It’s cold today (finally?) in Buenos Aires—about 50 degrees Fahrenheit—and it made me realize that the new $14 jeans I bought are, apparently, made from tissue paper. Also, the zipper doesn’t go up or down. Curious. I went to a mall today that made me forget, immediately, that three weeks ago I bought underpants on […]

Tonight I had my writers’ group again, and this time we met over in Palermo Viejo (“old” Palermo, which is, in all, a really huge neighborhood divided into sections within sections). It’s a good ways from my apartment, but a nice walk, so I left early and stopped to get dinner just a few blocks […]

When learning a new language, and practicing it outside of your small, chilly classroom with your thoughtfully slow-speaking teachers, success comes down to expectations. I expect certain statements, certain phrases and questions, during specific interactions. For instance, at the grocery store, I expect a few pleasantries when I reach the register. I expect to be […]

This morning I woke up to rain for the first time in Buenos Aires. I spent a lazy morning reading, and then by the time I headed out, the rain had stopped and it turned into a really nice, if overcast, day. I walked down to the park surrounding the Recoletta Cemetery and had lunch […]

“Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.” – William Penn

Carl, my blow-hard classmate with the hearing aids, invited me to go to lunch today with him and his Argentine wife, Marta. Carl talks about himself incessantly and doesn’t let me get a word in edgewise, but because his wife “demands the, uh, espanol,” as he told me, I decided to go with him and […]

My homework assignment tonight began, “You are lost in Buenos Aires. You must find your way.” It has been a bit of a rough day in Buenos Aires. Apparently in week two of learning Spanish, they really pick up the pace and, as a result, I essentially listened—but didn’t understand—three hours straight of class today. […]

Week Two of my Spanish lessons started today, and my teacher for the week is, officially, the most attractive man I’ve ever seen in my entire life. This rocks because what you really want in your intensive language classes is to be afraid to speak. In addition, the new Italian boy in my class, Luca, […]

So, part of the reason I came down here is to spend some time writing, and toward that end I joined a writers’ group in Buenos Aires, and I went to my first workshop tonight. The folks seemed really nice–all Americans and one Argentine who writes in Spanish (which blows my mind). The piece we […]

I read this quote this morning and began thinking about experiences that push us forward, or stretch parts of us that have, for whatever reason, been atrophied. Enjoy: “We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in […]