If At First You Don't Succeed . . . Fake It!

Street Art in Buenos Aires

Well, here we are in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of the biggest capitals in the world (13 million) and the second biggest city in South America (after Sao Paulo, Brazil).

We arrived on Monday after two extremely smooth and well-connected flights. I even had time to swing by the duty-free to get my Chanel 19, and our bags were just rolling round the carousel when we hit the baggage claim. Joe's guitar made the trip without a scratch . . . yay! We have been staying in a B&B, walking and taxi-ing to appointments to see apartments. It has been an enlightening experience to see what you can get for your $$$. We haven't decided on anything yet, and have, in fact, opted to take our time and move from our B&B to a temporary apartment (weekly rental) where we'll have a fridge, more space, and a few more amenities while we search for that perfect fit.

Along the grid-like "avenidas" I've noticed very creative and colorful street art which composes the picture for this blog entry - I wish I knew the names of the artists to give proper credit! The people have been super friendly, talkative, helpful, and completely without attitude. It is so refreshing to be in a big city where people, in general, act like they are in a small town. Often people will speak, not necessarity fast, but unfamiliar Spanish. I'll say "Podria repetirlo por favor?" or "Podria hablar mas despacio" or simply "Perdon?" . . . my rule of thumb (actually inspired by my Russian tutor - thanks Izabella!) is to ask for repetition once . . . or possibly twice if I can get away with it. If I still am unclear as to what they are asking or saying . . . I unapologetically FAKE IT! Nodding, saying "si", smiling, saying "gracias", or just answering the question I think they asked me seems to keep the conversation going. Friendliness and politeness go a long way in covering up for not understanding everything. I will have to remember to teach this strategy to my students and teachers!



Another strategy that works well when getting telephone calls from apartment agents . . . "I'm sorry, but I can't catch all the details. Could you send me an email with the information?" Ahh yes, the written word is much easier to analyze! But overall, we are doing well in our communicative endeavors . . . and people LOVE to practice their English. We met a 69-year-old man named Sergio today while having a beer at an outdoor cafe. He talked at length, in English, about how he learned the language from some Welsh friends of his father and how he adores Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington. A sweet man . . . who loves to talk . . . in English.



So, there you are. Our first three days have felt like three weeks . . . not in a bad way, but in a way that is helping us get to know our new environment. Whenever you encounter a new place, new culture, the first few days are like a crash course  . . . it's exhausting, but we love it!