Day 9: Armed and dangerous

Ok, so it's not something I thought I'd be doing here in Buenos Aires (ever in my life actually) but this morning I had my first shooting class. I meet a guy from Wing Chun (Kung fu) every Saturday morning for a conversation class, who happens to be a shooting instructor. I wouldn't let him pay for the classes, but when I found out what he does for a living I suggested an exchange! So, this morning I learned how to load, unload and fire a revolver and a pistol, and next week, we'll start with shotguns! I'm not the kind of person that's fascinated by weapons, but it's definitely something to do that's way off the tourist trail.

And spending time with any Spanish-speaking person is a bonus to me. I'm definitely throwing in more and more bits and pieces. Yesterday's lesson was really good , with useful phrases like "that's gross!" and "It's really confusing!" Actually most of the lesson was taken up with talking about Mate, which is definitely a good thing to learn before coming here. If not, the fact that a lot of Argentinians walk around with a thermos flask under their arm might be a bit confusing!

And, I've insisted that my flatmates speak only Spanish to me, unless I'm completely lost. It works for about ten minutes, and then we all switch back to English! But hey, that 10 mins might become 15 next week, then 20, then before you know it, I'll be spending half the day in another language!

Today's lesson was good too. More food stuff, plus dates and time. I love that they throw in the words for 'babe', 'honey' and 'sweetheart' (usually used in a pretty sarcastic tone!) You just wouldn't get stuff like that on other language programs. Not to mention the more risqué things they were talking about there at the end... Even I was a bit shocked!!