Aburrido, arburridooo

Boring, pretty much the only word that can sum up yesterday's Rotary seminar in San Nicolas. It was just a day seminar so we (Norberto, Josefina, a girl from the Interact club here and I)  left Los Toldos at 6:30 in order to make it to San Nicolas on time (about a 3 hour drive). We got lost in San Nicolas... but we always seem to get lost. It stresses me out but no one else seems to mind, and we made it to the university where the seminar was being held in plenty of time. I'm still not really sure what the seminar was about... us inbounds had to sit through the morning session but we had our own meeting in the afternoon and then skipped out on the rest of the seminar and no one seemed to care. Talking with the other inbounds was great, it makes me realize that my problems and difficulties here are not unique or abnormal. Most common problem; the food. Not that it's bad, it's just the amount of meat and starch is putting our digestive systems through hell and eating dinner at 10:00pm isn't doing wonders either. There is also a significant lack of fruits and vegetables in the Argentine diet, although unlike other host families, mine seems to be making a significant effort to put them on the table and have them in the house. There is also a possibility that my new found love of mate* is also taking its toll on my system. From what I can understand mate has some medicinal properties which may be why large doses of it makes me feel a little sick. But drinking mate is a social thing here and it's hard to say no. I'm here for the experience and if it includes a stomach ache I guess that's the way it is.
I hope my posts are starting to sound more and more upbeat, becasue everyday that passes here life gets better and better. Of course there are still bad days, but I was told that the first month is the hardest and I can definitely see how the coming months are going to be easier. Firstly, because my spanish improves by the minute. I can't believe how much I am able to communicate and understand now. Put me in the middle of a big group of teenagers and I'm still completely lost, but small groups or one on one chats are a breeze now. I've started using the future and the past tenses, which I'm really excited about and my family and friends are great with helping and correcting me. Secondly, because SUMMER IS COMING. It really is! It was so warm today, I overheated on my run. Summer time always goes by faster than winter time, and I will definitely appreciate not having to go to school. Thirdly, my schedule from now until December is pretty much full already. Not even kidding, I have one weekend free between now and November 15th, and that's not even for sure, I might have something on. And then shortly after that school gets out, it's Christmas, I go on some trips, Mum and Dad come to visit and BAM it's going to March and I'll be going back to school- already not stoked for that.
*mate: a traditional argentinian drink made from 'yerba'. It's really bitter and I didn't like it at all before, but I love it now as long as it's "muy dulce" (very sweet, aka lots of sugar added). There's a picture of it on my last post.

SO BORED

But the location was really pretty. -River in San Nicolas

Spring has sprung!

so. many. sandwiches.

hanging in the park with jenny and milito

MATE

Junin has slightly larger architecture than los toldos...

Well spring is most definitely here in beautiful, sunny Argentina. I thought that maybe the season would be delayed like it was in the northern hemisphere, but here in the south it was right on time. I'm glad that my 20 days of winter are over for the year, it was getting pretty tiresome. The first day of spring is a pretty big deal here, and September 21st also happens to be the day of the student- so we have no school. In celebration we (Josefina and I) headed to Junin on Tuesday night, spent the night at friends' apartment and then went to the Junin lagoona on Wednesday. A day at the beach is not something new for me; my friends and I go down to Pioneer Park all the time in the summer in Kamloops. When we go we'll take blankets, music, snacks, etc. Here they do pretty much the same thing, except they forgot the blankets which sucked. We brought a TON of food; empenadas, tortas, sandwiches, savory biscuits, cookies, melanesas, more sandwichs, coke... and not a single fruit. At home, I'll cut up a watermelon and take it to the beach for a snack, here I don't think the kids even consider fruit food. So my stomach is currently in starch overload, to say the least. I would kill for Claire to make me a fruit smoothie. But all in all it was a fun day, there were a lot of people down at the lagoona and a live band. It was pretty chill, we mostly just sat around and drank mate and slept (which I totally needed because I didn't get much sleep the night before). In other news, today is my 3 week arrival anniversary! The weeks are definitely starting to pass faster, I can't believe next week it'll be a month...

When the rain comes..

Today it rained so much my chemistry class started to flood, I wish I'd had my camera. Just like in Canada, everyone was more or less at a loss as to what to do on a rainy friday night. The solution was: cards. A great idea in my opinion, I love cards, and it gave me an opportunity to teach them a Canadian card game. I choose spoons because a) it's super fun b) it's really easy and c) they play a very similar game called chancho so it was easy to explain. Well they caught on fast, the game got violent (as a good game of spoons should), and we played on and off from 5pm to 2am. It was a great night because we didn't go out so I spent the whole night talking, listening and learning. It's fun enough to go out to the club, but I can't really understand anything when I'm there so I just end up getting really really bored. And tired because it's 6am.

In other news, I had my first TV interview ever on Monday. Unfortunately it was in Spanish and the extent of my answers was "si" and "me gusta". I wasn't actually informed that I was getting interviewed until the camera man showed up at my Rotary meeting. A major shock to say the least. I also made the front page of the newspaper (another first), but the journalist misunderstood 'Kamloops, Colombia-Britanica' for 'Cambridge, un Colonia Britanica' (a British Colony). Although earlier she had said I was from Canada. Then in the news the reporter said I was from the States. I guess the important thing is I'm not from Los Toldos or Argentina!

vamos a escuela!

So highschool here is not exactly the same, or even similar to Canada. I go to a 'technica', which differs from a 'normal' because there are classes like mechanics and wood and metal shop. But even though I go to a technica I don't have those classes because I'm in the science branch of the school system. Basically I'm here because it's where my host sister goes, and when school starts in the new year in March I will go to the escuela normal which is closer to my second and third host families.

So I will use today as an example of typical day. I got up around 10 and went for a run. Josefina got up and went to school for 7:30 but I only have to go in the afternoon. Which is a godsend because if I had to do 8 hours of school a day here, I would probably go into a coma. Franco and Josefina get home from school around 12 and we have lunch. Lunch is the big meal of the day here, and always includes bread and some sort of meat. I think my host family has been making an extra effort to put vegetables on the table because they know that I would prefer to eat vegetables over meat and starch. After lunch we ride our bikes to school for 1:30 and have classes until 5:30 or 6:45 if we have gym. Today we did in fact have gym. We played volleyball and it was THE MOST IRRITATING HOUR OF MY LIFE. I'm not exactly a star volleyball player... I couldn't even make the school team; but these girls are awful. They screamed for an hour straight. I felt so bad for our male gym teacher, it must be so frustrating to deal with these girls. The other classes are 2 hours long and extremely boring for me. So far we haven't really done any work except in math. I'm actually a little confused as to how these kids learn, because for at least 2 of the 4 hours they sit around and talk while drinking mate and eating cookies. With the teacher. They talk about the classes subject, but I don't understand when they actually learn about it. After school we ride our bikes home and have a snack. They eat constantly here, it's pretty much their favourite social activity.

the school courtyard

Mimicha. Awesome cat and pretty much my bff.

my first argentinian 'futbol' game. it got a little rowdy.. good thing the police were there.

It's been, one week since you looked at me...

September 11th- It's actually been 10 days since I got on my 8:45am flight out of YVR. My first week here can only be described as the most exhausting experience of my life. After a 24+ hour travel day, I spent my first week here in Argentina at a Rotary function. On Monday I went to my first day of school, which thankfully included English class. The amount of English spoken in Los Toldos is little to none, most people can say as much as "I don't speak English". Which is a huge benefit for me because I have to learn Spanish because it is impossible to survive here without it, but the effort leaves me completely beat everyday.
Anyways, I am living in a town of about 17000 people. It's small and really quiet except at about midnight when the dogs across the street from me go crazy. It's also very, very flat and we can everywhere. Which would be awesome if it wasn't so cold all the time. But I've been told that spring is coming and I can't wait.
The people here are extremely friendly, to the point that it's overwhelming. I go for runs to get time on my own because it's one of the few activities that no one wants to join me in doing.

a typical street here

the water res. the tallest building in town

my room

Everyday my spanish gets better and my homesickness lessens a little. Days the are beggining to pass faster and I'm confident this is will ultimately be an amazing and enriching experience.