Sept 17 - Spring veggie place and wine-tasting

Well here we are getting on into Sept...been gone from Hali almost 3 weeks now - cant believe it!  Time will fly...I have a job interview Monday for an English immersion program.  I'm excited!  Tuesday I had a different teacher...Martin...he's very dynamic and very good.  The language studio was having a lunch day and we went to this Asian vegetarian place called Spring...I had no idea you could fake meat the way they did in all the Asian dishes...Sean and I ate a ton!  So, for about 30 pesos (10 bucks) you can get a drink and all you can eat!  The family definitely has to go - somewhere I'm definitely going to suggest when they get here in Feb.  I went to the wine-tasting that night at 0800-Vino held by Nigel who is the owner.  We had muchos vinos y queso in his wine cellar.  I took lots of picture so I'd remember which wines I had and to show Papa.  I learned quite a bit:  people swish wine around in their mouths so it heats up and evaporates and hits the olfactory bulb in your head.  Nigel passed around a number of little bottles that had concentrated scents in it that you were supposed to smell hints of in the wine.  Apparently, the deeper and more orangey-red a red wine is, the older it is.  And of course I didn't know that, por ejemplo, pinot grigio is the type of grape used.  There were about 8 of us there and we had good convo...I think a few of them are going to the polo tour.  After muchos vinos, I hopped in a cab to Sean and Aida's place because I havent seen it yet.  I love the decor - its very modern and red and black...makes my decor look pretty girly.  They live on the other side of Santa Fe...the big street near both of us.  We had a glass of wine and chatted and then they were nice enough to walk me home.  It was funny when I got there because my phone ran out of minutes and I had to show the guard which apartment I had to go o...and he said "are you North American?"...haha!  Wednesday, I had Spanish class and after, Sean and Aida and I went to Sean's fav. place to eat called El Federal - another recommendation for the family - and no wonder he likes it so much...Everything is homemade, even the bread...the focaccia is to die for.  I hada traditional Argentinian dish called pastel de papas and it was similar to a shepherd's pie stew and it was the heartiest, yummiest thing I've had here yet!  Soooooo full!  I spent the rest of the afternoon typing up some of my blog.  Rafael picked me up last night and we went to a Colombian restobar called "Gabo"...I had this fish with coconut sauce and spcies with coconut rice and salad - gosh it was to die for and we had some good conversation.  I slept like a baby considering I didn't sleepat all the night before!
Today, I had class with Martin...he's going to teach me some bad words for fun...yay!  I went and dropped off my deposit for the polo trip Saturday and seeing as it's pouring rain, I've been sitting here writing this entry in Cafe Orso at Paraguay y Uriarte...cute place...my new hangout.  B.A. really is a cafe city.  I went to a gym...60 bucks a month....no thank you!  Dropped laundry off...9 pesos...not too bad...cheaper than doing our own laundry in Canada.  Suppose I should finally go to the grocery store.  Frederico says he's taking me to Club 69 tonight...let's see if he shows up...haha!
So Sean and Aida invited me over for dinner.  And while Sean was cooking, I read over Aida's report she had spent all day typing up...t'was a crappy rainy day so not great for exploring - we had pasta with sausage and broccoli...mmmm...kinda felt like home.  We drank some wine and met Frederico at my place!  We went to Club 69.  What can I say about the club, except that it was off the hook!  The drinks were pretty expensive - 20 pesos - that's like 7 dollar drinks...makes me miss those 2.50 drinks in Hali.  But, a mojito is a real mojito!  Tall glass, lots of real mint and actually crushed....nothing fake about it.  There were paid dancers, men and women in scantily clad outfits - similar to cowboys - with their asses hanging out ...this one cowboy was so hot- I touched his chest at one point and thought I was going to pass out...I think he swings the other way though...haha.  They did a little number on stage dancing and singing to a song and performing a little act - and there were some men dressed as women and this big guy was pretending to be a woman going after the cowboys and it was funny because he was a big woman and when they were playfully trying to lift him, he would playfully try to scare them.  The outfits were amazing!  That's what Karrie and I need for evolve next year!  There was also this pole on a moveable platform that kept being moved all over the dance floor so you had to watch out when they moved it.  Many people don't go crazy dancing like back home, they're too busy watching the dancers.  The music was great!  Back home I remember times when  I was constantly disappointed due to shitty music...but here, no way!  There is a bigger club scene here!  We left at 230am and it was just getting good.  It was raining cats and dogs (or frogs and snakes as they say here) - streets flooding - never seen anything like it!  The end of a late night though will be met with an early morning...cleaning lady comes at 930 am :(