Last Week in Buenos Aires

My last week in Buenos Aires started off with an Argentina Soccer win. I decided to watch my last Argentina game in Buenos Aires, crammed into the outdoor lawn area of Plaza San Martin where they had a big screen set up to watch the event. And boy was I crammed in there, I think there were 50k people there, and it was incredible! The cheers, the horns, the costumes, so exciting, and made even sweeter with an Argentina 2 goal victory. The only thing that made it better was some Irish people asked me to translate some of the things the announcers were saying, score for my Spanish.

Now I am not too sure about these World Cup referees but I am proud of our American last minute goal win against Algeria on Tuesday, made my whole day. The night was even better; we had an asado at my house as a going away party for me with my friends from VOS. It was pretty much my first time cooking alone for a large party. I ended up with 13 pounds of flank steak, a mountain of pasta with veggies, a variety of snacks and dips and fruit salad and a flan (cooked by a friend). I basically cooked enough food for a small army, but no one starved and it all came out perfect so I can officially say now that I can cook (with some help from Carlos who was the asador, and some g-chat advice from Natalie, and my roommates’ extra hands at preparation; thanks guys). We had a wonderful evening eating and drinking and speaking Spanish, since half of the attendees were VOS teachers and employees. I will really miss VOS and everyone I met through them, the school and people there really made my time amazing here.

I spent Thursday packing, running and saying more good-byes (and a few hellos). My last night was spent repeating one of my first nights in Buenos Aires with VOS and Connect-123 where we went to Bangalore for drinks then Carnal to celebrate some birthdays; it’s funny how things happen. I guess I like to close things out the way they started; I first went to Bangalore with VOS for a good-bye pint, then around the corner to Carnal with the people from Connect 123. There I met some new interns and gave them some advice and said good-bye to the others. It was a pretty relaxing night, and I was just trying to take it all in that I would leave the next day, bittersweet, because I am sad to leave but also excited for my next journey. I came, I learned a new language (and got pretty damn good at it), and I met new friends, re-connected with an old friend, experienced amazing adventures and learned a bit more about myself. I think it was the right decision to be a little “crazy”, quit my job and come down here.

Friday was quiet, finished packing, said good-bye to my roommates and landlord and was off to lunch with Peter and Mari who first picked me up in Buenos Aires. We had a wonderful lunch and leisurely drive out to the airport. I will defiantly miss this place, but am ready to come home, even if it’s just for four days! 

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