Hey everyone, so I'm still trying to catch up a bit, but I think it might actually happen this weekend! Hopefully everyone is doing well. My suggestion for the week, find something you love (and that you haven't done in awhile) and put it on your to-do list! Everyone needs a fun break to look forward too!
Monday was relatively unexciting here in Mendoza. I had history class in the morning as usual and rather than having a lesson prepared for us, the professor read (yes just read) from a lecture written by Bolivar for an hour! Our job was to listen and take notes on the main points. I could've done this at home on my own time! While it was rather frustrating to sit and listen to this, it was also difficult to pick up main points when I couldn't see the lecture. Especially in a different language, it helps me to be able to see it infront of me. Not to mention if there was a word I didn't recognize I had no time to look it up. Oh well, we turned in our notes at the end of class and headed off to Spanish. Most of my friends have made a tradition of stopping at this vegetarian place for food on the way since spanish is from 1-3 and many of them have class after. I tried the food once and its pretty good, but I usually wait until after class to eat at home. Anyway, we all stopped to get food and then started the walk to class. Its a good 45 minutes, but with friends not bad at all. However this day we decided that it was too hot to walk, so we took the bus. As a result we arrived about 30 minutes early for class and I sat down with the intent to read more sociology. I had just printed off the 4th module (finally in the copier) and was planning to read the beginning of it and the remainder of #3 by the end of the day. Class went as usual. No surprises or anything special. We're now working on a grammar tense called the subjunctive and its pretty difficult. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon. I think that's one of the hardest parts of spanish is all the verb tenses. I'm easily mixing them up all the time.... After class I walked home and enjoyed a nice lunch waiting for me. Then I decided that a nap would be necessary before I could study. Otherwise it was just studying all afternoon. I studied up until dinner and by that point I had nearly finished the material! With a little bit of time after dinner I was done with the part of module #4 I needed and nearly done with all of #3. The reading for this exam alone easily hit over 200 pages (all in spanish) and I had nearly completed it!
My first class Tuesday wasn't until 1pm, so I got up a little early and continued reading. I finished the material before class and checked my mail to see if there were any announcements about the exam (please be cancelled, please be cancelled - which in Argentina wouldn't be all that rare). Unfortunately the exam wasn't cancelled, but there was a crossword puzzle for us to do to practice with some of the vocabulary. I saved it to my flash drive and printed it out at the office to work on before class. We were supposed to have 'interviews' this week about how classes are going etc, but they were running nearly an hour behind. As a result, 5 of us filled out the paperwork together at the beginning of our development class and didn't really get an interview. In class our professor told us that all of us had passed the exam from last week and that if we wanted to see the grades he would have the exams with him the next day at the office. After class I walked back home and ate quickly before locking myself in my room to study and finish the crossword. I am DETERMINED to do better on this test than I did the last one. Its mostly about the original thinkers of sociology and I usually get their points mixed up, so I'm trying really hard to sort them all out. When I arrived in class, there were already a few others there, but not many everyone seemed to be pouring over notes and getting those last few minutes of study time in. At about 6pm, a woman I didn't recognize walked into the room and called for the attention of the class. She started explaining that the professor would be there in a bit, but that in the meantime we would be working on an exercise of how to make a proper conceptual map of a lecture. Everyone must have been looking at her like she was crazy. Finally someone put their hand in the air and asked, "What about our partial?" "Oh, you have an exam today?", she asked, seeming rather perplexed. "YES!", we all nearly shouted back at her. About the time our professor came in and they organized the project for the coming week. Good thing too! We couldn't afford to take and hour of our class time on a project when we had an exam to complete. Before we started the exam our professor went over the crossword with us to help review the vocabulary. The exam didn't seem that bad to be honest. I worked hard on it for a long time. Just like the first exam there was matching, definitions, fill in the blank, short answer, and true or false. One of the matching sections was putting the concepts of the thinkers in a box with their name. I know mine wasn't perfect, but I think it went alright. I was one of the last people there, but I felt pretty good about it when I turned it in to leave. I went home to a nice dinner and an early bedtime in preparation for my "día de diablo" or devil day of a Wednesday.
Wednesday morning found me up at 6:30 as usual... Luckily as it gets to be spring the sun is coming up earlier so I'm not in complete darkness anymore. I headed off to class, food in hand and managed to catch the trolley right on time. It was a little chilly but not too bad, and with the weather prediction in the 80's I had decided to brave the streets in a dress. Class went smoothly and then I sat down to work on reading for my history class. I still haven't made up the partial from when I was sick and from what the teachers have mentioned I have a sneaking suspicion it will be soon... When it was time to leave for spanish, I headed off with a group of friends. We've all gotten so accustomed to walking here and its really nice to at least have that exercise to count on. Most of the time its faster and more trustworthy than the busses as well.... In spanish class our professor informed us that we would be having a 'birthday celebration' next Monday to celebrate everyone's birthday. Each person was in charge of bringing a snack/drink to share and we were going to play 'amigo invisible' = invisible friend (ie the Spanish version of secret Santa). Of all the names to draw from the hat, I probably drew the one I knew the least about.... This will be interesting... After class it was the usual rush home before tango. I actually caught a bus part way, so that was a nice change. After a quick bite to eat and a change of clothes (I did not plan to dance in my dress) I met up with some friends to walk to class. Lately there has been a lot of construction in the city that has changed all the bus routes. As a result, we've found it simpler to simply walk in the nice weather than to look for a bus stop. We got to class with time to spare and almost started on time! Usually we're waiting at least 30 minutes for the professor to show up. All through class we practiced the dance over and over, trying to work out all the timing details before the show on SUNDAY!!! Our professor also said that we as a group needed to either decide on Thursday or Friday when we could all come together for another practice. Everyone picked Friday (I was surprised). After class we all filed into a classroom to get our costumes. It had taken a good 10 minutes to decide who was black and who was white. When they handed me the outfit I thought they had to be kidding. I had imagined a pretty, sparkly tango dress or at least something feminine, but what I was handed were what looked like white marching band pants with a black stripe down the side and a 'jacket' of satin material that reminded me of a tuxedo jacket with tails! Not only were the outfits awful! but they said our professor didn't like the black strip and that we had to buy fabric to cover it or sew over it before Friday! I was just a little upset... Back home with my family I explained the situation and we all laughed over the absurdity of the costume. I'm really enjoying having my abuelos here. They're super sweet and lots of fun to talk to. Then it was right to be for me.
Thursday morning brought another history class... This one pretty much sums up Argentina. Exams were handed back and notes announced to the class (not like they hadn't already been sent out in an e-mail with names and everything). My friend Caroline had earned the top score and the teacher called for an applause for her. I've never seen her face so red, poor thing was SO embarrassed. At the end of class the teacher took time to go over the exam and was clearly frustrated with people for getting such low scores. Caroline was the only 7.... By the time she had finished, class was 20 minutes LATE getting out. Then I went to talk to her about a date for my make-up exam. However, there was a more pressing topic from the class. We were scheduled to have presentations next week on Wednesday (not a regular class day) from 8am to 6pm! The class knew they were Wednesday, but had not counted on being there 10 hours! Most of the students had work or other commitments in the afternoon and were asking for a change. Also there was an exam on Thursday that they wanted time to study for. Long story short and 25 minutes of arguing later, the presentations were unofficially cancelled and moved (along with our second partial and recuperatory exam) to the week after classes are supposed to be over.... GRRRR!!! This also meant that should we not have presentations my exam was Wednesday and if we did have them it would be Thursday. Oh the frustration and uncertainty!!! Needless to say I arrived home very upset. Sole and my abuela just shook their heads. "Welcome to Argentina." After a rushed lunch, it was off to volunteering, which went well as usual. When I got back to the house, I started working on some homework. I left before dinner to meet up with some friends to celebrate yet another birthday! This one being my friend Sarah's 21st. We had a great meal at a different restaurant in the center and then the girls walked me back before heading out to go dancing (I simply didn't have the energy). On the way back, as we walked down my street, a group of older men (40's probably) started making comments and cat calls to us as we walked by. This wasn't unusual (being that we were 4 blonde's and a red head) and so we kept walking. What was unusual, was what a younger guy, who appeared to be about our age, said as we walked by. Head down and putting tables away from outside he said in perfect English, "Sorry ladies." I was SHOCKED! He was apologizing for the comments of the other men! I could've hugged him! When I got home it was straight to bed for me.
Friday I didn't have any plans in the morning, so I just worked on hw and lazed around the house. After lunch and a short nap, I left to meet up with my history group. We had decided to work on our project anyway so that we weren't saving everything until the last minute. However when Deven, Caroline, and I met up at Congreso, the other members weren't there....not even 30 minutes later. So we sent them a message and headed down the street for ice cream! When we got back, they still weren't there. At this point we ran into more friends from our program and all went back to the ice cream shop so that they could get ice cream. In a span of 5 minutes the sky turned dark and the wind seriously picked up...another zonda. There was dirt EVERYWHERE from the wind and I decided to go home. Not to mention that my abuelos were leaving in an hour and I wanted to say goodbye. Deven walked me home and I got to spend a few minutes talking to abuelo before we took some 'family photos' and they left for the bus station. It was back to homework for me and then off to my tango rehearsal. The rehearsal was pretty quick (only about an hour). We all walked back to town together and I split off to go to my friend Nico's house. We had made plans last week to work on the project and then have dinner together, but when the group hadn't shown up earlier, I thought dinner was off. Caroline and I received messages though through facebook that they were already at the house cooking and looking forward to seeing us. I arrived slightly ahead of Caroline and was sitting and talking with Nico (who's actually our TA of sorts) and Augusto (who's in our group) when she got there. We enjoyed an amazing meal prepared by the guys of corn tart (kinda like corn pudding in a pie crust), and steak with a white cream sauce. There was also herbed bread and wine with dinner. Of course ice cream was for dessert and after we'd cleared the table, we sat down for a movie. Neither Caroline nor I had ever seen Schindler's list, so the boys had rented it for us. Nico made coffee, and we sat down for the first half. At the intermission Nico made us martinis with a bit of melon liquor, because they're his favorite and I'd never tried one. Then it was back to the movie. By the time it was over at 3, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Augusto's dad picked us up and took us home so that we didn't have to walk or call a cab. I lay in bed for a long time thinking before I could go to sleep. Nothing like Schindler's list to put your life in perspective...
Saturday I worked on hw a bit in the morning before meeting up with Deven to go shopping. Neither of us had been to the 'Plaza Shopping' (yes that's exactly what its called) and so we decided to make an afternoon of it. We had a good time looking around and it was the first time I'd been in a US style mall in months. When we got back we met up with a friend Madeline in the main plaza and walked to get ice cream with her. It was her 21st birthday, and she was having a really good day. After eating ice cream and walking around a bit, we split up to go home and change before her dinner. She picked a great restaurant! The food was delicious and the atmosphere was really fun. There were about 10-15 of us there and we ordered a bunch of sparkly wine to split with the food. Then we just sat and talked for hours! By the end of it, we were all sitting around the table playing Never Have I Ever and hearing great stories about everyone's lives. Everyone was pretty tired by the time it hit 3 and we all split our separate ways to go home. What a fun and relaxing night! I hope my 21st is just like that. Dinner with friends and family, with stories and fun times to remember.
Sunday was dedicated to homework in the morning before Tango rehearsal started at 4. With help from my abuela and Sole my pants had been sewn so that the black stripes didn't show and with that costume, along with all my personal black and white, I set off for the theater. Our prof had told us on Friday to bring clothes we had in black and white and she would see about letting us wear them. I didn't have white pants, but she let me borrow some from her dance company and with Audrey's white tights underneath, it was perfect! Hooray for wearing normal clothes. All dressed and ready, we waited until nearly 6 before the rehearsal even started. When the run-through was completed at 8 we only had half an hour before we had to be back in preparation for the show. My friend Sarah and I took off for the nearest fast food we knew of...a restaurant called Mr Dog 2 blocks from my house. Disgustingly, we managed to run there and eat in a matter of 15 minutes without spilling anything on our all white outfits... I don't plan on repeating that process ever again! With full bellies we walked back to the theater. The show went great and I haven't had that much fun in a long time. It reminded me a lot of the dance recitals I used to be in and brought back all those fun memories. I really miss that... After the show, we got to see our friends that had come to watch us. Practically everyone who wasn't in the show had been there watching. What fun! Unfortunately Sole couldn't make it cause she had been called into work. I was disappointed, but understood and still had a great time. Exhausted I crawled into bed before midnight in preparation for another busy week. Oh the adventures I'm having here. How many people can say they danced a tango performance in one of the most important theaters in the city?!
It was a pretty good week followed by an even better weekend and I can't wait to see what next week brings. Hopefully more adventures and good times with friends. Its so hard for me to believe how close I'm coming to being done here! It seems almost like yesterday that I arrived and yet I'm so comfortable here it feels like I've been here forever. What an amazing opportunity and experience!
Missing everyone bunches,
All my love!
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