Lessons learnt

Today was, on the whole, a very good first day.

Spent the night sharing my bed with the kittens and was woken up when they started play fighting across my feet as Martin got up. I figured I'd probably slept enough and decided to get up. Despite my initial concerns after being decidedly chilly in the downstairs area of the flat, upstairs was considerably warmer and a good temperature with just a sheet for cover.

The weather isn't great. Mostly overcast, a bit rainy and actually quite cold. But then again it is winter here!

This afternoon I managed my first bus ride alone, and even got off in the right place to find the place where I'll be volunteering for the next 5 months - Conviven Centro Comunitario. There I was welcomed by Carmen, charming older woman who quickly ushered me in to meet the others; Nikko and Catherine, his girlfriend. It was Nikko's last day, so my one chance to see a class before leaping in myself. It was to my great relief that Nikko told me I wouldn't be alone in teaching! Scott (the other new volunteer) joined us later, during the delicious feast laid on for us by Carmen.

Apparently it's currently "shark week" on national geographic, so Nikko's lessons were ocean themed. Our first class consisted of 1. A quiet day by any standards! The hour passed quickly, teaching and revising vocab and finished up with a "mate cocida" and "postres" which Nikko had brought for his last class. Argentinians love mate, it's a drink made with leaves and boiled water, mate cocida is more like tea; left to steep and then the leaves removed drunk with sugar. Postre simply means desert but consisted of a selection of sweet pastries. Lesson number 2 was considerably better attended and the class were more engaged as a result but both gave an overview of what lessons should be like at conviven. The centre seemed well equipped and staffed by the friendliest of people, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in and getting to know everyone better!

After lessons we took a bus into town to go for coffee together, and after a long spell in rush hour traffic we ended up in the Santa Fe area in an ice cream parlour. I couldn't resist trying the dulce de leche ice cream and it was as good as promised! Sickeningly sweet and absolutely delicious.

It was only when we began to think about leaving that I noticed my bag wasn't where I had left it. Ah. Seems that it's all too easy to steal from under the noses of 4 people. We took a walk around the block in the hope that it may have been dumped but no such luck. Fortunately I had all the most important things in my jacket or jeans pockets. In total it was probably only a loss of about £20, plus a card (already cancelled), a guidebook and a notebook plus a few other negligible bits and pieces. I was a little upset about the notebook as it had been a gift, but then I realised that it's the gesture, not the notebook itself that's important. So no real damage done.

Found my way back to the flat using the underground (subte), overground trains and a little help from staff and amicable strangers.

All in all, a pretty good day and a lesson in caution.