Donde estoy?
Here I am in a land where the Spanish sounds as foreign as Japanese or Russian...well, at least it did when I first arrived!!! Living in Texas, we learn a type of Spanish that is basically associated with Mexico (I’ll refer to it has Mexican Spanish…go figure). Argentina is a country that has been strongly influenced by European culture, the Italian presence being quite obvious. A few examples of pronunciation that had me puzzled upon arrival:●calle (street) in Mexican Spanish is- “caye”, but in Argentine Spanish it’s “cashe”
●ella (she) in Mexican Spanish is “eya”, but in Argentine it’s “esha”
●yo (I) in Mexcian Spanish is pronounced exactly as it looks but in Argentine it’s “jo”
For this reason, I was quite harsh on myself when I first arrived, wondering what in the world made me come to such a place…the city is magnificent but totally intimidating! Vegetarians beware…this is definitely not the place to exercise restraint when it comes to carnivorous instincts. This weekend I went to my first asado (a HUGE argentine tradition and the equivalent of an American bbq…almost) and I drank my first mate (another HUGE tradition here in Argentina, it’s a special type of tea that is commonly shared at family gatherings or dinner parties with friends). Along with the tea we consumed copious amounts of red argentine wine and for those who know him, Reggie made an appearance.
I am currently taking a “curso intensivo” (intensive language course) which has helped tremendously with my listening comprehension, as has my host mama (Beatriz)…who loves to talk and talk! My living situation is quite incredible actually: our host mom and her adult son, three Americans (one is about to leave) and a French couple …pictures of the house will soon be posted to this very blog.
The purpose of this space (as if I need a reason!): a place for me to track my daily life as an Americana exploring one of the most interesting cities in the world. Hopefully, I will have much to report!
