Lunch with Popi

Here is a picture of Popi looking at mates (matays) at the Recoleta Fair yesterday.

I met her around noon and we walked around the fair which has different kinds of artisans selling things like mates, jewelry, sweaters and scarves and other handicrafts. It was fun walking with her. Her Spanish is quite good and I enjoyed hearing her interact with the vendors. One woman thought she was my girlfriend, which I thought was very funny, since if anything, she could be my daughter! Maybe it's not that unusual for Argentine men to have younger girlfriends? Maybe I look younger than I am or Popi looks older than she is? Maybe the woman just said that so that we'd tell her what the real relationship was. Or maybe she was trying to give me a false compliment, like when someone says to a mother and daughter, "oh, who is your sister here?", so that I would buy something from her.

Anyway, being at the fair reminded me how much I love hearing Argentines speak Spanish. And this was the place to practice it. Talking to the vendors, who were more than happy to talk about their wares, many of them made by them themselves. Or just walking through and listening to them talk to each other. It is all very entertaining as they are very animated.

The fair was not that crowded and we could not figure out why. Maybe because it was Saturday. Also the sky was very overcast, looking like it was going to rain, and it gave the whole thing a very strange feeling, but it was nice.

From there we went to El Sanjuanino, one of my favorite baires restaurantes and had some empanadas and lentils. El SJ is a cute little neighborhood joint that is across from the apartment Larry usually rents. They have really good empanadas and I love their lentils, which are made with chorizo, chunks of meat and are very rich and satisfying. They also have good steaks, salads, pastas, and some other traditional Argentine dishes like locro (a stew made from hominy), tamales, and antelope (I am not that brave).

We went back to the fair after lunch to see if Popi could find a vendor who sells cool jewelry, but it seems she was not there. I guess Sunday is a bigger day for the fair, which is good to know because I liked it on Saturday.

After a few hours, I was feeling quite worn out. This was my first real day out for an extended period of time, so I said good-buy to Popi and came home and took a delicious nap and then made a yummy shrimp curry and watched some TV.

I am feeling almost 100% recovered from my flu, though last night I still felt like I might have had a slight fever. I guess it was good to get the flu early and get it over with. Maybe now I am inoculated. I have to remember to wash my hands (Popi had a little bottle of hand sanitizer with her).

I'm ready to pick up where I left off - back to the gym today, and time to start thinking about going to tango school. Also, I posted an ad on Craigslist for conversation exchange partners and got quite a few responses. I had to put that all on hold when I was sick, but now I think it is time to start contacting them to see if I can set up some meetings.

My first day of school is next Saturday when I have Arabic class from 10-1. I wasn't crazy about taking classes on Saturday, but it was either that or in the evening. It will be interesting to see who else is taking Arabic and why. Turns out it is a good schedule. From there I can meet Marcelo for my tango lesson, and since I am not working, it's not like I am giving up my weekend. My other scheduled events will be Italian on Wednesday morning from 9:30-12:30 and my lesson with Juliana on Thursday afternoon from 3-4. It still gives me a good chunk of free time if I want to leave baires and visit some other place without missing any classes.

Today is my favorite day in the city, Sunday. For some reason, most of the shops are closed, but also there is hardly any traffic and it's a lot easier to walk around - no pedistrian obstacle courses and no homicidal bus drivers trying to run me down. I might meet a conversation partner who lives in my neighborhood today, or I might end up just walking around a little, going to the fish store and trying to make some fish with Thai spices and herbs. Or I might crawl back into bed.