Extracurricular activities

Our school plans 3 to 4 activites for students each week. They are always after class, some beginning at 6:30pm but most not until 9:30 or much later. For the past two Wednesday evenings we have gone to dance lessons. First the tango and then the salsa. Try to picture Paul and I amongst many many very young men and women. The lessons are not so great because there are way too many trying to learn. Also they are held in discos where the AC is less than adequate. Not complaining just stating the facts. We are planning to check out some tango places where the older generation goes to dance. Both dances look fun and our attempt at them wasn´t too bad.

Last Thursday we went to a Tango Show in a famous cafe in downtown BA. This was performed by seven very talented young men and women. They also had a pianist, violinist, bassist and accordionist. The songs were all in Spanish so we had no idea what the words were but the dancing and music were very good. The costumes the girls wore were very risque which goes along with the kind of dancing they were doing. A fun evening!!! The show didn´t even start until after 11pm so we were not back home until 1:30 or later. Some of our school friends were going out after the show!!!!

Saturday morning Jane went for a manicure which was a very inexpensive treat. ($4 US) She then spent a couple of hours shopping for some skimpier tops to wear in order to survive the heat. (2 tops and a skirt for about $40US)

On Sunday we spent the day with a priest from a nearby town. He is living in a seminary that does spritual retreats all over the world. It so happens that Jason, our older son, is a good friend of the priest who heads up the U.S. program and is located in San Diego. So we were sort of honored guests....we had a great time with our local host, Father John, age 34. He speaks wonderful English and was a delight to be with. He picked us up, drove us to Lujan a smallish town 70 kilometers from Buenos Aires, took us to a marvelous restaurant, on a tour of a huge Basilica built in the 1800s and then to his seminary.

The restaurant was totally staffed by consecrated women from all over the world. They give all the profits to charities in Africa. The restaurant was full of diners, maybe 80 or more. The food was was quite good and the women´s caring attitude was infectious. The severs we met were from Vietnam, Polynesia and Africa. The only outward religious action was that near the end of our meal the servers spread themselves around the dining room and led all of us in the singing of Ave Maria (they had put beautifully printed cards on the tables with the lyrics). Everyone sang and it was quite nice.

The Basilica is very well known in Catholic circles as a historic shrine to Christ´s Mother Mary. It was built in the style of great European churches and taking almost 100 years to finish. It is huge with great stone work, tile murals and leaded glass windows. It has a great cobble stone plaza in front of it with old buildings on the perimeter where people sell all sorts of religious momentos. When we were inside there were hundreds of people milling around and there was a Mass being celebrated in the front center. It was a very impressive place to visit along with the few thousand people that were there on an ordinary Sunday.

The seminary for his order, Miles Cristi (see www.mileschristi.org) is in the country outside of Lujan. They have 20 hectares where over the last 12 years they planted thousands of trees and built a beautiful group of all brick buildings with tile roofs where they live, study, pray and hold retreats. The day we were there there were 20 young women there on a 20 day retreat/vacation. They built all the buildings themselves and they are beautiful. They are in the process of adding a 40,000 sq ft building with classrooms and living quarters. We said hello to a few of the people there, had some refreshing ice water and headed back to Buenos Aires, the city that never sleeps (more on that later).

So for us it was an interesting day to get out of BA and the inner city and see cows, horses and rolling hills with a bright young and highly educated Argentine. It whetted our appetite for the day in March when we break out of school and go traveling. It seems like I felt this way in my 20´s.

Buenos dias sus amigos!

We have just finished the third week and let's just say we are really into the grind of school. We pretty much follow the same routine everyday. Paul gets up early to read the paper and have a cafe' con leche at the cafe across the street. Then he meets with Jane and Maria for breakfast around 9:30. Together we work on school work for the rest of the morning and then we walk to the "subte" for our four stop ride and twenty minute walk to our school. We usually stop at one of the street corner cafe's for lunch sitting under the shade of the trees on the sidewalk or we just buy some fruit at one of the many stands in the neighborhood.

Class starts at 2:00pm and we have a twenty minute break at 3:30. Then at 4:50 we have a ten minute break and finish at 6:00pm. Surprisingly it goes pretty fast because you have to stay in it mentally or all is lost. Each day we walk all the way back home convincing ourselves this is good exercise. Just about every day we try and take a different route. No matter how we go, unless we stop to shop or do email, it takes us about 50 minutes.

As we get close to our neighborhood we plot which cafe we should stop at to recover from the walk with beer and water. We found that at several if you order some beer or wine, they deliver a small snack of some sort, peanuts, chips or something indistinguishable but crisp. So I am forced to . . .

After resting in the shade (always in the shade since the temps are close to 90), we continue on to Maria's where she will serve us our dinner. While we try to give her a suggested dinner time, she is very flexible allowing us to take our time on the way home if we wish. We find ourselves eating between 8:30 and 10:00pm on most nights. We seem to be sliding to a later time for dinner as is the custom in Argentina. The three of us usually have a little wine with dinner and attempt conversation. We sometimes try and discuss the news that is on TV. All of these discussions are quite ridiculously simple due to our current skill. We have hopes.

Next blog we will let you in on some of our recent cultural activities in the last two weeks.

Buenos Aires is a gigantic city of over ten million people. People live in apartments that they own or rent. The old buildings were five to six stories and the newer buildings are much taller. All vary in shape and condition. Most have underground garages and a security officer at the door. On most blocks there are different shops: pastry, butcher, clothing, fruit and vegetable, snacks, launderias (laundry)as well as small cafes that are open all day and well into the night. The main avenues are lined with shops on both sides of the street. There is a large mall that we discovered last week which is a lot like malls in the US complete with a food court on the top floor. You don't see large department stores, hardware stores, Home Depot type anywhere, at least we haven't seen any in the heart of the city. Rather there are small little stores. In most cafes or at our house, breakfast consists of cafe or tea, orange juice and media lunas (small rolls)and is between 7am and 11am. Lunch is anywhere from noon to 2 or 2:30. Next is tea around 5-7pm. Dinner is not until 9pm at the earliest and for many is not until 10:30-11:30pm. A schedule that is a bit hard to get used to.

Last Saturday evening Paul and I arrived at a restaurant after 10:30 and certainly were not the last to arrive. People here are not in a hurry and they spend time sitting at the table at every meal. Waiters will not hurry you and will only bring the check when asked. It is a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

The streets are crowded with many taxis and buses that drive very rapidly. Pedestrians do not have the right of way and you must pay attention when crossing streets!! Also the sidewalks are of various quality and condition so it is important to watch where you are walking. (Some owners do not pick up after dogs which is another hazard) There are lots of people walking at all times. We have used the subway to get to school and have walked home each day (about 4 1/2 Kilometers).

Last weekend we ventured out into the very hot temperatures to explore only a small part of the historic center of Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo, surrounded by government buildings that remind you of the buildings you see in Paris and other European capitals. The square's central monument, the Piramide de Mayo, (in the picture) elebrates their independence from Spain on 25 May 1810. The large pink colored building on the end of the plaza is Casa Rosada. It is from here that Juan Peron, the former dictator, and his wife Eva (Evita) spoke to the massive crowds reported to be 300,000 and more of cheering citizens. We have only scratched the surface of the things to see here.

One week and a day of classes under our belt. Our profesora, Veronica Barbero (see picture), is very patient and a good teacher. She spent 2 years in New Jersey, as well as some time in Chapel Hill, NC and Aspen, CO!! Our classes are M-F from 2pm-6pm and are pretty intensive. We spent quite a bit of time on the "state of being verbs, ser and estar" because they each apply only to certain situations. Along the way there were numbers, foods, prepositions, adjectives of various sorts and lots of vocabulary. Our heads are spinning and Paul says his has a cloud.

At the end of next week we take an exam for placement in the next class. The school is a skinny 4-story building with class rooms on 4 floors. There is a terrace on top where special gatherings are held. Paul and I are the oldest students. I do believe that Paul has not missed all the cleavage and long legs on these young chicas. Students are from all over the world and are mostly in their 20s. Needless to say they are out until early morning partying with the natives while Paul and I are sleeping. Tomorrow we are going to a milonga with our class where we will begin tango lessons.

The first day was so long we didn't have the energy to post to the blog, although we figured you were wondering how this would go. Well after a great breakfast with Maria of "medi-lunas" (crescent shaped rolls), coffee with milk (the coffee here is made strong, so Paul has succumbed to using milk) and apples, we headed off for the subte (subway) a short ten minute walk followed by a twenty minute walk on the other end of the ride. We were trying to get there by 8:00 am for the qualification exam.

The school was teeming with people. Our email contact found us on the way in and helped us sign up and pay the fees. Then Jane headed off for the exam, but it was determined that if she wanted to have class at the same time as Paul, she would have to be held back. So by nine it was determined that we would have class daily, at least for the first few weeks, at 2:00 pm, lasting until 6:00 pm.

We headed off to find a cafe' to read and prepare for class. On every intersection there seems to be at least one cafe'. We found ourselves at the Tea Connection where WIFI for internet connection is available, as it is in most bars and cafes'. From our short experience, it always is free and is in many more places than in the US. We passed the time with email and reading the Buenos Aires Herald, an English language newspaper. It has a real international focus, as well as key stories of Argentina news and political action and a sorry attempt at international sports.

At one o'clock we returned for the introductory lunch and then the start of class at two o'clock. Very light sandwiches, juice and water were served. The school director and staff made all the necessary speeches and introductions. All the students and staff are very young. They seem to be just out of college or just finishing some graduate degree. It seems to be a real mix of nationalities and sexes.

When we arrived at our classroom at 2:00 pm for class, we met Richardo (Richard) from England and Patricio (Patrick) from Sweden. The four of us will be the class. Our instructor turns out to be Veronica Barbera, a very experienced, but youngish and attractive teacher. We start out with introductions and small discussions of why we are here. Then she starts speaking Spanish and off we go!

The boys are bright, Jane is confident and re-awakening high school Spanish discussion memories and Paul is finding himself in a fog of la's, el's and an occasional ellos. Four fast hours later we are done. Jane and Paul set out on their walk home. (We decided that we would walk either to or fro school for exercise) It takes us about an hour to walk, finding the sidewalks full of people. After dropping our backpacks at the house we headed for the local cafe' for beer to clear our heads before a late dinner with Maria.

It was a long day, but now we are off and running, or shall we say learning. Chao!

We made it. The trip was great. We would recommend you save your FF points and go Business Class, which we did. The school had a car waiting for us to take us to our homestay quarters. Maria Blanca, our hostess, met us at the door of her building. Her apartment is on the first floor (second floor in US). She has three BR's, living room and large kitchen. Plenty of room for her, the two cats and us. No air conditioning, no screens (not necessary) and lots of street noise. I am not sure Jane will ever get any sleep. We are in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires largest neighborhoods (barrios). It is separated into neighborhoods. She lives in Viejo. Chico is about three blocks away and contains the zoo, botanical garden, beautiful residential buildings and some huge and beautiful parks. Hollywood and Soho are a couple of blocks in the other direction and have many shops and restaurants, many of which have outdoor seating.

As you walk these neighborhoods you find that each building is responsible for the sidewalk between the building and the street. Many are tiled. Many are old with loose tiles. The only negative we have discovered is that many dog owners do not pick up the droppings, so you must watch where you walk. Many buildings seem to have some one wash the sidewalk each morning.

Saturday we walked to Recoleta, the neighborhood where our school is. Later we toured the astonishing world renowned cemetery which has hundreds of elaborate tombs for Argentinian families. We tried the subway on the way back to Palermo, very nice, with tiled landscape murals in the stations.

Sunday we walked all over Palermo. The parks and the zoo were filled with families out for the day having picnics. Many people shopping and eating at the outdoor cafes.

They call this the Paris of South America and so far that is exactly what it seems like. The people are very friendly and helpful for people like us Americans that can't speak any of their language.

Each night we have had dinner with Maria at her home. She speaks no English so it has been challenging conversation with each of us using dictionaries to find a word to move the moment along. We have laughed much and enjoyed her cooking.

The quality of things, shops, restaurants, clothing is just like at home. However you rarely see an SUV or any large car. In the parts of town where we have been everyone lives in an apartment or condo. While you get three plus pesos for a dollar, not all things are less expensive than at home. Imported items, like American or Scotish whiskey bring Oriental, NC prices. Meals, taxis, subways are all very reasonable.

So now we are on to our first day of class.