El final de una semana...

This weekend was absolutely amazing!!!! Friday night, I went to the neighborhood where Brett, Julia and Rue live. We all went to a bbq at Brett's house with his awesome family!!! It was so much fun and by the end of the night we were all one big family!!! I'll try and upload the videos of Rue and Brett dancing with Brett's mom! After the bbq, Julia and I went home because it was about 2 o'clock (which is early for argentines) and went to bed because we had to be back in town at 8 for our trip to the ranch. 

On our way to this amazing ranch in the Andes Mountains we stopped at a winery/art museum and then traveled down windy dirt roads to the most beautiful ranch you have ever seen! I can't even begin to describe how breathtaking this place is. I wish I could show you a lot of pictures, but I forgot my memory chip, so I'll have to steal pictures from Julia when she posts them. 

We stayed at the ranch all day, they served us empanadas (heaven in your mouth) and then we had a bbq outside. The food was amazing and then we went on horse back rides through the valley. They also had dancers come and dance traditional dances for us and then a truck showed up and in the back they showed us the dead puma (like a mountain lion) that two pitt bulls had just killed because the puma was trying to kill the livestock. We finally left the ranch around 6:30 and went back to Mendoza.

Julia, Brett, Rue, Annie, Carlos (student from Hawaii) and I went out to eat and Julia and I managed to finally learn how to turn on a bidet. We managed so well we had water all over the bathroom....just imagine a large fountain in the bathroom and you should be able to understand what it looked like!!!! we finally got it to turn off, but not before soaking the bathroom :) I think it even hit the  ceiling...oops

I spent the night with Julia again and then came home this morning and had lunch with a ton of my family members.  My mom is so sweet, but she doesn't understand the concept of personal space and tends to spit food on me :( My "nephew" was looking at an alphabet card today and I started to look at the words, for p they had pipa (pipe) and w was wiskey (whiskey) haha,  you wouldn't see that in the U.S.  

OOOH I almost forgot!!! I had my first blood sausage at Brett's this weekend....it's gross. not as nasty as you might imagine coagulated blood would be, it's kind of mushy and well ya, it's gross, but edible. I'm really proud of myself for all the different foods I'm eating here...The worst thing I've had so far was an egg and anchovy spread on crackers today, I thought I was going to die so they gave me Fernet to wash it down (bad bad bad idea) I thought they had given me coke, but it was Fernet and Coke...I'm told Fernet is similar to whiskey, it was HORRIBLE so I finally got some dulche de leche (carmel, but better) and was able to survive!!  The dulche de leche is awesome, they use it on toast kind of like we eat peanut butter, my mom gave it to me for breakfast the other morning as well as sugar wafers (CJ, I thought of you when I was eating!) Tomorrow will be another busy day, we have to be tested again for swine flu and then we have class until one and then tomorrow evening we have tango classes again!!!

ok so i'm not great with the picture uploading on here yet, but i'll fix it later...

 

MAL! MAL! MUY FEO!!!

Apparently, American's (or at least Baylor students) can't dance! Today, I didn't have class until 10 and it only lasted until 11, then we experienced our first tango class. It was sooo much fun and let me tell you, the Argentine dance instructor was MUCH better than our guys!!! Rue got picked on a lot today, but it was a ton of fun! I think the instructor was frustrated with us, but couldn't get too mad because we were too funny to watch.  This class is definitely going to be my favorite HP credit! 

Argentina never ceases to amaze me. Today, at the bus stop, a woman decided she needed to nurse her baby. I must say, they are not shy people!

I'm about to go to Julia's, then we're going to a BBQ at Brett's sisters.  I think I'll probably have my first sleep-over tonight at Julia's...I love the feeling of being a little kid again and asking if we can have sleep overs and calling to check in every couple of hours!! Tomorrow is our first excursion and I'm really excited, I think we'll be riding horses in the mountains, hopefully the weather clears up, it has been raining off and on here all day.  Off to Julia's. Chau!

Primera dia de clase!

Today we were placed in groups according to our level of Spanish that we tested in to. Katie, Meighann, Julia, Annie, Rylie, Brett, Rue and I are all in level two!!!!! (yeah!!!) I think all but Katie, Meighann and Rylie are supposed to be in level three, but at least we are together! Class was good today, I really like the teacher, and tomorrow is even better, we don't start until ten and we only have one class before we go to our tango class. I'm starting to get better at Spanish, but it's making English worse!!!  

Timo, Merinda and I took the wrong bus today and it took us nearly two hours to get home, but we eventually found our way and got a good tour of the city.  

I showed my family Olney on google earth today and they were amazed. They saw my picture on my computer from springbreak and were amazed at how much younger I look now. Haha. Coco (mi padre) loved my computer, he works on one similar to a PC because the Mac programs are not compatible, but he was fascinated with the way my computer runs. Today, my mom told me that we were going to eat hamburgers for dinner. When I sat down we had hamburger patties with fried eggs on top. Haha it's funny, she always asks me about what I eat, today she asked if I ate cabbage so for dinner we had a bowl of raw purple cabbage. 

Things are going well, I think I'm ruining my blow dryer and straightener, I may just leave them here when I leave to lighten my load because they no longer act normal!!!! Everytime I turn my hair dryer on I'm scared it may blow up! 

The weather is getting a little colder, but it's funny because the people in Mendoza think it's necessary to wear scarfs and gloves when it's 50 degrees outside and are worried about us freezing with out our scarves. 

We have our first trip this weekend, we're going in to the country to have a barbecue and ride horses and walk up the mountain, I think we'll have a ton of fun!! Chau! 

:)

Today was the best day in Argentina thus far! It started out not so great because I had to take a test, but it wasn't too bad.  We got out of school early today and Meighann and Katie and I took the bus by ourselves for the first time! We kind of got confused, but finally made it home. We had lunch and siesta at Meighann's, haha our siesta, we all curled up on a twin size bed, not very comfortable, but the nap was good. After siesta we went on a tour of the city with the school group. Annie and I got in trouble for jaywalking, but even if we get a ticket we don't have to pay it since we are foreigners! I finally exchanged money today and got a phone so I can have contact with people. After the tour, Meighann and Katie and I went to eat supper. It's always interesting trying to order food in spanish, but it makes for a good time. 

Oh! This morning at breakfast my family was talking and I had no idea what they were talking about until my dad went to my bathroom and brought my razor back to the kitchen table. He was very enthusiastic and started counting. "UNO, DOS, TRES, CUATRO ______"( I don't know what blades are) and then asked me what brand it was. I told him the brand and he said "We no have that, we have gillette, this es masss mejor!!!" (this is much better) Then he proceeded to set my razor on the table for the rest of breakfast. I may have to leave him my razor as a present when I leave!  

Como se dice?

My three most common words....how do you say?  I'm starting to understand the spanish here, but I have a lonnng way to go! Today was the first day of school, it was mostly just an orientation and then a break and more talking about the program. After orientation, we had a three course meal for lunch and it took about 2 and a half hours. The pace of life in Argentina is so much slower than in the states.  We sit for a long time before each course is served, it's definitely testing my patience.  The food here is actually pretty good and considering how picky I am, it's great! I try everything that is set in front of me and my mom will be proud, I had an omelet today, for the first time! Tomorrow, we'll take a placement exam, I'm kind of worried about it, but hopefully it will turn out well. After lunch tomorrow, we will return to school and then as a group take a tour of the city, buy cell phones (YEAH), and exchange money. The exchange rate here is roughly 3.75 pesos= 1 dollar.  One of thing I can't get used to is their greeting....with women I don't mind the cheek kiss, but with men I have never even spoken to it's really strange...(psh at least they could be cute, but no :( ,  just kidding).  Off to study! Adios.

Veinticinco de mayo

Today is a holiday in Argentina so we start school tomorrow. Most of my family came over today for lunch, two of my sisters and my sister-in-law are having baby boys in June and July. We had meat that I couldn't chew and I have no idea what it was, empanadas (sooo good), and some kind of vegetable related to pumpkin (not soo good). My sister that lives at home with me, Nadia, took me around town. Argentine people are definitely not opposed to PDA. It's kind of gross. I also realized in Argentina,  stops signs really just mean slow down if you want and if you're really cautious you might look both ways, also drivers kind of just make up lanes wherever they feel like going!

My aunt, who lives next door, has a Hawaiian student that lives with her and we'll be taking a car together to school tomorrow. My brother-in-law found out that I golf and he told me he'll take me golfing some time at his country club. He showed me the club on the internet and it's really nice and looks extremely tough! I'm headed to bed and ready for tomorrow! Buenos noches.

First Days

Hey everyone! I finally made it to Argentina after a few detours. I started out the trip right in DFW by having scissors in my backpack, but for some reason I was allowed to keep them. While walking through the airport in Dallas I saw an older man come out of a door and then heard him say something to me, thinking I misheard him, I looked back, but the expression on his face told me he didn't like me and what I thought I heard was right. We had several delays right off, but once we took off the flight went great.

9 or so hours later we arrived in Santiago, Chile. We had to stand in line and have our temperature taken to make sure we didn't have the swine flu, then my scissors got me in trouble and I had them taken away. After going through security people started yelling at me and two other girls I was with and saying "Mendoza" and "correr" so we started sprinting through the airport like the people in HomeAlone. As we arrived at our gate (I'm realllly out of shape) we saw the door being shut and they shook their heads and said we couldn't board the plane (or something along those lines, turns out my spanish is HORRIBLE).  The next flight was seven hours later. It's amazing the things that interest you after seven hours in the airport! I started to take a picture with Rylie, but just as I did, my camera decided to go along with the rest of the trip so far and die! Finally at 4:30 we boarded our plane for a 35 minute flight to Mendoza!

Finally in Mendoza, we walked off the plane, through customs to realize our baggage wasn't at the baggage claim! Luckily, they had placed it just past the security check!! We met our families a few minutes later and then headed of towards home! 

My family is really really nice! and they speak really good English!!!!! The driving in Mendoza is awful haha I thought we were going to have at least 4 wrecks on the way home.  My new house is a three story building, the bottom floor is a pharmacy, I don't know if it's theirs or not, and the top two floors are the house.  We had an earlier dinner at about 8, my mom fixed me fried fish, salad with lemon juice, potatoes and wine with orange juice for dinner. It was all really good. After dinner I hung out with my family. My family that I live with is my mom and dad (Coco) and Nadia (27). One of my sisters arrived around 10, she is pregnant and has a two year old little boy who speaks spanish, french and a few english words here and there. He makes me feel stupid :)

I went to bed early around 11 because of the long day. I lay in bed and I can hear the horse drawn carriages outside my window!!! Today is an Argentine holiday so we're going to be eating a ton and going to the town center. I'm supposed to meet my neighbor today who is a Hawaiian exchange student.

I haven't really spoken with anyone since I arrived. I hope Rylie is doing ok, her mom didn't speak any English!!! 

Hope you're having a great day, I'll post more later!