Today is my 6th Month Anniversary. Llegue hace seis meses.

I arrived in Buenos Aires 6 months ago today. Definitely some ups and downs, but mostly ups, and moroever, no point in which I even slightly regretted moving. There are definitely moments when I roll my eyes and think "Argentina!" but on the whole the lifestyle is pretty agreeable to me.

Before I moved, I was curious as to whether my level of consumption would increase. Before I moved, I thought I should increase my level of consumption. It's true that when it wasn't my money at all (eg, essentially unlimited expense account in LA) that my consumption increased. But I was still circumspect, because I'm not inherently spendthrifty.

So, when most things cost about 1/3 of the US price, how would that affect my marginal consumption? So far, it looks like my consumption has about doubled; maybe a bit more than doubled. I spend my money almost entirely on restaurants in both the US and Argentina. And the occasionally massage too. But I definitely dine out more here, and in fancy restaurants. Although, the problem here is that there isn't much that's inbetween standard Argentine restaurant (which often caters to the lowest common denominator) and fancy. There's no cheap Mexican restaurants like in Houston. I do miss my Mexican food.

Speaking of restaurants, I'm a little burned out on steak. The other day I ordered a salad rather than eat steak. Especially if I'm not sure if the place will make me a good steak (and cook it properly, which can be a problem), I am occasionally forgoing it. It's quite possible that in 2 years here I will eat double the amount of steaks that I eat in the rest of my life. I definitely miss seafood alot here. Argentines just don't like seafood, and when it is in restaurants, then it's either bland, prepared bland, or salmon. Always at least 2 of the 3.

So speaking of restaurants [did I use that segue already...whatever], my plan when I moved here was to experience lots of different neighborhoods. Not really so sure that's going to happen because I would probably find it difficult if I left the immediate vicinity of Palermo Viejo. There's just not the same culinary redolence emitting in other neighborhoods. I've become big fans of the Asian restaurants in Palermo Hollywood. They aren't terribly authentic, but are all excellent.

I don't play nearly enough soccer here, and that needs to change. Hopefully it will with the weather changing.

And my spanish continues to march onwards...slowly.