I'm up very early today. Not sure why I can't sleep, but it's good, as I have a chance to write one more blog post before I leave.
Yesterday I had a very relaxing morning. Diane was in her apartment waiting for Bozena to arrive, and then she went for a manicure while I went and got my last massage. My massage was from a new person and I felt like it couldn't be over fast enough. I asked for it deep and have decided that outside of Thailand, women can not give big guys like me a deep massage without years of training. The woman who gave me a massage yesterday probably would have given me a nice relaxing massage if I had asked for that. But since I asked for deep, she was digging her elbow into me and slipping and sliding all over the place. She was not conscious of the fact that I had stopped breathing and was very uncomfortable. This was different from the kind of discomfort I got with Leiban, where I was actually releasing tension as I breathed heavily, moaned and sighed. I was just uncomfortable because I think she was not comfortable with what she was doing. She seemed stressed out mostly.
After my massage I went to the plaza outside of Facultad de Medicina to buy a few more mates for someone, I don't know who. I like the mates that this guy Walter sells.
I stopped by Aires to pick up some cakes and cookies for when Diane brought her sister and Bozena over.
I came home and started packing.
I put away the dressy pants and shirts that I never wore. Next year, they will stay in SF. If I could manage in five months not to get dressed up, I think I can do so for another 3 months when I return.
It seems that I have too much stuff. My carry on backpack is filled to the brim with things I bought here. I haven't finished packing the two bags I am going to check, but I am worried that they will be overweight. I don't know how I am going to manage to get all of this stuff from the taxi to the check-in counter tonight.
Hernan called and said he was on his way (we had texted earlier to set up a time for him to visit). He arrived a little after five and we had a short visit before Diane arrived with her sister and Bozena.
It's always interesting meeting siblings and family members of friends, and I enjoyed meeting Diane's sister who seems very different from Diane. The only similarity I could find is that they both speak slowly and clearly, but their voices are different - it is the pace of the way they speak that is similar. For Diane, it makes her a great ESL teacher.
We headed off towards Milion, which I wasn't sure would be open. I took them through the Recoleta a little and when we arrived at Milion it was packed. Very much unlike the time I went with Hernan, when it was nearly empty except for a few large groups of people, every table in the entry, in the back yard and on the terrace was filled with people drinking and eating. Turns out it was happy hour. We found one table on the terrace that was set with a table cloth and glasses and we should have known since it was a prime table that was empty that it was not available, but eventually someone came out and told us it was reserved for dinner. We tried finding a table in the back yard, but they told us there was nothing, so we ended up in one of the inner rooms in a table squished into a corner looking into the dining room. It was perfect.
I was thinking that I wanted some sort of frozen mojito and was happy to see that they had just that on the menu. The taste was a little odd, like it had jackfruit or some strange tropical fruit in it, but it was good and refreshing and didn't taste at all alcoholic, which made it slightly dangerous. Diane got a bellini and Bozena got a kir royale, and Karen, Diane's sister got the same as me.
We also got two platters of appetizers. One was Peruvian and one was Central American. The bill for this extravaganza was still less than the three drinks we got when we went to the Faena Hotel and Universe, proving once and for all that it was ridiculously overpriced for Buenos Aires.
It was a fun way to start off the evening. I felt very comfortable there, which I can not say for many places in the US where people go for happy hour. I loved being in this beautiful old mansion, the drinks and the food were good and the atmosphere felt very comfortable. There was cheto electronic music playing but it wasn't too loud to drown out our voices. The place was crowded and people were talking loudly, but it wasn't too loud that we could not hear each other speak.
From there we headed to El Sanjuanino. I had planned on taking them to La Pena del Colorado, where there would be live music and a sort of folksy atmosphere, but it turned out to be closed for a few days. El Sanjuanino was a good 2nd choice.
We walked a bit through the Recoleta, passed some of the big embassies (including the Vatican's Embassy) and arrived at El Sanjuanino actually chilled. It was unbelievably chilly and windy. After dying from the heat just one day before, it was a welcome, if not strange, change of weather.
I knew I wanted an empanada to start and I was going to have lentils, but it was difficult to get everyone else to settle on what they wanted. Diane seemed to want to make it a family style dinner, but I knew if I did that I would end up eating too much. The lentils are a perfect sized dish for me but they are very rich with chorizo and chunks of meat. If I added anything else to that, I would have been stuffed. I hope I wasn't obnoxious, but I jokingly said if they wanted lentils, they would have to order their own. Really, I was trying to encourage everyone to choose something.
Diane ordered a matambre, which I have seen on the menu, but never seen in person. I imagined it as a piece of meat sliced thin and rolled and stuffed with different things. Turns out it looked like a big empanada that was stuffed with meat, egg, cheese, tomato and other stuff. She may have mistakenly gotten two. It wasn't clear. Bozena ordered the erotic salad, which was roquefort, walnuts, celery, apples and cream. She hardly ate any because after she tasted my lentils, she wanted her own, and told me I wasn't sufficiently enthusiastic about the lentils or she would have ordered them from the start. So for anyone who is going to El Sanjuanino and doesn't know what to order - the lentils are FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Karen ordered a plate of fries, and I think a few more empanadas arrived, along with a mixed salad. I selfishly, but contentedly enjoyed my lentils while the rest of the food piled up like a large traffic jam on our table. Most of it ended up boxed up with Karen promising to make a delicious fritata for breakfast.
Stuffed and warmed up, we walked up Posadas and headed up the hill next to the Alvear. Diane, now able to sense where she can steal nice paper towels, said, "Are we near the Alvear Palace?", and sure enough we had to go in so she could show Bozena the stash of thick paper towels in the ladies' room. Karen sat in the lobby and I went to use the men's room. Bozena came back from the ladies' room with her purse stuffed with paper towels. I wonder if they have hidden cameras in the Alvear. I may not be able to return there again.
It seemed like it was not as cold as it was earlier and we enjoyed our walk home through the Recoleta which seemed quieter than normal. My feet were starting to hurt from walking, but since I'd had a day of mostly rest, it wasn't too bad.
Today we are going to El Tigre, the delta. I have never been before, but thanks to Larry's blog, I know how to go. We're going to go to Retiro station and take the train to Mitre, where we will transfer to the Tren de la Costa, and ride along the coast. Hernan said we should leave by 9, but we aren't meeting until 10. Hernan thinks like an Argentine and if he had gone with us, would have taken us on the public boat taxis. We plan on renting a private boat and taking a quick tour of the delta with lunch either before or after our tour. We will then head back and I will continue to try to fit everything I have into my suitcases and take a rest before someone comes here to return my deposit and check me out.
It has been a long 5 months here in Buenos Aires and I am definitely ready to return home. I'm glad I am coming back, becaue I am finally beginning to feel a little like this is home too. Next year the adventure will continue. I'll be a little older, will have valuable experiences from this year to hopefully make the shorter stay better, will have hopefully some relationships that I started to develop that I can continue to cultivate. I also found a school where they offer level 8 Spanish, and need to check out the website (I passed by on my way back from buying mates yesterday). I think it might be good for me to get into a Spanish program if I can. My Spanish has improved a lot in these 5 months, but I still have a long way to go before I am competent and feel like I can hold my own around native speakers. It would be nice to study some Portuguese and I will add that if I can, but I think I will try to focus on Spanish when I return.
Well, it's time for my last bowl of bran cereal. My final breakfast in Buenos Aires.
I'm up very early today. Not sure why I can't sleep, but it's good, as I have a chance to write one more blog post before I leave.
Yesterday I had a very relaxing morning. Diane was in her apartment waiting for Bozena to arrive, and then she went for a manicure while I went and got my last massage. My massage was from a new person and I felt like it couldn't be over fast enough. I asked for it deep and have decided that outside of Thailand, women can not give big guys like me a deep massage without years of training. The woman who gave me a massage yesterday probably would have given me a nice relaxing massage if I had asked for that. But since I asked for deep, she was digging her elbow into me and slipping and sliding all over the place. She was not conscious of the fact that I had stopped breathing and was very uncomfortable. This was different from the kind of discomfort I got with Leiban, where I was actually releasing tension as I breathed heavily, moaned and sighed. I was just uncomfortable because I think she was not comfortable with what she was doing. She seemed stressed out mostly.
After my massage I went to the plaza outside of Facultad de Medicina to buy a few more mates for someone, I don't know who. I like the mates that this guy Walter sells.
I stopped by Aires to pick up some cakes and cookies for when Diane brought her sister and Bozena over.
I came home and started packing.
I put away the dressy pants and shirts that I never wore. Next year, they will stay in SF. If I could manage in five months not to get dressed up, I think I can do so for another 3 months when I return.
It seems that I have too much stuff. My carry on backpack is filled to the brim with things I bought here. I haven't finished packing the two bags I am going to check, but I am worried that they will be overweight. I don't know how I am going to manage to get all of this stuff from the taxi to the check-in counter tonight.
Hernan called and said he was on his way (we had texted earlier to set up a time for him to visit). He arrived a little after five and we had a short visit before Diane arrived with her sister and Bozena.
It's always interesting meeting siblings and family members of friends, and I enjoyed meeting Diane's sister who seems very different from Diane. The only similarity I could find is that they both speak slowly and clearly, but their voices are different - it is the pace of the way they speak that is similar. For Diane, it makes her a great ESL teacher.
We headed off towards Milion, which I wasn't sure would be open. I took them through the Recoleta a little and when we arrived at Milion it was packed. Very much unlike the time I went with Hernan, when it was nearly empty except for a few large groups of people, every table in the entry, in the back yard and on the terrace was filled with people drinking and eating. Turns out it was happy hour. We found one table on the terrace that was set with a table cloth and glasses and we should have known since it was a prime table that was empty that it was not available, but eventually someone came out and told us it was reserved for dinner. We tried finding a table in the back yard, but they told us there was nothing, so we ended up in one of the inner rooms in a table squished into a corner looking into the dining room. It was perfect.
I was thinking that I wanted some sort of frozen mojito and was happy to see that they had just that on the menu. The taste was a little odd, like it had jackfruit or some strange tropical fruit in it, but it was good and refreshing and didn't taste at all alcoholic, which made it slightly dangerous. Diane got a bellini and Bozena got a kir royale, and Karen, Diane's sister got the same as me.
We also got two platters of appetizers. One was Peruvian and one was Central American. The bill for this extravaganza was still less than the three drinks we got when we went to the Faena Hotel and Universe, proving once and for all that it was ridiculously overpriced for Buenos Aires.
It was a fun way to start off the evening. I felt very comfortable there, which I can not say for many places in the US where people go for happy hour. I loved being in this beautiful old mansion, the drinks and the food were good and the atmosphere felt very comfortable. There was cheto electronic music playing but it wasn't too loud to drown out our voices. The place was crowded and people were talking loudly, but it wasn't too loud that we could not hear each other speak.
From there we headed to El Sanjuanino. I had planned on taking them to La Pena del Colorado, where there would be live music and a sort of folksy atmosphere, but it turned out to be closed for a few days. El Sanjuanino was a good 2nd choice.
We walked a bit through the Recoleta, passed some of the big embassies (including the Vatican's Embassy) and arrived at El Sanjuanino actually chilled. It was unbelievably chilly and windy. After dying from the heat just one day before, it was a welcome, if not strange, change of weather.
I knew I wanted an empanada to start and I was going to have lentils, but it was difficult to get everyone else to settle on what they wanted. Diane seemed to want to make it a family style dinner, but I knew if I did that I would end up eating too much. The lentils are a perfect sized dish for me but they are very rich with chorizo and chunks of meat. If I added anything else to that, I would have been stuffed. I hope I wasn't obnoxious, but I jokingly said if they wanted lentils, they would have to order their own. Really, I was trying to encourage everyone to choose something.
Diane ordered a matambre, which I have seen on the menu, but never seen in person. I imagined it as a piece of meat sliced thin and rolled and stuffed with different things. Turns out it looked like a big empanada that was stuffed with meat, egg, cheese, tomato and other stuff. She may have mistakenly gotten two. It wasn't clear. Bozena ordered the erotic salad, which was roquefort, walnuts, celery, apples and cream. She hardly ate any because after she tasted my lentils, she wanted her own, and told me I wasn't sufficiently enthusiastic about the lentils or she would have ordered them from the start. So for anyone who is going to El Sanjuanino and doesn't know what to order - the lentils are FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Karen ordered a plate of fries, and I think a few more empanadas arrived, along with a mixed salad. I selfishly, but contentedly enjoyed my lentils while the rest of the food piled up like a large traffic jam on our table. Most of it ended up boxed up with Karen promising to make a delicious fritata for breakfast.
Stuffed and warmed up, we walked up Posadas and headed up the hill next to the Alvear. Diane, now able to sense where she can steal nice paper towels, said, "Are we near the Alvear Palace?", and sure enough we had to go in so she could show Bozena the stash of thick paper towels in the ladies' room. Karen sat in the lobby and I went to use the men's room. Bozena came back from the ladies' room with her purse stuffed with paper towels. I wonder if they have hidden cameras in the Alvear. I may not be able to return there again.
It seemed like it was not as cold as it was earlier and we enjoyed our walk home through the Recoleta which seemed quieter than normal. My feet were starting to hurt from walking, but since I'd had a day of mostly rest, it wasn't too bad.
Today we are going to El Tigre, the delta. I have never been before, but thanks to Larry's blog, I know how to go. We're going to go to Retiro station and take the train to Mitre, where we will transfer to the Tren de la Costa, and ride along the coast. Hernan said we should leave by 9, but we aren't meeting until 10. Hernan thinks like an Argentine and if he had gone with us, would have taken us on the public boat taxis. We plan on renting a private boat and taking a quick tour of the delta with lunch either before or after our tour. We will then head back and I will continue to try to fit everything I have into my suitcases and take a rest before someone comes here to return my deposit and check me out.
It has been a long 5 months here in Buenos Aires and I am definitely ready to return home. I'm glad I am coming back, becaue I am finally beginning to feel a little like this is home too. Next year the adventure will continue. I'll be a little older, will have valuable experiences from this year to hopefully make the shorter stay better, will have hopefully some relationships that I started to develop that I can continue to cultivate. I also found a school where they offer level 8 Spanish, and need to check out the website (I passed by on my way back from buying mates yesterday). I think it might be good for me to get into a Spanish program if I can. My Spanish has improved a lot in these 5 months, but I still have a long way to go before I am competent and feel like I can hold my own around native speakers. It would be nice to study some Portuguese and I will add that if I can, but I think I will try to focus on Spanish when I return.
Well, it's time for my last bowl of bran cereal. My final breakfast in Buenos Aires.
No comments:
Post a Comment