Working!

On Monday, it was time for my first day of work. In the morning, I had a bit of a scare when I realized that they had not yet given me a time to arrive at the office. Hoping that 9:00 was a universal time, I left our apartment at 8:15 to make sure I had plenty of time to find my way. One minor wrong turn later, I arrived at the address I had been given around 8:40 to find an older looking but pretty town house with a decidedly locked door. Wanting to appear on time but not over eager, I 'casually' strolled into the next door grocery market while keeping an eye to see if anyone would arrive. After 10 minutes, however, I was back outside the stoop. At 9:00, the man that I had been communicating with by email arrived, and I was in!

A lovely first weekend in Buenos Aires

On Sunday, our host mother took us over to the Recoleta, where we visited a cultural center, church, shopping mall, and artisan's market. The cultural center was very interesting, with many different displays of contemporary Argentine artists. Unfortunately, we were all in agreement that none of the first exhibits we looked at were our style, but the last three we say were fascinating. We also visited the Iglesia de Pilar, which was a beautiful old church built by the Spaniards in the 1700s. The decorations in the Church were complex and gorgeous, with an ornate altar display and elaborate stations around the side. The artisans market was just outside the Church, and it was huge! It was very interesting to wander around and see all of the goods, though we didn't buy any soveneirs this early.

After we were done in the artists market, we got to see some street tango, which was fascinating. I have some great pictures from the tango that I will post very soon. There was an adorable little dog that was very insistent on sitting right in the middle of the sidewalk where they were trying to dance. When the tango dancers wrapped up, we went inside a small cafe and enjoyed some tea and croissants with our host mother.

On Sunday night, Melissa and I went to Church at the Iglesia de San Augustin, which is located right up the road from us, actually close to Melissa's placement. Attending mass in Spanish was a fascinating experience! I may have to bring a script for myself next time.

Tomorrow, I will begin working...I am so nervous and excited at the same time! I will update soon to let you know how it goes!

in Buenos Aires!

I can't not believe that I have arrived in Buenos Aires!

The trip down here was relatively easy (although I almost missed my connecting flight in Houston!)...in an amazing stroke of luck, there was no one in the seat next to me for the flight from Houston to Buenos Aires...so I had two seats to myself, which made sleeping much easier! 9 hours and 47 minutes later (quite a bit early, in fact) we arrived in Buenos Aires. After making my way through immigration (and paying the $131 for a US entry visa, strangely higher than that for both British and Australian citizens), I was pleasantly surprised to discover my luggage had arrived also (I didn't think that there was much of a chance, given that I landed in Houston and took off again in only a half hour)! After I found Melissa, we located our car service and were on our way.

We went straight to the apartment where we will be staying for the summer, which is located in the Barrio Norte neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Barrio Norte is sandwiched between the barrios of Recoleta (sometimes it is considered part of Recoleta, I think) and Palermo. The area around the apartment is lovely; there are so many trees on the street here, even in the middle of the city! And the apartment itself it really nice...We are living here with an older woman, named Carolina, who is a retired art and cinema professor with several grown up children. There is another girl named Daniela living here right now, too; she is from Venezuela and working here at the moment.

The apartment is very lovely, compact but very nice and airy. Carolina has some beautiful and interesting art because she used to run a gallery. We are on the ninth floor with two balconies (we mostly look out over other apartment buildings, but it is nice to step out for fresh (city) air). The elevator to get up here is really old school -- very small, and you have to open two gates, step inside, close them, and up you go!

We spent most of the day running some necessary errands - paying the rent for the apartment, buying some groceries and other essentials, etc. It's really cool to actually be living in an apartment right in the midst of such a lively city. When Melissa went to her orientation, I took a walk around the area nearby to go in search of some shampoo and a Movistar store - I'm still hoping that a leftover cell phone from Spain may work here - and though I got sent from shop to shop and got a bit turned around, it was lovely to explore the city.

Later that night, we went out to dinner at a restaurant near the Recoleta Cementary. Los Porteños - the term used to refer to citizens of Buenos Aires - appear to operate on a very Spanish schedule; we only arrived at the resturant at what we thought would be the later side of the dinner rush (8:30), but none of the resturants around us even began to fill up until we were leaving around 10:00.

We slept in today, both of us being much more tired from the trip than expected, and then my friend Abby came to visit! Abby, a fellow Miltonite (Miltonian? Miltonite? hmm), has been living and working in Buenos Aires since March, and truly serendipitously, she was leaving today, just over 24 hours after we arrived (though I of course wish she was staying longer!) We went to a lovely lunch together - the food here is surprisingly cheap so far - and she gave us her 'inside scoop'. I cannot wait to continue exploring the city!

Argentina, here I come!

With classes and exams complete, now my trip to Argentina is now less than a week away!

This summer, I’ll be working with the Fundación Comisión Católica Argentina de Migraciones, in the department of refugee resettlement. I’ll be living and working right in the heart of Buenos Aires.

I’m so excited - Can’t wait to update you from Argentina!