Getting to know my friends and other such things

I cannot believe it has been a week since I last wrote (and like I swear I say this every time I write here) but what the heck?!?!?! Like I went onto my blog to see what I last wrote about and what I needed to update you guys on and I can't believe I updated it this time last week... I swear it can't have been more than 3 days max.. Anyway here we have my blog for the week:

Firstly I’m going to tell you a little bit about each of my classmates so that in the future, if you don’t know who I am talking about, you can refer back to here haha. I have also included a photo so you can know what they look like (to visualise them if you want ahah).

Starting from the left in the back:

Agostina Alignani - She is really really lovely and gorgeous and is always willing to explain things to me and help me with things which I honestly appreciate so much. I'm not with her a lot of the time outside of school as she doesn't really hang out with this group so much as she has loads of other friends outside of school (and a bf to occupy her time) but she sits in front of me in school and so she is someone who I spend quite a bit of time with in class. 

To the right:

Flor Bacci - Flor is a very bubbly and happy person. She is a dancer and is someone who I really want to get to know more as I haven't spent too much time with her as we don't sit together in class. She is super involved in everything and she is someone who I know will go very far in life as she is an all rounder.

To the right:

Lara Simian - Lara went on an exchange to America with Rotary for 3 months over the summer and every time she talks about America and her experiences it’s so cool to see how they relate with mine. She is so lovely and also someone who I am really appreciative to have in my class as she understands what I am going through and is always around to include me or make me smile. She is also just in general a really really lovely person.

To the right:

Guadalupe Polo (sometimes I might refer to her as Lupe) - Lupe is the person who I share a desk with and she is quite a mature person. She is very funny and I love her laugh haha. She always voices what she thinks and doesn’t care what other people think of her which is so cool. She also doesn’t work too much in class and so often we are quite far behind everyone else as often I don’t understand and she doesn’t listen haha but I love her.

Directly in front of me:

Kimberly Pepicelli - Kimberly is someone who I haven’t really gotten to know too well as she doesn't sit very near to me at school and yet from what I know she is very very nice. She is someone who is always engaged and willing to help people. She is studious and very good at volleyball. She also is someone who I'd like to get to know better.

To the right:

Milena Garro - Milena is someone who is very very sporty. I honestly really like her. She always tries to include me and make sure that I am okay. She is also very studious (more so than a lot of the others haha) and is one of the first people that I remember meeting from my course. She is in all honesty just a great person. 

To the right and back a little bit:

Huerti Zegatti - Huerti lives quite close to me and so often we end up walking and talking together after school. I really love her personality, she is bubbly and has an infectious smile. She is someone who also has made an effort to get to know me and talk to me which I really appreciate as I know for a lot of people, talking to a person who doesn't speak the language too well is a lot of effort. She is also very gorgeous. 

In front of Huerti and a little bit to the right leaning in:

Lucila Domizi - Lucila is so cool, she’s like a little ball of energy haha. She is always laughing and smiling. She is also a dancer and someone who has also made an effort with me, to get to know me. She is someone who is always in the middle of everything, often right at the heart of it and she reminds me a lot of my friends back home and the type of people who I love. She is also very funny when she is drinking ahah. 

Now to the left of Lucila and squatting down (basically bottom right hand corner):

Gimena Tejada - Gimena is someone who I adore. She never seems phased that I don't speak perfect Spanish and treats me as if I am just some normal Argentinian which I like. She is also quite mature and is the oldest out of all of us (as she is already 18). She always makes me laugh and I get on really well with her. She has a big personality and doesn't really care what people think of her which is so great. She's also someone who, if for example there's a circle and due to some reason I end up a bit out of it, she will call people out and like bring me into the circle. 

To the left:

Candela Tobaldi - Candela is a bit more quiet than the others and lives very near to me. She is so kind and is always someone who I walk home with and so have gotten to know on a more personal level. She's also a dancer and is very caring and an honest to goodness great person! She's hardworking and yet knows how to have a good time and yeah I like her a lot.

To the left:

Gina Antonini - Gina is such an amazing person, she’s a dancer (an incredible one from what I gather as she wants to do it for a career) and is honestly so so crazy and big and out there in the best way possible. She has a big heart and is also really compassionate. She never fails to make me smile and she is also so funny when she drinks hahahaha (very much like Lucila). I have lots of time for her.

To the left:

Ana Morales - Ana is the funniest person in the group hahahaha. She is also someone who is so out there like she is always doing crazy things (for example she marched into the boys bathroom the other day to try and find someone who she wanted to introduce me too) hahaha. She is always someone who will go out of there was to explain things to me if I don’t understand and is so much fun to party with because she is always doing crazy things and making me laugh.

Others that aren't in this photo and a part of a different group are:

Priscilla Perez (sometimes I might refer to her as Pri) - Priscilla is someone who always thinks of others first and is the person who probably most goes out of her way to make sure that I am okay. She is super accepting of everyone and very studious. She has a gorgeous smile and I often will chat with her in class. I really like her.

Mica Bona - Mica is very very quiet from my experiences with her. She is one of the first people that I had a long conversation with as just two people. She is very nice and 

Karen Mondino - I really like Karen. She is so lovely and is someone who is very selfless and very helpful. She also goes out of her way to help me without me even asking which is a trait that I really appreciate as an exchange student. She is honestly just a really really great overall person.

Angelica Loza (sometimes I might refer to her as Ange) - I didn't really know Ange until Friday and she is someone who has quite a big personality haha. She is very loud and isn't afraid to voice her opinions. She is very sweet and also very studious.

Agustina Quiroga - Agustina  is someone who is quite quiet in class but one time I went home on the back of her motorbike (nearly everyone uses motos to get around here) and she is someone who is very selfless. She will always offer me lifts or speak with me when I am around. I really like her and want to get to know her better.

Lucia Urcia - I don't really know Lucia too well, but from what I know, she is very studious and a really nice person.

I don’t really know the guys too well yet and in truth the class is quite segregated majority of the time (although not in the boliches haha) and with time maybe I will do another character profile type thing on them but yeah for now just the girls of my course.

So yeah in summary those are the girls of my course and I honestly love them all so so much. I am so lucky to be blessed with such amazing friends and I cannot wait for this year to bring many memories together.

Now for the normal kind of stuff:

Something I think is a sign of major improvement in terms of my language skills and my confidence in them, is that now I don't get nervous at the idea of having to have a conversation with people one on one. I think this shows improvement and confidence in my ability to hold a normal conversation with someone without the distraction of other people. I remember the first time I had to walk somewhere with someone one on one and hold a conversation, my heart was in my throat and I swear I was physically shaking I was so nervous.

The weather here is honestly loco (crazy). The day before yesterday we had temperatures of 30-37 degrees and then suddenly yesterday the weather decided that it wanted a change, and suddenly we now have temperatures of 13 degrees. For me the weather feels numbingly cold and I think this is because of the sudden shift in the weather. Hopefully it settles down soon, preferably somewhere in the middle

On Thursday it was the birthday of Juli (one of the girls in quinto año (year 12) at Al Huerto) and so I went over to her house after school with loads of the other girls who I first made friends with (Sara's group). It was so so nice to see them all again, as I hadn't seen them all since school started. It was really cool as I understood so much more and spoke a lot more with them and was basically more me. We also played uno (the card game) which was really fun (ofcourse I won the first game haha) and it was honestly just so great to see them all and catch up.

Last night I went out (despite the freezing weather and rain) with the girls of my course. I honestly had such a great night! We went to the opening of Templo (a boliche here that is only open in winter) and it was so so cool. It is really really big and all indoors. It has stairs up to a platform on one side and numerous bars (on the sides and at the front and back). I'm not too sure why I had such a great time last night in particular, but I think it's just because I was really really included and I danced and just let loose and was more myself.

Something that is coming up is that next week my family are going out of the country for the birthday of my host dad and so I am going to stay with my second host family for a week and I am really nervous at the prospect of it. This is because I have had the same family the whole time I've been here and I just can't imagine living with another family and starting again from scratch to build a family type of relationship. Like I've just started to feel 100% comfortable and feel like this house is my home and I know it's only for a week that I'm going to stay there, but it is going to be a taster of what's to come. The good news is though, is that my second host family are so so nice.

Another new thing that I was introduced to this week is a group called Interact. Interact is a group that is apart of Rotary and its aim is basically to get teenagers involved in projects to help people. I really love the whole idea of it and can't wait to get involved in it all. We had a meeting yesterday to talk about upcoming projects and now I have numerous things to look forward to. For example on Thursday we are going to make Easter eggs and then sell and/or donate them. There aren't that many of us in Interact and the majority are quite young but they are all really great people.

On Friday I had to stay after school for an extra hour and a half because I didn't get something signed (that I didn't know I had to get signed) and so me and about 6 others all stayed behind at school while everyone got to leave early. At first I was quite disgruntled about it, but in truth it was actually quite fun! I got the opportunity to get to know the people that stayed behind on a much more personal level and in a casual setting. It was fun as we didn't have a teacher so just played music and chatted.

Another thing that was a bit of a mess last week was that I found out that we had a test for Geography this coming week and as I don't really understand everything in class, I wasn't sure what I had to do to study for it and if I had to do the test at all. So I went and I talked to a teacher in the school who in turn then went and spoke with the principal. A couple of days later Roxy (a teacher from the school) came up to me and told me that I would have to sit a test but it would be about something else, like how does NZ differ from Argentina geographically (for example) and it would be something much simpler so that I could understand, as the content my course is doing in geo is ridiculously hard.

After this however, on Thursday my Geography teacher told me that I have to do the test after all as I can't be treated as something special just because I am an exchange student and so I have to do as the class does (which I understand) but now I have a test tomorrow and I am so so so screwed. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do because I have tried studying but basically, it all just went in one ear and out the other. I think this is mainly because I am super tired and I don't really have the motivation of needing to do really well. This is because my grades here don't matter so much as I already have the points for uni and it is more just for the culture and the people, so hopefully if I fail badly I won't get into trouble.

I have also been blessed with a nickname by the girls in my course now haha. Ana made a comment about how "molly" is such a soft name and that here they use a lot of swear words in normal conversations and molly (according to Ana) just doesn't really sound right with these words. So we decided that I needed a nickname and Lucila immediately suggested "moledad". Everyone agreed on it and now it is my new nickname haha. I love having a nickname as it just makes me feel even more apart of the group.

Something else I've found quite interesting is being an outsider. I don't mean this as feeling left out, but it's very interesting to watch a course that has been together for many years and the relationships formed, when you come in as a new person. Normally I would be in the thick of it all and so watching from an outsiders perspective is very different for me. It's very intriguing to watch how certain people work to get attention or who's feeling left out or who has a crush on who.

That's it for now, thanks for reading about my thoughts and feelings. To finish here a few photos from my week:

This is a photo of me and the girls of my course at school.

This is a photo of my whole year group at my school, with both courses; ciencias naturales y ciencias sociales.

Here we have a really quality photo from last night.

And another photo from last night with Lara.

Starting school and 3 weeks worth of update

I haven’t posted anything here for 3 weeks now and it is because in all honesty, my life has taken a turn for the crazy busy. Here though we finally have an update which I think will mainly be centered around the thing that has been occupying my time; school.

Firstly, my school is a public school and I am in sexto año (year 13). I’m in a social science course and this is because all the schools here have an orientation and you have to do the subjects of that orientation, for example we have arts schools, commercial schools and engineering schools (to name but a few). Mine is centered on science and so there is a natural science course and a social science course and I am in the latter due to it having less students. This means we do subjects such as History, Geography, Methodology, Philosophy and Political Economics and unlike in NZ, we don’t get to choose what subjects we want to do. My favourite subject has to be English haha because everyone else hates it and it is so amusing to notice how the people struggle to piece together sentences and pick up things and it reminds me of my spanish class last year and the difficulties I face everyday. Also I find that I can pick up quite a bit of Spanish from English class, as often she will say something in English, the students won’t understand so then she repeats it in spanish. Other subjects I enjoy are surprisingly Math and Chemistry hahahahaha. This is because the level they are working at isn’t quite as advanced as nz and so I find them very easy. Also they are very structured and often use equations so I don’t need spanish to figure them out. Also the vocabulary is often very similar to English, for example with chemistry, sodium:sodio, chlorine:chloro etc.

Something very different is that the teachers change classes and the students stay in the same class for the whole day, so you always end up sitting in the same seat for the whole day. School starts at 7am (when normally it is just getting light as you can see below) and finishes at 1:30pm (and some days at 12pm when we have to go back to school from 2-4 for Drama or other subjects) and while this is very ideal as it means we have the whole afternoon free, it means that the days are very long here (especially as we dont go to bed until 1-2am here). Also everyday I find that I am so overwhelmingly tired, because firstly I can’t live on 4.5 hours sleep per day and secondly because so much spanish 24/7 means that my brain is always in overdrive. Luckily sometimes I get to nap in the afternoon during “siesta” however I often have stuff I need to be doing and so miss out on the opportunity. Although sometimes in class when it’s a subject that I am not to fond of and it’s 7:30am, I grab a quick power nap.

Being in sexto año means that I am in promo (promotion) and this is a big deal here in Argentina. It is basically the idea that you are graduating that year and so for us we get to wear a specialized polo shirt and letterman jacket with our names. I don’t have the special uniform yet but as we speak it is being made for me. Promo also means that it is a year full of parties and very little work. For example, on the first day of school I arrived to find my whole course outside the school playing drums and dancing around with masks having not slept and been at the park all night partying. This meant that there were only 7 of us (out of 35) in the class on the first day and I ended up spending every lesson being asked ridiculous amounts of questions about NZ by the teachers. The good thing about that though was that I got a chance to get to know a few people in my course on a more personal level before school started the next day. Another thing that came of this though, was that because I spoke reasonable Spanish and understood a fair amount, all my teachers now just seem to assume I understand everything which is an issue haha but that’s okay, my teachers don’t often pick on me to answer stuff so it’s all okay.

My classmates are all crazy and I love them for it. It was so amazing how on the very first day of school they were so welcoming and willing to talk to me. Like within the very first period I had been added to 2 different chats of my course and already had plans for after school. I don’t really talk too much during class or when I’m with them unless I am asked questions as often I am still processing what had just been said and they are already onto a completely different topic haha. This is very different for me because I think anyone who knows me would agree that I like to be center of attention and am often really loud and someone who likes to voice their opinions. I know talking and conversing with people will get easier and for now I am happy to listen and continue to learn. However everyday that passes I feel like my classmates are getting to know a little bit more of the real me. I also know when my spanish is 100% great we are going to be so close, as the people (especially the girls who I spend the most time with) are so my type of people. It’s also really different in my course as we hardly ever have a quiet moment in class and often the students will just yell across the classroom to each other over the teacher and I can’t even begin to imagine this happening in NZ, but for me I love it. I love the craziness and vibe of my class. These are few of the girls in my course:

In the school we also have a massive inter school competition called UBES. This is basically a couple of weekends later on in the year when all the schools compete in things like dance, sports, singing, theatre etc. It’s in September but here they start practicing really early on. I’m really excited for this as it means that I get the opportunity to be involved in the school and have a couple of completely different groups of friends. Yesterday I auditioned and was selected as 1 of 18 out of the school to be a part of a group of girls to do modern dance which was really cool. The selectors were my classmates and so it was really weird having to dance for them but I knew I had to prove myself as they had never seen me dance and in all honesty I killed it. Now everyday (and yes I mean everyday for 2 hours+) I will be busy practicing and hanging out with these girls which I am so excited about but it means that everything is just going to get double as busy. 

With my spanish, yes it continues to improve everyday, yet I find the students so much harder to understand than adults. Often when I talk to adults I can understand nearly the whole conversation which is very helpful but with my classmatess it is honestly a whole other language. This is because it is filled with swear words and colloquialisms but, more than that, it’s because I don’t know about the things they talk about. So basically not only can I not understand the language but also exactly what they are referrering to I don’t know haha. On a backwards note though, I seem to find that sometimes I can’t find words in English when people ask me “how do you say it in English?" or I will write in English and write words in the wrong order and it’s so odd to see my English deteriorating, especially as I have always been very good at English and it’s like my brain needs a switch that flicks me from English and then to Spanish. 

Something else I find so crack up, is that nobody can say my last name: Stanbridge. So everyday when Roxy (a teacher) comes in to take the roll she always goes through everybody’s surname and then with me it’s always “Molly”. It’s so crazy though because in all honesty I have such a normal last name compared to everyone else haha. Also all the names of my classmates are so odd, like Guadalupe, Lautaro, Candela, Gimena, Leandro and then they think I have a weird name?! It’s really cool though because it means that I’m getting to know a whole array of different names. 

My family here are continuing to be amazing. I swear everyday I get more and more personal jokes with my host dad and my host mum and I have bonded over everything as she is someone who I can always talk to. I’m so happy with my family and am going to miss them a lot when I move families. Like yeah sure there are times when we don’t agree but that’s part of being a family and here I am much more level headed about voicing my opinions and it’s probably I should take back with me to nz haha. 

Last weekend was also quite exciting and so I will tell you about it day by day because of it:

Firstly Friday after school there was talk of going to the park (which is a place where my classmates always hang out) but then after school everyone kind of dispersed so I returned home. I ate lunch only to then get a message from Lupe saying to come to the park and so I changed and made my way there. I remember walking through the park, past other groups of people in promo from the other schools and hearing them whispering about how I’m an exchange student and it was so weird, almost like I was famous haha. I finally found my classmates and they greeted me with a chorus of my name. It was really chilled and they had a bbq going and we played a bit of football and chatted. Later I returned home, got changed, showered and ate dinner before going over to Candela’s house as that was where we were having the Previa. It was my first time partying with my schoolmates and they danced basically 24/7 and if they weren't dancing they took photos (as you can see below). It was a really good time and Lex called me on Skype during it and they all met her and screamed down the phone at her in Spanish which was very amusing. At 12:30am everyone took taxis from Candela’s house to the bus station to catch a bus to Morrison (a neighbouring town) and I walked the 2 blocks home as I couldn’t go to Morrison. In all honesty it was probably good that I didn’t go as I was already so tired and I managed to have a decent nights sleep while everyone else had about 3 hours that night. 

On Saturday I went to Cordoba with my family. The journey passed quickly and once there I saw Vir which was really really great! After that I went with Ignacio (one of my host brothers) and Fati (his girlfriend) for a walk around the neighbourhood. We went into this really cool art museum that was in this old palace. It was ridiculously antique and amazing (you can see just how cool below). After that we went through the park and to this gorgeous church (as you can see below on the top right) We finally ended up at this place which they call “the hippies” and it’s basically a massive market with live music and loads of people! We had a bit of time constraint and so i didn’t get the opportunity to look around but i know that I am going to return next time I’m in Cordoba because it is close to Vir’s apartment, there are loads of really great shops and I just love the vibe of it. 

After that I went home and got changed before heading off to a dinner for my host dad’s sisters birthday. Ignacio and Fati picked us up and we drove to their house. I was a bit nervous but also excited to meet a whole new bunch of people. When we arrived everyone was so so welcoming and I immediately felt at home with everyone. It was also a good chance to catch up with Vir! We ate the most ridiculous dinner with about 500 million different salads and an asado (bbq) with an endless stream of meat filling the table. It was so so delicious! Benja’s sister was honestly so lovely and she said that if I was ever in Cordoba that she would love to have me over! I was asked numerous questions about nz and I could see the family resemblance between Benja and his family as they were always joking and laughing. There was also about 5 little kids and they screamed the majority of the night, but they made up for this frustrating racket by batting there long eyelashes and laughing for the rest of the time. One of the girls was called Azul (which means blue) and she had the cutest big blue eyes and dark hair and now I really really love this name. We left at about 1:30am and returned to the apartment to sleep because I was honestly so shattered. 

The next day my family and I went on a round trip to visit some of the tourist attractions of Cordoba! Firstly we went to a place called Laguna Azul which is where I was supposed to be going as a part of a Rotary meet up. My family had never been there before and so we proceeded to get very lost in the process. Google maps took us on this ridiculous detour in which we ended up driving through an over grown trail before we finally figured that surely this wasn’t right. After this we asked numerous people for directions and finally found our way there (on a decidedly more normal road). It was a really gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains and there was a gorgeous little hippy bar there as well (as seen below). They also had this flying fox type thing over the water except that instead of a seat, it had a board so you could wake board without a boat (as shown below)! It looked really nice and hopefully we can go back and enjoy it with a day trip or something. 

After that we continued to drive up north towards the Sierras and stopped to look at these gorgoeus views you can see below and also to have lunch in a small, open cafe on the side of the road. It had a really cool vibe with music, fresh goats cheese hanging from the roof in bags and loads of people. I had a goats cheese and tomato omelette and it was so delicious! After that we continued the journey, passing through Carlos Paz and finally going up into the Sierras. 

The Sierras are basically some very high hills (or a small mountain range) and we wound our way up them in the car. I peered out the window the whole time as we climbed higher and higher and passed through gorgeous villages. It was so special and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then drove back to Cordoba and stopped to get something to take back to the house for a light snack. We got back to the house, drank coffee and snacked on rice biscuits with a drizzle of chocolate before making the journey home. I slept for the majority of the journey home and so it passed rather quickly haha. After this we had dinner and then went to bed for an early night before my first full week of school.

I really really miss my family and friends at home, if I am being honest. It’s not that I’m homesick as such, it’s just really weird to think about life going on at home and people carrying on their day to day lives without me in it. Also I really do miss the normality and the ease of NZ and often in moments where I feel very apprehensive about something or unsure of myself, I feel homesick and miss home. However I Skype my family normally once a week but am also in contact with them nearly everyday through messenger and for me this helps. I knew it would be hard being away from my family especially as we are really close but I am really looking forward to seeing them in June. I know that I can’t spend time pondering about life in NZ as I need to make the most of my life by living in the here and now (which I am don’t you worry).

I keep a schedule of my life and things coming up and I can already see how increasingly busy I am going to be. This past week alone I has been hectic and this coming week I am adding a whole bunch of extracurricular activities to the schedule. I have also signed up for the North trip with Rotary, and this is happening at the end of April! I am so so excited for this!! I cannot wait to meet all the exchange students of my district as I know that we are going to get along so well and make amazing memories. Something that is quite unfortunate though is that one of the boys from another district, went with Rotary to Iguazu falls and got Dengue (a really dangerous disease) and so now we aren’t able to go. This really sucks as it is one of the most spectacular falls in the world and now I probably won’t get the opportunity to go there. 

I have now been here for over 7 weeks and yet I feel like I have been gone a lifetime. The weird thing is though, is that everyday seems to fly by and the weeks keep going faster and faster and yet I feel like I’ve been here way longer? It’s honestly such a weird feeling. I know this exchange is going to fly by though and yesterday we got confirmation of our flights home sent through from Roger. It’s weird because I have so much time ahead of me but I can already feel the clock counting down and ticking away. 

The food here is so different and yet not? Here there are definitely more gf alternatives than I first thought there was, for example yesterday we made the most scrumptious spinach and boiled egg pastry with this amazing store bought base. The base was more delicious than any I’ve tried in nz. However with things like bread it is definitely not on an NZ level, and same with cereals. God what I would give for a bowl of Brookefarm’s muesli or smoked salmon on toast. The food here is really really good though and I am happy with it all no matter how much I miss my bread haha. At least 4 times a week we eat Milanese (which is basically schnitzel) and most days we have meat in some form.

The music here is so crazy. It is just plain dance music and everyone knows all the lyrics to every song haha. While I don’t know the lyrics I am now becoming familiar with the tunes and some of the choruses. I love the music here as it has such a cool beat but whenever English songs come on, I jam them so hard haha. Often the people will stare at me like I’m crazy haha especially the people that don’t know I am an exchange student as often here no one knows the lyrics to English songs. A song we find common ground on though is “hips don’t lie” by Shakira as it has both spanish and english lyrics, and my school friends and I have such a great time with this song. Also there’s a popular song here that has a chorus that goes “tumba la casa mami” and every time it comes on, my school friends all sing “tumba la casa molly” and so it is kind of now my song and we always have a great time together with this song too.

Before I left, one of the mums of the other exchange students said that being nice was one of the hardest things she found. I understand this on so many levels now. Like yes the language is hard, yes becoming integrated in the class is hard, yes homesickness is hard, but being nice all the time is harder. It’s like I don’t have an opportunity to vent or voice my opinion and I always have to be on my best behaviour. Although this is so hard, I know it is honestly so good for me as I know I am not someone who is always very nice and so hopefully this is something that can help me grow as a person.

What’s more, in the past few weeks I have taken some big steps! I managed to go to the supermarket myself and buy a shopping list full of things, I managed to give a lady on the street directions and also managed to buy a pair of pants at the uniform shop. These are all big things for me as I honestly have an irrational fear of people asking me stuff or having to ask people stuff in Spanish. It’s ridiculous but with these steps I can already feel myself overcoming it.

I can feel myself changing and growing more and more independent everyday and essentially growing up. It’s really weird but I think it will be so interesting to see where I am at the end of the year and how different I am when I return to NZ. I think being in a new environment, with new people and facing new challenges really does make you reflect on things and helps you to learn a lot about yourself.

So yeah, that’s basically what’s been going on with me over here in Argentina, well a relatively quick overview, and basically in a nutshell I love my life here, despite the ups and downs.

One month in Argentina (more or less)

So somehow or other, I left home just over a month ago. I’m not quite sure whether I feel like I have been here for ages or not. It feels like this month has flown past in the blink of an eye and yet leaving my family feels like quite a long time ago. I feel so removed from NZ so it means that I’m not really missing home or anything because it just feels like it doesn’t exist or that it's just waiting for me to return. Anyway here is my blog post for week 4.

So to pick up where I left off, Monday was a vey normal day except for the exciting fact that I had my first Rotary meeting. At 9:30pm I was picked up by my counsellor and together we drove to a small bar on the other side of the river. There was only about 7 other rotary people at the meeting and that was because it is the holiday season. This meant that I wasn’t having an official meeting, but rather just an introduction to some of the members and they were having a catch up/ It passed quickly and all the people were really nice. They asked me loads of questions and included me in the conversation which is always a positive thing. I left at about 12am and returned to my house for sleep.

Tuesday was the day when I was essentially home alone. My host dad was also around but he had to work for the majority of the day. It passed quickly with little incident. I remember that I blasted my music really loud when I was home alone which was really quite great and danced around like an idiot haha. I went for a long walk as well, taking the opportunity to explore. I also cooked for the first time that night for Benja and I. I haven’t cooked here yet because the meals are always meticulously planned and so I always help out here or there but I hadn’t actually done all the cooking before. Anyway I cooked my family’s traditional poached eggs. I mean if you’ve ever stayed over at my house you will know that this is a morning tradition. It was so funny to see the awe on my host dad’s face at the perfect poached egg I presented him on his face haha because my family here have no idea how to cook them. Anyway we also had a rice salad and a normal salad. It was really yum and he wouldn’t stop complimenting me for my cooking skills haha (even though it wasn’t anything special at all).

On Wednesday it was yet again another chill day (where I was essentially home alone) but at 5pm I walked over to Pauli (one of my friends) house. It was her birthday and so for about 4 hours, 20 other girls and I sat around a table and chatted. This was my first time I got the chance to meet the whole group and it was really cool. They were all really loud and talking over each other and so understanding was a bit of a mission. At one point they were trying to learn all the different swear words in English and teach me them in Spanish which caused much hilarity. It was really cool to be around people my age and just chat. I returned home at about 9 stuffed with peanuts (as peanuts were the only food I could eat). I got home and Vir, my host mum and Ignacio had come home so that was really cool as once again we had a full house.

Thursday was another chill day. I was supposed to be going into school with some of the rotary people to sign up and find out my course and what year group I was going to be in, however Adrianna (the woman who looks after exchange students) wasn’t in Bell Ville, so I can look forward to this excursion in the coming week. 

Probably the most exciting part of the night was dinner. We decided to make gf crepes. Holy sdifgafdawe, they were incredible. We had 2 crepes each, the first with ricotta, black olives and tomato and the other with mushrooms, onion and queso cremoso (which is essentially a creamy cheese). I don’t think I have ever been so satisfied in my life. Oh and we also had a side of home made “rustic” wedges. I was so full afterwards I practically rolled to the couch. That night, Vir and I watched a few episodes of How To Get Away With Murder. I have finished season 2 but it was good to re watch episodes and do something together.

On Friday, I remember feeling really tired. We didn’t really do anything in all honesty. I skyped my family for an hour and a half which was really really nice. I also went for a walk and we had a big bbq for dinner with Ignacio and his girlfriend (+ Vir, my host mum and dad). I honestly love the pork here. Idk what they do with it but quite honestly it is incredible. It was very great and I found that I was able to follow the conversation.

Saturday was a bit more busy. In the morning Vir and I went into town and did a bit of shopping and it was nice to be getting out of the house. We returned and all had a quick lunch and then Vir and I prepped to go to Isla Verde because she was supposed to be taking photos there and I was coming along for the ride. Just before we left Vir called Juli (her friend in Isla Verde) and due to flooding there (because of a big storm) we couldn’t go. Instead we spent our time by the pool and then I went for a long run. When I returned we had a quick dinner and then went out to the bank so I could pay for my rotary jumper and then to the ice cream shop so we could stop for a quick treat. I had dulce de leche (which is a kind of sweet caramel here that is to die for) with grated chocolate. Honestly this is how exchange students gain weight, but I mean I went for a long run so I figured I could enjoy the treat. 

After that we returned home and I changed and got ready to go out to the boliche. I went to Sara’s house and despite the fact that it had only been a week since we had last hung out one on one, I was speaking and understanding way more. This was really cool for me to see how only a week could make such a marked improvement. She finished getting ready and we then took a taxi to the town center. Once there we met up with all the other girls who we were going to the boliche with (there were about 10 of us and majority of them had been at Pauli’s house on Wednesday). We then walked through town to the house of one of their friends for the “previa” which is essentially a pre party. There were other girls there who were going to be at my school, but in the year below me and also a group of guys.

We danced and took photos and everyone screamed the lyrics to well-known songs (ofcourse I didn’t know any of them) but it was really really fun to just dance and be apart of everything. At about 3am we headed out to the boliche. I had a bit of a scare when I first arrived as the police were there and I didn’t have any ID to say I was older than 16 but I just spoke English and looked confused and after a few persuasive words from my friends, I was in. I was mainly with Candel and Sara but later on I was also with Manu, Caro and Viki. Manu is really really cool, very crazy and outgoing. Same with Caro. Viki is just so lovely and an honest to goodness nice person, same with Candel, and ofcourse I love Sara. I didn’t see too much of the other girls, except for Lucila and Anaclara and we just danced heaps together. And that was also just really cool.  Honestly all the girls are so amazing. Anyway I met a countless number of people and don’t remember any of their names but that’s okay, I have a year to learn them haha. At 5 ish I was getting tired, my phone was dead and I was ready to go home. Regardless I hung in their until 6 when it finished. 

Caro, Viki, Sara, Juli and I all walked together along the road for awhile as their were so many people and not enough taxis. I just remember my feet were killing me and I was so grateful when eventually someone picked us up, (I think a brother of someone). As we drove to my house it was really magical to watch the sun come up after a long night out. I came in and went straight to sleep, thoroughly exhausted.

Today is Sunday and I am dead. So tired. I made pesto pasta though which was exciting. 

Anyway, some thoughts/observations:

Something I’m finding hard is friends. Like yes I have a group of friends now, they aren’t from the school I'm going to but they have taken me in, I am always hanging out with them and they are honestly so crazy and amazing. The drawback though is that it’s quite lonely being with a group of friends, probably more so than being alone. Often they speak rapid spanish amongst themselves, each talking over the other and often it is very difficult to understand. At first you are a novelty, something new and interesting but rapidly you aren’t the centre of attention so much and then often it’s harder to be apart of the conversation and you feel like maybe they are only friends with you because you are new and interesting or they feel sorry for you. Then you don’t really talk much and especially in a boliche or a place with lots of people, often you can feel out of place, overwhelmed and honestly a bit like a hassle. It does get easier and honestly I know that this is only a small difficulty in a wonderful year. And I know my group likes me and enjoys my company (with the spanish I can speak haha), in fact last night I overheard some of the girls saying about how they really liked me and that I was a cool person so that’s always good to hear. I think it’s often just an overthinking thing and doubting life because it isn’t what you're am used too. I have also talked to some other exchange students about it and I know they are in the exact same boat so it isn’t just me. 

Something else I’m struggling with, is the fact that while I’ve been here a month, my spanish still isn’t fluent. I know that sounds really ridiculous but I had such high expectations of how my spanish was going to be perfect after a month-2 months. Like yes it has definitely improved but it’s nowhere near perfect. I think this may be because I haven’t been at school and so I haven’t really been emerged in spanish 24/7. This is one of the reasons I am so excited to start school. I am also very excited for English classes at my school hahah :p 

I also sleep a lot here, like 8-10 hours per night+ (except when I go out hah) and yet I am always so tired. I think it is because I always have to think and talk in spanish and it is very tiring and draining.

Something I love here, is food shopping. It is so so so different. We go to like a little place where you pick the fruit and vegetables out of baskets and there’s a whole cheese and meat section where you choose the cut you want and it’s just very very different. I love it! They have aisles for tinned things as well but there aren’t many and they are still stacked and presented very differently. For example mayonnaise is in a packet not a jar. It’s so cool and interesting.

Also another observation I made is that everyone here drives with their lights on, even in broad daylight. I asked my host sister about this and she said it is the law because it makes it easier to see oncoming traffic. It’s so weird but also understandable and apparently the crash rate has dropped significantly.

Some upcoming events are:

1. Tonight I think I am going to Sara’s house with a lot of people, I’m not sure for what but yeah.
2. Tomorrow I think I am going to Cordoba in a bus by myself. I am really excited for this because I will get to watch the scenery and listen to music and have some quality me time.
3. On Tuesday there is an event in Cordoba in Laguna Azul with Rotary and all the other exchange students which will be so cool, and I think Charo is coming which is so exciting! I can’t wait to meet everyone. We are also doing wake boarding at the event and I am so excited.
4. Schools starts in a week?!?!

So yeah, that’s about all for now. I’m going to try to keep updating every Sunday but honestly it’s probably the worst day to do it because I am normally so tired on Sunday’s haha.

Chao <3

Isla Verde and life in the 3rd week

I honestly can't believe that a week has passed. I don't know what I have been doing this week that has made it pass so ridiculously quickly but as always, here is my weekly update.

On Monday at around about 1:30pm after a quick lunch, Vir and I jumped in the car and we hit the road with the destination Isla Verde in mind. We hooned down the highway (if you could call it that) past hundreds and hundreds of fields of crops, blasting music and chatting. We made a quick pit stop at the farm (my host family's) but couldn't enter due to a recent storm which meant that the drive way was a pool of mud and so we continued on to Isla Verde. It was very amusing because the roads were so awful and so we were going along at about 120-140 km per hour bouncing along the roads. It was like nothing I had experienced in NZ.

Once we arrived at Isla Verde we went to Vir's best friends house, Juli (a different one to the one previously mentioned), and it was honestly the most amazing house. It was so retro and art deco with splashes of colour everywhere and it was just like a dream house. She was so lovely and we all sat and chatted for a while because it was so hot outside that we couldn't possibly leave the house.

A bit later we moved the tables and chairs outside, only to be joined by Lucia and Kai Ka (that spelling is most definitely wrong), and we chatted some more. They were honestly such a lovely couple and Kai Ka had been to NZ and lived there for a year about 3 years ago so that was really really awesome to talk to him about home and what he did when he was there. Including working in Christchurch and Waiheke and travelling just about everywhere.

After that at about 10:30pm we crossed the square (which was a centre point of the town) and went over to this kind of American diner. It was really quaint and cute and I had meat with melted and cheese and salad. Something I found really funny was that fact that I wanted to order water (just a bottle of normal mineral water) and they didn't have it?!?! Like I had to have a fizzy drink? It was so weird and unexpected, not a problem, just very interesting.

After that we went to an heladería (ice cream shop) and Vir and Juli got ice creams and then we went for a drive in the car around the neighbourhood. I remember that drive very clearly because I was freaking out that I had lost my wallet because I couldn't find it anywhere and so I have no idea what they were talking about but it stuck in my brain. Eventually we returned to the house where ofcourse I found it. I was so relieved haha. It was about 1am by this point and I was very tired and so I retired to bed.

In the morning, at about 11, we headed out to breaky at a little cute cafe and I had a coffee (which ofcourse I managed to spill everywhere) and orange juice. At about 12:30pm we left the cafe, went back to the house and packed up our stuff before getting in the car to head back to Bell Ville.

The journey home was very quick and soon we were back for lunch and chill for the rest of the afternoon.

The rest of the days, Wednesday-Friday honestly passed so quickly and I didn't really do much. Emma (my host mum) was sick, Vir was back in Cordoba for the week and the weather wasn't too great. I watched both seasons of how to get away with murder (which 10/10 I recommend) and yeah. One of the nights we went out for dinner which was really nice because it was a way to get to know Martin (my eldest host brother from Buenos Aires) better. However he speaks really fast and I am still finding him hard to understand haha.

However on Friday night I met up with Sara and Pauli. Sara is a girl who got my number from Susanna (who is a rotary member) because she is interested in going on an exchange and was interested in meeting me. Anyway I went over to her house at about 5 and we chilled and it was really really nice, they are such gorgeous people and really easy to talk to. A bit later another girl Yani (pronounced shani) came over and yeah it was just really really nice.

At about 8:30pm I walked back to my house and had dinner and got to know Ignacio's girlfriend Fatima a bit better as she stayed for dinner. We had an asado (bbq) and ate a lot of food. Delicious food and I finally had avocado!!! I was so stoked hahah. At about 11:15pm I got ready as I was going out with the girls to a boliche and at 11:30pm Emma took me over to Sara's house. When I arrived she was getting ready and shortly after that Lu came over (another friend of Sara's). We chatted and chilled for about 3 hours and then at 2:30 pm we went out to a boliche. This one was called Fusion and was much smaller than Limit (the one I went to before). It was a very intimate space and there weren't that many people there, maybe a hundred.

Something quite exciting, was that I got to meet the girls in sexto (year 13) at the school I am going to. They seemed really nice and although I think they were a little inebriated they were all very excited to meet me and all screamed that they hoped I would be in their year which was very cool to hear.

Other than that we spent our time dancing and chatting with people. It's really hard to talk to people in boliches because the music is always really loud and they speak very fast and so it's a mission to not only understand but to hear as well but it was cool nonetheless.

Lu went home with her boyfriend and Sara and I made our way back to my house, before she returned to her home and  I finally fell asleep at 7am.

I slept until about 1:30pm the next day and spent the rest of the day in a tired haze. Sara invited me to come out with her and her friends that night but I was so tired and just retired to my bed instead.

Something else I haven't mentioned is that now I have gluten free food and a lot of it! We went to this dietetica (it's like a diet shop) that had been closed for holiday's when I arrived but had now reopened and they had shelves and shelves of gluten free food. I now have gluten free empanadas (an Argentinian cuisine), ricotta, bread (decent bread?!?!), pizza bases and numerous other things. They had gluten free oreos and sweet treats as well which is just so crazy cool! It is also very near by and so it is very convenient!

Upcoming events:

 1) My first rotary meeting tomorrow, which I am very excited about.
 2) A return trip with Vir to Isla Verde this coming week because she has to take photos of a girl for  her 15th birthday (it's a big deal here). We are also hopefully going to go to the farm and stay there  because it is close to Isla Verde. I really want to go there as it is kind of like a bach but not at the  beach. The house is apparently very old and massive (with 8 bedrooms?!) and a pool and horses! I  really hope we make it there.
 3) School in less than 2 weeks
 4) Undoubtedly more fun with Sara and her friends

All is good here and although I'm really missing my family and friends, I am really happy here. I'm really excited for school to start though and for it all to become routine because I'm ready to really make my life here.

Boliche, Cordoba, Circus and more - week 2

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:

 http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/136982/what-are-the-differences-between-peninsular-and-latin-american-spanish#.VrdgvVN97-Y

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:

1. 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. 
2. 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.
3. Adding to 2, people call each other by insults endearingly. For example, gordo which means fat. 
4. They have sal (salt) and aceite de oliva (olive oil) with everything, and not just a little bit, but a lot. 
5. No one here has iPhones, they all have Samsungs or other androids. In fact that’s true about all apple products.
6. 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.

Hitting the 1 week mark

I haven't really updated much for a few days because everything has kind of settled into a routine so there hasn't been much to report but I have now been in this house living in Argentina for exactly a week. This is just a short post to bring those who are interested up to date.

I really love my family! They always go out of their way to make sure that I am happy while also letting me have freedom and space. My host mum has been so busy this week because normally we have a lady clean our house and cook our food but she is on holiday and my mum couldn't get a replacement. This means that everyday she has been cleaning and cooking (yes I have tried to help) and when you have 5 dogs and a big house, cleaning is a full time job. Everyone is so encouraging with my Spanish and always up for a laugh (often at my host dad's jokes). For example last night I stayed up with my host sister until like 1am talking about the social pressures on teens (yes in spanish).

They have also been so good with my food. I have not been hungry or given food with gluten or food I don't like since I got here. They are so accommodating with what I can't eat and we always have gorgeous sit down meals.

The weather has maintained the ridiculously hot temperatures and every day it seems to hit at least 30 degrees. This means that I have spent a lot of time by the pool, or inside with the air con on. I am so so grateful to have the pool though. For example after my run yesterday, I was so sweaty and so I just jumped into the pool and life was just perfect.

Speaking of my run yesterday, that was probably one of the most scary points I have had here. Earlier that day, Virginia had taken me for a drive around the town so I could get to know it a bit better because I really wanted to go for a run later. So when we returned I put on my running gear and off I went. I ran alongside the river and then crossed the bridge into the park. At the place where I crossed the bridge, 4 guys were sitting around smoking and yarning and as I ran past they whistled at me and I was like ah creepy. So I kept going and running around this park and I swear like do people not run here??? Or is it because I look foreign?? cause every time I ran past someone they just stared at me like that's not what I was supposed to be doing?? I was like okay. Anyway so it was about 8 o'clock and getting dark so I decided that it was a good time to try and get home. I ran back the way I had come and got to the bit to cross the bridge but the guys were still there and I was like mmm no better not because of stranger danger. So I turned and ran out the park entrance a different way. Smart move right?? No! I ran for about 20 minutes in what I thought was the right direction, but no. I got myself really and truly lost, in the dark when I didn't speak much spanish. Fabulous. I kept going, feeling very scared. Eventually I managed to find the river and get back home.  I have never felt so relieved as the moment I knew where I was and could see my house in the distance. Luckily now I am getting to know the area a but better and in a few weeks it shouldn't be a problem but it was definitely a very scary situation and a caution to other future exchange students.

Another thing I have done is kept in a lot of contact with my family. Even though Rotary don't really advise this because it can cause homesickness, I love keeping my family updated with what I am doing and haven't felt homesick once. I even got the chance to Skype them the day before yesterday and that was really cool because I introduced them to my host mum and sister. It's weird because while I miss them, I feel very detached from NZ , and what is going on there because I have this whole other life over here and while I'm jealous of the beaches and obviously yarns in English, I know I am so lucky and so am not really thinking about nz because of it. Like I am in Argentina?? For a year?? How cool is that?? They have also received Svenja (the German exchange student) so they have a daughter replacement hahaha.

I also finally got a sim card for my phone although it took a ridiculous amount of trouble to obtain it. I think we went back maybe 4 times in total. I felt so bad for Virginia because she kept having to return with me. Basically they were just so frustrating like they forgot to put the sim card back in the packet?? So I return back home and just don't have it?? It's like how can you forget something like that?? And then he wanted me to pay 40 pesos for a new one? Like no? But it's okay because I have sussed it now and have a decent phone plan.

I have had the chance to hang out with 2 girls my age already, one is the daughter of my counsellor, Stefi and the other is the girl who is going to NZ on exchange this year on the 7th of February, Agustina.

With Stefi, we went to a bar called "La Goleta" (I had also been there the previous night with Virginia) and we just chatted! She is so lovely and very affectionate. We have loads in common and she is a good laugh. I'm not sure but I think I might be going out with her again tonight? She is always smiling and actually my height, if not shorter?!?!?! I know it's ridiculous the idea of someone shorter than me and older than me but yeah she is such a cool person and I can't wait to get to know her better.

With Agustina, I went over to her house and we had "Mate" (a common Argentinian herbal drink) and crackers. She is so amazing as well, very welcoming and lovely. Also a guy friend of hers came over and we chatted for a few hours. I am so excited for her to go to NZ on an exchange, I know she is gonna love it and will fit right in because she is so outgoing and sporty. She is also ridiculously gorgeous.

Another thing I love here, is the dogs. I love all 5 of our dogs. Alexia is like the mum of the group and very chill and so cute. Then there is Juana who is a little minx and always so excitable and gets jealous if you pat the other dogs and starts growling. Then there is Lupe and she is quite calm like Alexia but always so cute and happy. Then we have Charo who is this white ball of fluff. I love her, she is very much like Juana but less in your face. And finally we have Boris. Boris is the big guard dog and such a little softy and he follows my host dad around like my host dad is god. They are literally the light of my life. I love them way too much.

In terms of my spanish, you are probably curious to hear how that is going. I think I expected it to be harder than I have found it, due to the stories I had heard from everyone else. Like yes, I struggle with my spanish, especially in the morning when I am tired, and I don't voice all my thoughts like I would in NZ because sometimes I can't be bothered, but it is already getting so much easier. Everyday I am understanding more and more and I can always get what I want to say across, even if I explain it in really bad and grammatically incorrect spanish. I think the key thing is, is that I am immersing myself in it and always trying to speak spanish. I think my host sister is helping the most because although she speaks English very well she is always trying to explain words I dont know through other words in spanish and she is always willing to spend time with me and just speak in spanish. My host mum is also very helpful as she is always helping translate stuff I don't understand or help me in anyway she can. I can often understand at least parts of conversations going on around me, if not all and everyday my brain is absorbing more new words.

Just an update on what's ahead, I am not going to the festival that I was talking about going to in my last post because it was all too hard but I am going to Cordoba to my host sister's apartment next week from Monday to Wednesday and I am taking the bus down with my host mum! I am so excited because it means I can see Charo and meet other exchange students that live there. I am missing the first Rotary meeting which I feel bad about, but I reckon it will be so cool to explore Cordoba.

Hahahah whoops this was supposed to be short, I guess I just got carried away haha anyway,

Chao for now.