Finalmente, estoy aqui!!!

I am here!  Finally!  It took about 24 more hours than expected, but I'm here.  Right now, I'm sitting in an Italian cafe, waiting on some pasta served with salsa.  I think salsa just means sauce, so I'm hoping I won't get anything too funky.  So far (and that means within one day), everything seems pretty "back-homish" here.  There are the same advertisements for the new X-Men movie and the new Terminator movie.  The musical artists are different, but that's to be expected.  I've also seen more Burger Kings and McDonald's that 

I did in New York.  I absolutely refuse to go to a Burger King or McDonald's while I'm in Argentina.  

I was so tired last night, I didn't even hardly try to speak Spanish to my host family.  I did a little, and they said I would sound like a local in a couple of weeks.  I told them to speak Spanish around me and to me, but I would nod yes or no if I understood it.  Good news though, this morning at breakfast the mother and daughter (who speak so fast I wouldn't understand it if it were in English) were speaking and I began picking up on it a little.  Maybe a couple of words per sentence opposed to one every couple of sentences.  A couple more words per sentence means I at least understand the topic/main word of sentence, which was better than last night.  I think once I get caught up on my sleep, I will begin to absorb more by osmosis, hopefully rekindling all of those lessons from high school and college. 

For now I have two missions: buy an electric beard trimmer (because I left mine in the States) and a part to connect my computer to their electric plugs.  It sucks because no one knows the word for it in English or Spanish, so I'm just lugging my computer around to electronics stores and in broken spanish pointing to my computer cord and to their electric plugs.  

Well, I just got my pasta, and its a local take on alfredo sauce with pasta.  Wow, they can cook.  I got a very nice pasta dish with fresh grated parmesan cheese and assorted breads for 6 dollars.  And that's the Sunday price, which is more expensive than other days because most restaurants and shops are closed today.

I also found out why people are saying that Argentina is a haven for the global recession: they make everything here.  Now, most of the industries are subsidized in some way or another by government money, but I haven't seen any import besides personal hygiene products and entertainment.  

I'm gonna back-fill posts for my travel days.  I kept a journal of sorts, but I didn't have internet access (free, that is) in Toronto or any airports.  The next few posts will be anachronistic, but interesting nonetheless.

Ciao!