Alma Nómada

Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini Salad

2008-08-30T01:05:00.002-04:00

I adapted the recipe from this one on recipezaar. I did make a few changes... Used honey rather than sugar, added zucchini and yellow bell peppers, and opted for fresh chopped mint. I also roasted the eggplant and zucchini before assembling the salad and subbed red onion for the shallots. Omitted the sake as I didn't have any on hand.

Comarca Kuna Yala

2008-08-27T00:04:00.005-04:00

A few of my favorite shots from a recent trip to the San Blas islands. From now on, I will mostly be posting travel photos in this format... To see the rest, go to my photo blog (link is on the sidebar under *gasp* links)

Tuna Croquettes With An Asian Twist

2008-07-28T08:31:00.003-04:00

This is a quick and simple alternative to tuna salad. I served my croquettes on mixed baby greens with mandarin orange slices and toasted almonds, but they could also substitute for burger patties (maybe with some wasabi mayonnaise?).

Ingredients

1 can of tuna (I like to use solid white albacore)

1 egg

Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

2-3 tablespoons of finely minced onion

Sesame oil

About a handful of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1 clove finely minced garlic

1-2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil for frying

Lightly beat the egg and add all ingredients except the breadcrumbs and a few cilantro leaves (for garnish). Mix until well combined. Add in the breadcrumbs until a consistency is reached which can be formed into 2 patties. Pour about a tablespoon of oil into a skillet and put on medium-high. Wait until the oil is sizzling hot and drop the patties in, leaving them to brown for about 4 minutes on each side. Garnish with fresh cilantro, serve immediately.

Flickr Meme

2008-07-28T07:49:00.004-04:00

How its done:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Rachel
2. What is your favorite food? Spicy tuna rolls
3. What high school did you go to? Countryside High School in Clearwater, FL
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Gael Garcia Bernal
6. Favorite drink? Mojito
7. Dream vacation? I would to spend some time in India
8. Favorite dessert? Dark chocolate souffle
9. What you want to be when you grow up? A chef in charge of my own restaurant/bar
10. What do you love most in life? Travelling... meeting new people and exploring new places
11. One Word to describe you: Curious
12. Your flickr name. wanderlust130

1. Rachel, 2. Lunch, 3. Looking West on High Street, 4. Blue Morpho, 5. OUT916512, 6. Sunday confessional..., 7. Taj Mahal, 8. belgian chocolate souffle, 9. Little Chef, 10. Amazing Thailand, 11. A Discovery, 12. Ulun Danau Bratan Temple

My New Favorite Salad

2008-07-07T03:04:00.005-04:00

I was never a fan of beets growing up. I would diligently pick them out of my Greek salads and wrinkle my nose at the bright pink traces they left behind. However, the other day something inspired me to pluck some out of the produce section and revisit my feelings on the beet. I'm glad I did. This salad satisfied my craving for something crunchy and fresh without being heavy (not to mention the fact that it is packed with nutrients and promotes detoxification of the blood and better liver function). You can find the original Williams Sonoma recipe here - I pretty much followed it exactly. I left the beets raw rather than cooking them. I would also recommend putting the dill in right before serving for a colorful presentation, as the beets will dye it magenta.

Ingredients

Fresh beets (any variety will do)

Extra virgin olive oil

Red wine vinegar

About a cup of walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Fresh dill

One or two cloves of garlic, finely minced

Sea salt to taste

Peel and cube the beets. Combine with the toasted walnuts and set aside. To make the dressing, whisk together equal parts of olive oil and vinegar (lemon juice would also work nicely) along with the garlic. Toss the beets and walnuts to coat. Finally, chop about a handful of the dill and mix it in. Voila!

Although I didn't have any handy, I think some feta cheese would also pair excellently with this.

A few randoms from Bolivia

2006-06-20T20:23:00.000-04:00

So I still have no camera... But thanks to my friend Mario, aka the photo nazi, more pics will come when I stop being too lazy to burn a cd.

Salar de Uyuni with (from left) Simone, Mario, Helen, Helen, me, and Alex

Playing Charlie´s Angels

Piedras de Dali. From top left: me, Mario, Simone, Helens

Mario and I playing King of the Hill

Looking super sexy after biking the world´s most dangerous road from La Paz to Coroico

Sunrise over the flats

More Photos

2006-05-16T17:23:00.000-04:00

So first of all, the pics are in order chronologically from bottom to top, so they make more sense if you look at them that way... I have been up to all kinds of exciting stuff, but it took me forever to do that, so I dont have a ton of time to write about it. I´m now in Salta, in the northern part of Argentina. This morning we went bungee jumping, puenting (jumping off a bridge kind of like bungee, but holding the rope instead of having it tied to your ankles), zipcording, and another rappel. Pics of that will come later. I also have action shots of the rafting, but they are on another cd, so wont come until later. Lots of love <3 Rae

And finally... McDonalds is sooo much better in Mendoza

Another pic of me on the mountain

Rappelling

Me and Piers after our trekking/rappelling adventure in Mendoza

Our whole crew, ready to take on Rio Mendoza

Aquagirl

Basecamp for our rafting tour

Outside of a bodega

Lots and lots of grapes

Bikes and wine tour... 25 Km of fun!!

Bye bye Chile, hello Argy!... Sunset on the Andes from the frontera

View of the coast in Viña del Mar, Chile

Don´t cry for me Argentina

2006-05-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

So I have finally left Buenos Aires, Tuesday night me and the lovely Lacy Garrison hopped a bus to the lake district. Since then, we have spent a day at the hippie town of Bolson, taken a 10 km hike around the Circuito Chico in Bariloche, eaten tasty fresh (and cheap) ceviche in Puerto Montt, and are currently hanging our hats in Santiago.

Arrived here this morning by bus, and met up at the hostel with my good friend Piers whom I met in Buenos Aires. Most museums and such are closed today, so I think we are going to just hoof it about town for awhile, and maybe attempt Cerro San Cristobal to get a view of the city.

Anyways... don´t have loads of time right now, but I have been trying to make notes of my travels on buses and such, and maybe will fill things out later on. Just wanted to let everyone know of my whereabouts, and that I haven´t been kidnapped or maimed or anything.

Lots of love!!

... And on to Paraguay

2006-04-28T12:05:00.000-04:00

Ah, Paraguay. Talk about off the beaten path!! Me and Lacy were on the bus headed for Posadas, a city in the Missiones (northernmost) province of Argentina. We had intended to head for Puerto Iguazu that night, but Posadas was as close as we could get that hadn´t been booked solid. About halfway there, while flipping through the guidebook, we realized that it was only about an hour away from the Paraguayan border. Good old LP had recommended the Jesuit Missions ruins outside of Encarnacion (the closest city on the Paraguay side) as a don't-miss, and they would be on the way up towards Iguazu. A plan was hatched.

We got off the bus in Posadas, and hopped immediately onto the much more cramped one headed for Paraguay. We had to get off for customs on the Argentinian side, and got our exit stamp... after hopping back on the bus and going another few minutes to the border crossing in Paraguay, madness ensued. The attendant at customs looked at our US passports like they were OVNIs (UFOs). Finally, after much ado, he realized that we needed visas to enter the country. They wanted 50 U$S for each passport, which we weren´t about to pay. However, we weren´t about to go back to Argentina without seeing the ruins either... So finally, we settled on in-transit stamps, which meant we had to be out of the country by nightfall... But only had to pay 45 U$S between the two of us. Sometimes travelling in one of the world's most corrupt countries CAN work in your favor!

So after we got our passports all settled, we headed towards the big terminal in Encarnacion. En route, we got a glimpse of the outdoor vendors Paraguay is so famous for. The streets were cramped, and almost every space was taken up by odds and ends. Digital cameras next to toenail clippers, knockoff Nike socks displayed with Powderpuff Girls stickers. As we waited for the bus to Trinidad, we were bombarded by children and adults alike selling all sorts of randomness. After being offered apples, sewing kits, expired valentines cards, and steak knives, we finally settled for a pack of halls cough drops and a bottle of water. Our bus finally showed up, and we were off to see the ruins.

About an hour later, we had arrived in the town of Trinidad and were dropped at a big sign advertising the missions. We walked up a red dirt road, watching school children pass along the way. It was only about a ten minute walk up, and the site was truly amazing. Jesuits and Paraguayan indigenous coinhabited these reductions built in the 17th century. Remains of a college, two cemetaries, a church, and several other buildings can still be seen. The church is especially striking, as it is HUGE and crafted in a very unique sandstone-looking crude baroque style. We wandered about for about an hour, then decided we should head on back (lest we should get stuck after our in-transit visa expired and pay our souls in fines!!)

The next few hours were spent on yet another bus, bumping and shuddering our way towards Ciudad del Este. At one point it sputtered, and it looked doubtful if it would start again or not... Lucky for us, it did. The countryside was gorgeous, supergreen long-bladed grass and a brilliant blue sky. Corn was planted alongside the road for most of the way... Between that and the red dirt, at times I could have sworn I was in Alabama. We chowed down on chipas (a kind of potato-cheese-corn-bread/roll thing) and some pretty dodgy looking empanadas, and watched the scenery go by. It is pretty evident how much of a divide exists between rich and poor in this country... Beautiful country style houses with red tile roofs lined up next to shacks. After about four or five hours, we were in Ciudad del Este... but I´ll write about that later.

P.S. My camera was unfortunately stolen awhile back, the picture above is not mine... it is from the website www.gosouthamerica.com (although I wish I would take credit for it!)

Wrapping up Buenos Aires

2006-04-28T11:08:00.000-04:00

Hello all… I am about to hit the road again, so I figured I would try to get this thing good and updated before I left the city and all of its conveniences. I wanted to catch up before moving on to new adventures. Hopefully I will get a post in for each new place that I visit from here on out. I have been in Paraguay and Iguazu this week also, but will be posting each of those separately from this. So here goes nothing…

For those of you that don’t know, I moved out of my Recoleta place about three weeks ago and into an apartment in Colegiales. I have two roommates, a guy named Augustin from Buenos Aires, and a girl named Lacy who hails from Atlanta. We also coexist with their cat Oscar, whose interests include chasing invisible stuff, waving at people, and working on his phantom meow (he opens his mouth, but most of the time not much comes out). I have been loving it here… We have a great time playing Three’s Company, and I have finally learned to embrace the Subte (subway). I will certainly miss being able to get anything from ice cream to Mexican food to toilet paper delivered to my door for free.

At the beginning of this month, I got to go see a Pato tournament in Palermo. Pato is a game that was born here in Argentina, the literal translation being duck. It involves a ball encased in a net, horses, and a bunch of crazy people. The name comes from the fact that, originally, a duck was used in place of the ball. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that this was a bad idea… Therefore, I didn’t have to see dead raggedy fowl being hurled about the field. Nuts. Anyways, the details were a bit sketchy for me, so I won’t be able to explain the rules too well. From what I picked up, it is the lovechild of basketball, polo, and (European) football. A goal is scored when the ball is thrown through a net sort of thing at either end of the field. This tournament was particularly interesting, because several teams from all over the world had come to play “horseball” (as the sport is known in English). Not surprisingly, Argentina creamed the opposition… Although I was shocked to see the US win their match, as I had no idea this sport even existed. Oddly enough, our watergirls were Canadian, yet Canada had no team. Hmff. I have decided that being a horseball waterperson wouldn’t be a half bad job.

So that does it for now on the Buenos Aires beat… I will be taking off on a (gasp) 20 hour bus ride to Bariloche on Sunday. As of now, I am trying to get all my internetting and phone calls caught up on before it is back to cybercafes and locutorios for me. Leaving this place is certainly going to be bittersweet… I have had an absolutely wonderful experience here, and I am going to have to drag myself away (after extending my dates almost two months already!). At the same time though, I am ready to see some new places and experience some new things. I have been perusing my trusty old Lonely Planet Shoestring and getting hyped up all the fascinating stuff there is to see. So expect to (hopefully) hear more in the near future.

P.S. Sorry for the terrible writing skills… As my Spanish keeps improving, my English skills have been on a sharp decline. I have a theory that there is only so much room for language in my feeble brain.

Teatro Colon and various other misadventures

2006-03-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

So here I am again... having a slow relaxing Sunday night and figured I would try and fill in a few more gaps. Unfortunately I think I might be typing on the worst keyboard in all of Argentina. Oh well. Where to begin...

To start, here´s one for Gwen... I wish I could have had you here with me on Wednesday, you would have been on cloud nine!! I got the chance to go see La Boheme at the Teatro Colón, and it was truly fantastic. The theater itself is enormous, and the sound is really clear. I had never seen La Boheme before, and I really enjoyed it. In fact, it was the first opera I remember ever attending period. I wanted to go just for the novelty of seeing a performance in Teatro Colón, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. The music, the atmosphere, the acting... all of it together was really moving, and unlike anything I had seen before. Its baffling, the stamina that the actors have, to be able to sing with such force for such an extended amount of time. The first two acts took about an hour, and same with the second two. It was a bit of a headache though hearing Italian and reading the subtitles in Spanish, especially since lots of words are similar. I was suprised at how much I understood though, it was nice to feel like my lessons are coming along.

Speaking of the lessons, I am now officially in advanced!! I passed my final intermediate test on Thursday, and will start the new level on Monday. At this point, we have learned all of the grammer and verb forms and will now be working more on conversational practice and fine tuning things... It´s a lot to digest though, I´ve found that it takes some time after you have learned new stuff to actually use it while speaking. My reading is really coming along though, and I am able to hold my own in a conversation, even if I do sound like a 4 year old sometimes.

Anyways, this crappy keyboard is not too kind on my knuckles, so I think I will leave it at that for now. The supermarket is closed, so I have a feeling I will be dining Nat style tonite, lays potato chips haha. Hope everyone is well, besos ;-)

From nada to novel

2006-03-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

So much has been going on since I last wrote in this thing that I´m not really sure where to begin. Its been a month or so since my last post, and I´ve been up to all sorts of things. So I´ll just try to pick out a couple of highlights and then maybe backtrack to things later on as I remember them. I really envy the people I´ve met here that have these big full journals with a day by day account of their trips, I wish I was more like that. Anyways, on with it...

A couple of weeks ago I went to my first tango show, at Cafe Tortóni. It was an interesting experience, pretty touristy as that is the most famous place to go here, but it was worth doing. Especially since we got a discount through the school. Some of the best tango that I have seen here has been in the streets, people dancing for change. Its beautiful to watch, so very sad and dramatic.

There is a dance remix of Nancy Sinatra´s Bang Bang playing on the radio and it is very distracting, in the way that roadkill or car accidents are distracting.

I got to see my first football match here too since I last wrote, between Boca Juniors and Gimnasio. That was incredible, we had an amazing time. The fans here are absolutely wild, chanting and yelling the ENTIRE time. At one point a Boca fan threw a banana at Gimnasio´s goalie, and he promtly picked it up, peeled it, and ate it. Boca ended up winning 3-0 which was probably good, it would be dangerous to leave that stadium with pissed off fans!! All in all, it was a great experience, and I really want to go see River Plate play Boca now. They are the two most famous Buenos Aires teams, and it is kind of like a yuppie vs working class dynamic. There is a game coming up soon but tickets are expensive and sell out fast, so I am going to see what I can work out.

Weekend before last I went to Uruguay, with Mike and Adeline. It was a really nice couple of days, I got my visa renewed, and got a little breather from the city. We took the Buquebus to Colonia, and I was completely fascinated with the Buquebus. Its not so much a bus as a huge ferry boat. It felt like travelling in a moving airport terminal. If I could take the Buquebus everywhere, I think I probably would. Anyways, Colonia is quaint and pretty, it was built in order to smuggle things into Buenos Aires back in the day. We also found a great sliding hill, which provided at least a good 30 minutes of entertainment. Karlen, if you read this, it was even better than the one in Brugge!! For most of Friday we just wandered about looking at the scenery and being devoured by mosquitos. I´m convinced that a curse was placed on Colonia which turned all the people into mosquitos. Finally, after paying about 15 US for a ham sandwich and a coke, we decided it was time to hop on the bus and make our way to Montevideo. I loved Montevideo, it is very charming for a big city. Of course I was happy as a clam to be able to walk beside the ocean, and its managable to get around without buses and taxis for the most part. We had a great hostel there with a very central location and friendly staff, called Red Hostel. On one street, several pieces of modern sculpture were displayed throughout the sidewalks, it was a pedestrian street like Calle Florida. Its the sort of thing I love, so we really enjoyed walking through those, and they led straight down to the water. There are heaps of pretty plazas with big statues of men on horses whose names I don´t know. We actually got to catch part of a really bizarre play sort of thing that was going on outside of the theater as well, it was fantastic and free. After that we went and got chivitos, I really don´t understand how Uruguayans are so tiny. The national dish basically consists of: beef or chicken, ham, cheese, mayonaise, canned peas, pimientos, a fried egg, tomato, lettuce, more cheese, bread of some sort, carrots, and I´m sure whatever else just happens to be lying around. The ingredients are basically just piled on top of each other with two pieces of bread on either side which are far far too small to be of any use. Somehow, it tastes fantastic, especially after walking around all day on an empty stomach. I saw some of the most dazzling jewelry and crafts in the stalls around the main strip, and bought some kind of wrap thing for myself that can be worn 7 ways apparently... I can only remember about 2. One of the nights we went to a free concert on the beach thrown by some really popular rap group from Uruguay, it was actually really really good, and I am kicking myself for not writing down the name. On Sunday, before we took off to return "home" from our little vacation, we checked out their market... It was like garage sale rummager/flea market addict heaven. You could buy anything from old keys to vegetables to dvds ripped for about 2 U$S.

So... whew. My fingers hurt. And I´m kind of cranky today because we have no water in the house, I´m not sure why, but I woke up and there wasn´t any. Therefore I got no shower, and sat around at the internet all day in an attempt to avoid talking to people face to face who could smell me. I think I have some empanadas with my name on them. I will try to recount some more stuff soon, after reading all of this you´ll be sick of me anyways!! Lots of love for everyone.

Ugh... Monday

2006-02-13T12:50:00.000-05:00

Another week already... I can´t believe how fast the time is flying. It feels both like I just got here yesterday and like I´ve belonged here for ages. The reality of actually having to leave eventually is setting in a bit, and it doesn´t feel good. Though I do miss people back home, of course. Started back at school today with a new teacher. I like her, feels like I will finally get something done and catch up on what I´ve been lacking. Of our old group, its just me and Christopher left, but we aquired three new classmates, from Montreal, Germany, and Switzerland. Still wish I had those afternoon classes, but I´m afraid to switch now, since I do like the actual class alot and who knows what I would end up with.

Had a nice weekend, Friday after school went with a few people to a park near the zoo... It was nice to lay about for a bit and get some sun and chat. It was next to a really nice rose garden and there was a little lake with ducks and boats. I am dying to try the paddle boats, I tried to go Sunday morning, but they were still closed :-( That night we went to a very locally famous restaurant called La Cabrera. Had the biggest steak I´ve ever seen in my life for 25 pesos (about 8 dollars). It was amazing. We just sort of chilled that night in Plaza Serrano.

Saturday morning I went to go see the grave of Carlos Gardel, the father of Tango. He is hugely famous here and there is a statue of him there above his tomb in Chacarita Cemetary. He died in a plane crash in 1935 and lots of people still take pilgrimages to come see him. After that we headed back to Recoleta, and I headed home for a nap. Saturday night we had dinner at a place called Central in Hollywood, and afterwards, made our way to Opera Bay... Its a huge boliche in Puerto Madero, the newest barrio in the city. One of the rooms is completely open and right on the water, so its my kind of place to hang out. The building itself is bizarre, its modeled after the Sydney opera house. We had a blast, made our way to breakfast on Santa Fe, and then headed home. Sunday I pretty much just caught my breath, did some chores, and passed out early. I took a few pictures but my batteries are dead, so I need to go buy more before I can load them on the computer.

Besos y Abrazos

Cemetario de Recoleta etc.

2006-02-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

Well I finally made it to the famous Recoleta Cemetary. Evita is buried here, and I did get to see her. I don´t have the pic yet but will return to get it... I think we came in just before a huge group of tourists, so as soon as we got to her grave, it was flooded. I live really close though, so I will snap it another day. The cemetary itself is amazing, like a deserted city (except for the Perón tomb). It is cool compared with the rest of Buenos Aires, and lined with trees in the center.The map they give you is hilarious, because the cemetary is enormous, and all they show is a huge grid of little gray boxes that have completely randomly placed numbers on them. It is nearly impossible to use and easy to get lost in there... partly because of the map, and partly because it is so interesting to wander off. I could probably spend hours just dodging in and out of the little narrow "streets". It is a really funny place to listen to tourists... I heard "Who is Eva Perón... I thought this was Evita´s grave? and "It seems smaller than it should be". I did get a ton of other great shots, maybe too many, hah. I posted a couple of my favorite ones. I have done quite a bit of city wandering this week, which is nice. I love to just walk and people watch here. The parks are great for lounging about in. I actually bought a cell phone today, because they aren´t expensive here, and it is safer and far less frustrating to own one. After that I walked down Santa Fe a bit and stopped in a bookstore that used to be a theatre. Its really bizarre because it is a chain store down here, kind of like a Borders, but this one is located in one of the most beautiful buildings I´ve ever seen. Its got a cafe on what used to be the stage, and a big circular opening in the center. On the top two or three stories, the bookshelves circle around the opening. The dome in the ceiling is covered in a big mural to look like the sky. Also got to walking down Florida, a hugely popular pedestrian street, for quite awhile. It is the main spot to see random street performers or dancers tangoing in the streets for coins. Its busy and very touristy, but great fun. I am incredibly tired right now and have an exam in the morning, so this is going to be more of a picture post. The top three are from the Cemetary and the fourth is the back of the Teatro Colón. If I´m brave enough to bring my camera with me, I will show you all how Buenos Aires celebrates Carnaval... It starts this weekend.

I´m still alive I promise

2006-02-06T20:41:00.000-05:00

Mmm so I apparently am really bad at this blogging thing. Sorry guys... I really am trying... I´ve never even been able to keep a journal, so be patient with me.

So lets see... Last weeks classes were alright. I´m not crazy about the teacher I have right now, her class is pretty boring. We´re not really getting practice speaking and improvising as much as we should be. I didn´t bother to try to make a switch though, as I only have her for another two days until the exam. I am also thinking of switching to afternoon classes because I haven´t started to like mornings any more than usual, and on top of that, everything here works on a later schedule too.

Friday and Saturday were nice, here it is a constant stream of meeting and losing people every weekend. I finally made my way over to Museo Bellas Artes, which has a nice collection of paintings. I´ve listed the website which has an online gallery of their permanent collection if you are interested.

http://www.mnba.org.ar/el_museo.php

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the Fine Art Museum, I also went go karting with a bunch of friends. My entire body hates me right now with a passion, I´m impossibly sore and have a big welt on my back. It was so much fun though... down here they really haul! My helmet was way too huge so I had to keep pulling it straight and trying to turn at the same time. It made for a really great time, and I think we might go back in a week or two.

Saturday was a really British day. I went to watch the England-Wales game at a pub around the block with a couple of friends from the UK and then went to curry that night before we went out. I got out to San Telmo for the first time also, to check out a boliche called Museo. Its a nice area, and this week I want to make it to a tango show and the market down there as well. I did nothing on Sunday but sleep. Today was pretty much the same, aside from the grocery and class this morning.

Alright well I hope that´s a little better... Hope I have more to report again soon. Lots of love to everyone.

Happy Birthday to Me ;-)

2006-01-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

Had a great first weekend here in Buenos Aires. On Friday night, I went out with the school... A suprising amount of students showed up, and we went to Puerto Madero to celebrate surviving the week´s classes. I finally got a chance to meet lots of people from here at the school, as it tends to be a little hectic at the breaks, and up until then I had really only gotten to know the people in my class. It was also my first chance to really go out and relax because I had been trying to study hard and catch up for the first few days. The nights here are crazy, finally I´ve found a city that is on my sleep schedule ;-)

Saturday was more laid back, I promised myself that for the first day in a week I wouldn´t set an alarm clock. So naturally I slept most of the day, and then dragged myself out of bed around 4. Inge, a woman in my class from Holland, also had a birthday this weekend, and we went out to dinner to celebrate on Saturday night. It was really nice, everyone from my class went together. We had a nice leisurely dinner and then hung around in Palermo for a bit. Afterwards we called it a pretty early night (for here on a weekend, about 2 o´clock).

Sunday I got to meet my roommate´s daughter, Belen. We went to the park together and browsed around the market for a bit in Recoleta. We sat around in the grass and brought things to make sandwiches for lunch. We watched some silly street performer show and then, somehow, ended up with a puppy! It is only 3 weeks old. I don´t know what will happen with that, but I have to admit, its adorable. And the idea of having it from 3 weeks to only 3 months is appealing... I never have to see her get all big, haha. I have some pictures that I will post when I get a chance.

Today we started new classes, and everything seems good so far. I am with most of the same people but have a new profesor. We worked a lot with verbs today though, which is exactly what I need and what the last level lacked. In a few minutes, I am off to Playa Peru with a few friends. It´s apparently a cafe type of place with grass and sand, but notsomuch a beach. Should be really fun though, I´m looking forward to getting outdoors some. The weather here has been oppressive hot so a bikini sounds good right about now. Tonight we are all planning to get together for dinner and cake, so it should be a nice birthday :-)

Wooo!!

2006-01-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

So I passed my first exam. I will get to start the intermediate level courses on Monday. I´m not so sure that I am ready yet, but I guess we´ll see, haha. Our little group (three other people and our profesor) went to Puerto Madero after class and split a dessert at, of ALL FREAKIN´ PLACES, TGI Fridays! But the brownie was good, and the location here is much better than at home, haha. We sat outside watching the ships, and the weather today was perfect. Tonight everyone from the school is going out together, so that should be fun. I am looking forward to my first weekend here in Buenos Aires, and the chance to sleep in a little bit for once!

Next weekend Alejandra is taking me along with her to Mar del Plata, a ritzy-ish resort town a few hours away on the beach . She has friends that are vacationing there. I can´t wait to get some sun and relax for a few days. I will make sure to take pictures there. Well I don´t have a whole lot more to report right now, but should have lots to share after the weekend. Everyone take care ;)

Settling In

2006-01-25T12:58:00.000-05:00

Well I´m here bumming around the school... I´m getting a free private lesson later today because I arrived late in the lesson period, which means I get my first test tomorrow also. It´s good though, because I´ll get to advance the first level in half the time (have to study a lot tonite though). Yesterday Alejandra fixed my room up for me, it was so nice of her. I got a new bed and a little TV, and even an adapter for my computer (we dont have internet though). Our apartment is really unique, my roommate thinks its hilarious that I am infinitely entertained by the ceiling. It opens up to let the fresh air in. I want one someday, haha. I´m starting to win my battle with the key to the apartment slowly but surely... It´s very tempermental though!

I´ve been hanging out with a friend from school the past two days, her name is Freya, and she is from Germany. Yesterday we went to lunch and then checked out Puerto Maduro. It´s a really nice area, I caught my first glimpse of Casa Rosada as well. Puerto Maduro is good for scenery and to see all the lights at night, but it is VERY expensive. It is near the big business district, feels like wall street or something, all big shiny buildings with suits walking out of them.

Anyways, I keep threatening to post pictures, and I swear I will. I hate bringing my camera out with me much though, and I never bring it to school because its usually really busy here (only four computers) and I feel guilty for messing with it while people wait. Better go study now like a good girl... Besos y abrazos ;)

P.S. I did finally post the pictures... the top and bottom are of our apartment and the middle is the Andes around Santiago from the airplane.

Second day in Buenos Aires

2006-01-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

Yep, finally, I am here in Argentina. All my flights went smoothly, and there were some pretty incredible views over the Andes (the rest of the time it was too dark to see anything).I got here yesterday around noon, and my arrival situation was interesting. When I got to the apartment that I was supposed to stay at, my poor new roommate had no idea I was coming. Apparently no one decided to inform her. I felt terrible, but even though it was awkward at first, she invited me in and made me feel right at home. She doesn´t speak english, and my castellano is non existent... Plus the three days of not sleeping on my part and the fact that I had woken her up didnt help. We both took naps and then tried again. She had a friend over that spoke some english, we had mate and got to know each other and then walked around the city for a while. I couldn´t be happier, she seems to be a really nice girl, and I will learn much quicker when I have to share a set of keys with someone that speaks only castellano! I started classes this morning, and the school seems really nice. I think I might have been placed in too high a level, because my conversational skills, for lack of a better word, suck. But I love the format, I attend class from 9 to 1. There are four other people in my class, two from holland, one from england, and one from germany. We sit around a square table and alternate from workbook exercises to conversational practice. I have been wandering around Recoleta for a bit this afternoon, and it is beautiful. There are trees lining the streets, and dog walkers everywhere. It is relatively quiet and residential here, and there are plenty of internet cafes and restuarants. I will be adding some pictures soon, but am having some key issues at the moment. They will be edited into this post later today or tomorrow. If anyone needs my address, email me. Love, Rae.

Happy Holidays

2005-12-25T03:16:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone is having an awesome holiday with family and friends... We celebrated a bit early this year as dad is heading to Panama on Christmas day. I pigged out on collard greens and rib roast then washed it all down with tons of sweet ice tea (in true southern fashion haha). I even took a crack at making date-nut pinwheels - these cookie things that I remember my dad liking when I was a kid. They turned out kind of funny looking but tasted alright.

In other news... I finally got my plane ticket! I will be leaving from Miami on January 21st. After a looong flight and a changeover in Santiago, I will arrive in Buenos Aires on the 22nd. I've decided to spend two months each in Argentina and Chile (in that order). Posting will probably be sparse until then, as me packing and getting ready to take off is not all that interesting. Keep checking back in the future though. Have a rockin' New Years!