Immersed.

Now that we are here there is so much to write about that I almost do not know where to start. There would be no way to capture it all so I suppose I´ll just have to focus on a couple of phenomenons.

Buenos Aires is a city of approximately 13 million people. To facilitate the movement of people here they have a subte (subway) system that consists of several lines. But what is even more amazing is the bus system here. There are over 200 different city buses. And, I´m not sure exactly how it works, but many of them dock at different places and they have a different exterior paint job according to that - basically, each of them look pretty different! It gets better - they have all the route information for the busses and subtes, along with a map of the entire city, contained in a small little book, the Guia T, that fits in your pocket! The buses and subtes don´t need to have a schedule because they all come every five to ten minutes.

Learning a new language has been quite an amazing experience. It has been enhanced quite a bit by staying at the home we are living in, and I feel like the amount we have synthesized in this past week has been much more than if we were not immersed in the language and culture after class, as well. What is very interesting to me is how things are conveyed, and how some words are used similarly and others are used very differently. For example. there are two words for ¨to try¨in Spanish: probar and tratar. The first indicates trying new thingsClasses are very difficult! I feel like there are many steps to learning the language, and comprehending the native speakers talk at their pace is still one of the hardest. Our understanding of the verb tenses and construction is coming along, but there are simply so many to learn! The other frustrating thing when speaking is that I have to talk so slow to convey any one thought. There are many instances when we feel just plain stupid.

Rosa and Fernando have continued to be wonderful to live with. We´ve been having dinner together most nights, and have had the traditional empanadas (I got to help make them - pretty simple actually), as well as other typical porteño food: pasta, pizza, and meat. We had an asado a couple nights ago - four different cuts of meat all slowly barbecued over low coals... all the beef here is free-range and grass-fed simply by matter of tradition, and extremely delicious! We´ve had many culture sharing sorts of conversation. We´re pretty fascinated by the tumultous recent history that defines Argentinian culture, as well as the very complex and tangled relationship that America has with the rest of the world. Even though the United States has exploited many people in Latin American countries, there still seems to be a fascination of us. Jameson and I are coming to terms with how to accept this, as we reject much of what a stereotypical view of the United States stands for. Its appalling to think about the media that crosses our borders. Fox News, for instance, is broadcasted in Australia. Our Australian friend in Jameson´s language class was happy to hear that our views, and the views of all Americans, are not in line with those of Fox News.

There is much to learn about in this respect, and we plan to continue to focus on not only our interests in ecology and sustainability, but also try to come to a clearer understanding of how we fit in to this global picture of the world.