Working, Gluten Free Bakeries and Warm Showers...Days 4 and 5

Lets start out by discussing how LITTLE Spanish I know. Very very litte. Apparently those two years in high school plus my little Rosetta Stone don't really cut it when living and working in Buenos Aires. Opps. Consider that lesson learned.

The office here is like nothing I've ever experienced. The demographic is very young and everyone is very very friendly. And I'd imagine they'd been even more friendly if they spoke English. It's a very open enviornment and a lot of time you can hear american music playing from a computer or two. Sometimes there is even dancing and lots of laughter during the middle of a work day. And there is always always a lot of kissing. Kissing to say hello, goodbye and anything else you can think of.

But it's also almost 100% in Spanish all of the time. People here speak varying levels of English and most do not prefer to communicate that way (which I understand!) So to say it's been a challenge would be an understatement. The urgency to learn Spanish while I am here is very real. So even though it's the last thing I want to do when I get home, I force myself to do a few lessons in my Rosetta Stone every night, even though I really just want to read something in English!

I'm happy to report that I only had to go tres dias (3 days, see how good my spanish is?) without a warm shower. And that on day four, the warm shower was the greatest thing ever. Well second only to the discovery of a gluten free bakery only a few blocks from my apartment. Yes, a gluten free bakery in the middle of Buenos Aires! I was (am) so excited! Granted, the baked goods are only so/so (that didn't actually stop me from eating more than I should have) but the empanadas were fantastic, which makes me a very happy girl. I love empanadas and now I can have one guilt free. I just have to keep my trips to the bakery infrequent and not buy more than one baked good when I go - otherwise we'll have a repeat of last night where I eat an entire days worth of carbohydrates in the span of ten minutes (stupid insulin resitance for making me count carbs - something I would NEVER have done otherwise!)

I am looking forward to ending this work week, which has been reasonably stressful, to start a weekend full of exploration, rest, sunshine and of course, lots of spanish learning.