Its good to be back!

Well I am back in Buenos Aires....for now. I will be leaving tomorrow to go to the city of Azul. My grandparents have a farm near there, and my uncle lives in the city. Today I accomplished a lot! This morning I spent a long time going through photos of my vacation to Mar del Plata, and then created a flickr account to put the photos on. However,  I can't figure out how to post a slideshow on this blog. If you would like to view my pictures (which I hope you do!) my flickr username is Dancefiddler. Please comment if you have any questions! And now back to my busy day! After fixing my photos I went out for coffee with an AFS volunteer, and when I came home there were some family friends! With them I learned how to make fideos (which is the Spanish word for pasta) by hand! We ate our fideos for dinner and they were delicious!

I hope you are having a great time in your summer! Again if you have any questions please comment!

I'm having an amazing time in Mar del Plata!

Well I am sitting inside a cafe in Mar del Plata, about five min. from the ocean! This week had been amazing! Although the water is too cold to swim, the beach has been really fun! We went climbing on rocks near the beach,playing in the sand,looking at boats,watching seals, and so much more. There is also a spring near Mar del Plata and one day we visited it. There was a little town, and it was incredible! The town is on a large hill and the view was amazing, and the arcitecture of the houses was too!

I almost don't want to leave Mar del Plata tomorrow! It was sonice to spend more time withmy family this week! I'll post pictures when I get back to Buenos Aires! Chau!

It has been so long since I have written, it must be because I am having such a great time!

 

 I'm so sorry for not writing for a while, I just have not found the time! I guess in this post I will tell the highlights of what happened since my last post.

• I have been cooking for my family! So far I have cooked pancakes (and we used the maple syrup that I brought as a gift), and chocolate chip cookies. I also have the recipe for sugar cookies, and I want to make an apple pie too!

•  More exploring in Buenos Aires! Last weekend my sister, my mom, my mom's friend, and I went to the center of Buenos Aires and went to a theater, where there was a concert going on. We stayed and watched it for a while, then walked around near the theater. During our explorations we ran into another market! (I enjoy them so much!) Near the market was a cemetery that was open to public and we decided to go in.The cemetery was so different from all others that I have ever seen! There are little "houses" for the family to take care of, and the cemetery just goes on forever

•  After leaving the cemetery we walked through the market again, and it was starting to get dark. When we got back to the theater the sun was very close to setting, and it made the sky so beautiful! I think about six-thirty at night is the perfect time to look at Buenos Aires! That night we also went and looked at the flower, which used to open during the day, and close at night. It is amazing (even with it not closing anymore)

•  After a long day in the center of the city, we went to a family friend's apartment for dinner. We ate nyoki (I have no idea how to spell it) which was amazing, and from the apartment balcony I got some pictures of Buenos Aires late at night! (The last photos that I posted today)

•  The day after my family and I went to Tigre, which is a tourist area near a river. There was an art museum, a market, boats, food, and a lot more. We walked around for a while just enjoying ourselves. Afterwards we went to a restaurant (which was the first time with my family!)

•  Then school started up, and it was the last week before vacations. This week was also the week that everyone got sick, including me. In my class almost ten people were missing, and one day, all of my teachers were missing. In my school if a teacher is missing there is no sub, the students are expected to just sit there for the hour.

•  On Thursday I went to a friends house for the afternoon. I met her little sister and mother. The little sister really likes English, and kept asking me different words. Her mother works at a salon, and decided to give me a manicure. I stayed at my friends house until about four in the afternoon, then took the bus home.

• On Thursday when I got home things took a turn for the worse. I got a sore throat, and a headache, which are the same symptoms that my sister has. It is now Saturday morning and I still have a sore throat, and a cough. But I am not letting being a little sick stop me, today my sister and I are going to see Harry Potter number seven part two!

•  Well that's all that has happened, and now here is what is yet to come. Because it is vacations my family is going to Mar del Plata for a week. We will be staying in a house with my family, my mom's friend, and my sister's friend. I am so excited! I just hope my sister and I are not sick when we leave.

 If you have any questions feel free to comment! Besos! Chau!

Welcome to Buenos Aires!

I got to explore Buenos Aires finally! On Friday night my sister and I hung out with a family friend and we went to watch a big futbol game. We stayed up untill 2 am... then slept at the family friends house. On Saturday my sister Guille slept until two in the afternoon, and when she finally woke up my mom picked us up and we went to explore Buenos Aires. We drove around for a while, then we went to an art museum. The art museum had amazing paintings, some from the 16th century! When we finished at the museum it was dark, and so I got to see some sights in the dark! The casa rosada is where the president lives and I think night is the best time to see it!
Unfortunately I did not bring my camera on Friday night.... so I didn't have it for Saturday :(  you'll just have to trust me when I say that I had a great time.

On Sunday my family and I drove around to see more of Buenos Aires. While we were driving around my parents saw a market and decided that we would stop. What seemed like a small market of arts and crafts just kept going! There was a large plaza and there were little vendors everywhere. You could buy factory made things, handmade things, food, clothes, bracelets... and so much more. My sister bought a pair of hand made clay earrings, and I brought a hand made hair clip (see picture). At the plaza there was also a small lake... and we thought that it would be a good time to get a family picture (finally).


After going to the market I went with my sister to watch a skating recital. When she told me that it was a skating recital I assumed that it was ice skating.... but it was not. It was roller skating! I didn't know that people compete in roller skating! At the recital there were skaters of all ages. There were some older girls who had been doing skating for years... and there were some little tiny girls who could barely skate at all. I think one of them was 3 years old! The whole recital was quite enjoyable.

I'm so glad that I got to explore this weekend.... it made me feel like I am actually in a different country!

Besos para todos!

Dia del Saint Jean!

Well I am done with my first week of school! It was great, but I am looking forward to not having to go to school this weekend! Being at a school in another language makes you twice as tired than usual.... because you have to work twice as hard! After the first day of school where I was asked a million questions it seemed to be pretty normal. I started to get to know the students in my class, and I could talk to them, but not very well. Then on Thursday my host mother had to work in the morning and could not pick me up at school until later, and I met some new friends. After school on Thursday I was waiting for a teacher who would tell me where to stay while I was waiting for my mom, and when the teacher came there were three girls with her. The teacher asked the three girls if they would stay with me... and they did! We ate lunch with the little kids that have school all day, and we talked a lot! They also explained more about what was going to happen the next day (Friday). This is what they explained to me: because the school is named Saint Jean, the school celebrates Saint Jean day (24th of June), and tomorrow (Friday) all the students are supposed to go to the field (which is not at the same place as the school) to play games, eat, and just hang out.

Me sitting on the edge of the field

Me and one of my new friends Marina

Me and another of my new friends Sol

After my new friends explained this to me, they invited me to go with them. Since I don't have many friends I said yes... and what a good idea it was! We met up this morning at the school, and we all took the public bus together (which I hadn't done yet!). When we arrived at the field it was so cold! Everyone had on hats, gloves, winter coats, and scarves!  To warm up we ate some breakfast, and played volleyball. My team for volleyball only had three people on it, so of course we lost :)    but we had fun. Then we played "monkey in the middle" with a soccer (footbol) ball, which I enjoyed very much. Being around so many students at once was confusing... but I think it helped my spanish!

At the end of the festivities the director of the school talked to all the older students about Saint Jean Day. He also thought it was a good time to introduce me! I stood up in front of the whole school while the director talked about intercultural exchange, how I am from the U.S., and that he wants students from Saint Jean to go on exchange! It was quite awkward :p

Tonight I am going to the movies with some family friends, and this weekend I am going to get to see more of Buenos Aires! I'm so excited!

Chau!