Friday, August 27, 2010

Home sweet home

I journal so much that I forget to post blogs! Anyways, a lot is happening here. I arrived in Argentina on Wednesday afternoon. I flew down with Deidre, another exchange student, but we are in different cities. At the airport in PA, I started talking to the lady cleaning tables. I tried to brighten her day by telling her she was doing a good job. She then asked if I was PREGNANT!... aye. She saw my passport holder under my shirt and thought it was a baby. Ha… and Deidre also lost her boarding passes for a period of time. Thankfully, we found them on the bathroom floor. Go figure… you thought we would see them before we left. Anyways, the view from the airplane was beautiful. I took a photo and I will try to post it later. In Texas, getting ready to board, we sat beside a 27 year old, argentine speaking, man. I was going to ask if the seat was taken but I was not sure if he understood English. After we sat down, he said in perfect English… what’s up. Ha! He reminded me of my Uncle Pat and my brother. The man told us these crazy stories with morals. He would do these crazy eyes, laugh, and stick his tongue out. On the plane, he was a few rows ahead of us. I was journaling about him and he came back to our seats and asked me what I was doing. I shut my journal really fast!... Then, he asked for paper and a few minutes later, he came back with a note. I saved the notes for everyone to read. That whole overnight flight, he wrote us notes. We wrote back until he leaned into Deidre and tried to kiss her! She screamed! Hahaha. It was very funny… I turned my head and laughed. I was so delirious… I thought the light on the plane wing was another plane that wouldn’t stop following us and I though the wing was its beam of light. Each person on the airplane had their own TV in front of them… you could either watch the satellite of where you were and how much time was left until your destination, music, videos, etc… that was my favorite plane. Behind us sat a boy whose girlfriend is an actress and they are filming a movie in Buenos Aires. It was a long night and my second night of barely any sleep. But we landed in Buenos Aires and went through customs easily. Thank God for Jose from the Washington, D.C. Argentine embassy… since I got my student visa from him, I did not have to pay the $140 entrance fee that the other Americans had to pay. Then, we tried to find the shuttle we prepaid for. A young man that loads the bags under the shuttle was very nice. He was more helpful than normal… but anyways, he said me and Deidre are beautiful in Spanish. Ha…typical Argentine guy. We took the shuttle to a small airport… there, it had been over 30 hours of traveling and our nerves were shot! I was trying to be positive and said well… we haven’t had delays. Well go figure… then, we found out that my flight was delayed 2 hours and Deidre was delayed about 3. I was worried if my host brother would know since he was picking me up. I arrived at my town’s airport… and my two host brothers were waiting for me inside. I also met my Rotary counselor who was very nice. My youngest host brother thinks it is funny how I say Rotary, but I think he says it weird. In Argentina, it is typical for people to hug and kiss your cheek. It is pretty odd if you’re American but I am getting used to it. My oldest host brother, sister, and parents did not pick me up because my oldest host brother was taking his last exam to be a doctor. He passed. Now, he is a doctor just like my host parents! My middle host brother was an exchange student in California a few years ago so he speaks English well. He makes me only talk in Spanish so that I get better. It is difficult but they understand my Spanglish… usually ha. I had dulce de leche and mate. They both are not bad, but I do not really care for them. Everything I ate so far has had egg in it. I feel bad, but I do not like egg either. The maid here is very nice. She only speaks Spanish and she does my laundry. It is very odd… I am used to doing my own. There is no dishwasher or dryer here and my family is pretty wealthy. It makes me appreciate my life at home. You cannot even imagine the houses and people I have seen already. Wild dogs are everywhere… and there are people that work in the fields with hoes not plows. They have normal TV shows and stations here like Phineas and Ferb, Hannah Montana, Nick, TrueTv… sometimes it is in Spanish and sometimes it is in English with Spanish subtitles. Jersey Shore premiers on September 5th! My favorite show here is Cops… it is in Spanish but the beginning song isn’t. I watched part of the Hangover today in English with Spanish subtitles. My house is full of beautiful paintings that my host mom painted. She signed it with her maiden name. Here, the women keep their maiden name… so their name is normal plus “de (guy’s last name).” I visited my school today… The boys do stuff with metal and fire like a blacksmith… that is what mining is. The school does not look inviting. It reminded me of a prison. But, the people inside were very nice. I cannot count how many cheek kisses I got. My host brother is “el jefe” which is the boss of the float. In Argentina, September is a month of celebration. They are preparing to compete in their float competition… like floats for a parade. My school is doing a Toy Story 3 float. The girls are making paper flowers for it. My host sister, Emlice, and I brought paper home to make more flowers. I told her I feel like a Chinese person! Ha. Today, she asked me what type of food did my maid, Dora, make? She said queso or carne… but I did not understand… then she said carne rata… like rat meat and I freaked out thinking that I ate rat earlier. But, she was just trying to explain that rats eat queso (cheese). Ha… I call Dora… Dora la explorar… hahaha. My youngest host brother, Ignacio, thinks it is funny. So anyways, until September 21, the first day of Spring here,… I will celebrate and prepare things for the float. Then, I will take real classes! My family is not making me go to school until Monday which is very nice. I need to relax. Thanks to my oldest host brother, I met a swim coach today. Since it is winter here, they swim inside, but they rent the pool. It would cost me 200$ pesos a month until summer to swim. That is about $50 in the USA which my family things is “muy caro”… very expensive. It would be for about 3 days a week… about 3 girls on the team and many boys… and the pool is in meters. I still want to swim anyways. My host dad and sister told me that I look like a swimmer… since I have tall and have large shoulders. I need exercise. We will see if I do or not.





The maid here is the best… I showed her pictures of my family and she told me I look like my dad and my sister looks like my mom. She made me tea and gave me this bread looking thing called bizcochio. It was probably my favorite thing I have eaten so far. I saw the Recess was on this morning… I remember watching that show when I was younger with my sister. I am sad that it doesn’t play in the US anymore. She mopped my room yesterday and now she is dusting and moping it again. I made my bed but she remade it… hahaha, I guess it was not good enough. I have two things of wrapped pennies and she asked what they were… she thought they were bombs. Oh well, I will write more later.

4 comments:

  1. Oh my!! When i first got to France I was really shocked too. Even in France there was just poverty everywhere. It was really different. I bet that was kind of a creepy experience on the airplane... he tried to kiss Deidre?? hahaha. Thats crazy. My plane had those TV screens too! It kept me entertained, but your flight was wayyy longer than mine! Okay so in the US Dora is in English and she speaks a little bit of Spanish (hola, adios..whatever). In France She speaks French with a little bit of English (hello, how are you, goodbye..). What does she do in Argentina? Spanish with a little bit of English? Wow it sounds like you are having a good time so far! Good luck Carley :D

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  2. Yes... a lot of poverty.
    It really makes you appreciate
    your own life and what you have!
    YES. You had to be there. I laughed
    so hard when she screamed! hhahahahahaha.
    What did you watch on the plane?
    I watched "The Last Song"
    That is so funny about Dora.
    I have not watched it yet... so
    I do not know but probably espanol con ingles!
    Thanks so much dear!!!!

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  3. I watched "The Middle" and "Modern Family" haha. I listened to a lot of music too! Take care!!! Oh PS Janette and I did the student council bulletin board yesterday, it looks lovely.

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  4. very nice! yes,I listen to music
    too but a lot of it is in English! :)
    YAY! that makes me so happy. take a picture
    and send it to me. I want to see it.

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