Day 4- 25 January 2017
Spanish word for the day: alfajore – a traditional confection found in Argentina. Dulce de leche alert!!!
Day 4 of Buenos Aires and I think it’s important for you to meet the people I have been meeting. This blog has been very much about me- now lets talk about all the new strangers! Let’s start with the language school…
Our teacher is Gaston. Yes you have heard that name in Beauty and the Beast. Yet this Gaston could not be further away from his namesake. Calm, approachable, patient and kind, he’s fabulous. He’s got a edge though- loves his music, heavy metal and rock fanatic. And he references American movies and songs constantly!
Then I’d like to introduce you to Elin. She is from Australia. She’s sweet, tall and skinny with short blonde spiky hair (boy short). A perfect nose, blue eyes, glasses and a nose ring. When I think of Elin I see a pixie!
So let’s set the scene…every question ends with a distinct hehe. And there are a lot of questions. And every world is repeated tentatively under her breath and then followed by a shorter hehe! So think constant sweet coy giggling. She lunches on unpeeled carrots in the break. hmmm vegan much?
Then there is Karma. Dark skin, pouty lips, sexy body and a ‘like totally typical’ American accent. With a very serious look on her very pretty face the whole class. A typical sentence would start with a … ‘yeah so like…’ From in the USA this lady means business. But she did noooo come here to make friends.
Also American, meet Joseph! The oldest in the class- 54 to be exact. Note to the reader!! When you read the next sentence do it with a very nasal American game show host presenter in mind! ‘Heyy, I am Joseph. I was in the entertainment industry. Then the music industry. Mmmmm I know Spanish but am mmmm here to perfect the Argentinian form of Spanish so I can teach it here. Mmmm I’m from LA mmmm’.
That’s Joseph. But he’s cool. Aside from the occasional odd stares I catch him giving to people in the room. I like him.
Now for Trent. Aaahhhh Trent makes me laugh. He’s this big, strong Australian with a lot of tattoos (mainly of rock bands as rock bands are forever yeah!) a ginger pony tail and an equally ginger beard. And the look on Trent’s face is constantly one of overwhelm. His eyes get bigger and his face goes more red as the class goes on and a new verb with all its exceptions is explained. I can’t even imagine what’s going on inside his head… but it seems to be messy. The look in his face says it all.
My ‘protect the underdog’ instinct kicks in and I just want to help the dude. To the point that I let him take pictures of my colourful mind maps and cheat sheet notes (channeling my inner school girl goody goody big time in these classes). I mean everyone wanted a copy of my notes at school! Trent then has a look of relief like I’ve thrown him a lifeline.
Lastly there’s Lucy. I love Lucy. Blonde with freckles. From London – her family lives around my area in northwest London. Man this world is so big yet so small at the same time! She’s been travelling in Colombia for a few months and is doing a wine course at the same time she is doing the Spanish course. Lucy and I just get each other. We give each other looks about our school peers at the same time. It’s familiar. It’s easy. She’s great and fun and full of energy. One if those- I just want to be around you people.
So those are how mornings are spent. Hanging out with those characters! Could think of worse things- it’s thoroughly entertaining.
Now back to the daily updates. Wednesday or Miercoles as they call it here after class was spent walking to Recoleta with a Dutch lady I’ve become friendly with, Diana. We just click and are on the same page. So off we went for a culture dose up. Recoleta cemetery to be exact. Here’s the most expensive cemetery in the world guys! The tombs are practically houses! This is where Eva Peron’s grave is. Evita. Madonna movie? Inspriring a nation- remember her??
Ok culture done ✅. Vino and torta time!! And now for another introduction… meet alfajore…
We then walked back to Palermo to a wine tasting the school organised. Is this screaming Megan is in her happy place or what!!
Of the 25 people there, 15 had left their jobs to travel. So that’s the vibe – a bunch of strangers from totally different place with one definite and obvious similarity- they are busy living life.
So Salut to day 4! It was one of my favourites so far. And here’s how to make wine in 22 easy steps (in case you were ever wondering how the delicious stuff makes it way to our wine glasses).
