Our youngest, Allison, is currently spending a semester studying in Argentina. She doesn’t always have computer access, but she tries her best to keep us up-to-date between emails & her Facebook page. I thought it would be fun to share her last one; I’m always tickled by the thoughts of a 20 year old, and she has a gift for entertaining us with her very busy life! In her words:
"well.. I think
its about time for another update. these
last two weeks have been very very full.. as you faithful emailers already
know.. haha. I had my first few "miss
home" and "I want my mommy moments"
which were kind of sad.. but ya know. such is life in another country..
So I’ve decided that from now on I’m going to
organize my emails into vignettes. for
some reason I find long over-detailed emails fun to write. so this way.. you can
read whatever your interested in… kind of like an encyclopedia… haha. here
goes!
MUSIC (Miss
Home):
Well.. as you know I do a lot of walking..
which I’ve metioned several times.. but if at some point during the day you al
think of me and wonder what I’m doing.. you can probably guess that I’m walking
somewhere and be right. I particularly
enjoy walking because it allows me to have lots of think time.. and listen to my
music. Listening to music is the only
way that my two worlds merge. .. it takes me back home. Often I put my ipod on shuffle (dont’ worry
mom.. I have my ipod tucked away so no thieves target little turista me). Today I listened to "girlfunmix" -
NICOLEY! and when Ani plays all I can
think of is when we went to her concert my dearest sister nicole shrieking
between every song.. HAHAHA. Also hear a
lot of ABR and 1201 which always puts a smile on my face. Whenever Sufjan comes on I think of
Sarah. and whenever crazy dance songs
come on I think of dancing with lathie in our room.. and cleaning.. also
counting crows. When Reggeaton plays I
think of l Chris stauffer. And when
hip-hop plays I think of the lancaster gang! oh the loves of my life! I miss
you all!
THE HOME
LIFE:
Overall I’m
still doing splendidly. I’m really
enoying my family and all the people I’m meeting. My family is particularly interesting for me
because of the dynamic, and how similar it is to my own family. My little sister (Belen) is 12 years old, so
her and flor (her mom) have their growing pains. It’s been interesting for me to see another
girl go through the horrible period of life we know as puberty. so emotional, irrational and frustrated in
just about every way imaginable. oh my
do I remember the days. Everyone is
against you.. your mom doesn’t understand you… (for some reason its always the
mom’s fault… dad is "tranquilo" (as flor and I discussed earlier today). But they love each other very much and are a
pleasure to live with. I’m actually
pretty glad I’m still in a house with all girls.. haha.. feels like home. and I don’t have to dress appropriately. …
ever.. YES!
THE SCHOOL
LIFE:
Well.. my
"intensive month" of language and cultures study is coming to an end. last night we had our "goodbye party" which I don’t really understand because we’re
not leaving.. but.. whatevs. They’ll are
ust a big bunch of partiers… haha. clases have been really interesting.. especially these last few
weeks. We’ve been talking about
Argentine history culture and politics, all of which completely intrigue me..
prolly cause I’m a weirdo. Two days ago
we had a "argentine political debate" which turned into liberals vs.
conservatives… (it got really heated.. It hink we all know where I was.. and
who was right.. haha.. j/k. you know I’m
respectful)Yesterday we had a debate between guy and girls about who was better
(it was supposed to be in the context of "the advancement of women in modern
socities.. but that’s what it turned into).. pretty funny in spanish..we totally
won.
we always have a
lot of homework and have some kind of activiity every night. I’m taking horse back riding lessons and
tango (for those of you who dont’ already know). I DID MY FIRST JUMP on horseback two days
ago.. pretty psyched about that. I only
"galluped" for like 5 seconds.. but who cares.. I DID IT! my ass feels like its going to fall off.. and
I can’t feel my thighs at all.. but totally worth it… tango is cool.. but (as usual with such
events) there was about 3 males present.. all of which had three girls in a line
standing in front of them.. practicing the steps.. pretty comical. Apprentaly
you like break a law of TANGO if two people of the same sex dance together.. so
all the guys dance with literally 3 girls at a time. anyway.. that’s been fun. Our teacher is a
nut job.. one of those ladies who calls everybody "baby sweety honey bunny cocchhii cochi cho bo soupy".. well..
something like that.. only in spanish.
"MACHISMO"
hhhmmm… that
word.. so loaded. Well.. it certainly
has been interesting.. to say the least being in a culture with such a
dynamic. I do a lot of walking to and
from my school and around town. .. probably averages out to a half an hour to an
hour a day.. and NEVER do I make it more than like 3-4 minutes without a horn
beeping.. some guy passing me on his "bici" and SHAMELESSLY turning his head
completely around to look at me after they pass, or comments yelled across the
street. I will say that its pretty tame
here compared to the Dominican Republic.. but it definitely still exists. It’s really interesting and funny to me
though in a lot of ways. Obviously an
overexageration of male "dominance" in society would be something that I
wouldn’t exactly find appealing. but its
just interesting to observe different dynamics between men and women here. for one thing… the guys are REALLY
protective. They may think that their
women have a certain role and should stay in the home and fulfill it.. but if
ANYTHING bad happens to them.. the "shit hits the fan" for lack of better
words…They have pretty much ZERO tolerance. I’ve made a lot of guy friends here and their soo funny with me. they’re all very respectful and all have great
senses of humor (Cordobeses are known for their sense of humor). But whenever I have to do any travelling
alone I get like a 5 minute lecture on how to be safe and what to do and what
not to do. ..
TrAFFIC:
well.. I’ve
mentioned public transportation before but I’m still getting used to that. It’s actually been really fun for me. It’s kind of adventurous to have to figure
all that stuff out on your own. I’ve
done a LOT of asking for directions.. which is always hysterical because I
usually only understand about half of what the person tells me so I follow that
until I have to ask another person where I’m going. Mostly the people are very patient and kind..
others I’m sure would like to tell me to go back to where I came from and stop
asking the same question like five times. I also walk a whole lot back and forth from school… and getting used to
absolutely no traffic laws. In argentina.. pedestrians absolutely do NOT have
the right away.. ever. bikes don’t stop
for you.. mopeds don’t stop for you.. and cars definitely dont’ stop for you..
so you always have to be paying attention. everything is very dusty too so whenever I get back to my house my feet
are absoultely filthy and I have those gross flip-flop dirt marks. needless to say.. all my shoes stink really
bad. i think I’m going to have to put
some kind of air freshner in my closet.. haha. I’m also getting used to be friggin’ sweaty all the time..always hot..
always sticky..
A BIRTHDAY
PARTY…
So this past
weekend the day after our "goodbye party" I went to a birthday party with my
tutor and a bunch of her friends. she is
28 (even though she looks like she’s like 20) so all of her friends were pretty
much starting their careers and stuff… it was kind of like going to a party
with my older sister.. so it was really fun. something I’m learning here (as I mentioned before in refernce to my
birthday) is that they take birthdays REALLY seriously. they LOVE to find any reason to get together
with a bunch of people and eat lots of food and dance. which I think we all know.. are three of my
absolute FAVORITE things to do. so yea..
it was great. this party was especially
fun because it was the first time I’ve gone out without anybody from the States
and/or a group of tutors (aka.. people
who talk like 15 times slower so that I can understand or that are struggling
just as bad as I am to get any kind of hold on what is going on..) so.. it was a
huge challenge because everything was at normal speed.. but I ended up having a
great time! Once people figured out I
was from the states they were super nice about everything.. they ALL wanted to
talk about politcs.. its hilarious to me because EVERYONE here knows more about
american politics than I do. seriously! its really pathetic..
I feel so dumb! haha. but yea.. they
love politics and they love "futbol" (soccer). soo.. most
conversations center around these things. but anyways.. yea.. had some good conversations and of course.. more
dance lessons. hahha.. which are always entertaining for all. I also ate lots
and lots of delicious food and I plan on purchasing a cookbook before I come
home so I can share with you all the delights of the South American
cooking. mmmmmm.. delicious.
PLANS:
Well.. now that
our "intensive month" is coming to a close I’m starting to think about the
classes I will be taking during the semester. I’m going to try to take as many through the university as I can so I’m
with all argentine students and the pace isn’t slowed down so much. but I’m going to try to give myself a lighter
load so I can spend as much time as possible mastering the language.
my future plans
aside from school include trying to work with an organization that some of
students from the university are involved with that work with people living in
the "villas miserias" (basically REALLY poor neighborhoods outside of the
city) I had been planning on doing
something like that but I wasn’t sure how to get connected but then i was
talking to one of my new friends who works in the office at the university about
it and she said that she had a friend that was coming to visit for awhile and
statying with her that had studied last semester in the same program as me. Her name is Kristyn and she’s adorable! anyways she worked with this group while she
was studying at the university and attends a methodist church in cordoba I just met her briefly the other night but
I’m going to try to connect with her again soon. "
