[Paisleychick-lj] Packed Weekend

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Ceiling lights blurred][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

This was a really busy weekend for us. We had friends in town with their parents and since they were in Buenos Aires for just four days, they wanted to pack in as much stuff into their time here as possible. I haven't done that much in a while - fantastic restaurants for rich yummy meals (much steak was consumed), tango shows, museums and general sight seeing. Wow. Friday we walked around Micro Center and went to a free symphony I found out about on couchsurfing.com. It was the National Symphonic Orchestra performing in a small auditorium. The quality was amazing, and I have never been at a classical concert of that level in that intimate a setting. The only downside was that I was tired and it was warm. I feel asleep for a bit at the end. Unfortunately, I missed the part where the conductor got a little bit overworked and let his baton fly....  
  


[![][5]][6]   
[Looking back into the kitchen][7]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

And, all the while, we were in contract negotiations for our new apartment in Villa Urquiza. We signed a six-month lease on Sunday after both K & I going through it, making changes and learning more about Argentine legalese. Our dictionary, 501 Spanish Verbs book and [translate.google.com][8] all got a workout. Kragen is much better about going through this stuff with a fine toothed comb and it's really annoying while we're doing it, but the end result was good. Maria was impressed with Kragen's level of Spanish - he found errors in the contract that she hadn't noticed. We paid for three months in advance, with a one month deposit. This is how we got around not having a _garantia_. It was a lot of money to hand over at once. I feel strange and vulnerable having that much money in my hands at one time and was glad to hand it over and at the same time, not. You can see photos of our new home [on flickr here][9]. I'm looking forward to getting everything set up and playing host to our friends and other travelers via couchsurfing.com. Here's a partial list of things that we need to get: refrigerator, small deep freezer, air-conditioner/heater, fans, compact florescent lightbulbs, light fixtures, lamps, beds, futons, bedside tables, coffee table, washing machine, dining table, chairs, office chair (and plastic carpet to protect the floor underneath it) cleaning supplies (maybe we will [make our own][10]). We have our clothes, some kitchen things and one soft chair for the living room (we rescued it from the trash at our former apartment) as well as various small things we have bought. There are also things I'm looking forward to having: kittens, pictures up on the wall, a stereo so we can listen to music through better speakers than our computers, [a home carbonation system][11] so that I don't have to keep on buying _agua con gas_ and wasting plastic bottles, an herb garden on the balcony, and guests!!!  


   [1]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2345/2067373657_99b87e2e41_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2067373657/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2067373657/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/2055275586_2b616cfd54_m.jpg
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2055275586/ (photo sharing)
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/2055275586/
   [8]: http://translate.google.com/translate_t?langpair=en|es
   [9]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/sets/72157603264042064/
   [10]: http://blogs.move.com/do-it-green/2007/09/18/do-it-yourself-green-cleaning-kit/
   [11]: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001818.php

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/328649.html