with the girls from school a lot. We eat lunch together everyday and occasionally go out together. We went to Milion as I said and we went dancing afterward at Crobar. (I was sort of expecting something really great, but it was a night club like any other. I guess I need to go to Vegas to see something out of the ordinary?) We met and talked with people at the bar, we met and talked and danced with people at the night club, I met people at Spanglish, and I met a random Mexican guy on the street who turned out to be a really nice person (amazing, I know). It has been so much fun. Most of these people are transitory, but its so great to make even temporary connections with adventurous people.
One thing I have discovered is that you will ALWAYS meet someone more brave than you (more beautiful, richer, blah, blah). I decided not to be so hard on myself when I realized that people came here without any plans and just found apartments through craigslist. I give myself permission to not be that brave. I've done a lot more than I ever have on my own and more than I expected. So there!
I also realized that when you live in a city like Denver, Tucson, San Diego, etc. you are very sheltered from the world around you. In most cities around the world you dont see the tragedy in this world on a daily basis. (The most recent was a woman laying in the road, who had just been hit by a car, and it appeared that she was dead. Her husband was wailing over her. It was horrible. It took the ambulance more than 30 minutes to arrive. One of the girls with me is a nurse so she went over the check the situation and see if she could help. The woman was alive, thankfully, and hopefully the delayed ambulance did not cause her any further problems)I couldn't understand why I was seeing so many sad things. Were there more bad things in Buenos Aires? I didn't think so. Its a pretty cosmopolitan city. Then I realized that in most cities we drive everywhere. We don't take public transportation. We don't walk for blocks and blocks on city streets. Its amazing what a different world you see when you do.
On the language front. My Spanish is progressing very well. My classes are still 99% in Spanish and I have really extended conversations with my teachers. I'm sure that I have many grammatical errors and I don't always speak in complete sentences, but I usually get my meaning across. The more you learn and the more you are able to say, the more frustrating it gets, surprisingly, because you start to realize you can't even come close to being able to say the things that you really want. The lack of vocabulary and a complete knowledge of tenses and slang is very limiting. And Im still hoping for the day when normal conversations doesn't sound like complete gibberish, or even when it doesn't sound so foreign in my own personal conversations. Its a struggle every second Im listening and talking. I did spend one more day with Santos, the Mexican. That was great because we just hung out and had fun and I got to practice Spanish as well. I've made appointments to meet with 2 other people that I have met as well. One woman and one man, both Argentinian. More things that emerged.
Besos
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