Tango, La Boca, y mas

The past two days have been wonderful. I am enjoying exploring more of BA and getting comfortable with Argentine Spanish (me SHamo Max!). Today I went to La Boca, a wonderful old area of BA covered in colors, art and the home of ONE of BA's praised soccer teams (futbol en Argentina). I have been trying to put pictures up of the amazing sights I have been seeing, but so far i haven't been successful. I am enjoying meeting locals who I can now call friends, and am anticipating the arrival of good friends I still can't believe will be in Buenos Aires with me as I go on this journey. I shaved today (see mom- I'm trying to look clean when I meet my host family!) and am going to need to do some laundry soon. As I said before I am loving it all-especially Tango! I have had two lessons, and will continue to learn this sexy, controlled, HARD dance. I hung out with some Jews today- always fun playing Jewish Geography, and I will be checking out a temple tomorrow for Shabbat (they spell it Shabat here). Oh- soon I will be writing my posts in spanish and english so I can work on my spanish. Look forward to that and much more!

~MAX~

Day two

WOW. day two was a different experience. I woke up needing water asap and hoping to scratch some stuff off my to-do list (i.e send out emails about the blog/ how to communicate), and i guess if you're reading this, i did it! *scratch* I felt kinda depressed this afternoon, as I walked around Buenos Aires, thinking it is huge, trying to get a Argentine SIM card unsuccessfully. Turns out my spanish is not as good as I thought. Ordering food was hard also, and I began to fear the next few months. But as I got in a cab with an old Argentine man with shaky hands (who also didn't know the area I was trying to go to) I began to feel a little more optimistic about the upcoming experiences. We figured out my host family's location together with me saying si to everything he said-regardless if i understood him or not- and my frown turned to a smile as I looked around the city. I will be living in Recoleta, an amazing part of BA-and it really is amazing. There are shops and laundry-mats and stores all over the place and huge park 3 blocks north of my apartment. I immediately forgot my previous feeling of doubt and excitement ruled my mind. As I fell back in love with BA I realized how quickly things change and how I must stay optimistic about whats ahead of me. This experience is going to be amazing and I can't wait for every part-even the discouraging feelings, because I know I will see an old Argentine man walking through the park, or a child playing with 30 dogs being walked by one person, and get that excited smirk on my face again. mucho amor y entonces!

Chao,

~MAX~

Welcome to Buenos Aires!

Hola! I have arrived in Buenos Aires safe and sound, with no problems or "interesting experiences"...yet! My first day was great (I had steak twice) and am REALLY enjoying myself in my hostel. Last night I went out with an Aussie, a Brit, and a few guys from Ireland and have been recovering from trying to keep up. Today I will get in a cab and explore the city, and am awaiting Nancy R, and David P's arrival! This really is an exciting time and I'm loving every moment! More to come later,

~MAX~