he llegado

I am in Buenos Aires now. It's very hot and humid. (You should see my hair. Or maybe not.) The sun set very late. I keep having to remind myself that these things are not necessarily because I’m in bsas but because it’s summer here. Still, after the harrowing winter plaguing home it’s still kind of shocking to have sunlight after six and to be sweating while taking a shower. I frequently begin my thought process for a sentence in Spanish, which I’m taking as a sign of good things to come.

 

I was lucky enough to have serendipitously booked a ticket for the group flight, meaning I met a bunch of kids in the airport. I’m already seeing a North Cafeteria/South Cafeteria divide among the students, which is pretty crazy considering we don’t even really know each other’s names yet. Everyone is being righteously nice in that way that you could sit as anyone’s table in the dining hall during freshman orientation and ask the same six questions, more or less, that we’ve been asking each other now: What’s your name? Where are you from? Where do you go to school? Oh, do you know so-and-so? S/he goes there too. Where are you living in Buenos Aires? Oh, that’s kind of like how I live in ____.  I hope I don’t sound pessimistic or like I’m complaining. Actually, I’m quite grateful we have these topics to canvass and am genuinely interested for now.

 The flight was nothing worth writing about except that an Argentine man sat next to me and for the entire ride proceeded never to remove his headphones or speak to me. At first I thought it was because I was so unabashedly gringa but when I asked him for a pen to fill out a form he was equally short-winded and I concluded that it wasn’t me, it was him. My taxi driver, Juan, was the polar opposite and a hugeee sweetheart. I bumbled (so badly) through our conversation and kept having to say “lo siento” until it was repeated so I could understand. He was very very kind and we had many laughs, not just at my expense. I was a bit sorry to see him go when we arrived as Silvia’s apartment.

 

Silvia, my host mother, is great. Her building is beautiful and I have a great room and a bathroom all to myself. She showed me around the neighborhood, which is officially Caballito bordering on Almagro. It is very urban and busy but doesn’t really feel at all like any city that I know. My favorite part of our adventure was when she took me to the supermercado. She rarely goes but the American students, she says, always love the supermercado because they can buy peanut butter there. She thinks peanut butter is strange. She also thinks it’s strange that all Americans eat salad with every meal. I told her that I really like how Israelis eat salad for breakfast and we had a good laugh. She doesn’t cook much which is the only thing, so far, I find disappointing. Her hospitality and patience have been excellent and much appreciated, especially as I butcher her beautiful native tongue to answer her questions. And she, just like my mother, is a Jewish psychoanalyst so I am confident the apartment on Yatay will always feel perhaps too much like home.

 

We have an Argentine student living with us named Noelia. She is extremely skinny and has a tattoo. I initially found her extremely intimidating until I discover that she makes a face just like Danielle when she scrunches her face up in concentration. She told me that my Spanish is much better than the last student, Elena, and that she doesn’t want to practice English with me because she mispronounces things. And she set up my wireless network! Those things definitely put her in my good graces and made me stop being a tardo.

 

I was sorry not to explore more today but also very happy to unpack, get settled, and rest. Tomorrow begins orientation and I doubt it will slow down over the next week or so. But I have wireless and will be ever-accessible, so please tell me how you’re doing!