¡Hola!
Sorry it's been a while... To be honest, I haven't been updating this regularly because I feel like I hit some sort of plateau about a week ago. Not a lot of new things are happening because I have fallen into a routine of waking up, going to school, taking a nap, doing homework, going on walks, etc. Going out and exploring the city hasn't really been on my list of things to do yet because I don't really know where any thing is yet, or what buildings are what. (I think my English is getting worse, by the way). But I suppose this monotony is sort of a sign that I am actually...living here.
Last week, I finally met a few Argentinians who are friends with one of my classmates. They are really friendly and have a lot of patience for us English speakers. We're hoping they'll be able to show us around town more.
As some of you may have heard by now, last weekend was my first night out on the town.(For all of you who aren't aware, night life in Argentina is completely different from Lincoln. Here, people start going out AT 1:00 AM, which is when all of the bars and clubs CLOSE in Lincoln). I had a lot of fun! We went in a group of about 15 people who were all from my roomates' school. One of the girls' host brothers was sort of our "guide" for the night, who chose where to go. We went to a small bar first and then hit up a "boliche" (dance club). It was...interesting...to say the least. It was very busy (reminding me of a crowded concert or something of the sort), there were flashing lights, strobe lights, lazers, smoke, etc. I was taken by surprise a little bit when I saw such a large number of VERY affectionate homosexual couples standing around, dancing, etc. I found out later that the club was actually a gay/straight club. Apparently it has the best music! My host mom/brother thought this was rather funny, as it was my first time going out.
But in all seriousness, I have been learning a lot in my class. Although it is all sort of review, it is definitely fine-tuning the things I still didn't understand or needed work on. Altogether I'm glad I'm taking the class. I sort of feel that along with my plateau of events, my language ability has plateaued (I just butchered that word and am too lazy to look it up) as well. Now that I have become accustomed to the language I understand it so regularly that it doesn't really feel like my Spanish is getting better. Plus, all of my friends right now are Americans, and we tend to speak English more than we should. Some days I almost feel like it has gotten worse. Or else I am just realizing I have quite a long ways to go before I am fluent.
This is all I have for now. I wanted to tell you all about the things I have grown to appreciate about the United States, but I will save that for another post, because it's time for me to go to bed! Stay tuned!
Love you all. Thanks for reading.
P.S
I think I fixed my settings so that anyone can comment on my blog now. So...post away!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
25 Random Things I Have Experienced in Argentina So Far.
1. It was slightly awkward at first, but I have grown particularly fond of the Argentinean greeting. Every time you meet someone for the first time or greet people in general you kiss their right cheek. This avoids any awkward handshakes or hesitated hugs we often encounter in the U.S.
2. The weather here is absolutely beautiful. I fell asleep to a light rainfall last night and woke up to a refreshing morning. The rest of the day I enjoyed the sunny, 85-degree weather.
3. Argentineans are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. I feel like I have known my host mom for years, and I have only been here for five days.
4. This country has very little sense of time. Everything is so laid back and relaxed! There is simply no reason to stress here.
5. The food is so fresh. The meat, the vegetables, the fruit. Everything.
6. I am still getting used to the Argentinean accent. It took me a couple days to realize that “cah-jay” actually meant “calle”.
7. The accent is creeping into my Spanish anyways.
8. The other day I told my host mom's son that I juice volleyball and basketball. That probably won't be as funny to you if you don't know the "yo" form conjugation of "jugar".
9. Cereal is my favorite food in the whole universe and I've yet to eat a bowl of it here. Every morning for the past five days I have eaten two wheat crackers with dulce de leche or this strange, bland manzana-melisa jelly smeared across the top. The café con leche is a plus though.
10. I've drank more Tang (pronounced "tong" here) in the past five days than I think I ever have in my life.
11. I am currently in the process of mastering the art of riding the city bus to school.
12. Poverty is not hidden here, as it seems to be in the U.S. There are run down, gutted out houses with dirt floors and no doors just blocks away from my house, which is a seemingly wealthier part of town.
13. There are not nearly as many blonds, like me, as I had been told there would be. It has been really interesting to be a part of the minority for once.
14. A lot of women are really, really skinny. Apparently there is a lot of pressure among them to have very tiny, feminine figures.
15. Fashion is a very important part of the culture here. The most recent trend seems to be the European-rocker look, with skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors.
16. Everything you have heard about Argentinean’s love for meat is true. On Sunday I ate it in excessive amounts and had absolutely no regrets.
17. Last night I told a fairly large group of people that Americans put a lot of condoms in their food. Apparently “preservativos” does not mean preservatives here.
18. Despite my slip-up last night, I can feel my Spanish getting better every day.
19. But sometimes I just want to speak English.
20. So far I haven’t really felt homesick. I came close though when I heard an American song on the radio and was reminded of home.
21. Whoever invented siestas was a genius. I do not understand why we don’t make time for these in the United States.
22. My first four days I had absolutely no idea where my host mom said we were going. I basically found out what we were doing and who we were seeing when I got there. Figuring out what clothes would be appropriate was a rather difficult task.
23. In Spanish, Google is pronounced “goo-glay”, which I get a kick out of. My professor was amused when I told her “goo-glay” is a now a verb in the U.S.
24. The word “lindo” is used to describe almost everything nice or pleasant, like a person, an experience, the weather, or a song.
25. I am afraid that time is going to pass way too fast here.
2. The weather here is absolutely beautiful. I fell asleep to a light rainfall last night and woke up to a refreshing morning. The rest of the day I enjoyed the sunny, 85-degree weather.
3. Argentineans are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. I feel like I have known my host mom for years, and I have only been here for five days.
4. This country has very little sense of time. Everything is so laid back and relaxed! There is simply no reason to stress here.
5. The food is so fresh. The meat, the vegetables, the fruit. Everything.
6. I am still getting used to the Argentinean accent. It took me a couple days to realize that “cah-jay” actually meant “calle”.
7. The accent is creeping into my Spanish anyways.
8. The other day I told my host mom's son that I juice volleyball and basketball. That probably won't be as funny to you if you don't know the "yo" form conjugation of "jugar".
9. Cereal is my favorite food in the whole universe and I've yet to eat a bowl of it here. Every morning for the past five days I have eaten two wheat crackers with dulce de leche or this strange, bland manzana-melisa jelly smeared across the top. The café con leche is a plus though.
10. I've drank more Tang (pronounced "tong" here) in the past five days than I think I ever have in my life.
11. I am currently in the process of mastering the art of riding the city bus to school.
12. Poverty is not hidden here, as it seems to be in the U.S. There are run down, gutted out houses with dirt floors and no doors just blocks away from my house, which is a seemingly wealthier part of town.
13. There are not nearly as many blonds, like me, as I had been told there would be. It has been really interesting to be a part of the minority for once.
14. A lot of women are really, really skinny. Apparently there is a lot of pressure among them to have very tiny, feminine figures.
15. Fashion is a very important part of the culture here. The most recent trend seems to be the European-rocker look, with skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors.
16. Everything you have heard about Argentinean’s love for meat is true. On Sunday I ate it in excessive amounts and had absolutely no regrets.
17. Last night I told a fairly large group of people that Americans put a lot of condoms in their food. Apparently “preservativos” does not mean preservatives here.
18. Despite my slip-up last night, I can feel my Spanish getting better every day.
19. But sometimes I just want to speak English.
20. So far I haven’t really felt homesick. I came close though when I heard an American song on the radio and was reminded of home.
21. Whoever invented siestas was a genius. I do not understand why we don’t make time for these in the United States.
22. My first four days I had absolutely no idea where my host mom said we were going. I basically found out what we were doing and who we were seeing when I got there. Figuring out what clothes would be appropriate was a rather difficult task.
23. In Spanish, Google is pronounced “goo-glay”, which I get a kick out of. My professor was amused when I told her “goo-glay” is a now a verb in the U.S.
24. The word “lindo” is used to describe almost everything nice or pleasant, like a person, an experience, the weather, or a song.
25. I am afraid that time is going to pass way too fast here.
Monday, February 2, 2009
A few experiences thus far.
I've been here for about five days now, and as many of you already know, I feel like my Spanish has improved more than it did this entire semester. Each day sometimes I can feel my Spanish getting better by the hour. The more I converse and the more I listen to people, the more I start thinking and processing in Spanish. I never really understood how people learn languages through immersion. But it works. It just does! And I am so excited.
Today I had my first day of class. There are just two other girls in my class from North Carolina and Iowa. We were quiet the entire first half of class, and right after we walked out the door for a quick break, we all let out the same sigh of exhaustion and I said, "I'm TIRED OF SPEAKING SPANISH". This seemed to break the ice because we all got a good laugh in and from then on we couldn't stop talking to each other. Granted, it was in English. But it was the first time any of us had had contact with the outside world! We couldn't stop talking about all the things we've been experiencing, and the emotions we have been feeling. One of the girls, Lindsay, lives just two blocks away from me, and tomorrow we are going to take the bus downtown to school together. I am meeting people, and getting more and more excited by the minute. I learned a lot about the Argentinian accent, which has been an especially difficult barrier to break through this first week.
My host mom is absolutely amazing. She takes SUCH good care of me! She is very concerned for my safety, and almost every day she goes over a mental map of the neighborhood with me. This morning she made sure I knew exactly where the bus would pick me up and drop me off. She is so cute and friendly! (linda [leen-duh], as we would say here).
Tonight was so much fun. Betty's nephew had a birthday party at a really good restaurant, and rather than sitting with her and the rest of the adults I sat with her cousins' sons and her own sons. I felt really comfortable just talking to them and saying whatever I wanted to say. I have found that when I don't say things correctly, it's just sort of funny to most people. And I'm never going to get better with my Spanish if I don't talk to people. A lot of them understand what it is like to learn another language and have a lot of patience for me. I even found out that the son of one of Betty's cousins listens to a lot of the music I enjoy like Radiohead and Sigur Rós. He told me Radiohead is coming to Buenos Aires in April! Díos mío.
Unfortunately tonight I had my first major embarrassing lingual moment. I told about 5 or 6 people who were listening to me that american food as a lot of condoms in it : ( Yikes. I said "preservativos" assuming that was the correct word for preservatives. They just burst out laughing, and one of them explained to me that "preservativos" means condoms in Argentina. I think I turned bright red. But at the same time, everyone was laughing, so I didn't feel too embarrassed. Tomorrow I will have to tell Betty that story. She'll get a kick out of it.
I have to wake up in four and a half hours. Oops. Thanks goodness for siestas, ¿no?
Chau.
Today I had my first day of class. There are just two other girls in my class from North Carolina and Iowa. We were quiet the entire first half of class, and right after we walked out the door for a quick break, we all let out the same sigh of exhaustion and I said, "I'm TIRED OF SPEAKING SPANISH". This seemed to break the ice because we all got a good laugh in and from then on we couldn't stop talking to each other. Granted, it was in English. But it was the first time any of us had had contact with the outside world! We couldn't stop talking about all the things we've been experiencing, and the emotions we have been feeling. One of the girls, Lindsay, lives just two blocks away from me, and tomorrow we are going to take the bus downtown to school together. I am meeting people, and getting more and more excited by the minute. I learned a lot about the Argentinian accent, which has been an especially difficult barrier to break through this first week.
My host mom is absolutely amazing. She takes SUCH good care of me! She is very concerned for my safety, and almost every day she goes over a mental map of the neighborhood with me. This morning she made sure I knew exactly where the bus would pick me up and drop me off. She is so cute and friendly! (linda [leen-duh], as we would say here).
Tonight was so much fun. Betty's nephew had a birthday party at a really good restaurant, and rather than sitting with her and the rest of the adults I sat with her cousins' sons and her own sons. I felt really comfortable just talking to them and saying whatever I wanted to say. I have found that when I don't say things correctly, it's just sort of funny to most people. And I'm never going to get better with my Spanish if I don't talk to people. A lot of them understand what it is like to learn another language and have a lot of patience for me. I even found out that the son of one of Betty's cousins listens to a lot of the music I enjoy like Radiohead and Sigur Rós. He told me Radiohead is coming to Buenos Aires in April! Díos mío.
Unfortunately tonight I had my first major embarrassing lingual moment. I told about 5 or 6 people who were listening to me that american food as a lot of condoms in it : ( Yikes. I said "preservativos" assuming that was the correct word for preservatives. They just burst out laughing, and one of them explained to me that "preservativos" means condoms in Argentina. I think I turned bright red. But at the same time, everyone was laughing, so I didn't feel too embarrassed. Tomorrow I will have to tell Betty that story. She'll get a kick out of it.
I have to wake up in four and a half hours. Oops. Thanks goodness for siestas, ¿no?
Chau.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Flight
Hi everyone! So this is where I'm going to be keeping you all updated on my life as an Argentinian. I've never really been into the whole "blog" thing but I suppose it has its advantages in situations such as this. To start off I'm just going to write a few things I wrote down in my journal on my way from Atlanta to Chile. It's a lot of rambling and a bit extensive. Read it whenever you have the chance or need something to do!
***********
1/28
Well. I'm off. Right now I'm on my flight to Santiago, Chile, where I will take my last flight to Córdoba, Argentina! There are so many emotions running through me right now. None of this seems real. Since I have never been to Argentina let alone out of the country, I have such a vague picture of what it will be like/who I will meet/what I will do. Right now all I can picture in my mind are the photographs I have seen and literally a geographical map of South America (haha).
Just as I predicted, the fact that I am going didn't hit me until the announcement that they were beginning to board for my flight. My heart dropped into my stomach and my eyes filled with tears. All these months of excitement and preparation, and the past few days of stress, packing, and goodbyes had all led up to this. I was really nervous, sad and excited all at the same time.
Two hours later we arrived at the Atlanta airport around 7:50 pm. The man I sat next to and chatted with a bit the whole way to Atlanta asked me what time my next flight was and I told him 9:15 pm. We both agreed I had plenty of time until someone sitting in front of us reminded us that the time was actually 8:45. I had 20 minutes to get to Terminal E, and I was at terminal C.
He showed me where the train was located and I took off running, wheeling my carry-on, my backpack flailing behind me and a look of sheer terror on my face. I finally found the trains that were going the direction of my terminal and hopped on. I looked at my watch and it read that I had 7 minutes until the plane took off. I quickly exited approached what appeared to be the tallest escalator I had ever seen in my life. There was no time to lose so I picked up my carry-on and climbed the escalator. Of course gate E7 was the furthest gate from where I was. Tired and out of breath, I was tempted to walk the rest of the way but decided there was no time. Running was my only option at that point.
I got to the desk at my gate and managed to explain with the few breaths I could gather that my plane from Omaha was about a half hour late. But the man informed me it was too late. And I didn't really know what to say to that. This was my first time traveling alone and I had absolutely no idea what I would do had I missed the plane. But right as I was about to say, "What do I do now?" someone else came to the desk and informed us that they were holding the plane. Apparently I wasn't the only one running late. They let me on and I made my way to my seat, sat down, and let out a sigh of relief. I felt like I was sweating profusely. But after the rest of the passengers got on the plane, it took off and all was well again.
There are currently six hours left of this flight. I wonder if I will actually be able to catch some sleep. My mind is racing as I am still attempting to think through and process the fact that this is actually happening. In six hours I will walk off the plane and on to South American ground. It will be summer. English will no longer be my official language. I will be thousands of miles away from my home.
I have already learned something in these past couple days. I undoubtedly have the most amazing family and friends in the world--(that vague statement in itself doesn't really do them justice). I have always felt grateful for the relationships I have with them, but the past couple days have made me even more thankful. I just can't believe how supportive and excited for me they have all been. I don't think I really realized exactly how much I am truly loved and cared for by these people.
As for now, I will keep myself occupied with sleep, music and books. I have a feeling these next six hours will go by much slower than the next six months ahead of me. It is crazy to think that in just a short while I will be back on this plane, headed in the opposite direction. I am looking forward to every minute of this opportunity and realize I can't let these months slip by.
Along with becoming a better Spanish speaker, I am looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing life as a minority. I am hoping that God has brought me here to experience him in a different way than I ever have. Perhaps I will find a renewed and refined faith in him. After the past year, I am ready for change and to be changed.
***********
1/28
Well. I'm off. Right now I'm on my flight to Santiago, Chile, where I will take my last flight to Córdoba, Argentina! There are so many emotions running through me right now. None of this seems real. Since I have never been to Argentina let alone out of the country, I have such a vague picture of what it will be like/who I will meet/what I will do. Right now all I can picture in my mind are the photographs I have seen and literally a geographical map of South America (haha).
Just as I predicted, the fact that I am going didn't hit me until the announcement that they were beginning to board for my flight. My heart dropped into my stomach and my eyes filled with tears. All these months of excitement and preparation, and the past few days of stress, packing, and goodbyes had all led up to this. I was really nervous, sad and excited all at the same time.
Two hours later we arrived at the Atlanta airport around 7:50 pm. The man I sat next to and chatted with a bit the whole way to Atlanta asked me what time my next flight was and I told him 9:15 pm. We both agreed I had plenty of time until someone sitting in front of us reminded us that the time was actually 8:45. I had 20 minutes to get to Terminal E, and I was at terminal C.
He showed me where the train was located and I took off running, wheeling my carry-on, my backpack flailing behind me and a look of sheer terror on my face. I finally found the trains that were going the direction of my terminal and hopped on. I looked at my watch and it read that I had 7 minutes until the plane took off. I quickly exited approached what appeared to be the tallest escalator I had ever seen in my life. There was no time to lose so I picked up my carry-on and climbed the escalator. Of course gate E7 was the furthest gate from where I was. Tired and out of breath, I was tempted to walk the rest of the way but decided there was no time. Running was my only option at that point.
I got to the desk at my gate and managed to explain with the few breaths I could gather that my plane from Omaha was about a half hour late. But the man informed me it was too late. And I didn't really know what to say to that. This was my first time traveling alone and I had absolutely no idea what I would do had I missed the plane. But right as I was about to say, "What do I do now?" someone else came to the desk and informed us that they were holding the plane. Apparently I wasn't the only one running late. They let me on and I made my way to my seat, sat down, and let out a sigh of relief. I felt like I was sweating profusely. But after the rest of the passengers got on the plane, it took off and all was well again.
There are currently six hours left of this flight. I wonder if I will actually be able to catch some sleep. My mind is racing as I am still attempting to think through and process the fact that this is actually happening. In six hours I will walk off the plane and on to South American ground. It will be summer. English will no longer be my official language. I will be thousands of miles away from my home.
I have already learned something in these past couple days. I undoubtedly have the most amazing family and friends in the world--(that vague statement in itself doesn't really do them justice). I have always felt grateful for the relationships I have with them, but the past couple days have made me even more thankful. I just can't believe how supportive and excited for me they have all been. I don't think I really realized exactly how much I am truly loved and cared for by these people.
As for now, I will keep myself occupied with sleep, music and books. I have a feeling these next six hours will go by much slower than the next six months ahead of me. It is crazy to think that in just a short while I will be back on this plane, headed in the opposite direction. I am looking forward to every minute of this opportunity and realize I can't let these months slip by.
Along with becoming a better Spanish speaker, I am looking forward to meeting new people and experiencing life as a minority. I am hoping that God has brought me here to experience him in a different way than I ever have. Perhaps I will find a renewed and refined faith in him. After the past year, I am ready for change and to be changed.
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