Si tuviera el corazon, el mismo que perdi, Cafe with the greats, Adios a Milhouse and Hello a la Vida

This week has been quite something. It has been the first time since arriving in Argentina that I have really felt like I wanted to go home. That makes it sound like I'm not loving my time here, but that's not what I mean. I have a heart divided with everything I've left behind and everything I have left to discover. I feel completely uprooted. And I have had my first moment where I wanted to make like a tree and leaf. But, I knew these feelings would come as soon as the initial sparkle of being in Buenos Aires wore off. I'm keeping positive and still enjoying every opportunity that is open to me here, of which there have been many this week, but this has stopped being   a euphoric dream and now Buenos Aires is my reality.

I left you all last a little shaken, definitely not stirred, after a boy in my hostel was mugged. Regardless of Buenos Aires showing its rugged teeth, my friends and I decided that we wouldn't let it bother us and the following night we set off to see a Tango show on 9 de Julio. It was breathtaking. For anyone interested in dance, theatre, modes of expression, music and passion, it is an absolute Argentine must if you are ever here. There were two options at our hostel, one for AR$180 which included a meal and unlimited drinks or another for AR$100, which was just the show. We decided to go for the AR$100 after hearing that the other wasn't as good or authentic and went for this amazing meal on 9 de Julio beforehand. It was pretty hilarious as the waiter was about as dim as a dead Christmas tree light. He kept bringing us mountains of bread and when we asked for beer, he didn't quite understand what we wanted. Bare in mind that out of the six of us, four of us spoke pretty decent Spanish. I am now doubting whether he was actually Argentine. As my friend Claudia put it, it was like getting blood out of a stone. Anyway, after having a lovely meal, we headed over to the tango show, which as I said before, was breathtaking.

Tango Show on 9 de Julio

Different couples got up and danced around the stage with such force, it really was amazing. There was a live band with accordions, violins, violas and cellos and a grand piano - the music was incredible as each couple got up and did a variety of sequences that shamed our new-found knowledge at the tango lesson. I thought it might be a bit monotonous with so many couples, but no dance was the same with different steps and it was all broken up by ballads, the band going alone, solo dancers (including one woman who got up and danced with a coat) - the whole thing was just incredible. Below I'm posting a link of one of the songs that I loved from the show, which was actually sung by a woman in the show. I could only find it sung by a man though on the net. It is still just as a beautiful and this site provides you all with a translation.

http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/uno.htm

After the tango show we went to another famous Milhouse party and then hopped across the road to a small club called Severino, which played all of these old favourites from the 80s - it was a completely different experience from Crobar.

Next to me, Leslie, opposite, Claudia and diagonally, Sven. Eating amazing Pizza on Avenida Corrientes.

During the week, I got very close to Sven, Claudia and Leslie and we did a lot of trips out of the hostel. We ate some amazing meals, including these mammoth pizzas on Avenida Corrientes - the food here is truly brilliant. We all got on so well and it was so sad to see them all leave one by one. However, I am so thankful for the whole hostel experience as I have made some amazing friends from all corners of the globe. Sven, Leslie, Claudia....get ready! I could show up in Germany, the USA or High Wycombe at any point!

Cafe Tortoni

Another amazing thing we did was go to Cafe Tortoni. Frequented by so many famous people from all over the world, including Frederico Garcia Lorca, Albert Einstein and Hillary Clinton, it is something of an Argentine institution and cafe culture here is so intrinsic to the Porteno experience that I think if you actually cut an Argentine, they might bleed caffeine. However, other than Sven, we all opted for the Submarino, a cup of hot milk that you drop a submarine shaped chocolate bar into to make the sweetest, warmest and yummiest drink in the world. As I said at the time to Claudia, it tastes like childhood. In the least disgusting way possible. I am not a paedophile. Claudia then went onto to say that it would be the perfect drink for Christmas Eve back home. Probably a better way of describing it.

Yours truly in Cafe Tortoni

On Wednesday, Claudia, Sven and Leslie took themselves off to Palermo and MALBA (Modern Art Museum), while I tied up the loose ends for moving into my new place. The stress of moving into a new place before my internship starts was becoming a massive weight on my shoulders and even now I am not completely free of the awkwardness of being in some random flat in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. Ideally, I wanted to live with other students, Spanish speakers with no one in the flat that could speak English, just so that I could fully immerse myself in the culture and language and improve my Spanish. Some of the houses I saw were a joke. One that I saw didn't have any furniture in the room, I'd be renting - not even a bed...oh but it did have a skateboard, the cornerstone of any comfortable casa! Another I saw, didn't have a roof. No joke. This crazy guy wanted like AR$1300 (roughly £200) a month for a place that was more outside than it was inside. One word. Allow.

Eventually, I met Pablo and his girlfriend Alejandra or Ale for short who own a lovely flat on the fringes of San Telmo, a stone's throw from where I'm working on Calle Chile for the newspaper. They're both in their late twenties; he is a software developer and she is a fashion designer. The flat is lovely and I have my own room and it is by far the nicest place I saw. However, they work a lot and are rarely in the flat, which isn't amazing for my Spanish, which has made me think twice about living here. I'm not going to lie, Hannah and I did concoct a plan of how I could get out of here sharpish and find somewhere else to stay if I don't feel comfortable within the next couple of weeks. Well, I say Hannah had some complicity, but really she just listened to my make-shift plans of desertion.

This whole experience has taught me a lot though. About compromise and about putting in is what you get out. It has also made me realise that no year abroad experience is the same for any of us. That living with Spanish speakers that are here 24/7 is not necessarily the only way to get my Spanish to a good level. That I need to be patient and that my Spanish will grow organically from being in this amazing city. That an opportunity like this is only what you decide to do with it.

I start work on Monday! So I am hoping that things will be different then, and that I will be able to immerse myself fully in the language. I have decided also to look into doing something else other than just my internship, perhaps volunteer with a local charity or school or something to make the most of my time out here, meet new people and saturate my brain with Spanish. Time will tell.

I miss you all so much, please drop me a facebook post, skype me, send me a carrier pidgeon with your updates of life back at home.

Hasta prontito chicos xxxx