Buenos Aires completed

Saturday night we ate in Palermo Viejo at Sarkis, which serves Middle Eastern cuisine. I have missed Middle Eastern food, it was so delicious! We ate hummus, meat stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, baba ganoush, and pita bread. This was the appetizer, and we planned on splitting a main course dish, but we were so stuffed, we couldn't eat anymore. It was amazing food.

Sidenote: So many people speak English in BA, it was rather odd for us. It seemed like the majority of people we would hear speaking were English speaking.

Danny and I were walking home from dinner, talking about how it's a regular occurrence to walk by an apartment building and get sprinkled with some type of liquid. Most of the time it's condensation from peoples air conditioners falling, but every once in a while you will see people dump things out of their apartment window or shake out a rug, without looking below. Coincidentally, Danny mentioned that a few days ago someone barely missed him when they threw some water out their window. Immediately after, I felt something pour on my shoulder and splash on my clothes. I thought that someone had thrown water on me, but when I looked down it was a brown substance. A bird pooped on my shoulder! It was SO gross. I felt SO dirty. I was thankful that this happened after we ate dinner.

Sunday:
We walked by a church in the morning and it was the sweetest sound to hear people worshiping. We haven't been to church for so long and I am craving it. We felt so much comfort hearing the people singing.

We caught the subte to Recoleta and went to Feria Artesenal, an artists market-the biggest artists market I have ever seen. It made Portland Saturday Market look small. I personally like the feel of Saturday Market more, but it was fun to experience this market. I wanted to stay for longer, but Danny insisted we go to our next destination, the art museum. Can you believe he was the one insisting we go to an art museum? He's been more into art lately than I have been. It was the most amazing museum I have ever been in. It's called 'Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes'. Almost every famous artist I can think had their work in this museum. Pollock, Picasso, Rodin, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Degas, Renoir...The list goes on.

Sadly, we were on a tight schedule, so we only got to see the first floor of the museum. We headed out to see La Recoleta Cemetery. It contains the gravestones of the most influential people in Argentina. We didn't get a chance to see Eva Peron's (Evita's) burial place because we were in too much of a hurry. There is a picture of the cemetery on Danny's Flickr page as well as some others taken in Buenos Aires (http://flickr.com/photos/dvarner/).

We ate the fastest we've ever eaten and raced back to the subte and raced to our hostel from their to make it in time for the futbol game. We were late and got scolded by the women waiting to drive us to the game. Ooops. The game was Rivers vs. Agentina Jrs. Unfortunately, our team lost (the Rivers), but the fans continue to cheer for them-it's really cool. They cheer DURING THE WHOLE GAME. I knew they were seriously crazy about futbol games, but I didn't realize the extent until I sat by a lady from Buenos Aires and she gave me the scoop.

The opposing teams wait for each other outside the stadium after the game and fight each other. She told me that people kill each other. I don't know how regular of an occurrence the killing is, but we had to wait for a half an hour or more after the game was over to leave because it's too dangerous to leave right away because of the fighting. The security guards have the visiting team leave first. They don't serve beer at the games (because they are crazy enough without alcohol) and security guards are everywhere. It's very different than any game I have been to before.

Monday:
We arrived back home at 7:30am. We had to hurry home so Danny could get ready for work, and I had my final exam for my group class to study for. I had my last group class on Monday, it was kind of sad. I am going to miss my classmates and my teacher, but my brain is really happy about it. I was taking classes for 5 hours a day with about an hour or two of homework. I think it was too much for me. I really felt like my Spanish speaking abilities decreased because my brain shut down.

Now, I can think clearly again. I didn't realize how much of a strain it was on me until I completed the class. I feel more free now. I am still taking classes for 2 hours a day, but that's a pleasant amount. Learning a new language is really hard. I would love to be fluent one day, I am SO FAR away from that, but I think I can do it. I need to find a way to use it when I arrive in the US. I am kicking myself now for not taking classes in college. Oh well, you live and learn. Danny and I have talked about having our kids go to a bilingual school. I think that it is a wonderful skill to have. Then our kids can teach us!