Settling In

I live here now. A cozy little room with an attached bathroom. The room is pretty tight quarters, but there is a double bed, a little TV with cable, a heater, a fan, and lots of sunlight! The shower is only separated from the rest of the bathroom by a silver shower curtain, with a drain in the middle of the floor. I learned to sweep the water towards the drain with a squeegee after showering. In the bedroom, I have unpacked my two giant suitcases' worth, hung up my ridiculously large collection of earrings (some recently purchased at the San Telmo Sunday fair), and spent my first night here. It's wonderful, not having to share a space with three other people! My roommate is friendly--she made me dinner on my first night here, and was incredibly understanding when I couldn't pay the full amount of rent up front.

My bank in the states decided that because I was trying to withdraw the entire amount of my rent in one go, something fishy was going on. They froze my account, and no amount of ATM withdrawal attempts or tears would change that fact. I had everything packed up in my hostel, and was ready to go at a moment's notice. Not having the full amount, I had wanted to ensure that Muriel was still willing to rent me the room. I called her several times, starting around 10am, but she was sleeping soundly until about 2 o clock. It was an awful feeling, not knowing if I had a place to stay, not knowing how to contact the bank. I sat in the hostel's common room and did my best to stay calm. It's okay, the story ends well. Muriel called me and laughed, saying "of course you can come over. You pay me when you can." And during dinner, she proposed a toast, saying "Welcome home."

I have to make mention of the food. I don't see how a vegetarian would fare here--Buenos Aires is a city that loves it's meat! I've had steak so juicy... stuffed with provolone, ham, peppers and onions, and garlic. Wow. Just wow. Potatoes are french fried, mashed, or fried into little balls with a cream sauce drizzled on top. My roommate made an alfredo pasta dish from scratch for dinner. The second thing that I'm going to make it a point to learn here is cooking! I did go grocery shopping on my second day in my new home...stopped by the panaderia for a fresh loaf of baguette, followed by the verduleria for tomatoes and arugula, and finished off at the Supermercado. The Supermercado was interesting, because I wanted very basic things, but most of them were in different containers than I'm used to seeing in the grocery store. Mayonnaise was cheapest in giant packets, rather than in jars, as was marinara sauce. Juices and milk weren't in jugs, instead they were in large drink boxes. I looked all over and couldn't find soup, but there were canned vegetables galore. I was too hungry to investigate further; I couldn't wait to get home and make lunch!

Having my own place has sort of changed my state of mind. I've been running on vacation time, meeting people, trying new food, going dancing with my new girlfriends from Vermont. I had a whirlwind of a weekend, attending two rooftop parties overlooking the trendy neighborhood Palermo, two night-clubs where I drank too much Fernet (a bitter alcohol that Argentines mix with Coke--they love it in Buenos Aires), meeting people simply by speaking poor Spanish with an American accent (they laughed, told me they spoke English, and shared with me both their phone numbers and their ESL teaching experiences), and shopping(San Telmo, the cobblestoned busy neighborhood I stayed in for a week, has a giant street fair every Sunday. Everything you could ever want is sold by the vendors, from crisp meat-filled empanadas and orange juice squeezed right before your eyes to bangles, wine holders, dresses, pictures, silverware....San Telmo also has an open air market, the last of its kind in Buenos Aires. It reminded me of a giant thrift store, with old clothes, porcelain dolls, a gramophone vendor---yes, it was amazing to look at the old players--though no thrift store I know of has a meat or vegetable vendor included in it's wares)! But the weekend is over, and now it's time to start to put my life in order. Now that I have a real home, I need to start to worry about an income. About putting food on my table, about keeping this lovely roof over my head, about getting by... So I've been applying to jobs online like crazy and I've been asking everyone that I meet about teaching positions and schools.

Through a recommendation of my friend Diana (she'd never even met me before!)I managed to get an interview with an English school. Caren, the woman who interviewed me, spoke fluent English and was relaxed and friendly. At one point I forgot that I was being interviewed and just spoke freely, talking and laughing about my experiences here. That was a relief, because interviews normally make me clammy and repetitive. I tend to say "absolutely" a lot, and secretly wring my hands in my lap. But for this interview I was at ease, and didn't feel the need to boast or shrink from the questions. I just hope that I can take that confidence with me next time.

I finally met Diana for dinner; it was so nice to see someone from Tucson, regardless of whether or not we'd met before! She was easy-going and funny; she gave me some tips on Buenos Aires and some advice about teaching English. She also showed me how to read the bus portion of the Guia-T, which is a map of Buenos Aires that includes the Subte system and the bus-lines. I hadn't been able to decipher the pages that listed the bus numbers/locations, so I'm pretty grateful to her for that. Well, for that, and for meeting me, and for recommending me to the English school, and for giving me advice, and for offering to take me places...

I'm saying "Thank you" constantly since I've been here. Luckily, I know how to say that in Spanish, too.