last friday during english class at HIAS, we listened to answering machine messages from a story that was on NPR a couple years ago. they were by a jewish mother to her comedienne daughter, you may remember this...marcy i think you talked to me about this story once? they are very funny. i thought they would be good b/c the mom speaks pretty slowly and clearly ("ameleh, don't forget to empty your bladder before you go to the DMV, because they have very long lines there...etc.). and the language of the jewish mother is universal, right? i think they got a kick out of it.

last week i went to a really fun aerobics class at another branch of my gym, it was "latino baile" class. we learned a whole routine in the class, including some steps with a partner, like salsa. my partner was Sandra, and we hit it off. we met at the gym again the next day and we did the machines together (aparatos, if you will). Saturday night we went out salsa dancing. i tried to get her to do "the routine" with me but she wouldn't! i got home at 5am, went to sleep at 6am, and woke up at 10am so nauseous. i threw up the entire day. until i went to sleep at night. i hate being nauseous. i think it's the worst feeling there is. i still can't really eat and smells make me nauseous and so does being on the bus. and i feel like ass. but at least i stopped throwing up.
i am collecting requests from everyone i know to bring back stuff from the USA, (i will be in chicago april 7-16). i have lots of stuff to bring back! I'm thrilled to do it. anyone from Bs As reading this, if you want anything, put it in the comments!

i had a really fun week. the cooking class was fun. i can understand everything for exactly 2 hours, then it turns into gibberish. just letters put together that don't make any sense coming out of the mouth of the teacher, the chef/owner of the restaurant, this hugely fat guy who never stops smiling with a doo rag on his head and brazilian music blasting on the stereo and he turns out these delicious dishes as sweat runs down his face. we made this burgundy-poached pears that were to die for. he served them with whipped cream....mmm i ate a lot.

i overheard him telling the other students that the restaurant is really on its last legs. he said that since the devaluation of the peso, his restaurant, like many small businesses, couldn't pay their bills. he said he's had creditors after him for two years and they will have to close soon. i think that it is such a special place, it's very haimish, and they have been so warm and sweet to me. i want to help them stay open. i'm going to post notices about their situation at language schools around town, and on the lonely planet website, to try to get them some tourist business.

this week i saw a famous argentine movie called un oso rojo. i understand some, a lot of it. and edgardo sat next to me and whispered to me all the scenes that i didn't understand. it was a special showing at a beautiful theater downtown. afterwards we talked about it in my spanish class. otherwise in spanish class, we've been reading short stories all week.

i just had a first english class with a woman that HIAS set me up with. She can't be in my other class because they are more advanced. i sat down to talk to her, i came with some reading comprehension exercises and grammar quizzes. but she doesn't speak a word of english! barely one word! oy! i had a small panic attack, and had to revise my thinking on the spot. i couldn't figure out how to teach english from the very very beginning. how to start. i went back to my computer to try to find some help. after a while, we figured it out. today we learned numbers, we learned to say time, and many ways to say how are you (how's it going, what's up, etc.) eeek! luckily all my argentine friends have learned english and probably i can borrow a beginner's textbook from someone, to have a base of where to start. i think i would be a good teacher. i really, really enjoy it. this woman is such a sweetheart. she has 2 year old twin boys. when we arranged the class, i told her i would charge her x pesos, what i thought was a very small number, but she said it was too much. today i said, don't worry about it, i won't charge you (after all it's not like i have so much experience and esp. w/ teaching beginners) but she insisted on giving me something. so sweet.

cooking class tonight!! last time i went to cooking class, after three hours straight of listening to and speaking spanish, i came home and got into bed at 10:45 and went right to sleep. it's hard to concentrate that long!

well the visitors have been dispatched back to washington and now i can return to my normally scheduled life here. we had some good times. it was really fun exploring montevideo. hugo left his camera in a cab so i can't post pics. if his friends send me some i will post them.
i'm starting this cooking class, and last week i went to the first one. i found the class one day when edgardo had an interview downtown, and i waited for him in a cafe across the street. it was adorable, had the cutest menu with some really interesting dishes, and they offered cooking classes. in our first class i learned pate of chicken breast en croute (in pastry) with braised leeks, stuffed colita de cuadril (a cut of beef), and black forest cake, but here black forest cake doesn't have cherries, it was this rich chocolate layer cake with tia maria, chocolate mousse, and dulce de leche. the class was 3 hours in spanish. i understood almost everything but got really tired at the end. but it was fun.
friday night i had hugo and his friends over and i made the stuffed roast thing. it was such a pain in my ass to stuff that thing, like stuffing a wet noodle...but it turned out really delicious.
what else. tonight is allie's sister's b-day, an asado at the hostel, just like my b-day. spanish class is going well. it's me and this other guy, a pretty small class, but i've been learning a lot. our teacher is good. tonight for homework we have to read a jorge luis borges short story, argentina's favorite son. and ugh really difficult.

well it's always an adventure with hugo around. and this week is no different. he arrived monday and i told him to meet me at my favorite bar, it's called bar 6. i went to meet him with my friend gerardo. who says my spanish is much better than when we met in oct. when we arrived at the bar, i saw hugo outside having a heated discussion with some policemen. gerardo recommended that i not approach them and we walked by. when i looked around again, hugo was gone. it turns out that he drove around and around looking for the bar, and the police stopped him b/c they thought it was suspicious. it's ironic b/c hugo always said he didn't want to visit me here because he's so dark, and they don't really have any black or brown people here, and he thought he would be persecuted.
so, i guess he was right.
the next day, we met and hugo and his friend and i went to lunch at a fancy parrilla. life with them this week has been really fun and very luxe....we go to all the fancy places and order whatever we want - shrimp, steak, wine, etc. (um, and then they pay). that night i took them to a place that i love, in palermo, with all different rooms which are all different colors, and we ate on the roof. hugo and his two friends, me and an argentine girl that helped them get an apt for the week. so so fun. lots of wine, some showing off of salsa steps, etc. also it was int'l day of the woman so the restaurant gave me this cool book with profiles of famous argentine women. this morning we got up EARLY to go to montevideo, uruguay. i have to go because my visa runs out friday and you have to leave the country and come back to renew it. so we are in uruguay, but it is only me and hugo's two friends because hugo didn't make it to the ferry on time. we're having fun though.

well the purim thing didn't happen. couldn't get a hold of anyone.
friday edgardo and i tried another restaurant from the book, a german one right near my house. malissima. that means really bad. apesta. that means it sucks. all they have on tap is quilmes, the national beer here, which is terrible.
and it's full of people, every night. i don't understand.
the next night we went to a parrilla and sat outside and it was really good. for appetizers we ordered morellas, that means whatever it is we call sweetbreads in english. they were cooked on the grill, so they were all crusty on the outside, and you squeeze a lemon on them and lots of salt....mmm so good. we ate meat of course, and for dessert we had big pieces of flan and bread pudding in puddles of dulce de leche and whipped cream. and lots of wine.
and now i am waiting for a call from a certain friend of mine from washington....originally from el salvador...named hugo! he arrived today and will be staying the week. i'm really excited to see him and also i haven't had a visitor in quite a while.
so i'll probably post some pics from this week.

i started at a new spanish school today, the one that Allie goes to, and i got a really good vibe. it's not a big university-affiliated school like the others i've been to. it's an apartment suite in the center. the staff was young and friendly and attentive to my needs, also they served me coffee. i went to one class today, then afterwards they evaluated how i did and told me the class seemed too easy for me and they would put me with someone who was more advanced, an Arab who they said was "divino."

the final selling point on this school - i wasn't looking forward to purim alone this coming weekend. the girl there said there was an israeli guy who had been asking around about someone religious to spend purim with! gonna put on my queen esther costume, rock some poppy seed hamantashen and get drunk on slivovitz.

my new favorite hangout here is called "Acabar" - it's really groovy and stylish, with a few different rooms, tables and couches, and all kinds of kitsch on the walls. the bathroom sinks are made out of old sewing machines. they have lots of board games. i drag various people there to make them play trivial pursuit with me - it's the argentine version! it's a kick! it's a great way to learn spanish and learn about old argentine tv shows and political figures.

last night edgardo and his best friend mariano came over. we sat on the balcony and drank matè. i made pizza with artichoke hearts - corazones de alcaucil, a word that my mouth refuses to say correctly. we talked about what their life was like during the military dictatorship, about the people that disappeared. they told me about being stopped by policemen on the street, and the police would demand to see their documents, but they had their hands up, so they would say ok, i'm going to put my hands in my pockets now, and they'd have to move really slowly, so as to not get shot.
it's a part of argentine story that has made a big impression on me...how my friends here have this enormous hole in their past, have members of their family that disappeared and never came back, they have cousins without fathers, etc.

i bought a book which has 60 restaurants and cafès of Buenos Aires. there's a review of each in spanish and (terribly translated) english. i bought it because they chose places off the beaten path...some are very historical, all seemed like places i wanted to explore. i tried one so far, a busy restaurant on the corner of paraguay and san martin, two bustling downtown streets. it was a bit expensive for lunch but the steak was huge, thick and crusty and so delicious. we also ordered sweet potato fries but those were not as successful. sweet potatoes are yellow here, not orange. they brought us limoncello afterwards, a sweet strong italian lemon liqueur.

take care everybody. watch out for netsky d. and write me a comment on which was your favorite oscar dress.