Another Adventure to Rodeo...But a Lot Different!

Hey Guys! So this last weekend I went to Rodeo again! This trip though was with AFS and was an orientation. Mainly it was designed for the students who are going to be living in July but it was a fun way to get to hang out with the other kids. We left at five thirty on Friday morning (I got to skip school!) and drove the three and a half hours to Rodeo. When we got there, I discovered that there was frost on the ground and my Blue Converse that I love so dearly just weren´t up to the jo of keeping off frost bite. Since I have no other warm shoes here, I resorted to double layering socks and long underwear. My moms (both here and in the States) would be so proud! There are always trying to get me to wear more clothes. :) Our first stop was at the High School where we had "breakfast" which is cookies and chocolate milk with them and gave a presentation about AFS. Then we went to a local Radio Station! At first we thought that only some of the students were going to talk but the interviewer guy wanted to talk to all of us.

As you are probablying think, I kind of went into a miny panic attack right then because this is LIVE radio and I was really scared that I wasn´t going to understand what he asked. But I actually stayed pretty calm. It is one of those things that I am really scared to do but I know that it will be worth it in the end. Even if it is just to say that I did it! So the interview went pretty good. He asked a few basic questions of each of us and I only needed a little help from one of the AFS Volunteers to understand one of the questions. It was actually pretty fun! And the guy was really nice so that made it easier. I can add talking on the Radio to my list of First Things in Life Done in Argentina.

That day we also went to a grade school and did about the same sort of thing that we did at the High School. The next two days were pretty relaxed. We did a whole bunch of AFS activites where we talked about things we like and didn´t like about Argentina and the other students talked about how they were going to go through the process of re-adjusting to their old lives in their home countries. We explored the area around the Dam where we took a million pictures with all of the AFS flags from different countires. It was really funny because everyone wanted to have the picture taken with their camera so the Volunteer would have nine different cameras hanging off her arm and we would all stand their smiling while she shot a photo with each one. We must have spent two hours just taking photos. :) We also visited a local farm where the farmers had a resturaunt and grew all of the food for it. They also had Lamas! Thankfully we didn´t get close enough for them to spit on me.

When you have a group of teenagers in a cabin at night where it is freezing out side so we can´t go partying, we are obviously going to find things to do. :) We found card games. Now you might be thinking that that is clearly a harmless thing to do; and you would be right in most casses. But when we started playing, soon the games started changing to ones where you have to get a tea bag and every round someone is short. Which lead to tackling someone to get the tea bag, which lead to chanting when you won, which lead to us all on the floor in a circle with our playing cards ready to spring the moment someone shouted "Chancho!" when they got four of the same card. It might sound a little confusing or a little crazy but that´s what it was. AFS students now have an inside joke about "Chancho Té" where when ever any one says it we all start pumping our fists in the air and chanting. Yeah, it sounds a little creepy to me too. :) But oh well. I guess that´s why AFS orientation are always so fun.

So on Sunday we left at about four thirty in the afternoon and were going to arrive at about eight in San Juan. But within the next fourty minutes our van suddenly turned off. We were able to get off the high way and thankfully there was a lot of room for us to hang out being in danger of getting hit. I thought it was just something that could be fixed fast with the van but we were there for two hours before somebody showed up. They weren´t able to fix it either so they towed us to a near by rest stop type area that had cabins. We waited there until ten o´clock for another van to show up. At this point I was really feelign sick. I had a sore throat and my head hurt like you wouldn´t believe. To make it worse all we had to eat for dinner was cookies, chocolate milk, bread, and a little bit of this tun fish type dip because we weren´t expectly to have to eat dinner. So I was also starving. We didn´t end up leaving until eleven because then we discovered that the new van didn´t have enough gas so we had to wait until they went and got some more. WE finally arrived in San Juan at two in the morning. My parents also ended up waiting an hour for me in front of the Cathedral because there was confusion about what time we were going to arrive and then I didn´t have coverage and then I fell asleep in the van. All in all it was a long night. But it was a fantastic weekend!

To wrap things up, that last few days I have been super sick and haven´t gone to school. Thankfully, I am a little better today so I think I will make it to school tomorrow. Just in time for my giant Business test. Yay! (not) This weekend my family is also hoping to drive up to Tucum which is twelve hours from here and spend Sunday with family. I really want to be well by then so I am doing all I can like drinking tea, resting, taking cough drops, and staying warm. Wish me luck! Oh! And enjoy summer break up in the U.S.! I will be jealous down here in the cold winter weather. :)