Chau Argentina.

I'm back. Living, breathing and experiencing life in my beloved Oregon.

Leaving Rosario was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Saying goodbye to all my friends in the program, to my friends in Rosario and to Marta. I will forever treasure all of them and all of the experiences we've had together.

Now that I'm back in the states, after an exhausting 24+ hours of flying, sitting in airports and lying to customs, I am beginning to reflect on these past three months. I look through my pictures, I read this blog, I unpack my things and cannot help but wonder if it was all just a dream.

Whatever it was, it has changed me and the rest of my life. I have the same name, I have the same clothes - although none of them fit my new South American body - but I am not the same person. I cannot wait to being sharing what I learned with all of you but most of all I cannot wait to see where this new life takes me.

And with that, I bid the blogging world farewell... until my next adventure.

Besos. Chau.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

As of today I am officially on summer, soon to be winter, break! Sweet victory. Last night we took my friend Nicki to the bus terminal and said our final goodbyes since she has an earlier flight. While we had our final hugs and promised to visit each other soon - watch out Michigan, I'm coming for ya - I suddenly realized how real the end has become. I will never forget the moment Nicki and I met in the Houston airport, scared out of our minds for the three months to come. Little did we know what was in store for us...

I probably won't be blogging or internet-ing much more this weekend so here's my cute little itinerary for those of you who are interested: Friday is our farewell dinner, as well as my last day in Rosario. I leave for Buenos Aires Saturday morning where I'll spend the night, go to the zoo, enjoy my last lunch with Lacey and Morgan, and then head to the airport. Assuming I don't get lost or decide to miss my flight I should officially leave Argentine soil at 11 PM - 4 PM West Coast time - on Sunday. Then at an absurdly early hour on Monday I'll land in Houston, Texas before I depart for my beloved Oregon. Then, I rest my feet in my Birkenstocks, throw out some hugs and... sleep.

As for this thing below: I'm a nerd, and making slideshows is more fun than studying for finals.

85 Days Later.

The other day I was walking to my Human Rights final talking with my professor when she asked me how the past three months have been.

I wish the answer was as simple as the question.

It’s safe to say that the past 90 days have been the most challenging days of my 20 years of existence. I can also confidently say that I have never learned so much - about myself, about cultures or about God - as I have in these three months. In reality I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand how much this experience has changed me. Every day my views and customs were challenged, I was a walking and talking representative of the United States, forced to ponder why I did the things I did, or thought the things I thought.

I have experienced both the worst and best days of my life in Argentina. These last three months have literally defined bittersweet for me. While I am excited for the endless possibilities being in an unofficial English speaking country has ahead of me, I am also preparing to miss my Spanish speaking alter-ego. We’ve been thru a lot together, me and Uu-endy.

I cannot count how many conversations about politics, religion, world issues or boys I’ve had with Marta. Conversations which I like to think challenged her thoughts of us US-ers. Also, in a matter of 13 weeks I have done some incredible things. For instance, I’ve seen the grave site of Evita Peron, waded in the Atlantic Ocean, ridden a roller-coaster in Uruguay, sat under waterfalls, gone zip-lining through the rainforest, and stayed up until sunrise eating ice cream… I’ve also made some amazing friends, learned more than any human should know about Che, had my heart broken over the history of Argentina, vomited in the Southern Hemisphere, and in theory picked up some Spanish along the way.

So, my blogging friends, now I find myself preparing to return to you, a changed woman, ready to bore you all to death with my endless stories and change the world along the way.

Watch out.

Tuesday night, November 24, 2009 at 9 o’clock Rosario, Argentina was precisely:

33℃ = 91.4℉

That’s hot.

Embracing the End.

Exactly one week from today I will be standing on beautiful Oregon land. As excited as I am to breathe in that clean, crisp air I still cannot fathom that this is my final week in Rosario. Finals have commenced and so has the reminiscing and goodbyes.

Things I’ll miss…

1. Time: In the states we view time as a burden, something that ruins our morning by forcing us out of bed, something that we watch with dread as the seconds slowly pass during the day, or something we wish we had more of as the years go by. Here time has an entirely different context. They simply don’t care. Go out, get dinner, sit and chat for six hours - it’s normal. The waiters don’t bring the bill until you ask them too. There is no sense of panic, no rush, just enjoying the company and relationships of those around you.
2. Nights: While I’ll never be a true Rosarino and stay out till 9 AM I do enjoy the freedom of being able to go get ice cream at 3 AM. It’s not only an option, it’s incredibly normal. Heck, 2 year olds are out getting ice cream then. I’ve also grown to love the late night dinners. At first this was excruciating, waiting till 9 or 10 o’clock to eat, but now it’s a very normal part of life for me.
3. Sweets: Alfajores, medialunas, dulce de leche, helado… Argentina knows what they’re doing when it comes to pastries and sugar.
4. Besos: It’s a well known fact that I’m a bad hugger but besos, I can do those. Every time someone greets another person or says goodbye they give kisses on the cheek. This includes entering and exiting from parties or group events, which means giving everyone a beso. Sometimes it’s tedious and not very time efficient but in the end I really do love it. It’s another example of how this culture is more focused on building relationships than being on time.
5. Cafes: Distinción and Zona. I cannot count how much time I’ve spent in these cafes. How many coffees I’ve drank or how many medialunas I’ve eaten. It really hasn’t hit me that they straight up don’t exist in the US.

Things I cannot wait to be reunited with…*

1. Birkenstocks
2. Flannel
3. Driving - a car, a bike, a scooter, anything…
4. Mexican food
5. Life without humidity, mosquitos and cockroaches

7 days my friends. 7 days.

* It should be noted that these lists reflect things I will miss, or things I already miss. Of course I miss you all back home and cannot wait to see all your beautiful faces again. That goes without saying.

Awkward Transitions.

Friday I had to say my first of many goodbyes. It was our last day volunteering at the school. I’m not going to lie, I dreaded going there every week but I still was on the verge of tears when the principal was thanking us for our time. He said he was “infinitely” grateful and that their doors were always open for us. It was so sweet.

To be honest though I didn’t really develop a relationship with the kids nearly as much as I did with the ladies in the kitchen. Roughly five women work there and they never cease to amaze me. Those women’ll touch anything, they’re all incredible cooks and they all have hearts of gold. I’ll never forget eating in the kitchen with them and explaining what an airplane is like, or what snow feels like. Seemingly simple things that I’ve never considered having to explain before.

On another educational note, when students graduate here they get egged and then flour gets dumped on them. It’s a messy madness.

This demonstration makes streets messy. Last night I had a funny experience on a street. Lacey and I were speaking English when a man interrupted us to ask where we were from - an all to common experience. After 10 minutes of awkwardly avoiding his attempts to go out with us, he sang us some tango songs. Right there. On the street. Stranger man busts out his tango voice.

Tango is a big deal in Argentina. So big in fact that they have special places where people go to dance tango, and folklore, called milongas. Everyone who goes there is at least 40 years old, except us. Three of my friends from the program have been learning tango for the past couple months and I finally got to go watch them on Friday night. It was a fantastic cultural experience and truly like another world.

Then, I saw…

Alicia.

My first host mom. A woman I never, ever thought I would see again. She’s a tango instructor so naturally she was there that night. It was the strangest thing to see her. While enjoying my final weekend here, I instantly was thrust back to memories of my first weekend in Rosario. It was one of those moments where I spent some time pondering… “Holy cow. Three months. Three freakin’ months.” I’m still slightly terrified of her though so I avoided her all night.

Luna Nueva.

It’s time for a little honesty. I like the Twilight series. Scratch that. I love Twilight. Naturally this means I went to see the world premier of New Moon, the second movie in the series, on Thursday night.

The Crew: Lacey, Morgan, Belén, Mailen and I

The Destination: The Showtime Cinemas at Alto Rosario “Shopping”*

The Strategy: Use our US world-premier-of-massive-chick-flick knowledge to arrive early, be first in line, first in the theater and most excited.

The Result: Complete success

I certainly never, ever thought I would attend the world premier of any movie in a foreign country. It was mind-boggling. Alto Shopping is like stepping into the US, except for the grasshoppers and unidentifiable bugs on the floors. The theater actually had assigned seating, which I think is kind of brilliant, but we still were the first ones in line. Seriously. I don’t even think there would have been a line if we hadn’t started it. Naturally this means we were the first ones in the theater. For those of you who have had the pleasure of experiencing the cinemas in Independence, rest assured, it’s BIGGER.

The movie itself was fantastic. A solid chick-flick with an audience filled with just enough 13 year old squealing girls.

It didn’t even phase me that I was in Argentina. Until we left the movie and began analyzing it in Spanish. Analyzing might imply that we were debating serious world issues, really we were arguing...

...Arguing over which boy was hotter.

TEAM EDWARD.

* Malls are called “shoppings” here. Go US cultural influences.

Facts.

1. Iguazu photographs have officially been posted.
2. My toesies are going to hit US soil in precisely 13 days.
3. The previous fact freaks me out.
4. My ankles are swollen.
5. Marta gave me 4 amazing gifts last night: 2 soccer jersies, 1.85 lbs of Dulce de Leche and a massive Mantecol Christmas candy-bar.

PS. I'll hopefully be adding more photos in the coming days, in case you're interested.

Speechless.

To put it simply, Iguazu took my breath away.

Never in my life have I had so many moments of awe and amazement. However, instead of giving you a boring play-by-play of my weekend I’m just going to describe some of my favorite and most surreal moments from each day.

“La Garganta del Diablo” - literally the Throat of the Devil. This waterfall was our first destination within Iguazu National Park on Friday morning. To get there we took a

short train-ride, then we walked for 15 minutes along bridges to cross the river. Along the way we began seeing the mist and hearing the roaring thunder: the anticipation was building. Then we came around the corner and saw this…

50+ rowdy college kids instantly fell silent. I wish I could explain to you how gorgeous it is. How something could be so powerful and deadly but still seem so soft and gentle.

From there we went to the Upper Trail to see more waterfalls. Except, this time we could see the entire jungle as well. I’ll be the first to claim that Oregon is green, full of luscious trees and nature, but less face it, Oregon ain’t got nothin’ on Iguazu.

Our adventures at the Park ended by taking a boat ride under the waterfalls. Yep. While you were all working and studying on Friday I was feeling the gentle pounding of Argentine waterfalls on my back. During the boat tour we also got extremely close to the shore of Brazil, so close in fact that I’m willing to claim we crossed the border line. So, I pretty much went to Brazil too. Kind of.

That’s one of the neat things about Iguazu - it is the intersection of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. So, Saturday morning we went to view the Three Frontiers monument. With a little practice and a lot of saliva I’m certain I could’ve spit on both Brazil and Paraguay. Or at least chucked a rock across the river.

In the afternoon we went on a rainforest adventure. It started with a hike, which I wasn’t the biggest fan of since the mosquitos loved me, despite 14 layers of “Off.” After the hike though I had one of the greatest experiences of my life: zip-lining thru the Argentine rainforest during a thunderstorm.

The rain and wind actually got so bad that only half of our group got to go, luckily I was in the first half. As I was flying through the trees, feeling the wind and rain on my face I couldn’t help but thank God for this experience and for creating such beauty for us to enjoy.

Once I landed on solid ground the rain turned to tropical rain STORM. So, we all joined hands, danced and skipped in a circle while we got completely soaked. Then we went off and repelled down a small mountain side.

Not exactly your standard weekend, but certainly one I will never, ever forget or take for granted.

Irak y Cuba.

It’s time. Time for Las Colectividades.

I found out about this event during the first week of classes and I’ve been looking forward to it for two months now. Picture the Scandinavian Festival, except bigger, tastier and global. Nearly every major country in the world - minus the USA, Mexico and Canada - is represented. Each country has a booth for food and most also have booths for entertainment where you can watching dancers, listen to music or watch bands. It starts every night around 10 PM and will be here all week. It’s pretty much amazing.

Last night we went with Belén and Romina who brought six of their friends. To summarize: I ate dinner in Iraq, watched drumming and dancing - by dancing I mean a 50 year old woman belly dancing - in Brazil, sipped on a Piña Colada in Cuba and reminisced on the smells of sauerkraut in Germany. While in Germany we also learned that many US Christmas songs, such as the Little Drummer Boy, are actually normal German songs. Or so the Rosarinos claim.

On another note: Tomorrow afternoon I’m leaving with my program to Iguazu Falls. It’s a 20 hour bus ride from Rosario and we’ll be gone till sunrise on Monday. I’m certain it’s going to be a life changing experience and I am freakishly excited. Get ready for a mega blog upon my return.

¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS A WESLEY Y A MI PADRE!

You Impregnated Me!

Saturday was fútbol day.

First a few explanations. Rosario has two soccer teams: Newell’s and Central. This rivalry isn’t like a college rivalry where you pick the school you attend, rather it’s entirely personal choice. Now add to the mix all the other teams throughout Argentina, for instance Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires, and there ends up being an absurd amount of teams to chose from.

Personally I’m a Central girl - mostly because Marta wouldn’t let me live here if I chose Newell’s. However, despite our personal feelings we had to go to a Newell’s game on Saturday because Central doesn’t have any more home games while we’re here. The game was against River Plate from Buenos Aires. We bought tickets for the River Plate section since none of us were Newell’s, while this seemed like a good idea at the time, it wasn’t.

With only a small section being dedicated to visiting teams we ended up being in with the hardcore River Plate fans. Belén explained to us that some teams will actually “hire” people to lead cheers in their sections. Kind of like cheerleaders, except middle-aged, smelly, hairy, shirtless men. They take their roles extremely seriously and many of them have tattoos devoted to their team.

Right, now take five 20 year old girls, put them in the middle of a crowd of nasty old men smoking pot… That was my Saturday night.

It was actually a lot of fun though and we learned some sweet cheers which I’ve now successfully forgotten. We left early to go to a bar though because we feared for our lives.

Oh, then Lacey developed some weird rash, swollen hand, allergic reaction thing so Belén called her mom [who’s a nurse] and we went to the hospital so she could get a shot in her butt. Except it was a maternity hospital so we had a bunch of pregnancy talks while we waited. Including explaining the difficult verb: to impregnate.

We finished the night with empañadas and Buscando a Nemo.