I’m not a gymnast.

So I guess it’s been about a month since I updated, and it’s about time to get back on the horse.  For those of you that check the site semi-regularly, sorry for being a terrible blogger, but many thanks for reading.

I have been trying to resist reading English news sources so I’m not going to touch on anything that is socially relevant to anyone in the US in this post, but I think I should provide a few updates on life here, and some thoughts perhaps.

The reason I am here, still, is to improve my Spanish and that has been going well.  I start at the University of Buenos Aires next week.  My background check for the US government is still brutally slow, unforgiving, and totally obscure.  I have not the slightest idea when it will be finished, though I hope in January.

I’m working on a project called Arte.SanTelmo.  Follow the link to read about it, but it is more or less a way to make a little guita, learn more about art, meet some interesting people and keep myself busy.  I’m starting it with my flat-mate here and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.  Summer in Buenos Aires is unbearably hot, so I don’t expect walking gallery tours will be the most popular thing initially, but who knows.  The other problem is that here, business literally just shut down for the months of January and February, with the tourist economy slowing to a near standstill.  But if some the galleries are open (we know a few that are so far), that may be to our advantage.

Christmas and New Year’s were strange here.  On Christmas Eve, thousands of fireworks began exploding across the city sky around midnight, while many people were opening their presents before a night out on the town.  On New Year’s Eve, I attended one of the most bizarre gatherings of people I’ve ever encountered.  It was a fairly professional party at a trendy, Belgrano apartment.  Characters:

• American latino freestyle rapper:  This little guy continually interrupted conversations (albeit awkward ones) throughout the night by busting into a terrible, supposedly free style rap, which included the line: “I eat your motherf-ing sh** like bread”.  Eventually people just ended up telling this guy to go away, and he could be seen at the end of the night gorging himself on a watermelon in a dark corner of the apartment.
• LA “Film Guy”:  This guy and his wife continually asked tired questions about “what you do”; raved about the resort they stayed at in what is more or less Cancun, Uruguay; and warned people about the risks of contracting diseases by staying in hostel beds.  They also kicked me out of my seat on the terrace, so they could sit together. Rough.
• Three extremely flamboyent gay men:  Tried to start a naked party at the stroke of midnight, which actually amounted to the Brazilian one taking off his shirt and pleading with the rest of the party-goers to go nude in front of bunch of people they never spoken with.  They also lectured me and my roommates on the benefits of many taboo acts not to be discussed on this dignified blog.
• Various other awkward mingling sessions.

I think I’ll try and do a photo-summary of the past month or so rather than give the play-by-play, so below are some photos of places or things that I’ve been doing, pulled from Flickr.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

1.  Asado (BBQ at Chebo’s house) 2. La Catedral (tango every Tuesday) 3. San Telmo Crew 4. My apartment building in Plaza Dorrego 5. Pizzeria Guerrin, best muzzarella in town 6. Mercado San Telmo, buy groceries 7. Parque Lezama, read/study 8. El Federal, regular haunt