Part of my regular bus ride

Riding past Plaza San Martin and the Retiro bus station on Avenida Santa Fe toward Puerto Madero... Look in the guide books!

More bus riding!

This is the first part of my bus ride, from Plaza Italia toward downtown. I tried to get some good shots of the crazy fashion and all, but I don't think anything too typically Argentine wound up making it.

Microcentro/Downtown Buenos Aires

This is where I walk around every day between my classes, the center of Buenos Aires's business district.

I took this video just after having woken up on the bus on the way to Chile. We woke up to amazing views of the Andes, and it was so great! I know I'm not looking my best, but just be glad you can't smell my morning breath!

Sebastian

This is another of my favorite students, Sebastian. He's moving to Texas in February, so we have been having very intense classes. He works for YPF/Repsol, and he just found out that he'll be moving, but his English was certainly not at any level that one should be at for living in America. We've been doing 2-4 hours a day together, and he's made a lot of progress! I'm really happy about it! And we also have a lot of fun looking at different websites, like Target and Bed Bath and Beyond, for him to see where to buy all of the things he'll need in his new house. You know I just love that! We've looked for schools for his children, real estate in the area, the nearest grocery store- you name it, we've practiced it and discussed it. It's been so much fun!

Maxi y Patricia

This is Maxi and Patricia, and they are two of my favorite students! They are so much fun. We spend most of our classes just chatting or playing games- it's great! They work together at YPF/Repsol, and they are really serious science people (that's the most detailed explanation I can understand of what they do...), but they are so fun and chatty that you would never peg them as the nerds they are. A lot like most of my friends! :o)

I thought that was really cute, so I wanted to show you both!

I enjoy de conocer a mi profesora de ingles preferida.

This is another of my favorites, Pablo Lopez. I would say that his English is probably the worst of all of my students, but he tries so hard! He only started learning English less than 3 years ago, and he loves learning languages- he is also learning Portuguese and Russian. Pretty impressive for a man of his age!

I accidentally cut him off, so here is part 2.

Translation: Happy holidays and a very happy new year!

Martin and Fernando

Another two of my students that I have so much fun with! We do knock-knock jokes and listen to songs a lot- they are really only interested in pop culture and conversation. Very fun to talk to!

Hi Family!

These are some videos of my everyday life, walking to the bus, around the city, to work, you get the idea, just to show you how I live here. I got some great looks from people while I walked around alone, talking to a camera, in English, etc...

I send you merry Christmas.

This is Daniel, another of my favorite students. He works for Esso/Exxon, and he usually works from home, commuting in usually only for our class, so we get stuck in the conference rooms rather than a real office. He has been the most interested and helpful regarding my research and planning of your trip down here. He really wants it to be great! He e-mails me restaurant recommendations, gives me different tips for visiting the south (where he travels for work at least once a month), and constantly asks about what your plans are and whether or not you like what I've sent you so far. He is incredibly nice! He even researched a whole bunch of stuff about polo for me to see a game because he thought it was important that I experience it. I haven't made it yet, but he asks me every time I see him, so I'm probably going to have to go sometime just to be able to tell him I finally did! His nagging is almost at Mom's level.... :o)

Kisses for all of your family!

This is one of my students, Ximena, and I'm afraid she didn't quite understand when I asked her to say a Christmas message for my family, because she said the whole thing to me, but she got it at the end! She usually takes classes with another girl, Deborah, and they are both very funny. Our first class (two hours) was mostly spent singing our favorite Madonna and Journey songs, many parts of which they had hilariously misinterpreted.

About her sending kisses to you, "besos" is actually a very common (even in the workplace) sign-off from an e-mail or voice mail. Many of my students struggle a lot with finding an appropriate translation, because ending an e-mail to the US with "kisses" would probably not be taken as intended, particularly between men...

I don't know you, but I know your daughter.

This was filmed at the office I work in most frequently, The Goal Rush (catchy, right?). The woman on the left is my boss, and the girl on the right is the receptionist/administrative assistant. They are both very nice, though Marta, on the left, smokes in the office, which is more than a little unpleasant...

While working here, I have met a lot of very interesting people, about half American, half from non-English speaking places. One of the boys who worked with me named Daniel is actually a year younger than me and engaged, ready to elope as soon as he graduates in May. Yeesh. I'm still thanking my lucky stars that I dodged the marriage bullet with Brian! Don't worry, I have no wedding plans in the forseeable future...

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Cheers!

This girl is Mallory's friend from school, Kathleen, and her travel friend, Jason. They are over the top cheesy, obviously politicians in the making, but they were actually really fun to have around for a few days!

More importantly, they are sitting in our favorite neighborhood "heladeria", or ice cream shop. The ice cream here remarkably similar to Italy's gelato- creamy and delicious, with a bunch of different flavors all on one cone! I don't get helado very often, but I have made it a policy to always require that at least one of my flavors includes dulce de leche in some way. I just know that once I leave here and can't have it anymore, I will enjoy thinking back on all of the deliciousness I enjoyed that was unique to Argentina (or at least Latin America) rather than wasting the pesos and the calories on something normal, like mint chocolate chip. I'd strongly recommend saving up a bunch of calories to splurge with on your visit!

Is very nice and very smart. Too smart!

This is our landlord, Ricardo, whom we affectionately call Ricky (unbeknownst to him). He was over that particular day to fix Josepha's bed, which had broken in the middle of the night for absolutely no reason! She screamed, realized what had happened, and rolled over to the still-attached side of the bed and fell back to sleep. Unfortunately, the night after he came over to fix it (we heard power tools and smelled that really stinky glue), the same exact thing happened... We're anticipating returning to the apartment after Christmas to find a new bed... We hope! In the meantime, Anna Karenina and our big Argentina guidbook, along with a few big vampire novels of Jo's, are supporting her.

Anyway, Ricky is the one who invited us to the asado we went to a month or so ago at his "mujer's" mother's home. I put it in quotes because, while they have a child together and live together, they are not technically married. This, we have learned, is actually quite common here. Interesting in a country that has such extremely Catholic roots, no? But apparently the Catholicism of the country is on the outs as well. While he hasn't given us any breaks on the rent so far, we still like him a lot. He did give us a blender, which I say counts for a lot! Hummus, margaritas, mousse- the uses of the blender are innumerable, and have given us plenty of entertainment in our budding domesticity!

Hello, all.

This is Pablo, one of my favorite students. Whenever he forgets to do his homework, he brings me chocolate! He works for Hapag-Lloyd, a German shipping company, and he is the big boss other than the German they sent to keep the Argentines in line. :o)

She is a very nice person. We like her.

Andrea and Silvia work for a company called Celanese that is based in Texas, and they regularly make trips to the US and around South America with their Texan bosses. They told me that people from Texas are the only ones they've spoken to who have not been thrilled about Obama winning, which I thought was a pretty funny, and accurate, representation. I meet with them once a week in Puerto Madero, and since they are usually my only class on Friday, I get to spend the afternoons after their class enjoying the "boardwalk" across from the Ecological Reserve that you'll probably be able to see in your guide books and maps.

Have a holly jolly Christmas...

This is one of our best friends here, Katie. She is a year older than Jo and me, grew up in Richmond, and graduated from Virginia Tech. She spent the last year living in LA, working for an architecture firm, and then decided to come here to work on her Spanish for a year or so before moving into whatever field calls her home. Sounds sort of familiar, no?

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas Family!

Since sending you all of the treasures I have collected for you wasn't really an option, I figured I'd give you something less palpable but, I hope, a little more meaningful... This is glimpse into my life down here! Since I haven't been very good about sending you photos and all that, I have spent the past few weeks compiling videos of my everyday life, my friends, my students, etc., to show you how I live on the other side of the world. I hope that you enjoy it!

Overeall, I just wanted to show you that I am thinking of you always and missing you even more! I'm sad to miss another Green Family Christmas, and to not be there with you in Des Moines, but I hope this can help to make it seem like I'm there with you.

I miss you and I love you!

Merry Christmas!!

Familia de Kelsey, Merry Christmas!

This is an Argentine friend of ours, Daiana (spelled that way in order to be pronounced "Diana"). She was born in Puerto Madryn, in the south where people go for whale watching and baby season in October. We didn't make it down for that, but she has invited us to visit her in January or February, offering us a place to stay and plenty of home-cooked meals, but the flights seem a little out of our budget at this point... We'll see!

She is currently going to school in BsAs for tourism, wanting to do something related to the travel industry and the States. Unfortunately, her English isn't that great yet, and we rarely speak English with her and her friends (great for us, not so much for them...), but they are adorable girls, and we have a blast with them! It is kind of funny for us to see, because they are just now in their first year at college, and our having just come out of that period of our lives makes us feel very old, but also very happy that we have already gone through all of that and have moved on to bigger and better challenges. Like conquering the world!

By the way, this was filmed in our family room/living room/dining room/foyer/breakfast nook/office. It is the decorated corner- don't you love the lamp? We got it at our weekend hippie fair that happens at the plaza just outside our front door. Get excited to see all of the other great crap they make!