4 weeks is almost over. wow.

it's my last week of Spanish classes with the school (damn 4 weeks flies by!), and i have been taking daily private classes as well. last night, my favorite teacher at the school, Gonzalo, met me at Bangalor, a cool "indian" pub that was more irish than indian, for a few cervezas. we spoke in english and spanish for a few hours and i covered his beers. he's 24, studying literature, has the hairiest arms i've ever seen (we joke about it in class- peludo!), and has a ton of American friends here from all the students he's taught. i've also made friends with another teacher, Ayelen (eye-sheh-len) who is this really interesting alternative Argentine chick who is studying french literature, plays the cello, wears converse and doesn't drink. her boyfriend is american/argentine so i think her English is better than she says it is, but it's good we only speak in Spanish. we're going to try to hang out this weekend as well. she walked with me to my private class today as she was waiting on a friend to call her to meet up. i understood maybe 50% of her Spanish outside of class. hmmm. i did catch that she is in the middle of writing a novel and loves to write poetry. why poetry, i asked? because it serves no purpose, she answered.

Amy is finally back from more than 2 weeks in Patagonia, which she said was absolutely amazing. happy to have her back in the city and can't wait to hear her stories and advice for me (i leave for my own Patagonia trip next Sunday!). Jo has been great to hang with, but she leaves Saturday to swing through Rio before going back to London for her new job. we had an awesome dinner last night at Sarki's, an Armenian restaurant (FIRST HUMMUS IN A MONTH!) unfortunately woke up this morning completely thirsty and bloated. too. much. salt. in. the. hummus. and. falafel. and. tabouleh. twas well worth it though. i miss my hummus.

Apparently a new Dutch dude will be moving in to the apartment once Jo leaves. it's an eternal rotating door with that room... i leave, however, Sunday night on an overnight bus (first class for an extra $12? yes, please) to Mendoza for an interview with the Vines of Mendoza, a hook-up i got through Heather, the woman who i met through Chris, Mooney's brother-in-law who owns a wine importing company in NYC (and may have a position for me this summer... IF i go back to NYC). still with me?

i arrive around 9am Monday, and have the interview at 3:30. should be enough time to shower and freshen up in my hostal/hotel (private room, dont worry). also want to check out the city to make sure it's somewhere i could see myself living for an extended amount of time... after my interview, i will meet with Carolyn from Uncorking Argentina, an American woman i randomly reached out to after finding her wine/adventure tourism company online. she has been extremely awesome in offering to help me sort things out job-wise.

on tuesday, Martha, my private Spanish teacher i met through Heather, has arranged for Martin, a native Mendocino who also has some sort of tour company, to drive me around to a few bodegas (wineries) for the day, before i take another overnight bus back to BsAs tuesday night. i'll have a few days in BsAs before i jet off to Patagonia on the 13th. then mom flies in the day i come back from Patagonia and stays for 3 weeks, but that will have to be another posting.

oooh, just had my first real phone call in Spanish (we only text here), for 10 minutes, with Diego, a potential intercambio i met the other night at an irish pub (dont judge, it's close to the apartment and Milion, the awesome mansion turned bar, was closed!)... anyway, Diego needs to practice his English and in return I get to practice my Spanish (for free! screw this $20/hour stuff). it was surprisingly easy to understand his Spanish... not like the people on the street or in the stores. they still have me completely dumbfounded. this one guy yesterday was trying to tell me something at the bus stop that seemed pretty important and i literally stared at him with my head cocked. he said it again. i shook my head and furrowed my brow. he repeated again in his ridiculous fast porteno accent. i continued to stare blankly. then he pointed at some sticker and said something a few times and it finally sunk in. bus is re-routed. yes. thank you, sir.

favorite new word: Barbaro!

translates to: great!

try saying it and not laughing.