Last weekend in Mendoza!

Well today is the end of my last weekend in Mendoza :(

Finally Friday!! Rue was drinking coffee today and Carlos approached him with a story about the coffee at the school. It's a lot like on of his ex girlfriends. Really hot but really bitter. :)
Friday we also had a Tango test. It was kind of difficult, but the instructor helped us haha!
Rylie and Annie picked me up in a cab and we all went to Brett's house...nobody answered , so we walked to Rue's...nobody answered, so we walked to Julia's. Luckily, she was there! We were supposed to make empanadas, but they didn't go to the store early enough so we planned on making them Saturday. We ate dinner at about midnight. All the girls fell in love with Brett's brother and there was a unanimous sigh of disappointment when his girlfriend arrived. Julia and I slept and watched movies all day Saturday and it was great! We went to town and got McDonald's and ice cream and went back home to watch a movie. Julia's dad told us he wanted us to watch a movie he had, Knotting Hill, so we asked him for the movie when we got home and he told us he didn't have any idea what we were talking about. About an hour later he came to our room and told us he had a movie he wanted us to watch....Knotting Hill...it was everything I could do to keep from laughing! I love Julia's house...it cracks me up...I opened a cabinet to look for a cup and the cabinet was full of milk! The milk here is strange, it's in a box and it's good to stay at room temperature until it's opened and then you have to refrigerate it....I'm not exactly sure what we're drinking! My family laughs at me a ton because of how much I drink. I drink more water in one meal than they drink in a week. They usually set out a water pitcher at meals just for me. Julia and I slept in again today, it was a much needed weekend of rest. It was voting today here and since voting is not an option everything closes down. We met up with Rue and Brett about 2 and went to Brett's sister for a barbeque. The house was really interesting. They live in the middle of a winery in a house that was built in the early 1800's, there's no heating there so they're moving next week, but they did have a church there....Iglesia de Vino...it was a wine storage room. The asado was possibly the best beef I have everrr had in my life. Martin (Brett's brother-in-law) laughed at me and told me I was a very good eater and he was very surprised!

We start finals this week. no bueno! Wednesday on of our Argentine teachers wants to take us to a place to eat and sing karaoke....this should be interesting, karaoke in spanish! Julia and I also met the number two motor cross rider for BMW....we think they were kind of offended when we had no idea who he was haha.

It's dinner time soon....I don't know how I'm going to eat! We had lunch at 5:30 and they're expecting me to eat again at 9! Even after being here for 5 weeks I'm still not used to meal times! Chau for now!

YIKES

We just had a fish for dinner....no not fish, a fish, it still had it's head, tail and fins, oh my dear USA how I'm beginning to miss you.

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL!!!

Yikes! A week from today we start finals! 

School was school, but after we had to make up for a missed Tango class. They fed us empanadas so the stay was worth it. Dr. Supplee said we're much better dancers than the kids last year. Haha I'd hate to see how bad they were! We have to dance at a "graduation" dinner next week so it should quite the comedy show. Brett, Julia, Rue and I went downtown after school and got icecream and met up with Annie to do a little shopping. Annie, Julia and I found a scale today on the street and stepped on....it's in Kilograms...if we calculated right...we'll be arriving back home with a little extra baggage! After Annie left us we went and met our new friend Adam at a restaurant. Adam is here studying Spanish from London. He's preparing to move to Buenos Aires to work at the embassy there, he's a really interesting guy and a ton of fun to talk to. Friday after Tango I'm headed out to Julia and BRue's neighborhood for the weekend. Brett's mom is teaching me and Julia how to make empanada's then we're having a party. This weekend is the election weekend for Argentina and citizens are required to vote so after midnight on Saturday all stores are require to be closed until Monday. My shower finally got fixed today, it's a day for rejoicing!!! I'm about to eat dinner with my family and then head to down to meet up with Katie and Meighann to meet some kids that will be going to Baylor next semester to study abroad. I'm starting to miss home a little today...can't wait for that Texas heat!!!

The bus ride!

I know I've already blogged once today, but I just figured I'd tell you about my bus ride.

I got out of Tango at 7 tonight, took a bus to the Plaza to catch my bus home. I finally walked in my front door at 8:54, it should only take me about 10 minutes! I took the right bus number, I just didn't know it was on it's last run and was headed to the terminal. When I arrived at the terminal the bus driver realized I was lost and got a man who spoke a little English to help me. Anyways, I figured I'd share a bit of my trip...

My first bus was fully decorated....we had red velvet drapes in the front of the bus with tassels, the steering wheel and stick shift were covered in fuzzy, blue fabric, and to top it off.....a disco ball. Had I not been alone I could have had quite a party in there...we listened to Bob Marley, Frank Sinatra, something along the lines of Kenny G and Colby Caillat. I saw a man carrying a purple purse with white lightening bolts and another man wearing a Playboy jacket. There was a street sign named Helen Keller, this wouldn't be that odd, but all the other names are like Calle Calido, Tucuman, Beltran, then you have this random American named street.  I was so excited when I saw the signs for my neighborhood. They're really noticeable because they're brand new and have "Welcome" in like 5 different languages, only the English version says, "Wellcome", some genius translator worked hard on that one. Last, but not least, I saw a rather old lady riding her motorcycle down the sidewalk.

Anyways, my two hour city tour only cost me about 75 cents and I made it home in one piece with my pepper spray in my hand at all times :) 

Oh..Carlos shared a bit of knowledge with us the other day. Supposedly, if you wear your hair slicked back with grease you get better service. Just a little FYI for ya!

Oh how I love lunch!

Lunch is the big meal of the day in Argentina and it usually takes anywhere from 1 hour to 2 and a half hours. Today, our conversation ranged from Anna Nicole Smith marrying an 86 year old, to my padre telling me that "fat" people have to pay more social security here, to me learning funeral vocabulary....not many kids can say that this lesson would be useful except me :)  I have to say that today's conversation was not near as exciting as last weeks bird migration conversation....oh so stimulating...Julia had the same conversation with her family a few weeks ago so we get to bond over our bird knowledge, I'm a little behind though because since then she's had a pumpkin conversation as well. haha

Friday, after Tango class we went to a professor's house for lunch, then on to a museum (I'm kind of worn out on museums) then we went to this really pretty winery. We had to stay inside the whole time because a wind was blowing in from the desert and it was impossible to stay out side for more than a few minutes without being buried in dust. This winery has been rated one of the top five in the world! There were other people with us during our tour and at the end some man from Brazil ended up buying a tonnnn of wine and he let Brett and three other people taste a wine that is considered to be one of the best in the world! 

Saturday began with hike up a "hill" (anybody in Texas would deem this "hill" a mountain). We started climbing the "hill" at 10 o'clock in the morning and finally got back down around 12:30. This "hill" was three miles straight up hill....it was the hardest hill I've ever had to climb! Julia was sick so she "had" to miss the hike, so Annie and I served as each other's accountability partners or we would have never made it up!!! Despite all my complaining it was very rewarding to finally make it to the top and stand in the clouds. I felt veryyyyy out of shape when seventy five year old men were walking down the mountain looking spiffy and energized while Annie and I were huffing and puffing with each centimeter we moved! On the three mile hike down Annie and I played games to make the time pass. They served us lunch at the bottom of the hill, it was good, except there were bugs in my wine and I learned I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin soup!

After our "hill" climb we made it to the best part of the weekend!!!! The spa!!! It was absolutely wonderful!! It's amazing how cheap everything was there. I paid less than two hundred dollars for a nights stay, 2 meals, one wine tasting/empanadas, a 30 minute massage, an hour facial, an hour massage, and all you want sauna/mud baths/hot springs! Needless to say it was magnificent, especially after being sore from the hike!!!I didn't take pictures because I didn't want to lose my camera in the mud, but I'll steal somebody else's soon and post them. This place was gorgeous, the hot springs were set beside this gorgeous river the was beyond description.

Welp, I have to go study new moves for Tango class....

16 days until I go home!!

My first Casino!!

I found out tonight I'm not in fact the granddaughter of Don Lunn. I went to the Casino and lost. Luckily I'm in Argentina so my losing amounted to about $20, but losing is losing! The black jack tables aren't my friend, but we all had a good time and it's interesting to see a different side of life. For the first time EVER today I wasn't asked how old I was and my friend was!!! Apparently you have to be 21 to gamble here, but they really aren't that picky when it comes to American's and you're form of ID is simply saying you're 21 or just walking in like you own the place. I consider it an accomplishment if I pass for 15. We have a tango test tomorrow that I'm not looking forward to then we're heading to a teacher's house for lunch. Tomorrow we visit our 4th winery and our 23434 museum then Saturday morning we're taking a hike up a mountain. They told us we're going regardless the condition of the weather (it's supposed to be bad this weekend) because mountain climbers don't stop because of bad conditions...The hike is 6 miles round trip....it's gunna be a long day, the only saving grace to hike is we head to the spa after!!!! I can't wait for my massage and facial. I love how everything is sooo cheap here!!

I'm told it snowed this week in Chile and we can possibly go skiing there now because they took away the ten day quarantine for Americans!

Chau for now! 

What we learned today...

Almost everyone reading this has at one point or another used the word caliente meaning hot. Well today, we learned that in Argentina "yo soy caliente" does not mean "I'm hot", but in fact it means "I'm horny". I'm sure people think we're very interesting people! On the other hand I've decided to carry around a bag of rotten tomatoes with me and throw them at all the people who love to express their loves for others in public. The only problem with this plan is that I'll probably be out of tomatoes by the time I reach the end of my block! I may throw up if I have to watch it much longer!!!

Julia and I ate at McDonald's today, I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but it was incredible!!! Then we went and ice cream. Ice cream here is actually quite different from the states and I really enjoy it!! There are actually quite a bit of things here that I've become accustomed to and now like...hot tea, some fish, olive oil, ice cream...well ok so I'm still a picky eater, but I'm trying. 

It's supposed to be snowing soon, so I'm crossing my fingers that I get to go snow skiing!!!

We have our first test on Monday, pray that it goes well!

Only three bittersweet weeks left!

YIKES! This trip has gone by sooo fast, yet so slow! I feel like I've been in Argentina for so long and I'm ready to come back the good ole US of A, but I'm having the time of my life here and am definitely not ready to come home either!

This weekend a group of 19 Baylor students and 1 Hawaii student (I fill ya in on some Carlos stories later!) went to San Rafael. My cab driver picked me up to take me to meet the bus and he was speaking REALLY fast Spanish and I answered him the best I knew how. A few minutes later he just started laughing really hard, I had no idea what was going on until he said "where are you from" in English, when I told him Texas he said "I didn't know why you didn't talk to me, then I realized you don't speak Spanish" he proceeded to give me Spanish lessons the rest of the ride! We left Saturday morning around 8:30 and traveled to a place where they make champagne, it was really cool, it could have been better if more than 3 people understood what our guide was saying. We made our way to the next stop, a winery. Same goes for the first winery as the champagne place. The second winery was amazing....mainly because it was 3 in the afternoon and finally got to eat lunch! I've never had such an amazing chicken dish in my life!!! My mouth is watering now as I think about it. Apparently, the winery is American owned so we got a small taste of American food! We checked in to our cute little hotel, which turned out to be more condo style and just hung out in San Rafael for the night. 

Sunday morning we got up and moved on to our second location...to say the least, it was interesting...

We drove for about four hours through this beautiful canyon and lake.  I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not been car sick from the rickety road/old bus, but regardless it was amazing. We finally arrived at our hotel and all crashed for a little while. This hotel was nothing like the last! We were probably the only people staying there and we were in the absolute middle of nowhere. It almost seemed like we were stupid American tourists about to be filmed for some live horror film! They served us dinner there because we couldn't eat anywhere else. The rooms were about 12x12 (probably not even that big) and had two bunk beds and another twin and a table and two chairs squished in. It was very cozy. Most people went to bed pretty early and rested up for the week to come. We got home around 3 yesterday and I met my family in the "family room" behind my house for lunch. I was told my two year old nephew was watching tv the other day in English and told his mom "Annah talks like that"! It's very depressing when a two year old knows more French and Spanish now than I will ever know! 

I haven't been feeling all that great the past few days, my mom says it's due to some kind of warm wind that has been blowing in, it changes the pressure and supposedly makes some people dizzy. 

Haha I told you earlier I'd fill you in on Carlos.  Oh Carlos...Carlos is a student from Hawaii, he's a unique, one of a kind person. This weekend he took one shower, didn't brush his teeth, and doesn't wear deodorant because "if you eat healthy, then you don't need it" (news flash, he eats the same as everyone else!) Carlos is a very, very sweet kid, but at times, he's a bit awkward...he's also an expert on everything, just last week he went running with the running group that is training to climb Aconcagua (the biggest mountain in Argentina)...no big deal, he finished at the very front of the pack.  Carlos often likes to tell me about the joys of living in small town and alll about life in a small town and how different it is....as if I don't already know :) I asked him how big his town was and he said "oohhh about 15,000". Carlos says in his town "I just walk into any place and say 'feed me' and they feed me." Carlos always keeps us entertained with his life stories!

I'm soooo ready for next weekend! We're going to a spa and have it to ourselves for the weekend!

A few random stories from my house:

So I'm not sure where it comes from or what it is, but every few days they turn on music in the house and it stays on all day long. It's weird, it's three beats that play over and over and over and I can't for the life of my figure out where it's coming from!

We had spaghetti the other day...never again will I assume all spaghetti is the same! My spaghetti had a bone in it the size of a small cow!

My sister apologized for being rude to me lately!!! She said she was just going through a hard time, things are much better between us now and I'm sooooo glad! We watched a movie in English together, half way through it switched to Russian, then back to English.

My other sister is going to have her baby next week! This place is going to be full of newborns!

My dog, Pedro, is going to have a litter of Boxers the week after I leave, I'm so sad!!!!

Tomorrow, we're going to eat lunch at McDonald's.....I can't actually believe I'm excited!

I have to do my homework tonight, I'll post pictures later! Hope everything's going well for you! Chau!

It's finally Friday!!!p

It's crazy that I'm coming to the end of another week! This trip is flying by! Yesterday, school was reallllly long, we don't like our teacher for Thursday's very much, we pretty much just translate stories and talk about them.  I finally got to meet the new baby yesterday!! He is so sweet. I will probably see him more next week and get some pictures of him. Meighann and Katie came over for dinner last night and spent the night. We had a verrry interesting meal...hot dog weenies, soft, sweet pickles, and shredded carrots and shredded cabbage! It was one of the only meals I've had since I've been here that hasn't been awesome, but it's one I definitely won't forget.

 I got really good videos of Brett, Rue and Julia dancing today, but my internet is being really slow so I won't load them until later. They were all dancing with the instructors so they look good!   We leave at 8 in the morning to go to San Rafael! This is our first free weekend and we have gotten hotel rooms in the cute little town and are going on a tour of a winery and a champagne place. There are twenty of us going, so pretty much all of the Baylor kids! I'm off to do laundry...haha last time I did laundry they told me how to work the machine and then said to add softener...they use shampoo! Strange, but my clothes smelled good.

I think I've talked more about politics here in spanish than I ever have in my life! They are very knowledgeable about the U.S. and really enjoy talking about it. They love Obama...

My sister no longer likes me, this morning I think I secured that disliking when she slammed a door in my face after she had to call me a cab. I really don't know what I did, the rest of the family loves me I think, but she definitely doesn't.  It's getting a bit awkward and I feel bad, but I don't know what to do. Well in between the time I typed my last sentence and this sentence I ate supper and she was the nicest she's been to me all week! Girls....ya never know. :) Well I'm off to shampoo my clothes! Chau!

Wednesday

The weeks are starting to fly by here. It's hard to believe I will only be here for four more weeks! Yesterday, class was pretty boring, but Katie and Meighann came over for lunch and we all took a siesta in my bed. I didn't know how lucky I was to have a comfy queen size bed until they kept raving about how great it is. 

We all went to supper at the Shelton's house, missionaries from the U.S. who have kids at Baylor. They informed us on a bunch of cultural differences and we all realized why certain things we did make people laugh! One of my friends mixed up her words a few days ago....instead of saying she was afraid, she said something she definitely didn't mean, luckily the person she was speaking to realized what she meant and just laughed at her! The Shelton's also gave us a list of service projects we could get involved in while in Mendoza, Julia and I are hoping to go the the orphanage next week and play with some of the little kids!

My sister had her baby yesterday, they named him Gaeul (sp)....it's French, I think...I was supposed to go see him today, but the visiting hours and my schedule didn't match up, so I'll be sure to see him when they come home tomorrow!

Class was just the same as every other day, except....Julia and I got asked to take a survey, it ended up taking about 30 minutes and we couldn't get out of it and were late back to class. Luckily, our teacher wasn't too upset with us when she realized what had happened and was more upset with the people surveying us!

After school, we went to the Mendoza Zoo....it was a pretty decent zoo, it wasn't the cleanest, but the animals were fun to watch. We saw several monkey fights, and it's funny, they had armadillo's there... I guess you don't realize that not everybody is familiar with roadkill.

I had ice cream today....it was surprisingly good....I just wish it was the same in the U.S.! 

Everybody was gone tonight for dinner except mi madre. It was so exciting, we had a real conversation in Spanish!!!! I think I understood most of what she was telling me and if she didn't understand me, she's a good actress. My espanol isn't what I had hoped it would be, my family keeps ensuring me that I'm getting a ton better.

I got to talk to my dad last night on Skype for a long time. He was amazed at the noise that you can hear in my house haha...the buses/horse drawn wagons/crazy motorcycles are all pretty loud, luckily I can sleep through anything!

Another day down in Mendoza! Only 28 days left :(

Oh...bad note...the last two Friday's my class didn't have to arrive until 10, they decided we need more grammar practice and now have to go in at 9 :(  I guess I'll survive :)

Aconcagua

I started off our weekend to the mountains on a bad note, my mom kept making me sit down and eat when I was trying to leave, then she kept making me take different kinds of fruit, so my ride left me....I ended up taking a cab and getting there on time, but it was just a frustrating way to I started off the day.

We took a two hour bus ride in a really nice two story bus.  I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is. Every direction you turn you are surrounded by something so incredible you know only God could have created it.

.        

We hiked in the foothills of

the mountains for about two hours until we c

rossed the bridge that was used in a Brad Pitt movie, after crossing the bridge we took a break and had lunch. The whole day I was speechless because all you want to do is take in everything around you, but it's so amazing, it's overwhelming. I took sooo many pictures, but it's impossible for the pictures to even come close to capturing the day. As I'm sitting here typing I just get more and more frustrated because I want to describe how incredible everything was, but it's absolutely impossible. Anyways, back to my story, after lunch we hiked another two hours back and saw where a puma had crossed our path since we had passed the first time! We took a ton of pictures, but I'll just post a few on here, the rest you can see in my album. 

 This is our own little Argentine family... :)

After the amazing, but tough hike through the mountains we went and checked in to our cute little hotel. They served us an AMAZING dinner and we just hung out at the hotel Saturday night. Sunday morning we had the option of going on an hour and a half hike, a 30 minute hike or mountain biking for the day. Most of the girls chose the 30 minute hike and Brett and Rue went mountain biking. I think from what I heard it was pretty tough!  After our 30 minute hike, we had the best time!! We went rock climbing, repelling and zip-lining! It was soooooo much fun, I had forgotten how much I love climbing. I guess I didn't tell my parents what I was doing this weekend until after I got back and I think they were kind of glad not to know so they didn't have to worry :) Mom, you may have to get your glasses out to see me haha

 After we spent the day in the mountains, we went back to the hotel for lunch and a seista, then headed home.  

I'm unbelievably blessed. I can't thank my parents enough for making this trip possible, it has truly been one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I know that God has allowed me to be here for a reason and I am so grateful for that and can't wait to see what comes next!!!

Scenery photos

Photos from Aconcagua :)

Today, class was okay, I don't really think our grammar teacher is the best and it's really frustrating because I feel as if that's what I need the most help with, hopefully, it will get better. Tango class was fun, a little long, but I guess we're getting a little better. My sister is having her baby tomorrow!! I don't think I'll go to the hospital tomorrow, but most likely I will on Wednesday, I'm really excited!!!! Off to attempt my homework, chau!

....here's my zip-lining video!!!! oh and I am not the person screaming!

Making Progress!!

Last night, we finally got to the mexican food restaurant, it wasn't as great as our mexican food back home, but it was good and we had a lot of fun together. Well I got ready for school today and was at the bus stop an hour before I had to be...needless to say when I realized I was not so happy. Tango was fun today, I'll post videos soon, they're hilarious!! I took the wrong bus today and ended up on the other side of town, but I'm making progress, I used the little bit of spanish I do know and this sweet, little man helped me get back downtown and I was only lost for thirty minutes instead of two hours!  I got home and realized I really need to stop depending on people around me who speak English so I keep telling my "mom" to only speak espanol to me. She rarely remembers so I remind her all the time. Hopefully my espanol will improve soon! We leave at 8 in the morning to head to the mountains to climb rocks and they have zip lines and I'm not sure what all we're going to be doing, but I'm sure it'll be fun

I'm going to post links of my new pictures and videos because it takes too long to load them on here. Let me know if they don't work!

Brett and Rue learning to some Folklore

Brett and Rue-more dancing

Week one and two photos!

Julia and Rue doing the TANGO

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days...I got a little homesick for US of A lifestyle. Monday was kind of a bad day for everyone, nobody was in a good mood. I think we were just tired from the weekend and also realized we had been in Mendoza only a week and have five and a half to go. All is better today!! Yesterday, we had small group meetings, we walked around Mendoza for about 3 hours, we went to Mendoza's version of an aquarium, it was depressing, the only site worth while was a 280 pound turtle named Jorge. Jorge can not live with anybody besides himself (he can even eat some sharks!) We were forced to stay in the aquarium for fifteen minutes, needless to say we were all sitting in the chairs for the last 11. Rue, Julia, Brett and I met up with some friends later and had dinner downtown last night. Today, my mom made me take a bag of fruit with me to school haha, I walked in with 4 plums, a pear, an apple and a banana...I was a huge hit during snack time :) My mom and I also have a fight every morning. I eat the toast and cereal she gives me (yesterday it had hot milk on it, it was DISGUSTING) and then she puts another piece of toast on my plate, I say "No, gracias", and put the toast back in the basket, this happens about twice every morning! I have never eaten more food in my life and she worries about me because I don't eat enough!!!  After school today, we went on another tour of a museum. My group always gets guides that speak to us in English because, hey lets face it....we're just not the sharpest tools in the shed! We also all have a hard time paying attention to the guide, but we have a ton of fun making up stories, taking pictures and laughing at some of the strange sites of Mendoza. We're all sooooo excited, we're going to a restaurant that serves MEXICAN FOOODDDDD!!!!!!  Oh my gosh, today, I saw a girl with three nose piercings, rings in both eyebrows and ears, both sides of her lips, both cheeks and in between her eyebrow!!!! She should have had a DANGER-SHARP OBJECTS sign around her neck. Well I need to go study for my tango quiz before I meet the others for dinner. Chau!

Joke for the day: Why does the stop light turn red?

Because he doesn't like changing in front of others!!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Mom....you'll be happy to know I was just woken up by my first earthquake and lived to tell about it!!! It was soooo cool, it lasted a good 45 seconds, but it wasn't scary, but I am definitely wide awake now!!! 

June 1st

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021476&id=1537170059&l=b50796d26e

I believe if you go to this link you can see my pictures easier!!! Today's been a long day, but tango classes were fun, I had to redo my homework because I was having a blonde moment and did my homework in English :)