....

I don´t think that anyone could ever go thirsty here in Argentina. We´re always drinking something )maté, juice, tea, coffee, soda, beer, wine, etc. I´ve never felt so hydrated in all my life :p jaja. We drink something for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the middle day "snack", and any other time of the day if we´re visiting people ... :)

I just began my classes in the language school...three hours a day, Monday thru Friday. There is one other student with me in the class, so it makes for a great 3 hours...lots of opportunities to talk and ask questions. The other girl in the class is from Austria, she´s been studying spanish for about as long as I have been...5 or 6 months and is in Argentina visiting a friend and trying to increase her understanding...she´ll only be here for a few more weeks, but I hope that we can become good friends!

I´m getting the hang of the bus ... at least the one that i take from my house to the city (which is pretty much a straight shot). A friend of mine commented that she thinks that if you can really get the hang of riding the bus standing up that you should be good at surfing. I think she´s about right...i hate standing in the bus cuz it jerks around so much, and you have to work hard to be study on your feet, but sometimes you just have to. There are days too that everyone is squeezed really tight in the bus and its difficult to move from one place to the other...especially when your stop comes and you have to get out the back door...kinda tricky (but nothing like I experienced in the train in Buenos Aires). Here buses are called "collectivos" and the coins we use to get in the bus are called "cospelas" (they cost 2 pesos each so about 50 cents approx.). I don´t know if other areas use cospelas (cuz I know they don´t in Buenos Aires), but its kinda nice not to have to worry about the right amount of change.

I´ve been reading up on some of Argentine´s history...especially during the ´70s where the life here was really volatile and scary. People who disagreed with the government often disappeared and many significant people were assassinated. It all became quite awful between 1973 and 1983 in what is now called the "Dirty War" (if you want to know more, you can look it up for more details). During this time between 10,000 and 30,000 people disappeared and/or were murdered for being on the wrong side (I believe it was the "right" side). Today things are much better, but this time left a huge wound on the country, a wound that is still trying to heal. It really opened my eyes to why most people here do not trust their government and have a fear for their security.

I´m still enjoying my time here, though I´m finding I´m really tired a lot! I´m having to push myself in the language and in adventuring out more, so it makes for really exhausting days. But the Lord has richly blessed me with opportunities to speak English with native speakers and to just share how I´m doing...so I don´t feel completely overwhelmed or alone. Every day has its challenges and its rewards, and nothing around here comes easily, and usually you have to wait and be patient, but overall God is showing me how to trust in His daily plans and His desire for me in this place.

short stories...

McDonalds:
i'm not really a McDonald's fan...but I had my first opportunity to go to one in Buenos Aires...so I thought I'd try the burgers. I was hungry, and not really knowing the sizes of the hamburgers ordered the largest one I saw on the board...in the states this would be no problem, cuz usually the size on the board really isn't the size of the actual hamburger. However, here its different...the hamburger was huge and the burger itself was - well, dry - and you had to add your own ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise...the drinks were smaller (funny eh?) and the fries were the same (can't have a McDonald's without the real fries). Interesting to say the least...

Boats:
So I had to go to Uruguay in order to renew my visa (just a "quick" hop over the boarderfrom Buenos Aires in order to get a stamp in my passport that says "tourist" so I can stay for another 3 months). It turned out to be a bit more work than I'd anticipated. I had NO idea where to go or what to do...but a quick phone call to a friend who'd done it before helped me tons. I bought passage on a boat that would cross over to Uruguay Thursday morning at 9:30am. I took my friend with me (her first time ever going into another country - she's from Argentina). Having never taken a boat before we weren't sure how things worked - this was evident when we arrived ten minutes before departure and were told we couldn't get on our boat....frustrating? yeah, just a little. After buying passage for the first half of our trip (again)...and waiting for two hours...we headed to Uruguay (a great place to visit if you ever want to go). The boat trip only took us one hour the first time...three hours to return (the boat was slower aparently haha). both ships had restuarants and a little shop for suveniers. The secon boat had a full on archade. Quite the experience for just one day in Uruguay, but I have to say all the waiting was worth it when we finally got to sit on the sandy "beach" looking out on the ocean and marveling at a beautiful and fairly warm day (that soon turned into a freezing day cuz, well its winter here).

3am Pizza:
So, I'm not very good at planning...when trying to return to Cordoba (after my wonderful adventure the day before to Uruguay)...okay, it was 2am should've known that there wouldn't be any tickets then... though there was a bus leaving it was full ... so not being able to decide what to do (cuz I really didn't want to go anyway)....my friend Sabrina, myself, her brother, and a friend from church decided to tour the city. One of my favorite adventures of all time! I've decided I'm very much a night person :) ...after seeing the oldest tree in Buenos Aires (older than the city itself), passing by a really cool cemetary for wealthy people, walking through a shopping center full of beautiful things...we ate pizza at a "country bar" ... I think it was called Montana something at 3am. I've never done that before...I'm sure there is somewhere in Portland that is open that late...but this is really common here. We didn't get back to the house until 5am .... and though I was exhausted, I wouldn't have traded the poor planning for anything...

okay gotta run...more stories to come later...

Adventures in Spanish....

this weekend, well really the last two weeks, have been quite a language adventure. today i am extremely exhausted, but i feel like i´ve made great strides from where i was to where i am now...

two weeks ago i moved in with my new family. lets just say that has been an adventure in and of itself. they are quite an italian family...so personalities and how they talk are a lot stronger than what i´m used to in my own home. i live in a small two bedroom one bath apartment with five other people, with a dog and a cat. this family loves football (soccer) so i´m getting educated in the World Cup (sadly Argentina didn´t make it to the finals)...and they watch novellas...basically soap operas (haha...language learning right ?). all in all very good experience so far...

my first week with the family was really rough...i don´t know the bus system and i wanted desperately to get out, but the family is extremely busy so i couldn´t just wait for them to help me out. i tried getting together with one girlfriend .... but the day we were to get together ... she was sick. so...my host brother kindly offered to wander the city with me. it was a long beautiful day and i felt extremely blessed. i also made a solo adventure of walking the ten or twelve blocks to wal-mart on my own...just to get out of the house. who knew that a trip to wal-mart could help so much haha.

this past weekend was especially exciting...i spent friday and saturday with a girlfriend in the city...speaking in pretty much only spanish. we event went and saw a movie (Eclipse for all of you New Moon fanatics) totally in Spanish (no subtitles because the ones with subtitles were at a later time). it was interesting. i watched Argentina lose to the Netherlands....but what an experience :) going to an argentine home to compartir as they say ...

then...i went to Paraná, six hours north of Cordoba with my host mom, daughter, and granddaughter. another beautiful adventure! check the place out online...its beautiful! it has a large river and is filled with art, artists, poets, and a beautiful history. its also a city much more calm and quiet than Cordoba and a place i want to go to again.

spanish spanish spanish...wow...is it really happening, my entire experience so far has been in spanish...hardly a word of English. i´m exhausted...but what a great feeling!

soon i hope to post more pictures so you can see what i see :)