Home for a while/ Zuhause auf Zeit
For my two weeks in Buenos Aires I figured I would l have a better chance to learn Spanish fast if I did not live in a hostel but instead with some locals. The language school I first picked out offered host families but I wanted a bit more control over which part of the city I get to live in and so I found Nico and Sabrina's beautiful colonial house in San Telmo.
It is an unassuming door but once you follow the stairs up, you stand in a beautiful atrium surrounded on three side by five bedrooms plus the bathroom and the kitchen on the other side. It is such a pretty space that in my first week we even had a little film crew there who filmed a local singer being interviewed. Upstairs there are two more bedrooms and yet another one is on the rooftop.
Oh yes the rooftop - this is Nico's baby who has a true gift for plants and turned this into a veritable oasis in the middle of the city. And besides plants, there is also an open air kitchen to pass those warm summer nights with friends. Last but not least, the roof is also home to 5 cats, one of them (Gatorade - play on words with "gato", the Spanish word for cat) is a splitting image of our cat back in Germany.
My room was the corner room, beautifully decorated with bold colors, vintage icons and heavy wooden furniture. And the height - at least 3 meters, if not 4 - enough for two floor in a "normal" house.
But the best are really the housemates - both permanent, semi-permanent and visiting. There is always someone in the kitchen for a chat and as time progressed more and more of the conversations were actually in Spanish. Sabrina is a star, super nice, super helpful and so is Nico (who also sometimes plays guitar on the roof). I feel I came as a guest and left as a friend.
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