day 4 (wednesday)

(a little slow posting these entries. here's my day for wednesday...)

7:00-8:20 - same routine as the past two days.

8:30 - todays subway ride was different. on the first day taking the train, it was crowded. on the second day we had to wait for a second train to come along because the first was too crowded. today we let two trains pass without boarding because people were just smooshed in there. 3rd train came along today and we made like an argentine and smooshed ourselves in there too. we were packed in there, really packed, and i'm not one to exaggerate either. i wasn't holding onto anything (except for my purse) and i was just fine when the train was moving and stopping, i wasn't going anywhere. to my surprise...or maybe it was shock, more people squeezed on at the next stop....i'm speechless....i don't even know how else to describe how packed we were. Luckily everyone smelled nice.

9:00- before i went to class this morning i 'finally' bought a note book. 27 pesos. ($8) not sure why it was so expensive. maybe because it was in the center of the city, maybe because it was a specialty store, maybe because it's a brand name? It's a sturdy little notebook, it looks like it's of quality...but the price was kind of steep, but i needed one. i went too long without one.

9:30 - i was off to a good start in class today with comprehension and speaking until hour 3 of 4 came. at this hour pronouns were introduced. I got it, but it just wasn't clicking, then i got frustrated, then i got mad at myself for getting frustrated and then no information stuck, nada. here's an example spanish sentence structure: "martin buys flowers. martin them buys." (in english- martin buys them) however 'them' needs to agree with flowers (plural/ singular) and gender too. it should be easy to grasp, but i just couldn't get it and got more frustrated knowing that this should be easy.

other than this mental road block towards the end of the class, the lesson went very well.

1:30 after class the american girl in my class invited me to lunch with her and some other girls. there were 5 of us total. we just ate at a cafe/restaurant around the corner from our school. the cafe was in a courtyard with a view of the busy city street. at our table there were us two americans, a belguim, a swiss and a german. i had a tomato mozzarella sandwich with a glass bottle of water. (32 pesos + 6 pesos were added for tip since we were a large group) ($11.50)

After lunch I came back to the school to use the internet. On craigslist.com I found two apartments, so I emailed two separate girls for more information. one wanted me to meet with her tonight at 8:30, but i didn't want to travel to a new neighborhood and take the bus for the first time in the evening. i hear buses are very complicated (no obvious place to stand for pick-up, no street signs to see where you are when your on the bus, no digital signs in the bus to display which stop is next. you just have to know) anyway. i asked her if i can meet with her to see the apartment during the day or this weekend.

i made arrangements to see the other apartment this friday at 2:30.

photo: my 'subte' (subway) stop
5:00 i returned to Palermo, dropped of my laptop at the house and headed out in our barrio (neighborhood) to find a place to sit outside and study pronouns. (i've near given up on trying to avoid my mosquito friends, this is life)

to my luck i found a very charming bar just one block down and two blocks over. the bar lies on a side street that has lush trees and there is a roof over the sidewalk where i sat at a small table. the waiter was very kind and patient with my spanish. i ordered just a beer. i thought it may relax me and help me let some spanish into my brain since i had a near brain melt down at school today. the beer was served with a small dish of peanuts, much like yesterday when my coffee was served with 3 tiny cookies. how cute. every so often the waiter stopped by to chat with me in spanish, he was very patient. i think i may return tomorrow. the service was great, the location was charming and the beer (stella artois) was 6 pesos ($1.80)!!! (the bottled water i had with lunch today was 7 pesos.)

after a beer and pronouns i met up with the german girl at the internet cafe for some more email / apartment search. i left earlier than she to come back and study some more. at 8:30 she returned. it was just her and me for dinner tonight. mirta and alejandro went to the movies. they prepared dinner for us and left it in the oven. they are such a cute couple. i like alejandro best. he's so animated when he speaks, i think it's to make sure his point is understood, and he always has a kind smile on his face.

money spent today:
1 peso for the subway to school (30 cents)
1 peso for the return trip
27 pesos for a notebook for class ($8)
38 pesos for lunch at a nice cafe: bottle of water and med. sized sandwich ($11.50)
6 pesos for a beer ($1.80)
___
73 pesos ($22)