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!
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