Hola!

These past few days have been great, and it's nice to finally be on a set schedule.  Sunday night the nietos (grandchildren-Gregorio is 8 and Laurianna is 2) came over for dinner and we ate Choripan, which is an Argentine specialty that is basically a huge grilled sausage.  Pepe, my host "dad" was in charge of the grill and we helped him with the fresh vegetables.  As he said, it's all about presentation and making the food look as good as it tastes...and it sure did.  Although the food was delicious, my favorite part was just relaxing outside while the food was grilling and talking with the family.  

                     Jenni, Me, Mary, Maxinne, and Gregorio helping Pepe with dinner

If you know me well, then you know how much I love food.  So when I am writing these posts, the easiest way for me to remember what I did each day is by the food I ate.....

Monday started off on an exciting note, since it was our first school day in the new house we had to take a different bus line.  We were not sure which side of the street our bus picked us up on, so we waited for 10 minutes at the wrong stop.  However, we didn't know this until we had swiped our cards and got on the bus. To be safe, we quickly asked the driver in spanish if the bus was going to Blas Pascal.  He looked at us with confusion and just shook his head and said "NO" and pointed to the door. So we ran out and crossed the street, waited another 15 minutes and finally got on the right bus.  You should also know that I despise being late, so showing up 20 minutes late to class was not ideal, but people here are much more laid back and our profesor got a good laugh out of it.  The rest of the day was pretty standard, and we had rice with parmesan and cheese omeletes for dinner, which was greaaaaat. 

Tuesday morning went much more smoothly, and the school day was pretty uneventful. Things got much more interesting at 6:30...our first dance class.  Its called "Ritmos Latino Americanos" and to say I was in for a surprise is an understatement.  First off, I thought it was a Tango class seeing that Tango is the dance of Argentina.  I've dabbled in Tango during a spanish field trip in high school, and I remember it being a somewhat slow dance with a partner, that focuses mainly on little steps.  Like 6th grade Social Dance and the Fox Trop.  Easy enough, right? Well this class was a little more Zumba than Tango.  I arrived in my green skinny jeans and leather boots.  That was my first mistake.  Within 6 minutes, I was sweating my ass off.  After accepting the fact that I would be disgusting, and looking around at my sweaty amigos, I had a blast.  We did all different kinds of dances, and literally did not stop moving for an hour and a half.  My favorite part was watching the guys get SO into it, especially during Salsa with partners.  The most animated dancer was definitely Stanley, the 6'5 guy in my group.  I found out today he used to Irish Dance as a boy, and he can really cut the rug.  Despite the 13 inch height difference, when Stanley and I danced it was pure magic.  Until the end when he spun me and I almost knocked him down.  All in all, I had an awesome time and am looking forward to tearing it up every Tuesday while i'm here. And most importantly, bringing my new moves to the Boliches (nightclubs) on weekends.

Today was good, classes were interesting and the weather was beautiful.  I went on a run this morning and got chased by a few stray dogs but survived.  We had eggplant casserole and salad for dinner, which was very tasty.  Tomorrow night there's a party downtown for all the exchange students and whoever else wants to come, with free sangria and american drinking games.  Friday night is my Flor's friends birthday, so I will most likely attend that party. And Saturday during the day the group is going to the mountains, which are about an hour away, and visiting the house Che Guevarra grew up in which will be awesome.  It should be a fun few days! Time for bed....

buenos noches!

kris