Days 1-3

Day 1 

Well, I´m here! After 24 hours of travelling, I have arrived in Buenos Aires safely. I had a short stop in San Salvador, El Salvador (the first plane left Washing an hour late because of the rain and arrived a half hour late, but I ran to the next gate and made it in time), then an 8 hour stop in Lima, Peru, and then I arrived in B.A! Mercedes, Miguel, and Martina Gaona came to get me at the airport, and when we got to the house, we waited for Marcela to arrive and then went to get dinner. We ate at a small diner near the apartment, and I had something like a ham, egg, and cheese pizza that was so, so good. We then returned to the apartment and went to bed. 


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Day 2 

Today I got up a bit earlier than planned but it was okay. After breakfast, I went to the supermarket with Martina while Mercedes studied for her exams and Miguel and Marcela were at work. It was a great chance to practice my Spanish because Martina doesn´t speak English much at all. I had to take and use my dictionary, but it was okay :) When we got back to the house, we had lunch and watched some of the fútbol game (soccer) and other tv before I took a nap. 

I only meant to sleep for ~45 minutes, but my alarm didn´t work and I slept for 2 hours. O.o Then Miguel got home around 6:30 and Martina made gnocchi and beef for dinner with a type of gravy that she made. And then, after Marcela got home much later, we went driving around the city to see the Obelisco (which is basically a smaller version of the Washington Monument), the House and the Library of Congress, the Pink House (like the White House but the president does not live there), and other things. My phone was dead so I couldn´t take pictures, but it is charged now and I will take it next time. 

When we got back to the house it was around 10:30 but the girls and I watched "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer." I thought I´d seen it, but apparently I hadn´t and it was a good movie. 

I am learning a lot of Spanish, and more about the uses of the different tenses and it´s really neat. Even now as I write this, some of the words are coming to me in Spanish first and I have to think a moment about the word in English, so it´s kind of cool in a way.  


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Day 3

Wow! what a day! Today was very relaxing in the morning because everyone slept in a long time. I don´t know what time Martina and Miguel got up, but I didn´t get up until almost 11, and Mercedes got up even later. Around 2 though, we went a friend´s house of Mercedes and Marcela named Felicitas to watch the soccer game between Belgium and Argentina. Argentina won 1-0 and we had a lot of fun. In addition to Felicitas, Mercedes, Marcela, and me, there was Pablo, Cecilia, and Florencia, so it was really exciting.

Did you know that here they can order empanadas like pizza or Chinese food?? We had empanadas for lunch and even though it was take-out, I think those were the best empanadas I´ve ever had. There was beef, chicken, and ham/cheese ones, and I didn´t know what was better so I got one of each and the beef one was my favorite :)

After the game, everyone was being very silly, and eventually we decided to go explore the city. Cecilia and Florencia had to go home, but the rest of us walked a long ways. The first place we went into was a small shopping mall   -->it was 4 stories tall, but very, very short and narrow. Even so, it was very fancy inside and had a good selection of shops to choose from. Then, after exploring that for a while, we went to a famous cemetary that was next tot the mall where many famous people are buried. Every person in the the cemetary had a tomb--a mausoleum--and there were no basic grassy spots with a simple headstone, like in the U.S. It was really nice, but the day was very gray and rainy, so it wasn´t as nice as it might have been. 

After the cemetary, we saw a small art gallery with some cool abstract art and then we found a Starbucks! (haha) They even had Chai Tea, so I was really happy :) We sat there talking for almost 2 hours, before heading home. On the way home we found a Hard Rock Cafe and we will definitely be going back for that at some point :) And now we are back to the Gaona´s house.

We saw the end of the soccer game between Holland and Costa Rica, and Holland won so they will be going on to the semi-finals to play against Argentina. Apparently, the queen of Holland (who married into the family) is from Argentina, and now she will have to cheer for her new people against her old people. 

And now Martina is making Milanesa and green beans for dinner. It´s really strange that all of the meals are set back a few hours, so it is now almost 9 pm and Martina only began cooking about a half hour ago. She is a very good cook though and I´m really looking forward to it! 

Oh yeah, I also completely forgot about the 4th of July yesterday-- I haven´t had phone or internet service, so I didn´t even see Facebook as a reminder. But oh well. I will celebrate both with Argentina during their independence day next week! (A fun side note, Argentina´s Independence Day is the 9th--the same day they play Holland for the Semi-Finals, so I hope they win even more!!)

(After Dinner--> The Milanesa was really good!! Now I see why Momma likes it so much!)