We have signed ourselves up for a week (maybe two) of Spanish classes — two hours each day at the Instituto de Español Rayuela with Professor Alejandro Michel. Merely five minutes from our front door, the school is located on Chacabuco St. in San Telmo in an old world architectural masterpiece filled with high, high ceilings, a marble staircase, an old school elevator and a maze of beautiful rooms.
I had assumed that there would other people in our beginner class, but IT'S JUST US. We sit in front of the professor's desk in our chairs while he writes on the board and speaks ONLY in Spanish. Thus the title of this entry...
It's very good though. The Professor is very patient and seems to know we want to (need to) learn quickly how to get along on the streets of Buenos Aires, so we're right into learning how to ask questions such as "Como se dice 'laxative' en espanol?" (What is laxative in Spanish?) and "Que significa 'cortado'?" (What does 'cortado' mean? — we discover it's a wicked kick in the pants coffee with mostly expresso and some hot milk).
It's fun. It's challenging. The two hours go by quickly. We even get homework. I am Pedro. Jenn is Mercedes.
Pedro: Buen dia, Mercedes
Mercedes: Hola. Qué tal?
Pedro: Todo bien, che.
We have no idea what we're saying, but it sounds good, especially if you're holding a big glass of Mendoza malbec as you speak and playing with your mustache. Keir plays with his mustache... the one he's growing...
Trying to grow.
Anyway, that's day one of school. Good stuff and we look forward to a full week of classes. If we stay on in Buenos Aires for a second week, we'll take another week of classes too. The school is being very flexible and good to us.
Oh, did I mention the babelicious Buenos Aires, Spanish goddess receptionist who works at the school? (Better leave that one alone in case Jenn's reading this...)
Our other big challenge today was getting some very much needed laundry done. The lavanderia, we are told, is located up the street, but this is not one of those put-your-coins-in-wait-for-it-to-wash-and-dry lavanderia. Most of the laundry places in Buenos Aires are full serve, meaning you leave your shirts, pants and tightie whities with the lady in a bag and four hours later you go back to pick it all up — washed, dried, folded and smelling like fresh lavender — all for a whopping $4 Canadian.
Can't beat that!
We spend some time using our iTranslate app on the iPad to type out what we want to say and then have the app translate it for us into Spanish which we copy into our Spanish Sayings notebook (bible). Works quite well and the lady at the lavanderia seems to understand what we're reading to her. She nods like she understands, but maybe she's just being polite?
The laundry is done — probably better than we could ever do it and we're sitting in class learning espanol while the clothes get clean. Pretty darn good deal, we think.
After class and the laundry pick up, we walk down into the centre of town along cobblestoned Defensa St., then the very commercial, touristy Florida Ave. (won't do that again) until we reach the Plaza St. Martin. There, we pick up the other Free Tours Buenos Aires option, this one an architectural and cultural walk through Recoleta, learning about all the old 'castles", estates and other massive, classically designed buildings. Tonight, our host is Ceceilia, also born and raised in BA.
Highlights of this tour include:
Plaza San Martin
Monument a los heroes de la guerra de las Malvinas (The Falkland War Memorial)
Torre de los Ingleses
Lovely French and Italian style buildings in Recoleta and Retiro (along the Avenida Alvear)
The tour ends at the gates of the Recoleta cemetary which we will visit on another day so we can pay our proper respects to Eva Peron.
Oh my! — it's after dark and we're out on the streets of Buenos Aires! Feeling a little more confident after our day of classes, fresh clothes and guided tour, we hail a Radio Taxi and ride back to our barrio, about a twenty minute drive. The cost — $8 Canadian.
Pretty darn good deal, we think.
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