America - The South Side: Argentina

Back in Rosario... from Bariloche

2010-05-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

This will now count as my 4th attempt to get back into blogging!! I WILL SUCCED THIS TIME! :)

We (Devin, Nick, and I) Arrived back in Bariloche this morning around 11:30am. It was a 22hr bus ride! It really wasnt that bad though and I would do it TWICE over if it meant I didnt have to get back on that HORRIBLE plane ride from TX to Argentina!

It was just nice to be "home." Funny how this place that felt so strange and awkward two months ago now feels like home! :)I will say being out doors all weekend REALLY made me miss home, but as I rolled my suit case down the "brickish" sidewalks and came inside it was nice to find my just off doing their normal thing. Lucia just got up and was studying in the dinning room, Noel was on the computer in Danilo's room working, Danilo was sun bathing on the roof, and Edgardo was just getting ready to make a trip to the super market.

I unpacked a few things and took a shower. I decided Im going to "protest" and NOT take the bus to school. They raised the bus tickets a few weeks ago and now it is 10.80 pesos for 6 rides. I guess we will see how long this last as it takes me right around an hour to walk to school. It also got me out of eating ravilio for lunch. I was have NEVER really been a fan of it.

While walking I saw a lot of cool things and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS discover new stores or resturants or places to just go and check out some time. I met Anna as she was waiting for her bus too! That was exciting... just that feeling of something/one familiar :)

I was about one or two blocks away from school when I heard what sounded like water hitting the pavement on the road. Now, Im in a city so it pretty loud to begin with so I was surprised I heard it. I looked over to see where it was coming from and as I passed the big dumpster on the side of the road there was an older lady squatting beside it peeing. At first, I just thought it was gross, then it really made me sad. There are NO PUBLIC bathrooms anywhere... for the first month or so I could NEVER figure out why... now I think it is because of this/homeless people. Maybe? It was nothing revelational, this lady peeing on the side of the road, but maybe just a reminder that I was in a huge city in SA? idk...

A block or so later I met Juan, a friend a few of the other ppl on the trip had met. Again it was fun to run into someone familiar :)

Class was good... blah, blah, blah... :)..... After class we, a group of about 6 of us, took the bus to the bus terminal and bought tickets to Iguzau! Iguazu is in the north part of the country and is a group of HUGE waterfalls! Im excited... except that we are leaving thrusday night... and I JUST got back from a 22hour bus ride last weekend. :? haha! Im sure it will be worth it!

After buying tickets, I came home and had some afternoon tea :) Then around 7:45 I went back to the school with Lucia to do some homework and attend the English as a Second Language class. I really LOVE helping in that class. I learn soo much about the English language that native speakers never know! Its kinda CRAZY!

After class (11:30pm) I rode home with Lucia... surprise, she didnt go to class, but instead sat in a resturant and ate peanuts and had a beer with her classmates who skipped too. As Norma would say "Lucia, Lucia" :) Haha! This is just typical lucia... and I LOVE IT :) We had dinner together at 12:00am or so :) Noel sat and talked with us and Danilo came home too a bit later. I just cant get over how wordly my family is... i have to wonder if it is just them or are LOTS of ppl like this? Forinstance, Lucia told me on the way home from school about the french movie she watched this weekend at home. And then at dinner her and Noel were discussing their favorite movies from Korea! Lucia even listed off her TOP THREE favorite directors from Korea!! I have a LONG way to go if I want to be as "worldly" as my family is. :)

Well my friends that is all for now :)
Hasta Manana (unitll tomorrow)

Chile... Day 2

2010-04-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

After a day of traveling, and trying to go to a birthday party Kelsey, Sarah, and I ... who I will now refer to as "the ninas"(little girls) were VERY tired!! I hate to admit it but we slept for 12 hours that night!! It was such a good sleep! Finally Lucia woke us up around 12:30ish and told us we were going to leave in about 45mins. Leo and her were going to see a futból game. They were going to drop us off in Vina del Mar so we could check out the city and the beach if we wanted.

First I should explain this... Vina del Mar is the main city... but the following citys are all connected such that you would not know when you were switching cities... from the north its like this. Concon (Leo lives here), Reñca (ren-ya-ka),Viña del Mar, and Valapariso (Val-par-ah-eee-so). Concon and Reña are more residential while Viña is more touristy with a lot of beaches, and Valapariso is touristy with a lot of commerce.

So at 1 we headed out of Concon and Leo and Lucia dropped us off in Viña del Mar... our goals for they day: Eat lunch, visit the beach and small fairs / markets along the beach, and hit up a Starbucks! After they dropped us off we headed down the main street along the beach in search of somewhere to eat.... WE FOUND PIZZA HUT!!! I WAS SOOOOOO EXCITED! :)

This was one of the first of MANY encounterments of feeling like true ninas. The Chile currancy is very confusing... everything costs OVER $1000! We tried to have leo explain it to us so it was easier for us to convert, but apparently we didnt get it....

Here is a picture of the menu... you can just barely make out the prices on it...

We settled on buying a pepperoni pizza and just like in the U.S. they were offering a deal.. mom would have been proud :) The promo was Buy one Large get on for free! We couldn't resist the thought of having Pizza Hut left overs!!

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!!

Untill we got the bill... :? I dont know if you can see it but the meal was about $14600!! AHHH!! Of course we had an approximation of what this meant, but we really were not QUITE sure...

As it turns out, in the niñas first encounter with Chilean Money we spent about $50 Argentine pesos or about $12-13 US dollars each... i Guess its doesn't seem that expensive but when you consider that we can usually spend $5 US dollars on a meal a day that was a BIT pricey... none the less it was GREAT FOOD! :)

....

If there is one thing in abundance in South America ... its STRAY DOGS!!! While Ill admit I do feel a bit sorry for them at times... i think they are disgusting.. :/ They are just dirty. We left Pizza Hut with a box and headed for the beach...

...the box of hot pizza OF COURSE Attracted a stray dog!! Ugh.. ! :) I tried to convince Kelsey and Sarah not to "lead it on" but they insisted on giving it food... Meanwhile the beach was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the sea because there were TONS of ships in the "harbor?" I thought it looked like Pirates!!!! I think my best friend from home, "C", would have enjoyed it!

I've only been to California once, and from what I can remember the water was COLD then too... the water in CHILE WAS FREEZING AS WELL! :(

Sarah and I found out we both have sisters! Hers is Older and mine is younger, so we laughed A LOT talking about how when we were together we each seemed to play our respective sisterly roles...
In the above picture Sarah insited she take the picture just as the waves came in so it would "look cooler"... really i think she just did it so she could watch me get wet and yell because the water was soo cold!

Go Newells!!

2010-04-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

A few more posts before finishing the Chile Scene...

On Saturday we went to a fútbol game! There are two big teams in Rosario... Central (Booo!) and Newells Old Boys!!! We went to a Newells game!! If there is one thing to know about Argentina its that they love and love to talk about their BEAUTIFUL women, Fútbol and Politics while drinking Maté or Café con Leche and eating Media Lunas :)

Edgardo is a HUGE Newells fan! He told me one day "When the Newells play the world stops!" Haha! Sounds like home when the Hawkeyes wrestle!! When I told my family we were going to a game and that our tickets were really cheap they were VERY worried for me!!

These games are somewhat dangerous!!,... okay they can be VERY dangerous! There are people called Villeros(V-share-ooooos) basically many are in "gang" like things! They dont work, but they have the NICEST things! And they are HUGE HUGE fútbol fans! Many time the villeros are at the games along with OTHER CRAZY fans and it gets dangerous. They told me not to wear any jewerly or my watch. To put nothing in my pockets and to wear old clothes... Clothes Red and BLACK of course (Newells colors) I wouldnt want to step a foot in to the stadium wearing the colors of the opposing team... :/

As we arrived at the staidum I couldnt belive the NUMBER of police there!! :/ Lol!! It was crazy! One police officer even had a shot gun!! lol! There were others who sat in the stands of the visitors with helmets and shields!!

Our tickets were in a VERY safe and tranquilo place and we got to watch all the CRAZY fans across the fútbol field! It looked like one HUGSH moshpit! They had drums ... VERY LOUD drums to sing chants, and everyone was pounding their fists in the air at the same time. There were tons of Banners and Signs of TRUE devotion to the Newells!! Just before the game started from the top of the stadium, where all the CRAZIES sat, they handed down a HUGE HUGE HUGE sign that covered ALL THE PEOPLE sitting there!!

PICTURE HERE..

I won't lie, I know VERY little about Fútbol, but It was soo much fun to be in the atmosphere and watch the game! The Newell's won 3-0! HOORAY!!

Back in Rosario

2010-04-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

I know its a bit out of order, but before I finish my Chile Blogging I thought I would share with you what has been happening here since I returned.

While our trip to Chile was WONDERFUL it was nice to be back in Rosario and get back into the swing of things! I had a few days of class and then it was the weekend!!

I just LOVE riding the bus!! Almost everyday I see ppl that remind me of someone from home! I love seeing the old men ride the bus and I can't help but smile when they laugh their old- smokey- grandpa- laugh! It reminds me of the old farmers back home!

On Friday night, Lucia, Norma and I ate dinner together. We had different kinds of empanadas!! Lucia left for a birthday party and Norma and I stayed up untill 1 talking about the sites in Rosario!! I got out my map and she showed me where all the important places were and the history to all the old buildings! It was WONDERFUL!!

I think maybe some of her personal opinion went into this, but as she told me the history of the buildings she mentioned how much rich history there is! ITS SOOOO TRUE!! She told me the sad part is that no one knows about it because of the government. And the more I am here the more I see how unstable and perplexing it is to me... for instance little things like stopping people from blocking the streets during demonstrations is illegal, but it is not stopped. People smoke pot while walking down the street. People are not supposed to set up sleeping areas in the bus station, but there are ppl all over sleeping there...Lucia said that "no one cares" I dont know that it is that no one care... but i think what she kind of meant was that there are bigger things to worry about than the homless who found a warm place to sleep at night. Im not quite sure what these bigger things are...as I see having a home VERY important, but maybe the problem is how do we fix this... how do they enforce all these things? I dont want to bash the Argentine government, that is not what I mean to do by any means, but for me it just seems soo different than home. Maybe its because I am from a small town and Im not used to this...

Any way back to my point about the history of Rosario! There is SOO much history, but it goes unnocited and unknown because there are not enough resources or time to dedicate to restoring these things and letting the information be known. Its very sad. It makes me sad to know that many people back home know little about South America, where there are so many influencial people, eye opening things, and such beautiful landscape. I too am one of these people, but I guess I hope to change that for myself and maybe a few others. :) Need less to say I LOVE ARGENTINA!!! :)

CHILE... Day 1

2010-04-12T17:29:00.001-07:00

Well needless to say it has been QUITE some time since my last post on here! I went to Chile for 10 days with Lucia to visit here Boy Leo :) Kelsey Tulon and Sarah Kennedy joined me. After figuring out a few days before we left that I had bought Kelsey and Sarah's tickets for the wrong dates a little vacation was definitely in order! Kelsey and Sarah flew home a day late because of my HUGE mistake... but while they constantly give me a hard time for it they fail to mention their plane tickets were almost $100 dollars less than mine. All in all we had a GREAT time... I think Sarah wishes we were studying in Chile and Not in Argentina, but I love Argentina! We all got pretty close on the trip and I feel like I have def. made new friends.

Sarah and I have to laugh because we both have sisters. Im the oldest and Sarah is the youngest, so we found eachother "playing our Sisterly roles" as we were In Chile :) Haha it was a good time...

So here I go... Im going to try and out line the trip with the photos I took.. I know im going to miss a lot, but here I go...

We left Rosario at 3:00am and of course half way on the trip we made a stop so all the Argentines could stop and get their Cafe and Media Luna fix.
I was thrilled as I watched them ALL eat.. and nothing here is FAST so we knew we had a little while to wait :)

My traveling companions look a bit tired.

We made it to BA just intime to watch the sun come up!
.

We made it to the airport and found our door! This is a picture from the plane of the Argentine country. While it looks JUST like Iowa I found my self marveling at Iowa's straight roads and square mile by square mile lay out.

Pictures dont do ANY justice but Flying over the Andes was BEAUTIFUL!! It was also really neat because as I could see the land rising as we got closer to the Mountians but there was a VERY distinct line were the actual Andes created the boarder between Argentina and Chile...

We finally made it to SANTIAGO! And found our way through the deserted Airport.. not many ppl are traveling because of the earthquake and much of the air port was underconstruction. In just this short time I could tell Sarah's VERY distinct lingo was and has worn off on me. After a day of traveling we were all VERY "angsty" (a mix between Angry and Fiesty)

Sarah and I shared my suit case so we didnt have soo much Luggage but as Sarah drug it down here appartment stairs one of the wheels broke...thats what we think hapened this just made our TRAVELS even more interesting!! LOL!! Luckly we were able to hook my suit case to Kelseys but together they were VERY heavy!!

After the Airport we found a bus that took us to another bus station called "Parhajito" or "little bird" :) (just like i call Breanne). Our suit case troubles became even funnier as we were all VERY tried trying to drag these TWO HUGE suitcases through Parhajito which seemed to consist of ONLY stairs!! At one point, and I laugh every time I think of it, We had completely blocked off a set a stairs as we tried to carry the suit cases down them. Sara was at the bottom and kelsey dropped the top half of it as I stood watching this "quilbo". Every one was giving us dirty looks as the worn out travelers were at eachothers throats trying to find our way in a foreign country! AHHH! soo funny now!

So we finally made it to Viña del Mar where Lucia met us just as we got off the bus!

We took a taxi to the bus stop and then bored the bus, luggage and all and Headed for Leo's house!!
The bus drove right along the Sea! It was soo beautiful! HOWEVER!! The roads are sooo curvy and if I thought the Bus drivers in Rosario were crazy.. they hold no candle to the Bus drivers in Chile!! We cruzed around those curves as if there was no tomorrow, not to mention passing ppl on such tight turns!! IT WAS CRAZY and i felt a bit sick after wards.... only to find that after we got off the bus we had to walk up what sarah called "Pikes Peak" It was soo steep and was at least 6 blocks long!! So we FINALLY made it home!!

It was Leo's birthday the day we arrived so after he got home from work we all got dressed and headed to his Mothers house where we me his family!!
We had a little birthday party for him! We sat out side, and they made the mistake of putting potatoe chips in front of US!! AHH!! We(Kelsey, Sarah, and I) couldnt help ourselves as we had almost forgotten the taste of the beautiful chips and we ate all of them!! :) In Chile they call supper "Once" like the number 11.. instead of "Cena" We asked Leo why they call it once and he told us there are lots of myths of as to why.. one is that it was code when the workers wanted to take lunch but didnt want to jefe/ boss to know. They use once because the actually word for dinner was 11 letters long....

For once, the Chileans dont eat very much... they drink tea and not coffee like in Argentina. Once usually consists of a few small sandwiches and tea. ... and some papafritas(chips!) :) It was different but I enjoyed the change!

We all sang happy birthday after once,

but we(Kelsey, Sarah, and I) were sooooooooo full from once and ALL the chips that we COULD NOT have cake! It was about 12:30 or so when they passed out the cake... We were SOOO TIRED!! Lucia and Leo could see this and offered to bring us home! So nice of them.... This is when and where we acquired the nickname "the niñas" / little girls. Leo and Lucia were going to return after they brought us home. We felt like their children... and to make it worse as we left the TRUE niños were playing out front while the 19-21 year olds were calling it a night!! To top off our new self given name ... we all sat in the back of the car as Leo and Lucia sat in the front and had an "Adult converstaion" haha! But it was nice to be home and in a comfy bed!!

CHILE!!

2010-03-28T00:33:00.000-07:00

We successfully MADE IT TO CHILE!! :) I love it here! It was soo beautiful flying over the moutians, and the dive from Sanitago to Viña del Mar was even better! There were vineyards all over and driving down the mountain towards the sea and the city was GREAT!! :)

Its about 5:30... am here, and Sarah, Kelsey and I have made an escape upstairs. We are just sitting here chatting listening to the Chilean's sing "Te Vas, Te Vas, Te Vas, Te Vas" and other reggie songs, and the occasional glass break.... apparently going out here is EXACTLY the SAME as in ARGENTINA!! :) They start the night around 10:00 or 11:00 go untill 5 or 6 am...! We have an amazing view from our room, so maybe we will get to see the sun come up!! :)

We call ourselves "the ninas" / the children. HAHA!! We just cant take these late nights, and last night we left the family birthday party at 12:00am. The real little kids were playing out front while the 19-21 year olds/ "the ninas" were calling it a night. :)

Sarah met a fun friend ;) HAHA, Miguel is his name, and he is a hoot! He told her when he met her yesterday he could tell by her eyes that she liked to dance. :) Of course Kelsey and I, insisted on her dancing... it was a joyus time and is the reason we escaped upstairs :)HAHA!

We also meet a girl named Jessica from CANADA!! :) She was staying with on of Leo's friends, and came to the party with the friend! It was fun to talk to someone in English! She is 29 years old and had set a goal to travel to 30 countries by the time she was 30! Chile was her 30th country!! :) I loved hearing all her stories, and she really makes me want to find a way to keep traveling after school!

Well... Ill upload somemore pics and write more Chilean later :) Chau!

CENA/ Supper!

2010-03-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hola!

I just completed making DINNER HERE!! :) The cheesy potatoes and Meatloaf are cooking in the oven as we speak!! But I will say cooking is a bit different here, but I think grandma would be proud ... if it all turns out alright... that did it all by scratch!

I seem to forget how tiny items make our lives sooo much simpler! For instance... peelers to take the skin off of potatoes...my family doesnt have one. I had to cut off the skin with a steak knife! Also they did not have hash-brown potatoes, so after peeling the potatoes, I had to cut them up in hashbrown like pieces! Needless to say, all of that took me a good 45 mins! :) It was good though because it gave lucia and I a little time to talk as I cut potatoes and she made dessert. :)

Camblles Soup(Sp?) doesn't exist here either, so I made the cream of chicken soup from a little package. The cheddar cheese had to be grated, which was pretty normal.

They dont have a temperature "thing" on the oven so we just had to guess... :/ lol!

They all said it smells "rico" which translates to tasty / delicious / yummy / good .... tons of things really. You can use rico and linda/o for just about anything that is good. :)
We never drink milk, that seems to be reserved for café. Instead we usually drink juice or water, and Edgardo drink beer or wine. But I think we are all even drinking beer for this joyous occasion! :)

We shall see how it goes...

"Family Resturante"

2010-03-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday after lunch, and a nice nap, Norma, Lucia and I were supposed to go shopping at 5. I got up around 4:30 to get ready and Lucia was in the hallway doing her hair. She told me she forgot about a mate date she had with her friends and was headed to the park instead. She said we would go shopping afterwards around 7 ish. It was fine with me! I worked on some homework then around 6 Norma and I went to the Resturant/ Bar that their Aunt owns! Noel works there on Saturdays and it wasnt too far away!

We sat down and had some café con leche with some media lunas! It was delicious!! I had to laugh because I could tell Norma was a bit upset at something when we left the house, but she put on a smile for me. Later at the restaurant I figured out she was upset because of Lucia! HAHA!! She was upset because as she said Lucia is in 20 different places at the same time! She is always going going going, and has tons of plans, which like today mess up other plans! I just had to laugh because ... it kinda reminded me of home and our mothers. :) It was good.

Before we ate our Media Lunas and Café, Norma and Noel told me ALL about the RESTURANTE! It was such a cool place and had a lot of history! I feel like most places here are very unique and have a lot of history. Its different from our Fast Food Franchizes and "Big Name" Resturants (I know there is a word of "Big Name", but I cant think of it... see my English is digressing!)....

Now I can't remember the name of the resturant, but I took a ton of Pictures and I'll explain through them!! :).....

Here is a picture looking into the resturant from the door way! The bar is on the right and there is seating long the whole wall and then more above the bar! Lots of resturants have balcony seating.

FERNET!! Its the drink of the Argentines! Its just like whiskey and they drink it with coca, or coke. There was a HUGE HUGE bottle on the bar, so I had to take a picture of course :)

Noel then said I needed a real life comparison so she jumped in the picture :) I feel like this was a typical "Do family occurrence" of mine. They are just soo friendly and love joking around and having little laughs here and there :)

This telephone booth is really antique! Norma told me just last month, or VERY recently, a scene from a movie was made using this EXACT Booth!! She said they were there ALL day! I thought it was pretty cool.

To the right of the telephone booth, and just as we walked in, there was this HUGE wall with all sorts of antique bottles! I know my mom would have LOVED IT!! Many of the bottles are antique "soda" bottles. Soda is just carbonated water and the bottles, now and back then, have this "jazzy" spout on them!

To the right of the Telephone Booth there was another "back" room and just before the room on the wall was this! The sign in the background used to be the name of a street in this Barrio, or neighborhood. The sign says "Pinaicha," but our Barrio is named "Barrio Pichinca" which, from what i can gather, came from this street name. The bottles infront of the sign are old water bottles.... notice that they are blue Paula! :)

Finally, there is a doctor in the neighborhood who is ALSO a painter! He likes to paint typical Argentine / Rosarioan things such as tango dancers, women, and famous ppl... So that is what the pictures above are from :)

A Teachers Life in Argentina

2010-03-22T11:36:00.001-07:00

I've haven't blogged for quite some time, but I have SOOO MUCH to talk about!!

I must say I have the BEST schedule ever as far as classes go! Not to brag, but I only have class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thrusday. Then Tutoring if I want on Monday Morning, and class every other Friday! :) Its great!

Today I got up around 8:30 and had some coffee and bread with dulce de leche for breakfast... Edgardo told me again to eat some cookies for breakfast! I just can't help but laugh in shock when he tells me that!

It was SUCH a BEAUTIFUL morning!! I neglected to buy another bus pass this weekend, so I just walked to tutoring at the school. It took me 45mins! But it was worth it!! I just find myself lost in thought and awe about city life, and the differences here... I LOVE IT! I did wear the chucks to school, so by the time I got there I was ready to sit down!

Tutoring went REALLY well!! I finally cleared up the "pronouns" of my, yours, his, hers, thiers, ours, and all thier different uses in Spanish! It was great! Mariana, our teacher, knew with out me asking that I REALLY REALLY REALLY needed help with them! HAHA!! :)

So just before tutoring ended we were talking to Mariana about teaching in Arg. IT IS SOO DIFFERENT!! I'm not sure if I explained before, but even elementary and highschool are different. And there is no such thing as middle school here. From what I GATHER... students go to school at one time durning the day... either from 8-12 or 2-6 or something like that. I think younger kids are ususally in the morning and older kids are in the afternoon??

College is different too. In Argentina, there is no such thing as a "liberal arts core / general education classes," and they do not have majors or minors here. Instead they study only what they are going into... they graduate with a "certificate" in abagato, or lawers, or can have a job in economics like Lucia.... It is like they go to a "specialized" school... I cant think of what we call them in the U.S.... but on that note i will say my English has definately Declined since I have been here espically my spelling and grammmer, which was NEVER that good in the first place.

Back to schools:

I didnt have my camera, but on Thrusday of last week i saw the STRANGEST THING!!.... I had just gotten to school and out front there were a ton to ppl., mostly girls (hence my last post on girl-guy friendships), gathered around two girls. These girls were COVERED in food and water, and soda/water with carbonation, and more food... like flour and mate, and JUST TONS OF stuff!! Every one was yelling and laughing and throwing food at theses girls... they were laughing too of course... I just stood and watching...
THEN SOMEONE PULLED OUT SCISSORS! And she started CUTTING off one of the girl's shirts, that was being sprayed!! I COULDNT BELIVE IT!! So of course I had to ask... Apparently this happens when one graduates from school!! This is how they celebrate!! LOL!! I dont feel like I would ever want my friends or family members back home to do this to me :) It was just crazy!

So now on to teachers....
Like I knew, and Mariana was telling us as tutoring today, teachers often work at more than one school! As in two or three or four elementaries, highschools, and colleges!! I just couldn't believe it! At each school they may teach for 4 hours, but then of course they need to find another job/ school, to teach at as well in order to make enough money! I can't imagine working at one univeristy one day and two others the next! TALK ABOUT A CRAZY SCHEDULE!!!

Also, because of this, I asked about being in a Union and going on strike. Teachers can be in more than one union and go on strike in one school but not in another... SOO CONFUSING! (that sounds like a Sarah Kenney quote)

thats all i really have for now :) Lucia and I are heading to the supermarcado to buy stuff for dinner tonight! Im making MEATLOAF AND CHEESY HASHBROWN POATOES!! we will see how it goes as they dont have all the same ingrediants and I think im going to have to cut up potatoes old school style ;)

Mate and race days

2010-03-20T07:44:00.001-07:00

(Photo 3 for Photo Project)

There was a 10K race last weekend, and it was a very interesting experience! I've experienced quite a few races in my day but this race definitely had a hit of Argentina. Much like the man in the picture, everyone brought thermoses and mate to drink! As a runner, I can't say its the best idea to take mate "hits" before a race, but it is very Argentine to do so!

The environment was even a bit different at the race. When everyone finished, there didn't seem to be a rush to get back home to do other things. Many people brought lawn chairs, coolers, and picnic baskets and had another mate hit after the race. I wish it were more like this back home. Some times we pack our days soo full with enjoyable things that we really don't have time to enjoy the day! Here the flow is more simple: mate hit before the run, run, another mate hit and just some chillaxing and chatting over more mate afterwards. If only in the U.S.A did we plan our day around having mate instead of squeezing in that extra activity in the middle of the day.

Its a whole different ball game here

2010-03-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

When we first came to Argentina we were told over and over how beautiful the women look, but what about the men?! While, I have a great guy back home (: I cant say I haven't at least taken a glance at these boys. I've decided that besides the men with VERY strange haircuts, the other men have beautiful hair. It just looks very soft and wind blown. Now where am I going with this? Well Id like to talk about this friendship thing between boys and girls.

Here it is practically nonexistent. I was quick to notice that when people have boyfiends or girlfriends, they spend most of their time with them going to parks, and shopping, and eating out... this is not too unusually from the US. But what is different is that Im not sure my sisters have really close guy friends. When we go out to eat or out to socialize we only go with girls.... or with a girl and here boyfriend, but never a big group of guys and girls. Now this isn't a bad thing but its just different.

I've noticed that if we sit at a table with Argentine boys here the boys only talk to the other boys, almost ignoring the girls. If they ask us a question, and even if the girls is the first to answer they instinctively look at the boy for an answer. The idea isn't to ignore the girls, but I think if they take the tiniest interest in a girls, like talk to them, or look at them, it is seen as they are looking to date them.

Even when we are out and about, I don't feel like the guys are "checking us girls out," like they do in the U.S. Most people avoid eye contact, but maybe this is just a "big city thing."

We were asking a student ambassador named Brian about all of this and he said if he saw Devin and I out to eat, and we both have bf and gf back home, that he would assume we were dating. At home I don't know that this is the case. I feel like I can get a bite to eat, go fishing, or go to a store with a guy friend, and maybe some, but not EVERYONE assumes we are dating. It's okay to be just friends with guys back home.

I really like my male friends at home, but I can see how the "system" here is maybe a bit more clear-cut. Here they don't really have to worry about whether this "just friend" is really just a friend or if they really would like something more.

Some of my best memories at home have been in big groups of boys and girls together, and I would never trade my guys friends for anything, but seeing this cultural difference is very interesting to me! :)

Bus Rides and St. Patrick's day

2010-03-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that this bus riding stuff can really make or break your day. I can tell if I miss the bus its going to be a stressful day, but if Im right on time its usually a good day! For example, the other day I litteraly had one step to take to be around the corner, and guess what happens... that bus just flies on by.. ugh! This was also the day that the bus had to take a different route because of the strike.

We were coming up on a rode and I saw a bunch of tires in the rode. It looked like we were by a car store so I just assumed the tires fell off the back of a truck or something. Wrong. As we got closer, there was a man actually placing the tires in the road! He had closed off half of every street and one street was completely blocked! The street that was blocked completely was full of ppl with signs protesting something. Also, they had two tires in the middle of the intersection and were burning things in it! It was ridiculous!

I finally made it to school, but it took a half hour!

Classes were fine, but Im still not used to having class for 1.5 to 2 hours. After class, Sarah Kennedy and I meet my host mom and sister, norma and Lucia, at a liberia... or a book store.

This book store was really neat! You could sit down and order coffee and read their used books at the same time. Lucia helped me "successfully" find a book about Gauchos.

After coffe, Lucia and Norma went looking for a birthday gift for Leo. Sara and I ventured out for a new cafe to do some home work at. We ended up a Cafe Vicotoria! It was really neat. It was like pub and cafe in one. The ceiling was really high and all the walls were brick. It was on the corner of the street so the the seating was curved like the corner and then on the inside corner / the back corner of the resturant there was a place to eat outside! Sara and I ate some media lunas dulce (kind of like sweet croissants (sp?)) and we had coffee.

In honor of St. Patricks day Sara got café con baileys! It was REALLY REALLY strong though and she couldn't finish it.

We went home around nine and I finished my Gaucho project!! I only got 3hrs of sleep that night, but I think the project went pretty well the next day!

AHHH!! Stressed

2010-03-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello. Im procrastinating... why do I do this? I couldn't really tell you, but I do. I have a presentation to give on Thursday about Gauchos. They are VERY similar to cowboys in the U.S. Needless to say I have yet to start ... :/ but who's to say I have never written a paper the night before it was due? :)

But really. I think, or hope a least, that today was the day I realized how bad the procrastinating stuff gets. I think I usually pull through in the end, but Im not sure the quality of work is as good as I want it to be.. :( I sometimes feel like I dont learn as much as I could have...

Had I not procrastinated I could tell you about how there are no screens on any windows, how ALL restaurants seem to sell the same stuff: they dont specalize in pizza or pasta or Mexican food like at home. I could tell you about the strike this morning that took place in the middle of the road and consisted of burning tires and forced the bus to take a different route. I could tell you about how the language here is sooo different than other Latin American Countries, and how I feel that all those things I learned in spanish class were some how not EXACTLY correct. I could tell you about how much I have grown to LOVE COFFEE!! Or I could talk about how the elderly are much more respected here, and how they REALLY enjoy their alcohol: its in EVERYTHING... for example, the cake I ate a few nights ago tasted like a shot of whiskey! I could tell you about the fair I went to this weekend with Norma and Edgardo, but I don't have time now... and Im still procrastinating... or i feel like this is more like venting... and I feel better now. Thank you for you time!

I hope everyone is ENJOYING THE NICE WEATHER AT HOME!! :)

Weekend and RACE!!

2010-03-14T13:03:00.001-07:00

On Friday I went with Anna, Nick and Devin to a park. We did a little shopping before, and Devin bought a soccer ball and Anna and I bought some running shoes. Afterwards we headed towards the river, and sat in a park right next to the national flag monument, Devin showed us all his sweet futból skills, and tried to teach Nick some too. :)

We just sat and talked... like true Argentines.

Saturday:

UCEL had a big meeting with all the professors, some alumi, and the exchange students on Saturday morning at 9am
There is nothing worse than going to boring meetings about curriculum changes and new teachers on a SATURDAY MORNING! Add in that this meeting was in another language and its REALLY BORING!! ;) It really wasn't that bad, but it was a bit tiring. :)

Kelsey Tulon and I in front of an UCEL sign in the hall way.

UCEL made this sign with all our names on it to welcome us!! Jesse Kuttler is posing with me!

After the meeting we went out for some cáfe while we waited for lunch!

From the left Amy, Sarah, Exchange Student from Germany, Taylor, Myself, and Jesse

From the left: Cassie, Kelsey, Robyn , and Eric

After our coffee break we headed back inside UCEL for LUNCH!! We at Choripan! ITS MY NEW FAVORITE MEAL HERE!! It's short for chorizo, which is like sausage, and pan is bread. So it's just like sausage in a bun, but its DELICIOUS!! :) At this lunch, they just had tons of tables lined up with glasses and pop, napkins, and orderves set on them. There was no seating, but instead everyone just stood while eating and talking.

Jim, our professor, introduced me to some professors at UCEL. The picture below is of Angel, a management professor at UCEL, and me! He's been teaching for 34 years!

After the UCEL meeting and lunch, Eric and I walked to "Mini Iowa" and I did my homework while he listened to music. We sat for about 1.5 hours then Sarah, Taylor, and Jessie came and we all went shopping at the Alto Shopping Mall just across the street from "Mini Iowa."

I left around 8 to go home for dinner, and Anna called to ask if I wanted to come to Nick's house for Dinner! His house was very nice! It reminded me of my house in Rosario,because of the place we ate in but the kitchen reminded me of home! :)

Here is a picture of Devin and one of Nick's dogs! Devin Loved them! The brick little structure to the left is the "la parrilla" or in English is the grill, however the chimney of this grill goes outside, and there is no roof over this part of the house. The wall beside the parrilla was covered in vines. My house has the same grill and wall, but there is a garden instead of vines. I think this is fairly typical of most houses here.

Dinner was great! Nick cooked us pasta for our big race on Sunday, and afterwards we played two games and one was Spanish Bingo :)

Sunday: RACE DAY!!

Today, Nick, Anna, Efran (a professor at UCEL), and I participated in a 10K. It was across that HUGE BRIDGE that connects Rosario and Argentina. It was the first time they had ever had this race, so that was pretty cool to be a part of.

We could see the city in the distance and the cost of the river was Beautiful! You can kind of make out two REALLY tall white buildings in the skyline of the city... those two building are REALLY close to my house and "Mini Iowa" :)

Efram picked us up around 7:30 am and the race started at 9:00? I think? We started "shuffeling"/ jogging at a fast walk pace, at 9:00am, butI dont ever remember walking over the starting line. Now this could have been because to get on the bridge we were supposed to walk on the street, but as you can see in the picture below, everyone scratched the road (and order) idea and just started climbing up the hill! It reminded me of Living History Farms and their STEEP Hills!

There were OVER 3000 people in this RACE!!! (This is OVER double the size of Living History Farms) I looked at results, and through my broken spanish "I THINK" I got 1809th overall place, 49th in the 20-29 age group, and I was 231st of the Women.
It was rediculious though!! My splits were all over the place as at times I could barely walk! I took me 10 mins to get to the first 1k!! This is like .62 of a mile. It was totally worth it though! The view was BEAUTIFUL!!

These pictures were my attempts to show JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE were running. In the picture with the bridge the line goes ALL the way up to the arch of the bridge!

Anna and I midrace:) Taking pictures while on the go is quite an art! HAHA!

The sun was really bright, but the picture is kind of cool :)

Another difference in races here and at home, here EVERYONE wore the green shirt we received in the Entry Fee. This made it VERY difficult/ IMPOSSIBLE to spot anyone in our small group.

No one really walked during the race, which kind of surprised me, but everyone cheered for everyone. I've decided that Asics shoes are NONEXISTANT, and Nike, and Adidas are the shoes of choice.

Even after and before the race everyone was really relaxed and "chill." What is not more Argentine than drinking MATE before the race!! In the picture below, the little cup in the guy's hand is mate ...

Mate is basically like tea that is drank from a special cup and straw. The tea sits in hot water and it littarly looks like pot. My host parents told me they went to a wedding of an England Man and and Argentine Woman, and the Father of the Groom came up to them asking what they thought they were doing bringing pot to the wedding! :) Haha!

But even after the race, everyone brought mate and chairs and just sat and talked. It wasnt like at home were after races we hurry home to finish or start our next activity for the day... :)

STRIKES!!

2010-03-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

Today in class, Amy was telling us how her host sister was really mad yesterday. She was mad because she goes to a University and all the professors are on strike! She was supposed to take her final exams the first day of the strikes, but because of them the exams got canceled. This means she cannot retake them and must take the WHOLE CLASS over in June.

I don't think this would EVER happen in the U.S. I just think things are more organized back home, more stable, and predictable. I don't know quite how to explain it but I think I miss it. I miss knowing that the bus will come at EXACTLY 8:00am on the dot, and that stores open up EXACTLY when they say, and when you pay for a candy bar or a taxi ride you will ALWAYS get your EXACT change back instead of being yelled at for not giving them exact change and then not getting anything back at all... At the same time I think this is part of the laid back culture, if everything were on time and all organized it just wouldnt be the same and as stress-free...

So anyway about these STRIKES!

Amy told us how the teachers were on strike. And last night at dinner, Noel was telling me if I went on Cordoba street (the main shopping area) today there would be ALL SORTS of vendors out because of the strike. I understood, but I didnt get why they thought they would sell more with teachers on strike. Especially since those on strike were asking for more money! On our way to the radio station they were ALL OVER the place!! I asked Jim if he knew why and told him i thought it was because of the Teachers on strike.... I still didnt get it though.

Tonight while eating my "afternoon snack" at 8:00pm, the vendors in the street were on the news. So I attempted to ask why they came out to sell things when the teachers were on strike.. It turned into a 20 or 25 min conversation... and we had to pull out the dictionary a few times, but after asking if the Vendors were the teachers, or if they were selling stuff because the teachers were shopping because they didnt have to work.... I FINALLY GOT IT!!!....

The teachers are NOT the only ones on strike... there are MANY ppl on strike including the "inspectors." There is a law in Rosario that says the vendors can not sell in the streets. The inspectors enforce this, but since they are on strike also no one is stoping the street vendors! AHH!! It was just a crazy converstation and kind of taught me how things work around here... like we say. "When the cat is away the mouse will play." ( i think that is how it goes at least)

This strike is causing many other problems as well... i think some doctors are on strike leaving sick patients in the hospitals with no one to care for them... or only a FEW ppl. (Remember this is my interpurtation of the headlines on the new and what my host family told me in spanish)

I think the mayor may be on strike too and people cant get married and what not... idk it just seems soo chaotic...

thats all for now friends,
Chau!

Radio Talk Show: 'Its not the experience that changes your perspective, it is the other way around"

2010-03-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

So to day was a fairly normal day!! It started off okay... I was up pretty late and had to get up early to do my homework that I procrastinated on... BUTTT today, I caught the bus right when it came!! I walk a block and a half to the bus stop, and I ALWAYS walk around my corner and see Bus 107 drive past!! UGH!! Then, I have to wait for who knows how long!!

So I got to school early, and did some more homework. I had class from 10:30-1:15(LONGEST CLASS OF MY LIFE!) Its on the history of Argentina. It is actually pretty interesting, and Argentine history is VERY similar to the history of the U.S.

After class I went with Devin and Eric to eat at the buffet... it cost us each 32 pesos! At first we thought that was a TON! We are only alloted about 19 a day for food. But then upon thinking about it that is really only like 9 dollars or so, and at the buffet YOU CAN EAT STEAK!! OHHHH IT WAS SOOO GOOD! This is when I decided, I REALLY REALLY REALLY miss eating beef at home. They are supposed to have a lot of it here, but I think it is very expensive and that is why we dont eat it a lot.

After clas, I went to a radio station in Rosario, and 6 of us were INTERVIEWED!! It was an English radio station and the lady who was on the air was soooo COOL! She has traveled ALL OVER the world!! She has lived in California and Texas? Europe for 3 years! She's kinda hippy or indy like. She is really positive and only shares positive things on the radio unlike all our other stations. It is the only English speaking in Rosario! It was my FIRST TIME ON AIR!!

She had this quote, "Its not the experience that changes your perspective, it is the other way around." I like it...

After the talk show we all went our seperate ways after CHAUing the Argentine way (Kissing noise on the cheek). I rode the bus home, and that is getting more and more usual. Im starting to "drift" off and think of other things now as I ride it.

I came home and talked to Ben for a bit, then it was time for our "afternoon" snack. at 8:00pm!! HAHA!! We had toast and dulce de leche, and jelly and butter!

While we ate, it was just Norma, Edgardo and me, we watched the news. They always tell me what is going on.. Im really starting to be able to understand things. Like I dont comprehend EVERYTHING but it doesn't sound like they are talking soo fast now....

Dinners

2010-03-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

So I came to bed tonight at 12:30!! We finished dinner at 12:15!! AHHH!! Im soooo tired, and I dont think this is good for me. HOWEVER TONIGHT WE HAD HAMBURGUASAS!!! OH how i miss my ground beef!!! It was soo delicious, not quite the same as home, but still amazing!

So this is how dinner usually goes here....

I help Norma set the table and most of the time Lucia helps cook things like the vegetables and what not...

(For you tomato lovers try this: Cut up a tomato, put some oil on it (I dont know what kind) then add some oregano and salt!! Its deliciouls)

Back to supper... So Lucia usually helps Norma cook, and Edgardo either cooks the meat on the grill or watches Futbol while supper is being prepared. When it is time to eat we all sit down, and Norma serves us. NO ONE waits for others to get their food we all just dig in. When someone is done or needs something Norma always gets up and takes their plate to get more food. My first few weeks here I felt really bad about this. At home if I want more, yes Paula can get it, but we are kind of expected to get our own food! But then at Taylor's birthday party we talked to an English professor, and she explained to us that is part of the culture. It is the woman's kitchen and she feels it is her duty to "serve" us. I dont know if that was the best explanation, but after she told us that I could really see how this is true. Its like they take pride in it being their kitchen and their home cooked food and they enjoy serving us. I guess its just different from the U.S. I think at home we have gotten away from our "the kitchen is a woman's room and place to show off her talents." I do feel like we need equality as far a gender roles, but there is something special here about how the women take pride in what they do. Im not saying either way is right or wrong; Im just saying it is different in each place... here some things are more "traditional" or "ways of the past, but does this mean they are not equal? Can women still claim the kitchen as theirs yet not be discriminated against or thought of only as cooks and servers? Are we women at home in Iowa "loosing" this part of us. I dont really think so. But I dont know that we can have it both ways... we cant have this "equality" and "pride in our kitchen" at the same time. I think our two cultures clash a bit....and now I feel like im rambling.

Back to dinner... Edgardo always drinks beer or wine and the rest of us drink water or juice. Sometimes Norma drinks with him. We NEVER drink milk, and I not SURE why. It may be because it is soo expensive. So after we all eat, Lucia or Noel takes our plates to the sink and we finish off the meal with ICE CREAM!! Its the BEST icecream I have ever had!! I dont really like it that much back in the States but here it is DELICIOUS!!... Maybe its the heat.

Sometimes we have fruit for dessert, which is weird for me, but I like it none the less.

Another thing I find interesting is thy types of vegetables that people eat here. At home, I know a few picky eaters myself.... *Joel*.... I think at home if kids or people do like vegetables the ONLY ones those picky eaters eat are potatoes and corn. Here I think the vegetables of choice are tomatoes, potatoes, and green OLIVES!! Olives are served on EVERYTHING!! ugh... ;)

Anoche... a sight in the Life of Sarah Kennedy

2010-03-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

Some pictures of the Ladies present at the Birthday... From the left: Me, Kelsey, Sarah and Taylor

Anoche (Last night), we (Sarah, Kelsey, Jesse, Eric and I) went over to Taylor Reis's apartment to celebrate her 21st birthday!! I ATE SOO MUCH!!! Her host mom was GREAT to us!! I think I had two hot dogs, 2 slices of pizza, some potatoes, potatoe chips, and OF COURSE BIRTHDAY CAKE!!

It was a really good fooD, and as much as I dont like "cliques" this small group of us is really getting to know each other. We ate and talked ALLL NIGHT!! I felt like I was at home with my friends...

besides the birthday festivities... i got some valuable insight into the lives of others...

I am VERY FORTUNATE and live with a family where the kids all speak a pretty good English. This is NOT the case for others such as Miss Sarah Kennedy... her host mom speaks no English and we always can tell when she is stressed from trying to communicate with her. LAST NIGHT I finally understood this!

I was getting ready to leave the house, so I went to tell Edgardo where I was going and why, and ask him how to pronounce the name of Taylor's street.... IT WAS JUST A HUGE FIASCO....

First, my parents here are GREAT!! They always want to know where Im going and who is going with me. Is there a professor there with you? What is the Name of the place? What is the number? What is the address? Make sure someone waits for a taxi with you. Dont walk alone at night.... ect. :)

However, Edgardo speaks pretty much no English and explaining this to him was quite a challenge. I didnt understand why I had to call the taxi instead of just going out on the street and waiving for one. He was trying to tell me what to tell the driver, which somehow included a story about school he went to as a child? Or that is what I understood atleast... I had to call Taylor twice to ask for the address and phone number so I could call the taxi there when I left her house too...

Calling the taxi to come was a huge ordeal too... OF COURSE I HAD NO IDEA what the guy on the phone was telling me. Finally I just told him the house number... and he kept saying "Listo" which means ready... but I did know if he was ready or if he was asking if I was... I just said yes a bunch of times, and good a few times. Then tried to make a sentence, but I failed miserably. He was still talking, so finally I just said, okay chau... and hung up and hoped the taxi would come....

OH I WAS JUST SOOO STRESSED at this point. So the taxi finally came. I still wasnt sure what Edgardo wanted me to tell him for directions, and I didnt know how to pronounce the name of the street. BUT I knew where I needed to go. So I got in the cab and proceeded to tell the driver where I needed to go. Edgardo was watching me at the door to make sure I left safely, I knew where I wanted to go, so after I KILLED the name of the street I proceeded to show him my map. Edgardo saw this and came over to the taxi to just tell the driver himself... OOOOHHHH I felt like I was 10 years old!! AHHH!!

It was all soo stressfull, and needless to say I was happy to see my new friends sitting on the stoop when the taxi drove up! They made me feel better and in then end we took some pictures like the one above :) Me, Kelsey, and Sarah

It was another small lessson that you can never FULLY understand some untill you have been in their shoes for a bit. :)

Eating by Candle light

2010-03-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

Picture 2: (Again this is for my Photo project) One is with a flash and the other is how it actually looked while we ate.

This is a photo of part of my family (From the Left Maria Noel, Norma, and Egardo) while we ate "outside" or on the "backporch" tonight by candle light. We called it a Romantic Dinner, and as romantic as candle light is it sometimes is not quite as good as artificial lights. However, tonight we had no choice. The electricty went out around 6:30. It was still light out, but by the time supper rolled around at 9:30.

I had my refelcetion class today and we talked alot about how laied back their culture is. While I haven't quite formulated a good blog about this yet there is one thing i can say... when the Unexpected happens the routine in the United States and in Argentina is quite similar.

When Lucia and I returned from our run in the park, that Im going to call "Mini Iowa," Norma greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and said "Welcome to Latin America." I felt just at home though. I told her this kind of thing happens all the time in Iowa as well. Snow days, Ice days: no electricty from storms is something I would say I'm fairly used to.

At home and here, this gives EVERYONE the PERFECT excuse to NOT do homework. "Well I can't do my howework now!" Was the first thing Lucia said to me, with a smile, when we came out of our rooms. These little unexpected things gives us an excuse to not travel into town or go to that meeting that we REALLY didnt want to go to in the first place. We can now put off for tomorrow, because it CANT be done today, and go to bed early!

While at home we may "freak out a bit more." We may get on our land-lines or cell phones and call to make sure we are not the only ones with out power. Then we sometimes stress about what will happen next or if we miss that appointment, how long untill we can use the computer again? Here however I didnt see that. It was a chance for them to call thier neighbors and chat, and we sat on the back porch and looked up at those stars see far too seldom here.

Eitherway, I think some of the best of times and conversations come from the unplanned and unexpected. Who would have thought I would eat dinner by candle light at 9:30pm. I didnt :)

An Iowa Run

2010-03-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged for a bit...! However, I have been plenty busy.

I went running for the first time last wednesday! I ran on a street called Oroño it is kind of a main street and in the median there is a nice big sidewalk with benches and trees on both sides!! I ran from my house to that road and then to Independence Park. It was SUPER hot and i was not used to it. I only ran for 20 mins and walked in between :/ I felt really really slow and out of shape...

BUT THEN....

The next night, before dinner, I went running with Lucia, and Noel at 9:30pm. We walked to a park by that mall I went too that used to be a train station. It was JUST a BEAUTIFUL NIGHT!! It was dark out but the park sooo reminded me of all those runs I have taken at night after working at the pool all day. It was humid and hot, the stars were out, there were even locust ( or they sounded EXACTLY like them) buzzing away in the trees! It SMELLED like iowa, with all the grass and dirt and tress, and I think that was the best part.

So we were all running and the park was about 2K around... so about 1.4miles or so. We were going pretty slow.. maybe 8:30 or 9 min mile pace... I was glad to be going slow though because of my run earlier in the week. However it was another one of those runs where you suddenly realize how GREAT it is just to have a running partner and how much easier the run is! Lucia fell back a little bit but Noel and I kept going.. Our pace was right on and I think we even got a little faster at the end :)

It was just soo BEAUTIFUL!! :) As much as it made me miss my xc girls and running partners it was just like they were right there with me in all the smells and sounds of Iowa in that park. :)

CONCERT and Crazy Taxis

2010-03-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

I just got back at 12:00am from a Luis Fonsi (Fon- zee) concert! It was really good! He is kind of popish, and his slow songs werent my Favorite, but he was good!! :) I had a good time! Before, the concert we meet by Jesse's house and walked to that really cool resturant Lucia likes. We ate there, and it was great!! :) The store/resturant/bar is just soo trendy! :)

On my way to meet everyone I took a taxi, and my driver was really nice. He spoke really slow for me, and drove nice and slow too! We just talked about studying in Rosario, and how BA compared to Rosario. I think most people here think I'm from Argentina... several people in BA did, but after a few sentences, which usually involve me asking "What?", their next question is "Donde sos?" or "Where are you from?" Haha!! I am kind of timid to say Los Estados Unidos, because sometimes that is not a good thing, but its usually okay.... more on that later.

So we sat/stood in the nose bleed section, but it was still a lot of fun!! I went with Jesse, Kelsey, Sarah, and Eric. (Ill put up pics this weekend)

The place was packed, and there were screaming girls everywhere!! :) Many of the little kids that were there had taken off thier shirts because it was soo hot! I think, pda, and what people do in public are a bit different here. For instance, the bus was again EXTREMELY PACKED this moring, so I squeezed my way back a few rows and took a standing spot by a mother and her young son... A min or too later, after I took my backpack off my back and held it in my hand so I could see it, I saw this mother was actually breast feeding the child! ha! In the park or on the street it is not uncommon to see this or two lovers litearly making out! Ha! Im not sure how I feel about it... like I know it is just part of the culture, but I wonder if it "feeds" into another part of the culture like realationships, friendships, and family....??

SOOO after the concert we walked Jesse and Sarah home and the three of us got a taxi! First off, many people drive CRAZY here, or what we see as crazy! We were walking on the street to Jesse's place, and NO JOKE the bus that went by us like "brushed"/ hit" Eric's arm! He was okay, but it was really really close!

Now this taxi driver was crazy! Now a few things to know... most of the streets are one way, there are no lines to make lanes unless it is a main road, and they fit about 2 or 3 cars on the road, and that counts the parked cars. Here, many corners do not have any signs at all... so many people drive with their lights off and as they come to an intersection they "kind of" slow down and they flash their lights so others know they are coming through. Or more popularly... like what our taxi driver did at the intersection, was to drive really fast to catch up to the car just infront of him. Then as the other car went through the intersection we just got on the opposite side of the traffic and followed him through too. They seem to try to go through intersections in "groups" I'm not sure that made much sense..

Now, to catch a bus or taxi you just throw out your hand like we do! And as I learned quickly... taxi's with red lights mean they are unoccupied.

But or taxi driver tonight was CRAZY! First off he was driving a MILLION miles a minute, and he would barely slow down at intersections. Then all of a sudden he asked Eric, who was sitting in the front seat, he felt his phone. THEN when he did find his phone he STARTED TEXTING!! AHHH!! lol! Needless to say I was glad to get out!

So that's all I have for now about Their crazy driving! :)

I also think...no, I KNOW, Im 100% SURE I have the best family to live with in Argentina... no joke :) Edgard asked me today what I liked to eat for breakfast, so they could buy me food. :) They dont eat cereal, but I like bread. As most of you know, Im not too picky when it comes to eating :) Im slowly learing where the food is, but I still feel weird looking through their stuff. Yesterady I thought I was using bread and jell on my bread... it was actually mayo!! LOL!! Also this morning, he told me to have cookies for breakfast ... so I did :) Just a few...

Waiting on a Waiter

2010-03-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

So I know I just wrote about waiting but I thought I would do it a little bit more tonight and explain what meals, restaurants, and the food is like.

Soo.. they have these things called ASADOS. It translates to BBQ but I haven't seen any actual BBQ sauce! I think they are more comparable to what we call grill outs. Now, when you are invited to an asado you should probably start fasting at least 24 hours before hand because the food will keep coming and coming and coming!! One of the girls here, Sarah, went to an asado the first day and i think was a bit of a culture shock, and I quote she said, "I was not imersed in culture, i was drowning in it!! " LOL!! Any way for my MEAT LOVERS in Iowa and asado is your type of thing!! My first night we had an asado at my house and just as I finished my first course of some type of sausage and salad, and bread, and potatoes, they went out to the grill and brought out MORE MEAT! :)

We eat a LOT of meat. But never ground meat. More like beef sausage, ham, and chicken, with a lot of potatoes and onions!! We also ALWAYS ALWAYS have dessert, but sometimes that is in the form of fruit. And we never drink milk for any meals, its either, beer, wine, water, juice, or coke. Potatoes and Onions seem to be the stable vegetables!! :) Me gustan!

Now restaurants... its VERY different. Like I've said I can expect to spend 3 or 4 hours in a resturant. In the United Sates I think we have the philosophy that if you pay for the food you can bring it home with you. Well here it a bit different, here if you pay for the table and service you can stay a long as you want. So first you get there and maybe order drinks then you sometimes have to flag down the waiter and after a while you can order food. So after eating the food you sit and talk or drink somemore... for a long time... The waiter never comes to the table except to bring food, you have to wave at them to comeover. I think it is seen as rude... its almost like if they come over and rush the meal or give you the ticket it is like they want you to leave... but like I said, you pay for the table so you can stay as long as you want. If there is one thing I have learned it is that Argentines like to SIT and TALK. :) However, if I knew what they were saying half the time I would probably like it too :)

Wating

2010-03-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today I felt REALLY REALLY impatient...Im just SICK of waiting and siting and waiting, and then waiting some more. Everything just takes longer in the city too!! Riding the bus, walking places, ordering food and getting the ticket.... im just not used to it yet. I waited for 15 minutes for the first bus and it just went straight by because it was too full, so I had to wait for another 25 minutes for the next one, and it was packed as well.

Today was our first day of classes and it went really well!! Nothing too difficult, we are reviewing right now and I learning more and more about all the little things I seem to have missed in high school spanish?? ;) Im soo glad to finally have started a routine:)

After class Devin and I did some homework together! That was helpful!

I walked to the bus again and came home! :) Im getting good at finding the right spot to get off at. No one talks on the bus though... it kinda makes me sad... such a good time for sharing life and such. :) Like Elise told me... everyone acts like they are in their own world, but secretly everyone is watching everyone else. :)

I took a short siesta after I talked with my family and then did somemore homework. I think im getting somewhat used to the culture minus the waiting thing, because I feel like Im running out of things to discuss as far as what is different and such!

On Thursday a few of us are going to a Concert. Luis Fonsi? He is Kelsey T's favorite artist! :)

"Waiting on the Wold to Change" a little from BA

2010-03-02T15:16:00.001-08:00

(In my 1hr reflection class we are doing a "photo project" where we take one photo a week and write a little bit about it. This is a bit long but I thought I would share with all of you as well)

Photo 1: Waiting on the World to Change (A strike in BA)

I took this picture while walking to the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires. While I'm not exactly sure what the people were marching or on strike for, the picture holds a special significance for the importance of politics in Argentina. It is extremely significant that while protesting this group is marching past the Casa Rosada because it is old home of the president and on the other end of the road lies the Congress. Jim said it best, "You will find that after not having a voice for so long the Argentine people are now very vocal about what they think."

Even at futbol games fans come with signs that exclaim how they feel about hot topics in politics. As we discussed in class which one of us has taken a banner with our thoughts about health care to a Iowa foot ball game: people would think we were crazy! I know on my first day here, my host sister told me exactly how their family felt about the current president, and at dinner and when the television is on there is a lot of discussion about what is going on politically. This is something my family from the states often avoids talking about. It is as if we would rather not get involved, or don't want to try go through the "hassle" of figuring out all this governmental "stuff: we do not feel like we can really make a difference.

In both cases, I think we are all "Waiting on the World to Change." (Thank you John Mayer). We all seem to want better social systems or better economic trade or policies, but what is the best way to get that? Is it ignorant to not get involved? Is it foolish to think that a strike will make all the difference? While I am still trying to figure all this out it is interesting to see everyone have such strong opinions and be so vocal about them. Its great to see people want to MAKE the world change as opposed to just watching it happen. I know personally Simpson's student body president sent an email and letter to all our families asking us to help lobby and not allow our politicians to cut money in the area of education, but did I do anything? Of course I discussed the consequences with my mother of not receiving financial aid, and I put writing a letter down on my list of things to do. But it soon got set aside and then was forgotten. It seems as if I didn't think my one letter would make the difference. But what if we all said that? Think of how many letters there could possibly be. I do feel a bit uncomfortable discussing politics in public, maybe because I don't want to impose on others views or because I do not feel like I know enough, how ever my first few days here have caused me to think differently. If everyone was a little involved maybe things would change, there is no sense in standing back and watching. Diving in head first and learning and questioning the issues that effect me may just be the way to go, because I do not want to wait for the world to change I want to change it.

homesick ... but feeling more at home

2010-03-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

On Sunday (Domingo) I woke up and wanted nothing more than walking down stairs in MY house and using MY bathroom, and eating MY cereal, and sitting at our kitchen counter, and talking to My mom and My dad and MY siblings and then lounging on our couch and watching Tv!! I knew it wasnt really possible though and I got up and went on with my day.

Edgardo was sitting at the kitchen table fixing an a cord on a radio and he showed me how to make coffee and gave me media lunes and dough nuts to eat! I was feeling a little more at home already. We talked about Chile and soccer :) Then I proceed to unpack my stuff and talk to my family and ben on Skype for a bit! :) Norma was getting groceries and soon it was time for lunch... we had ravioli and bread and peaches :)

Then I went with Noel down to the River to meet her friends at the Park! They were sun bathing and just talking! There were about 3 or 4 people who were playing with Boomberangs! It looked really dangerous (i sound like paula!;) but it was cool. Eveyone and there Dog was at the park... plus several stray ones. We sat in the park and talked and drank Mate or Mata its just like tea and the "tea" part looks like pot! Lucia told me many times ppl in the air port think it is pot! haah! But it was DELICIOUS!!

I accidently used the male bathroom... AWKWARD!! But Noel and I got a good laugh out of it! :)

Then Noel and I and Erik (nick name Flaco or Skinny) walked back to our house and said hi to the family. Then Noel and Norma and I went to the mall... of course we had to stop and have some cafe first!! :) Its just sooo laid back here! Then we continued to work our way around the mall... I missed my mom and my shopping days at this point.

The mall was really Cool! It used to be an old train station, so It was built around all the old brick-walls and arches and such! It was really cool! Then in the mall was a walmart sort of place where I got school supplies and they got groceries! Im slowly learning the names of food and such!! :) They have these cookie things call Alfehores (idk on the spelling) and they are DELICIOUS!! Gritias are the name for cookies and hot chocolate is called "RayMo" in Rosario, but something else in BA! Haha!!

We got home about 10 and FINALLY AT SUPPER! I was starving to say the least! :) We had pizza with tomatoes and cheese, onions and cheese, and ham and cheese... Ham seems to be a staple ... they call ham and cheese jamón y queso... im getting sick of it! ;)

Ive noticed something else that is VERY different about our two cultures. Here EVERYONE seems to travel! They go to al Argentina's best attraction... wine country, the snowy part of the country and even the part with the Waterfalls... the land here is very VERY diverse!! However when they ask me where I have been in the Sates they are surprised to find I really haven't been out of the mid west at all, especially since I live close. So i think maybe it is a cultural thing... for instance I know people in Chicago who have lived there all their lives, but have never been in the sears tower, but here is it different... i dont really know :)

Today, Monday, I rode the bus to school after missing the first one by literally 3 seconds. Riding the bus is becoming more normal and Im learning my way around! :) At school they gave us a small tour and handed out the syllabus and such...its weird but Im really REALLY excited to FINALLY start school!! :)

And not to rub it in but its supposed to be like in the hi 80s almost 90s this week! :)

Back from BA!

2010-03-01T13:46:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Buenos Aires Saturday night! (Also refered to as BA) It was a GREAT time!! Its a HUGE city and it made Rosario seem small... which is weird because there are more than 1 million ppl here :) haha!
But more on that later!!

I was soo tired when I got home. On friday night about 5 of us were out until 4 or so then we only got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep or so, but we had a 4 hour bus ride to sleep! Anyway I got home about 8am and Lucia asked me if I wanted to go to a friends birthday party (Bella was her name), I was really tired but Lucia said she needed to be back somewhat early to sleep so she could study on Sunday. I decided to go!!

The party was at Bella's apartment and was on the ROOF!! It was soo pretty and cool!! :) We had HOTDOGS!! My FAVORITE!! :) They eat their hot dogs with crunched up potato chips on top though! Its weird but it was good!! Lucia and her friends are soo nice, they are all older than me about 26 or 27 but they all talked to me and made sure I was having a good time! I talk for a long time with Julia! :) She is really pretty and has long brown hair! She meet a boy from Minnesota while on vacation in Argentina! We talked about what she did (studying to be a lawyer) and just about everything! I practiced my Spanish and she worked on her English!

It was about this time where I started wishing my friends were at the party with me... but then... yes its VERY Cheesy I know.... then I looked up and saw orions belt (like the stars) I smiled because those are always the starts I look for at home!! :) Its kinda crazy how I can be soo far away but see the SAME things!

Needless to say I LITERALLY had to Fight to keep my eyes open! And lucia and I finally returned home at 4am!! The other girls couldn't believe that the bars at home close at 2am! lol They said "WHAT DO YOU DO!!" I just laughed :)

I FINALLY GOT A PHONE!! and once i get it working word on the street is that I can text home!! :)

LOST... !

2010-02-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today was interesting to say the LEAST!! It started out just fine. I met Thomas on the Street between our houses and we rode the bus to school. We got their early/first and Thomas tried to convince the professor this meant we ARE the BEST students, but she wasn't having it ;)

Then we took a placement test (oral and written) to see what level of Spanish we would be in come next monday!

Then one of the professors took us all to a "cellphone" place to buy one! My family is soo nice they got me one of their friends old ones so I don't have to buy a new one!! Then we all went out to eat at a really nice resturant... it was buffet style. EVERYONE was looking at us... they can all just tell we are not from here and it wasn't too long before Kelsey T. got asked where we were from. Part of it was our fault because of our United States way! In Argentina when you go to a restaurant you sit and talk and drink for a while then you order your food and sit and talk for a long time after.. For example the other night when we went out to eat, we got at the Restaurant at 9 ish and didn't leave untill 12!! :) haha! So it was our fault because as soon as we got there we went straight to the buffet, instead of waiting and talking and what not. Haha!! They even had like steak you could get. It cost 24 pesos... which is like 6 dollars :)

Our professor Eliana told Sarah and I that we looked like true Argentines! :)

My first piece of Cake here!! Something worth celebrating! :)

Then Nick and I went back to the cellphone place because they said they would have them all ready at 2:30.. But they weren't ready... no surprise :) So Nick, Devin, Thomas, Natalie and I went and got some ice-cream. I got a brownie with ice cream and it was only 10 pesos and was HUGE!! Needless to say I only could eat a fourth of it! :)

Then we all went back to the cell phone place and waited some more.... and while we waited I tried to convince Nick that he should grow a Mullett... :) .... Then is when the trouble started...

Devin wanted to go back to his apartment and grab something real quick, and on his way back stop and exchange dollars for pesos. I needed to go to. So Nick, Devin, Jessie and I set out... it started raining... harder and harder... my feet started to hurt :) and I was SOO hot with Jeans on... After 20 minutes or so we arrived at Devin's place and set out again to find the "exchange" place. I was still raining and I was still hot and wet and my feet hurt... OH it was not fun at alll!! Then we finally found the exchange place but I couldn't exchange my money because I didn't have the right identification. Then it was POURING!! We jumped accross a street that was flooding! and went into a cafe and then into a mall... It was about 4:45 and I had told my family I would be home by 5 so I tried to use a pay phone but of course that didn't work either! And of course ALL the taxi's were full because of the rain, but I didn't know what bus to use to get to my house either...

So finally the rain let up a little and we trekked back to the school and the cell phone place. I have never felt like such a whinny child in my life! Lol every other block I was asking if we were there yet! FINALLY we made it back and I walked around the corner and caught my bus for home... it was about 5:20 or so...

So then more trouble started!!... I didn't get off at my stop and went past is like 3 or 4 blocks. So I got off the bus and walked back... but before I knew it I was on Rodrigzs (sp?) street which was also like 3 or four blocks too far in the OTHER DIRECTION!! I thought I was on Camacarta St. but I was on Utzman (sp?) (A block just south of my house) and didn't recognize any thing but I knew I was close... So I stopped and asked a VERY nice girl what street we were on and where my street was. (I knew she was nice because she had on Converse :)) After much talking and pointing and map locating we figured it out and I set off again.. I was only about a block away...

BUT this time...I was still a bit turned around and I should have gone north but went south and was lost again... This time I asked a Blonde haired lady to help me... she finally just walked with me for a bit... and ofcourse asked where I was from. She said she had been to Minnepolis before :) Finally i arrived at my house!!! :)

It was a LONG day but my family made up for it! Im leaving for Buenos Aires tomorrow, the capital of Argentina, and when I got home Norma was making sure I brought all the right stuff and she had the address and number of the place we were staying and telling me to keep my money safe and what not :) The girls of course told he to stop worrying!

When they both got home they got out maps of the city and showed me all of their favorite places to go!

So im all packed and tomorrow I head off to Buenos Aires untill Saturday, so ill speak to you all then :)

My life as the 5th wheel..

2010-02-21T20:29:00.000-08:00

So today I got up around 10 to talk to my family a bit. It was really nice to see them!! I thought everyone here would be up around noon, because that is when they said we would eat lunch... WELL.. 3pm rolled around and we were fianally JUST EATING! :)

Then I took a nice long siesta! :) 2:30-6 or so!! Then at 6 Lucia got me up and Lucia, Leo, Danilo and his girlfriend and I drove to the bridge that connects Roasrio and Victoria across the Paraná river! ITS HUGE!! There is a 10k race on it sometime soon, and I think I will run that! They call all races Marathons! It was really REALLY confusing at first but Now I got it :)

Here is the bridge!

After seeing the bridge and driving around we went to the mall! We just walked around and chatted... got some coke and sat and talked like usual :) As I said I took a LONG nap! I didnt think I had jetlag or anything but it was 8:30 when we left the mall but before I looked at my watch I said to myself, "wow it feels like 5 or so!" I was right on for time at home!! Haha!!

On the way home I saw something that just CRACKED ME UP! We were driving and there were people out on the the streets, and on one street there were two boys. The one from behind ran up and kicked the other one in the butt, then the one that got kicked turned around and raised up his squirt gun and ran after the other!! It was really funny!!

Any way we got home and Lucia told me we had to hurry. So hurry to me means 5-10 minutes to change... hurry ACTUALLY meant like 20 ish minutes :) lol! my kind of hurry :)

So I haven't quite figured out the "dress code" I dont think I have very many "dressy" clothes by thier standards. I wore a sun dress to the bridge but to go out to eat I need to dress up MORE!! haha!! :) No one wears shorts!! Its jeans or a skirt, or a dress! I love looking at their clothes and SHOES! :) Also none of the girls use pony tails... only like clips or not at all. And the girls wear hardly any makeup only mascara :)

We at at this restaurant that makes thier own beer. We ordered a "platter" with like 7 or 8 different samples of beer... about 4 or 6 oz. each and then ordered another platter for supper. The supper included what we would have as hor 'deours! It was just cheese, meat and some olives!! But it was really good.... deep down inside I am CRAVING A NICE JUICY hamburger!! But I will NOT NOT NOT go to a mcDonalds... I dont want one that bad! ;)

The guy on the left is Elise's Boy freind and the one on the right is Leo, Lucia's boy.

From the Left. Me, Lucia, and Elise. The thing sitting infront of us is the beer sampler! :) On in the middle was honey and another was chocolate beer... the honey was good but I thought the chocolate tasted like coffee.

99 bottles of beer on the wall! They make their own behind the "bar" type thing they had HUGE brewing containers ;) When you ask for a check here they DONT separate them out on different tickets so many times everyone just splits the total cost. :)

I was the 5th Wheel tonight! It was kind of lonely, and when we go to places that are loud I can't hear anything. And on top of that I cant understand them most of the time because they talk really fast!! I only catch a few words here and there but social conversations move too fast to follow :)

Pictures 2

2010-02-21T07:42:00.001-08:00

So not only do they sell the dogs but like this one, there are stray dogs ALL OVER THE PLACE!! I feel really bad for them :(

The above pictures are all from the National Flag Monument. The man who created the flag was from Rosario! The monument is HUGE! The green thing in the one picture had fire in it. and I thought the Cross looked really cool. It was inside the tall "building" that is behind Jim, Me,and Nick in one of the pictures.

Dog's for Sale!! Really! They come out every day to sell dogs...

These are pictures of Cordoba Street. The main shopping area. You can kind of see all the shops on the sides, and the thing down the middle of the street is a drain for water :)

After looking around on Cordoba Street we grabbed a bit to eat. From the left is Emily, Sarah, Nick, then Me, Kelsey and Eric.

The sandwiches are ALL crustless... a child's heaven! :) This one is hot ham and cheese with ketchup:)

Pictures

2010-02-21T06:40:00.000-08:00

These are two pictures of their Dog Napoleon! He is HUGE and he snores SOOOOO LOUD!! :)

A picture at the same restaurant :) Order is Gillian, Devin, Me and A professor at UCEL (I cant remember her name)

Water and Coke anyone? When you ask for Water at a restaurant you get in in a bottle not from tap. I THINK they reuse the bottles.. after cleaning them so they always give you another glass to pour what ever you are drinking into. :)

On the first night Lucia and Noel and Leo and I went for a walk down to the Paraná River! Lucia is on the right and Nora is on the left

These two pictures are form our bus ride form Buenos Aires to Rosario. IT looks soo much like IOWA!! (yes those are cows and hay bales)

Heart to Hearts and Life Sharing in South America!

2010-02-21T06:24:00.000-08:00

First, this is the palest I have felt in my ENTIRE LIFE!!! haha! Everyone here is soo tan and Im pasty white!! :(

Also its 11:15 am here and EVERYONE is still asleep! HAha i was just talking to Devin on facebook and its the same case at his house! This is MY KIND OF PLACE!! :)

But, last night Lucia and I went out to this really really COOL store/ bar/ restaurant. It is really quite and has a store with ALL sorts of thrifty things,,, post cards, magnets, notebooks, hair piece, jewelry, clothes.. and more. Then in the back of the store is a restaurant with trees and plants and vines growing up the walls, its painted all sorts of colors and just has a ton of lounging places!

So Lucia and I went there, it is her favorite place. We ordered drinks. I have fante de cola... im not sure on the spelling, but it is a Argentine specialty it tasted like Coke and whiskey.. it was okay :)

Here are some pictures of the resturant/ bar. It was called Mercado de Diseño. The red "boxes" on the wall are old broken tvs that are now decoration. And the big brown envelope on the table is the MENU!! :) In the winter Lucia said they sometime show movies here along the back outside wall!

We just sat and talked for at least 2 hours! I think that is my favorite part about here! Everyone loves just sitting and drinking coffee or whatever and JUST TALKING!! :) LOVE LOVE LOVE :) Its sooo laid back :)

So we shared stories, she told me about her Quinceria (spelling?) its like our Sweet 16th Birthday but they celebrate their 15th! She was telling me hers was nothing extravagant or huge, she didnt want to get a big dress and go all out so it was just a small party with friends. Then she told her Noel had a HUGE party and went all out! HAHA it reminds me sooo much of Breanne and I :) <3>

So we left this place and went to the supermarket, and on the way we had a sort of heart-to-heart!! It was BEAUTIFUL!! or at least as close as you can get to a heart to heart when you dont speak the same language :)

She wanted to know what people in the United States think of or hear about Argentina. She told me "Im sorry but I just to have to get it off my chest and ask you." I had to tell her what I thought was truth and said not a WHOLE lot, and that sometimes the impression is "bad" like its not as nice or safe. I think she was a bit sad when she heard that I got the yellow fever shot and was told not to drink the water. She said yellow fever is a thing of the past, but she understand that it was just a precaution. :) I understand why we were advised not to but at the same time it was just like they dont live in HUTS! :) I told her Rosario REALLY reminds me of Iowa... we all look the same and I have seen numerous blonde haired blue eyed people!

So then she told me what they thought of the United Sates... or what the misconceptions were :) It was what I thought it was. She said they know we are nice, but because of the past and things our government has done there are groups of people who don't like us. Its understandable. I told her many of the people in the US have no idea what the government does. For instance, it didn't surprise me but we have some of our Army in Haiti, and just before I left I got an email form the US embassy in Argentina saying there were many groups in Argentina who would be protesting our Army being there. But I had no idea that were there... Maybe im not involved with the news as much as I should be, or Im ignorant..?

I dont meant to bash the ARMY or anything like that, and these opinions are solely mine own but I am learning and growing as I form my own opinions, so please try to take offence to what I may think or believe. And if you believe otherwise shoot me an email I would love to chat:)

Either way had a small heart to heart just like I do at home with my ladies and gents. And I realized this is EXACLTY why I wanted to go on this trip. Its more than just learning Spanish, buts is about showing each other that we are more alike than we think we may be. We can break down misconceptions of each other and be friends :)

MI Familia!!

2010-02-20T12:20:00.001-08:00

Norma is my "mom." She is wonderful!! She is always smiling and laughing! I would say just an all around happy person! She is always the first to tell me good morning and ask how my day was.! If I could describe her better I would say your typical hispanic mom :) She is a GREAT cook!

Edgardo is the dad. This is a very VERY VERY "typical: family. Edgardo takes care of all the appliances and "handy" work. I told you my fan broke and he was going to fix it. He was very nice about it breaking and he figured out what went wrong. Its is something with my converter. But I can buy a new one here! Um... He loves his sports espically fotball... soccer :) He told me all about the teams in agrentina. I tried to explain that my dad likes wrestling, but I dont know that he knew what that was :) I find myself talking about the Hawks a lot! ha! He told me he was going to wear the Hawkeye shirt I gave him yesterday because it is raining right now and it may be cool tomorrow. (I probably shoulnt have gotten them BLACK shirts) :)hah

Lucia is the oldest daughter, 26 or 27 I think. She is the one who picked me up from UCEL the first day with her boy friend from Chile. His name is Louie... i think :) She always calls him Mi amor! It is very cute :) Umm.. she is studying ecomonics at UCEL and this is her last year. Did I mention she is BEAUTIFUL!! :)

Nole is in the middle. She is 24 or 25. She has finised college and works for a radio station. 88.1 :) She is a bit... fiesty? LOL! Her job is perfect, because she went to school for journalism and now is working at the radio station. She told me she would like to some day work for a magazine and then tv. She thinks it would be cool to talk to celebrities and famous people. She is VERY very social and I think knows how to have a good time :)

Danilo is the brother and the youngest. He is 22. I have only seen him once. He goes to collge but I dont know what for or anything. He has a girlfriend...the call he took at the dinner table :) He does have a mullet :) ha! Lots of people here do. He likes to and does play soccer and was hurt last year... but Lucia piped up at supper and said he was hurt mentally not physically ;) I think she was just showing him some sisterly love :)

Grandma Cita- obvioulsy the Grandma. I dont ever see her though. Lucia told me just before I got here she fell? and broke her leg? So she is in bed at all times. Danilo and Noel take turns feeding her? or at least they are in there when she eats. She is very soft spoken or has a hard time talking. She liked the sunggie :) And she kept telling me that she hoped I was and will have a great time!! I am :)

Nepolian is the dog! He is HUGE!! Its a St. Bernard. They shaved or cut all his hair short expect for his head and the end of his tail... he looks like a GIGANTIC poodle!! :) Haha :) He awlays comes to the table at dinner and is afraid of storms. He likes to sit under the table and have us pet him with his feet. ?? ;) He wanted me to play with him today... but I told him no.. I cant say Im a huge pet lover espically after that dumb dog we got, Elly ;) He always stops at my door when I'm in here, but will only come in if I look at him! HAHA! If i do make that mistakes I just walk out of the room and he follows then I walk back in and move the door so he cant see me... lol.. I know that is REALLY mean :/

Thats really all for the family. They are EXTREMELY NICE and the girls invite me everywhere with them! I could not have asked for a better family... here or at HOME!! :)

2.18.10

2010-02-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

2.19.10

Hola, Today has been a good day! :) Primero, encontramos a la UCEL where we had orientation! They gave us coffee and pan... but no one really ate any. I wonder if that is an united states thing or not so much... by thing I mean to not eat what ever someone gives you. Part of me thinks it is..i always think, when someone gives me something that I "sholdn't eat it?" I dont know...

But speaking of how things are differnet... their dinners are MUY DIFERENTE!! First off they eat at 10PM!! Thats crazy... not to mention not very healthy.

They dont drink milk... mucho cola - COKE! y cervesa (beer) haha!!

They reachover eachother at the dinner table... Joel would HATE IT!! :)

Last night Danio got a call on his cell and he took it.

They "move" around a lot... like get up and get things and leave and come back... just things like that.

Maybe it is not REAlly weird, but I guess I kind of saw my family's manners as somewhat strict and thought they would be more strict here... :)

Tonight we ate empandas!! They were DELICIOUS!! Dad would have LOVED them because they had lots of onions!! :) Norma made some with tuna too so I didn't have to eat meat today... it was very nice of her.

I spent a LONG time talking to Edgardo about soccer and where we lived. He was very gracious and drew me a map of our block to show me where we lived and what streets we were around. It really helped ALOT!! :)

Day 2

2010-02-19T13:55:00.002-08:00

Today we all meet up at UCEL and meet with Eiliana (the study abraod lady at UCEL) she was very nice and helpful. It was like an orientation and we discussed life in Roario and our classes....

Lucia was going to show me how to use the bus but we missed it! So we took a cab!

Last night she told me the Cab's with the red lights were free. I took this to mean it was free of charge, apparently she meant unoccupied! HA!! :) Blonde?

Um... not much else has happened today. We went to the supermercao and got some extra thing I needed like Shampoo.. I used my credit card.... After I signed they asked for my number. I had no idea what they were talking about of course. I gave them my passport number, but in South America (I think all of it?) not every one drives so not every one has a license. So for identification they have a seperate card with their "number on it." It was interesting.

Also!! This morning I noticed my fan was no longer working. I didnt know why, but I came home this after noon and they had taken my converter out of the wall. After much confusion, and Lucia translating... I figured out something wen't wrong when I plugged it into the wall!! And when it was plugged in the phone and the lights in the house do not work! :? woops! and I think I broke the fan. I told them I would replace it but the dad says he thinks he can fix it.

Day 1... Its been a LONG DAY!!

2010-02-19T13:55:00.001-08:00

Its been a LONG day!!!

The plane flights went well... minus that I got NO sleep! Haha. Also, a survival tip for you day... Dont text and walk at the same time. I was texing the lovely Miss Drogo while walking to the bathroom in Dallas, and the next thing I know I was in the Mens Bathroom!! haha... awkward :)

So we got to Buenos Aires and through customs at 9:30, and after a 4 hour Bus Ride we arrived at Rosario! I slept for much of the ride but Argentina looks EXACTLY like Iowa :) In the summer that is .... minus the random horses and cows in the ditch on a few occasions. and the fruit stands on the edges of the road. It was nice to see some green!

We got to the Edge of Rosario and I can't say I was quite prepared. At the edge of the cities are the "houses" where the poor live. It was really unbelievable and sad, it made me glad for all the things I have!

TIME TO MEET THE FAMILY!!

We arrived at UCEL and meet all the families and packed up to leave with them! Lucia came to get me with her boyfriend Louie (I think). SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! We took a taxi back to her house and she showed me around and introduced me to her dad and HUGE HUGE HUGE st. Bernard named Napoleon!

By the time I got there it was time for the meal they eat between lunch and dinner... its more like snack time with small sandwiches and pastries. This was at 4:30!

Then Lucia, louie and her sister Noel and I went out for a walk around the city before dinner. We walked to the Parana River.... How every compared to contrary belief there are no actual Parana. Parana is the English word for that fish and it is not the same in Spanish. :)

We stopped at a restaurant along the river and had some drinks outside.... LET ME TELL YOU THE BEST PART ABOUT WINTER... no bugs!!! :) Then we took a taxi back to the house. She told me the Taxi's with the red lights were free, but we still had to pay??

Finally, we got back to the house, just in time for supper at 10:30!!! And it wasn't just supper but they litterly have a 4 course meal!! :) We had beef... but I swore it tasted like sausage :)

Finally it was time to unpack. More on their house later!! :) Tomorrow we have orientation at UCEL from 9 am - 4 pm. Then Lucia said she would take me shopping for all the little things I need....

2010-02-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my host family!! From the left Maria Lucia, Maria Noel, Danilo, Edward, and Norma.

They seem VERY nice!! :)

Leaving TOMORROW!!

2010-02-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm leaving in less than 24 HOURS!! But I have yet to pack, and I'm sure that comes as no surprise to most of you. :)

I'm excited to leave, but it's a bit bitter-sweet I suppose. Saying and doing those "last" things always brings a lump to my throat, but I've learned in these past few months that I have the BEST friends and family that anyone could possibly ask for!!!! It makes me smile :)

My biggest fears:

Getting there and not understanding a word they say.

Not having any contact back home... if my adaptors don't work, or I have internet problems

Missing EVERYONE

My safety... I can't same I'm ready for a city of 1,159,004 people quite yet (Thank you Molly P.) I do enjoy Conrad's 1000 people :)

Im excited to:

Run in 80 degree weather!! (NO MORE SNOW!!)

Meet mi familia

Travel

START school

Meet new people and learn from them!

I haven't quite decided if I will post lots of blogs here or use email to write back home. I will use this to post pictures though!! and possibly videos if I take some :) Please forgive my terrible spelling.

Well... I should probably start that packing...