NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Argentina lost by penalty kicks!!! Today was SO depressing!!! All of Argentina is extremely depressed, natives, foreigners, old people, babies, dogs even!!! I saw this one dog wearing a jersey and his face was to the ground as he walked. You know, it wouldn't be so bad if they had played a bad game. The fact is-- they played very well, with lots of aggression and passion! They deserved to win. Except for maybe the first 15 minutes, Argentina dominated the game and had more shots on goal. Germany did not deserve to win. I'm really being objective here. Argentina scored the first goal, a magnificent goal off a corner kick. Germany's goal to tie it up was beautiful also. The assist was a header & the goal was a header. I've never seen that before. Anyway, the topic of the game has been on the news all day and all evening. Instead of going out to celebrate tonight (with strangers probably since I haven't made too many friends yet, only a few acquaintances, and the Argentines wouldn't have cared if I joined them since they would have been too happy or too intoxicated to notice that I was some strange girl from Southern California) I went to check e-mails and then went to the store (Carrefour again). I was so sad that I bought a pack of 6 churros filled with dulce de leche. I needed something to ease the pain. Being here I feel it more than I expected. If it was Colombia playing I probably would have had a minor heart attack...

It was so awesome… 5 minutes before the game started people were running all over the place trying to get to where they would watch the game. Virtually EVERYONE was sporting some type of light blue and white article of clothing or accessory. My favorite was a guy working at a kiosko (mini-mart type thing) who had one of those hats with the mini umbrellas. At this point I was about to break out into a run (I was walking briskly) because I still had 6 blocks to go and it was 2 minutes til kick off. So I went to the TEFLocal school (where I'm taking classes) and got to watch the game on a big screen in the dance room (it has many uses) along with at least 20 other people. It was one of the most amazing games I have ever seen! I wish it didn't have to come to penalty kicks…

So that's the bad news. I have 2 items of good news to share. One: I get FREE TANGO LESSONS!!! TEFLocal partners with the Academy of Recoleta and as a student I get free lessons twice a week for 4 weeks!!! Two: After my computer (brand new 2-month-old laptop) had a few sips of red wine, it still works as great as ever!!! Well, so far so good. We'll see…

I still don't know anyone except Ryan, the ex. director of TEFLocal who invited me to watch the game there with everyone. I met him yesterday & some of the staff. One of the teachers is Leann (she spells it differently from you, LeeAnn). She's really nice. I forget the name of the Argentine young lady that is always at the front desk area and is always super sweet. Anyway, during the game I met this guy named Daniel. We were speaking Spanish. He thought I was from Buenos Aires and I thought the same about him. Then we started talking about California and we started speaking English. He & his friend both spoke Spanish and English perfectly. They were from Los Angeles. Daniel's mom is Mexican and his dad is Peruvian. Christian's (the friend) mom is from Peru and his dad is from France. Anyway, we got to talking and I went out with them to get a pizza and lament over Argentina's undeserved loss. They're only here for a couple of weeks. Daniel is about to start an M.B.A. program at Stanford and Christian is about to start law school at Boston College. Yes, I was impressed. Daniel has been working for Microsoft for a couple of years in Seattle but wants to start his own software business in L.A. I may be able to meet up with them again before they take off. Fun guys! I was so excited to 'sorta kinda' have friends!

After that I went back to the TEFLocal place and met up with Ryan, the Argentine lady who's name I can't remember (I'm so embarrassed), Electra, and Sarah. Electra was an 18 year old recent high school graduate who did the TEFL program last month (Sarah did too) and it was her last day so they were taking a walk around and they invited me along. Sarah is staying in Buenos Aires indefinitely to teach English (now that she has her TEFL certificate she can work there at TEFLocal or several other places and make decent money (for the economy here).

The weather has been awesome here. Probably in the low to mid 60s during the day. And it's been sunny and the sky is so pretty just before sunset!!! I haven't seen the rain here yet but July is coming!!! Well, it's basically here already…

I've heard from my parents and my aunt & uncle every day which has been nice! It's comforting to hear familiar voices while in an unfamiliar place. It's becoming more familiar each day. I can now say I feel completely at home here in my apartment  and here in my little neighborhood  I really love it all. Soon Recoleta will be familiar to me. I've walked there twice this week but starting next week, I'll be walking there daily for school!!!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and e-mails! I LOVE hearing from you all even though I usually don't have time to send personal replies. Soon I will. I'm determined to have this dial-up working by the end of next week. Saving stuff like pictures & these updates on a USB drive or even a CD and then taking them to an internet place is not generally helpful & I'll have to see if other internet places have USB ports or CD-ROM drives that actually work.

Oh, P.S. There's a McDonalds here that is open 24 hours from Wednesday to Sunday. I thought that was interesting. Not that I would ever dare eat there when I have access to amazing Argentine food…