"I am freezing!" "But...aren´t you from Washington?"

So the last thing I expected when arriving in Argentina was to be cold. I thought of the culture, the people, the Spanish; I prepared for the sun, the heat, and every kind of sickness you could imagine. But I have to admit, I overlooked the fact that San Juan does in fact have winter like every other city in the world. I am now stuck in fourty degree weather and having to hussle my butt off to collect the necessary supplies to survive the winter. I feel like some kind of squirell that got the late notice on collecting nuts and is now walking on thin ice. I have got a lot of catching up to do. People keep asking me if I am cold here and I tell them yes. Everytime the reaction is "But aren´t you from Washington where it is even colder?" Well, technically yes it is colder in Washington but I never said I was warm there! Anyone that knows me well knows that I always have on more layers than everyone else. Secondly, I was not mentally prepared to be cold here. I have to get used to the fact that I will have to be careful to check the weather before I go out so I don´t end up an ice-icle. And the thing is, just because I am "cold" doesn´t mean I am uncomfortable. If I ask any one else in my class, they say they are cold and nobody seems to make a fuss. But when I say I am cold, it is like saying that I am one the verge of hypothermia and need some hot tea this very instant or my fingers might fall off!

Before I left the U.S., I had been informed that it could get down to thirty degrees here in the winter but at times everyone suffers from a litte stupidity and I only brought two long sleeve shirts. Two! I have no idea what I was thinking. I did bring a sweatshirt and a nice jacket but nothing at all that would actually keep me warm. This last week I have been managing by layering three different undershirts, a long sleeve, and a sweatshirt all at once just to stay warm when going outside. And even then, the cool breeze always manages to find its way up my pant leg or down my neck to give me the chills. The other thing I was surprised and utterly horrified to discover is that my class room apparently isn´t going to be heated unless it actually gets down to below freezing temperatures. We have a heater in our room but my classmates, who I am going to kindly refer to as idiots at times :), decide to put paper and food in it which consequently makes it so we can´t run it. So this past week when it has been fourty degress out side, I am sitting in a class room for sic hours that is not much above that. Thankfully, my uniform includes heavy winter coats and the warmest sweatshirt I have ever worn in my life (all in the school colors of course).

After discoving that my school is going to be cold all winter, I was anxious to here about my house. I now I would learn to manage with it, but it would be nice if I didn´t have to dress like an escamo inside as well. Thankfully, we do have a heater and we actually began using it the other day when if was awfully cold. But even so, I was still lacking enough clothing to not have to wear the same thing every day for the four months of winter. It quickly became apparent that I would have to ship some stuff from home so I don´t have to purchase as much. As of this last Tuesday, I have a package on the way that is filled with longsleeves and a vest. Unfortunetelly, that is going to get here anywhere between one month if we are really lucky and three months if we are not. Yesterday, I went shopping for some longsleeves that I can use before then. Not to mention, a couple sweaters that I can use for layering. I have been suprisingly successful here for I figured that I wouldn´t be able to find anything that has long enough sleeves. But actually, it is as easy as it was back in the U.S. I have purchased a few shirts and also a scarf for the wind really creeps down your neck, but I am deffinetelly lacking a little. For one, I need to purchase a turtle neck that I can wear to school under my uniform shirt. During the winter, everyone trades out the white t-shirt for a white turtle neck. I never thought I would where those again. When I was little, I used those all the time until I started to think they were a little dorky. Well I guess here they are just fantastic and everyone uses them all the time. I guess I am just returning to old habbits.

One last thing that made me want to run inside and hide under my warm covers - we have P.E. outside all winter long. Rain, shine, snow, or freezing hail, we are running and playing our freezing behinds off out in the concrete court. Unfortunetelly, today is one of those days and I actually have to go get ready. Send me some warm wishes!

Easter Weekend at Rodeo

Last weekend was Semana Santa here where we celebrate the resurection of Christ. For this holiday, we also get Thursday and Friday off school. I went to a town that is about a three hour drive straight north of San Juan. I went with my sister Sophia but I actually didn´t end up spending much time with her.

There were two cabins that we were split up into. One holding basically all the people over 18 and the other with every one under.

We also had Sorrentino´s mom come with us and stay in our cabin. The town is has a main street that has a little plaza and tiny stores around it. From there little roads (most of them dirt) take you to streets with houses or camping areas. It reminded me so much of the area where my grandparents live in Colorado. It was really dry with tons of prickely bushes just waiting to stab you when you sit down. :) It was also really gorgeous. Rodeo is in the middle of this valley between mountains right next to a man-made lake. It was a really beautiful drive at the end because we came out of this horrible twisty, dusty road where we were practically going to drive of the edge of a cliff on every turn and then we come over the peek, and there is this beautiful lake that just took my breath away. It was movie kind of perfect view!

Mostly the weekend was spent relaxing and having fun. We took tons of pictures of us just messing around, played UNO more times than I can count, and stayed up late hanging out in the kitchen.

We explored this awesome forest where the leaves has just fallen and covered the ground. Everything was really yellow and bright and I happened to be wearing a yellow shirt as well!

It was a really nice way to get to know some of the kids at my school more. I have found that just having some time with them outside of school can really strengthen a relationship. There are tons of pictures to look at so make sure to check out the link at the right of this page. I think many of them will give you some laughs. :)

When we arrived back home Sunday, we celebrated Easter with Chocolate Eggs that Paula and Elsa has made while we were gone. They were a chocolate shell with icing on the top and chocolate and fruit flavored candies on the inside. We still have two left the we haven´t eaten. But I can´t imagine that it will be that way for much longer. They are too good to resist! :)

When Alarm Clocks Don´t Work....

This morning I work up needing to go to the bathroom. It was not at all unusually because since we eat dinner so late I often need to get up early in the morning before I need to get up for school. What made this morning so unusual was that when I looked at my Ipod for the time, the clock read 7:11. WOW! That got me out of bed quick! I ran into the kitchen to see if it was my clock that was wrong but the clocks read the same. When I got back to my bedroom, Sofia was sturring and I asked her why Elsa hadn´t woken me up. She then went in to wake up Elsa since Elsa also had to leave for work while I ran into the bathroom to change into my uniform in record time. Now, normally I probably could have made it to school by 7:30 but this was the one morning that I was planning to get dressed fast and finish my homework. Thankfully, the night before I had gotten my bag together with my books and layed out my clothes so I could have as much time to finish my homework as possible. At midnight I had called it quits, only having to edit it, paste it into the translater, and then print it. Now before you start jumping to conculsions and think that I don´t do my homework in Spanish, wait a minute. It actually wasn´t homework. It was three pages of Economy notes that would have literally taken atleast three days to translate by hand. There for, I typed them up, translated them, and then used them to study for the test I was going to have today. Anyways, I was rushing around trying to get my documents up when Elsa came into the kitchen and told me that she could call the director of the school and I could show up late. So all was well although I did eat a very small breakfast in order to not miss my favorite class (Math) that was the first one of the day. As it turns out, we ended up not having the Economy test today and are going to have it tomorrow. So far my tests have gone alright. Here is the latest statistics (they are all out of ten possible points):

• English: 10


• Microsoft Excel Class: 10


• P.E.: 10


• Biology: 10


• Math: 9


• Law: 6


• Business Organization: 6

I have also taken a test in Religion, Accounting, Literature, Economy, another in Biology, and Geography. I have a Economy test tomorrow, P.E. test Friday, another Accounting test Tuesday, and a Math test in first week in May. In total, I have recieved seven tests back with an average score of 8.7 which is impressively good. But I must take into account that those four of those classes use almost no Spanish. I have yet to recieve six test scores and I have atleast four more tests in the coming weeks. I am starting to get the impression that the only thing we get graded on are tests here. I am going to have to get good at studying in Spanish cause these last two weeks of school have been exhausting.

Parading Down the Streets with AFS

The Difunta Correa weekend has come to an end and I am ready to explain my days of activites. As I mentioned before, there was a speech Thursday night where many of the government figures I belive talked about the Difunta Correa and how special it was. They also mentioned us as being representatives of other countries in their celebration and everyone clapped for us. When the governor arrived, he came over to us and asked all of us where we had come from and welcomed us to Argentina. I don´t think I could ever have met the governor of Washington so it was cool to have met him here. On Friday, there was a parade where AFS students lined up with out flags from all the different countries and watched as all the "gauchos" or cowboys went by. They were all representing different families if I could understand correctly and we wished them well on their journey. On Saturday morning, we all met in the center to take a van to the Difunta Correa. The gauchos left at 7 that morning and would ride all the way there. They finally arrived at 1:30 ish. We explored the Difunta Correa and talked in Spanish a lot until they got there. Then, to my surprise, We found an open spot in the parade and started marching down the road with our flags and AFS banner. The announcer annouced us and everyone was clapping. It was pretty fun to be in a parade. We had "asado" for lunch. It is kind of like barbacue but it was better and is a classic dish in Argentina. Here is the link for an article about it in our local paper. Good luch understanding it! http://www.diariodecuyo.com.ar/home/new_noticia.php?noticia_id=454919

We didn´t end up leaving until about 5 in the afternoon because people kept on disapearing right when we were going to leave and we had to wait for them to come back. Once we finally got back into town, Maria (student for Austria) and I went to buy a couple things and then I got to see her house. She lives right down town and has a balcony that looks over the city. It is really quite beautiful. My mama then picked me up and we went to see a singing, piano performace. I wasn´t clear on who was singing or who it was for, but it was beautiful. Piano music is also so much better when you are exhausted and can shut your eyes while listening (that wasn´t a sarcastic remark by the way). Today, I am planning on getting tons of things done starting with this blog post. Hopefully my list of completed things with include:

• Wash my shoes (they smell disgusting),


• My English Homework,


• Eating Breakfast,


• Uploading Pictures,


• Study for atleast two of the five tests I have this week,


• Calculate how much money I have spent since being here,


• and Shower (I smell like asado).

Today we are also having asado for Alfredo´s birthday. I don´t know when that will happen but it will be bound to take up many hours so I have to get cracking. Hope all of you have enjoyed your Spring Break back in the States. Know that I am jealous!

Shopping And Many Other Adventures

I always seem to get online only to want to talk about how busy my life has been. I have activities all the time and am tired a lot but don´t be fooled. I also have down times. For example, today I was so tired after P.E. that I came home and slept from 7 to 9. Till nine! I didn´t intend on sleeping. I was going to go to my bed, read for a little while, and then do some laundry but I got to thinking and then before I knew it, I was sleeping like a log. But I did do a lot of things this week that I would like to talk about. :) Monday was my sister´s and grandpa´s birthday back in the U.S. Although I wasn´t there to celebrate it with them, it was my friend Mari´s birthday here and, in the Argentina way, we went to McDonalds to celebrate. I got to talk to my sister on Wednesday and I chatted with my grandpa on Tuesday. It was nice to be able to wish them happy birthday even if a little late. I also got to go SHOPPING! On Wednesday, I asked my mama if I could take the bus to the center and spend a couple hours shopping. I left at about five but I didn´t end up getting into town until almost 6 because the bus went by right before I could get there. Since I was on my own, my mama said that I needed to be back home by eight because that´s when it gets dark. I spend two hours exploring places, wondering, and doing a little long awaited shopping. I am so excited about the clothes here. I have realized that although my clothes are acceptible, they aren´t quite up to the standers of Argentinian parties. People tend to dress more on the fancy end and my Seven Loaves t-shirt doesn´t really fit. :) I only bought a couple things that day but now I know what I am looking for next time. And the clothes here are really cheap. That and almost everything else. I have noticed here that since girls can´t wear big earings at school, almost all of them wear these fake pearl bead earings. I figured I would pick myself up a pair as well since all of my earings are rather large and it is a bummer when I can´t wear any of them at school. Now you can find me with my pearl earings like everyone else. It is fun to begin to notice social patterns here. It makes me wonder what kind of patterns there are back in Washington that I just never noticed because I thought it was normal. Hmmm.... This weekend I have AFS activities. It is the Difunta Correa weekend where "cowboys" come from all over to give thanks to here. Today, the exchange students attended a parade like event where we sent of the cowboys off on their treck to the Difunta Correa. They ride their horses from today until when they arrive tomorrow in the near by city. We will leave tomorrow morning and drive to Difunta Correa where we will meet them as they arrive. Just another busy weekend in Argentina. Unfortuntelly, it will also be filled with studying for tests. These classes here are big on tests. I am keeping a record of my scores and am planning on making a list at the end of next week to display my magnificent (or not) first grades for my classes. Don´t worry, I haven´t failed a class yet but some of my scores have come awfully close and I still atleast five more next week!!

Just a Sip

As all of you well know, before I left I was grilled with lectures on alcohol. What to drink, what not to drink, when, where and with whom. I felt and still feel fully prepared on that front so you don´t have to worry. The thing is, I know people told me that alcohol would be normal with teenagers but it still is a little surprising every time I see them drinking. The other night at Ivan´s party (with the adults permission) there were two different drinks. One was something with an F that was mixed with Coca-Cola. The other was something with a G mixed with Sprite. I realized that mixed drinks are really popular here because that way you can decide how much alcohol in how much soda. Many of my friends would make a drink and then all share it so they didn´t drink it all. Not suprisingly they offered me some. I tried both of them because I was curious but that was all. Until I had talked to my mama here and figured out how much alcohol I could drink without feeling tipsy, I didn´t want to drink at all. That and I have never been a fan of drinking. The whole getting drunk thing has never appealed to me and just plain soda is fine with me thank-you-very-much. :) The one with Coca-Cola I absolutelly hated. It was bitter and tasted like alcohol. The other one wasn´t so bad (more like just Sprite) but I knew enough to know that it too was filled with alcohol. Now I just want to make something clear. To all of you parents, grandparents, and other important people to me, I hope you don´t worry about this. I promise you this - I have no intention at all of abusing alcohol. A drink now and then when there are adults around and I am in a safe envirnment I think is okay. (For example, last night was my grandpa´s birthday and when wishing him happy birthday, we all had a toast. My mama let me have a little bit of this sparkling apple shampange type drink.) I also don´t like to drink. I don´t see the point of drinking alcohol which is often really gross when I could be drinking Coca-Cola which is fantastic on its own. In conclusion, I am sharing this information with you guys cause I want you to know about my new experiences. Not because I want you to worry. But if you absolutelly feel the need, I am not apposed to you writing me a reminder email of all your advice. :) I really do appreciate it. Well my homework is calling my name. Unfortunetelly, it is in Spanish so I don´t know how much I will understand anyways, but oh well! Back to school tomorrow!

Mechanical Bulls and Shaving Cream

Wow. I am exhausted! There is nothing like dancing until three in the morning to tire you out. Last night was Ivan´s birthday party. He is in my class and he was turning 16. Every one from the fifth year at school was invited and also some other friends of his. The party started at 7 but I didn´t end up getting there until 8:45. I got a ride with Juli and Mari and they were running a little late. :) The party was outside in a yard-patio area. It was a really nice night and I wasn´t cold in my t-shirt and jeans.

Apperently here it is not unusual to have a mechanical bull at birthday parties. At first, I was scared to death to get on it. There is a blow up air thing all around it so when you get thrown off you would get hurt, but I was more scared of the being thrown off part than getting hurt. Well eventually I was practically dragged on by Krystal and we went together. It was really embarassing because everyone started chanting me name and I was holding on to Krystal like my life depended on it. It actually wasn´t so bad and I ended up going another time with Sol. It was definetelly teriffying at first but I would do it again. At about 10 the dancing started.

There was a DJ that set up speakers in the yard and had these awesome colored strobe lights going. At first, only Maria and Guada started dancing but I figured what the heck and got up and started dancing too. It was really fun to just dance with those girls and loosen up. After a while other people came over to dance too. The music here is really different and it wasn´t until about 1 a.m. that I actually got the hang of how to dance to it. It is hard to explain how the dancing it different for girls. I guess the closest I can come is that back in the states, dancing was much more of moving you chest and arms. Here it is much more about a low center of gravity and your hips. Okay, after reading over that it sounds really wierd and can even begin to explain it adequetly but I will leave it in there so you can have atleast some idea. The difference in the boys is dramatic. First, they actually dance here! And I´m not talking the kind of dancing where they rock back and forth a little. I mean they actually dance! It makes it really fun because you aren´t feeling weird that they guys don´t seem to be having fun. For guys, it is all about the hips. It is really funny to watch because it reminds me of the moves some girls would make back in the U.S. when they wre trying to be sexy. :) Well, the guys do that kind of thing all the time and it isn´t considered rude or over the top. After three hours of dancing, my shoes has begun to rub a really raw spot on my ankle. Thankfully, we were dancing in the grass so it wasn´t a problem to slip them off. It wasn´t until later that I realized that they weren´t where I put them. Thankfully, I found them fairly easily.

Earlier in the day Ivan had tried to explain to me something called "Espuma" (spelling?) but I couldn´t figure it out. Well, I caught on pretty quick when I got a face full of it at the party. Everyone grabbed a spray can of this white stuff that I can best describe as shaving cream and started spraying it all over everyone. We were all running around, putting it in peoples hair, and screaming when we got sprayed. I was completelly soaked in the stuff by the time we ran out. It dissolved on us into liquid and it was like I had dunked my head in water. Eventually, it dried and this morning I took a long shower to get it all off. It was such a fun thing to do. I hope that they have it in the U.S. cause from now on, I want to have that at my parties.

I got a ride home from Juli at about three a.m. This party is my favorite out of the three parties I have been too (the 15th birthday, Kika, and this one). It was great because I got to have a blast while also connecting more with my classmates. I didn´t get up until 1:30 today and should probably get some of my homework done because I go to my grandparents house tonight. It is my grandpa´s 77th birthday!