Monday, January 17, 2011

Hello Sunshineeeee

I have my first sunburn of 2011! Of course, my grandma would not be happy if she found this out because she always tells me how horrible my skin is later on in life if I do not wear sunscreen now. The snow here is so hot and piercing that I do not even think sunscreen would help!

Mathias, a boy from Denmark, is now staying in my house. He came to visit for his vacation. He was an exchange student here just before I came… so, he left about only 6 months and already returned! He loves the parties here… that basically explains it all. He has bright red hair and the palest skin. So… yesterday, when I got burnt, he got burnt even worse!

January has been going by pretty fast! I have been staying busy in numerous ways and enjoying my “summer vacation.” I went on about a 7 mile hike with my friend and the chairperson in our district. Never in my life did I hike in such high altitudes with such hot weather! I would do it again but only if the weather was cooler.

I bought a claw of a puma that is set up to be like a necklace charm. My host dad then told me that pumas are protected animals here so he wondered how I was able to buy it. I enjoy buying things here made from animals because that is definitely not common back home.

I still cannot get over how people drink in public and just party along side the street. I went to another town, about two hours away for this party that is known throughout Argentina. My friends and I met some guys from Buenos Aires. For one of the first times, I actually found an Argentine guy attractive. Guys from other parts of Argentina are taller, fairer skinned and have different colored eyes other than dark, dark brown. There were sooooo many people. The police kicked everyone would of the plaza so everyone found random places in the city to hangout. I spent some time by the river with some friends… we sang, talked and looked at the stars… it was a good time. Until… the police came and kicked us out. People had drinks and the police were chucking them all over the place by swinging their batons. I will not lie… I was scared by everyone acted like it was normal to them? Then, police came on horses to make sure the area was cleared out. We then decided to go to a deserted construction site. At about 10 in the morning… they bought sausage to have an asado. By then, I wanted to go home because it was so hot outside and I was so tired. After we ate, we went to the house of my friend’s relative. They were so generous to allow us to spend some time in their house… it was wonderful to get out of the sun. Unfortunately, they had about twenty or more flies in their house. I so badly wanted to help them with their fly issue and kill all of them! Anyways, I got home around 6 pm and took about an hour nap with Kirsten. Now, I am typing this and thinking of how it is normal for me to stay up for about 24 hours.

Drinking in the streets does not surprise me as much as the hippies on the street do. They braid bracelets and sell them… they also do hair wraps. My favorite is how they sell pipes out of bone and are so willingly, along with other young people, to talk about weed. This one kid told me that his friend has a plantation of his own?! God only knows why he felt the need to tell me that. Haha… only in Argentina.

Well… I got a package from my family a few weeks ago. My sweet sister spent so much money on good chocolate for me. I shared it and the other stuff that I received with my family. My mommy sent me powdered tea since I miss iced tea so much! Yesterday, Sophia, Kirsten and I ate a whole box of Goldfish crackers while playing Yahtzee on my computer. I love hanging out with those girls because since they are exchange students as well, they just seem to understand me better. I have realized that I hang out with my brother and sister a lot… so I am friends with their friends and I only have a few of my own friends. But, I end up hanging out with the other exchange students so I do not really put effort into finding my own friends from here. Do not get me wrong, I know and talk to me people. I just mean that I only have a few good friends from here that I hangout with… but I am fine with that. I am at fault for not practicing my Spanish as much as I should. Sometimes, I would just rather talk in English. I do not plan on becoming a Spanish professor so I don’t see any harm in speaking in English sometimes.

I cannot believe that I only have 4 more months left!… I am more than halfway over with my exchange. I have had my ups and downs but so far, it was been a wonderful experience that I would not trade for anything. It has opened my eyes to life outside my small town, my state and my lovely country. In all, it makes me appreciate everything I have and it makes me feel so blessed to have my family and live in the amazing country that I call home.


HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!