Learning the art of cooking

So! After a week and a half of classes, I have finally decided my final schedule. Yes, we get time to try out classes here (about 2 weeks) and change around if we want. My first class is a Latin American history class, which is a bit difficult to understand at times. The professor seems nice enough though…it’s just the material that I find slightly dry. Latin America’s history is complicated stuff with tons of dates and conquerors, etc. Putting the whole thing in Spanish just makes it harder, ha. My next class is Latin American Literature from the 19th and 20th centuries. The professor is hilarious! He is also much easier to understand. He goes more slowly and takes time to make sure that we understand. He even says a few words in English occasionally, which is funny to hear. I thought lit. would be the worst, but I think I will like it. Thirdly, I have my Tango class. It is divided into two parts…Tango dance and Tango theory. The theory part is awesome! We are learning about the history, the music, art, and culture of Tango. Who knew it was so complex! The professor is interesting and also fairly easy to understand. We also spend a good 20-30 minutes of our 2-hour class listening to music, which I really enjoy. The dance class is fun too, of course. It helps having gone to the other tango class, but we learn some different stuff too. Finally, I have my class with Argentine students. I first tried two different psychology classes, which turned out to be way over my head. They were classes that followed another class, and so they talked about a bunch of things I had no idea anything about. On top of that, there was a lot of discussion that I could not participate in. As much as I hope I am improving in my Spanish, I am still lacking in a lot of areas. So, when I dropped those classes I picked up a few more to try out, including a cooking class!

Yes, that’s right. I have always wanted to take a cooking class, and what better place than Argentina! I was worried that it would be hard like the other ones, but it helped because there were two other “international” students in the class. It’s really weird to be labeled as that by the way. The professor is quite nice and I had a lot of fun! It is going to be work outside of the classroom as well, but I’m hoping that I will be able to handle it. Today we made stuffed chickens. Whole chickens, and we took out the bones ourselves without cutting the skin. Picture that. I think it’s pretty darn impressive, and tasted quite delicious. I am actually going to practice it and make it for my family on Friday. I’ll have to take pictures and post them. I wish I had had my camera at class today. I guess next week we’re learning different soups. Woohoo, I’m going to come back to the states a cooking pro (I hope).

The thing is, now that I have chosen my final schedule, I find my self in a situation that any university student would love, but I find myself worrying slightly about. I only have classes on Monday and Tuesday!! I can’t believe it. The week has just begun, yet I am completely done with classes. It’s wonderful in the sense that I can travel anywhere and have 5 free days free to do so. However, everyone else I know has classes at least one or two more days than me. I did find something that I think will help me occupy my time slightly though. It’s a volunteer organization called LIFE. It works with children in poor areas of town. Apparently every week there are different activities everyday. Some include playing soccer, tutoring, teaching English, and throwing birthday parties. I am super excited to start. It seems like a great organization. This weekend on Saturday it is “dia de los ninos” (kids day) and so apparently there is something big going on with the organization. I think I will help with that. I’m hoping it helps to keep me busy!