Looking at the last post that covered our wonderfully warm and beachy week away in Uruguay seems forever ago and believe it or not, we went again to Uruguay just yesterday to renew our visas once more. That means we have been here in this country away from home for all of 180 days. That's a lot. It's one of those things the either seems like "oh, but it feels like so much longer" OR maybe I've just never thought about what 6 months really feels like before.
Since that last trip to Uruguay where we spent all of our time tanning and on the beach, it has gotten cold. At least it's not that terribly biting bitter cold that no matter how many winters you spend in Boston you never get used to is, but compared to the 70, 80 degree weather we were consistently loving, we have now been greeted with winds in the 40s and 50s. And it has been the most confusing and disorienting thing to look at the month on the calender and see the crunchy leaves outside and have to put on the heater before going to bed. I keep thinking that Hanukkah and Christmas are right around the corner and that in no time at all Starbucks will start using their red snow flaky holiday cups any day now, but of course this is wrong. We are now regretting flaunting our sunny, warm weather to all of you back in January, February and March because now, the tables and the seasons have turned and we are wearing scarves, boots and gloves. Guess we can't have it all.
BUT the past few weeks at least have been filled with fun, friends and food;0) ( I can't attempt to remember everything that happened since that last blog entry, but I will try...it will most certainly be out of order, but you won't be able to tell the difference anywho)
So we've had some visitors since the last time; first Dom and Ian came from Boston to spend about 2 weeks strolling around the city and revisiting Ian's favorite spots from when he studied abroad here back in Spring of 08. Since then, he informed us just how much the prices have shot up in pretty much every way; from grocery stores, clothing, restaurants to public transportation (the bus or bondi as those Argentines like to call it used to cost 80 centavos and now, it's up to a minimum of 1.10) We weren't too happy to hear about this especially as the prices continue to rise.
BUT with the boys here, our first visitors of our time here(!) we went to some delicious restaurants we had yet to try and browsed around the city to museums, the Recoleta cemetery and all of weekend ferias (the ferias are still one of my favorite aspects of the city-- In Pittsburgh or Boston you have to wait all year for one or maybe two specific weekends in the summer or autumn for an art fair to come into the city, but here they happen every single weekend in at least five different barrios around the city )
We also went with them to one of the oldest neighborhoods in BA, called "La Boca" which translates to "the mouth", because it sits at the mouth of the river Riachuelo. It's a very touristy, very tango-y, very colorful, very small and very sketchy part of town that we saved to go with some boys and someone who had been there before. Everyone will tell you stories of people getting mugged while taking pictures of the brightly colored houses along el Caminito ( the main touristy street) but as long as you stay on that main road, it's fine. The reason behind all of the random brightly colored houses in this area is when Italian immigrants settled there in the 1900s they didn't have the money to pay for enough paint for their houses, so they had to use random scraps and leftover paints from wherever they could find. The mish mash of paints and materials produced the rainbowy mixture that is so famous today! It was pretty but very very small and touristy... I think we were there for just about a half an hour or so.
Que mas?
As far as working and such goes, Jill has been busy busy busy working up a storm at Spanglish doing all sorts of marketing, schmarketing, tweetering, creating new business ideas, being creative , practicing her Spanish, designing mascots and doing victory dances for Argentina after winning futbol games in the Mundial, the world cup ( She can be seen on facebook as Senor Spanglish doing one such dance...not to be missed)
I have still been teaching good old English in the mornings ( when my students decide to show up) and on some afternoons. As much as I like my students and their cute little mispronunciations, I can't help but complain about getting up at 7 every morning in the cold and dark to teach for one silly hour. I have been somewhat of a grouch about this for some time now and am working on my attitude;)
I also have been writing nonsense articles online, in English which as Jill recently informed me is called SEO ( search engine optimization) writing. Yes, you probably already knew this and I did not. How many months have I been writing these articles without knowing the technical name for what I was doing? Well, let's not get too hung up on these trivial details... Anyways, they are silly and the only good thing about them is that they pay me in dollars and when translated into pesos, I'm practically making millions...:) Don't be believe me? Well you shouldn't.
Anyways, it's a fine job for now and our main source of income BUT once again, it is in English and as I am already teaching in English, I am getting a bit frustrated with all of the English in my life here in this Spanish speaking country and am constantly looking for ways to fix that...I have the cooking channel , Gourmet on in the background at all times hoping for some new words and a better accent to seep into my head in the meantime.
Also these articles, as much as I don't like to put the blame on other things..(achem) has been a main culprit behind me not writing in this blog. Because when I spend all that time thinking of how to write about satellite TV, home security systems and recently, hearing aids (oy) my creativity has been wiped away and my mind is only left with phrases like "Look into the wonderful new ways that technology can help you," or "You can't afford to let your home go unprotected, get a home alarm system today!" Although, I will admit I did get a bit excited when I found one particular article I wrote about Leonardo Dicaprio and satellite TV on a Leo Dicaprio fan website. No my name is not on it, thank goodness so don't go looking for it. We'll see how much longer I can keep this job up for.
Anyways, I am going to split this entry and all of the news from the past 2 months into a few different entries so it looks like I am doing more and so you don't feel overwhelmed will my nonsense;)
Besos
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