[J.] It was a week ago that we arrived in Buenos Aires. And this first week felt like one of the toughest weeks in a long time besides us being all excited about actually being here. We were seriously jet-lagged and started the Spanish course at the same time. Maybe not the best idea, but well... how often do we really know how things are going to work out before we are actually doing them. Our day-night rhythm was seriously messed up although we both tried different strategies to exactly avoid this. The trip from New Zealand to Argentina resulted in about extra 12 hours for one day. Husband thought it might be a good idea to sleep during the flight and so he did. I on the other hand thought, naaah, it will work out better if I stay awake during this flight (and enjoy watching five movies in a row), then really going to be tired on our arrival in Buenos Aires and consequently, I will easily sleep through the first night. And although we both slept relatively well during the first night, the combination of having a jet-lag and starting the Spanish course at the same time was a real killer! Every day when we finished class in the early afternoon, we were dead tired and simply had to take an afternoon nap. We basically were already sleeping while still walking home. During these afternoon naps, we were sleeping so deeply that it was a mission to wake up again in the early evening. It then took maybe another two to three hours until we were fully awake again and not feeling any more as if a truck had been running over us. Which then resulted in us being awake for most of the upcoming night, clearly not ideal. And of course, in the early morning when it was time to get up and attending the Spanish class, we were super tired after only managing to fall asleep again around 4am in the morning... Uuurgh. We felt like being stuck in a bad circadian rhythm.
And learning a new language is a lot of fun, but soooooo exhausting! I simply was not used any more to concentrate for four hours in a row, something I was absolutely used to while working. I felt like my brains' threshold of the maximum intake capacity was reached after three hours, which just added to the feeling of being tired. But the Spanish lessons are really good, the class size is between three to five people and the teachers generally only speak Spanish with us. And they make us speak Spanish as well, although still very rudimentary, but that's the whole purpose of us taking this class, right?! No chance to hide in the back of the classroom and hope to get away with trying to be invisible, haha!
Therefore, we were really looking forward to this weekend, to a) having the chance to sleep in on the Saturday and Sunday morning and catching up on some sleep and b) finally starting to explore the city. So far, we have not seen a single thing of Buenos Aires besides the streets around our apartment on the way to the supermarket or to the Spanish class room!
However, we are feeling so comfortable being in Buenos Aires. I like how the streets and bars and restaurants look like, they are so inviting and the food is great. Husband is having a lot of fun buying cold cuts and fresh ingredients. The kitchen in our apartment is also well equipped, so cooking is a lot of fun. On Wednesday, we had our host Carla and her boyfriend over for dinner. Husband made a typical German dish ("Rinderroulade") and Carla prepared a typical Argentinian dessert. It has been a really nice evening with lovely food, chatting about Buenos Aires, Argentina and general travels, while drinking wine and sipping on Fernet con Coca: The Fernet is bitter and aromatic and while it might not be everyone's favourite straight, it enhances the spice inherent in Coca Cola. Carla told us that the Fernet is actually an alcoholic Italian drink, but for whatever reason, everyone in Argentina loves it. And it is indeed a very nice drink, which I am for sure we have not had for the last time...
Last night, we went eating out for dinner for the first time since arriving here. Finding a restaurant that opens before 8pm is not the easiest thing to do; Argentinian people like to have dinner very late compared to what we are used to! We went to a restaurant around the corner and really like its atmosphere with all the wine bottles stacked up along the shelves on the walls. And it was fairly crowded, whole families and various friends coming together for dinner; something, that Carla also confirmed when she described Argentinian people: social and warm-hearted with a love for food. We took a photograph of the restaurants' menu earlier that day and headed home translating all the dishes so that we would have an idea of what to order. Argentinians love "Parrilla" (pronounced "parischa") which is similar to the barbecue for Germans or the braai for South Africans. Husband tried a typical local dish made of pork intestines, which had a quite a specific taste to it, a little bit like liver. New culture, new tastes! I also cannot wait to try the Mate tea, which is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink, particularly in Argentina. When I was looking up more information about it on the web and how to prepare and drink it, I found out that Mate tea is defined by law as the "national infusion" in Argentina... Seriously, you have to love this country :)
In the meantime...
1) I am experimenting with natural cosmetics. This is something I wanted to do for quite some time now. So, for the last two days, I was cleansing my face in the evening with a mixture of honey, milk and curd (which I could not really find around so far, so substituted it with a light fresh cheese cream). The nice thing is, that it cleanses and nourishes the skin at the same time. It felt so weird putting this mixture onto my face for the first time! - I was joking around the whole time of how Cleopatra-like I will look after some days... My skin is very dry and normally I struggle with cleansing products commercially available because I always have to apply a rich cream afterwards for my skin not feeling like being two sizes too small. And wow... with this milk-honey mixture, my skin felt really nice this morning, and even husband was saying that my skin does look so smooth! Maybe, he was just trying to be charming and maybe, it has also a lot to do with the extra hours of sleep I got over the last two days, but told you: Cleopatra-like. :)
2) I am very keen to get my grasp on yoga. All people I have met over the years that are doing yoga are people I really like. No exception. So, yoga must be something that I for sure will enjoy a lot?! I was looking up yoga classes offered here in Buenos Aires and found a nice looking studio that is doing the courses in English (not sure I would master Spanish classes yet). So, that is something I am looking forward to do while we are staying in this city. Actually, this city feels like I want to stay here for much longer than only the four weeks in total we have planned for so far....
3) It is raining the whole weekend! So much for our plans to get out and about this city!!! Bleeh... Double-bleeeeeeh!!! But around three o'clock in the afternoon today, we managed to sneak out and hop onto a tourist bus taking us around the city. And the city is huge! The tour provided us with a first good overview and orientation of the city... Oh, I so like it!
And learning a new language is a lot of fun, but soooooo exhausting! I simply was not used any more to concentrate for four hours in a row, something I was absolutely used to while working. I felt like my brains' threshold of the maximum intake capacity was reached after three hours, which just added to the feeling of being tired. But the Spanish lessons are really good, the class size is between three to five people and the teachers generally only speak Spanish with us. And they make us speak Spanish as well, although still very rudimentary, but that's the whole purpose of us taking this class, right?! No chance to hide in the back of the classroom and hope to get away with trying to be invisible, haha!
Therefore, we were really looking forward to this weekend, to a) having the chance to sleep in on the Saturday and Sunday morning and catching up on some sleep and b) finally starting to explore the city. So far, we have not seen a single thing of Buenos Aires besides the streets around our apartment on the way to the supermarket or to the Spanish class room!
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| Husband and I during our first exploring trip in Buenos Aires |
Last night, we went eating out for dinner for the first time since arriving here. Finding a restaurant that opens before 8pm is not the easiest thing to do; Argentinian people like to have dinner very late compared to what we are used to! We went to a restaurant around the corner and really like its atmosphere with all the wine bottles stacked up along the shelves on the walls. And it was fairly crowded, whole families and various friends coming together for dinner; something, that Carla also confirmed when she described Argentinian people: social and warm-hearted with a love for food. We took a photograph of the restaurants' menu earlier that day and headed home translating all the dishes so that we would have an idea of what to order. Argentinians love "Parrilla" (pronounced "parischa") which is similar to the barbecue for Germans or the braai for South Africans. Husband tried a typical local dish made of pork intestines, which had a quite a specific taste to it, a little bit like liver. New culture, new tastes! I also cannot wait to try the Mate tea, which is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink, particularly in Argentina. When I was looking up more information about it on the web and how to prepare and drink it, I found out that Mate tea is defined by law as the "national infusion" in Argentina... Seriously, you have to love this country :)
In the meantime...
1) I am experimenting with natural cosmetics. This is something I wanted to do for quite some time now. So, for the last two days, I was cleansing my face in the evening with a mixture of honey, milk and curd (which I could not really find around so far, so substituted it with a light fresh cheese cream). The nice thing is, that it cleanses and nourishes the skin at the same time. It felt so weird putting this mixture onto my face for the first time! - I was joking around the whole time of how Cleopatra-like I will look after some days... My skin is very dry and normally I struggle with cleansing products commercially available because I always have to apply a rich cream afterwards for my skin not feeling like being two sizes too small. And wow... with this milk-honey mixture, my skin felt really nice this morning, and even husband was saying that my skin does look so smooth! Maybe, he was just trying to be charming and maybe, it has also a lot to do with the extra hours of sleep I got over the last two days, but told you: Cleopatra-like. :)
2) I am very keen to get my grasp on yoga. All people I have met over the years that are doing yoga are people I really like. No exception. So, yoga must be something that I for sure will enjoy a lot?! I was looking up yoga classes offered here in Buenos Aires and found a nice looking studio that is doing the courses in English (not sure I would master Spanish classes yet). So, that is something I am looking forward to do while we are staying in this city. Actually, this city feels like I want to stay here for much longer than only the four weeks in total we have planned for so far....
3) It is raining the whole weekend! So much for our plans to get out and about this city!!! Bleeh... Double-bleeeeeeh!!! But around three o'clock in the afternoon today, we managed to sneak out and hop onto a tourist bus taking us around the city. And the city is huge! The tour provided us with a first good overview and orientation of the city... Oh, I so like it!
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