New Pictures

My host sisters: Belén y Franzika (she will be staying until December)

Yum... or as they say "rico" :)

My house until January <3

Some friends and I in Rada Tilly. Left to right: Pau, Me, Belu, Franzi y Dani

Again in Rada Tilly, you can never escape the wind.

Left to right: Belu, Cande, Me y Dani

4 Weeks! Pretty much a MONTH! ¿quuee?

Before I start I just want to say that this post is going to be shorter than my other ones. For some of you Im sure this is sad... :) but for others nice to have such a quick simple read. I also want to say that if there is improper grammar its because I dont practice english these days. Also no apostrophes... after stupidly searching the foreign computer for five minutes I remembered they dont use them. Now lets begin-

HOLY SHIT! (pardon my language) I honestly cant believe its pretty much been A MONTH! 

I have been here for 4 weeks! I feel like it was just 2 weeks ago that I was bed ridden for throat surgery and high on codeine; 1 week ago that I was in Houston; and last week that I was having fits over not knowing what shoes I was actually bringing when it came time to pack and my mother rolling her eyes while uncaringly stuffing them in much to my cries and pleas!!! ok.... that was a little dramatic, but it went something like that.

Anyway, my point is... time flies, especially when youre having fun and NOT sitting in school. I have been going to school for about 3 weeks now. But in truth if you fit together all the days that I actually have gone to school, its probably only 2 weeks. Going to school went from being the scariest thing of my life to something that Im being forced to do...sort of like at home. If I try to pay attention, I get a headache. And the only class that I understand pretty well is math. But this could be due to the fact that I learned what theyre learning 1 or 2 years ago.

Lets get to something exciting and positive. FIESTAS!!! Since Ive been here, I dont think I can count the number that I have gone to. Last weekend, I didnt have school on Friday (cant remember the holiday because theres too many) so there was a party on thursday. And then of course on Friday. On friday, it was a girl from Germanys 15th party. Like in Mexico, a quinceñera but they call it something different. On Saturday Belu took me to something called Collectividades. The city of Comodoro has it every year in this gigantic gymnasium. When we got there, we were going to have to wait in a line that must have been at least a block long. But luckly, Belu saw some friends and we snuck in with them up front. When I went in, it was overwhelming. On one side of the gym there was a giant stage (those of you who know Solar Fest: it was like that), and all around the entire gym were different booths set up with international food from around the world. The smell was so intense. It was so packed tight with people that anywhere we went we had to push and shove and hold hands to stay together. After getting a couple free beers from the German booth (thanks to Franzika) we went to the Bulgarian booth (I think) and got some good food there. Then over to the Uruguay booth for some Papas Fritas! We then found a somewhat large enough space in the crowd and watched one of our friends,  Vale, do a greek dance on the stage. 

We spent around 3 or 4 hours there and then walked home in the rain at about 1 30 in the morning. Because I was suffering from a cold, I went to bed exhausted. But Franzika and Belu didn't come back home until 5 or so. 

And so time has progressed... 

On thursday next week, I have Rotary Orientation in a place called San Martin de los Andes. And yes... its in the Andes. Its going to be beautiful and fun. Right after that on the 13th of October I am going to Buenos Aires again with the whole family! I cant wait! I think thats when Ill be getting a new camera, so hopefully there will be more pictures coming! Until next time...

Un beso

First Week of School

So I ended my last post with the day before I went to school...

Monday morning I woke up at 6 30a.m. and got dressed so fast I didn't understand what was happening when I had so much extra time. And then I realized it's because I wear a complete uniform to school :

Grey pleated skirt; four or five inches above the knee

Grey knee socks or tights

The most unfortunate awful shoes I am forced to wear

A white polo with a green and yellow collar; the logo of the school IMR (Instituto Martin Rivadavia) on the pocket

And a dark green or grey V-neck sweater over the shirt.

When we left the house, it was still dark out. When I arrived we walked into the school, which right inside the door is the Gym. All the students were lined up with their classes, and I'm pretty sure just about every set of eyes was on me. When everybody starting getting quiet, I started freaking out because I thought it was for me. But then I found out that's just what they're supposed to do. When I found my correct line, two students came out with the Argentine flag and raised it while all the students rehearsed their version of "The Pledge of Allegiance". We then wait for our first teacher to come and lead us to our classroom.

The curious thing about school that I'm not used to is that we have the same class the entire day, in the same classroom the entire day. The teachers just switch the classrooms and come to us.

Within the first hour, nobody had really come over to talk to me and I started getting nervous. And then once one girl had the courage to go talk to the "Foreign Kid", the whole class decided they would also. So, I was surround by just about every person in the classroom all introducing themselves and trying to talk to me at once... in spanish. Or some of them even tried to speak in english, but that was even hard for me to figure out than if they were speaking spanish. When the teacher finally called everyone back to their seats, I felt exhausted. 

And so the day progressed. With every class in spanish I pretty much just sat there staring into to space and maybe if I felt like it try to figure out what the teacher was saying. All of the teachers didn't speak any english, so they just introduced themselves and that was that.

At the end of the week, I only have one word to describe everyday of school: Headache.

That, and Exhaustion. Almost everyday after school I come home and sleep about two hours.

The only teacher I found all week that spoke somewhat decent english was, well... My english teacher! And I must admit, that class might be just about the most amusing thing of my life. She had me read a few things sometimes. Let me just say, the english teachers at school are like the spanish teachers at Taos High: Think they know it all, but really they don't. 

The most upsetting classes of my schedule are: Physics (in spanish) and Chemistry (in spanish). But the teacher is kind of straightforward and standoffish, so she just looks at me and says in spanish that I don't speak any spanish so I don't matter... little does she know that I actually understand it when she says these things. :) Alright by me, less things and homework to do. Yes. I do have homework. For history: A history on Argentina, Geography: A geography on Argentina, Language: Reading a book and translating about Argentine Politics, and English: An awful book about Argentine spanish with a copious amount of giant vocabulary words that I have to look up every other word. I feel like telling my english teacher that when she can read that book in english, I will. But I won't... yet.

Anyway, thats how the week went. I had a Rotary meeting on Thursday night and got home at 1 a.m., so my host mom told me and Franzika that we didn't have to go to school the next day :).

I don't have too many plans coming up, so I don't know when the next time I'll write is but I will update whenever I can. I am actually trying to find and join a swim club. I had the intentions of practicing my futbol (soccer) while down here, but every time I try and mention something like that, people just look at me like I'm crazy and usually ask: You mean watch futbol right?.... or.... You play futbol?

So I guess it really isn't the reality for girls to play in South America. *sigh*

Until next time...

xoxo