Ok, so apparently my lack of blog activity has been unacceptable as I have received harassment (*cough, MOM cough*), so this is me resuming my blogging. In my defense, bathrooms and I have called a truce while I took on my new enemy ‘the head-cold’. This new alliance/enemy means that Brendan is not as full of witty, albeit slightly bitchy, commentaries as he usually is. But, without any further ado, lets recap the week, shall we? So the weather has been a bit off-and-on down here. It snowed, which sucked because if I wanted to deal with those kinds of shenanigans I would have just stayed in Colorado. Show me something I haven’t seen Argentina! I arrived home Friday night and told my host mom that I wasn’t feeling well and she was about ready to drive me to the hospital. Only after she got ready to call a doctor to come and make a house-call did I have to explain to her that I really was ok and that, I swear, I was not knocking at deaths door. Well, at least she cares right? The following Saturday everyone just stayed in the house. My host mom told me I didn’t even have to leave the room, and she and Sylvia would bring me tea (which was really just lemon juice with a leaf tossed in there for flair… really, that stuff was strong!) and food. I had bought some nasal drops from the pharmacy in the city, but my friend and I thought that they probably wouldn’t work for my head-cold since the bottle said “for allergies”. We were wrong. Now, I have chronic sinus problems, so I’m used to expecting a certain ‘wait-time’ with nasal medication, but not with this one! The second I popped those suckers in it bitch-slapped the nasal congestion right out of me. Seriously, I’ve never had anything work that quickly, which has lead me to two theories. A) there is cocaine in them and I am actually becoming an unsuspecting addict or B) if not cocaine there is some other form of drug not legal in the United States, which is why I’ve never seen it before. Either way, I can breathe now, so yeah for unknown nasal drugs!
Sunday passed without much action as well. I went shopping with my host mom for some lunch foods, and then later went with her to her sister’s house, where I spent the day with the IFSA student who lives there, and my host cousin Mia (who is 4). Some more of my host aunts and cousins came over, and it was just another fun family get together. After I returned home, I just relaxed on my computer and went to bed. Monday was a holiday so, once again, I had nothing to do but sit in my room and try to recuperate, though to be honest, I was getting really tired with that. Most of the students in the program had left the city during this holiday weekend for other cities, like San Juan or Cordoba, for hiking. I was invited before I came down with my head-cold, but I elected not to go because they would all be staying in hostels and I wasn’t down for that idea quite yet. I know that when I do some of the other traveling that I have planned a hostel is going to be necessary, but a month in (when I can’t even take the right micro consistently) just seems a bit too soon. In the afternoon, I met up with a few friends who had stayed behind as well, and we lounged in the park for two hours, just laying in the sun and talking. A few had brought mate and cookies, so it was a true Argentine day in the park.
All too soon, Tuesday came, which signaled the beginning of the real world once again. While I didn’t have Spanish, I did have literature, which as we all know, I always excitedly look forward to. This time, there was only one professor and zero slideshows. This means, that instead of being able copy whatever was shown up on the board, I had to sit there and just listen to this woman lecture me about something I did not know or understand. Looking around at my fellow gringos let me know that I was not alone in my ‘Holy God, I have even less of an idea of what is going on than usual’ mindset. After class, we decided to take matters into our own hands and ask the professor exactly what was going on and what we needed in order to be fully up to date. We thought it would be best if only a few approached her so as not to overwhelm her with five panicked North American faces. We expected to get a list of things that we needed to prepare and read. Instead, we got a “No, you’re not behind. You’re fine. You don’t need anything. Have a nice day!” … so then what the hell have we been talking about for the past two and a half weeks!? (granted, the professors just didn’t show up for at least 3 classes… so maybe they don’t know what they’re doing either?) That night, I had a ton of homework. Yes, I did have a four day weekend. Yes, I barely left my house. No, I still wasn’t going to do it. There was also a International Exchange party at a bar near my house. I scrambled to write my two page paper analyzing two very odd Spanish short-stories and then headed out to mix and mingle internationally. It was nice to talk to other young people in the city in a relaxed environment. I don’t get to talk to many Argentine people in class, so it was nice to be given the opportunity. I met a Mendocina, Peruvian, Mexican, and Frenchman and we discussed school, work, life, so on so forth. When in these relaxed settings, I can tell that my speaking is getting a lot better, but in a classroom setting, I think I get in my own way (surprise, surprise) because I always sound like an idiot. I told myself I was only going to stay for an hour, but I ended up staying for almost two. After I got home, I showered and prepared myself for the next day.
Wednesday = Spanish, but most importantly, Tango! Our professor for Spanish was sick that day (which means I didn’t even need to write that paper!) so we had class with another group, and went over verb tenses, which I actually found helpful. After a two hour break, I headed to tango. I think I’m getting the hang of it! It was getting easier to follow her and get the movements down. She even gave me a thumbs-up, not once but three times! Can you say Argentine G! No big deal…
And finally we’ve come to today. I had no obligation until 2pm when I had to turn in a bunch of paperwork for my visa. They took my fingerprints, took passport copies, and had me fill out important forms, which I guess mean I can’t get away with any crimes here as I have officially been put into the system… oh darn. I headed to literature once again and this time, I found another teacher lecturing on a reading assignment. We had been given this assignment previously, so I read along and tried to keep up with what she was discussing. We read a short story and a poem. I feel like I got the most and the least out of that class. The most, because I was following the reading and knew what she was talking about when she referenced it, but also the least, because I still felt so lost. Again, we went up to the teacher after class and, again, we were told that we had nothing to do to prepare. If only North American schools could be like this. I walked home and just relaxed for the day. Tomorrow is Friday and I don’t have class so that, combined with my Monday off, means I only had three days of class this week… life is rough J
Tomorrow, a group of us are planning to go and play some ultimate Frisbee in the park. Who knows what other mayhem we’ll find along the way…
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