¡MARTES!

Today has been a great day. I have afternoon classes this week, from 2-6pm, which is not ideal, but does give me time for other things in the mornings. Yesterday I got my courage up and knocked on the door of a pilates studio and when the woman answered I used my very basic Spanish to blurt out everything I'd memorized about signing up. She looked at me for a minute and then clearly responded, ¨I speak English." It was a bit deflating, but at least I tried to speak instead of just assuming she'd understand me. Anyway, today I attended my first class and it was fantastic. Not only was it free, but I was the only student! At first I was nervous because my plan was to just watch what the other students did and copy them, but obviously that did't work. Rosita, my instuctor, was awesome and patient as I tried to understand her instructions. Her English is slightly better than my Spanish so we each got some great practice. I look forward to my next class :)

Since arriving in Buenos Aires I have read some great books. I brought Life of Pi and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo along thinking they'd last me a while...but they haven't. Both are excellent books and I recommend them highly. Dragon Tattoo took a bit of time to get into, but once I was sucked in I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read the next book. I finished both books the first week and thankfully I met a girl last week who was trying to lighten her pack and gave me the book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini (author of Kite Runner). I started it last week and finished it this morning in a puddle of sobs. Another excellent book, but very heart wrentching. For anyone who like either this book or Kite Runner, I highly recommend Three Cups of Tea. It is so interesting to read different accounts of what has been happening in Afganistan and Pakistan during the past few decades and all three books have a few overlapping events...and all three are excellent. Anyone else have any good recommendations? I've devoured over a thousand pages of text in the past two weeks and now I have no more English reading material. I did buy a book in Spanish, but I'm a bit intimidated to start it...oy.

Before coming to class today I made a new friend. SO EXCITING. My awesome friend Cori put me in touch with a friend from high school who has been living in Buenos Aires with her husband for the past three years. We met at a place called Tea Connection for an awesome lunch and awesome conversation. I feel so so so lucky to have such great people in my life to help me meet even more great people! I am looking forward to spending more time with Jenny while I'm here...I'll even overlook the fact that she's a Stanfurd grad :)

Finally, I had a great day in class...even if I did yawn a bit to make it to 6pm. Another student at the school was able to unlock Anmol's old iPhone and now I am on my way to the Claro shop in search of a sim card. In just a few hours I may be reconnected to the world via telephone. What a crazy day. Anyway, hope your day was also great and that there were at least a few little things to keep it bright. I miss everyone and look forward to hearing from you soon! ¡Te quiero!

p.s. My UPenn essay is due next week and I'm dreading writing my final essay. I've procrastinated for ages and now must just get it done...uuhhhggg.