Settling In

I cannot believe I have been here nearly a week! Sometimes it feels like I ve just arrived, and sometimes it feels like I have been here for ages. So far I am safe, healthy and generally happy :) I moved into my shared apartment on Sunday and am still getting settled in. I welcomed myself by making a mega-veg meal with zucchini, eggplant, portobellos, onion, garlic...and QUINOA! I was so excited and surprised to find quinoa in the market! It was delicious, though quite an undertaking in my small kitchen that is shared with five to eight other people. When signing up for my accommodation I was under the impression that I would be living in a small and semi-quaint apartment with one or two other women. I imagined we would be great friends and make great food in our small but functional place. Ideally, I imagined the adorably small and perfect studio my sister Kim shared with Moira in Siena, Italy. In reality I am living in a eight room apartment with a fluctuating number of other students. While I was a bit disappointed at first, it is a nice house and it is clean and eventually I will remember everyone·s names. Also, I have a great little balcony window that overlooks the street. Right now it is frigid outside and I do everything possible to stay warm, but soon it will warm up and I can open the window and sit outside! There is one other girl there from the US (near Chicago) and she will be here until December. Hopefully we will continue to spend time together!

I started classes yesterday and they are going very well. My professor is Juan Manuel and he is an excellent teacher. We have five students total and class is from 9a-1pm. The structure is relaxed, but really good. I am impressed by how quickly we pick up information when surrounded by Spanish. I spend a LOT of time looking things up in my English-Spanish dictionary, but that is to be expected. In fact, my wee dictionary has become one of my favorite posessions. I have spent a great amount of time in the grocery store looking up foods in Spanish and looking up Spanish words in English. I also ask a lot of questions :) The unfortunate shop keeper who comes in contact with me is rarely spared fewer than five questions...most of which probably make no sense. Yesterday I spent over an hour in a small natural foods store with Marco, an elderly grocer who spoke no English but was very patient as I rambled and fumbled with my dictionary. Gluten free foods have been surprisingly easy to find because Argentina requires companies to label all gf items. The regular stores always have at least a few items...crackers, cookies, etc. and natural foods stores have many more. Yesterday I found cakes, bread, empanadas, quiche, pie crusts, bread and many other items. These stores also sell lots of nuts and dried fruits so I have managed to maintain my weird food habits quite easily.

Not too much else to report. This evening I will go with a group from the school on a city tour. I have walked around the city a TON, but am still excited to learn more about the history and the culture. It is also a great opportunity to meet more students here at the school. I have been so fortunate in my life to have incredible incredible friends and rarely have I felt isolated and lonely. Traveling alone in a country where my language skills are very limited has initiated a bit of those feelings. I know that I have not been here very long and things will certainly improve soon, but right now I am a bit lonely. I am hoping to continue to make friends within my language program and hopefully a few local porteños too (duh, who woulnt want to be my friend??). In the mean time I remember and am so thankful for my many many friends throughout the United States and the world. I miss and love all of you so much and look forward to seeing you again soon!

¡Muchos besos para todas!

YUM...the story of being hungry and not finding the restaurant I was looking for, but insted finding something better!

I did not plan on blogging today, but WHAT A DAY!!! I made a friend (yay!), explored the city for a few hours with her, learned to ride the BA subway, said goodbye to my new Aussie friend Jeannine (boo), finished off all my super delish chex mix (seriously Bess, this biz rocks), and explored some more. All of that was exciting, but one of the most exciting parts was dinner. People here do not do dinner before 9pm, most do not eat until after 10pm. Last night I tried to eat around 7:30 and couldn t even find anything open. Anyway, this is not the point. The point is that to stall for time until a reasonable dinner hour I snuck some free wifi outside a cafe and caught a few emails. Super fun. Then I consulted my trusty Lonely Planet for a dinner spot. I was quickly enticed to a place called Providencia that is only a handful of blocks from my hostel. After a long day of walking I was ready for some serious vegetables. My search was fruitless. I looked and looked, but 5995 JA Cabrera does not exist. Very disappointing. I even got up the courage to practice my pathetic Spanish on a poor shopkeeper who patiently listened to my babbling. Still nothing. Hungry and tired I decided on another place and began the schlep to food. Along the way I spotted a chalkboard covered in multicolored chalk that said things like "organico", "vegetariano" and "verde". My interest was piqued. Inside I found an awesome place that was not only a restaurant, but also sold dried beans, nuts, quinoa, oils, spices and even scarves. Holy moly. I landed in veggie heaven! I am still uncertain if I state my food issues clearly, but I figured I at least had a chance here. After several rounds of "Tengo un allergia de gluten, de pan, de trigo, hmmmmm, de harina...", I think I got the point across. I had an AWESOME main course of cheesy veggie quinoa risotto and enjoyed it thoroughly while reading my newest book, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. Dinner para uno is much much better with a book. Dinner was so fabulous that I even inquired about dessert. I ended up with a bomb "pancake" of sorts. It was thin and dense and apparently made of seeds and such...similar to the texture of a Lara bar. It was rolled up and stuffed with incredible things like shredded apples, honey, seeds and crunchy walnuts. It was a chocolate pancake and it was dusted with cocoa powder and it rocked. Everything was washed down with a super yummy glass of ginger lemonade. Seriously people, this was muy delicioso. BONUS, all of this for a grand total of 70 pesos, or roughly $20US. I will be back to Buenos Aires Verde again soon. Very soon.

For now I am stuffed. I missed my incredible friends and family today, but overall it was still a great day. It was awesome to share even just a small part of it with another person and I am looking forward to starting my program soon and making some friends. Tomorrow will be another day full of walking and I need to rest up.

Pierdo todos mucho. Te quiero!

Today I am thankful for good luck and great friends.

Whoa. Today is day one...or dia uno. Left the relative safety and security of Manhattan yesterday and today I am tucked into a funky hostel in Palermo, Buenos Aires. It was a long trip, but thankfully relatively uneventful. Once I found my hostel I went for a quick walk and out of the blue I ran into a completely gluten free bakery. I was blown away! I only had a few pesos, but I purchased and quickly devoured a beautiful dulce de leche filled cookie and it was wonderful. Did some more walking, paid an outrageous price to withdraw money and finished the day with an awesome veggie filled salad. Overall a yummy day :) Tomorrow will hopefully be filled with a few wee adventures, a new coat/sweater (who knew it would be cold?) and an electricity converter. Now it is time for bed...buenos noches mi amigos!

Today I am grateful for helpful strangers at airports