October 30th 2009

Hola Íbero blog followers,

How is everyone enjoying this week? Hopefully you are having a great time exploring new places, getting to know new people and of course learning more Spanish. This week we are taking a break from our activities, we have some suggestions below for you to check out on your own and will be back in action next week!

Tuesday we will have our weekly screening of an Argentine movie. This week we are going to watch a very famous film called "Nueve reinas". This is a thriller filmed about 8 years ago in Buenos Aires. Besides watching an entertaining movie, this is great practice for adjusting to hearing Spanish spoken at a normal speed along with learning colloquial words and phrases. If you would like to join us, meet Tuesday at 2 pm in Aula Cine.

Wednesday night, you can check out a Tango class in Palermo. La Viruta, is a well known place where many young people, porteños, and lovers of tango go for clases and to practice during the milonga. Every day, there are classes for all types of dance from tango to rock and salsa. You can pay and take all the clases offered that day or just stay for one class. The class starts at 10 pm and entrance is just 16 pesos.

If you haven't been yet you can check out the famous Café Tortoni, the most classic café in Buenos Aires. The café opened in 1858 and even today maintains its large salon and historic style. Many Argentine intellectuals like Jorge Luis Borges and Alfonsina Storni frequented Tortoni and the café has a small museum that includes pictures from over the years. The Cafe is located on Av. de Mayo 825.

A very interesting museum to see is the Museum Xul Solar. This famous Argentine artist lived during the first half of the 20th century and died in his 60's. Xul Solar was a vanguardist painter with a very unique style. Although the museum is not huge, it is a must see for anyone interested in modern art. The Museum is located at Laprida 1212.

Finally, The Feria de Recoleta is one of the largest and most interesting that takes place in Buenos Aires and is a great way to spend an afternoon. This feria has a style some would call hippie, because many of the artisans are less traditional than those you find in San Telmo, for example. Besides seeing the Feria, you should visit Recoleta Cemetery and the Centro Cultural Recoleta (which has very neat art exhibitions and performances) that are both close by.



Hope you have a great week and look for our activities next week!

-Un saludo grande from the Staff at Íbero

Tuesday October 27, 2009

How is everyone this week?!

Hopefully you are taking advantage of the great weather and exploring Buenos Aires (or even taking trips around Argentina!). We wanted to let you know what things we did during the week and the activities we enjoyed. Last week was extremely exciting because we watched the Superclásico fútbol game between Boca and River. If you weren't at the game hopefully you watched part of one of the most important sports events of the year. Remember to check the previous post for the activities that we have planned for this week. You will find all the information, times, and places to meet us this week and use your Spanish!

Monday we had our Conversation Practice at a very interesting spot, the classic Café Los Galgos, on the corner of Lavalle and Av. Callao. This is one of the oldest bars in the city and is a tipical porteño café. You almost feel like you are traveling back in time. We met at Los Galgos at 6 to have coffee while having a conversation in Spanish. In addition to getting to know other Íbero students we were able to practice things we are learning in our Spanish classes.

Tuesday night, we had dinner at a popular empanada restaurant called "El Sanjuanino", in Recoleta. As you can guess, this restaurant specializes in empanadas from the province of San Juan, on the border of Chile. Every region in Argentina has their own specific recipe for empanadas with especially interesting varieties from Salta, Tucumán, etc. We had a great time trying sangría sanjuanina(red wine, lemon, orange juice and sugar) with empanadas. We tried all different types of empanadas, some with meat, others with cheese and onion, some with mozzerella and tomato, etc. El Sanjuanino is a great place to come and experience one of the tastiest traditions of Argentina!

Thursday was our weekly Argentine film screening. We watched Historias Mínimas, a movie filmed in Patagonia in which most of the actors are from the province and do not have professional training. We met in the afternoon to watch the movie here at Íbero and practice listening to Spanish spoken at a normal speed. This is a great way to build vocabulary and comprehension.

Sunday, students from Íbero had the opportunity to see one of the most important Argentine fútbol games of the year, the Superclásico between the teams Boca and River. The school organized a trip to go to the stadium together with some of our friends from BAIS ARGENTINA. We met in the afternoon at the last stop on the D Line of the subway, Congreso de Tucumán. From there, we went to eat near the stadium. The game started at 4:15 and our seats were in the "Popular" section. It was a 100% Argentine experience, watching the game and taking part in singing the songs. Everyone visiting Buenos Aires should experience a fútbol game!

We hope you are enjoying our Activities and of course learning lots of Spanish!

¡Nos vemos!

-From the Staff at Íbero

Wednesday October 21st, 2009

Hey Íbero amigos,

How is everyone? We wanted to let you know what activities we are planning for next week. Remember you can always bring your friends along, even if they aren't studying at Íbero. No need to r.s.v.p. either, just show up and have a good time (remember to use your Spanish!).

We hope to see you around this week!

Monday we will have our first conversation practice of the week. We will go to a very well known and famous café called, Café La aPaz. The idea is to meet outside of school to share an informal conversation using our Spanish. If you would like to come practice Spanish, check out this historic cafe, and meet some new people, we will see you at 6 pm on Monday at the corner of Montevideo and Corrientes, just four blocks from the school.

Tuesday we are going to watch an Argentine film here at Íbero. This week we will see "Kamchatka", a famous Argentine film that deals with the theme of the "desaparecidos", those who disappeared during the 70's in Argentina. In addition to featuring some of the best Argentine actors, the film deals with a very important topic in Argentine history. If you would like to join us for the movie, we will meet at 2pm in aula cine here at Íbero.

Wednesday we are going to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, a huge museum housing art from many different time periods and from all around the world. Bellas Artes is the largest and most important art museum in Buenos Aires. There are exhibitions of everything from European, Medieval, and Latin American art as well as collections specifically by Argentine artists. Along with MALBA, Bellas Artes is a museum you have to visit while you are in Argentina! If you want to get to know the museum we are meeting at Íbero at 4 pm to go together. Entrance is free!

Thursday morning we will hold another conversation practice, this time for those students who have class in the afternoon. We are meeting at a café called: Establecimiento General de Café, on Av. Pueyrredón. This is a great chance to have a conversation around any topic students like while enjoying coffee and medialunas. Join us Thursday at 11 am on Avenida Pueyrredón at 1529 ¡Nos vemos!

Friday, we are going to visit barrio Chino. Located in the residencial zone of Belgrano the China Town here has flourished in recent years. Here you can buy everything you need to make and enjoy traditional Chinese / Asian food. You will find everything from spices, tea, to delicious sushi and carts selling snacks on the street. Never imagined a China Town in a country like Argentina? You should definitely come with us to Barrio Chino! We will meet on Friday at the corner of Av. Santa Fe and Av. Pueyrredón.

We hope to see you at one of our activities this week!




Thanks!



-From the Staff at Íbero

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Hi Íbero blog friends,

Hopefully everyone is enjoying their time in Buenos Aires and learning a lot in class! You might even be gearing up for the exciting fútbol game between the Boca Juniors and River Plate. We have some great activities to tell you about this week, and remember you are more than welcome to invite your friends along. We hope you come practice your Spanish with us this week, get to know new people, or check out a new place in the city!

Monday was the commemoration of Christopher Columbus arriving on the shores of America, which meant no classes as all schools and most businesses were closed.

Tuesday we held our weekly film screening of an Argentine movie. We watched "El Hijo de la novia", a movie that features some of the best actors from the time period when it was filmed. Watching movies (with subtitles in English or Español) is a great way to practice getting used to hearing spanish spoken at a normal speed and also helps build vocabulary. This week joing us for a movie called ¨Historias Minimas.¨

Thursday morning we hosted our first conversation practice of the week at Café Tortoni, which is the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires (founded in 1858!). We met at 11 am in front of Tortoni to practice our Spanish and enjoy coffee at this historic café. If you have not been, we definitely recommend you check out Café Tortoni.

Friday we hosted our second conversation practice of the week. We met up at 6 pm in a modern bar/restaurant called: Cumaná. This is a place where many young people come to eat traditional food from different regions of Argentina. We drank mate and ate bizcochos with pan dulce. A lot of students enjoyed the event and had fun using their Spanish in conversation with Juan Ignacio.

Saturday afternoon, we went on a bike tour of Puerto Madero. 10 students met Juan Ignacio at the school and rented bikes at the entrance of the Reserva Ecológica, We rode the entire trail and took a break to rest on the beach to take in the scenery. The park is really beautiful, such a rarity for being so close to the city. This is a great place to have a picnic with friends or go running during the week. If you get a chance you should enjoy some fresh air at the Ecological Reserve in Puerto Madero!

We hope you all enjoyed our activities and are looking forward to the week to come.

¡Nos vemos!

-Thanks, from all the Staff at Íbero!

Wednesday October 14th, 2009

Here are our plans for next week...

Hola friends of Íbero Spanish,

We hope you are having a great week, we wanted to let you know what activities we have planned for the coming week, the new places we want to visit with you and the activities we are looking forward to. Remember you can invite your friends, boyfriend or girlfriend or even family members to our activities, it doesn't matter if they aren't studying at Íbero. The only thing that matters is that you show up and have a good time, while using your Spanish and getting to know Buenos Aires. See you this week!



For Monday the 19th of October we have our Conversation Practice in a bar very close to the school. This week we will meet at Bar Los Galgos, a classic bar that has lots of history and is a point of reference for porteños who work and live around downtown. We always hold our conversations in local bars and cafes that represent a unique part of porteño culture. If you want to have an informal conversation in Spanish in a cool cafe, meet us Monday at 6 pm at café Los Galgos on the corner of Avenida Callao and Lavalle street.



Tuesday we will host a Welcome Dinner for those students new to Íbero. We will welcome new and current students at the empanada restaurant called: El Sanjuanino. This is a classic restaurant where you can try typical Argentinean food, and specialties from the Cuyó región. Like most of you know, empanadas are a typical Argentine food. Throughout the country each region has their own unique way of making empanadas, so an empanada from Salta is different than an empanada from Tucuman. El Sanjuanino is famous for its Empanadas in the style of San Juan, a province near Mendoza located near the border of Chile. Come try some excellent food with friends, we will meet on the corner of Avenida Callao and the street Posadas at 8:30 pm. ¡Nos vemos!


Wednesday we are going to visit Malba, the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires. Along with the Museum Nacional de Bellas Artes, Malba is on of the best known and widely recognized museums in the city. The museum has art from all parts of Latin America and is an excellent museum to visit for those who love art. If this sounds interesting, join us Wednesday at the school at 4 pm so we can take the collectivo together. Entrance to the museum is just 5 pesos.



Thursday afternoon we are having our weekly Movie screening here at Íbero. We hold this activity every week when we meet in the aula Cine to watch an Argentine film with subtitles in English, Spanish, or sometimes without subtitles at all. This is a great way to practice listening to Spanish spoken at a normal speed. This week we are watching "Historias Mínimas"; a movie filmed in Patagonia in which many of the actors are regular townspeople instead of professionals. Meet us Thursday at 2pm at Íbero for a neat movie that will surely improve your Spanish.



Friday we will hold another Conversation Practice to use what we are learning in class. We will meet at bar Estilo San Telmo, a bar on the street Perú 259, located in MicroCentro. We will be able to practice speaking Spanish and try mate, a typical Argentine beverage that is an important part of everyday life here in Argentina. We will see you Friday at 6 pm for a conversation in Spanish at Estilo San Telmo, Perú 259.



Sunday, we will get to know the barrio of San Isidro, located just north of the city. San Isidro is located just near the river and is a great place to explore on foot. We will also visit the Cathedral of San Isidro and finish our trip with a visit to a local cafe. This is a great chance to get to know an entirely different and slightly more peaceful part of the city. If you would like to join us meet at the school at 2 pm and we will take the train to San Isidro! ¡Nos vemos!




Hopefully you are looking forward to our activities as much as we are!

Have a great week!

-Thanks, from the staff at Íbero

Wednesday October 7th, 2009

Hi Friends of Íbero Spanish,

How is Everyone? Hopefully you are enjoying Spring, getting to know the city, and meeting new people all through your study of Spanish. How could you not enjoy yourself in a city with such much to do? We wanted to share with you what activities we are planning for next week. Feel free to invite your friends whether or not they are studying at Íbero, the more the merrier. We plan all of our activities so that everyone can show up and have a great time. We look forward to seeing you this week!

You should already know: Monday the 12th of October is a national holiday. All schools, banks and offices will be closed in commemoration of the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Coast of America in 1492. Classes will begin Tuesday!

Tuesday we will host our weekly film screening here at the school. This week we are going to watch "El Hijo de la Novia", a very famous Argentine film from 2001. The film was nominated for an Oscar as best foreign film in 2001. If you would like to come and practice Spanish comprehension as well as see an excellent film, we will see you Tuesday at 2pm here at Íbero.

Wednesday we are going to visit the house where Carlos Gardel lived, the most important and well known Tango Singer of all time. We will visit the house he lived in during his infancy and youth, that is located in the neighborhood of Abasto, near the shopping center. We will learn about Gardel's life and listen to some of his most famous tangos. For those who are interested in this genre of music, this trip is a must! If you would like to join us, we will meet in the school Wednesday at 3pm to take the subte.

Thursday we will hold our weekly conversation practice for students who have class in the afternoon. We will meet at Café Tortoni, the oldest café in the city, founded in 1858. We will meet at the café at 11am to have an informal conversation in Spanish to practice what we are learning during the week in class. Don't worry if you only speak a little Spanish, the idea is to always improve. The café is located on Avenida de Mayo 829 and we will meet Thursday at 11am.

Friday we will have another conversation practice, this time in the afternoon, so the students in the morning can also practice their Spanish. We will go to a bar called Cumaná, which offers many different types of regional Argentine food. We will meet there at 6pm and have a relaxed conversation for around 2 hours. The bar is on Rodríguez Peña 1149, half a block from Avenida Santa Fe. Take advantage of this opportunity to try traditional Argentine food, drink mate and practice your Spanish outside of the school. ¡Nos vemos!

Finally, Saturday we are going on a Bike Tour of Puerto Madero. We will meet at the School at 3pm, rent bikes in Puerto Madero and get to know the Ecological Reserve Park. The Ecological Reserve of Buenos Aires is a large park behind Puerto Madero, where many people go on their weekends. There is a large path about 7 kilometers long where you can run or ride a bike. It is a great way to experience nature while being so close to the city. We will see you at 3pm at Íbero!

We hope you like our activities for this week!

¡Nos vemos!

-Un saludo de todo el staf de Íbero.

Monday October 5th, 2009

¡Hola amigos de Íbero!

Hi Íbero blog followers,

How was your weekend? Hopefully you enjoyed the great weather and got to know the city a little better. We hope you are having a great time in Buenos Aires, meeting new people, visitng new places and of course practicing Spanish! We wanted to let you know what we were up to last weekend and tell you about some of the things we did, places we went, etc. If you are looking for information on the activities planned for this week remember to check the previous post. Also, you are welcome to invite your friends to any of our activities. No need to rsvp, just show up & have a good time.

¡Los esperamos en las actividades de esta semana!

Monday we had our first conversation practice of the week. We went to a café called Estilo San Telmo, on the street Perú at 259. We met around 6pm and practiced speaking in Spanish till around 8. We also tried mate, while Juan Ignacio explained the history behind this traditional Argentine beverage. Sharing mate and having a conversation in Spanish was a nice relaxed way to use our Spanish outside of Íbero. If you haven't joined us yet for our "talleres de conversación" you should definitely check it out!

Wednesday afternoon we went to the Museum of Popular Art José Hernández. Students joined Juan Ignacio to visit this unique museum. We saw an exhibition of silver and china, as well as religious art from the North of the country, and even saw mask used in African rituals. This was a really interesting museum. In the patio we saw two gauchos peforming a "payada" they were filming for a television program on folkcloric traditions. If you haven't been, you should definitely check out the museum.


Thursday we had our weekly film screening at the school. We watched a movie called "Nos sos vos, soy yo", a comedy about a couple that breaks up and life after love. Watching movies with or without subtitles is a great way to practice hearing and understanding Spanish.

Friday we went with Juan Ignacio to Café del Ateneo Grand Splendid for another taller de conversación or Conversation Practice. We met at 6pm on the corner of Riobamba and la Avenida Santa Fe to go to the bookstore-café. While we enjoyed soda and café we practiced some of the things we are learning in class. We practiced speaking for about 2 and a half hours, asking Juan Ignacio when we did not know how to say something in Spanish. We had a great time and suggest everyone visit this café, which once a theater and is the largest bookstore in the city.

Saturday afternoon we went to the neighborhood of Boca and walked around what is called the Caminito. We met at 3pm to take the collectivo to Avenida Corrientes. Juan Ignacio told us about the history of barrio, how it came to be, who lived there, etc. We were able to visit a conventillo (click on the word for a description) and see how immigrants to Buenos Aires lived, with many people occupying very small living spaces. This is a unique barrio with a lot of history (like all of the barrios in Buenos Aires) and absolutely worth a visit.

Hopefully you've enjoyed the activites as much as we did!
See you this week!

-Thanks from the Staff at Íbero