Semana Tercera.

I am currently enjoying my merienda (the mini meal between lunch and dinner) of Argentinian brand Oreos and milk. It's quite delicious. Gimme any kind of cookie, and I am a happy girl. Good thing there are kioskos every where with tons of cookies/alfajores at my finger tips.

I feel like I should take a moment to specifically shine the spotlight on Alfajores. Y'all. They are God's gift to Argentina. I am obsessed with them. It is really bad. Basically an alfajor is 2 or 3 cookies with dulce de leche separating them and then covered in chocolate. AMAZING. And cheap. I tend to eat them on an empty stomach though, and then I get sick because they are soo sweet. Anyways...enough about food.

Unfortunately this week we did not have a holiday, so I had to go to school all four days. *Cue the tiny violin* School has been keeping me busy. These Argentinian professors do not mess around. I've already had to write a TON. This I guess is a blessing in disguise. Although I hate writing (in English or in Spanish), I really do need the practice. Hopefully by the end of these three months I will be a reading/writing/speaking in Spanish pro.

I think I'm finally improving some in my conversational Spanish department. Cata (my Chilean house mate) even told me that she could notice a difference! Hallelujah! Just don't ask me to describe something in detail for you. You'll be standing there for at least 10 minutes as I internally debate which verb tense would be most correct. And then make sure I stem-change correctly. Oh and don't forget those indirect/direct objects.

Thursday was the beginning of our cultural festivities. Another tango class. This week was a bit more sensual then the others. I thought I only had to worry about the eye contact; now I needed to worry about making sure my foot correctly ran up my partner's leg. This time my main partner was my friend Erik. Not to brag. But we definitely brought the sensuality. And the eye contact. Double whammy.

On friday I got to check off another first! A reggae concert! The band was called Nonpalidece, and apparently they are very popular! Everyone knew all of the words. Even one of our TA s. I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it, but I actually really liked it a lot. The music and energy was a lot of fun, and any chance I get to dance I take it :] I also rode the subte (subway) for the first time with Carson and Lara. Nothing makes you feel like a legit city gal like taking the subte places.

Saturday was a free day, so I mostly relaxed and eventually went over to Palermo Soho to hang out and eat lunch with some of my friends. I absolutely love that area! It's super artsy, and the cafe I ate at was amazing. And cheap! Which makes everything ten times better. After a while I met up with a girl I met via Good Women Project (christian blog for women) who I saw was also studying abroad in Buenos Aires! Crazy awesome God moment. And the two of us along with my friend Ashley went to a church that was in the barrio Belgrano.

Sunday was probably the best day I've had so far in Argentina. We left the city and headed to an estancia in a rural area outside of Buenos Aires. It was GORGEOUS. We took a tour of the little pueblo there, and afterwards headed to the ranch. This ranch has been passed down for generations, and it is absolutely breath taking. Seriously. If I had to live there the rest of my life, I totally would. Our day consisted of soaking in the beautiful sun while riding horses and, of course, eating a TON of meat. Like seriously. The most meat I've ever eaten in one sitting in my life. So delicious. I had the biggest food baby ever. TMI? I don't care. It happened. And it was worth it.

Last night I got to have a peak into the political culture of Buenos Aires. Cristina Kirchner is the president of Argentina, and I have realized that a lot of people hate her. From what I've heard, she is basically crazy and wants to change a lot of the constitution so she can do whatever she wants. Last night she took over every channel on TV and gave a speech about all these changes she wanted to make. Shortly after it started, I heard a lot of noise outside. I went into the living room to see my house mom putting on her jacket and going outside to the porch bringing along a pot and metal spoon. Apparently in Buenos Aires, people will go outside and bang their pots as a sign of protest. Along with pots, people were shouting angrily in the streets and taxis were beeping their horns repeatedly. It was crazy. Argentinians have so much passion. I love it. 

This past week was my third week in Buenos Aires! This is amazing/depressing at the same time. I really can't believe it's already been three weeks. Time is going by so fast. If this keeps up, it'll be time for me to leave my beloved Buenos Aires in no time. But with each week that passes, I am more and more sure of the fact that I will be coming back here to teach English once I graduate. God has been showing me a lot the past three weeks, and He has firmly planted the desire in my heart to teach and care for this city.

Until next time!

Besos.

Segunda Semana

Hello my friends!

It's the weekend! So I finally have time to sit down and write about what has been going on this week. Are you excited? I know I am. And I already know what happened this week.

Monday was a holiday, which meant no classes! The wonderful thing about this country is that they make up any excuse they cant just to have a day off. I have at least one day off every month that I'm here! It ended up working out really well that we had a holiday because the night before Cata took us out, and we did not return home until 6! People don't normally go out until 2 AM here, which has been an adjustment because I'm used to going to bed at 2...not going out.

So Monday was a lazy day. I didn't get up until 1:30 and basically laid in my bed the whole day. Minus getting up for food. Because that's important.

On Wednesday I had my first UP class! I literally felt like I was going to throw up before it happened. Carson can verify that. But I did not. I kept it together. The reason why I was so nervous is because this class unlike my other classes at the University of Palermo has natives in there. Whereas my other classes just have people from my program. It turned out to be awesome though. I'm taking a pop culture class, and the professor is very very nice. Which isn't the case for all of the UP classes everyone is taking. We also met a girl who lived in New York for 10 years, so she said if we need anything just to ask.

Thursday I only had one class, and then I had Tango lessons! So much funnn! And I'm actually really impressed with the boys in the group. They are all really good dancers. Good job men. Proud of you. The only thing that's awkward about it is that the eye contact is pretty intense. Cause I mean...there's really no where else to look. Besides the ground. Or the ceiling. Which I feel like is more awkward? My friend Colt and I were struggling with how much eye contact is socially acceptable for two awk kids dancing in Buenos Aires. We'll get back to you on that.

Friday we went to a modern art museum named MALBA. It was...interesting? I'm not the biggest fan of modern art simply because I feel like I could paint a piece of wood with industrial paint and title it "Wood Painted with Industrial Paint" and call it art. (Literally that happened. Didn't even make up that example) Afterwards Carson and I grabbed some coffee at the infamous Starbucks (I knowww. Why Starbucks? I'm in a foreign country. But y'all. The Starbucks in Buenos Aires is bumpin'. And I can't even any of the pastries in the regular coffee shops. So I always just have cafe con leche. And Starbucks is cheaper. SO BACK OFF, OKAY?!) The guy tried to guess where Carson was from. His first guess? Switzerland. Makes sense. Guess we don't look as American as we thought we did!

And today? Well I think Tiffany and I are going to hit up the local supermercado and get some groceries for the week, and then perhaps go shopping with Cata! This girl knows all the cool places. And her style is awesome. So I'm pretty excited. Tonight we are going to some concert that infuses electronica music and indigenous singers? Should be interesting. Or just super trippy.

It's already been two weeks here, and I am in love. Seriously. I am going to bawl my eyes out when I have to leave. I probably just won't ;]

Mi grupo al museo MALBA :]

Estoy Aplazando

I have been procrastinating on writing a blog entry for the past week. I am not huge fan of writing, but I've realized this week has completely flown by and if I don't start writing down my adventures, I will completely forget everything.

This whole week has been so incredible. From stepping off the plane at 8 AM last Sunday to now laying here in my bed, it has been an adventure. I love everything about this city (Well, minus the constant raining and confusing bus systems). The people here are so nice and hospitable. I may be biased...but I'm pretty sure I have the best host family ever. Adriana is my "mom" here, and she is amazing! She is an amazing cook and has been so patient and encouraging with my weak Spanish. Without her, I wouldn't be able to navigate the city like I can now. I would probably be hanging out in some alleyway right now with my homeless people friends. I also have a "grandmother" here. Her name is Gloria and is absolutely precious. Can I understand her? No. But! She is very sweet and loves to talk to me anyways despite my constant "....como?" (Which is what? in Spanish). There are also two other girls who live here with us. They are kind of doing the same thing I am doing. Living here and studying in Buenos Aires. Cata is from Chile is absolutely gorgeous and so sweet. Flor is from Jujuy, Argentina (northern Argentina) and is equally beautiful and nice. It's been fun to swap differences and similarities between our life styles. Oh and just to let y'all know...Carly Rae Jepsen is bumpin' over here.

The food has been AMAZINGGGG. The meat. I can't handle it. I'm also blessed to have such an awesome house mom that makes perfect dinners. Everything here is just so much fresher. I even had Subway the other day for lunch, and everything was better about it. The bread here is also incredible. And the pizza. Buenos Aires has a really heavy Italian influence, so pastas and pizzas and extremely common. AND THE EMPANADAS. Y'all. Okay. I got to stop. The food is incredible.

It's been interesting adjusting to the Argentine life style. Everything is later. Dinner isn't until 10 PM. And classes don't start until 11 AM. Going out on the weekends people don't leave their houses until 1:30-2ish and usually do not stop the dancing/partying until 7 AM. Cata took us out last night to one of her favorite spots, and we did not get home until 6 AM! It's been crazy, but I love it. Buenos Aires is famous for being a city that never sleeps. And it's true. There is always something to do no matter what time it is.

On the rest of my blog entries, I'll talk about the things that we've done and places I've visited. This one is more of an opening. I'm also too lazy to write about a week's worth of adventures.

Hasta Luego!