Every day is a new adventure down here.

Ok I've been slacking a bit, so here is this past week:

Alright so Monday we had class and then went to our new favorite place in Cordoba: Creambury. This place is amazing and is going to be really bad in the long run because it has amazing cake and ice cream and coffee and everything. Anyways, we were all feeling a bit off because it was monday so we went and got ice cream and hung out for a while- because nothing cures a case of the mondays like dessert. After Creambury I went over to Missy's house and had dinner with her and her mom. Dora (her mom) is one of my new favorite people because she is just always happy! She gives you a big kiss when you walk in and just loves to cook for people. After dinner we went and hung out with some of the new exchange students. I'm loving getting to know them all. Got home at 1.

(Dora and me!)

(me, Missy and Esther)

Tuesday-We had class as usual, then tango class. I was actually excited about it because when the new students arrived a few of them signed up for the tango class so we had like 4 new boys. This class was actually pretty fun! The instructor talked entirely too much as usual, but we did a few fun exercises: including having one partner close their eyes while the other one leads them around with one hand. It was more or less just bumper cars, but very entertaining. After tango we went to dinner with a huge group. A lot of our tutors were there and it was great to speak spanish in a relaxed setting, but have people there who could help when we got stuck. After dinner we hung out with some other new students and I ended up having some amazing conversations, the first of many I'm sure. Got home at 2:30

Wednesday- We went to Creambury again after school and Taylor had a great moment. She went to the bathroom and came back looking really embarrassed. She came back to the table and said "I forgot for a second that we were in a spanish speaking country, and I thought the M on the door stood for male so I went into the other one and only when I saw the urinal did I realized the the M probably meant Mujer (spanish for woman) and so I was in the boys." Best 'accidentally walking into the wrong bathroom' story I've ever heard

:)

After Creambury Missy and Esther came over for dinner. They got to meet my family and experience my crazy sisters at their prime. My mom made a cake and cookies, and I didnt want to be rude, so of course I had a little of both. :) After dinner our new friend Andreas came over and we all watched a movie. We watch movies in English, but always put them in Spanish subtitles so it's not really cheating. Went to bed at 2:30. If you can't tell, this country likes to do things late haha

Thursday: Somehow we heard of this reggae festival that was happening downtown, so of course we had to go! We killed time at Missy's house (I live in the opposite direction of downtown, so whenever we want to go downtown after class I just go over to friends houses because it would take me over an hour to get home and back) The reggae festival was AMAZING! It was downtown in the biggest park in Cordoba, and it had three streets blocked off. It was incredible how many people were there. It was a Brazilian traveling band, and so a ton of hippies were there, and I'm sure a group of young, white foreigners didn't stand out at all, but o well it was really cool. We also finally got to go into the "big circle park" as we call it. There is a huge park with all these statues in the shape of circles that is always blocked off, but tonight it wasn't, so of course we went in and took pictures. 

After the reggae festival we went to an Irish pub for St. Pattys day.(O yeah it was St. Patricks day by the way, if you can't tell by our festive dress haha) Apparently Argentina doesn't care about St. Patricks day becaue the bar was full of Americans. We actually saw my crash landing parapenting partner there! Random.

Being one of the only sober ones has it's advantages sometime. Like when one of the german guys picked up a girl and then tripped over a stair and dropped her hahaha, or when they were all in search for "the magic man with the green beer" for like 20 minutes- who did not exist.

Got home at 430 and we were the first to leave the club. This country is going to kill me!

Friday- Missy, Taylor, Lauren and Gracen came over ate we had a typical american day and it was wonderful. We sat outside and and talked for hours while eating junk food and then watched a movie. My idea of a perfect day.

Saturday was a beautiful day so of course we more or less invited ourselves over to Andreas house to lay out by his awesome pool! I can not say enough how much I love his family. He has two younger brothers and one younger sister who are all learning english so we had fun talking to them all day. Lauren and Missy told their families they would be home for dinner, so they left around 6, but my family was out to a party, so when Andrea's family asked me to stay and help cook fajitas- of course I said yes! We took a family (well their family plus me) trip to the supermarket and then cooked the fajitas on the outside grill, which is called an asado here. His dad used to work at a mexican restaurant so the food was delicious!

( I got to cut the onions! This is onions, peppers, and chicken)

(His dad cooking everything outside. I actually got to help for once! Even if I did do it wrong the first time.......)  ( Andy with his authentic german beer that he brought for his family)

Im happy to announce that I have a new boyfriend. He asked me to the cinemas and we have a pending date. His name is Geronemo and he is 12.

(I hope he can get in if we go to a PG-13 movie)

As tired as we were and full of amazing food, we went out after dinner. We told or friends we would come and are both too much of a pushover to say no. So we GOT downtown at 1:00 to a "house party" that had over 400 people easy.  There was absolutely no personal space. We got tired of that very quickly, but by the time I got home it was 5. My neighbors were STILL having a a party that was extremely loud. Therefore, I was lulled to sleep by the village people and YMCA. Awesome.

Sunday- I was feeling a bit down from the whole weekend, so naturally Taylor Esther and I went to Creambury. :) Taylor and Esther are such a blessing I have no idea what I would do down here without them. We talked about how we are going to make a change as to how we spend our time. We honestly don't enjoy going out every weekend and decided to find other ways to enjoy this country with the group! 

I know now that I am here to love on this amazing group of God’s children that He has put me with. I am here to share this adventure with them and go through the same experiences, but at the same time to be different. To act in a way so that they can see a difference in my words and actions, so that hopefully they can see the Lord through me. I like the quote a friend shared with me:

“Always preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words”. 

After Creambury I went home and had a really great dinner with my family. The Lord always knows how to make me smile after a hard day.

Monday- We had class as usual and then went to WALMART!!! 

Yes they actually have a Walmart here!

We walked in and immediately felt at home. It was pretty cool, but kinda small. I guess the American in me was expecting a super Walmart haha. But it did have groceries so I guess it was sort of a super Walmart. We brought Achie and Andy with us, and Achie had never been to a Walmart before so it was fun to see his reaction, and he was not really all that impressed. He said it was dirty and a lot of cheap stuff, and we were like yeah- thats the point! All in all I was extremely disappointed, because it did not have the ONLY thing I really wanted: marshmallows!! O well I can hold out another 3 months. Maybe.

Monday was also Jonathan's 21st birthday so his mom threw him a party at his house. His family is absolutely wonderful and obviously loves him because when his mom brought out the cake, his dad (who is well into his 70's) came out in a kimono, a wig, and sunglasses and started singing happy birthday! It was a great night.

Tuesday we had class as usual and then Tango. I hate to say it but I think that was my last Tango class. I thought it would get less awkward as the semester went on, but I think it has somehow gotten more awkward?! Not sure how that happened. Vamos a ver!

Tomorrow is wednesday and we leave for our trip to Noroeste (Northwest). I am really excited because this trip is more about history and native culture than sight seeing. 

So I have an excuse for not updating until next week :)

Mezcla

Yesterday all of the international students went on a weekend trip to the Sierras as a way for us to get to know the new students. Since all the Clemson students have been here for a month, we have formed groups and gotten comfortable in our routine, but this weekend I loved meeting the new kids. There are a handful from Germany, a few from France, and the rest from all over the US.
We left here early saturday morning and took a 3 hour bus ride to a weekend retreat place, I guess thats how I would describe it. It had a soccer field, pool, volleyball field, a bunch of cabin. We had one huge room for girls and one for guys. It was an adventure trying to sleep all 30 something girls in one room, considering the bunks were three beds high and did not have a ladder!

(8 sets of these on both walls. yeah thats a lot of girls in one place!)

It was rainy so we ended up playing cards (some games more dangerous than others thanks to Jessie) charades (in spanish) and other ice breaker games they make you play at camp to get to know each other! haha but it was really great because a group of about 10 of us ended up playing cards until 3 in the morning and loved it. Even if the Germans won every single time. Damn Europeans are so smart- they speak like 4 languages a dominate at cards. But they are by far some of my favorites.
A few of our teachers came with us and at one point they broke out their bongos, one guy brought his guitar, and one girl from Clemson sang, and I loved enjoying the music.

The people I have met down here are incredible. The ones from Clemson, Japan, Germany, the U.S and especially from Argentina. Before coming, I was really nervous about not knowing anyone going on the trip, but the Lord really blessed me with amazing friends.

The weather today was perfect, high 60's and sunny. I got to have a great run and sit on my porch and watch How I Met Your Mother with spanish subtitles :)

Not a very eventful weekend, but great all the same.

(Oh and mezcla means mixture in spanish)

O yeah, I have to take classes down here.

Yesterday was the first day of real classes. The first month we were here was the intensive month in which we had class, but it was different class. It was mainly just reading something every night and then talking about it the next day: all in spanish. But yesterday we began our actual classes:
Espanol Avanzado, Introducción a Los Generos Literarios, Historia Contemporánea de Argentina y America Latina, y Cultura. Classes start at 2 every day and go until 5:15. We have two classes every day, with Tango on Tuesdays and our culture workshop on Thursdays. O and no classes on Friday.
I could get used to this. I absolutely love all of my teachers. They are really easy to understand, they love the subjects they are teaching, and they are just really interesting people. I'm really excited for the next four months.

Yesterday was our weekly meeting with the Alexanders and every week I love it more. Now that I can actually talk, I am able to participate in the conversation and it's great. I love the doors that this weekly meeting has opened, with Esther and Taylor as well as with other students in our group.

Today was our culture class and we learned another dance of the gauchos, but I do not remember the name. We called it the snake dance because we literally held hand and skipped around in a serpent like fashion. Watching the boys do this is hilarious. We also learned another game of Argentina that is pretty much the same as batchy ball.

[We got the privilege of wearing these lovely "traditional" skirts. Keep in mind that it is 100 degrees down here so those smiles are a bit forced, but the dance was really fun so it was worth it.]

We stopped at a random hole in the wall restaurant for lunch and found this!!!!....

What I wouldn't do for a grilled chicken sandwich with waffle fries and a sweet tea/lemonade.....

Yesterday was the meeting about our trip to noroeste in two weeks. The place we are going is a small pueblo that is not very wealthy, material wise, but they are extremely rich in culture. The meeting was to start thinking of things we can bring them- non material things. We are already bringing them school supplies, computers, printers, and other thing they can use for school, but this meeting was about things from our culture that we can share with them. They are going to let us be a part of their lives, and their culture for a weekend, and we want to reciprocate and give back- if possible. I know I'm not making sense, but the idea is to share talents, skills, dances, songs, games, art: anything that we are able to show them as an aspect of OUR culture. You have no idea how hard it was for us to think of things, which is really sad! Some kids from Germany are going to sing a song, others are going to play the guitar, others are making food from their country (yes chocolate chip cookies were on the board as well!) and Missy and I are going to show them Shag dancing! I am a little dusty but we will practice.
O and we are going to make sweet tea!

Last night we went out with some of the new kids. It was great because since Clemson has by far the most students here, we tend to form a clique, but last night was great to hang out with people from all over the US, and germany. One kid from Germany is 16! I could never have done this at age 16. We got back at 3:30. Again- this country is crazy. Random fact: Germans speak so many languages!!! There are 4 of 5 here, and all of them speak at least 3 languages, proficiently.  Jealous.

Today Taylor and I met at UBP to go to el Cento to go shopping at this fair that apparently is really cheap and only comes once a year. We were walking out to the bus stop (and talking in english, whoops) when this girl walking next to us asked us where we were from. (in english) We started talking to her (in spanish) and ended up riding the bus with her and her friends all the way to el Centro. We exchanged numbers and made plans to hang out again- real Argentine friends!! When we got off the bus to go to the fair, we weren't quite sure where to go, so one of them ( a guy from Peru named Benjamin) got off the buss with us and helped us find the place. He ended up coming in and hanging out with us all afternoon! After the fair he was determined to find peanut butter (because we mentioned it was something we missed about the states) and he wanted to try it. We ended up not finding any peanut butter, or buying any clothes, but we made real Cordobese friends so it was a great day.

Tranquilo

Both yesterday and today were dias feriados (holidays) so we didn’t have school and neither did my sisters, and my mom had off work so it was great! Yesterday I slept in, ran, and then had a big family lunch with my grandparents and Raquel and my Great Aunt- I think that’s what she was, not sure. But after lunch I went over to Esther’s with Missy and Taylor and we cooked this really good postre I had seen my sisters make (saltines, dulce de leche, nesquick, and oatmeal- really good) and watched a movie. It was the perfect day after a crazy busy weekend.  Afterwards I got to have some really good skype convos and then went to Missy’s to spend the night.  Her mother is a dog breeder and so right now there is the cutest set of little beagle puppies. They are so cute it hurts. And there are 5 of them.

                                      

                                                                                          (imagine this, times 5)

Today Esther, Missy and I went to el Centro to walk around.  (Taylor caught a virus in BA and so she is taking it easy for a few days unfortunately) We had absolutely no plan and just decided to get off the bus and walk around. I’ve said before that there are stray dogs everywhere in this city, and sometimes they will follow you- like today. We had one dog- who we eventually named Sige, which is Spanish for follow- we had one dog follow us for over 45 minutes! We wandered into a random rose garden, a theme park, and eventually made it to the park. We almost went on paddle boats (but the other two were too lazy and said they would only go if I promised to do all the paddling) so we just ended up getting a coke and people watching.

Very tranquil day but it was much needed because classes start tomorrow. I kinda forgot that I’m actually taking classes while I’m down here!

Buenos Aires

I have been slacking a bit lately on my blogging so I am going to recap:

Last weekend was La Cumbre- amazing.

Monday: Candi’s birthday

Tuesday: culture class

Wednesday: tango (always entertaining)

Also, on Wednesday we got a whole new group of international students. These students didn’t need to come for the intensive month so their Spanish is really good, and therefore makes me want to study more! We’ve been here for a month so we should be better than them! Haha but no I’m really excited to get to know them and since we are going to all be in the same classes so It will be great to get to know kids from all over the world.

Thursday: we had out final test. It was easier than the first test but I still had trouble with a lot of vocab- we get our grades back tomorrow so fingers crossed. After the test we had about 5 hours until we had to be downtown packed and ready  for our trip to Beunos Aires!!!

And so begins the Buenos Aires post:

We left at 10:30 Thursday night and embarked on a 10 and a half hour bus ride. It sounds unbearably long, but the buses were actually really nice- more comfortable than an airplane that’s for sure. We watched a movie and then slept the whole rest of the way- not half bad Argentina! (also, gracias to the Benedryl that helped me sleep through the night) 

(me and my bus buddy Jules)

We arrived in BA early sat morning and went on a bud tour. BA is the capital of Argentina and the largest city in the country. I expected it to be a lot like NYC with huge buildings and tons of people, but I was pleasantly surprised. Yes there were large buildings and a lot of people, but there were also a ton of huge parks and open spaces. I loved the architecture and the total feel of the city. 

After the tour we went to La Boca which is the neighborhood were Tango was “born”.

La boca is the neighborhood where Carlos Gardel the father of tango lived, and it is such a cool neighborhood. All the building are different colors and there were tons of people dressed up in tango gear to take pictures with people in the streets. There was another open market and I never get tired of seeing all the hand made art. The people down here are so creative with what they can make from random materials! I've decided to start accumulating art from all these fairs to bring home with me- it's cheap and really good. (and I can say that I got it from Argentina)

After la Boca we went to a few museums and walked around a bit.

That night we went to the port (NAME) and it the smell of salt water reminded me of home. There was this really cool bridge called La Puente de la Mujer ( The Woman's bridge) and it is apparently a replica of a bridge in Savannah GA? Pretty cool to see at night

We went to dinner at a restaurant on the water called Sige la Baca (I think) and it was a parilla libre, which means open grille. If you have ever been to a Brazilian steak house where you have a green card and a red card- that is what this place was like. There was a huge open grill in the middle of the restaurant and two big salad bars. You could go up as many times as you wanted and just point at which part of meat you wanted and they chef would use his HUGE knife to whack you off a slice, and give it to you. They had all different types of meat- cow, chicken, sausage, and many other things that I would just rather not know.  They also had an amazing salad bar- but the salad bars are pretty different here because it included many different “pickled” things. But still good!

(this was round one for Esther)

In this country when you order a coke at a restaurant they bring you a glass bottle- which is smaller than a can I'm pretty sure- and there is no such thing as free refills. But at this restaurant, one of the perks was that, included with your meal, was one of three options for a drink: a 2 liter of coke, 2 liter of  beer, or a bottle of wine: PER PERSON. Ahhh I didn’t have to conserve my sips because I had two liters of coke light! It was glorious. O and the desert was amazing, Missy and I had a good time sharing 2 cheesecakes ( or 3, or 4, I don't really remember....)

O and yeah I tried pickled tongue. I promised myself I would try everything in this country at least once. If it wern't for the texture, (and the fact that it was tongue) I might have actually liked it. 

The next day we woke up and took a train out to El Tigre, which is a river in BA. We took a long ferry ride and drove past tons of country clubs. Apparently El Tiger is where the rich people of BA and of ARgentina go to have their summer houses or weekend houses. The coolest part was that there are no grocery stores out past a certain point, and the only way to get groceries is by a "grocery ship". You drive up on your boat and pick what you want off the ship full of fruit, coke, crackers and tons of other stuff. Very inventive.

We ate lunch and then went to another open market. Everything is so cheap I have to stop myself from buying it all. Leather is especially cheap down here, because it is made locally and made done- very cool.  

That night we got dressed up and when to a really nice dinner and tango show. But first, we went to another market. This one was different thought because it was at night, and there was dancing! It was the dance of the gauchos (cowboys) that we had learned in our culture class so I convinced Jeff to dance with me and we joined in. I love this culture :)

 Dinner that night was dinner and a show. It was a really nice dinner with a fixed menu. We chose an appetizer, entree and desert right when we got there and everything was delicious! I had pumpkin creeps with mushroom sauce, two of my favorite foods together. The best part was just the ambiance of the place. Everyone there was dressed up and, ready for the tango show. I loved feeling like a true Argentine for a while. When we finished eating the the show started and it was amazing. I loved the costumes and the dancing. Mom- I know you would have absolutely loved this. The dresses were all from the 60's and between the dancers they had two singers come out and sing original Gardel songs.  Great night.

The next day we woke up, and you guessed it, went to another market. But I'm telling you, they never get old! I love seeing what they have and since it is so cheap I don't feel guilty buying things. Get ready for some awesome souvenirs. 

Later we went to Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. All of the tombs were above ground mausoleums and were huge! Many of them could be small houses and had beautiful architecture.

It took us forever to find Eva's tomb because it was more or less hidden down one random aisle and surprisingly it was the size as all the others. When we finally found it people kept walking in front of us and didn't seem to care that we were trying to take a picture, so John stepped in to help. He wanted a picture so he decided to put his size to good use. He told us to get ready because he was going to block the way so we could take pictures- and thats what he did. He just stood in the way until he had a line behind him, waited until we got a picture and then, in his words "Watch out I'm about to open the flood gates" hahah no wonder everyone hates Americans- O well we got good pictures. Gracias Juan.

Came back to Cordoba by plane because it was easier and I was greeted in the airport with a big hug from my mom and Willy. I can't say enough how great my mom is: most of the other student had to find rides back, or take a taxi, but my mom insisted on coming to pick me up. The Lord really blessed me with a great family. 

Yet again, another great weekend. 

So blessed

This is going to be a really long post- sorry!

This is the post about last weekend.

To preface: Best. Weekend. Ever.

It started early saturday morning when I had to wake up at 6 (and went to bed at 3:20) because the other girls convinced me to take the 7:45 bus. We decided to take our free saturday and go to a little town that Alicia found in her travel book, La Cumbre. It was a struggle to get up, but worth it because the timing worked out perfectly. We got to the bus station, but in accordance with Argentina time schedules, the bus was late. When it arrived the four of us: Alicia, Esther, Taylor and I sat in the way back and stretched out. We were excited because we thought those were the best seats and no one else chose to sit there! Score.

False. The layout of the bus was a bit deceiving because the back seats were directly on the wheels. So whenever the bus went over a bump (which was about every 5 seconds) we caught some air in the back. So much for sleeping on the bus! Regardless, it was a really pretty ride out to La Cumbre.

We got there and grabbed a taxi to take us to the hostel. We had no idea that it was literally right around the corner and the driver just kinda chuckeled when we pulled up. It was a 6 peso cab ride and all the cabs here start at 4.50!  We imededitely fell in love with the hostel. It had a beautiful long driveway lined with trees that led up to this eclectic, adorable old house.

We walked in,  checked in, paid for the night, paid for parapente and left all in under about 8 minutes. We joked that our moms would not be proud of us and our savy traveling skills and as to how we were doing this! The lady was just like- parapente? and we said sure- heres some more money! and then jumped in the back of this guys truck and let him drive us away. haha but it worked out great!!

We jumped in his truck with a few other americans that we also staying at the hostel and headed to parapent! Not sure where that was exactly but the drive out there was gorgeous. We were in the mountains but could still see plains for miles. The temp was amazing and I could not help but just take a moment and feel incredible blessed to be in such an amazing place with amazing people.

We got to the place and piled out. Now I will admit that I really did not know what parapente was before I signed up for it. I googled it and saw the picture and said heck yes I want to do that! Well when we got there they gave us a run down of what was going to happen:

They strapped me in a harness, attachted me to the instructor who was attached to this massive parachute, and then they told me to just run. Off the mountain.

Yeah I really should have googled this a little better.

But I did it! He counted down and we ran!

I can honestly say it was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. The view from the air was incredible and the feeling of being suspended was unbelievable. I guess I was in awe and therefore not talking because after about 5 minutes in the air, the guide says "Want to chat?" haha I love the people in this country. The way he could maneuver that thing was incredible: we would go really high and then do some turns and spins and then go really low into the valley. At one point we got pretty low and I was excited because I thought we were going to do some cool maneuver to bring us back up into the sky, but nope. We got pretty close to the ground and the guy goes "We land now", and we did. In the middle of a field at the bottom of the mountain, with my friends and other parapenters at the top of the mountain completely out of site. The guy did not seem to be phased and said that this happens all the time and that the truck would be down in a while to come get us in a while. There was a river nearby and he told me to "go have a child moment down by the river" and he would come get me when the truck got there. So, I went and had a "child moment" by the river! One of the other american students that was staying at the hostel "crash landed" also so we ended up talking for like 30 minutes until the truck came and we all piled in and trucked back up the mountain. When we got to the top my friends had no idea where I had been for 45 mins because they couldn't find my parachute in the sky and just figured I had parapented back to the hostel or something.  haha all in all it was an amazing experience and I loved loved it!!

We went to lunch at this tiny restaurant and walked around the town. I love this country because you can get fruit, coke, a bottle of wine, crackers, and cookies for less than $10 american dollars. I finally let myself go into one of the little pastelerias (bakeries) and just get one of everything. (everything is bite sized so i'm not as fat as it sounds) I got like 5 or six things and it was 10 pesos. ($2.50) love this country. We went back and lounged around the pool and I read in the hammock for a while and just enjoyed the day. Another group of Clemson student ended up coming to La Cumbre with us, but came on a later bus so we met up with them later that day after they went parapente. We all went to dinner together and heard some "live" music. Walking back to the hostel we stumbled upon the greatest saturday night entertainment I have ever seen: a bunch a plastic chairs set up infront of a blow up screen. We figured they were showing a movie or something current, but no. On the large screen they were playing clips from old concerts of Tina Turner, Eurythmics, and other really old artists! It was hilarious to see all the old spanish people singing along and just loving it! I absolutly love small towns like this and one day I'm sure I will end up in one.

(you better believe we joined and watched for a while!)

(all of us: Jeff, Greyson, Esther, Jessie, Me, Missy, Johnathan, Taylor, Alicia)

We got back to the hostel and played cards and went to bed. It reminded me of being back at Clemson :)
The next day we woke up to the smell of breakfast. The lady who ran the tiny hostel had cafe, toast and jam (which is all they eat for breakfast) all hot and ready for us when we woke up. The mothers/ older women in this country love cooking and preparing meals for people! Love it.
We woke up ready to go hiking and "checked out" of the hostel. La Cumbre is famous for this huge statue of Jesus that is up on this mountain and the gorgeous view. The hike was beautiful and the view from up top was gorgeous.


We planned to go to this "artisans walk" afterwards which was on the other side of the mountain Jesus was on so Alicia and Esther went to the tourist office to get directions. The lady gave them a map and told us how to get to Jesus and then walk past him and around to the other side of the mountain to the art fair and it would take about 2 hours. Simple enough. It was not until about an hour after we realized we were lost that I found out that the map we were given was  hand-drawn. Awesome.
We spent about an hour and a half trying to find our way over the mountain and finally just gave up and went back to Jesus. We figured out that Jesus was trying to teach us a lesson: that when we wander away from Him, we will always get lost. Very true and in this case, very funny.

We finally got back, grabbed lunch and then went to this artisans walk. It was really cool because it was different than all the other open markets we had been to. It was a long street with a bunch of little house you could go into- but all of them were shops and had all hand crafted stuff. Very cool.
Taylor and I ended up sitting outside at this little cafe and had a Coke while we just enjoyed the view. We both decided that this was one of our favorite moments of the trip so far (besides parapente of course) but I just loved sitting outside and being able to see for miles.
The Lord truly is an artist, and I am loving being able to enjoy his work in this corner of the world :)

All in all it was an amazing. I don't think we stopped smiling the whole weekend.

Already been a month. Crazy.

Today we had our culture class at the estancia. Right when we got there we were ushered onto the dance floor and put into two lines: hombres y muejers. We learned the traditional dance of the gauchos (original cowboys of Argentina) and it was really fun! I guess I would compare it to square dancing but it was very different. It was a mix between tap, square and contra, with some spanish hand motions thrown in there. I liked it much better than tango because it was fast paced and it was not the list bit awkward, except when I messed up of course.

After dancing we had a lesson in mate (the tea). It was great becuase everyone here drinks mate all the time, but it was great to have everything explained to us: how they make it, what type of container/cups can be used, what the container is made of, what type of straw is the best, and many differnt ways to make it. There was one kind that had coffee in it and I didn't think i would like it, but I did! Many many things to bring back to the states.

(if you look close you can see the mate stuff on the tale and the mate cup in his hand)

After mate we learned a tradtional card game from Spain called "chanco". It was very similar to spoons or kemps, but with differnt cards. It was really fun to just hang out, drink mate, and play cards with everyone. I love these culture classes because they take to time to explain to us why things are the way they are, and then show us how to do it! Last week we rode horses and cooked, this week we learned tradional games and dances, and next week I think we are cooking again. Very excited.

After class I went home and was welcomed by about 25 teeneagers in my front yard. I did not know Candi was having a party, but it was fun to walk through the house and have all the little teenage boys be like- who are you?! haha I talked to them for a little bit and then went for a run because I didnt want to get in the way. As much as I know my famliy loves me, I doubt my sister wants me to sit on the couch and try to be in their conversation, my broken spanish kinda interupts the flow of conversation haha

Today was our last day of the intesive course and I can not believe that I have been here a month. It has flown by faster than you can imagine. I thought I would be missing home and friends so much, but I am too busy enjoying myself here! [sorry guys :) ] I still have a lot of trouble with the language and struggle constantly to understand people, but it is better each day. Now that I am familiar with the city, comfortable with my daily schedule, and loving my family: everything is easier! I love the people I have met here and the exeriences I have shared with them. The Lord really knows what hes doing and He has this entire adventure planned out for me. I cannot wait to see what else He has in store for the next 4 months. Nos vemos!

Starting to pick up

Yesterday was my day to catch up on things. I got to sleep in, have a few great conversations with friends from home, and do some cleaning. Class was pretty intersting becuase we got to just ask her questions we had about spanish: which verbs to use, how to act in certain situations, how and when to use tenses- things like that. Very helpful. After class we had Tango. It wasn't quite as bad as the last class becasue we did a few new moves that were fun, but it is still impossible to understand the teacher. Each week is a bit better.

After class we found a place to rent videos which is very exciting. It is really helpful to watch a movie in english with spanish subtitle, and like everything else in this country- it is super cheap. When I got home I was greeted by my whole family, my grandparents, Willy and his daughter, and Raquel. (Raquel is another student here from Clemson whose host family are the parents of my mom, so simply put, they are my grandparents and Raquel is my cousin- more or less) Anyways, the party was for my sister Candi's birthday and it was exactly the traditional spanish fiesta you would imagine. Everyone was loud, unorderly, and amazing. I love it when everyone gets togeher because I love to see the family dynamics. Willy barbequed (here they say asado) and the food was amazing. We had veggies, meat, meat, and more meat. Eveytime I thought we were finished WIlly would bring the next round  in from the asado and I didnt want to be rude so I would take the smallest piece I could find. So. much food. But is was delicious. I've said it before, but this family is amazing.
I feel so blessed to be a part of it. It was also great to have Raquel there because we would speak in english a tad bit when things got really awkward and we had no idea what was going on. We waited til midnight and then sang happy birthday to Candi. Right when I finished my piece of cake they tried to offer me more- I've decided that my mom is determied to make me fat. haha
It was a great night.

Mi familia!!

(my sister marti, a bit camera shy which is weird because everyone here LOVES pictures)

birthday girl Candi. 14 years young :)