Solo

Today begins my solo travels. Jeni left last night back to California. This morning I began taking Spanish lessons. My professora, Gladys, is very nice and helpful. I will start practicing my presentacion. (Introduction questions and answers)

The toughest question for me to answer is one of the most basic: Que haces? What do you do?
I always want to say, ¨Nothing.¨But today, Gladys and I devised a simple answer. ¨Soy psicologa,¨ because here, you are what you study, and then say, ¨Pero, trabajo en una O.N.G.¨(But I work at a non-governmental organization).

Another point that was clearly stressed by Gladys is that I cannot answer, Soy Americana, when asked where I am from. Duh. It IS a little gauche to say you are American when clearly there are many many types of American, not just US America. So now I say, Soy norteamericana. Or (and this is awesome), Soy estadonnidense. Which means I´m a United States-ian. Ha.

As for social life of a solo traveler, I´ve met a few really nice people. One woman, Theresa, who is here from New York to study Spanish and volunteer, has been a great person to hang out with. We actually met when Jeni and I were searching for a permanent apartment or hostel, and were looking at a place in San Telmo. We also met two very nice Canadians on our bus ride up to Iguazu, and one of them, Dan, invited me to meet him in Cordoba next week. I hear the weather is a little warmer farther west. Then again, that´s what everyone said about Iguazu and it was cold and rainy.