Don't should on yourself.

Rain today. Our grand plans of going for a hike near Villa Ventana were put on hold as a result of some heavy rain. It was great! Not only was it a warm summer rain but it was a great excuse to be lazy. Both Guille and I were glad of the opportunity to justify doing nothing.

We're both on sabbaticals right now. We don't have to work but we have this inherent drive in us to keep busy, to DO. I noticed I was feeling guilty as she and her mom worked on their house. I felt I should help. As a good guest I should have but I was told early on that my job was to relax. Why is that do hard for me?

I think I'm just gearing down. If this is an issue after four months, I'm in big trouble. As it is, in these early days I find myself 'shoulding' on myself a fair bit. I should read, I should do Pilates, I should go for a walk, I should stop eating, I should study more spanish. Bah! I SHOULD relax and give my busy mind a sabbatical too!

As it was, I did study a little Spanish. Today was fruits and vegetables day! I sometimes feel like I'm about three years old spouting off my brand new words with the pride of a child figuring out how to tie her shoes! 'yo quiero cebollas y zanahorias!' The trick, however, was that every time I'd look up a word on my translator app, I'd have to check with Guille if that was the argentinian version. Corn is known as mais in mexico but here they call it choclo.

With the effort put in to that exercise and a head full of spanish words in the shapes of nectarines and eggplant, I enjoyed a well earned siesta mid afternoon. Bliss.

We had facturas and pastelitos for afternoon coffee around five. It seems to be a nice part of their day though my guess is that it's partly intended to bridge the gap between lunch around 13:00 and dinner around 22:00. Guille's mom went into town expressly to grab some of the membrillo pastries they described to me last night as an Argentinian delicacy. In terms of typical Argentinian dishes, I'm doing quite well given that I've been here less than a week.

We then went driving around the little nearby town of Villa Ventana before heading up to the Bodega Dunguaray, the local vinyard. It was a beautiful setting and we got some great photos but my God the wine was bitter. It's a new vinyard and they probably need a few more vintages before it matures properly. Still, it was a great field trip and we got some great sunset shots!

The neighbours Nestor and Bimpi were over for dinner tonight. They are lovely people, I can tell. I just can't really communicate with them. It's so odd sitting at the table understanding only a handful of words and barely grasping the flow of a conversation. I'm a talker. I love lively conversations. This whole language barrier has me feeling a bit socially awkward and verbally paralyzed. It's quite the challenge.

Given how spoiled I was in Holland with all of the English spoken, it's important for me to be put into this position to appreciate how others sometimes feel. I genuinely believe that everyone should experience this challenge at some point in their lives.

Guille did a great job of bridging the two worlds but I know it's exhausting so I was fine to sit back and practice tuning my ear and trying really hard to follow. But that too is exhausting so after a while I would give up and accept being lost. Sometimes it's fun to be lost!