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 :)