Another long overdue update...

So, I've gone another few months without posting on here. Life really does fly by.

So I am going to try to be brief.

I moved one last time from Acassuso to Belgrano. I am living in a really big house with a terrace and patio and I really like it. I have 5 roommates from different countries.

I have spent the last few months working on applying to be a part of the cabin crew of Emirates airline. I had my first interview at the beginning of December and I just had my final interview this past week. The first day was a group interview, and out of 71 they chose me and 10 others to have individual interviews in the following days. After the individual interviews, they told us that it could be up to six weeks before we hear back from them. They also told me that it if I got the job, they would fly me from NYC to Dubai. So, that means I am heading back to Atlanta.

I'll leave Buenos Aires on March 25, to go to Perú. I'm working on figuring out of I can afford to go to Machu Picchu. Actually, better said, I know that I can't afford to go there but I am trying to figure out the way to go and make the least amount of damage to my financial situation. Going to Perú before the US is saving me about $300 or so, and after Machu Picchu I may come out even. I will be arriving in Atlanta at the beginning of April.

I haven't been feeling the effects of the financial crisis much, but now I am starting to. Schools aren't hiring in the US. And right now it's hard for substitute teachers to find work, 'cause everyone wants to work. I am hoping I can find some hours. If Emirates hires me, I'll be fine financially. If not, I'll be scraping by through the summer and hoping to find a teaching job somewhere in the world for the following August. May even go to Korea. In Atlanta, it looks like schools are on a hiring freeze. They are firing not hiring.

So, I have had an amazing experience here in BA. I have made lots of friends that I will definitely be keeping in touch with. Right now, I am hoping that I'll be in the ATL for a couple of weeks and then off to Dubai. But we'll see how that goes. Emirates may stop hiring if things don't change in the global economic situation.

Well, this is Matthew Stephen "Teo" Valdés... signing out.

Desde Palermo a Acassuso

So, I haven't posted a blog since I moved into my apartment in Palermo, and now I have moved again, this time to Acassuso.

Highlights from the time passed:

ELINE THOMASSEN: Palermo Hollywood; Sushi; Scandonavians; the Pool on the Roof.

I enjoyed almost two whole months with my amazing roommate, Eline. She's from Norway and we have become really good friends. We shared lots of laughs, conversations, adventures and even tears. I didn't realize how important she had become to me until I moved out last week. And then, shortly after that, she moved back to Costa Rica (she lived there for three years before). Eline is like a sister to me, and I definitely miss her. She helped me get my footing here in this city, and also helped me a lot with my Spanish.

WALL STREET INSTITUTE: New Friends; Drinking Games; Non-Textbook English; Tandil

So, I love my job at the Wall Street Institute as an English teacher. And though I hardly make enough to live off of, it's okay 'cause I love what I do. I mean, today is a Saturday and I didn't work, but I went in to the institute anyway, just 'cause I love my students and I love the people I work with. Not to mention, I really believe in the program and it's exciting to see the students progressing and learning English. I'm developing friendships with my colleagues and students alike. I've been there for about a month and a half now and I have some great memories. I went on a weekend English immersion trip to a city called Tandil. I taught a lesson on Shel Silverstein poems, including, "A Boy Named Sue." (One example of the non-textbook English mentioned above was explaining the meaning of "helluva" in this poem.)

ACASSUSO: Big Dogs; Trains; Arabian Nights as told by Janet; Suntans

So now, I'm living in Acassuso. I have a little room with a bathroom that is actually  in the back yard by the pool, separated from the main house. I like it, I call it my casitita. Besides my place I have access to the main house. I live with a woman who owns the house, her daughter, and two Brits. I'm no longer in the Capital Federal of Buenos Aires. Now, I'm in the Province. It's quieter and cooler temperature-wise, from what I can tell. I am closer to my work, which is nice, and closer to a lot of the friends that I have made. I get along with everyone in the house, but I especially like Janet, la inglesa. Even though she's at an intermediate level of Spanish, she is very persevering in talking with me in Spanish which I appreciate. She has travelled (I use two l's because I'm talking about someone from the UK) all over the world. Most importantly she has lived in several arab countries such as Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. I'm still getting used to life here, but things are looking good.

ARGENTINE LINGO: Lumfardo; Mate; Voseo; Lleísmo; Clarín; etc.

So, yeah, they speak different here, but I love it. Most of the time. I enjoy speaking using the verb form, vos, and I use it most of the time now. Learning the new words for some things has been interesting. Some examples: pool = pileta, avocado = palta, lawn = pasto. And yes they have words that don't start with "p" but I just picked those randomly. I am slowly adopting these words and other things like "che"(dude), "dale"(okay), and "bárbaro"(cool) into my everyday lexicon. One other quick interesting thing is that they pronounce y(when it's a consonant) and ll like "sh". I adopted this habit pretty quickly, but sometimes it's surprising still. I met a girl named Ashelyn, the other day. Except, it's not spelled that way, it's spelled, Ayelén. Well, I thought it was interesting at least.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE: Changeable; Imaginitive; Flexible; Impassioned; Varying; Who Knows?

For anyone still willing to try and keep up with my plans, right now I am hoping to be in Buenos Aires until May or June. Then I will come back to the ATL for a short period of time. I will then go to another country to teach English where I can pay off my student loans as quickly as possible. Korea is an option, and I am looking to the possibilities in the Arab world such as Oman (Janet is helping me with some of this).

BAD NEWS: Crying; Anger; Fury; Tragedy; Photography Doesn't Like Me

Yeah... So I am going to admit it... I didn't want to believe it... but it's true... someone pickpocketed my camera on the subway. I noticed it as soon as I got out of the station, but tried to tell myself that I had not actually brought it with me, or that I had lost it in one of the pockets of my brief case (this has happened to many other things). Please don't ask me about this, I don't want to talk about it. But yeah, that's why there are no more photos. I'll try and make another video soon.

ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE: ¡Viva Argentina!

Let's be honest, I'm living in Argentina. This is why I went to college, 'cause I wanted to live in other countries! This is amazing. It's getting colder and colder in Atlanta, and I'm enjoying beautiful weather and I have a pool right outside my room. These are some beautiful times.

Mi Casita

So, for those of you who would like to see where I live, here's a little video of my new apartment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k6RjqhNikM

Please watch it, 'cause it's one of the few semi-productive things I did today. Pardon my bad camera skills. Chao.

Palermo Hollywood

Tonight, I spend my first night in my apartment in Palermo Hollywood (yeah, that's right-- sounds pretty ritzy, eh?).

I'll get back to that...

I need to get to sleep. I'll try and make this quick.

I'm a bit behind on my photos. I also forgot my battery charger for my camera on the last trip (I left a few things with a friend), so I only got photos of San Isidro. The pictures here are of Daniel, some of his friends, and El Rio de la Plata.

After staying with Daniel, I went a little farther north where I stayed with a girl named María Eugenia and her mom and brother, Rodrigo. I felt like I was visiting family, staying with them. They treated me re bien (in Bs.As. "re" means "very"). María is studying tourism and actually has classes with Daniel, the couch surfer I stayed with in San Isidro. She took me on a bit of a tour of Tigre, and the Rio de la Plata Delta. We took a boat out into the Delta and went for a walk on one of the islands. It was really great. María said that she would love to show me around Buenos Aires sometimes, as she loves the history of her country.

I had a great time with them and intend to keep in touch.

Then on Sunday, I went and met David, a Couch Surfer from Nueva York. We went to a couch surfing party and had lots of fun (even though I lost my voice and had difficulty talking). We talked a lot about the way the porteños (people from Bs.As.) speak. It's really interesting, I'll probably post about it at another time. I stayed at David's place in Recoleta, and then made my way to my new apartment this afternoon.

I'm now sharing an apartment with the girl from Norway that I met on the bus coming to Bs.As. from the airport. Her name is Eline, but here she goes by Elena 'cause it's easier. She made Norwegian Pancakes (panqueques noruegos) for lunch, and also made me some tea with honey for throat. She's great, and is gonna pretty much be an awesome roommate. She even insisted on paying for me when we went out for dinner tonight. I'll take some pictures of the place an post them at a later date. I have my own room and bathroom. We have a nice kitchen and living room with a balcony, and there's a pool on the roof. And we live in a neighborhood called Palermo, which is really nice, and more specifically in the Hollywood section. It's located basically in the place where Palermo meets Colegiales, Belgrano, y las Cañitas, for the few of you that are from here.

What more... I have an interview on Thursday for an English teaching position... Yeah, and I think that's it for now.

Stay tuned...

¿Dónde están las monedas?

Everything’s going great in Buenos Aires… a bit of an update:



Domingo: Primer Día

I went and met my host, Gaspar, after I ate breakfast. Gaspar is an awesome guy, and I am so glad I have met him. We have similar taste in music and shared various artists that we like, and then we went out for some gnocchi for lunch. I’ll be staying with him one more night, and then I really hope we keep in touch.

After eating, I called my new friend from Norway, Elena and told her that Gaspar and I were thinking about going to the Andrés Calamaro concert with her. (It’s a strange coincidence that Calamaro was playing on my first night in Buenos Aires and that someone randomly invited me to go, ‘cause a little over a year ago the exact same thing happened when I arrived in Barcelona, Spain.) Gaspar and I hung out with Elena a bit, and then I went with Elena to the concert (Gaspar had to get up early in the morning).

O, and I discovered something about Buenos Aires—They don’t have coins. And the buses only accept coins. Coins are difficult enough to find that if you want to get 90 cents to take the bus somewhere, you might have to buy a stick of gum in two different stores in order to get enough change to get on the bus. I bet I could sell a 1 peso coin for two pesos. Easily. It’s really a strange situation.

I’ve been speaking in Spanish so much, I can’t stop wanting to write in Spanish now.

Lunes: En la ciudad

On Monday, I began to get a feel for the city. I went and checked out an apartment that I was thinking about renting a room in (I decided not to rent it because it seems I am allergic to the cat).

Then I went for a walk around the historic part of Buenos Aires.

Later I caught up with one of my friends from Atlanta, Rachel (see picture), who also went with me to Spain a year ago. We went to a restaurant to share some mate (type of tea characteristic of Argentina, I actually tried it for the first time on Sunday with Gaspar). It was great to see Rachel, and she explained some things that would help me get around and understand people in Buenos Aires.

Then I hung out with Gaspar and had a great time eating, sharing music, and talking about all kinds of profound subjects.

Martes: A San Isidro

I left the house of Gaspar, sad to already be leaving. I will be seeing him again though. I went and had lunch with Elena (she cooked actually, and it was delicious), and decided to rent a room in her apartment for the next couple of months.

Then, I took the train to San Isidro where I am now staying with an awesome guy from CouchSurfing, Daniel. This guy is incredible. He is a tour guide and a photographer. He spent 7 months in India and Nepal, and has some breathtaking photos from his trip. He’s a truly unique individual, remarkably generous and with great insights. He picked me up from the train station on his motorcycle and it was the first time that I ever rode one.

Tonight, Daniel took me to a restaurant, or actually una “Parilla” and we ate all kinds of things that come from a cow: intestines, liver, ribs, and whatnot. Then we had some flan with dulce de leche. ¡Delicioso!

We finished the night, hanging out with two of Daniels friends from Argentina, and one from Barcelona.

I’m having the time of my life.

¡Buenos Días Buenos Aires!

Acabo de llegar en Buenos Aires, y a mi me encanta...

Oh, wait, most of my readers don't know Spanish. But my mind is definitely switching over already, after a few days in Miami now I'm in Argentina and it's not like Europe was. So far nobody speaks English, or at least they don't let on. In Spain when I was at say, the information desk in an airport, and spoke in Spanish with my American accent, they would talk to me in English. Here, there's none of that.

The plane ride was okay but long. We were supposed to leave at 6pm, and we boarded at 5pm. Then there was something wrong, so we didn't leave until 7pm. 11 hours in that plane!

When I took the bus from the airport to the main part of the city, a girl from Norway introduced herself and helped me find my bearings. She's been living here since last June and has learned the ropes of being a foreigner here. She was really cool. It's funny to think that we are both communicating in a language that is not our native tongue.

It was a lot colder than I had expected. One of these days I'm going to figure out this whole Celsius thing,

Well, for now I need to get going. I'm attaching a picture of me in this café on the Avenida Santa Fé. It's called, Talón. Maybe I should make a collection of pictures of me in cafés around the world or something...

Hasta luego.