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