4 Fun, Amazing, JAM-packed Days

Sooo... I thought back to when I last wrote and I was completely shocked that all of the stuff I've done was somehow compacted into four days. I could go on explaining them in detail forever but I'll try to keep it short and stick to the highlights.

Highlight #1: Going shopping downtown with my host sister Paula. Now anyone who knows me well will be confused because they'll know I don't particularly enjoy shopping. It wasn't really the shopping that I enjoyed, it was further exploring my new town and seeing all it has to offer (which, btw, is a lot). It's BEAUTIFUL here. I love it all. The ocean, the warm weather, how nice the people are. While downtown, we saw a band playing on a stage in the middle of the street. All the stoppers by stopped to look, then suddenly a bunch of people started dancing. Dancing, in the middle of the street. It wasn't just young people, most people were older. So taking a break from shopping to dance with my host sister was definitely a highlight

This was the short video I got before getting pulled into the crowd of dancers:

Highlight #2: Meeting both of my new Grandparents! They're sooo nice! They hugged and kissed me (but then again a lot of kissing goes on down here) and smothered me in compliments and they all declared me their new Granddaughter. This is one of the reasons I love this country. The people here are so warm and welcoming. I don't think there are many other places where people are so easy to embrace a foreigner and welcome that person as they're own. It's comforting having a second family here. It's helping me not feel homesick.  We went to one of my new Grandparent's houses and my new Grandmother wouldn't let us leave until she filled us with pastries and made me Mate for me to try for the first time. Which brings me to...

Highlight #3: the Mate (like really strong tea.. It's made in a mini barrel looking cup and you suck it out of a mettle steaw. Everyone drinks out of the same cup and you pass it around the table. Everyone drinks it here instead of coffee... And they drink it ALL THE TIME! At home, at work, on the street, in the car and even at school in the middle of class!)  And the Dulce to Leche (like caramel sauce but thinker and it tastes a little different). All I have to say is mmmmmmm....

Highlight #4: So this one is a highlight for Paula (my host sister) but not really for me. My host sister Paula left 2 days ago to go on her own exchange to Oregon. I really liked my new host sister but I know she'll have more fun in Oregon. I'm really happy that I got to meet her!

Highlight #5: Because Paula is gone and my host parents speak about as much english as I do spanish (which is not a lot), we know get to have these halting conversations that usually end up in neither one of us understanding what the other just said which then leads to all of us laughing. 

Highlight #6: My host parents took me to a town even more beautiful the Mar Del Plata. It's this little farming town with cute little shops, street venders, amazing houses (but not the American stereotypical mansion houses but tiny houses made out of stone or brick) and they have a kiwi plantation!!! Unfortunately I was so busy looking this way and that, that I forgot to take pictures :( Here's the only one I took (it's on top a a real live hill! I was so excited... for anyone who is confused, the province I am in is flat as a pancake. 

Highlight #7: Probably my biggest highlight of the 3 days and the reason for putting the word JAM-packed in my title : Going to see my host parents friends, the Jam makers. Okay, so doesn't sound that exciting but believe me, it was. And not just because the food was delicious. - So it was one of those times were I was glad I know people who live here and I'm not here as a tourist because I would have NEVER EVER in a million years found this place. So my family drove me out to the middle of no where to a farm house. From the outside, it looked like any other small Argentinean house on the countryside. Imagine my surprise when we walk in and i find a small cafe like set up but with things covering every surface of the walls and counter space (yet it didn't look cluttered, it just looked small and cozy). There was soft Argentinean and Brazilian folk music playing. Not only that, it smelled AMAZING in the house. Their were dried flowers hanging from the ceiling and through a small window you could see the kitchen where they cooked the jam. When we got there all the tables were taken with people drinking tea or coffee while tasting all 6 kinds of jam they make on little pieces of toast. They even had almond cake which was to die for. The owners of the shop were the nicest people you could ever meet. They welcomed me and treated me like a long lost daughter. They made me the best cup of coffee I've had since I left Canada and filled me with marmilada (jam) and cake. They also introduced me to my new favorite type of jam: Kiwi. Yup kiwi. It's made with Kiwi's and sugar (nothing else) and it's green and it taste's kinda like kiwi's but sweeter. It's reeeaaaallllyyyy good. Mucho ricco! I was sad when we had to leave but the owners said I had to come back before they leave or they would be mad at me. While i'm in doubt they could be angry at anyone, I will definitely be going back because I love it there (and also because I'm going through the jam like crazy and I'll probably need to restock in a month haha). 

Highlight #8: School. Yesterday was my first day at school. Seeing this blog post is long enough as it is i won't go into too much detail yet, I'll save that for later. All I'll say is that school here is very different then school in Canada. For me as an exchange student, most of those differences are positive ones. All I have to say for now is that I've only had two days of school, and I know that I'm going to love it there. 

Highlight #9: There is no school tomorrow!! Now, normally as an exchange student who's only been at school for 2 days, this would be a bad thing because I wouldn't be able to hangout with my peers. However, seeing Argentineans are the nicest people ever, some of my class mates invited me to the beach to hangout! So beach here I come! (Too bad it's still a little too cold for swimming...)

And that's what's been going on....

P.S. I'll add some photos I took in a separate post sometime today and I'll update again in 3 days or so 

My First and Second Day in Argentina

Day 1:

Today I had a tour of the city and I'm pretty I was thrown into one of the most beautiful cities in Argentina! Yes, the buildings are all old here, the streets are often dirty and there are stray animals (it breaks my heart to see them) but there are palm trees every where and never ending sandy beaches on the ocean. In the pictures, you don't realise how long the beach is here. It's never ending. I have no idea how there could be so many people on the beach that you can barely walk, but apperently that's what happens in the summer.

That's another thing I love about this city. The temperature. When I first stepped out of the airport I expected it to be cold because it's still winter here. But the sun was shining and it was a moderate 13 degrees outside. While I watched my host family shiver in their winter jackets, I walked out in a sweater. I have never felt so Canadian in my life.

Actually, I have never felt so Canadian, so lost and so naive in my life. There are a couple reasons I feel this way:
1. I speak no spanish. And no one speaks english.... imagine people constantly asking question but your not able to answer because you have no idea what they are saying and even if you did, you would't know how to reply back anyway. Very frustrating.
2. There are NO stop signs here and traffic just goes and weaves around each other. It's very very scary. Everyone missed hitting eachother by inches. I have never felt so scared to be in a car in my entire life.
3. Traffic also doesn't stop for pedestrians.. EVEN AT CROSSWALKS! I would've gotten run over many times today if it wasn't for my host family.
4. I've been chastened many times about always holding onto my purse and never hanging it on the back of chairs or anything like that.
5. Unless I'm in the richer neighborhood in the city, I'm not allowed to walk alone... even in the middle of the daytime. And I'm not allowed to walk anywhere by myself at night. Never ever.
6. Out of habit, I shook one of my host sister's friends hands when I first met her. I've never seen a girl look so confused in her life. I quickly recovered by kissing her on the cheek.
7. I found out that everyone wasn't lying when they said you kiss other people on the cheek a lot. When walking around town, my host family saw people on the other side of the street that they knew and then proceeded to cross the street, just so they could give them a kiss on the cheek in passing. It was then explained to me that it would be rude to do anything different. Apparently no one waves hello here.
8. I can't role my R's properly which makes in very hard to pronounce the few words I do know. I have a feeling this is going to be a hard language to wrap my tongue around haha.

I think being in Argentina will teach me more street smarts then being anywhere else on exchange. It's going to take awhile to get used to though. I'm not used to locked gate's around houses and being escorted everywhere. I've never felt so clueless in my life.

After seeing the town center and getting delicious ice cream (they give huge servings here!!! Sorry dad... I think I might be coming home a little chubbier then I was), we returned back home.  After that, my host sisters' friend came over and we all hung out. He didn't speak english but he found it fun to teach me spanish words and then laugh as I mispronounced them. I didn't mind at all. He actually taught me quite a bit. Though it's so hard to wrap your mouth around spanish words! I just can't roll my r's like that or go through syllables so fast. It's frustrating. Then my host sister and her friend showed me the neighborhood. After that we had dinner which was great. Of course we ate beaf but we also had spinach and melted cheese! We didn't eat dinner until 10:00pm here. It's very weird for me and I'm very hungry by the time dinner roles around. Then we cleaned up and I made them Smores for dessert. My host mom and host sister loved them - my host dad, not so much. By the time we cleaned up, finished talking and went to bed, it was 11:30. Mom? Dad? - My host parents put your 9:30pm bed time to shame.


Day 2:

Today my Host sister and I made breakfast together and i introduced her to peanut butter. She doesn't hate it but I can tell she's not too sure about it haha.

Then her cousin, uncle and aunt came over to say goodbye seeing she is leaving on Saturday for Oregon, USA. After that I started to help her pack all of her clothes. She only owns 2 sweater and 1 not very warm jacket. I told her she might have to get a warmer jacket once she gets there.

Then we walked down the street and my host sister introduced me to Dulce de Leche candy which is similar to a thick caramel sauce but they use is on everything. Toast, candy, cakes, chocolate, coffee, everything.

So far, so good. On friday (tomorrow) some Rotary members are going to introduce me to the teachers at my school then on Saturday I'm going with my host sister to see her off to the Airport in Buenos Aires. I'll start school full time on monday. Well, now I'm off to study spanish! Chau!

36 hours of Traveling...

So, I made it. I'm currently sitting on the computer, in my host families home (I guess my home now too), in Mar Del Plata, Argentina.  Though that was definitely the longest day(s) of traveling I've ever had in my life.


My traveling started on Sunday when my family, Jordan and I drove from Kelowna BC to Vancouver BC. We spent the night in Vancouver and I had an amazing final dinner made by Lori Chapmen. The next morning, we had to get up at a horrific hour: 4:00am. 


From there, I had to say goodbye in the airport. It was harder then I thought it would be. Even though it was sad, excitement became my main emotion when I got onto the first plane taking me from Canada to Minneapolis. I love love planes. Even though they aren't comfy, they always make me excited because it means I'm going somewhere. 


The 3 hour plane ride was a quick one because I sat beside a couple who was coming back from Alaska, a place I've never been. They shared there pictures of glaciers, otters, whales and these types of birds that look like penguins but they can fly! and they can use there wings underwater too! I think they were called puffers or something. I really want to see one. I guess that's something else to add to the life-list. 


The second plane (Minneapolis to Atlanta) ride was also very quick. This time it was because I managed to read an entire book between the 3 hour lay over and 2 and a half hour plane ride. Once I got to Atlanta though it was a huge rush to get to my next flight. I had an hour and a half to board my next flight and the Atlanta airport is like the same size as the one in London. It's crazy! I had to get on a subway car to get to a different terminal. I probably wouldn't have made it there on time if it wasn't for a polite southern gentleman who asked " Do you need any help there Miss? Y'all are looking pretty lost." Yup. Even drawled with the southern accent. I kind of felt like I had been dropped into a South and Western movie haha. The man was really nice. He had a 5 hour lay-over so he took me to the right terminal and even walked me to the gate. You gotta love old fashioned chivalry. 


By the time I got onto the plane to go to Buenos Aires, I was so overtired, I wasn't tired at all anymore. I ended up sitting beside a guy from Atlanta who travels to Buenos Aires a lot for work. He was a little shocked that a "young gal" like me was going to Argentina for a year. He then proceeded to tell me all about Argentina. He was really nice. We ended up talking for a couple hours then I managed to sleep for about 2 hours. 


Upon arrival 2 of the nicest people met me. I lucked out though, one spoke English. If not, I would have been very very lost. They stayed with me for the 4 hour wait before I got onto the bus. They got me my ticket, fed me, told be about Mar del Plata and taught me the words : Doucha (shower), Karrma (bed) and dormir (sleep). And told me to tell my host family that. 


I then proceeded onto the 6 hour bus ride. I met a nice girl there from Mar Del Plata that spoke english and gave me her email and phone number and offered to hangout some time. I'm glad she was there because watching the landscape was only fun for about 30mins - the landscape here is flat (like saskatchewan flat) and I passed around 18 wheat fields, 100 cattle farms, 7 sheep, 5000 cattle (at least) and a couple hundred horses. I also was surprised to see how many palm trees there are here! Also, the area reminds me a lot of mexico. Especially passing through the outskirts of Buenos Aires and seeing the poverty there (it took us 20mins driving on the highway to get out of Buenos Aires).


When I finally reached my host family, I was insanely happy. They are really nice! My host sister is going to Oregon and she speaks English fairly well so she is currently translating anything the parents are saying that I don't understand (which is pretty much everything, unless they are asking if I want simple things like "awa" a.k.a water). I didn't meet with them much though because after a quick tour of the house, I had a doucha then fell into karrma. Finally, I slept for 14 hours.