I found fish!

Today's photo is a paseaperros - dogwalker. They have to be one of my favorite sites in Buenos Aires. There are a few that I've seen several times and recognize. Hernan says they are very "conchetto" - meaning, kind of uppity. Apparently, they need to be almost certified as veterinarians because they are responsible for all aspects of dog care. It's great to see these dogs walking together as a group wagging their tails and smiling and obeying the lead of the dog walker. Unfortunately, they leave behind lots of little remnants on the sidewalks, so you need to pay attention when you are walking!

I left today wearing my leather jacket because we are experiencing a new wave of polar air, but it seemed a little warm, so I came up and changed. Good thing I did. Coming home from school today it felt like early summer. Warm and sunny. Crazy weather!

I walked to Florida Street first because I saw an "Argentina" jacket that I liked and wanted to see about it. On the way, I passed this big old ornate building that says "Circular Militar" on it and has an arms museum. The gate was open and I saw some people coming out, so I thought I'd take a peek inside, assuming it was open to the public - ironically, they had a sign up saying "Palacio de la Paz" - palace of peace. I noticed a sign saying they had tours, but I just wanted to peek inside and didn't want a full tour. I walked through the big ornate gates and into the courtyard. I saw another interesting building on the other side of the courtyard and was going to take a picture when some old fart started yelling at me. He called me over and told me it was a private club and I wasn't allowed inside. He said that there were tours and I had to come on a tour and could not visit on my own. I wondered if he was involved in the last military dictatorship - he probably was involved in more than one, he was old enough to have served under Peron.

So, disheartened, I left, thinking I might go back for one of the tours, but it looks like that probably won't happen since I need to go to the spa on Saturday instead.

I went to Florida Street and the jacket was of very low quality and didn't really fit well, so I walked to the subte from there. I figured rather than getting on at my station, I'd walk a bit and take linea D which would take me straight to where I needed to go.

The subte is always an experience. You never know what will happen.

There are people here who are ingenious at finding ways to make money. Often when sitting in a restaurant, someone will come in and put something on my table, as they will do to everyone else in the restaurant. Often it is something like a little manicure set, a flash light, a switchblade (well, not exactly, but that's what they look like to me). Then they'll come back and pick them up - without ever having said a word.

Well, the same thing happens on the subte. It's incredible. Between one stop and the next, which isn't a whole lot of time, someone will go through the car, and distribute something - usually it's a book -the two favorite items seem to be a personal diary type thing and a Spanish-English picture dictionary. They'll just come and sit it on your lap, and then go back through and pick them up. Again, not saying a word. If someone wants one, they'll ask how much and pay for it, but otherwise there is no communication.

Well, today, when I got on, the car was almost empty, which is rare, but since it was early, yet past rush hour, and I was getting on at the 2nd stop of the line, it made sense. I got a seat and at the next stop a guy rushed on and set up an amplifier right in front of me, plugged in his guitar and made an announcement. I don't know what he said. He then started to play a song that was kind of a modernized classical guitar piece. I didn't like it a whole lot. He finished his song and then applauded, and was able to get a few people in the subte, which was now full, to clap. The next song he played, I recognized. I've heard it in tango performances. I think it Grace Jones had a version, and now it is a popular electronic tango piece, but I don't know the name. I like other versions I've heard better than what this guy was playing.

I got off at my station and the guy continued playing. I guess the idea was that you were to leave some money with him if you wanted. It was a nice little performance.

As I went up the stairs to the street the guy in front of me turned around and asked me where Callao Avenue was. I thought we were on it, but someone who passed us turned around and pointed to where it was. This is another funny experience for me. Because I kind of blend in, people are always asking me for directions. But twice, when I hesitated, someone who was nearby just chimed in and gave proper directions. I should just tell people I'm not from here, but I really enjoy the interactions and really do want to be helpful, but honestly, when people ask me for directions, I usually have no idea and probably would be more helpful if I told them I didn't know.

I went to the cafe with the good coffee even though they gave me a fake coin the other day and pulled out my practice exam. I thought of what a good student I was, preparing to sit down and do this exam, even though I wasn't sure if we were going to correct it today or not.

The first part of the exam was an interview with some feminist, which didn't have any context, just the interview. I read it and it wasn't terribly difficult to understand and did the questions that followed. It wasn't that hard, but it took some time.

Next was some grammar. Using sentences that were related to the reading, we had to rewrite them using connector words that they gave us. Again, it was a little challenging, but it was do-able.

The third part was a paragraph which was totally out of context and made no sense at all to me. We had to re-write it changing it to reported speech beginning with "a neighbor said..." I was completely lost as to what to do. I thought reported speech was level 6 and here we were going to be tested on it? We hadn't done anything with it, to the best of my memory. I started doing the re-writing, but got frustrated and moved on.

The next exercise was a fill in the blank exercise. We had to complete a reading by filling it in with words from a list of prepositions and connectors that we were given. Again, I was lost. I tried and wasn't able to get one word. It was total nonsense for me.

The last part was a writing activity. We had a question about men and women's roles in our country, or we could write about any of the readings we had done in class.

I decided to write about my experiences as a language teacher who became a language student and is living in a foreign culture trying to learn the language. I talked about my frustrations, and how at times I felt deaf, dumb and blind. I talked about how the teachers made me feel like the problem was that I wasn't trying hard enough or paying attention enough when I was listening. I talked about how I wanted to communicate more, needed more time to process and wanted more practice.

I left the cafe and went to a pizza/empanada restaurant. It was a great place with booths, lots of tables ,waiters with bowties, and I got two slices of pizza and a salad where I got to choose the ingredients. It was a great lunch, and I wish I had discovered this place sooner.

When I got to school Nancy and Martin were already talking. I started off by saying I didn't understand the mock (that's what they call the practice or mock test). I think Martin made some comment such as "it wasn't that difficult", which pissed me off. I don't remember the exact order of events, but I know that I tried to express how the exam made me feel and Martin denied my feelings to the point that I became very forceful and direct. Eventually he got it and just shut up and tried to clarify things that weren't clear.

I was really angry that we were going to be tested on things that we were not studying. It didn't seem fair to me, and Martin's claim that we did it in level 6 didn't satisfy me.

I tried to point out how the lack of clear context, or how the overwhelming amount of information we got in the form of lists of connectors, was not helping me to learn the language. I tried to point out that learning a language is different from studying science or some other subject. Fortunately Nancy backed me up.

It was a hard class for me, but I am not surprised that what happened today did. Martin has been getting on my nerves from the first day and he became the target of all of my frustrations about the crappy foreign language instructions I've received since high school Spanish class -- my Italian teacher this past semester who spent more time talking to us in English about whatever subject came to (his) mind, and all of the other teachers whose classes frustrated me and made me more reluctant to speak a foreign language rather than encouraging me. I hope that I will remember this experience and learn from it and catch myself when I say things to my students such as "no, it's not difficult - it's easy" when they tell me something is difficult. I hope I will remember how frustrating it was for me to have a teacher who could not understand why something he thought was so clear would be difficult for me.

I got through this last class - barely. I was relieved to leave school and find that it was like summer outside.

I decided to walk down another street I had never walked down and ended up in Once, the area where our school is located, but which at its heart has lots of little shops selling cheap beads, fabric, costumes, party supplies, and a whole bunch of other crap. I walked past a store that was selling Indian cushion covers. I just had to go in.

They had a huge selection of cushion covers in all designs and colors. I wanted them all, but settled on two. I told the guy in the shop "what a world, where I come to Argentina and buy something from India" - I guess it's not really that odd, but it did seem odd to me at the time. He asked me where I was from, and I asked him - even though it was obvious he was from India. All of this was in Spanish. He told me he learned to speak Spanish just by talking to people. Maybe that it what I need to do.

I then asked him about Indian food in Buenos Aires and he recommended four restaurants - one of them, Bengal, is a block away from here. It looks like a fancy restaurant, but I think it might be nice to go there for one of my final dinners - maybe tomorrow with Hernan.

I took as many new streets as I could to come home, now carrying my cushion covers (with cushions inside). I really enjoyed the walk and it was a nice relief after a stressful class.

I found myself suddenly at a Volta ice cream store that had some nice chairs set up outside. I knew that if I came straight home I'd want to take a nap, so I stopped at Volta instead and got an ice cream and sat outside and ate it. It was a nice pit stop and aside from a little exhaust fumes, it wasn't that bad of a spot.

I was in the heart of the Recoleta, which I must say, is one of my favorite parts of Buenos Aires. Even though it might be seen as being snooty and uppity, the buildings are beautiful and I always seem to be there when there is the most amazing light.

As I walked home from Volta, I found myself on Rodriguez Pena again and passed by the Mercado where I was looking for fish yesterday. To my surprise, I looked across the street from the stand where I bought basil, and saw a seafood shop! I had found it - probably one of the few fish stores in Buenos Aires!

Since I had my heart set on making papelote, I went in and got some fish. I have no idea what I got. I only know the names of two fish in Spanish - trout and salmon. This was neither one of those, but looks like a nice white fish that I think will be good. We shall see.

Claudia told us we should review vocabulary related to Global Warming and the environment for our exam tomorrow, so I'm guessing that is going to be the theme. After dinner, I'm going to see if I can find "An Inconvenient Truth" and watch it tonight. I'm surprised at how much I care about my grade on this exam. All I need to do is pass in order to get the credit, which is what is most important to me, but I want to get at least a B in the class.

So it looks like my evening is going to be making dinner and watching a movie to prepare for tomorrow's exam, even thought it is a beautiful evening and I'd love to go out for a walk.