Transitions

The past few weeks have been a departure from my usual routine. First, I ended daily spanish lessons with tutor David. He went to NYC for 6 weeks to study under a special voice coach on Broadway - his true passion is theater, acting, producing and directing. The separation was bittersweet. I felt sad to leave behind this part of my argentine adventure, daily talks with David in espanol and 5 days a week intense immersion program. Learning new phrases and practicing my grammar with a rigor I'd never impose on my own. At the same time, I feel ready for a break. Ready to take all I've learned and practice more "en las calles" in the streets. I'm sure I'll return to formal study at some point but not for awhile.

After a long cold winter of me, Hugh and the dog huddled around the heater sipping mate and eating stews and soups, it's springtime and visiting season in BA. First in were Howard and Frank (see 1st pic above). Frank and I worked down the hall from eachother for two years at Schwab so was nice to spend a bit of time together in a more casual setting. They stayed half a block from our apt in Barrio Norte (by coincidence) so was easy to get together. We went to my favorite parilla Don Julios their first night in BA (after their whirlwind tour of Chile and Uruguay) - had a wonderful time talking about our travel experiences and sharing a big steak and Malbec wine. They brought me two precious jars of organic salted peanut butter - a true luxury in peanutbutterless Buenos Aires. Two days later, Jen and Jackie arrived from San Diego. Here for two weeks. They're staying in an apartment just a few blocks from us. I've been looking forward to their visit for months - saving up a lot of touristy excursions for when they arrived. So far we've been to the Recoleta Cemetery, Palermo Gardens, Sofie Martire shoes, Sette Bacco and El Mirasol dinners out, took a day trip to Tigre by train (my first time!), had a dinner party with friends Brad/Laura and Wendy/Maximo(made empanadas - thank you again to Tonito's Mom for the fab recipe!) and today went to a Futbol (soccer) game at the River stadium. Jackie's a photographer and animal lover so has logged no fewer than a hundred quality shots of Utta since they arrived.

Also, Hugh's back. We both agreed that 3 weeks apart is too long but it was a good trip for him and he brought back several of our rugs from storage to use in the apartment. Thursday we move to a new place. Well, new old actually. After nearly 4 weeks of searching for the perfect next apartment - closer to the park for Utta, a bit bigger for us and coming visitors, and in a different neighborhood for a change, we opted to return to the first apartment we lived in when we arrived. It's two bedrooms and in Palermo on Cervino y Lafinur streets, 3 blocks from our favorite parks where Utta can frolick untethered and I can get to my running practice without taking a cab. Its a "coming full circle" kind of moment. I must've perused no fewer than 100 potential apartments online through the short term agencies for expats and seen more than a dozen in person. Was difficult to find places that would accept a dog and we decided that location was more important than anything else. that narrowed down the search quite a bit. So, our new old apartment is in a great location, takes dogs and is 40% cheaper than our current place. Is it "cheto"? no. Its pretty average in terms of furnishings and the building itself. No amenities like a pool or gym or 24 security but we have the portero (doorman) named Carlos who is a sweetheart and a small balcony for Utta to watch people walk by. Goodbye winter in Barrio Norte, Hello summer in Palermo...