So this morning was an adventure! To say the least...
It began with me waking up nice and early, 8am. After showering, getting ready, and eating breakfast, I headed out of the house around 9am. The reason for this being that I had an appointment at an office downtown at 10am to get my criminal report for my visa. Leaving an hour early was a bit unnecessary, but I wanted to make sure I wasn´t late. The easiest (and basically only) way I know to get there is by the subte (subway), so that´s what I took. Well, after waiting an unusually long amount of time for it to arrive in the station, I got on. It slowly began to creep forward and then I quickly became acquanted with the man next to me as it slammed on it´s brakes. After a few more times of stop-and-go, we began to move forward at a horribly slow rate. With the time it took to get to the next station I could have walked there. At this rate, I was telling myself, it was a very good thing that I had decided to leave early. However, I soon realized that I just may not have left early enough because an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying that our train was broken down and that we all had to exit the train. Great! Many of the Argentines felt the same way that I did, this fact given away by their grumbling and shouting. I was torn between waiting for the next train, which I didn´t actually know was coming for sure, figuring out a bus route, or taking a taxi. I contemplated for a few minutes and then decided that finding a bus would take too long, so I opted for a taxi.
As I exited the subte stop I had no idea where I was and, of course, as I looked for a taxi that was free, I couldn´t find one. This only happens when you have 10 minutes to get to your destination. Eventually I did find one, and gave him the address. After confirming on my map where exactly I was, I realized that there was NO way that I would make it to my destination on time. We were quite far from the street I needed to go and seemed to be hitting every single red light on the way. Not to mention my taxi driver decided to drive oh-so cautiously...something that my mother will be happy to hear, but was driving me quite mad! I knew I would be lucky to get there by 10:30. I tried to be calm about it, seeing as there was absolutely nothing that I could do. The thing that worried me was that I would be late for my appointment and would get yelled at or have to reschedule. I was paying a lot of money for this taxi and I did not want to have to make the journey again! Luckily we arrived just as the money meter reached as high as I could afford (I didn´t have that much money in my wallet!). As I walked in I was trying my hardest to think about how to explain the situation in Spanish, knowing that I was about 40 minutes late. As I walked up to the window, to my chagrin, he never even looked at the time I was supposed to be there! On top of that, all he did was print off a paper and hand it to me. It was no appointment at all! So two minutes later I walked out of the office with a piece of paper and an empty wallet. Luckily I was able to take the subte home...but man! What a morning.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A great time for something good
Helllo there! So, I had a pretty good finish to my week off. The day that I got back (Wed.) I went to the English school to help ¨teach¨ or whatever it is that I actually do. Talk and get paid basically. :-P Then on Thursday I went a little more into the heart of downtown to start my visa process. Apparently a process that takes quite awhile and costs too much. This day I simply had to go and request a criminal report so that they know I´m an angel. But I have to go back next week to pick up the paper and go make an appointment at some other office to actually request the visa, which takes 45 days to process and costs a good chunk of money. Whoot.
Then on Friday I went and saw the new Batman movie with Abby. I was excited that I could take part in the craze of the US and see this movie. I enjoyed it! It´s nice here because the movies are generally in English if there from the states, with Spanish subtitles. So that´s one less thing I have to miss out on!! Later that night I embarked on a journey to my tango class...alone! That´s a big word for a little girl who is afraid to wander alone at night. And on top of that, Vicky (my host-mom), suggested that I take a different bus there because the stop is right at our corner and drops you off very near the place I was going. I was nervous, but I did it! I even found my way home. The buses are becoming slightly less intimidating. Slightly.
Saturday was a good day. Abby and I decided to find Chinatown to get some good food! I was hoping that the Chinese here wouldn´t be too strange, and I wasn´t disappointed. Mine was delicious and now I know where to go when the craving strikes! With a very satisfied stomach (and quite full!) I went off to meet someone to practice Spanish with. We had coffee and talked for a couple of hours, both in English and Spanish. I enjoyed it and it was good practice. Although he is much better at speaking English than I am with Spanish, but it still helped.
So after that, I went home to where my ¨grandparents¨ where awaiting me. My family is on vacation this week, actually to Iguazú, and so Vicky´s mom and dad are staying with me. They are very nice and I enjoyed their company last night for dinner. I definitely got to practice my Spanish more than usual and we talked about various things from my family to politics. But the most exciting for me was talking about religion. They are Catholic and seem to take their faith pretty seriously, which is refreshing. I haven´t found many people here that do. We talked about how God is the most important thing in life and so many people these days are indifferent. It´s quite sad actually. The conversation came at a great time because I´ve been feeling slightly discouraged in my faith lately. Just about every person I know here goes out frequently to the bars or boliches to drink and ´have fun´. I don´t enjoy that scene, yet I mistakenly feel like I´m missing out on something by not going. The thing I must realize is that, as Em so wonderfully pointed out to me, my time here is what I make of it. So long as I am satisfied with what I am doing and how I am taking advantage of my time, nothing else matters. I shouldn´t feel obligated to go to the boliches (discos) because ¨everyone¨ does it. I should only go if I want to. Who cares if people think it´s odd that I am staying home on a Sat. night. I want to!
With that revelation, and a nice conversation with my lovely sister, I felt much better. Now I must go! I start classes tomorrow, so wish me luck!!
*Abrazos*
Then on Friday I went and saw the new Batman movie with Abby. I was excited that I could take part in the craze of the US and see this movie. I enjoyed it! It´s nice here because the movies are generally in English if there from the states, with Spanish subtitles. So that´s one less thing I have to miss out on!! Later that night I embarked on a journey to my tango class...alone! That´s a big word for a little girl who is afraid to wander alone at night. And on top of that, Vicky (my host-mom), suggested that I take a different bus there because the stop is right at our corner and drops you off very near the place I was going. I was nervous, but I did it! I even found my way home. The buses are becoming slightly less intimidating. Slightly.
Saturday was a good day. Abby and I decided to find Chinatown to get some good food! I was hoping that the Chinese here wouldn´t be too strange, and I wasn´t disappointed. Mine was delicious and now I know where to go when the craving strikes! With a very satisfied stomach (and quite full!) I went off to meet someone to practice Spanish with. We had coffee and talked for a couple of hours, both in English and Spanish. I enjoyed it and it was good practice. Although he is much better at speaking English than I am with Spanish, but it still helped.
So after that, I went home to where my ¨grandparents¨ where awaiting me. My family is on vacation this week, actually to Iguazú, and so Vicky´s mom and dad are staying with me. They are very nice and I enjoyed their company last night for dinner. I definitely got to practice my Spanish more than usual and we talked about various things from my family to politics. But the most exciting for me was talking about religion. They are Catholic and seem to take their faith pretty seriously, which is refreshing. I haven´t found many people here that do. We talked about how God is the most important thing in life and so many people these days are indifferent. It´s quite sad actually. The conversation came at a great time because I´ve been feeling slightly discouraged in my faith lately. Just about every person I know here goes out frequently to the bars or boliches to drink and ´have fun´. I don´t enjoy that scene, yet I mistakenly feel like I´m missing out on something by not going. The thing I must realize is that, as Em so wonderfully pointed out to me, my time here is what I make of it. So long as I am satisfied with what I am doing and how I am taking advantage of my time, nothing else matters. I shouldn´t feel obligated to go to the boliches (discos) because ¨everyone¨ does it. I should only go if I want to. Who cares if people think it´s odd that I am staying home on a Sat. night. I want to!
With that revelation, and a nice conversation with my lovely sister, I felt much better. Now I must go! I start classes tomorrow, so wish me luck!!
*Abrazos*
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Home Sweet Home (Kind of)
So, I’m home from my 5 day vacation! It was marvelous. We left Friday evening, taking the train to the bus station. That was an adventure in itself. There were three of us girls and we were told by our host families to be very careful at the station at night because, well, it’s a good place for pick-pockets to swoop in on unsuspecting tourists. Well we got to the train station that would take us to the bus stop and it was super packed with people. I knew we had to make room so I shoved my way in, apparently something that the two other girls I was with found quite funny. A little girl with a huge backpack and another bag shoving her way into a crowd of mostly bigger men. Well, we got on the train, to say the least!! J
With a sigh of relief we all made it onto the bus safely with all of our possessions intact. Now we had about 19 hours to chill on the bus. And people weren’t lying when they said that this is surprisingly one of the good parts of the trip. I enjoyed it anyways, because I like being lulled asleep by the rocking bus. We were on the upper level, oh yeah it was big, and had seats that basically laid out into beds. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was the bathroom, but go figure. We got served dinner and drinks and watched a couple of movies before sleeping. The next day our bus was supposed to arrive around 11:30, but arrived around 1…which I hear is not unusual. We had a driver that picked us up at the bus station and took us to our hostel. We refreshed ourselves a little bit and then headed out to find lunch. The place was good and surprisingly cheap. Basically all of the places we ate over the weekend were cheap. We ate out I think 6 times and I spent less than $50. One of the restaurants even had a little band playing.
That night we decided to take part in a boat ride down the river on which you could view “Las tres fronteras” which is the spot where you can see Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. It was a nice ride and at one point we stopped near the shore to see a ritual dance performed by a native tribe of Paraguay. That was pretty cool as well.
Sunday was our day to go to the park of the Cataratas del Iguazu, which was absolutely gorgeous. From the roaring waters of the waterfalls, to the tiniest butterfly, God was completely glorified. I am not sure how people can spend a day in that park and not see that there is a Creator. We got to see some huge waterfalls and take lots of pictures. We were accompanied by Hector, our tour guide, who took care of us for the entire day. Towards the end of the day we went on something called “The Gran Aventura” (The Grand Adventure) which is a sweet speedboat ride through the falls. We got soaked, which was so fun! That was followed by a guided ride through the rain forest back to meet up with our tour guide. The day was exhausting, but fun!
With a sigh of relief we all made it onto the bus safely with all of our possessions intact. Now we had about 19 hours to chill on the bus. And people weren’t lying when they said that this is surprisingly one of the good parts of the trip. I enjoyed it anyways, because I like being lulled asleep by the rocking bus. We were on the upper level, oh yeah it was big, and had seats that basically laid out into beds. The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was the bathroom, but go figure. We got served dinner and drinks and watched a couple of movies before sleeping. The next day our bus was supposed to arrive around 11:30, but arrived around 1…which I hear is not unusual. We had a driver that picked us up at the bus station and took us to our hostel. We refreshed ourselves a little bit and then headed out to find lunch. The place was good and surprisingly cheap. Basically all of the places we ate over the weekend were cheap. We ate out I think 6 times and I spent less than $50. One of the restaurants even had a little band playing.
That night we decided to take part in a boat ride down the river on which you could view “Las tres fronteras” which is the spot where you can see Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. It was a nice ride and at one point we stopped near the shore to see a ritual dance performed by a native tribe of Paraguay. That was pretty cool as well.
Sunday was our day to go to the park of the Cataratas del Iguazu, which was absolutely gorgeous. From the roaring waters of the waterfalls, to the tiniest butterfly, God was completely glorified. I am not sure how people can spend a day in that park and not see that there is a Creator. We got to see some huge waterfalls and take lots of pictures. We were accompanied by Hector, our tour guide, who took care of us for the entire day. Towards the end of the day we went on something called “The Gran Aventura” (The Grand Adventure) which is a sweet speedboat ride through the falls. We got soaked, which was so fun! That was followed by a guided ride through the rain forest back to meet up with our tour guide. The day was exhausting, but fun!
The following day Najmeh had to go home, sadly enough, but Abby and I stayed to go to the Mines of Wanda and the Jesuit ruins. We drove about 2.5 hours to get there and 2.5 back, so it was a day with a whole lot of driving. But it was good. The mines weren’t anything super spectacular, but the stones were pretty and the store was cool. The Jesuit ruins weren’t exactly what I expected either, but it was quite interesting to see, no less. They were definitely ruins…I guess I was expecting a little more structure to the buildings, or maybe things in the houses and rooms. But it was just as the name said: ruins…walls and sometimes floors. But Abby and I got a special tour guide in English, so we got to hear about the history and whatnot too. I had done research on the Jesuits for my Spanish class last year, which I am thankful for now because I could appreciate it more. When we got back, Abby and I went out to dinner and wandered the little town a little bit.
The next and final day we didn’t do a whole lot. We wandered around for a little bit and then came back to the hostel to wait for our ride to the bus station. It gave me a good hour or more to reflect on the weekend and get in the Word. That was good for me. I found a few Bible verses that definitely reflected my thoughts about the weekend. Here are a couple:
Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
The next and final day we didn’t do a whole lot. We wandered around for a little bit and then came back to the hostel to wait for our ride to the bus station. It gave me a good hour or more to reflect on the weekend and get in the Word. That was good for me. I found a few Bible verses that definitely reflected my thoughts about the weekend. Here are a couple:
Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day, they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.
The falls are timeless. They communicate the same knowledge day after day. I love thinking about hundreds of years ago someone coming and seeing the same great work that I witnessed this weekend. It all points back to God.
Psalm 92:4 For you have made me rejoice, Lord, by what you have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of your hands.
A gorgeous view with a rainbow
Getting ready for our boat ride!
Original walls from hundreds of years ago
The wildlife of South AmericaFriday, July 18, 2008
Winding down, heating up!
Hey all!
Soo...my intensive Spanish course has officially ended and I am leaving for Cataratas (Iguazu) today. Hooray! Apparently I got the highest grade on the final exam, which I was not expecting at all, and so I pulled of a 10! (An A). That pretty much made my day so far. And we got out early because we only really had to review our exam.
So like I said, I'm leaving for Cataratas tonight around 7, which should be tons of fun! Our bus trip is overnight and i hear those are really cool with service and full beds and whatnot. I am going with two girls from here, who are super nice so I'm sure that'll be good too. Saturday we have pretty much a free day and then sunday we go to the falls and spend the whole day in the park. Monday we're going to the some mines and the the jesuit ruins, and then head back on Tuesday. I'll give more details about the trip when I get back. And photos!
When I get back I will have the rest of the week free and I'm hoping to do some stuff in there and see a few places. But the following Monday I start classes! I cannot believe that I've been here for a month already. The time has absolutely flown so far. I'm a little nervous for real classes to start for a couple reasons. One reason is that I think they will be a little bit harder. I am taking Tango, which will be fun, Literature, Latin American History, and Developmental Psych. Those are subject to change, but they are all in Spanish and I'm not really sure the format of the class. I guess I'll find out! The other reason that I'm nervous is because I hardly go to class! I only have classes mon-wed. and normally in the states I would be super excited, but here I feel like I won't know what to do with all of the free time. I'm hoping that I can find someplace to volunteer and I'm sure I'll have a lot of exploring to do. It will also be nice to have Thurs, Friday, and the weekends free to travel. I guess I will know in about a week!
Anyways, I'm meeting Chris and Abby for lunch...so I can wish Chris farewell because he leaves this weekend. Like I said, I can't believe this month is over already!! I hope all is well at home and you're all in my prayers! :-)
XOXO
Soo...my intensive Spanish course has officially ended and I am leaving for Cataratas (Iguazu) today. Hooray! Apparently I got the highest grade on the final exam, which I was not expecting at all, and so I pulled of a 10! (An A). That pretty much made my day so far. And we got out early because we only really had to review our exam.
So like I said, I'm leaving for Cataratas tonight around 7, which should be tons of fun! Our bus trip is overnight and i hear those are really cool with service and full beds and whatnot. I am going with two girls from here, who are super nice so I'm sure that'll be good too. Saturday we have pretty much a free day and then sunday we go to the falls and spend the whole day in the park. Monday we're going to the some mines and the the jesuit ruins, and then head back on Tuesday. I'll give more details about the trip when I get back. And photos!
When I get back I will have the rest of the week free and I'm hoping to do some stuff in there and see a few places. But the following Monday I start classes! I cannot believe that I've been here for a month already. The time has absolutely flown so far. I'm a little nervous for real classes to start for a couple reasons. One reason is that I think they will be a little bit harder. I am taking Tango, which will be fun, Literature, Latin American History, and Developmental Psych. Those are subject to change, but they are all in Spanish and I'm not really sure the format of the class. I guess I'll find out! The other reason that I'm nervous is because I hardly go to class! I only have classes mon-wed. and normally in the states I would be super excited, but here I feel like I won't know what to do with all of the free time. I'm hoping that I can find someplace to volunteer and I'm sure I'll have a lot of exploring to do. It will also be nice to have Thurs, Friday, and the weekends free to travel. I guess I will know in about a week!
Anyways, I'm meeting Chris and Abby for lunch...so I can wish Chris farewell because he leaves this weekend. Like I said, I can't believe this month is over already!! I hope all is well at home and you're all in my prayers! :-)
XOXO
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Curse of the dead batteries
This weekend was a good weekend. Friday night I went to a Tango class again. I really enjoy learning it. I hope that I can be half as good as some of the people here when I leave! It was cool Friday though because there were like 3 girls and about 12 guys...so we didn't have to worry about not getting a partner! Before we went to the class Chris and I stopped in a store because we were a bit early. Well one of the employees started talking to me and asking questions about where we were from and whatnot. Out of nowhere he said, "Que linda sos"...which means "You're very beautiful." I was quite flattered! haha But then he let me try mate (with sugar) and I liked it! So there you have it Adam, I am a mate fan with sugar. :-)
Saturday we went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was really quite huge, so I enjoyed it. However, zoos are much less fun than they were in the days of childhood. It's so sad to see all of the animals locked up in cages that are way to small for them. So after the zoo we wandered around for a little bit and found a cafe to eat in. I had a very yummy ham and cheese croissant. We also went into this hotel that I had heard has a good view of the city, but I apparently got my hotels mixed up because there was no view! So we had to conveniently make an excuse to leave...ha, it was amusing. I also met up with Erin, a girl who studied here last year and has been visiting for the week. She wandered around with us for a little bit and gave advice about the city. It was very cool to meet someone else who had been here.
Today I went to San Telmo again, which has a great market/fair thing. I love looking at all of the things available to buy. We found another place to eat and wandered some more. Then we found the hotel that I had meant to find yesterday, and snuck up to the top to get a breathtaking view of the city...until my camera batteries died :( But I got two very nice pictures!! ha
Anyways, now I'm tired in that refreshing way that only happens after a long day of walking. Here are a couple pictures: 
Friday, July 11, 2008
ADDRESS!!! :-)
Here is my address for anyone who would like to write me!!!
Sarah Fessenden
Cespedes 2985
DTO: 2
Capital Federal 1426
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I would absolutely LOVE to get a letter from any one of you. And if you write me I promise to send a postcard/write back! :-)
Does anyone have anything different that they would like me to write about on here? Any questions about my daily routine or whatever you'd like to know, feel free to ask!
Sarah Fessenden
Cespedes 2985
DTO: 2
Capital Federal 1426
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I would absolutely LOVE to get a letter from any one of you. And if you write me I promise to send a postcard/write back! :-)
Does anyone have anything different that they would like me to write about on here? Any questions about my daily routine or whatever you'd like to know, feel free to ask!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
A job in AR
So, I must start this post of with my exciting day on Monday. When I got home at 10:30 that night, I was excited. Like the jumping up and down kind of excited. Why, you might ask? Well...my day started with the normal school thing. On my lunch break I checked my email and saw that I had an email from Elizabeth, one of the STINTers, asking me if I could help out at a school of English that night. Apparently one of the teachers was sick so they needed someone to come it. At first I was a little apprehensive because I didn´t know how to get there and I would have to take a bus. Yes, the bus again. Those things are monsterous. However, with help from Elizabeth trying to figure out the route, I MADE IT! In one piece. Well, I ended up ¨teaching¨three classes of English, but all I really had to do was talk and ask questions. It was fun! It´s pretty sweet to be referred to as a ¨native¨speaker. hah. The first group I had was younger girls who were cute but didn´t know as much English. Then I worked with young adults my age or so and they were a little bit more advanced, but still shy with speaking. My last group was three adults. They were really cool because they spoke more fluently and had tons of questions. It definitely made me realize that I need to stop being worried about not being able to speak perfectly. These students had the same problem, and they will never get better unless they practice! (Completely the same for me!) And my goal was to become fluent, so let´s get a move on!!
No, but then at the end of the night she paid me!! And asked me to come back the next day! My day was just getting better and better. When I made it home safely on the bus, I was on cloud 9. I am now employed in AR! It only comes out to be like $5 an hour, but that´s way better than nothing! Whoot. God gave me a great opportunity with this job and I cant say thank you enough!
So I went again on Tuesday and she even gave me a snack. The woman i have talked to is very nice and so appreciative that I´m willing to come and work for her. I don´t think she´ll need me for at least another week or two, but it´s nice to have the opportunity.
Yesterday was a holiday for Argentines, their independence day, and so I didn´t do much of anything. I´ve realized that boredom is not my friend here in AR. It allows me too much time to think and miss home/friends. So next time I have a day off, I need to plan on doing something. Yesterday was just not a very good day. I did do something productive though! I ran for a little bit in the morning around a lake that is nearby. It was pretty and I felt better afterwards. I eat so much good food here, yet never excercise. And now there is a girl in my class who said that she wants to go run with me. That´ll be nice.
Next I´m trying to plan a trip for the week that we have off in the next couple of weeks. I want to go to the beautiful Iguazu waterfalls in Cataratas. They are in the movie ¨The Mission,¨if you´ve seen it. It´s stressful trying to figure out where to go and who to ask about prices...ugh. Anyways, gotta run.
Un beso!
No, but then at the end of the night she paid me!! And asked me to come back the next day! My day was just getting better and better. When I made it home safely on the bus, I was on cloud 9. I am now employed in AR! It only comes out to be like $5 an hour, but that´s way better than nothing! Whoot. God gave me a great opportunity with this job and I cant say thank you enough!
So I went again on Tuesday and she even gave me a snack. The woman i have talked to is very nice and so appreciative that I´m willing to come and work for her. I don´t think she´ll need me for at least another week or two, but it´s nice to have the opportunity.
Yesterday was a holiday for Argentines, their independence day, and so I didn´t do much of anything. I´ve realized that boredom is not my friend here in AR. It allows me too much time to think and miss home/friends. So next time I have a day off, I need to plan on doing something. Yesterday was just not a very good day. I did do something productive though! I ran for a little bit in the morning around a lake that is nearby. It was pretty and I felt better afterwards. I eat so much good food here, yet never excercise. And now there is a girl in my class who said that she wants to go run with me. That´ll be nice.
Next I´m trying to plan a trip for the week that we have off in the next couple of weeks. I want to go to the beautiful Iguazu waterfalls in Cataratas. They are in the movie ¨The Mission,¨if you´ve seen it. It´s stressful trying to figure out where to go and who to ask about prices...ugh. Anyways, gotta run.
Un beso!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The poor cows...
Hola todos!
Everything continues to go well here in AR. I had a good weekend that has ended with a rainy Sunday evening. (It doesn´t rain much here, so I hear) Friday, 4th of July, I am sad to report that I did nothing festive. Unless I wanted to go to the bar and drink it up to celebrate our independence, there wasn´t much to do to celebrate. So I went to the Vida meeting (Crusade) and met some more Argentines. That was cool...everyone is very nice. We had some yummy homemade pizza and watched ¨Fun With Dick and Jane¨ in English with Spanish subtitles, ha. Apparently unless it´s a little kid´s movie, their movies from the US are all in English. It works for me! :-)
Saturday we got up suuuper early to go to Tigre, a nearby city. It´s a very nice place...definitely not as crazy as BsAs. We took a train to get there, which costed all of like $.75 and took about 30 minutes. We went on a boat ride, wandered around the fair, and then saw a couple of museums. It was a good day with a ton of walking. I slept very good last night. ha. I also talked to Betsy last night, which was loong overdue. I´m telling you, this Skype thing is a good idea guys!! Although she did make me cry for the first time since being here! Jerk! ;-) Then today church was cancelled (because there is a missions project going on up in the north) so I got to sleep in a little. It felt wonderful. But I met Chris and Abby and we went to a different fair here, which had sooo much cool stuff. I wish I had a ton of money to spend. Then we decided to go somewhere to eat, so we went into this restaraunt and came out changed people. haha. No, we ordered this special that they had and it turned out to be like every part inside a cow. I tried most of it, but it was a lot of meat and some just was not meant to be served on a plate. My stomach is a little queasy now. And I am not a picky eater, so you know it was a little bit ¨different.¨
So now I´m just at home, enjoying the peace while I can. Lately there has been a lot of yelling going on when everyone is home. Either Valentine is tired and crabbing about something, or Vicky is yelling at Augustin because he didn´t do his homework or he needs to do better in school, etc. It gets wearing, but I asked for kids!! haha. I´ll get used to it. Anyways, hope everyone´s 4th of July was great!!
XOXO
Everything continues to go well here in AR. I had a good weekend that has ended with a rainy Sunday evening. (It doesn´t rain much here, so I hear) Friday, 4th of July, I am sad to report that I did nothing festive. Unless I wanted to go to the bar and drink it up to celebrate our independence, there wasn´t much to do to celebrate. So I went to the Vida meeting (Crusade) and met some more Argentines. That was cool...everyone is very nice. We had some yummy homemade pizza and watched ¨Fun With Dick and Jane¨ in English with Spanish subtitles, ha. Apparently unless it´s a little kid´s movie, their movies from the US are all in English. It works for me! :-)
Saturday we got up suuuper early to go to Tigre, a nearby city. It´s a very nice place...definitely not as crazy as BsAs. We took a train to get there, which costed all of like $.75 and took about 30 minutes. We went on a boat ride, wandered around the fair, and then saw a couple of museums. It was a good day with a ton of walking. I slept very good last night. ha. I also talked to Betsy last night, which was loong overdue. I´m telling you, this Skype thing is a good idea guys!! Although she did make me cry for the first time since being here! Jerk! ;-) Then today church was cancelled (because there is a missions project going on up in the north) so I got to sleep in a little. It felt wonderful. But I met Chris and Abby and we went to a different fair here, which had sooo much cool stuff. I wish I had a ton of money to spend. Then we decided to go somewhere to eat, so we went into this restaraunt and came out changed people. haha. No, we ordered this special that they had and it turned out to be like every part inside a cow. I tried most of it, but it was a lot of meat and some just was not meant to be served on a plate. My stomach is a little queasy now. And I am not a picky eater, so you know it was a little bit ¨different.¨
So now I´m just at home, enjoying the peace while I can. Lately there has been a lot of yelling going on when everyone is home. Either Valentine is tired and crabbing about something, or Vicky is yelling at Augustin because he didn´t do his homework or he needs to do better in school, etc. It gets wearing, but I asked for kids!! haha. I´ll get used to it. Anyways, hope everyone´s 4th of July was great!!
XOXO
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Auntie Sarah
Good news from home...
I'm going to be an AUNT! :-) Hooray...that makes me excited. Now someday I'll be able to show Whitney pictures of my even cuter niece or nephew. ;-) haha, totally joking.
Hmm...what else is new. I went to a "Bible study" on Monday with the couple of girls that I met at church on Sunday. The reason I say "Bible study" is because we never actually studied the Bible! ha, but the promised me it isn't like that every week. We had some yummy food (a constant theme here in AR) and chatted. I met the 3 girls who are STINTing here and they are super nice. However, they speak English to me which doesn't help me a whole lot. I am really going to have to work at speaking more Spanish if I want to become fluent. I've learned that there are a whoole lot of ways around speaking it here. I need to work on that.
This week hasn't been too eventful so far. Which isn't really a bad thing. I got to talk to my mom for awhile yesterday, which was nice. So if anyone loves me enough to download Skype and talk to me, I will arrange a time to talk with you. :-)
Class is going well. The day generally goes by pretty quickly and the class itself is quite easy. The only thing that i realized that I really should work on is my vocabulary. There are so many simple words that I don't even know. But I'm learning, so that's good! Anyways, I should get working on my last English paper for my online class...then I will officially be done with English forever!! whoohoo. ha. But really, it's exciting.
Hasta luego friends!
I'm going to be an AUNT! :-) Hooray...that makes me excited. Now someday I'll be able to show Whitney pictures of my even cuter niece or nephew. ;-) haha, totally joking.
Hmm...what else is new. I went to a "Bible study" on Monday with the couple of girls that I met at church on Sunday. The reason I say "Bible study" is because we never actually studied the Bible! ha, but the promised me it isn't like that every week. We had some yummy food (a constant theme here in AR) and chatted. I met the 3 girls who are STINTing here and they are super nice. However, they speak English to me which doesn't help me a whole lot. I am really going to have to work at speaking more Spanish if I want to become fluent. I've learned that there are a whoole lot of ways around speaking it here. I need to work on that.
This week hasn't been too eventful so far. Which isn't really a bad thing. I got to talk to my mom for awhile yesterday, which was nice. So if anyone loves me enough to download Skype and talk to me, I will arrange a time to talk with you. :-)
Class is going well. The day generally goes by pretty quickly and the class itself is quite easy. The only thing that i realized that I really should work on is my vocabulary. There are so many simple words that I don't even know. But I'm learning, so that's good! Anyways, I should get working on my last English paper for my online class...then I will officially be done with English forever!! whoohoo. ha. But really, it's exciting.
Hasta luego friends!
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