Hey everyone! Well...despite my best efforts it has been yet another week... This week was even busier as ALL my classes are now in session. The final one was regional development, which started this week on Tuesday. I'm VERY excited about it and its easily my favorite class. The professor, Mario, not only works with the program, but is also a professor at Cuyo (the public university). He speaks slowly so we can understand and is trying to get us to think about the world outside of our USA background. Its going to be quite the reality check I can tell.
Monday was a pretty basic day. I had class in the morning and in my rush to get out of the house left some very important documents behind for my next class... I had run out of time trying to deal with a presentation on my computer that I had to give in class. Trying not to carry my computer, I had attempted to save the presentation to an e-mail that I could then open on the professor's computer, but the document would not attach. I then tried to save it to my flashdrive and was told there was an error. So I deleted some documents off my flashdrive and tried again...still and error. In frustration I ended up hauling my computer to class. Apparently that was supposed to happen, because my history class had technical difficulties and we ended up using my computer for the presentations. After class I raced back home to grab the papers I had left behind and then went on to language class. The presentation went without issues and we actually used my computer again because some of the presentations wouldn't work on the professor's computer. After class I walked home and enjoyed an afternoon nap before relaxing into the evening and watching Lie to Me with Sole. This has become our Monday night series and I'm absolutely hooked!
Tuesday was when the regional development class started, so that was first on the menu. Followed by lunch (at 4pm when I got home), a nap, and then off to Congreso for sociology. A friend, Christa, from the program has now joined me in that class, so I'm not all along. We had a group assignment at the end of the period and got to work with 3 local students. That was pretty cool except this one guy kept pretending he couldn't understand my spanish and would ask Christa to repeat for him what I'd said. Everyone else could understand, so I think he was just being obnoxious. After we finished the assignment, they started asking us about where we were from and why we were here. Then they asked us about the war in Iraq...that's a touchy subject in English, and trying to explain it in spanish was even tougher, but I think we got our ideas across. Its interesting to see an outside perspective on US politics.
Wednesday was language (more presentations) and Tango!!! That classroom was like a sauna! It has been unusually hot here this week and Wednesday was in the 80s. We learned a bunch of new, more complicated combinations. One of the guys with our program is REALLY good and he ended up helping the pairs that were having trouble. It was fun, but its so crowded that it can be difficult to practice. I'm considering switching to the Monday night class because there are less people and we get to learn folklore dancing as well...we'll just have to see how it all works out. On the way back home from class Whitney and I got on the wrong bus and ended up taking a tour of a local neighborhood before getting back towards town and walking home... Lucky for us the bus driver was super friendly and told us where we should get off and how to get back to the central plaza. Hooray for my first incorrect bus adventure!
Thursday...well...this day did not go AT ALL as I had hoped. If you're looking for only the sunny parts of my experience, do not read this day. :) I had history class again in the morning and arrived promptly to find the classroom. Have I mentioned that the classrooms can change day to day and week to week. You always have to check to see where the class is going to be! We all made it to class (which was held in another sauna) and waited for the professor, who arrived about 30minutes late. Near the end of class, she began talking to us about "trabajo práctico en grupos" which means essentially a group assignment. However past that, I completely lost the gist of what she was talking about. Turning to my other foreign companions, they seemed just as lost. So I gently tapped the shoulder of the girl infront of me and asked her to explain the assignment because we didn't understand...she promptly started laughing at me.... Eventually I got the teacher's attention and asked for an explanation (which we all understood that time) and then another student translated for us in english in case we hadn't gotten it yet. Not only was it embarrassing, I was really hurt by the girl's response. We also found out that the book we had originally been told to buy first was not the one we needed to be reading and instead needed a completely different book and all of unit 1 from the photocopier... Frustrated, confused, and upset, I left class with the others to get all the copies we needed. After waiting for all the sets (it was a pretty thick stack), we did not have time to take the trolley or walk to regional development and instead had to take a cab. However when the 4 of us arrived at the office for class, I somehow ended up paying for nearly all of it... Granted it was about 2 US dollars, but the fact that this was not the first time it had happened, coupled with my miserable mood did nothing but make things worse. As I waited in the office for class, another friend, Audrey, tried to comfort me as I was visibly upset and fighting a turmoil between being furious and bursting into tears. Class went well and during the break I talked to Mario about my frustrations. He apparently knows the professor and talked to her (during the break) about e-mailing us the assignment written down (which is always easier to understand) and also about how we could get more help. On one hand I felt bad because I didn't want him or the professor to think I was incompetent, but on the other hand, I was so thankful for the assistance and support that I gave in. Walking back from class with Audrey I told her about the morning and we commiserated about the difficulties of studying in a different language. I then (for the second time this week) caught the wrong bus home and ended up walking a few more blocks than I intended. Sole was gone when I got home, so I heated up my lunch and decided a nap was definitely in order to clear my head. By the time I woke up I felt much better and was ready for the evening. About 9 of us met at the local (free on Thursdays) pizza restaurant to eat and discuss our Patagonia plans for spring break. We quickly turned away from plans to a venting and consoling session for everyone at the table talking about everything from families, to friends, to food, to classes, to communication. It was WONDERFUL and just what the doctor ordered. Dinner was unanimously followed by ice cream next door... I had been trying to be so good about being healthy and walking all week, but this day was simply too much and I gave in to any and all food temptations, allowing myself a reprieve. It was a wonderful way to end the day and I went home much happier.
Friday I spend relaxing at the house, shopping, and talking with another friend Caroline who has just recently recovered from (as the doctor told her "seasonal flu") or as she later determined severe allergies... We had coffee, talked about the week and the upcoming history project and shopped the local streets. We also combined forces to start reading the material for said history class... Home work is always better in numbers. As I was not up for a very late night, I had an "early" dinner at 10:30pm and went to a friend's house to watch a movie. It was nice to have a girls night to talk and enjoy.
Today was spectacular! A group of us had decided to go hiking and Eric "organized" it so we met at 11am in the central plaza to catch a bus to the "trail-head". However there is not a stop where we thought, so we walked a few blocks to find one. Then we had to catch a different bus to the trailhead... When we finally arrived at what could possibly (but was actually not) our stop, it was 12:40... Determined to hike anyway, we started off up a gravel road towards the mountains and it quickly became clear that this was someone's driveway...so we found a trail and started up that instead. It appears that we had somehow managed to stop in the middle of a shanty town for lack of a better word and were hiking around the outside of the small community. After some difficulty finding a sad excuse for a trail, we started up to a low ridge for a better view. By this point it was 1 and so we stopped for lunch. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. A picturesque desert complete with cacti. As we packed up to head on, Louisa looked at her thermometer and exclaimed that it was a whopping 90º outside...if this is "spring"...summer is going to kill me. We spent the better part of the next 2 hours trying to navigate trains, ridges, river beds, and slippery shale around the foothills of the Andes and eventually decided to call it quits. It was a brilliant adventure and we really enjoyed the views. Deciding that the exertion under the hot sun deserved some sort of reward, we headed back towards my house for ice cream! 3 scoops in a waffle cone for $1. Doesn't get much better than that. Clearly a nap was in order after and I am now going to work on hw until my "aunt" arrives shortly. She's moving in with us and I couldn't be happier. The 3 of us always have a great time and she's a wonderful, patient person to be around. :)
Well...that's all from here. I hope everyone had a great week and I can't wait to hear from you.
All my love!
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