FIRST WEEKEND

Yesterday I spend a great deal time wandering around Palermo SoHo trying to get a feel for the neighborhood with Gaby. Around 8:00 we were starving (we had dinner plans with Pam at 10:00--gotta love the Argentinian eating habits), so we went to a smalllittle bar a block from my house. Gaby was brave and decided to order llama. I couldn't understand all of the menu because there were a number of strange words I'd never seen before, so I thought I'd be safe and order empanadas. It turns out I ordered albatross and alligator empanadas. Ooops. I guess that's what happens when you just order whatever. It certainly was an interesting appetizer. The llama was delicious; the albatross was actually pretty good; the alligator not half bad.

I continued to explore Palermo today. My homework for my Castellano class this weekend was to walk around an assigned neighborhood with two partners from class taking pictures for ten different categories that exemplified the neighborhood. Some of the words we had to use as inspiration were texture, panorama, tension, graffiti...

texture: a gorgeous sequined dress from one of Palermo's many boutiques.

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panaroma: a view of the many different architectural styles Palermo has to offer. Note the recently built modern high rise, the small French-style home, and the stark apartment building from the military dictatorship.

tension: attempting to cross Avenida Santa Fe, the life line of Palermo.

graffiti: Palermo's got a lot of graffiti, but this colors in this one really stood out.

calor: we stopped at one of Palermo's many coffee shops to avoid the rain.

Hopefully these photos can present you with some sort of idea as to what my new neighborhood is like. They are all images I now see on a daily basis. Oh, and the photos aren' mine. I'm not nearly so talented. My friend Jimmy (and one of my partners for the project) took all of them :)