Ironically, I'm writting this at a Starbucks

So my first day, I met up with some old friends, one was actually leaving 3 hours after I got there for the airport to leave the country for a month, but we got to catch up and have lunch...

Later I met up with Jonatan, and walked around a good part of the city and had a coffee at one of Buenos Aires' many emblematic cafes.....

One thing I noticed was an increase in American chains, one being starbucks, the last time I was here, (only six months ago) I could count the amount of Starbucks in Argentina (all of them being located in Buenos Aires) on two hands and have fingers to spare. Today, Buenos Aires is looking more and more Seattle-ish, with more than 44 Starbucks locations in the entire country, in various cities, and quite a few being here in Buenos Aires.

Another surprise, two blocks from my apartment, was that a Wendy's opened up, a company that left the country in 2001 with the Argentine economic crisis and just now returned opening their first location near my house.

Another thing I noticed was the Christmas decorations around the city. A giant Christmas tree in the Plaza infront of the Government's "Pink House." Here Christmas decorations aren't traditionally taken down until the 6th of February.

MY BIRTHDAY:
So December 29th was my Birthday and I spent it with Jonatan in a city just 20 minutes away called Quilmes, its practically a suburb of the capital, but it was a nice change, a little bit quiter with a cute pedestrian only street. It was a nice outing to a place I hadn't visited yet. The city is known for a Brewery, and the beer they produce by the same name, the most popular beer in all of Argentina.

NEW YEARS:
I spent New Years at Jonatan's house with his family also in part of Quilmes, called Berazategui. It was great, we had a typical Asado (BBQ) with all types of meet and food and drink with Jonatan's big family... all interested in asking me questions about things, I had a blast and at midnight, fireworks went off all around us.