Saturday, June 28, 2008

A few days worth of stuff....


Wednesday:
We went out on a boat in Tigre and the weather was AMAZING. The flan was to DIE for, I have never had better flan in my life. I am still in shock.
Later that night we went out to take Tango lessons. Even if no one here dances tango, I still feel the need to learn it. The lessons were tons of fun and we are headed back next week.
Discovery of the day: Remises are a VERY handy way to get around.

Thursday:
Class was long and boring. I cannot for the life of me focus on one topic for 3 1/2 hours. Afterwards I hung out with Martin, a student from University of San Andres and we talked forever. Some people went down to see the madres de la plaza de mayo, but I wasn't really in the mood to take the train. While talking with Martin, I finally figured out my research project for while I'm here. I am going to be researching varying points of view taught and held on the "Dirty War." Apparently they don't call it the dirty war here...
Discovery of the day: Their keyboards are different!

Friday:
No class today, but I still was at the school by 9:30 to head out to an Estancia. It is a tourist trap kind of place that 'preserved' old argentine culture. It was actually really fun (after the long, delayed by fog ride over). We ate TONS of meat, bread, chips etc. and watched people dance/play music. Afterwards we went out to watch horse competitions which were pretty impressive. We all made it home that night EXHAUSTED, so our plans to go out were delayed.
Discovery of the day: If I had lived long ago, a guy could have married me simply because he could stick a stick through a TINY ring while on a horse.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sleepy sleepy


Hey all, I finally have a few pictures to show you! This one is of my host family (Mariano, Neky, Mono, Lulu, Marines). I have definitely enjoyed living with them.
Today was the first real day of class. I am taking two lit classes, I might have told you that already...but I'm too lazy to check. There is a LOT of difficult reading. Poetry doesn't agree with me in English.... in Spanish it REALLY doesn't agree with me, but the professor is fun so it is alright. We get to read stuff by Carlos Fuentes (wrote the Death of Artemio Cruz which was AMAZING) and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, which I have read...in English. So that will be fun/challenging/a lot of reading. However, 3 1/2 hrs of ANY class is difficult to manage. Tomorrow I have argentine lit, I don't anticipate liking that class as much.
I currently have a sleeping puppy on my lap, which makes me unspeakably happy. My favorite puppy was taken away yesterday, but this one is much friendlier now that it has no sibblings to fight with. He doesn't leave until July 7th, so I have him for a while!
Ya sorry, a lot of that was a filler so that I could get far enough down to add another picture.
Ok, well it turns out that I can move the pictures around anyways, so there was no need for the filler text...terribly sorry.
These are the puppies. I still can't upload my own pictures because my computer doesn't read XD cards, but apparently Olympus is very common here, so my host dad is picking one up for me tomorrow.
The puppies were 42 days old when this picture was taken (the day I got here). 3/4 are now gone. The one closest to you was named Billy or gordito because he was pudgy and got pudgier every day. The one next to him was the only girl of the group. She was by far the nicest and my favorite. The next one was Brownie, he left first and looked WAY different from the rest. And finally, the one on his back is the one on my lap. Adorable.
I'm really tired and my throat hurts, so I hope that I'm not getting sick. It is flu season here and my host sister is sick (though not with the flu). Getting sick would be no fun!
Thats all for now...
Much love!

P.S.
Discovery of the day (I almost forgot): Sweet potato jello (kind of...its thicker, like jigglers....) with cheese on top (yes, it is very common here) is DELICIOUS!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Catching up

Oops... I missed the last several days. Let's catch you (you as in, Aunt Wendy, Grandma, Mema etc, not as in "dear diary you have missed so much!) up, shall we?

Saturday:

Hung out all day then went out to a meat party with my host brother. Yes, a meat party. Kind of like a bbq, but it was inside cause it was cold....and they made non bbqish stuff. Then we played cherads (i know, i cant spell....the acting game), which i was unaware still existed. His friends were super nice, but talked at a million miles an hour. One girl spoke fluent English, she was very handy to have around.
Discovery of the day: Playing cherades in a foreign language is amazingly difficult.

Sunday:

Got back super super late w/ my host brother, time here is very strange. Apparently you go OUT at midnight, rather than coming back. As a result, I slept in until 3. I then spent the rest of the day reading. It was not a good book, but incredibly girly so I couldn't put it down.
Discovery of the day: They don't know what scrambled eggs are, they make omelets, nothing else. Everyone was very confused when I mixed up my 'omelet.'

Monday:

Had tests and they tried to scare us in to being safe. I made it in to the advanced class, which I had doubted that I would do after being so lost at EVERYTHING that was said over the last few days. So, class starts for real tomorrow. After class, we went out to lunch with a student from the school, then I went with Tiffany to buy food/a phone card. Now I am home.
Discovery of the day: Garbage cans here are pretty little wire baskets outside of each house, and garbage is picked up every day.

Sorry to those who are bored of reading the dull details of my life, they are for my dear family who I can't talk to! Love to all, family!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Driving

Got up at like 3 today...how productive of me.

Drove around all day w/ my host mom (for like 5 hrs).

The end.

Discovery of the day: In Buenos Aires, if a car can fit....there is an unspoken lane. The drivers here are insane....

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Rain

Well, Argentina in the winter is just like Washington in the spring, winter, fall etc.

Walked for 5 hrs in the rain after taking the train (o0o0o yea I took the train). Downtown BA is HUGE! There are like 10 lanes of traffic and I swear that people are game.

Discovery of the day: Cream cheese on toast is tasty.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

I'm here!

The flight was long, but I survived. It actually wasn't bad at all.

My house is lovely and I have my own bathroom and room. My host mother and her sister are WONDERFUL! I meet the rest of the family tonight.

Now I am going to shower and sleep, I've been up for well over 24 hrs.

Discovery of the day: They put dulce de leche on TOAST! Ohhhh life is good.

Friday, June 13, 2008

My first post...here

Hello hello

Well, as I blindly follow the crowd, I have changed my blog from www.steelecm.wordpress.com (which by the way is very pretty) to here. So, if you feel the need to absorb the true essence of my FIRST blog post about this trip, you can go there and find it. Either way, stay tuned...this is where the magic will happen.