mas Argentina

Today was my first day of class in Buenos Aires , at the Academia Buenos Aires, which started off very quickly with "hola" and an oral exam to place me in the appropriate class level. Nothing like the immersion process!! It appears I am in the "we know some Spanish" class with a German couple (boyfriend/girlfriend) who are studying in Argentina for 6 months compared to my 2 weeks so clearly the European Social Model offers some flexibility :) Overall it is a nice class room setting which reminds me very much of the Forester Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica where I studied for 1 month in 1997.

After an intense 5 hours of instruction I was a bit drained so I walked around towards my hotel. One great aspect of summer (verano) in Argentina is that there are numerous street vendors selling fresh squeezed orange juice with a large glass (known as a "grande" and a small glass is known as a "chica") costing less than one US dollar. Following some shopping for some nice leather shoes I grabbed a taxi back to my hotel. My cabbie had coke bottle glasses on with one of the bows/sides broken off and he was driving slower than anyone around us. I wasn't too concerned until I saw him perform the "sign of the Cross" while he was driving -- this my friends is typically not a good sign but clearly God was his co-pilot since I made it to my hotel unharmed :)

My Spanish homework is calling me so I will report more in future postings.

Adios,

Todd