3 months and counting!

Today is my 3 month anniversary. I still remember that cold rainy day that I arrived back in August (seemed like January). My how things have changed.

Who would think that so much could happen in 3 months? I've started learning a new language, had a health crisis (or two), gained a few pounds (which I am working on losing now), made some friends...mostly I have reached a comfort level in my Spanish that makes me really happy. It is the reason I wanted to live in a place like Buenos Aires and be immersed in Spanish. After my first Spanish class over 30 years ago in high school, I've always struggled with being able to express myself fluently in Spanish. Even the past 3 months have been a struggle. But this week, with new medication helping me to feel like a whole human being again, I started to feel like I could communicate in Spanish.

Today I had some interesting plans lined up, expecting to be asked on Wednesday in Italian class what I did this weekend. I went to the gym first (after spending some time reading news and blogs online). After I came back, I ate lunch and decided I wanted to take a nap. I noticed that JC had texted me. I e-mailed him earlier in the week to see if he wanted to go to this Day of the Dead thing at the Recoleta Cultural Center, next to the cemetary. Hernan said he was going to read some poetry or something and there were going to be art exhibitions, poetry, music, etc.

I didn't want to go alone even if Hernan asked me to go with him because I knew he'd know a lot of people there and either I would have to be sociable or I'd be left awkwardly alone. I thought if JC went with me at least neither of us would know anyone there.

When I texted JC back, he asked me what time the "event" started. I told him 2, and it was already 3:30. He then texted back that he had food poisoning and would contact me later. I didn't buy the food poisoning bit. When I used to work in the newspaper in Philadelphia, food poisoning was the number 1 fake excuse people used to call in sick. It was a convenient excuse because usually you were over it the next day. So it was good for people who wanted one day off and didn't want to have to fake being sick when they returned to work the next day. Also, telling me he would call me later (to get together) raised a red flag.

So, I decided to just go over to the cultural center on my own and see what was happening.

Recoleta, around the cemetary, is a buzz of activity. The streets start to get busy with people walking towards or away from the cemetary, like ants coming from and returning to an ant hill. While most streets are deserted on Sunday, as you get closer to the cemetary, you can see a marked difference.

In front of the cemetary is a large park which has the weekend artisan fair and also some grass that people hang out on (I would never sit on the grass in any park here with the number of dogs that inhabit this place).

By the time I worked my way through the crowds in the periphery of the cemetary and got to the cemetary, I was already feeling claustrophobic (sort of), and decided I was just going to walk through these crowds to see if I saw anything and head elsewhere.

I walked past the cultural center and looked in and didn't see anything of interest and worked my way through the crowds in the artisan fair and eventually made my way back to the streets of Recoleta.

I came home and skyped with my friends Bozena and Diane and just got off the phone with my sister.

Speaking of counting, just one more day until the big day. I can not express how excited I am about this election. I remember my first election in 1980. We all know how that turned out. I was so depressed. Not just that Jimmy Carter lost, but that he lost by such a huge margin. When I was in 6th grade we had a mock debate between Nixon and McGovern. I was McGovern. I lost the mock debate and McGovern lost that election. I feel like I have been cursed since then. I played McGovern, he lost. I voted for Carter. He lost. I voted for Mondale. He lost. I was out of the country when Clinton ran. He won. I voted for Clinton in 1996. He was impeached. I voted for Gore. He lost. I voted for Kerry. He lost. My career as a voter has not been a happy one. And I have been forced to sit and watch as these people I did not vote for did things like instituting policies that have increased the division of wealth in our country to record levels, increase our deficit, gotten us into illegal wars and stripped us of constitutional protections. Who knows if Obama will really be able to affect the change I think he can, but I know I am finally going to have voted for a president who will win, and that just thrills the pants off me! I'd love to be sitting with a bunch of other people on election night with a bottle of champagne watching the results come in, but I guess I'll be here alone, maybe with a bottle of wine, just enjoying the beginning of a new day in America.