So I have been doing so much in this past week that I haven’t written about yet and I have kept putting off writing it because I knew it was going to be time consuming, but here we have it. I’m really sorry in advance because it is very long hahaha.
The afternoon after I wrote my last blog post, I got a message from Stefi asking me if I wanted to go out to a “boliche” that night. A boliche (I now know) is kind of like a club but it is very very big and is all outside with areas for sitting and chatting, 2 bars (one on each side), in the middle a massive grass area for dancing and meeting people and at the front there is a big stage with a dj and flashing lights. Think of like Mt smart stadium when it is geared up for a concert but smaller and without the stands on each side. Anyway I accepted Stefi’s invitation and I remember at about 10:30 I had probably my first moment where I was missing my home and the comfort of nz because the boliche was such a foreign idea and I felt very out of my comfort zone. It passed fairly quickly and at 12 am I got ready, had a quick shower, put on a dress, did my make up and Emma drove me over to Stefi’s for 12:30.
Once Emma had dropped me off I had a quick house tour of Stefi’s house (it was massive, with an elevator?!) and then Carmen drove us over to a girls house where the “previa” (pre-party) was already in full swing. There were about 8 girls there and it was quite awkward at first because the music was really loud and so for me it was a fight not only to understand the conversations around me, but also to hear them in the first place. The girls were really nice though and super accepting of me, the majority of them also wanted to try out there English. After about an hour of chit chat and dancing a massive group of guys showed up. I talked to a lot of them and it was a lot more relaxed after that. It was also cool because Stefi was with me and stayed with me the majority of the time so I was never really alone.
Anyway at about 2:40am I got in a car with 4 other girls and we drove over to Limit (the name of the boliche). We had to climb over this massive ditch that was obscured by grass (so of course I was the one to fall into it, even though I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol) and we headed for the congregation of people. Somehow or other we managed to get in a side door (I’m not sure how) but we skipped the queue and were inside the boliche.
Basically the night passed with a lot of dancing, loud music and a blur of faces as I was introduced to a countless number of people with names I forgot the minute I heard them. It was interesting though because the boys were much more forward than any I had met in nz (for example a few guys said that they wanted to “accompany me home” which I politely declined) and the dancing was very different then that in nz but I had so much fun. The only person I really remember is a guy called Hernan who was crack up and I spent probably an hour just laughing with him and Stefi.
Anyway at about 5:30-5:45am Stefi, Hernan and I jumped in a taxi and by 6am I was home. I felt really bad because the dogs of course went berserk when I arrived in the door and I woke up Emma (my host mum) but after a quick chat with me saying yes I had a great night and yes I was shattered I went up to bed. Then, and I am not sure why but Laura Facebook called me and we chatted for a bit before I fell asleep fully clothed, utterly exhausted.
The next day I woke up at about 1pm and the next vaguely exciting thing that happened, was at 3:30pm a group of girls that my host family knows came over. They were so so lovely and really inclusive of me. We drank terere which is mate with juice (in case you don’t know what mate is, it’s a herb that everybody here drinks with boiling hot water) and chilled by the pool. The only slightly different thing was that they were 14 and 15 so younger than Harry but I got on really well with them, even if they were quite young and I really love Juli (who is the family friend of my family). At about 7pm we went out and we all got ice cream and then went for a walk and finally I returned to the house.
I remember going to my room, having a shower and sinking down on my bed and feeling pleased that I had done all these things and met all these new people but just relieved to have a moment to myself.
Cordoba:
The next morning I was up at 7 am (remember that we go to bed late here so although I had had an early night by going to bed at 12:30am that only meant 6 and a half hours sleep, which for me is not enough to function on) having been waking up at about 10am every day previously and quickly packed all my stuff and trundled downstairs. I didn’t have time for breakfast so I jumped in the car with Emma and we drove the two hours to cordoba. I slept the majority of the way and remember waking up about 15 minutes before we arrived.
I don’t know what I expected Cordoba to look like, but it wasn’t this. I guess I expected skyscrapers and it to look like Auckland but it was much older and not as clean. I met Vir in the foyer and we went upstairs while Emma parked the car. The flat was so cute like really small but with a balcony with a killer view and 2 bedrooms that seemed very spacious.
We then went to a dietetica (which is like a shop for people on a diet) and we found a whole coeliac section. We brought some rice cracker equivalent, some jam and some choc chip biscuits. It was quite funny because in the house Vir had no food so my breakfast was jam and rice crackers every morning haha. Not that I am complaining cause they were delicious.
That day passed with numerous journeys. First we went out for a walk and then we went to a bistro for lunch. We specifically went there because they said that they had gluten free bread and that they had gf options. I had chicken with veggies and the gluten free bread came out too. The first one was basically still frozen and tasted absolutely disgusting. The staff at the bistro obviously saw or overheard that it was frozen and brought out another one that was hot but honestly it was just as disgusting. It made me miss the deliciousness of gf bread in nz. Anyway the rest of the meal was delicious and then after that we went back to the apartment.
After this we went to this shop of Emma’s family friend to look at sculptures and after that we went to her house to look at some other ones. That was quite tedious because I was tired and it was very hot. Finally we went to a massive shopping mall and had a look around. Again I still wasn’t really feeling it and everything was very expensive, like 300 pesos for a t-shirt which is about 40 dollars. I was quite surprised by this as I thought that everything would be cheaper here in Argentina.
We then returned to the apartment and Emma left to return back to Bell Ville while I stayed on with Vir. After that a friend of Virginia’s came over and we ended up going over there for dinner. It was really chill with Vir, her friend (Guille - I think that’s how you spell her name), her friend’s boyfriend (Nacho) and I. We had an asado (which is like a barbecue) and we chilled. They were really inclusive of me and Nacho went to Colorado to ski so I told him he should come to Queenstown. It’s really crazy how much pride and patriotism you feel for your country when you aren’t there.
We left at about 12am and returned to the apartment to sleep.
The next day was much more chilled. I didn’t really do anything too exciting until about 2:30pm in which I explored the city with Vir and walked into the centre. Then she left to go to work and I met up with some other exchange students. I met Oskar (from Denmark), Auke (from Belgium), Claire (from Belgium), Daniela (from Slovakia) and later Amaya (from Mexico). It was really cool because they spoke in Spanish which showed fluency and love for the language but also made it harder for me to create a good impression and be really friendly with them because conversations in spanish with me are often slow haha. But they were all really lovely and I know when I am fluent it will be much easier and I will be really good friends with all of them. We drank terere in a park and then at about 8pm I went back to the apartment.
We had salad and scrambled eggs for dinner and then afterwards we went out with Guille to an heladería which is an ice cream shop. The ice cream here is honestly ridiculously good and I know if anythings gonna make me gain weight here, it will be the ice cream. I had chocolate ice cream with almonds. The area we were in was super cute and reminded me of Ponsonby central with little stores and a bar at the end.
We returned back and went to sleep.
The next day we had a cleaning lady come to clean the flat. Vir and I again went for a walk and she was going to show me where she worked. We walked along the canal and managed to get all the way across town before Vir remembered that she forgot her key. The problem with this, was that if the cleaning lady locked up and left we would be stuck outside. We jumped in a taxi and raced back, managing to make it back while the cleaning lady was there which was a relief.
We then went out to get lunch. We went to this cafe a few streets over and it was so cheap. It was a meal, a drink and a dessert for about $10 NZD. Vir and I shared a steak and potatoes and a salad. It was so yum. We then went for a walk to the University and eventually came back to the apartment. We then had to return because our ride was here and we ended up coming back earlier than I thought we were going to due to circumstances with other people. I didn’t get to see Charo which sucks but it’s okay because Vir has an apartment there and Stefi is going to go there for school and I hope to visit her this year so I know that I will be back and get to see her soon.
The next day was a very relaxing day by the pool, reading with a bit of exercise mixed in with that. Probably the most exciting part was the evening. At 7:30pm Carmen (my counsellor here) came over with her daughter Stefi to take me to the house of the people who were likely to be my next family. I arrived and Carmen and Stefi stayed for about an hour before leaving me to have dinner with them. The son (Fede) was coming to NZ with Agustina on Sunday on an exchange so he was really interested to talk with me and find out about where he was going and things about NZ. He is going to Tauranga and I told him that he was very lucky because it is gorgeous there. It was really weird to see someone sitting in that position that I was in only just over two weeks ago. Anticipating and unsure of the future. He loves rugby and so I told him he would be alright.
Anyway the family were so gorgeous and had an amazing house. They have another son called Carlos who is 19 but he is studying in Cordoba. So yeah he will be my host brother in the future. We had an asado and it was so delicious and they were all very polite and interested in me. I love them already.
The next day was more of the same, chilling, pool etc. and the most exciting part was probably the fact that that night we went to the circus. When we had been driving back from Cordoba we had seen that there was a big top tent and caravans in one of the big fields and decided that we should go. We picked up Juli and her brother on the way and I was honestly so excited because I had never been to a circus that wasn’t in a theatre or some other superficial environment. The circus was really cool! They had no animals which I kind of liked. The acrobatics they did in the sky and with the trapeze was crazy but some of the stuff on the ground was the type of stuff I was doing in dance and I thought about how cool it would be to live as part of a circus. They also had clowns and one of the clowns was so funny and got some of the audience up onstage, that was probably my favourite part.
After the circus was over we returned home to bed.
The next day, which was yesterday, Martin (my oldest host brother) came home. It was really cool to finally meet him and he is so cool. We spent the afternoon by the pool, swimming and chilling (of course haha) and then that night we decided to make pizzas. We had a gf mix and I was honestly so stoked. Martin also tried marmite and he was the final person in the family to agree that marmite was disgusting ahah. I was supposed to be going out to the boliche with Juli and a group of her friends but in the end after much talk about it and calling home because I wasn’t sure what to do, I decided not to go because I was so shattered and I just didn’t feel up to a night out. So we made these pizzas and although it didn’t quite meet the NZ standards, it was pretty bloody delicious. After dinner, Vir, Emma and I watched a movie called “Room” and it was so good, honestly I recommend to all. Then we went to bed and fell asleep at about 2am.
Something I did this morning was look up the difference between Argentinian spanish and the spanish of Spain. I thought vos was short for vosotros and so didn’t understand why they still used the tu form and also why they used “vos tenes” and not “vos tienes” for “you have”. If you are interested you can read why below:
Also I made a right dick of myself at the table today because I went to cut off a piece of meat and I couldn't understand why my fork wasn't stabbing the piece of meat and I looked down and realised that I was using my fork the wrong way. Ofcourse Martin saw and went on to relay it to the whole rest of the table (yes the other 6 people) who all laughed at me. I honestly think they think I have something wrong with me because every day I seem to be continuously dropping cutlery or doing something stupid. So embarrassing but also very funny.
Some interesting observations I’ve made:
- They always drink gaseosas here (which are fizzy drinks), like with every meal which is so different from home, and furthermore everything here is “light” or without sugar. I don’t know how I feel about it but normally I have water regardless.
- People will make plans with you and if they leave it up in the air, it is unlikely to happen. Everything is very casual and people don’t take offense easily.
- Adding to 2, people call each other by insults endearingly. For example, gordo which means fat.
- They have sal (salt) and aceite de oliva (olive oil) with everything, and not just a little bit, but a lot.
- No one here has iPhones, they all have Samsungs or other androids. In fact that’s true about all apple products.
- Nearly everyone here has dogs (little ones)
For me, I know I need to work on listening more to conversations around me and not getting bored and daydreaming because I know it would help me so much with my Spanish. Furthermore watch the tv with my family and not read like I would at home and I have been doing here because it will help my spanish.
Something funny is the way everyone mocks my accent, like my family will ask me what something is in English (especially my host dad) and I will say “table” or whatever and he will repeat what I say but it will sound ridiculous. So now my new name is “moji” because to him that is how Molly sounds when I say it. I also tried to tell him my family’s name and so now they are “huji”, “Crijtinja” and “Marjing”. It’s really crack up.
I really miss bread, like the ability to just make a sandwich when I wanted one. Also salmon and avocado (2 things that were a daily staple in NZ) are so expensive here that we never have it in the house. I also miss the comfort and ease that exists in NZ and having to always be “on” here so that I can understand the spanish but I know this will get easier with time.
So basically this week has been very busy and I have had a rollercoaster of emotions, sometimes waves of appreciation for where I am and how fabulous my life is and times when I miss the ease of NZ but I know with time Argentina will become my second place that I can call home.
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