It's true what they say. Buenos Aires is a very dangerous city. I was walking with Larry, Anna, and Larry's cousins who arrived today from Buffalo, and suddenly, I was accosted by a wolf pack of killer empanadas. It was horrible. I felt so violated afterwards. But as they say here in Argentina, "Some days you eat the empanada, some days the empanadas eat you".
Another very fun day. One thing I really like about the school is that we have excursions twice per week, minimum. My program, which is different from the school, also has excursions, but those trips are extra and also it means I'd be traveling with the kids and not speaking Spanish, so I am not interested in them. But the University of Buenos Aires program in which I'm enrolled, has these trips to different parts of the city. They divide us into groups based on our level and each group gets a guide.
Today we went to Palermo Chico, which is not Palermo Soho, Palermo Grande, Palermo Viejo, Palermo Hollywood, Alta Palermo, or just Palermo. Palermo Chico, is, as the name says, chico, or small. It is very different from other parts of BA because the streets here are not laid out in a grid, but rather in circular patterns. Apparently, this area was settled by some folks with lots of money, some French guy designed the neighborhood, down to the way the streets were laid out and what kinds of trees were going to be planted, people hired architects to design their palaces, they moved in, lived opulent lifestyles, and after 20 years the stock market crash of 1929 caused everyone to lose their money so that they couldn't afford the upkeep on their houses and they had to sell them. Fortunately, foreign governments were standing by, ready to buy the houses and they now house foreign embassies (like the other palaces near where I live and between my place and Larry's).
We went to the Museum of Decorative Arts, which is housed in one of these grand palaces. It is really overdone, with contrasting marbles, woods, chandeliers, and tons of stuff, some from the family that lived there, and the rest from odd collections of random people. It was fun. We toured the neighborhood, then went to the museum where we met Larry's cousins from Buffalo who were on their first day of their 10 day Larry tour. Their eyes were glazed over, but they kept up with us like troopers. Afterwards we went out for dinner - steak and wine, grilled vegetables, provoleta (grilled provolone cheese) and of course, ice cream afterwards to get the taste of beef out of our mouths!
I had to face reality today when it became apparent to me that I am the worst student in our class. No excuses and no blaming the teacher. We had a short story we were supposed to read the first three chapters of. I read the first page about 5 times and couldn't get past it, mainly because I tried reading while eating lunch or doing other things. I just haven't had time to do any homework! Well, Anna read the first two chapters and Mike read the first three and understood it! Cynthia didn't read, but as we read it in class, she was good at faking it, and I think Jonathan also read, but maybe didn't finish. Still, I really felt like I was a lazy good-for-nothing. Now I understand the class clown syndrome. Especially with Marcela, because I like the way she laughs and she always laughs at my jokes, I sit in class, not understanding a whole lot, or not caring a whole lot about what is being discussed, and just look for my opening to make some funny remark or ask a question that has nothing to do with what we are talking about - such as "why do people eat gnocchi on the 29th of the month?"
Well, I am a bit more motivated now to study harder and try to do more work, but first my blog must be done. I can tell by the new counter I installed, that I have a following, and if I take time to read this short story, or do the homework on the subjunctive, all of you will be left in the dark and won't have any idea what is happening here. I do have my priorities!
Can you imagine one of my students telling me, "I didn't do my homework because I was writing my blog"?
Tomorrow we are going to Las Lilas, a restaurant that was named as one of the 10 places you should eat in the world. The guy raises the cattle on his own ranch. It's supposed to be superb and expensive even by BA standards. We're figuring we're going to end up spending $45-60 each, which we could easily spend at Chili's in the States, so no big deal.
Ok, I must do some homework...
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