Gaby, Marita, Ambi y Lau

Everyone in Argentina goes by a nickname. My new friends Gabriela (Gaby) pictured with me, Ana Maria (Marita) and Laura (Lau) - photo below, are no exception. These shots are from a night out with the girls last Thursday at a Peruvian restaurant in town. Ate ceviche for the first time in more than 6 months! About a month ago Laura and I decided we should make Thursdays our regular night out so we see each other more often then in the running group and with our sig o's. I asked David my spanish tutor to teach me some expressions for how to ask someone out so that I could invite a friend potential to our regular Thursdays. I'd been thinking about how to invite Gaby out to do something socially for a few months now. She's one of the Halcones in my running group so I see her at least twice a week but we had never done anything outside of the group. I would ask her about her weekends and she always seemed busy. Worked at a call center during the week, went out with a group of girlfriends saturday night and sundays were reserved for family asados (bbq's). Finally a few weeks ago, I tested my newly practiced phrases "que estas haciendo jueves?" what are you doing this thurs? I invited her to join Laura and I for dinner and she seemed delighted. Ice broken. Marita is a good friend of Laura's who I've met a few times at group gatherings. She speaks perfect english (and her spanish is easy to understand because she's from Peru and has a different, more clearly articulated accent). when the four of us are together its spanish only so its great practice for me. We never run out of things to talk about - much of our conversation is sharing experiences from our different traditions and ways of growing up. what's it like being single and/or coupled....how different (less macho) the argentine men are compared to other south american countries, the benefits of living alone and traveling solo at least once in your life. Different places we've visited, books we're reading, and of course the all time favorite topic - food. This week we go to a greek place called Mykonos where they break dishes over your head.