One Month Already?!

Pretty insane considering all the time I took to apply for this trip, prepare for it, wait for it, pack for it, and now I'm actually in it and it's 1/3 of the way over already! Makes me a little sad, but I know I still have a whole lot of stuff to do yet ahead of me. It's hard to pick what I've enjoyed the most so far, but I will say I am pleased with how much it has opened my mind already--living with someone new, going to school with a tight-knit group of 14 others, learning a whole new culture, etc. Creatively, I've loved practicing a language I've studied for almost 8 years now and the new surroundings for my photography have been extremely refreshing. It's a little lame, but I love snapping pictures and being here has affirmed that for sure.

Once I returned from Mendoza, the main event of last week occurred on Thursday evening. In fact there were 2 activities. Why does everything fun or exciting happen on one day?! I always say that there are weekends where absolutely nothing is going on and then the next there's like 6 fun things happening and you have to choose between them. It never ends! Anyways, we started the night with a dance lesson at this beautiful building called Club de Tango. Tango is the national dance of Argentina, and it involves being super close to your partner, sensuality, very exact movements, and it's imperative to follow the man (a lot of us girls struggled with that and tried to take the reins if the boys were hesitant!)

If you enjoy making a fool of yourself, I'd especially suggest taking a dance class with instructors who are a married couple. Their chemistry definitely put us to shame. They were so precise, fluid and impressive! They are so suave and did all these fancy and fast moves like swiftly kicking your leg back between the mans legs (if done correctly it doesn't end badly for the guy!) However, there's no way we could become experts in an hourlong lesson, so I guess we can give ourselves a break there. Most of the lesson I spent dancing with the older men who actually know how to tango, because without a man who knows the steps and how to lead, it's practically impossible to learn as a woman. A few of us may or may not have had a few drinks at a kiosco beforehand (the mini-marts that sell alcohol. I know, classy as always!) so that probably didn't help our retention or attention to detail too much ;) In the remainder of our time here, some of us were talking about going back to take more classes or going to a dance club to practice for fun!

Attempting to be legit...not sure I'm fooling the onlookers....

Instructors showing us how it's done!

Later that evening, we rushed to "La Marcha" at El Monumento de la Bandera which is a peaceful protest of the Argentine government, which has been taking place since 2001. I think we missed the large part of it because as we walked to the river there were TONS of people moving in the opposite direction as us to head home. However once we finally arrived, there was still so many people all surrounding the monument. Families with flags, posters and metal pots/cups to bang on, which signifies ordinary middle class families that are struggling. Of course, middle class is a different concept here compared to the U.S.

Although I certainly don't understand the movement in its entirety, I know that many Argentinians are suffering under this corrupt government and are left with few options in this downturn economy.  I have yet to meet anyone that supports La Presidenta Cristina Kircher, but my host mom says there are supporters out there. A lot of information is surfacing about following Dinero K, which is essentially all the laundering of funds of the government in offshore accounts. Pretty messed up stuff. We ran into a few of our professors at the protest, and here's a poster that one of the business professors was holding:

Cristina as Pinnochio

The sad part is that practically everyone acknowledges that despite the protests that happen all over the country on this day--every year--for the last 12 years, nothing in the government can change right now, not until Cristina's term is over at least (although she is trying to pass a law to extend the presidential term...) The issue with corruption in the government is constantly being reported on the news and is so prevalent here, so I can't really escape the reality of it. Enough with the heavy, though. Moral of the story, be thankful for what you've got in the U.S!

Top Yuppy Moments of the Week (in case you've forgotten, Yuppy is my host mother)
--She has a robot ringtone on her cell phone. Imagine the beginning of "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi--sounds a bit like that.
--I am in love with this one meal she makes and I hope she makes it again soon. It's pasta with bits of chicken and essentially an alfredo sauce, but way better. She puts a ton of white wine, cream, butter, parmesan, lemon, and some herbs in it and it has such a distinct and fresh flavor. I should remember to ask her to teach me the recipe before I leave this place.
--She attended the protest on Thursday night, although I didn't see her there. She brought her pan and all and says she goes every year. She may less than 4 1/2 feet tall, but look out, she's a woman with a purpose!
--Along with her tininess, imagine her telling me a dramatic story in classic Italian/South American form imitating a rat she saw weaving through a crowd of people during a trip she took to Washington D.C. some time ago. Hilarious.
--I was guessing her age to be in her late 50s, but she's actually 67! Definitely doesn't look it. I'm beginning to think carbs and the sun don't make you age after all! (Just kidding, there's some old, burlap lookin people here who I'm assuming haven't taken care of their bodies in the best way over the years...) But still there's some that seem forever youthful! Who knows.
--We went back and forth saying "Connecticut" about 10 times because she thought it was so funny how we say it in English. She thinks that I talk fast and cut off letters of words, but I feel the complete opposite! Argentines cut the "s" off of words, which for a non-native speaker can completely change the meaning.
--I was able to show her my special talent of untangling things when I came home from class to find her sitting at the kitchen table trying to separate 3 necklaces. She was super happy and praised me for my efforts. Ya here that? I'm going places in this world!
--This last one's long but the best: She had her friend Gladys over for the evening, who she has been helping with her laundry, letting her nap in her bed, and taking her to medical appointments because she had liver cancer and now they think she has cancer in her ovaries. It's really sad, because Gladys is a super nice lady and tries to pretend everything is fine, but I've heard her breaking down to Yuppy a couple times when I've been in my room. This particular evening after eating dinner together and talking about how there's no good-looking Argentine men their age (both are divorced and crack me up on the topic of men. It's a universal saying--'Where are all the good men in this world??') I left around 11:30 to meet up with friends. Yuppy called me a cab, and the two of them waited for the cab with me on the stairs outside the apartment. A cab pulled up, and off I went to the bar. About 45 minutes/1 hour later, I had my first drink and was in a booth with friends in this crowded Irish bar. Next thing I know, I turn around and both Yuppy and Gladys are standing there and have the most relieved expression on their faces! They both followed me to the bar because a couple minutes after my cab drove away, another one (the one Yuppy initially called) showed up. Yuppy also thought that my cab driver hadn't turned down the right street when she watched us pull away. They were worried, so they came to make sure I made it to the bar okay! Normally it would be a nightmare to have essentially my "grandmother" and her friend follow me to a bar and give me a bunch of kisses on the cheek when they saw me because I was safe, but I thought it was really funny and cute that they care that much. Always lookin out for me like I'm one of their own children! All my friends thought it was funny and cute too, and they got a little depressed saying things like "My host mom doesn't even know where I am right now..." so I guess you could say I have it good here and I'm never alone in this big city :)

Top Funny Moments of My Classes Thus Far
3. Discovering that "googlear" exists as a verb, meaning "to google."
2. Unintentional Spanglish occurs on the daily because our minds are constantly switching between two languages. For example, I was speaking in Spanish to my professor on our way to a field trip and said "Sentí en la misma manera, también" (I felt the same way, too) but instead of saying también, I said "too" in this weird Spanish accent. We had a good laugh at that. I also invented "creepear" as a verb, meaning "to creep" on someone. Very useful, if only it existed.
1. Last week during my Culture Topics class, it was made evident that our profesora has been calling Brett "Breast" for the last 2 weeks. I can't believe it took us this long to notice, but maybe we were just assuming it was a subtlety in her accent. When we called her out on it, we were all laughing but she still seemed a little scandalized when we told her what that meant in English. Too funny. And of course we now call him Breast for the fun of it.

I don't see any better place to end this blog entry than with a funny lost in translation boob story, so I'm going to stop here and I'll continue with another entry later this week--Chao!

Wine, Olive Oil, Andes Mountains & Paragliding!

Hola todos!

I thought I'd log on to to blog about my first big trip of my time here in Argentina. This wasn't included in the program so us 14 students had to arrange the hostel and activities by ourselves. I was so relieved that when we got to Mendoza, the hostel we stayed in was way nicer than I expected! They had free internet access, computers, included continental breakfast, and SO many options to hook us up with activities. I think that's what made the experience, otherwise we wouldn't have known what to do. The whole trip cost me about $400 including transportation, lodging and food. Given everything I was able to do and see, I consider that really cheap and well worth it!

Click to see Facebook album of Mendoza

Here's a breakdown of what we did each day:

Friday: Arrived early in the morning after the 13 hour bus ride and went straight to our hostel. We were able to roam around the city a little bit until check-in time. Once the afternoon rolled around, we basically dropped off our stuff in our rooms and were picked up for a wine/olive oil tasting bus ride! You'd think we'd had enough of busses at this point, but since our little adventure involved visiting 2 wineries and an olive oil factory, we were game! I've never done a wine/olive oil tasting before so I enjoyed that a lot, and I now feel like I know quite a bit more about the processes it takes to make both.

Later that night we went to an "asado" at a hostel about 5 minutes away. An asado is basically a big meat BBQ with sausage, steak and red wine. Very popular here in Argentina. We met some people from New Zealand and Chile which was fun too. We were told we'd get a free tequila shot after dinner which was a fun little bonus. This hostel was HUGE and essentially had a bar connected to it. We were all just chilling upstairs playing pool and talking when all the lights turned off, dance lights turned on, the music got super loud and a "siren" went off. We all went downstairs to the bar and they had 2 tequila bottles that they were pouring directly into mouths...so basically we got WAY more than just a shot! Then before I knew it my sweet and innocent friend Bianca was being boosted up on the bar and people were doing body shots off of her! Afterwards she told me that the bartenders said they'd give her a free drink if she did it. But she thought a body shot meant setting a shot glass on her stomach and someone taking the glass to drink...so she was quite surprised when they were pouring it on her and she put the lemon in her mouth! Then the bartenders whipped out some foam to turn it into a foam party...so most of us wanted to leave after that haha. It was quite the experience. Things got so crazy so fast, and all of us were content just hanging out before all the craziness started! I think overall it was all pretty funny though, and we now call Bianca "Body-shot B."

Saturday: An early wake-up call at 6am! We spent all day, from 7am-7:30pm going through the Andes Mountains (again, on a bus!) But on the ride we were able to take a lot of pictures and we made about 6 stops at scenic locations where we were able to roam around for a half hour or so. The longer stop was for about an hour and a half and it was through a national park where we could get a good view of the highest peak of the Andes Mountains. I knew when planning this trip we'd be near the Andes, but it didn't hit me until I actually saw them how amazing this opportunity was--I SAW AND WENT THROUGH THE ANDES!!! Craziness. Then that night at OUR hostel were more free drinks! Again, the schedule said we'd get 1 free drink, but the girl that works at the hostel and helped us plan all our activities, Jezibel, then said we could drink as much as we wanted until it was gone. Soo...5 mojitos later everyone was having a great time! We were just hanging out at the hostel and playing drinking games with a deck of cards. We met a girl from Holland and I also ran into 2 medical students that are from MN and go to the University of Minnesota..uhh what?! I'm amazed every day at how small of a world it actually is.

Sunday: 6 of us decided to paragliding! Definitely the biggest spur of the moment decision I've ever made, especially when I wasn't entirely sure what paragliding entailed! We were all picked up from the hostel and driven to a location sort of up in the mountains, and they took 3 people at a time. I was in the second group, so after waiting about 45 minutes, we saw 3 parachutes floating in the air in the distance up above the big mountains. So THAT'S what I was about to be doing. Floating up in the air relying only on the wind with no motor. Oh my god. Not sure being in the second group was the best idea!

When it was our turn, we rode up in a crappy old truck on the rockiest "road" ever (I'd call it a walking trail) The car stalled twice and we were at like a 45-degree angle the whole time going up a mountain with no guardrails or anything. So that already was scary! Then once we got up there, the guys set up the parachutes, I was strapped in, he gave me no other instructions except "run," and I jumped off the Andes Mountains and before I knew it was floating away! It was so insane and I was awestruck by the scenery. But still happy, enjoying the experience. Then another feeling took over...

Whether it was motion sickness or my first time having whole milk in my frosted flakes that morning or altitude sickness from such little oxygen, I do not know. Either way, I told my instructor man that spoke very little English that I didn't feel well and he was calm and said "over on this side, ok?" and up came my breakfast...twice. I couldn't do anything except laugh at myself, because honestly it was pretty funny. I try to do something fun and adventurous and then THAT happens. Oh well, what can ya do? I enjoyed the rest of my ride for the next 10 minutes, so it was okay! I think the guy was used to seeing that, and it's probably a downside of the job. But after that all happened, he told me in Spanish "If it happens in the sky, it's a secret!" which I thought was funny. Here's one of the happier moments of the ride:

After exploring the city a little bit later in the afternoon, we had to catch our bus back to Rosario, another 13 hour ride overnight. Then when we arrived Monday morning, we went straight from the bus station to the school without a dinner (the company jipped us on sandwiches! How dare they!) and no breakfast. Needless to say class was a struggle! Despite the exhaustion and nonstop action, overall I had the most wonderful time on this trip escaping from the big city for a long weekend. I got to know the people in my program even better too. All of our personalities mesh together quite well so far. Everyone was even cool with drawing names so we could sit by different people on the bus ride back. I think that just shows how open and easy going we are and how we value getting to know one another better. Most of the people in the program are from Oregon, so they are mostly very outdoorsy (I'm one of the few without one of those HUGE legit backpacker's backpacks) and laid-back. There's one other girl, Erin, who is from Ball State as well. I think it will be cool when we go back to school in the fall and will be able to talk about our shared experience together that no one else quite understands like we do.

Biggest positive of the experience: More of a small town feel with less people, friendlier people, less traffic and noise. We got to be close to nature again!
Biggest downer of the experience: I brought my travel debit card that I haven't had to use yet because I have been using up the cash I brought and exchanged for pesos (better exchange rate that way and avoiding ATM fees.) Naturally it wasn't functioning and said my pin # was wrong, so I had to borrow pesos from my friends. They were totally cool with it and told me not to worry about it, but I still felt bad having to do that. I think I need to contact my bank and set up a new pin and not the one that they automatically put on there right before my trip. Once I got back to Rosario I used my other debit card at an ATM and it worked so I paid everyone back already, but it was just frustrating and an unneeded stress on this trip.

Words of the week!

recordar/acordarse- to remember

rizado- curly

lacio- straight

sobrenombre- nickname

deshacer- to undo

estribillo- chorus (of a song)

alrededor- nearby, surroundings

faltar- to miss

marcharse- to leave (and never return)

el nieve/nevar- snow, to snow

incierto- uncertain

maletas/valija/equipaje- luggage, bags

disfraces- costumes

coser- to sew

aceite de olivas- olive oil

casamiento/matrimonio- wedding

aún- so far, still

consejos/sugerencias- advice, suggestions

ultimamente- lately

parapente- paragliding

durar- to last, duration

pertenecer- to belong

estadounidense- citizen of the U.S.A.

descrubimiento- discovery

bombacha- women's underwear

calzoncillo- men's underwear

calzones- undergarments (in general)

*The last 3 words are a prime example of how off-topic our classes can get with our professors. Learning fun words :)

The new words list keeps getting longer and longer! I'd like to think my Spanish has improved immensely up until this point. As much fun as I had this last weekend, I'm excited to explore some more of my new "home city" this weekend go with the flow for whatever other activities come my way. Til next time amigos!

First Weekend Trip Coming Up

Hiii! The weekend trip I'm referring to is Mendoza, aka wine country near the Andes Mountains and Chile, aka where all the amazing Malbecs come from! We're doing a "red-eye" overnight bus trip, if that exists, and we leave tomorrow evening after classes. I think it's about 11 hours? Practically the entire group is going, and it's not associated with the AHA Abroad Program so we've planned it all ourselves so far. And by planned, I mean bought bus tickets and booked a hostel. It's a mystery what we'll do the rest of the time...poor college/study abroad students + different interests so it's sometimes tough for us all to agree on a decision. Hopefully when we get there we'll be able to see our options and do fun, spontaneous activities! My only condition is that it involve wine :)

Since my last post was just a few days ago, here's a few things that have been floating in and out of my mind since I've been in Argentina and I thought I'd share with you all:

Things Worth Pondering
1. In case you were wondering, construction workers whistling at any specimen of girl that walks down the street is a universal act, no matter the country, and still consumes approximately 80% of their job.
2. I mentioned before that there's a lot of golden retrievers and chow-chows, but even more popular is probably any breed of dog that is small, white and fluffy. I find this a little ironic because my host mom Yuppy has even said--in Spanish--"Rosario is a wonderful city. Filthy, but wonderful." So imagine how often these people have to wash their dogs to keep them white after walking the city streets.) Even the manliest of men in full-on business suits are still seen walking these little pooches.
3. The toilets aren't circular, and are instead a more square shape. Probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but until you sit on one yourself you may never know how drastically it fails to contour to your body. All you feel is that somethin ain't right.
4. To go along with that, I feel I need to take advantage of the bidet situation one of these days. Just to say I did. Who knows when the opportunity will present itself again?!
5. The napkins are essentially wax paper. Yes, the stuff that is meant to repel liquid and not absorb anything. Makes sense?

Some "Firsts"
1. Most of the people in the program bought a pay as you go phone to keep in contact with all of us within the country, but I've decided against it. I don't think it'll hurt to live a more simplistic life for 3 months. And besides, I have my computer, we communicate on our facebook group, I have viber/what's app with wifi on my iphone, AND skype. I don't think I need an additional cell phone as well. Yuppy actually had one for me that I just had to pay for the minutes on, but I just don't want to deal with that. I've made up my mind!
2. I brought and picked up my clothes from a lavandería today (laundromat.) For whatever reason I'm self-consious about someone else looking at my clothes, like my underwear and everything. When I walk in there to pick up my clothes I feel like they know secrets about me or something haha. Just overall awkward. I liked not having to fold anything though!

Words of the Week!

Estoy satisfecha- I'm full

asequible- accessible

De buen/mal humor- in a good/bad mood

arriesgarse- to take risks

agotada- exhausted

tramposa- tricky

muy buen mozo- very good looking, handsome (only to describe men)

mareado- dizzy

fijarse en- to pay attention to, to focus, to notice

llaves- keys

hospitalaria- welcoming

a gratis- free (monetary)

en contra- against

cataratas- waterfalls

discapacidades- disabilities

ocio- passtime

estacionar- to park

Things that don't really have a translation but people use all the time:

hacer sobremesa- it's the laid-back act of eating a meal at a restaurant with family or friends for 2-3 hours, just eating and talking and having a good time. You have to ask for the bill here, the waiter won't bring it to you because it's considered rude.

piropo- compliment, but a little different. It can be used as a verb too, as in "el chico hace piropo con ella", as in "the boy is flirting with her." Usually it's a compliment to a beautiful girl they've never met before on the street. Yuppy shakes her head and smiles when she talks about how quickly the men like to move here :) I guess that's why I see heads sticking out of car windows when I'm walking down the street and hear "MI AMORRR!" as they pass...

tener onda- to be cool. It can describe a person or thing. Like if you don't get along with someone or don't know someone very well, no tienes onda con ellos (you're not cool with them)

que lindo- an expression that basically means how cool, cute, precious, etc. something is

Things I Miss

1. My comfy bed.

2. Benihana rice (it'd probably help if I cancelled the emails I get from them about specials...) Also, what I would give for some waffles right now. I hardly even eat those at home, so I don't know why this phenomenon is occurring. I also think it was a grave mistake to not bring a giant stash of m&m's from the states for when those particular cravings arise.

3. Not having to inhale pollution constantly, from both cars and cigarettes (after so many instances of getting smoke blown in my face, the thought has begun to cross my mind that the smoke went inside this person's internal organs and back out again and it just disgusts me that much more)

4. Constant and secure access to money and a car

5. My shows, Nashville and Teen Mom ;(

*I only miss 5 things so far and they're minor. I'd say that's pretty good!

I think that's all I've got for you guys right now. Can't wait for the Mendoza trip that begins tomorrow, wish me luck!

Settling In, Slowly But Surely

Hello everyone!

As the title says, I'd say this last week has involved a lot of settling in, slowly but surely. You'd think that I'd be settled right after I arrived and unpacked my bags in my new home, but I can tell you that is definitely not the case. Today we began our first full week of classes (well, Monday-Thursday. Yay study abroad schedules!) and it is just occurring to me how crazy it is that I am living in another country for THREE months with someone I've never met who doesn't speak a word of English. Except Yuppy's microwave has english words on it if you want to count that, and every night she tells me "sweet dreams" and I can tell she's so proud of herself haha. It's weird how I don't even think about the fact I'm listening, understanding and speaking Spanish on a daily basis anymore. I feel like I know Yuppy fairly well now and I've learned about her all in a foreign language! It's becoming second-nature to transition from English to Spanish so quickly.

I'm so glad that I'm already pretty comfortable with the whole situation. I know my way to school now and most of the main streets, I understand how to turn the water heater up or down for the shower, I hailed a cab for the first time by myself Saturday night, etc! I'm movin' up in the world.

Other than sporadic required events with the program, we've been able to have quite a bit of free time to ourselves now this past week. On Friday since we didn't have class we went to the beach (Playa Florida) on the river which was sooo wonderful. Beautiful sunshine-y day & caught some rays! Of course not too many people were there because it was during the day on a weekday and some have already ruled out the beach now that it's autumn, but it was still an unseasonably hot day! I hope Argentina keeps having weather like that :)

Later that night...okay wait, back up so I can explain how the nightlife works here. Basically to get cheaper drinks, some people go to a kiosco, which is essentially a mini-mart with tables and chairs inside where you're allowed to drink. I've only been to this particular kiosco twice, but when other people from our group have gone out it seems they always go there so we're probably considered regulars now (and these same older men are always there waiting with plates of...wait for it... MEAT... for us girls. First it was steak, and last time it was sausage. Yeah, doesn't make sense to us either, so just go with it I guess. For the record I did not eat any.

We basically get to the kiosco at midnight, drink wine or beer or whatever else for an hour or two, and THEN you go to the bars or boliches (I haven't been to one yet, but from what I hear it's essentially a crazy nightclub that opens at 2am-6am.) It's definitely an adjustment to be able to stay up so late! No wonder these people need siestas! Actually though, the city is practically a ghost town from 2-4 in the afternoon for "siesta time." Businesses close and everything!

Anyways, Friday night we met up with a girl who grew up in California and moved to Rosario when she was 16. It's nice to have her around to show us the ropes and she's obviously comfortable with the city by now. She speaks both English and Spanish and likes connecting with the international students here. She brought along two friends from Great Britain who were nice enough, although a little odd. I think they got progressively weirder as the night went on. I did like listening to their accents though! So around 2am we went to a bar/half boliche. It was ladies night so we got in free, and ladies night also of course meant all the 30+ men came a'flockin. That was a little weird too, but pretty normal for back home I would guess too. But anyways, we stuck in our familiar group and danced the night away with all the disco lights and such. I think all the bars and dancing is just as crazy as you'd imagine a South American bar to be! It doesn't help we don't really have "club clothes" and Americans are notorious for having no rhythm or moves on the dance floor. Oh well, I think we've all accepted that we don't quite fit in and just have to embrace it.

Saturday we went out for pizza for lunch for the first time! It was pretty good, we had a choice of like 60 different topping options so we just picked at random and got one with 4 different toppings. Four cheese (my fav), chicken, tomato and basil, and one really weird one with palm hearts and flavored mayonaise drizzled on the top. Yeah, for obvious reasons none of us were a fan of that last one. Blegh.

Saturday night we went to a really cool bar called El Paso. It must be popular because it was super packed. There was like 7 of us and we sat outside under a heat lamp and drank probably too much cheap wine. It was a very laid back and fun evening though :) I almost didn't go out because I was tired, but then I reminded myself that I'm in another country and I need to put myself out there and seize a social life whenever possible, that's what the Argentinians do!

One of the things I've had to adjust to here are the beggars who come into cafes and such to ask for food or money. My friend Callie who is studying in Spain said the same thing happens to her. It's always in a different way it seems--dropping off pieces of paper on the table with a written plea on it and later coming by to pick up the money if you leave any, a dad came in to the cafe where I ate lunch today carrying his baby girl and asking for money to pay for feeding her, or when we went to eat pizza some boys that were probably 10 years old straight-up asked if they could have the rest of our pizza. It was the leftover palm hearts/orange mayo drizzle slices...so we said "Go ahead! It's all yours!"

I feel bad for people that have to resort to tactics such as this to get by and it's probably something I'll never get comfortable with. The one 16-year-old boy that left papers on our table had a stray dog following him that did NOT like him one bit. The dog practically snarled, barked and chased him out of the outdoor seating area. Once he left, the dog was totally chill and patrons were petting him to calm him down. This dog then proceeded to curl up in a ball under our table and take a 3-hour long nap on our feet. He was so nice to everyone but that teenager asking for money! It makes me wonder if he had drugs or something on him that the dog could smell. Dogs are so smart and have such incredible instincts, it's insane.

It sounds sad that this city has so many street dogs, but they all seem very clean and well-fed. There were some strays when I went to Trinidad almost 3 years ago, and these dogs are nothing like the starved and sad ones we saw there. Our professors told us that the way people treat pets here is just different. If a family has to move and their next home doesn't allow pets, they just let the dog go. That's why many of them have collars still and they become "community dogs." There's even organizations that go around to fix the animals for free so they don't keep reproducing. When we went to the beach on Friday, there were so many dogs just running along the shore and playing in the water. One even came up to my friend Bianca for no apparent reason, sat practically on her beach towel, and started pawing at her to pet him. He sat there for like 5 minutes--it was so cute! Besides the strays though, the majority of people here own a dog or two. Lots of golden retrievers and chow-chows, believe it or not! All the chows are red and look exactly like my Cookie Monster back home. I miss her ;(

What else...I've gathered that the social life here is so important to Argentine culture. Taking the time to call friends (we've discussed that all of our host moms are super social and their phone is always ringing off the hook), make plans with friends, go to the park and play fútbol or drink some mate, sitting down at a café for some coffee for no particular reason other than the fact you want it, is all so prevalent here. In the states we're so used to the "go go go" mentality that it's hard to transition to just "chillin" basically. Connecting with people at all times takes precedence here for sure.

I know I get stared at like I'm a tourist, but it really doesn't feel like I am. Yes I've just moved here and I'm seeing new things, but I also technically live and go to a university here!

Words of the week!

mudarse- to move (locational)
moverse - to move oneself, for example your body
Buen finde- have a good weekend!
inundación- flood (in the province of Buenos Aires in the city of La Plata...major flooding occurred last week so we've been following the news quite a bit here)
viñedo- vineyard
corcho- cork
manteca- butter
tijeras- scissors
perros callejeros- stray/street dogs
pulpos- octopi
mariscos- shrimp
frontera- border (of countries or states)
cerdo- pig
chi chi- an expression you use when you want to clink glasses for "cheers"

Facebook tells me that this link will work to view all my pictures thus far from this trip, even if you don't have a Facebook, so it's worth a try! La Vida Argentina Facebook Album

For my favorite weekly photos, go to my other blog: Pacovsky Photography. Hasta la próxima!

Muchas Muchas Cosas

I'm back at it again! I must say it's quite a daunting task to keep up with all my updates on Facebook, this blog and also my photography blog in addition to keeping up-to-date with email, Viber, Skype and Whatsapp to communicate with those back home. Especially doing all of this when I'm learning how to live in another country, make friends here, get comfortable at my house, trying to know my way around the city, figuring out the money/to-go phone situation, preparing for classes, going to all the activities the program has planned for us, etc! I could go on but I think that'll just stress me out even more. I will say that I think I've at least figured out this much: I'm going to use this blog more for WRITING about my experiences, Pacovsky Photography blog will contain all the PHOTOS I'm proud of, and Facebook will contain all my other photos. If you don't have a facebook, just email me and I can send you the link to view the photos.

Instead of going day-by-day since that seems sort of boring, here's a bit of a summary of the last week. 

On Tuesday evening everyone in the program finally got to meet at a little party that the program directors threw for us at the hostel. We were able to talk with them as well as some of our professors and again, get thrown right into the Spanish! All of us students here are at pretty different levels. I can understand almost all of what people say to me, but it's hard to formulate the sentences back to them. I think I've gotten by okay so far. Just when I start thinking that though, a person on the street tries to talk to me a million miles a minute and I feel like I'm back at square one. It's frustrating but part of the learning process!

Once the party was over, us students wanted to go out and explore the nightlife a little bit on our own. We learned quickly that moving in a pack of 15 Americans to various restaurants and bars is difficult to do and something that we'll have to modify in the future. It was fun to get out and see what was around us though! At one of the bars I ordered a white wine, little did I know that meant the whole bottle. Oops, not the worst problem to have I guess :) Same thing happened to us a different night so we're pretty positive they don't sell by the glass.

Anyways, I wish I had taken a picture of the backyard of the hostel because it was so serene, practically  like a zen garden with a little pool and a tall brick enclosure with vines growing up the side.

Some other things we've done so far: Walking tour of the city, drank mate (traditional Argentine tea that you drink in a special glass and straw. I actually see EVERYONE here drinking it, always. It's very healthy, which is probably why it tasted like grass. Needless to say it wasn't my fav), Saturday night before Easter went to watch a reenactment of The Last Supper (it was sweet to see how many people were at El Monumento de la Bandera to see this), went on a boat tour of Río Paraná, and yesterday we watched El Secreto de sus Ojos, an Argentine film that won an Oscar in 2011. I highly suggest this movie, with English subtitles of course.

I'm now going to dedicate a whole section to my host mom, Graciela, because I think a lot of you want to know what she's like!

Graciela, my host mom!

Where to begin with this lady?! First off I'll say that she is tiny, probably less than 4'6" tall. She told me to call her Yuppy (pronounced "Shoopie" since that is what all her friends call her.) Side note: about 5 other people from the program have mothers named Graciela. Around the house, she rocks these dark blue Crocs as slippers and those oversized white tshirt dresses from the 90s on her tiny frame. When she goes out in public, though, she always dresses up, puts on makeup, and does her curly, firey red hair all nice. She is divorced, has two daughters that are 29 and 30 years old and two grandchildren who are 10 and 13 years old. I think I'll probably meet them at some point while I'm here.

She is very social, always going to movies or the lake with friends and the phone is always ringing off the hook to make plans with other friends as well. She has already brought 2 of them over to meet me. Her apartment is very nice and I'm comfortable here. If I had one complaint, it would be that my bed is sort of hard as a rock but I think I'll manage. From what I've heard from the other students, it sounds like our living situations vary in certain respects. A few live in houses, some have pets, some have more than just a host mom, some don't have wifi and some do, some have balconies, some are near the river, etc. It all just depends.

She told me she used to be big into theater and although she couldn't sing or dance, she was funny. Her last name is Minetti which is super Italian of course, and along with that comes all the drama in her voice! It's fun to just listen to her talk sometimes even if I don't understand all of it. Just imagine what you think a chef from Italy in a pizzería would say and how they'd say it: "DELICIOSA! (the hand to the lips kissing motion thing that they do) Yuppy is always talking like that.

I knew we would have misunderstandings when we try to converse, but the funniest one has to be from the first night. She made me dinner and there's a little TV in the kitchen that we were half-watching while I ate. Of course while eating and trying to remember all my Spanish right off the bat, it was hard to pay attention to the TV as well. Long story short, we talked back and forth for about 3 minutes seemingly on the same topic of what I thought was potatoes (papas) but Yuppy thought it was about El Papa (the pope) until she finally bursted out laughing. I think I may have said something about how tasty potatoes are which finally made it obvious as to how off track we were. It was a funny icebreaker! Despite sometimes major confusion, talking during meals has been super beneficial for me so far to practice speaking and to learn new words.

So yeah, I'd say so far so good with the living situation! 

Words of the week!

aceitunas- olives (had to look this up when my host mom asked what foods I don't like)

hongos- mushrooms (same instance as above)

anfitrióna- host (as in "host mother")

huesos- bones. I noticed Yuppy had a large scar on her arm so I asked her about it and began telling her  about my foot surgery. Of course halfway through my sentence I realized I couldn't remember the word for "bone." She was pretty certain I was trying to say tendon but without knowing the actual word I couldn't convince her otherwise...I think this is going to happen to me a lot. Keepin the dictionary handy!

vino tinto- red wine (not vino rojo)

compu- short for computer

celu- short for cellphone

bife- beef (not bistec like I learned in high school)

bombilla- metal straw used only for mate drink. I was told in high school that bombilla meant any type of straw. Now I know I guess!

puente- bridge

aca- here (hardly anyone uses aquí)

feriado- holiday

What I've learned so far:

1. There are no lanes for driving and people sort of drive like maniacs, to put it nicely. What is even more scary is to be a pedestrian! Barely any stoplights or stop signs so it's basically a blind guess when cars pull into intersections. No use of blinkers either. It's great.

2. Not many people from Rosario like the President, who believe it or not is a woman! That in of itself is very cool to me, but I don't know much about what she stands for yet. My host mother talked a lot about drugs and 40% of the population of Argentina is in poverty, so I'd guess it has something to do with that. Her name is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and that's about all I have to say about that.

3. Their currency (pesos) has lost so much of its value due to a 24% inflation rate. I'm really bad at understanding this side of math/business but I know that number can't be good. It is also presenting a problem for us to convert our US dollars because we get a 1 to 5 rate whenever we use a debit card when in reality our currency is worth so more much than that right now with the peso going down the sewer. Luckily we have some connections within our host families and professors that can get us better conversion rates with cash, which the Argentine government has technically deemed illegal for an Argentine person to be in possession of US currency or something like that...oh well. Lots of this stuff goes over my head.

4. 80% of the population is Italian and most of the rest is Castellano (Spain). Basically a lot of the young people I've seen look like models because they have the perfect Italian/Latin mix going on in all their features. Pshh like that's even fair.

5. I knew this coming in, but instead of a "y" and "ll" making a "yuh" sound, Argentinians say it like "sh." I struggled when my host mom said easy words like pollo (chicken) because I had to sound it out! I think the sound is more pronounced than I thought it would be.

6. So. much. bread. My host mom has made bread for breakfast everyday with either butter or dulce de leche, which is like the sweetest caramel you'll ever taste. To go along with that, most of us are trying to find a gym to work out at!!!

7. As far as greetings go, you always do a "fake kiss" on the cheek when you meet someone, say hello, say goodbye, leave a room and come back in again (really though) or say goodnight. So far I haven't seen that gender really matters. Saying "chao" for goodbye is very popular here as opposed to "adios" probably due to the Italian culture.

8. Maybe it's just the one restaurant we've been eating at because it's the only one that's been open and that takes our lunch tickets, but something is going on with the fries and chips. And not in a good way. Maybe they use a different oil or like them wet and soggy, but all of us are confused when there's been no crispness or crunchiness to any of it!

9. There's hardly any "one-stop shops" here, like a Target. You've got the jugetería (toystore), panadería (bread store), lavandería (landromat), perfumería (toiletry store), pastelería (cake shop), ferretería (a pet store for ferrets...just kidding, it's a hardware store :) ) But still you see the gist of it. When I actually have to start running errands it's going to be quite a haul around the city!
10. Just to make it a solid 10 things, I just ate 100 grams (like bigger than a king-sized) chocolate bar I found at the store. I think I've been deprived so far here. It's been decided, I'm getting more tomorrow.

Due to a long holiday weekend for Easter and celebrating the lives of soldiers who died fighting Great Britain for the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), it has been a little difficult to get adjusted here when businesses aren't really open, or when they are it's very irregular hours. We've only had class 1 day too so we could get on a schedule, although having one class didn't really work because I have no clue what I'm doing when classes start tomorrow! The transition to this new life for the next 3 months will probably take awhile. 

Hopefully all of this isn't too difficult to follow, but I can only remember so much! At the moment my thoughts are sort of scattered so I think my writing is coming off that way too. I'll update again soon :)