un año

1.7.12

• we arrived in BA

1.7.13

• we've lived (survived) in BA for one year!*
• today was also my first day of group Spanish classes at an institute (3weeks x 5days x 4hours = too much money spent, better be speaking better by the end)
• at said first Spanish class, met Serbian who informed us that today is Serbia's Christmas day
• today is the BCS National Championship game, it's ok ND...you're still #1 in my heart

looking back on year 1...

• happy to say both of our Spanish-speaking abilities have improved
• Jake works every day, all in Spanish (WHAT?! ...sorry Jake, I'm just still so impressed)
• I found a (several) job(s)...the arrangement being bittersweet
• we found a very nice, cozy apartment in a not-so-easy-to-understand real estate market
• watched the exchange rate go from AR$4.30 to 4.90
• persuaded Jake to run a marathon with me (he's really great)
• met friends and have had to say farewell to friends
• traveled to other cities in AR, with brief stops in Uruguay and Chile
• celebrated the year's holidays with our own little family of two
• Skyped...A LOT!
• had good days and bad
• friends visited
• family visited
• drank a lot of wine (particularly malbec)
• ate a lot of local cuisine (particularly bife)
• made a foreign city our home

year 2...we're ready for ya 

• hope to do more of all that traveling, friend-making, visitor-hosting, eating, drinking, etc.
• ...y esperamos hablar perfectamente el español cuando volvemos a Chicago! [so what if Jake kind of had to edit it a little bit?!]

*one of my New Years Resolutions is to be more positive about BA and AR...going to try really hard to do this while still portraying an accurate re-telling of our lives here...want to convey our true feelings, but working on making these feelings more optimistic