I arrived at Ezeiza International Airport around 10:30 AM, Buenos Aires time (+2). I should have packed lighter because standing in three lines for the next hour and a half was not my back's idea of fun. After paying my reciprocity fee and passing through immigration and customs, I was so exhausted I had to sit down. In passing that seems like a logical reason, but I had just been sitting for the past 20 hours! I sat aisle seat on the plane to Ezeiza and was in between a French Canadian couple and a young Argentinean brother and sister. I was overwhelmed by the rapid Spanish being spoken while awaiting boarding, but sitting next to children made me feel more at ease to speak, if need be. I did offer the girl my headphones once, and that's all we exchanged. Her look of disbelief that I just spoke Spanish to her was priceless to me: I became confident... until I met my host family.
I met Eduardo in front of Universidad de Belgrano, at the mass ISA student drop-off. Eduardo kissed me on the right cheek, and I did the same - as is custom. I said "hello", "how are you", "I'm fine", and "yes, it's hot out" and that opened the door for only Spanish. And fast Spanish. I was bombarded by Argentinean Spanish with the "shj" instead of "ll" or "y", the cut off "s"es, and the "vos" usage. Was I talking about confidence before? I have resorted to smiling and agreeing, something along the lines of this:
Arriving in their flat, which is quite large, was like a dream. I am in this absolutely tiny room (which I don't mind at all) and have my own bathroom. Arriving in a winter outfit that has been worn over 24 hours, the most recent couple of hours sitting in 80+ degree weather, I decided to shower. My what a Heavenly Shower. And I've had some pretty Heavenly showers lately.
Aside: I attended the 2012 U.S. Naval Academy Leadership Conference in Annapolis, MD with two classmates and my professor, and the accommodations at the Westin Hotel had what they call "Heavenly Beds", "Heavenly Showers", and "Heavenly Towels".
But. I took a nice cold shower and was ready for the rest of the day. By the way I did unpack everything into this large closet I have, as I am "begged to keep my room organized so it can be cleaned up"; or so the sign in my room reads. I met my hosts, the dog Alazán and two of my host brother's friends - who's names I cannot remember. The family is fabulous, and Alazán is sweet. He is a 13 year old Boxer. He has greying hair and is so docile. All he does is lay on the cool floor or stand right next to me and let me pat his bum. We will become good friends.
The food tonight was fantastic. I confess I had 3 croissants before dinner, which was at 9:30 PM, because I sort of got lost in the streets of Buenos Aires. Yes, the first day I am there I am sent on my merry way to find the flat after a meeting at the ISA office. With three maps, I passed my my street by one block. My host brother Andy was sent to look for me. I wasn't lost, I knew my mistake - I just had to get back, and that took time. Of course, by then it was nightfall... I was chuckling to myself; safely, I rounded the corner and hopped up the stairs.
The dinner that was waiting was chicken milanesa - a fabulous chicken in egg batter with breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and "other spices", as my host mother María generalized, mashed potatoes, and a tomato, onion and egg salad with balsamic vinaigrette. And lots of salt. I had jello for desert - I'm not sure if that's something special around here but the way she described it (I had no idea what she meant), it sounded like it was something exquisite. It was good, mind you, but not the wildly exhilarating new taste of the country.
I'd like to apologize for the lack of photos, but as I was falling asleep on the plane yesterday, I was made grimly aware that I neglected to purchase an electrical converter so I could plug my camera charger in. I will see what I can do about it on Sunday.
I will now head to my bed, all one foot away and sleep until the sun comes up or the heat starts biting, hopefully whichever comes later.
oh... and there is a siren that has been piercing the night for the last ten minutes. #soundsofthecity
Welcome to the Big Apple.
Angela
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