Sunday was another day of rain. I got up late and walked in the rain to Starbucks - and I have to say that not only do they write your name on the cup, but they make their lattes like the cafe con leche in the cafes. It was so good. I worked on my lesson plan for Tues. I'm supposed to teach an hour to a business english student for Cpacitaction en Ingles - a new pilot program for English immersion. But they are so vague and so friggin' disorganized. I had to email the girl just to figure out how old the person was, what level they are and who they work for. They are extremely vague. And they give me no material - or help, obviously. Monday I had Spanish class - they were nice enough to extend and shorten some of my classes to accomodate this probation teaching. After class, I asked Sean and Aida if they wanted to go to the book store "El Ateneo" at Callao and Santa Fe. So we took the subte down there. The bookstore is an old converted theater. Absolutely beautiful and huge! I found a couple of books to hopefully help me teach English - and help me teach English in Spanish if I had to. We found a buffet place on a side street - I forget the name - but like 20 something pesos all-you-can-eat including tons of seafood and a parilla! We were like "something has to be wrong with this place". But it was all that food at a ridiculously low cost! After the huge meal, Sean and Aida took the subte and I walked back - took me just over an hour. It was pleasant. I decided to work on my lesson plan again and then Anna came by - one of the girls from "girls night". Sean and Aida met us and we went to La Bomba de Tiempo. It was at Pueyrredon on the B line - a subte line i haven't taken yet - felt different. We got to the Konex Centre on Sarmiento - it was sort of a half outdoor venue. But a lot of people - there were a number of men on a stage playing tribal drums - with one man at the front - impromptu - conducting different drums. It was like a big tribal party. It was unbelievable. Everyone was dancing. Outside of the dancing areas you could get litre beers for 15 pesos (5 bucks). So Anna and I went and got some beer - some guy started chatting her up in Spanish - man, i hope that 5 months from now I'll be able to talk like that too. I do fine with writing, reading and listening but speaking is still pretty tough. I thought of Andy...he would have loved this. We werent there for very long, but we are set on going next week. We made a mad dash for the subte - and I slipped and fell on my face - of course!- in the subte but thank goodness Aida said "you'll never see these people again anyway" but we were on the wrong platform anyway. When I got home I mentally prepared for teaching Tues.
However, Tues rolls around and 2 hours before I got to teach, they cancelled on me. Arg! So frustrating considering they are so vague (as I already said), unorganized and unprofessional. Oh well...After Spanish class, I met Daniel from the BA expat website. He's 30 and taught in Chile last year. He's also here to teach English but would rather do something else - he said he started teaching a couple of kids in Belgrano though, but he got robbed not far from their house - poor guy! We had lunch on Santa Fe somewhere, then walked through the Jardin Botanico and on to the park in Palermo. We saw 40 baby geese (I thought they were ducks before but they arent). We noticed a small path in the grass and saw this trail of ants carrying bits of grass - a long trek - and several paths - leading to holes in the ground. It was fascinating! There were also these birds that were black with either a yellow or orange spot on their heads! It was a beautiful d, a good walk, great conversation, and hopefully a new friend. That night I talked to Ian a bit...yay...and had to create a 1.5 hour lesson plan for Thurs for a job interview and needed his advice.
Wednesday was a good day too. Had 2 hours of class with Martin...he's so funny! Oh I had a job interview in the morning with Executive English - they pay only 18 pesos an hour..so not too bad but at least not vague like that other place. After class I met Haley for lunch - she's from the Expat website as well. We met at Tea Connection in Palermo - pricey, but so many teas! And healthy, good food on the lunch menu - they also make these homemade drinks - like flavoured water. She's from California and has been here about 3 weeks. She has a roomate though...I want to get a cat :( ...Anyway, I had this great salmon sandwich...there is such a lack of seafood out here..and I haven't eaten much chicken...quite a bit of ham though! When I got back to the apt, I decided to go for a run for the first time in a couple of months...it was painful but totally worth it! I printed off my lesson plan for Thurs. interview and spent the rest of the evenin mentally preparing and watching movies.
Happy Oct finally! This has been the longest month ever...my body is killing me from running, but it's about time I really focused on me...I had spanish class in the morning and then had the "big" interview! I was prepared! I re-did the newspaper lesson plan. I could definitely tell the lady was impressed by my creativity and the fact that i was very prepared. I went running again in the park in Palermo and it was hard, but good. That night I met this girl Courtney off the BAexpats website. It was funny because we didn't know what each other looked like and she was with 2 friends...well all 4 of us are women of colour! I haven't met anyone yet with dark skin! It was so funny! So we all walked down to a restaurant on Santa Fe. Two are from the States (NY and St. Louis) and the other is from the UK. We had steak - I had this amazing lomo with mustard sauce - very fattening im sure, but so damn good! We had great convo and good wine and then Courtney and I had another glass of wine in Plaza Serrano. It was around 2am by the time we called it a night.
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