Change of plans

So I was supposed to fly to tomorrow. I decide to live here indefinitely.  If you could send me a package with all my friends and famiy, Bouie and marshmallows, ill be all set. Gracias.

Fullfilment

I love how the Lord uses music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxJOHRN-MUE

I dont want to go home

We have been itching to go see Hangover 2 for about 2 weeks and we finally got a chance to go last Monday. Although it was pretty much exactly the same plot as the first one, it was still hillarious. And only 4 American dollars! Not too bad Arg.

We didnt do too much that week because we were getting ready for our week of finals. We went and cooked dinner at Missy's on Thursday, as usual. I am going to miss our weekly dinners with Dora!
That Friday we had a review for our history test during the day and then Missy Taylor and Esther came over to study/ take mate/ and hang out. After we ate our body weight in chocolate, Esther and Taylor decided that they wanted to go out. Considering that I was still in my workout clothes and Missy also was in sweats (actually she was in my sweat pants and sweatshirt because thats how we do it here. Whoever's house we are at has to lend clothes to everyone because bringing stuff is such a hassle! haha) but anyways Missy and I decide to stay in and watch a movie. We watched Going the Distance with Charlie Day (which is actually a really funy movie) but after watching that I am now addicted to It's Always Sunny. I may or may not be already be on season 4...   The next morning we made french toast and it was AMAZING! With dulce de leche y creama. Buenisimo.

The next night we went to the Paseo and all got hair wraps. I am really Argentine now :)

Mustaches....

That Monday started our week of tests. We had 4 tests in 4 days so there is not much to tell about that week. Thursday we went downtown and Taylor and Missy got piercings as a  bit of a reward for studying so hard.

Friday we woke up early and took a day trip to Villa General Belgrano. It is this little german tourist town about 2 hours from here. We have heard a lot about it and finally decided to take the germans with us and go. We got there about 11 and had coffee in this cute little cafe while the German had some more or less authentic german strusel. The shops were so cute and Taylor and I had a great time just walking around for a few hours. We had lunch at this authentic german restaurant, even the germans said so.  This little town is also famous for its chocolate, so of course we tried all the different flavors. We caught a bus back at about 7 and were home by 9.

That night Taylor Missy, Jessie and I went to an asado at Jonathan's house. A few of the guys from our volleyball team were there and we had a great time showing them shag, while they showed us cumbia y other danzas.

We went out dancing that night and it was really fun, as usual. Got back super late, as usual.

The next day, saturday, Esther and I went and took mate in the park. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time just talking. This little boy kept coming up to us, but every time we said hi, how are you? he would just run away.  Finally the little girl got enough courage to actually talk to us, and after she said hi and figured out we were nice, about 7 more swarmed us. They were like- you're talking in english!! It was so fun to be around kids again. Every time I spend time with children I am reminded how God's amazing love. The innocence that fills children, and their uninhibited spirit is incredible.

That night was the going away party the school threw for us. We got all dressed up and went downtown to a club they rented out for us.  We did our tango dance and our folklore dance. Tango. was. awkward. I danced with a kid who dropped the class the first week but since 3 out of our 7 boys didnt show up they made him dance. It was incredibly uncomfortable because he had no idea what he was doing, so we just ended up walking in a zig zag back and forth. Good times. :) The folklore dance was fun though! We got to wear the huge skirts and use silly string and confetti. I might have slipped on the silly string, but I dont think it was that obvious. I hope. We had a few people sing on stage and then they showed a slideshow of pictures from the whole semester. It was really sad because it finally hit us that we are leaving soon. Which believe it or not, I don't really want to come home yet! But after the slidshow they turned the music back on and we danced for a few more hours so we kinda forgot that we only have about 9 days left!

I think this picture embodies us pretty well...

Thanks Jeff...

The silly string/shaving cream they sprayed on us

Those skirts were extremely entertaining.

We got to hang out with the professors too- I love that aspect of this culture. The teachers were there dancing and partying with us- we are going to miss them for sure.

Next day, Sunday, I went with my family and Billy to have lunch at my grandparents. Sunday lunches are something I am really going to miss. I love the importance of family in the culture and how close they are. Not out of obligation, but they genuinely love to be around each other.

Monday I had an oral presentation and afterwards we went to Esthers to take mate and watch Twilight.  Taylor has never seen any of them and I bit the bullet and watched it again. Hate to say it, but I kinda like those movies now...

Tuesday we had our last bible study. I completely forgot and since we didnt have class, I as sitting in bed watching Its always Sunny when taylor messaged me to ask if I was coming. 15 minutes before it started. I freaked out a bit and rushed to get ready. Considering how long the bus takes, I decided to run there because thats faster. So I showed up out of breath and 30 minutes late. Awesome! But it was great as usual. The Lord blessed me so much with the Alexanders and our weekly meetings.

In the first picture Taylor thought she looked really short, so this is the second take where we helped her out a little bit :)

I had my last exam thursday and I'm done!! Well except for the 12pg paper and project we have to do for  Clemson due next week. But done with classes!
We had taller cultural clase yesterday and we made alfajores (really good famous argentine cookies) and rode horse. My favorite class by far. That night we went over to Silvias house for a pizza party. Silvia is our teacher for taller cultural and she is amazing. She pretty much has the life I want. Riding horses all day, cooking, and drinking mate. :)

My sister Candi got home yesterday from Switzerland and showerd my family with gifts. It was hilarious watching my two sisters fight over everything she brought home.

9 days left. Absolutely insane and I don't really like to think about it. Of corse I want to come home and see everyone, but I love it here and don't really want to leave....
[sorry these posts are always so long!]

Iguazu

So if you do not already know, Iguazu falls are these HUGE waterfalls located in the upper tip of Argentina and partly in Brazil. And when I say huge, I mean they make Niagra falls look like a bucket.

We set off Tuesday afternoon on the 22h bus ride up to Iguazu. Yes, 22 hours. As crazy as it sounds, we have really gotten used to these insanely long bus rides and they aren't so bad anymore.  Especially when you have such great movies as Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore to entertain you. No im not kidding. 

We got there about noon on Wednesday and went to the hostel. As crazy as it sounds, staying at the hostel was maybe one of my favorite parts of the trip. Dont get me wrong, I absolutely loved the falls and you will see why in a second, but I love meeting new people at the hostels. I loved sitting at the table drinking my coffe and talking to people as they came to get breakfast. People from all over the world just traveling and enjoying life. I also loved listening to their accents, especially Ireland/England/Australia.  

 These were two of our friends that were always hanging around the hostel: Che/john and Catherine. They did not like each other very much.

The next day the other half of our group arrived and we set off for the falls. You will notice a new face on the left, our new friend Oli. When met him as we were entering the park and he ended up tagging along with us all day. I figured out that no matter what the phrase is, it sounds way better when said with a British accent.  My favorite thing he said that day was "she went over the fall in a barrel?" and I made him say it a few times. :)

 There is no possible way that I could accurately decribe how amazing the falls were. We all just saw them and got kinda quiet. It was pretty much all you could see for a mile and the part that amazed me the most was the magnitude of the water! I tried to get pictures, but they don't even come close. Google earth it- it's worth it.

Of course we had to get a tiger paw picture

 Jeff got really jealous of the huge tour group and tried to join but he stuck out a little.

The rainbows from the mist were breathtaking. 

One of the view points was really close to the waterfall and so you got soak from the mist. This was one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. It pretty much just sums up Jessie. 

The butterflies were incredible. Not only were they gorgeous, but they were everywhere! this was my favorite, its wings had an 88 on the outside and the inside were a bright orange.

But don't touch! haha

an when i say there were a ton of butterflies, I mean a ton. Mira: 

There was a Sheraton Hotel INSIDE the national park. Weird.

These little guys are called coaties and the best way I can describe them is they are a mix between an ant eater and a raccoon. They were everywhere and really cute at first, but then they got a bit annoying. They kept trying to get our food, but there were tons of signs that said not to feed them. Signs that said if they get people food they get aggressive. This is one of the signs:

 That night we went back to the hostel and had a great time playing telephone pictionary and cooking dinner. The next morning we woke up "early" and got to the park to take a "monkey hike" as we called it. It was a nature trail in which we did see some monkeys and then ended up at this little waterfall and natural pool at the end. Of course Jeff had to get under the fall.

Then we did the coolest part of the whole trip. We took a boat ride pretty much into the fall! If you look closely in this picture you will see the boat we took. Luckily they gave us dry bags because we sat in the back of the boat and got SOAKING wet. It was amazing. The first round we were allowed to have our cameras because we didn't get that close- but round two we put everything up and went right up against the fall. My favorite quote was when we were right up against the falls and couldn't even open our eyes because there was so much water and the girl next to me goes "I want to look but I can't, it's just too beautiful!" haha  

We went right under this rainbow. The Lord is incredibly creative.

This is what we all looked like in our rain jackets. Thank you Missy for being my Vanna white. 

To get to the boat dock, we had to walk down the side of one of the falls and there was no railing. Thats pretty normal for Argentina though.

This is a video I took on the boat. It doesn't do it justice, but it's a glimpse!

That night I got a little sick, but luckily I had wonderful friends there to get my sprite and crackers in the morning. Half of the group left that morning and so Missy, Taylor, Jessie and I took it easy and walked to the three borders. Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay are all touching, and there is one point where you can see all three at the same time.

I am standing in Argentina, Brazil is on the right and Paraguay is on the left. A river separates the three.

Each country had an obelisque  (I had no idea what that was but Missy informed us it is the monument in the photo.) It was really cool to stand or Argentina and see into two different countries at the same time.

That night we went to this Asian restaurant and got REAL Chinese food. So good. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but it smelt so good I had to eat some. Worth it. The walls were covered with chalk writing and when we asked the owner he told us that they didn't let people write on the walls anymore. But 2 minutes later he came by with some chalk and just smiled. O and the chalk he brought us was orange and purple. What are the odds of that?!  

We left our mark in Puerto Iguazu :)

All in all, it was an amazing trip. The waterfalls were breathtaking, the town of Iguazu was precious and really fun, but once again it was the people that made the trip. The Lord has blessed me beyond belief with these people and I cannot imagine the past 5 months without them. 

Manos Arrrrriba

Ok I got a little behind so I might just do some sparknotes!

The youth at my mom's church invited us to come cook Chop Suey (how do you spell that?) and hang out. It was great and we really enjoyed talking about the bible, eating ice cream, and listening to one guy play his guitar. I love how nights usually end up with someone pulling out a guitar.

That week I was finally able to go to volleyball. There have a lot of intramural teams (mass o menos) that practice twice a week. I loved getting to meet other Argentine students at my school since all my classes are just exchange students. I discovered how rusty I truly am at volleyball, but they didnt care. They thought my accent was funny and so they just always laughed. O and when I intrudeced myself as Fran one guy thought I said "Juan" so he called me Juan for a while until someone corrected him. I was just going to let me continue calling me Juan- I mean how many girls do you know names Juan?

Andreas' birthday was that week and so we went to celebrate at Maracuya and had a great time just talking and eating their amazing pizza.  Esther spent the night and this is what my room looks like when you try to put another mattress in it. Love it :)

The next day we went downtown to do a little exploring of Cordoba. We went to the Eva museum and then to a church whos name i can't remember.... The art museum was pretty cool, but the building was what fascinated me the most. It was the old house of the governer, then it was owned by the Perons, and they recently turned it into an art museum. I loved the huge staircase and the gigantic rooms and the tile floors.  (this is a view of the church from behind the pulpit. There were no signs roping it off......) 

That night we went to eat SUSHI at Yuri's house. It was wonderful and all handmade by Yuir. She taught us how to do it and we made some ourselves too. My mom here was so jealous and insisted I get the recipe. Now I know how to make it so get ready roomies- next year is going to be fun.

After sushi Esther Taylor and I went downtown to hang out with Any. We played telephone pictionary (of course) and then went dancing. I love the dance clubs here because the dancing is actually fun! And the boys dance too- cumbia and corteta are the two most common and are really fun and pretty simple. But we still stick out. O well

Side note, Missy was gone this whole week back to the states to see her best friend graduate. (her mom works for Delta) so we wanted to secretly hate her for leaving us but we couldn't cause she brought us peanut butter.

Esther and I FINALLY got our visas! It only took about 10 times going downtown at the crack of dawn, pero por fin- las conseguimos!

That week in taller cultural we got to do barrel racing! I felt like I was in a rodeo, it was great! They really have no rules down here. They just stuck us on a horse and said ok go as fast as you can and weave in and out of the barrels. O and try not to fall. Chau.

Love it.

And then we went downtown and went to an art museum. We kind of had to for class. I really dislike modern art, but Missy and Esther helped make it more entertaining.

 

That saturday was epic. I can't really do it justice so I will just give the highlights:

It started with an organized pillow fight in the park

They we walked through the park and talked to tons of different people. We tried some rope/cloth climbing and then some tight rope walking. I love how open everyone is here. We saw some people doing it so we walked up and asked if we could try. They gave us a tutorial and said go for it! 

then we went to SUPER PARK! We have wanted to go forever and finally got to go. We rode two huge rides and then did bumper cars.  You are never too old for the fair. Charlie captured one of the rides on video. Every couple of minutes Esther would say "manos arrrrrrrriba" and it became the catchphrase of the trip. The best is when Any starts to accidently smush the small child next to her haha

After that I got my first churro- basically a dulce de leche filled stick of hot dough. Delicious.

After that we went back to Any's apprtment to cook pizza and play games. We decided to see what Ivan's hair would look like braided. Not so manly......

And after that. at 3 in the morning, we went bowling. It was in the middle of a bar and super loud, but worth it. Got home at 6:30 in the morning and slept until 4pm the next day. I don't understand how they do it.  Pero a la vez, me encanta. Todo ello.