Buenos Aires – I was all set to spend a little time catching up on some of the reviews I’ve been wanting to do when I happened to glance at the calendar and something about the date reminded me of my time here in Buenos Aires. I’ve been thinking that I’d arrived in early June, but realized that I actually got here on July 2nd, 2005 for my planned 2-3 month stay… and here I still am two years later. Some days it seems like that two years has passed awfully fast, and other days it seems like I’ve been here for far longer – especially when I start looking at all the writing I’ve done, especially restaurant reviews – how did I fit this many restaurant meals in, especially when I also cook here at home a fair amount??? I thought I’d take a few moments out to just sort of evaluate life and where it’s gotten to over the last two years…

I get reminded, regularly, of what life was like in New York when I meet visitors, or relatively new transplants, who can’t quite seem to get the slow paced rhythm of the city. They want to go, go, go, and get things done, and have things happen, and see everything, and do it all, and can’t someone please get out of the way… and I know that when I got here, and it’s obvious just looking back at the types of postings I was doing at that time, that I was much the same way. That’s changed, and it’s an amazingly less stressful way to live, when you just relax and “go with the flow”. Things happen here when they happen – you can sometimes force things to happen faster, but in general, you end up with an unsatisfactory experience for everyone involved. You can worry about when and how… I get requests for reservations sometimes as much as 8 months in advance now, and talking to some of these people I find that they’ve scheduled their breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and the time periods in between, all that far in advance. What kind of vacation is that?

I haven’t worn a watch in two years, as of today. I took it off when I arrived and haven’t put it on since.

I get asked regularly what are the differences I find in living here, do I miss New York, what attracts me about this place. It’s a complicated answer, and much of it might not make sense to someone who’s not living it. Standing in line used to drive me crazy, and it’s something one simply has to do here. I’ve learned to bring something to read, or I talk to other people in line.

In New York, probably in the U.S. in general, red tape is as much a fact of life as it is anywhere. But it’s also very proscribed – this is what you do, where you do it, and how you do it. Here, red tape is a more of something vaguely hinted at… yes, there are processes, trámites, for everything, but they’re, well, fungible, flexible. Most of the time it’s near impossible to even find out what the official version of the process is, let alone the remote possibility that anyone will actually follow it. Things get done here by a mix of patience and conversation – you work things out with the folks who are processing things. A smile, a handshake, a kiss on the cheek, a casual chat, a cup of coffee, some homemade cookies, knowing the right person, sometimes, yes, even a small bribe, and things get worked out. Try to insist on the process and you just find yourself inundated with more process. I like this way of doing things. I never know when I’m going to do just the right thing or talk to just the right person, and suddenly it all works out. But it does… I’ve learned to have faith.

I always wanted to live in another country for awhile. I admit, I never thought it would be Argentina, I never thought it would be South America, I never thought it would involve having to learn another language. I mean, I studied several languages over the years, and at various points in my past I’ve been conversationally fluent in French, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, Mandarin, and Esperanto. Somehow or other, Spanish never got into the mix. I arrived two years ago, as I like to joke with people, knowing taco, burrito, enchilada (not one of which is useful in Argentina) and probably three other Spanish words. I’m now pleasantly surprised, no, elated, that I’m actually able to wander about, conversing with people, and not really thinking about just how the hell I’m going to communicate with them. I’m by no means fluent, and while I may know the theories of using things like subjunctive and imperative cases, I rarely remember to actually do so, except in hindsight – but I manage to talk, back and forth, with a grammatical level that’s probably about equal to a fourth grader here, though, perhaps with a better vocabulary – at best I know that locals tend to be surprised that I’ve only been here two years – and less and less often they pick me out as a norteamericano automatically from my speech.

Perhaps the biggest gift has been the opportunity to explore a new culture. Make that two new cultures, as not only am I surrounded geographically by Argentina and more specifically Buenos Aires, but my life with Henry has immersed me in the world of Peruvian culture as well. I’ve learned things about the world, good and bad – and not just here, but gaining an outsider’s point of view at our own country. I’ve learned to appreciate, and even find humor in, the bizarre arrogance that accompanies the proud porteño culture… and just as quickly, see how bizarrely arrogant the culture of New York was – something that I probably hadn’t really paid any attention to in 15-20 years, having lived there for 23 years. I’ve come to truly enjoy meeting people from all over – one of the biggest pluses for me of Casa SaltShaker – sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s frustrating, but it’s always, in some way, rewarding.

I’ve rediscovered love. It’s been a rocky relationship, with plenty of ups and downs, with personal, cultural and, socio-economic differences and clashes, but Henry and I somehow or other have managed to work through them, time and time again – something that I’d guess, in New York, I wouldn’t have invested the time and effort into. Part of it is no doubt the difference in lifestyle, and also the associated not working 60-80 hours a week as I was used to. A big part of it is no doubt being in love.

So what does the future hold? I’m not sure, any more than I was of where I was headed when I arrived here 730 days ago. Is Argentina a permanent home? Nothing’s permanent, but who knows? I simply haven’t looked that far into the future to even predict. If I, we, were to decide to leave, where to? Again, who knows, I sometimes speculate, but have certainly come to no conclusions. I know I’ve concentrated my focus on the city of Buenos Aires itself over that time – with only a few sidetrips. People are constantly amazed that after two years I haven’t seen some of Argentina’s most famous sites – Iguazu Falls, Mendoza, Bariloche, various parts of Patagonia – so I know that I plan to make time for as many of those as I can work out this year. I know I want to expand the world of what I’m writing – so if you’re an editor out there, start thinking about how you’re going to respond when you get my query letter…

And, you know what? When it comes down to it, I simply don’t know what’s next. I’m open to a world of possibilities and ready to go, go, go… though I think first, I’ll go meet some friends for a café and watch the tourists walk by…