Neighbors, New friends and Beautiful Places.....

In the last (almost 2 weeks) since my last posting, a lot has happened to Katrine and I. We have basically been sick for the last week and that is the main reason for the lack of blogging. We spent the last weekend in the apartment in a dream world of lack of sleep and malnutrition! Such is life though.... I am here to say however, that we are back up and feeling good (well Kien not so much 100% but I am feeling close to that!). We actually both missed school on Monday due to our short-term illness. uff og uff... :( We fortunately we able to make it to the rest of classes for the week.

Pretty much each day after classes we have been joined by our only other classmate to get a bite to eat. His name is Mike and is originally from Australia but has made his home the last few years in England. Very nice guy that both Katrine and I have grown to like quite a lot. Another bonus about Mike is that he will be in Ba As as long as we will be. (we just hope he likes us too ;))



It must be said for the foodies out there that read my blog, there are endless wonderful places to try for not a lot of money. We try to eat different places everyday but it is hard after you fall in love with new places everyday. Empanadas, tamales, pizza, beer, wine, steak, burritos and Chinese food, all have a special place in my heart! And if you come for a visit... you will for sure find room in your heart for the same!

So tonight was a very good night. Our neighbors from back home at Moholt are actually in Ba As for the weekend. Kari from Norway and her husband Cristián from Chile are here and we went out for lunch to our favorite restaurant Cumana earlier in the day. Katrine and I went home and took a little siesta and got rested up for the evening. We met them at Siga la Vaca. (follow the cow). We waited in a huge line for the better part of an hour to get a table, but I assure you that it was worth the wait! For 59 pesos or 100 NOK or about 19.50USD you got all you can eat steak and grill meat ( parilla), salad bar, one bottle of wine (per person), and desert! Definitely good value for your money! It was way good and we all gorged ourselves to excess. The only part I wasn't the hugest fan of was, was the grilled beef intestines I was coerced into eating. Think grizzly fat and then have it squirt something nasty into your mouth as you chew it. Suffice it to say, I almost lost the rest of my meal on that one bite! But hey, at least some people like it!!!!

After our dinner at Siga la Vaca, we went to the San Telmo neighborhood looked for a bar. San Telmo is an old neighborhood that has cobblestone streets and cool old architecture. We found a cool little bar that played live music and made good drinks! As we sipped out strawberry daiquiris and mojitos respectively we listened to old American blues tunes such as Johnny be good and My blue suede shoes. The place was hoppin`! It for sure wont be our last trip to San Telmo.

We love Ba As and Ba As loves us.....(at least we think so). She has at least treated us very well thus far. Porteños also have been nothing but kind and helpful to us. (Bad drivers though.....got into an accident in the taxi this morning..... Don't worry though.... no paper work was exchanged!) I love this crazy place!




Ps. Thanks to everyone that has bothered to leave a message! Even though this is technically my blog (and Katrine refers everyone here), we both very much appreciate everyones wonderful comments! We love you all too!


Much love,
Seany

Viva La Vida!

Hola folkens......
so yeah, we have been here in Bs As (the cool way of writing it) for a little over a week. We are having a wonderful time. The apartment is for the most part in order but not before a thorough cleaning with some Cif nb not Jif! It is a pretty old apartment with wood floors and high vaulted ceilings and a small courtyard that we get like 20 minutes of sun in per day! ;) Just when its right overhead. Pretty cool place overall.

This past week we have learned and experienced so much. First of all... there is nothing that is called fast here in this country. Everything takes time and there is lines for absolutely everything. I think it is very good practice for Kien and I who are not especially known for being the most patient people in this world. It definitely tests our Hochendoner/Hordnes genes respectively!

(First night in the new pad)

We have spanish class 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. All this week it has just been Katrine and I and our teacher Cecilia. She is a very nice porteña that studies literature at the university here and teaches us sorry souls spanish when she has breaks from school. The other students and teachers have all been very nice so far and we have spent pretty much every afternoon with them.

On Friday we went out and met one of our teachers (Paula) and one of her students in town. Since we don't have cell phones from here we just had to agree to a time and a place. I think that the last time we did that was probably in '94 or something :) We ended up going to a smoke filled pool hall for the evening. We ordered 1liter beer after 1l beer which we shared in small glasses. Pool took a backseat to conversations of broken spanish and 1 peso per song in the jukebox! I think I eventually settled on one ACDC, 1 Rolling Stones and 1 Eminem song. LOL The choices weren't huge but that did not correlate to my enjoyment! We ended the long night getting a pizza in a dimly lit cellar bar.

Pretty much everyday I walk around thinking about how lucky kien and i are to be experiencing the things we do. I mean just the other day while in the store, I was served a stiff drink while i was shopping! :) I have to admit we went back to the same store the next day to do our shopping. And yes i hovered around the free drink stand waiting for the lady to get back from lunch but since we had to wait like 45 minutes in the checkout stand line (again), I was able to achieve my mission. Great success! Also.... there is aparrently a market for whole cooked pig heads in the buffet section of the store. A security gaurd yelled at me for taking the picture!

This coming week will entail less eating out than the previous week and hopefully more schoolwork. But we have also decided to go with the flow of things and let life happen rather than plan it out. Next sunday however we are going to be going to http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/alegria/intro/intro.htm . Even though its overpriced, it is something I have always wanted to see. So that should be a lot of fun.

Well thanks to everyone who has commented on my blog! Very nice of you all. I will try to keep things as entertaining as possible but no promises.

Much love!

Katrine in a state of tamale bliss

Careful or I will shank your ass if you touch my squash pie.... :)

ps. Eirik, gracias por el título. Me gusta mucho

Hello life.....

So this is my first feeble attempt at blogging. I promise "all" of my readers many typos and grammatical errors. I don't care. ;) That's that kind of person I am. I don't worry about the details but try to enjoy life as it comes. This laid back attitude has some northwestern roots and certainly comes in handy in my and Kien's (Katrine) new adventure.

We are currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina (f0r 5 months! Come for a visit..... but only if we know you and like you! ;) . It's the capital of Argentina and has about 13 million people living here. Suffice it to say that it's huge! So far it has been nothing but great. Porteños (Buenos Aires natives) have been very friendly. They are a wonderful mix of native americans, europeans and whatever else there is. Hard to describe their looks but they seem passionate. Red wine, red meat and tango are to be had in every corner of this wonderful city.

Kien and i haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing yet but we have done a good amount of walking and shopping for everyday things. The first full day we were here, we went to a huge supermercado to get things for our apartment. New smells and brands and ways of doing things were to be absorbed. Spent like 3 hours just looking around and reading labels. (good thing we agreed to eat before our shopping spree). When we actually decided to get checked out for our purchases, we didnt realize that we would have to stand in line for over an hour just to get to the checkout stand. After much chaos with credit cards that didnt work and my ass running up and down streets looking for atms, we finally we able to pay and get back to the apartment. In the meantime however we met a very nice porteña that gave us her number and insisted that we call if we needed anything at all!

Today we started our spanish classes. We took the subway that costs about 3o cents USD or 1.5 NOK. Not bad I would say. Only Kien and i and one other girl in our class. Very one on one in the class. Our first day went very well and we both have high hopes for learning some spanish before we leave. We are going to be taking the class for at least 4 weeks, 4 hours a day. (up to maybe 6 weeks). The teachers and students at the school seem great. After we are done with spanish classes then we are off to join the masses. Kien will start at a hospital in the gynecology and obstetrics department and I will more than likely volunteer somewhere as well as study for exams back home in Trondheim in December. (Anyone know of any good volunteer opportunities in B.A?)

Tomorrow it is back to the spanish class to make me feel dumb again. ;) Not always a good thing to go to class with your hardworking wife.... makes one feel like a slacker sometimes. Oh well, Im going to give it the 'ol collegiate go! After school, we are going to clean the apartment and make some dinner at home. Although the food is cheaper than norway, it still adds up to eat out every meal. But hey the vino tinto is very cheap! Cant complain, livet er herlig.........

ps- pics and more posts to come!


much love.........