One Month!

Ya know, I really pride myself on my writing expressing who I am and how I experience things as an individual. I try to avoid sounding like every other travel blog out there- they’re all lovely, but I want to be ~unique~. Alas, I couldn’t figure out a way around this one without sounding pretentious. So here goes.

Man, time flies!

I can’t believe it’s been a month already! The days pass normally, especially now as I’ve developed a routine and become more comfortable in my life here. But the weeks seem to slip past like quicksand. Every Sunday I look back kind of awestruck that 7 more days have passed.

Well, I got that over with. I guess it's a universally used line because it's a universally experienced sensation, but still. I resent it.

In honor of my one month anniversary, a thing which I can now say I’ve celebrated with a country but never a boyfriend, I’d like to take you all on a little journey. These are (some of) the ways that I experienced culture shock (though I didn’t recognize it as such at first). Some may seem baffling to people back home- they did to me at first- but now, it's not weird, it just is. Without further ado...

This is life in Argentina:

Milk comes in bags, and so do things like mayo and ketchup. After talking to Rebound, I realized that this actually makes a lot of sense; it’s so much cheaper, and squeezing mayo is hella easier than trying to wrestle it out of a jar with a knife. Argentina: 1, USA: 0

On that note, mayo is the condiment of choice here. They put it on everything the way we put ketchup on everything. For the most part this was only weird to me because it’s different, but there was a day when my host dad used it as salad dressing, which I refuse to accept as normal.

The meat here is so heavenly. My host mom can just toss some steaks on a frying pan with some salt, and they taste like the most expensive cut from a steakhouse. Y’all don’t know what you’re missing out on.

Other things relating to food: Alfajores filled with dulce de leche (or anything, really, but I’m partial to dulce de leche) are heavenly, as is choripan and asado and flan and empanadas. I could go on but let’s just sum it up by saying that food here is better than the U.S.
 Also, if bread is involved in a meal (which it usually is), we just put a few rolls on the table, and when you want some you rip a bit off and put the rest back. Took me awhile to adjust to it but hey, it leaves more room on the plate. What up. 
Something that I have not adjusted to: when you want something from across the table, you just say "Give me the juice." And that feels rude to me (even though it's not) so I pretty much just wait till someone offers me something. That's one way to keep off those exchange pounds, right?

In the U.S., we cut our food with a kind of sawing motion; here, they cut straight through in one swipe. I tried it and it proved ineffective. They think we (other exchange students have realized this too) have problems cutting the food here, but it’s just a different custom. Who would’ve thought? However there was one incident in which I couldn't cut my pizza (maybe because I'd never done that before?) so my friend's mom did it for me. Like the true child that I am.

Bathrooms never have toilet paper. It’s just a thing. At school, there’s one dispenser out by the sinks, and you just take what you need before going into a stall. But, the stalls are like little rooms, so you don’t have the awkward door gaps like in the U.S. Bless.

There are stray dogs everywhere. For the most part, they seem healthy and happy, and they blend well with the community (and by that I mean that everyone ignores them). Last week, one wandered into the restaurant I was at and no one seemed to notice, let alone care. I think I’m getting a reputation as “that- weird- foreigner- who- pets- the- dogs.” Which I’m chill with, honestly.

Upon editing, I definitely am the weird foreigner who pets the dogs, and I’m definitely still chill with it.

Platforms. I drank the kool- aid pretty quickly with this trend. Before I got here I was super anti- platform, but honestly they’re so much more comfortable than heels- and you still get the height. I know, I know, I said I'd never do it. But when in Argentina…

 School is super laid back. We call our teachers by their first names, and if I happen to go missing from my classroom for a few periods while I enjoy some mate and pastries with the sextos, no one cares. Not that I’ve ever done that.

We eat 4 meals a day here. Because lunch and dinner are so spaced out (9- ish hours), we eat merienda in the afternoon to keep us going, if you will. This is when mate normally comes into play; if you’re with people, you’ll be passing around a gourd and talking. I normally have a coffee and cookies or toast. It’s more of a snack, I guess, but it’s an official snack.

 Here come's my favorite one. Ready? The Siesta. What the Argentines lack in nightly sleep, they make up for in afternoon naps. I mean, I did this in the U.S. too, but now it’s socially acceptable. Also keep in mind that it's not actually capitalized. I just did that for the effect.

In the U.S. we have that phrase “If you’re not 5 minutes early, you’re late.” The Argentine equivalent is “If you’re 5 minutes early, you’re weird.”

Ok, not really, but the official start time is never the real start time. It's been quite the learning curve, as in the U.S. my personal motto was "If you make me late, I'll never forgive you." I dig it though.

 The Plaza and park are (on nice days) dotted with groups of people, all ages, sharing a mate and chatting. I’ve established a relationship with the pochoclo guy who’s always on the corner. I mean the first time I went there I didn't even know the word for popcorn so that was weird, but I think we've recovered from that. 

I could go on- the differences are endless. But at this point I'm getting down to things that I can't write about without sounding bored, like how the police drive around with their lights on all the time. I mean it's different, but it'd cramp my style, so it's not officially part of the list. 

Anyways. I guess that's it! Stay tuned, the next post will probably just be about normal things. Super exciting.

Chau!

Orientation!

Talk about busy; the Semana de Juventud ended Friday night, and the next morning I left the house at 7 to go to District Orientation. It was about a 2.5 hour drive to Campo de Mayo, a major military base here. I don’t really know why they hosted it there- they never have before- but it was super cool. That’s a part of their culture that I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to see otherwise, and that's awesome.

Some differences between what I know of the U.S. military and what I saw here:

To kick things off, the beds here were way more comfortable than the ones in Fort Sill. Sucks for you, Karli.

Each room had 3 bunk beds, and were partitioned off before the level of the ceiling. So basically they were glorified cubicles.

Definitely less security; my host parents just drove onto the base, no gate or anything. When we got to the right building, they asked for our names- not our ID’s- and let us drive past. One kid’s name didn’t make the list, and he was let in anyways.

There were still stray dogs, especially in the dining hall (where half of the room was soldiers, and half was us).

A similarity: The quality of the food. You all know what that means.

We got to watch their ceremony for lowering the flag at the end of the day, which I found really interesting. They lowered it in time with the beat of a drum, and once it was down and untied, they just balled it up so the sun was showing before marching away. I haven’t seen a flag ceremony in the U.S., but I do know that we take a lot of time to fold the flag. That was a prominent difference to me. I looked up how to fold an Argentine flag, and nothing showed up- even in the pictures- so I guess that’s just normal protocol here. I’m glad I got to see it. It’s little things like that that culture shock is made of; it never occurred to me that something like that would be different.

So, on to the fun stuff.

My family and I got to the base a bit early, so I talked with a few outbound students until everyone got there.

Of course we all had the somewhat awkward greetings, like “Hey I know who you are because of Facebook, please tell me you know who I am too or this will be weird” but soon afterwards, we settled into easy friendship. It’s impossible not to. I don’t really know how to describe the camaraderie in the exchange world, but it’s instantaneous. In our district, there are only 8 inbounds, so for us it’s especially easy to be a cohesive group.

Once everyone arrived, we went into the meeting room, and all of the kids went onstage- inbounds, outbounds, and rebounds- and introduced ourselves to the parents and rotarians. Inbounds said where we’re from and where we live, outbounds said where they hope to go (they found out this weekend), and rebounds said where they went.

While the parents had a meeting, the kids all went out to the dining hall to have a snack- alfajores, crackers, and chocolate milk. Then we went out to the soccer field and did some name games, and had a chance to just talk.

At first, the Rotarians were sure to correct us if we spoke English, but eventually they gave up. Even the kids from Europe knew English, so we were an unstoppable force. It was quite refreshing to be able to express myself freely again- if only for a weekend.

The rest of the day fell into the same pattern: meeting, game, meeting, food, game, meeting. You get the point. During the first meeting, I understood everything they said- in Spanish- and it was quite a proud moment. But by the second meeting, I was so tired that I couldn’t focus for long enough to keep up. They said only enough in English to fill in some gaps, and I became more and more grateful for those. But still, progress is progress. I know I wouldn’t have understood that much a week or two weeks ago.

They explained that for the trips we won’t combine with another bigger district, which means that our trips will be more like family vacations. Which is pretty cool, I think. I have this mental image of a rented mini- van with 6 people in it, and the driver threatening to turn the car around if we don’t settle down, and someone asking "Are we there yet?" I know, I know, that’s an American perspective, it won’t be like that. But it’s still funny.

Saturday night, we all congregated to one of the rooms until about 2 AM. Someone had brought a guitar, so those who knew how to play passed it around. They played a lot of songs in English, which was cool. I love hearing their accent when they sing.

Sunday, we got up at 9 and did just a few more meetings, but for the most part the day was ours to socialize and exchange pins and take pictures. They gave each inbound a little gift, a banner with the design of the Argentine flag. It’s already got a spot reserved on my college dorm wall.

We left around 3, and it wasn’t exactly emotional, but melancholy I guess. Though most of the students live in the same few cities (read: everyone except for me), the cities are pretty spread out, so we won’t be able to see each other too often. Although, I am planning to visit the city closest to here sometime soon to see my new Canadian pal.

On the way home, my host parents brought me to Lujan, a city about an hour from Alberti, to see the Basilica. It’s very famous here because it’s dedicated to the patron saint of Argentina. And it was absolutely gorgeous, obviously. Its architecture is gothic, and the stained glass windows were stunningly detailed. That goes without saying, though. The church, and the plaza outside, were kept spotless, though I did still spot a stray dog or two napping under the pews. The plaza was probably 2 city blocks, and lined with vendors of popcorn, ice cream, and touristy stuff. Being Sunday, the place was full- they had parking directors and we had to park about 3 blocks away before walking in.

Just outside of Lujan is the same restaurant we stopped at my first day here. It's a common place to stop because it's at the crossroads of 3 highways, and we stopped there for merienda. This time, I wasn’t nauseous, and they have ketchup, so I enjoyed my french fries there significantly more. Progress.

 It’s Student’s Day, so we once again didn’t have school, and I’m so grateful. I did absolutely nothing, and it was glorious. There are some days when I do nothing and feel like a failure of an exchange student, but I know that I needed today to be exactly as it was. I may have finally caught up on sleep, and I got to dedicate a few hours to writing. Also, my host mom taught me to make tiramisu. 

With our banners: USA, Germany, Austria, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Belgium

Biggest flag I've ever seen

Semana de Juventud

Hola!

This post is going to be dedicated to the Semana de Juventud (Week of Youth), which is exclusive to Alberti and a really, really, really big deal here. I’ll be writing this as the week progresses, so as not to forget anything *~exciting~*.

The Semana de Juventud is a town- wide competition, and kids compete in a myriad of activities. They have soccer, soccer- tennis (which is tennis, with your feet. And head. I had to ask.), volleyball, track and field, mural painting, photography, singing, dancing- both modern and traditional…. And the list goes on. The kids aren’t pushed along or herded to do everything right, or on time- it’s entirely up to them, which is really cool.

My team is made up of my whole class of quintos, and a few of the sextos, and our name is “Pescame el Surubi.”

 The teams have been preparing now for weeks, and the teachers let them plan in school pretty much every day. Which, incidentally, is part of the reason I couldn’t understand any classes until recently; there weren’t classes.

It’s a huge competition, and though there are inter- group friendships, they do not mess around. I had the chance to see two teams’ introductory costumes, which is unheard of, and was then hounded by both teams to give up information. As it turns out, both teams had the same idea anyways. But I’ll get to that later.

~Friday, September 11^th ~

Today, we didn’t have school because it’s Teacher’s Day. My host mom and I talked about how we have the same holidays, but in the U.S. we don’t get days off of school. Here, she said, they take any excuse to party. Which I am totally down with.

I spent a big portion of the day at one of the Quintos houses, where we painted the team flag. At 7- ish, we went to the town square to start the festivities. All the teams line up, with their flags and an abundance of team spirit, and are introduced in front of the crowd one by one. The other group of sextos, mostly from another school, had brought some drums to play, and it reminded me of football games at home- so while we waited I taught my team some cheers. They quite like the “Bernie,” which, of course, led to me teaching them the Wobble line dance. I must say that I’m quite proud of myself for being able to teach them some dances. Many thanks to my parents for my sense of rhythm. Just kidding, rhythm props go to just mom. Besos.

Being introduced pretty much means that your whole group runs/ jumps while screaming/ yelling half a block to the stage, while spraying this… I don’t know, soap stuff, all over each other, and upon arrival singing a song (which as of yet I do not know the words to). It was pretty fantastic. The amount of spirit and personality that people have here is so intoxicating, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood.

When everyone gets to the stage, they start introducing each teams’ costumes- which is kind of a vessel for the team ideology. My team and the other sextos had each made life- size Tetris pieces; for us, Tetris was representative of everyone being different, but still fitting together. It’s also the first competition; teams are judged by the quality of their costumes.  Incidentally, if anyone out there is looking for a group Halloween costume, I highly recommend getting some cardboard boxes and paint. Extra points given for blocking off a roadway.

While waiting for the points to be added up, the area in front of the stage pretty much turns into American Homecoming. And by that I mean: In the middle, you have the mosh pit, surrounded by some people actually dancing (with more rhythm than is usually displayed in the states), and some people on the outside watching is amusement. I can say that I was part of all of those groups at some point, and that my Birkenstocks did not fall off in the mosh pit, which is quite impressive.

~Saturday, September 12^th ~

Today was the first official day of competition (and the first time I’d ever tried alfajores, which are literally from Heaven). At 5, I went to the Plaza to watch Soccer- Tennis, which is super fun. To watch, anyways. It’s probably fun to play but I wouldn’t know, because I play neither soccer nor tennis.  And we won it, putting us in second place overall. I stayed in the Plaza with a few other girls, drinking mate and talking about differences between Colorado and here (like winter, and hippies), while we waited for the next event.

After it got dark, everyone met in front of the stage- this time sitting down- to watch videos. I was completely uninvolved with this part of the week, so I had no idea what to expect. Turns out that every group had to make a PSA video of sorts. Different groups did littering, bullying, suicide, domestic violence, and safe online relationships.  Once again, while the judges deliberated, everyone danced. Today I got to try out the drums from the other group, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And, I got to test out my traditional Argentine dancing skills with a super cute boy from my school.

 No worries, Pops, he’s 10.

For dinner I bought a plain hot dog, because they were out of choripan and I haven’t yet accepted the mayonnaise- instead- of- ketchup thing. Someday, perhaps.

~Sunday, September 13~

Today, the competitions were in Truco and Quemado. Those words meant nothing to me 3 hours ago. Actually, Truco still means nothing to me; I now know that it’s a card game, but I have no idea how it works. Which I’m ok with, because cards bore me.

Quemado, though, does not bore me. It’s like dodgeball, but better.

The court is much smaller than dodgeball, about the size of half a tennis court. Each team has 4 people; 3 in their main playing area, and 1 behind the other team. The person behind their opposing team can throw the ball, but maintains immunity from being hit. There’s only one ball, and each round starts with a toss- up similar to basketball. From there, if you get the ball, you throw it, and aim for below the waist of someone on the opposing team. The fact that everyone is at such close range, and that the ball could come from the front or behind, keeps things spicy. The round ends when someone is hit, and the game ends when everyone on one team is eliminated.

Oh, there was also photography, another thing that I was not involved in. But it was cool to see the photos taken by each group; there were no parameters, so subjects ranged from the classic sunset shot to a staged photo depicting how love overcomes obstacles.

~Monday, September 14^th~

Today, I didn’t go to school. Because school this week is optional. How many kids go to school when it’s optional? I think you know the answer.

I had these great plans to get up early (and by “early” I mean “the sun has not yet reached its highest point in the sky”) and have some productive free time. And yet, I somehow ended up with my host brother asking me if I wanted breakfast food or lunch food. That’s become a pretty common theme for me here, actually, in a drastic turn of events from my routine in Colorado.

After some delicious milanesa courtesy of my host grandma, I had enough time to go for a run (I know, shocking) and take a shower before going to the Polideportivo. Since the town is so small, the Polideportivo (literally, a “many- sport”) is utilized by all of the schools, for games and P.E. classes. Today was soccer, which is (obviously) a big deal. I’m just now starting to like it, but I still can’t understand how it would be worth the physical effort to sprint back and forth for an hour all to score 1 point. Or 0 points. But hey, as long as it’s not me playing, all is well.

Tonight was the singing competition, which went just about as well as you’d expect. It was fun to try to sing along to the very few songs that I know, and hear different styles of Spanish music. Up until today, I had only really heard the most popular style- reggaeton.

~Thursday, September 17~

Well, I didn’t write every day. Whoops. Sleep comes before blogging, and before most other things at this point, honestly.

So, Tuesday. Tuesday was volleyball and traditional dance. It felt really good to play a sport again- even though we lost. Also, diving without knee pads is not recommended.

The traditional dances were so great though. I’m pretty sure the crowd of teens here was bored- actually, I know they were- but for me, it was fascinating. Everything from the traditional dress to the style of music to the styles of dance- which differ from region to region- was new to me. My group did the Zamba, not to be confused with the Samba of Brazil, while most other groups did a cuarteto. I think. 

Wednesday was my favorite day of the week by far: Track and Field. It’s been extremely rewarding to learn so much new stuff, but it was nice to have a day where I knew what I was doing, and could help my team.

The teams were made up of 6 people: 3 guys and 3 girls. For each event, one person was allowed to sit out. I sat out for javelin and shotput, as I didn’t want to injure myself- or anyone else (read: javelin)- due to lack of technical knowledge. But I did get to compete in long jump, distance running, and the relay. I was absolutely dreading the long distance, which was about 1.5 kilometers. To me, the sprinter, it was daunting. Also, I had to pee the whole time. And it wasn’t nervous pee, it was straight up I- drank- too- much- water pee. But maybe that’s what motivated me; I got second for the women, behind the other girl from my team who runs marathons. So, needless to say, it went better than expected.

In true Argentine fashion, the meet started 1.5 hours late, and halted for about 3 hours, and everyone went home to have lunch. America needs to get on that. Seriously. Well, at least the lunch break thing.

After lunch for our team was the javelin and shotput, so I brought my camera and got some pretty great shots not only of the throws, but also of a classmate drinking mate in the middle of a field while sitting on his motorcycle. Very Argentine.

The last event was the relay, and I can’t tell you how good it felt to know what I was doing for the first time in 2.5 weeks. It was 5 people, again, and 80 meters each. All in one long stretch down a dirt road behind the park. We won both our heat of the prelims, and the final heat. And now I’m sore, but it was worth it.

I didn’t go home right away, though- instead, I helped paint the mural. Every year for the Semana de Juventud, the town paints a wall white and divides it off to each of the teams. Driving around, you can see the sections from years past, and it’s super cool. Pick it up a notch, Loveland.

From there I went downtown again, to the Cultural Center to watch Preguntadas, which is the Spanish name for the game Trivia Crack. Each team got 3 kids to sit inside, answering not only questions from the app itself, but also about Alberti’s laws and history. The rest of the kids sat outside and watched on a projector. I was quite proud that I not only understood a lot of the questions, but that I knew some of the answers that the others didn’t. Like Dora’s inseparable pet’s name is Botas, and The Little Mermaid is La Sirenita in Spanish.  Also, made friends with a few stray dogs.

It took forever, honestly; the older group finished at 1 AM. But I didn’t get to go to bed. From there, I went to another girl’s house to learn the dance, and make props for it. I learned my part at 3 AM. Between one and three, I first fell asleep on the floor in front of the space heater, then upgraded to the couch when someone noticed. #exchangestudentprobs.

I went to bed at 5, I think, and once I woke up, I returned to the same house to practice again.

For this portion of the competition, the teams don’t get to choose what they do. Before the week starts, each team submits 3 songs, and each team draws one back out. And that’s how we ended up dancing to Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” Which worked out really well in my favor. At least I could understand the lyrics.

Our set for the stage mixed a lot of American themes, none of which was country like I thought it would be. It took place in a 1950’s Diner, on Ladies’ Night, where the girls wore crop tops and miniskirts, and at the end one of the guys is pulled away by the bouncers. And it was great.

~Friday, September 18~

Today was the final day of competition. The competitions were a Pentathlon and the final parade. I didn’t watch the pentathlon, but I did go to the parade, and that was pretty cool.

Each team designed a float, and as it was brought past the stage, one team member would make a small speech about the meaning of their design. Ours was a tree made of discarded bottles, with apples made of the bottoms of bottles painted red. And we didn’t actually have a car, so we pulled it ourselves. I’m not entirely sure if that had to do with some sort of imagery, but it was pretty cool.

While the judging happened, they had some rock band play live. I have no idea what they were called but they played pretty well. It kind of threw off everyone’s groove; pretty much everyone here just dances to cumbia. So I did a bit of headbanging (with the rock- on hands to match) to break up the standing around.

I think we got 2^nd overall, but I can’t be sure because I wasn’t paying attention. My team is kind of disappointed, but I’m just happy that I got to participate in something so unique.

Oh, I almost forgot! I finally bought choripan today, and it is glorious. So I bought two.

Besos!

Track Victors!

Girls' Soccer

Guys' Soccer

Honestly, super proud of this action shot. That's the only reason it's here.

School So Far

Hola!

I started school on Wednesday! (9/2)! It was so great. Normally it starts at 7, but since it was my first day I went at 9. I only had one of Jazmin's old shirts, but no pants, so I just wore jeans. Marian brought me in, and we found the principal. She was absolutely great, really understanding of my learning Spanish. Also met a few of the "Hermanas, " and they're really sweet too.
The school itself is pretty stereotypical, I think, of what we see in movies. It's a big square building, but in the middle there's a plaza, or square. Painted blue and white, kind of drafty, kind of old, but very full of personality. The interior wall is covered with windows, so you can see out into the square and it's kept very well lit.
The "Promo quin" class, or this year's graduating class, decorated a whiteboard and made me breakfast with different types of Argentina pastries that we ate in the computer room. It was so great. I tried mate for the first time, and it's a bit of an acquired taste because it's so bitter, but I like it.
I met a few of the teachers, including the English teacher who offered to speak English with me if I need a break, and said she'll give me some books to help. We talked a bit about the differences in British English and American English, both with pronunciation and vocab (saying bathroom instead of toilet, and our not pronouncing the letter T). And some of the kids wanted to know about CrossFit, but I couldn't tell them accurately in Spanish, so she translated.
For the rest of the day, I stayed with the 6th years (sextos), during their lessons. During math I just drew a rather fantastic photo of both flags (which they later put on the wall). After that, though, they had literature class, but it ended up being more of a lack of literature class. The teacher, who everyone addressed by her first name (which is the norm here, I just didn't know that yet), just pulled up a chair in the middle of our desks, and we sat there talking and eating more pastries for 45 minutes. It was so different from the U.S. I was expecting the student- teacher relationships here to be more rigid, but it's been quite the opposite.
The only reason that I didn't have to do anything then was because I'm not actually in the 6th years class; on Thursday I started school for real, but with the 5th years. I'm not sure why, because when they were explaining it I couldn't understand them (exchange student probs), but hey, there it is.
As bummed as I am to leave the 6th years, it's cool to experience both grades.
But the quintos are cool too; my current host brother and my next host sister are in the class.
So far, the teachers haven't expected me to do anything. They don't have textbooks here; instead they use photocopies of certain sections. They have to do this on their own at the print shop, which means that I have no materials right now. Which is fine, because it's enough mental work to listen to so many voices at once.
On Friday, we had Sociology. The teacher asked if I had seen the town, and since I haven't seen much, we went on an impromptu field trip. They showed me the town square, and taught me about the architect who designed the Town Hall and Plaza, and then we went to the park.
The next class was Chemistry, a widely disliked class at my school. But surprisingly, it was the most productive for me. The teacher was a bit more strict, so it was easier to hear and understand what was happening. And the words and math are the same, so for the first time out of two days of classes I actually took notes.
School here starts at 7 and ends at 12:30. It's only a few blocks away from the house, so Fran and I walk home and eat lunch together every day (besides Friday, we eat with his grandparents then). Some days they have different classes after school, like gym or math. But it's separated by enough time that everyone has time for a siesta.
 As skeptical as I was about wearing a uniform, I've gotta say that wearing sweatpants every day is pretty amazing.
Oh, also the expectation to take a nap every day. That's amazing too.
Oh, and Merienda, the official fourth meal where we eat cookies and drink tea or mate. Bless.

The 6th years girls

 The 5th year girls on our trip to the park

 All of the 5th years

All of the 6th years at the breakfast they made for me

Chau!