Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!

So I have been here in Argentina for two weeks now, what say I let you know how it has been?

I arrived in Buenos Aires exhausted from not having slept for the past two nights, a combination of having to leave for the airport in San Jose at three in the morning (that is not a typo) and then not really sleeping much on the overnight flight to Argentina. I didn't trust myself to stay awake on a bus so I forked over enough pesos to pay for a cab to deliver me to my hostel. It was amazing to be here; after two months of countries drowning in the rainy season, the sunshine was like a giant dose of happy directly to my heart. The cab sped through the streets and we passed parks, fountains and big beautiful buildings. Almost every building has balconies! I couldn't believe how much is done here just for the sake of beauty; intricate wrought iron gates, delicately carved statues, trickling fountains and all of the adornments of every buildings. I am forcing my eyes to stay open long enough to take all of this in. 

We arrive at my hostel and I think that the driver is kidding; it is beautiful. Can I afford a hostel with balconies? After a little confusion of finding the front desk (the first floor here is what we could call the second...go figure), I was checked in and in search of my bunk. I was on the top floor, the six floor, and I quickly showered and hopped into my PJs. After dozing for a while and feeling human once again, I decided to explore. I'm in a new city!

After a quick trip to an internet cafe to let the folks know I'm alive, I wander about. You know when you pass someone on the street who is grinning like an idiot and you wonder what is going on in their head? I think I must have been like that because I was so happy to be soaking in the sun! I didn't know until I had the sun how much I had been missing it! My first weekend I wandered around with some new friends from the hostel and by myself. I saw Evita's grave in the Recoleta Cemetery. It isn't a cemetery like in the US, it is a bunch of fancy mausoleums arranged almost like city blocks with tree lined paths between them. I couldn't decide if I felt like the place was peaceful or creepy; it is very quiet and beautiful, but I am looking at coffins. It is kind of a tourist area and a lot of folks go there to snap a picture. My guidebook also steered me to the grave of a woman who was buried alive after having been in a coma only to be heard screaming later. The guidebook doesn't say that she made it, so I'm thinking that she didn't. Yikes. I also rode on the A line of the metro, called the Subte here for 'subterranean', which is one of the oldest in South America; on the cute wooden cars I feel like I should be wearing a little suit from the 1920s and gloves. 

My second night at the hostel, I got switched into the coolest room. The hostel is six stories tall and has a nice roof area that is open and complete with lawn furniture perfect for lounging and reading during the day and drinking wine at night. Perched on the highest level of the roof is a little dome room with five bunks. I quickly nicknamed the place and was happy to call this place mine for the next week. If only I didn't have to share! Travelers from around the globe were coming and going from this busy hostel; it was hard to remember who you had met, let alone their name and home country. Somehow the hostel employees were able to remember us all and greeted us by name as they let us in the locked doors each time. It all felt very safe and secure. I quickly met a girls that is also in my TEFL school named Sara. What a small world?

Buenos Aires is very formal; for the past two months I have been eating the majority of my restaurant meals on disposable plates and utensils and more often than not, the furniture was of the plastic, outdoors type. Not here; every restaurant window I passed here has a nice table set with cloth tablecloths, cloth napkins and wine glasses. I am about to panic! How can I afford a restaurant with wine glasses? I'm not working yet! As it turns out, you can get a really nice meal here for 10-15 dollars, which compared to the prices in the US, is a pretty good deal. The problem is that there are limited options for something less fancy than that except for empanadas. What is an empanada? It is a savory pastry of sorts; a circular piece of buttery dough is filled with meats, cheeses or veggies and baked and probably dunked in more butter. One spinach empanada is enough to fill me up for dinner and it only costs a dollar. I don't think that it is a coincidence that my hostel is next door to an empanada place; all throughout the afternoon and late into the night the smell of fresh empanadas. Since this isn't the healthiest fare, spinach can only do so much, it is a shame that the elevator has surround mirrors, allowing me to see with distinct clarity exactly where each buttery bite of empanada has landed on my body. Maybe I should be taking the stairs?

I have completed two weeks of school, halfway done already. We are taught by a cute guy from Ireland with the mouth of a sailor and a woman from the US who handles the grammar. The first week was lessons for all of us teacher wannabes from 10 to about 5. This week was both lessons for us as well as our first chances to teach the students who get free English lessons in exchange for being our guinea pigs. My first lesson was was with another TEFL student and it was kind of rough planning because we approached the lesson with different prospectives; she assumed everything would go fine, I worked my butt off and made sure it did. I am glad I'm teaching on my own from now on. I ended up teaching another lesson the following night because one of my classmates was super sick so I took over her plan and did a good enough job of winging it on only a few hours notice.

This is the birthplace of the Tango and I have taken my first lesson with a new friend. I got very clear instructions on where to meet this guy, but being the horrible navigator that I am coupled with my being late, I was too busy to read the street signs and managed to pass the place twice before going in. The room had the lofted ceilings of a small cathedral but all of the windows were blacked out. While it was bright and sunny outside, it was dusky and moody inside; perfect for the tango. Even though I was late for American standards, I was early for Argentine. I walked up to a guy to see if he was my new friend, and although he wasn't we chatted for a bit before the lesson started. I found my new friend eventually and we stumbled our was through our first tango lesson. Basically the instructors showed us some fancy footwork that looks beautiful and sexy and then we proceeded to butcher it. It was really fun and we laughed at ourselves a lot. Afterwards we sipped on a liter of beer and chatted for a while. 

I have moved from the hostel to an excellent home stay. I was pretty stressed out trying to figure out where to live. The recommendation from my TEFL school was to wait to set up housing until I got here and so I did. But, trying to talk to locals with their difficult accent and not knowing if the person was a creepster or not was stressing me out. Sara, the girl in my TEFL school, is being an overachiever and is taking Spanish lessons as well as our TEFL classes. Her spanish school offered to set her up with a home stay and I jumped on the bandwagon and talked to them too. Long story short, I am staying in a fantastic, fancy apartment with a super sweet older couple whose six children are all adults and out of the house. The lady is a former cater and had hosted vegetarians before. I am in Heaven. Every evening that Sara and I come home from school we are wondering what fantastic, vegetable laden dinner is waiting for us and we have yet to be disappointed. I am so thankful to have trusted my instincts and didn't go with some other housing option that couldn't have shaken a stick at where I am staying now. A few nights ago, after having taught for the first time, I came home with Sara and we were both exhausted. Inez, our host, was trying to explain something to me and I wasn't understanding a word of it. She tried a few times, slowly and using different words. I was too tired to think. After seeing that I wasn't going to understand, she simply walks up to me and gives me a big hug and tells me we'll talk about it tomorrow. Turns out she was just trying to figure out if Katie's keys had worked because they were a new copy.