Well, my journey is far from over... My journey in life that is. It is weird to think that just over five months ago, I had no idea what life was like in Argentina. I had 0 friends, and knew nothing. In such a short time I have made a lot of friends, learned a new lifestyle, and feel like I know Argentina better than most other things.
I left the United States on July 3rd. Gas prices were about 3.50 a gallon, the economy was great, and life was normal. The life there stopped for me on the 4th when I arrived in Argentina, but it did not stop for anybody else.
I realize that life doesnt stop anywhere. Life continued in the States and life will continue in Argentina with or without me. It is amazing how the everyday life that seems so normal can be so foreign to another. I see both sides now, and cannot imagine life without one of them. Lets just say that I am confused.
I miss my friends from home and my family of course, but I cannot imagine life without my friends from Argentina. Or for that matter, my way of life. I walk everywhere, drink mate, only text on my cellphone because its too expensive to call. Little things, but a big part of my life.
Anyway, on to the point of this blog... Monday night I ate empanadas with my family outside during a clear and beautiful night. We brought the tv outside and watched that. I drank Baileys with Luis. I presented my family with a Minnesota Twins T shirt (one for each person). They loved it. I also told them how much I appreciated everything they had done for me. They in return had bought me a mate and painted on the side "de tu familia argentina" (from your argentina family). It was a late night of jokes and conversating in spanish. I hardly slept all night. My time in Argentina was coming to an end
Tuesday I woke up early to shower and start packing my bags. I ran to the store bought some items I wished to return with me. I left for a couple hours to say goodbye to my again "friend" Magui. I returned home for lunch. My LAST meal in Argentina.
I went to the airport with Irene, Luis, and my tutor Pancho. We said our goodbyes and I departed for home.
Four flights and 20 some hours later, I like to inform you all that I have arrived to my home in Minnesota safely. Yankee Landia has stolen me back, but I still have a piece of my heart in Argentina. Cordoba, I will return some day. The reentry shock has already hit me hard, with every little thing I do.
This is not my last blog, I plan (haha plan) on writing atleast one more this week about my reentry shock. Please, if you have enjoyed this blog, read the final one or two (who knows how many I will write).
But for all those wondering when I will be home, I am ALREADY home and I had a good safe travel. See you or talk to you soon.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
One Tough Fun Week!!
Well what can I say... It has been one fun and tough week. With little time to go before returning home to the states for Christmas and the New Year, I had to say a lot of goodbyes. I thought this week would be very lonely as all the other United Statesians were gone. I was completely wrong.
I was out everyday visiting downtown, other host parents that I will miss so much, and of course eating my favorite foods, all well trying to spend as much time with my host family as I could. I even made a stop to my first host family's house to say goodbye. Marta was not there but I had a beer with Edzui. It was really fun, but sad to start saying more and more goodbyes.
My "friend" Magui left for Rioja, where she leaves. We had a lunch date on Thursday, and then met again early Saturday morning to say "goodbye". Funny how that works though because she returned to Cordoba again yesterday morning. We met during the afternoon, drank a juice, and again gave eachother little "going away presents".
I went to my school the other day to say goodbye to most of the professors and some friends before the school closes for the holidays and summer. It was sad, but had to be done.
I benefitted in the fact that I downloaded a lot of the pictures that had been taken by others. I bought a pen drive last week when I realized that the folder I saved all my photos to was on a computer in Argentina. My brother informed me that the folder would be pretty hard to access in Minnesota. I responded with the fact that I have a lot of them on facebook too. Again he informed me of the hours it would take to save each picture off of facebook. He clearly knows how to make me look like a knucklehead. Anyway, he influenced me to buy a pen drive and it paid off this past week as I gained a lot of new interesting photos of my experience.
I also have scrambled this week to buy as many gifts for people as I could. Will see how many of you actually get something. Unfortuanately I suck at that part of life. Dont expect anything exciting hahaha.
It is a sad week, but atleast 37 degrees C (98 F)is better than 0 degrees F (-12 or something C)
I was out everyday visiting downtown, other host parents that I will miss so much, and of course eating my favorite foods, all well trying to spend as much time with my host family as I could. I even made a stop to my first host family's house to say goodbye. Marta was not there but I had a beer with Edzui. It was really fun, but sad to start saying more and more goodbyes.
My "friend" Magui left for Rioja, where she leaves. We had a lunch date on Thursday, and then met again early Saturday morning to say "goodbye". Funny how that works though because she returned to Cordoba again yesterday morning. We met during the afternoon, drank a juice, and again gave eachother little "going away presents".
I went to my school the other day to say goodbye to most of the professors and some friends before the school closes for the holidays and summer. It was sad, but had to be done.
I benefitted in the fact that I downloaded a lot of the pictures that had been taken by others. I bought a pen drive last week when I realized that the folder I saved all my photos to was on a computer in Argentina. My brother informed me that the folder would be pretty hard to access in Minnesota. I responded with the fact that I have a lot of them on facebook too. Again he informed me of the hours it would take to save each picture off of facebook. He clearly knows how to make me look like a knucklehead. Anyway, he influenced me to buy a pen drive and it paid off this past week as I gained a lot of new interesting photos of my experience.
I also have scrambled this week to buy as many gifts for people as I could. Will see how many of you actually get something. Unfortuanately I suck at that part of life. Dont expect anything exciting hahaha.
It is a sad week, but atleast 37 degrees C (98 F)is better than 0 degrees F (-12 or something C)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Week With My Bro
For those of you who didnt realize it yet, I am still in Argentina. The program is over, and all I have been doing is having the time of my life. Last week, my Brother Matt came to visit me. He decided spur of the moment... imagine that coming from my family. Everybody knows we love to plan ahead hahaha.
He arrived Wednesday, and My host brother, sister, and mom all came with me to find him at the airport. We picked him up and got settled in. We had one busy week and hopefully fun. I know I bored the heck out of him a few times as part of the Argentina life is waiting or walking (ALOT).
Wednesday night we went to one of my favorite mexican restaurants here called Mariache. After that we went to my favorite bar Contender where I made him try Fernet and Coke. The description.... tastes like medicine hahaha. We hung out there with one of my tutors Matias.
The rest of the week is a blur for me. We slept in usually, and then went out to eat or walk or something. We spent a lot of time with the one gringo still here. Ashley the really pretty blonde I always hang out with. We spent many hours downtown and touring the city. We even went three times to see this water fountain light show, which never happened. We also took a trip to a nearby city to swim in the river and enjoy the sun. We ate at almost all my favorite restaurants, but could not eat at all of them due to times they were open and location.
Almost everyday we enjoyed ice cream. Thats right ice cream in the heat during December. I made Matt try all my favorite foods here too. Empanadas, dulce de leche, lomitos, panchos, and of course choripanes.
On Sunday, we didnt intend to but ended up walking four hours from my house all the way to downtown. (YES, IT CAN BE DONE). We never want to do that again though. Monday we went out looking for futbol tickets. It was a long and interesting journey, but we eventually found the tiny boleteria in the middle of a field where we bought the tickets. Then we even managed to find the field too. The game was amazing. We ate Choripan because thats like peanuts and crackerjacks at the baseball game. The Talleres were the home team and they won 3 to nothing. There was nothing more fun than jumping up and down yelling GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!
Anyway, I took him to a friends apartment, to a club for my friends birthday party, we enjoyed mates at my school, and even made it to an asado. I hope he enjoyed every minute of it.
It was fun to see him instantly become friends with my friends. He left on Wednesday on the same flight as my friend yankee Ashley and two of my friends from here Flor and Nati. From the pictures, it looks like he had a good time on the flight with them.
Well, I have to run, but I will write more about my experience soon.
We could
He arrived Wednesday, and My host brother, sister, and mom all came with me to find him at the airport. We picked him up and got settled in. We had one busy week and hopefully fun. I know I bored the heck out of him a few times as part of the Argentina life is waiting or walking (ALOT).
Wednesday night we went to one of my favorite mexican restaurants here called Mariache. After that we went to my favorite bar Contender where I made him try Fernet and Coke. The description.... tastes like medicine hahaha. We hung out there with one of my tutors Matias.
The rest of the week is a blur for me. We slept in usually, and then went out to eat or walk or something. We spent a lot of time with the one gringo still here. Ashley the really pretty blonde I always hang out with. We spent many hours downtown and touring the city. We even went three times to see this water fountain light show, which never happened. We also took a trip to a nearby city to swim in the river and enjoy the sun. We ate at almost all my favorite restaurants, but could not eat at all of them due to times they were open and location.
Almost everyday we enjoyed ice cream. Thats right ice cream in the heat during December. I made Matt try all my favorite foods here too. Empanadas, dulce de leche, lomitos, panchos, and of course choripanes.
On Sunday, we didnt intend to but ended up walking four hours from my house all the way to downtown. (YES, IT CAN BE DONE). We never want to do that again though. Monday we went out looking for futbol tickets. It was a long and interesting journey, but we eventually found the tiny boleteria in the middle of a field where we bought the tickets. Then we even managed to find the field too. The game was amazing. We ate Choripan because thats like peanuts and crackerjacks at the baseball game. The Talleres were the home team and they won 3 to nothing. There was nothing more fun than jumping up and down yelling GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!
Anyway, I took him to a friends apartment, to a club for my friends birthday party, we enjoyed mates at my school, and even made it to an asado. I hope he enjoyed every minute of it.
It was fun to see him instantly become friends with my friends. He left on Wednesday on the same flight as my friend yankee Ashley and two of my friends from here Flor and Nati. From the pictures, it looks like he had a good time on the flight with them.
Well, I have to run, but I will write more about my experience soon.
We could
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Now I Feel Comfortable Because There is no Typical Day
My life in Cordoba has changed dramatically the last few weeks. I have finished classes, and said goodbyes to some of my best friends in the world. The program is over, but I must have missed the memo because I am still here. Unfortuanately being here is a little bit like finishing highschool. If you elect to stay at home, your friends leave, but if you leave, you are leaving all your friends. Atleast 20 of my friends have moved away in the past week back to their home country, but here I am still in Argentina.
I have noticed that my typical day has changed. I dont mind at all though because I hate routines and knowing what is coming next. Now, I wake everyday without a plan and it is great. Throughout the program my day used to go something like this...
I would set my alarm for noon everyday. I know tough life huh. I would get up and eat some facturas or criollas with dulce de leche for breakfast. Then I would take a shower and finish whatever homework I had left over or needed to get a head start on. Sometimes I would just read spanish things for fun, or go online at my house. After that, I would eat lunch around 1 or 1:30 before class. I would grab my headphones and walk a half hour to the university.
Everyday I had class at 2 or 2:30 which sucked. It was right during the siesta hour. After class I would usually bum around the university, studying, talking with friends, or using the internet. It was always an adventure at the university talking with the girls. Recall my earlier blog where I told one girl I did not have a penis. Another incident occurred after I wrote that blog. I asked a girl if she wanted to go play soccer at the field. "Queres jugar futbol en la cancha". However, my wonderful pronunciation turned "cancha" into "concha". Instead, I asked, would you like to go play soccer in the pussy. Anyway, back to my day.
Tuesdays always sucked as I had class until 8:30 at night. Mondays I had to hang around school becasue I had Tango class at night. Thursdays were a little different because I had to get up at 9 am for horseback riding. Otherwise my days were pretty much the same.
At night I would return home for dinner with my family where they would eat and watch on tv "Por Amor A Vos". After dinner it would usually be "Bailando Por un Sueno" or something like that. Some nights I would go out to the boliches or bars. When that happened, I would rarely return early. I would be out until 5 or so in the morning and then sleep all day.
Now, I dont have the stress of school. I do what I want and go where I please. This week is going to be very fun though, as tomorrow my Brother Matt is coming to visit. I don´t have a plan at all, but we are going to find some things to do in the hot summer sun.
As for when I am returning... That is still a surprise.
I have noticed that my typical day has changed. I dont mind at all though because I hate routines and knowing what is coming next. Now, I wake everyday without a plan and it is great. Throughout the program my day used to go something like this...
I would set my alarm for noon everyday. I know tough life huh. I would get up and eat some facturas or criollas with dulce de leche for breakfast. Then I would take a shower and finish whatever homework I had left over or needed to get a head start on. Sometimes I would just read spanish things for fun, or go online at my house. After that, I would eat lunch around 1 or 1:30 before class. I would grab my headphones and walk a half hour to the university.
Everyday I had class at 2 or 2:30 which sucked. It was right during the siesta hour. After class I would usually bum around the university, studying, talking with friends, or using the internet. It was always an adventure at the university talking with the girls. Recall my earlier blog where I told one girl I did not have a penis. Another incident occurred after I wrote that blog. I asked a girl if she wanted to go play soccer at the field. "Queres jugar futbol en la cancha". However, my wonderful pronunciation turned "cancha" into "concha". Instead, I asked, would you like to go play soccer in the pussy. Anyway, back to my day.
Tuesdays always sucked as I had class until 8:30 at night. Mondays I had to hang around school becasue I had Tango class at night. Thursdays were a little different because I had to get up at 9 am for horseback riding. Otherwise my days were pretty much the same.
At night I would return home for dinner with my family where they would eat and watch on tv "Por Amor A Vos". After dinner it would usually be "Bailando Por un Sueno" or something like that. Some nights I would go out to the boliches or bars. When that happened, I would rarely return early. I would be out until 5 or so in the morning and then sleep all day.
Now, I dont have the stress of school. I do what I want and go where I please. This week is going to be very fun though, as tomorrow my Brother Matt is coming to visit. I don´t have a plan at all, but we are going to find some things to do in the hot summer sun.
As for when I am returning... That is still a surprise.
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