Hablas espanol?

Charlotte and I enrolled for individual private Spanish lessons for one and a half hours every afternoon. It was about 14 years since I had done a total immersion spanish course in Mexico, and spent time working in S America . Unfortunately I didn't seem to remember much of it and it soon became obvious that not a lot of people spoke English! (and we understand even less once you get out of Buenos Aires!).

My teacher was "Marrrrrrrrtin" and Charlotte's "German" - with a very gutteral G.

With the help of lessons, a phrase book and a dictionary, some Spanish is starting to come back, although I am learning that there are a lot of differences in Argentinean versus Mexican Spanish (and the Spanish used in other countries). In particular, Argentinians pronounce "ll" and "y" as "sh" (normally in Spanish it is pronounced as "y"). So "llamo" (I am called) is now pronounced "shammo" rather than "yammo" and "ellos" (them) is pronounced "eshos" rather than "eyos"..... The other S Americans called the Argentines "sh sh people". They also use "vos" rather than "tu" with a different verb conjuction....  Buses have a different name, as does the subway....

Within a week I am now able to have some sort of very basic conversation with people in Spanish (and make ourselves sort of understood?? in shops etc). It would be nice if we were mixing more with Spanish speaking people (especially for Charlotte) to try and speed up the process but that is not the case.  So far we have just met an American couple with a 2 year old daughter by the pool.  The days thus far seem to be taken up with homeschooling in the morning and then Spanish lessons in the afternoon.