Unfortunate Events and Blessings in Disguise - THE COMPLETE VERSION

Hey everyone! I hope that you all are healthy, enjoying life, and had wonderful weekends!

The second week back from break started out with a bang! Monday classes went as usual. No surprises and nothing special. It was back the the grind with spanish class again so I had the 2 usual classes in the morning and then came home for lunch and a quick nap. Usually I would've gone to the gym, but I was studying for my Thursday history exam and also had an extra Tango rehearsal to attend. I left the house and walked to practice since it was so nice outside. The weather seems to finally be warming up a bit, which is really nice. It hit me all of a sudden walking past 2 of the plazas how green everything has gotten all of a sudden! Its like a fairy waved a wand over everything while we were gone and in the last week. Poof its green and spring in Mendoza! When I got to Tango, no one else was there and I was afraid I was going to be the only one! Luckily 3 others showed up. The 'rehearsal' didn't start until well after 8pm and it wasn't until 9:15 that we finally had a chance to practice our dance. Being that there were only 4 of us there and 3 of us had the girl's part, this was extremely difficult. Did I mention that the professor wasn't there either? Long story short, we ran through the dance 3 times (without music) and then left.... Beneficial expenditure of my time? I think not. When I arrived back home, Sole had dinner ready and we sat down to eat and watch our usual series.

At 11ish after the series had finished and we'd cleared the table, I pulled out my computer to check my mail and encountered a VERY unfortunate and frenzied message in facebook. One of my friends here, Dylan, had apparently had an awful evening. According to his mom, who was on his facebook for him, his computer, local cell, iPod, and backpack had been stolen from his house and he was VERY upset. After talking to her for a few minutes and asking Sole's permission, I hailed a taxi and went directly to his house to find him, see what I could do, and offer to let him sleep at our apartment for the evening. It wasn't until I got to the neighborhood that I realized I had no idea what house was his. So, I called Sole from my cell and asked her (in spanish) if she could talk to Dylan's mom through facebook for me. She did (all in english) and relayed the information to me in spanish so I could find the house. I knocked on the door and as I did, an older woman came up behind me and asked what I wanted. I told her who I was looking for and she let me in (apparently she was Dylan's mom). I asked the people in the living room where Dylan was and headed up the stairs to find him. A very upset, and unsettled Dylan met me halfway up the stairs. He explained to me that he had come down to eat dinner, washed his plates, and returned to his room to find that all of his things had been robbed directly from his room while he was eating! Obviously this was not only frustrating, but scary as well! It appears that the robbers had broken in by way of his balcony (on the second story) using each other to stand on or a car outside. To make this happen, they obviously had to have been watching the house as well! Needless to say the whole situation was very upsetting especially for Dylan's mom, who was just returning from the grocery store when I arrived and heard the story at the same time I did. I feel I need to emphasize here that Dylan lives in a VERY good neighborhood only 1 or 2 blocks from where the program office is. Its not like he lives in an unsafe part of town. After much discussion between the directors, his mom, and Sole, he decided to stay at my house at least until things got figured out. So he packed up some stuff and we hailed a taxi back to my house. Neither of us slept well.

Tuesday morning Dylan left early to go back to his house for a bit before class. I worked on hw and studying until I had to leave. After class, I returned for lunch and to talk to Sole. It appeared that Dylan would be staying with us for a few days until he could change families. Understandably he did not feel comfortable or safe staying in his house anymore. I headed off to my second class and received news that Dylan would be coming back to our place sometime that evening after dinner. Class went as usual. I really am enjoying this sociology class. We didn't get our partials back, but the professor told us we would have the grades by next week at the latest. I'm still crossing my fingers it went ok. Part way through class, we had our usual break "recreo" which the students had been calling for since 15 minutes into class... Our class goes until 8:30 and at five til 8, the prof paused for a minute to ask what time it was. One guy behind me (who had been bothering me all period talking, bouncing his feet on my chair etc) shouted that it was time to go. I just shook my head and the prof asked again if it was really 8:30, I told her no, that it wasn't quite 8 yet. The kid behind me asked why I'd done that and I turned around and snapped at him that I cared about the class and was here to learn the material. All of this of course took place in spanish and he was quite taken aback (yes obnoxious boy the gringa DOES speak spanish). He actually got up and left the class and didn't show up again until the very end. I was honestly proud of myself! My first retort in spanish! After class I went home and helped Sole a bit in the kitchen and tried to catch up on the hw I hadn't done in the midst of last night's excitement. We still hadn't eaten at 10:30 when Dylan showed up, so he joined us for a second dinner. Between Sole, tia Paola, her bf Gustavo, and me, it was quite the full house. We spent most of the meal laughing about one thing or another and Dylan even seemed to lighten up a bit (although it was also clear he was a little overwhelmed). After dinner I worked on more hw and prepared everything for the next day in the living room. Seeing as I had a class the next morning at 8:15 and had to leave by 7:30, I wanted to make as little noise as possible and disturb no one if possible. So, I put everything in the living room so I would only have to go back into my room (which is where Dylan was sleeping in the extra bed) as few times as possible.

Wednesday morning dawned WAY too early for me and I was not feeling great when I rolled out of bed. By the time I got to class I was a little better, but by the end of class it was clear I was coming down with something. I obviously had a cold (stuffy/runny nose, sore throat, etc) but my stomach was also bothering me! It hadn't felt like this since the first few days here when I was still becoming accustomed to the water/food etc. I barely made it through class and was working on more hw in an extra room when the new girl working at the office asked me if I was ok. I told her I wasn't feeling well but it was fine. She seemed concerned, but let me be. A few minutes later Carlos (one of our program coordinators) appeared at the door and he was not so convinced. Long story short, they called a doctor who arrived in 10 minutes to take a look at me. After a quick exam, he determined that I was in no state for classes and sent me home with notes for Sole on what types of food I was allowed and what to take for pain/fever (which he was convinced I had) and notes for my teachers explaining why I would not be in class. I took the trolley home (with no desire to walk) and walked in with the notes for Sole. She read them and sent me directly to bed. The doctor had prescribed bed rest for 3 days, and simple foods (essentially the Argentinean version of the BRAT diet - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast). Immediately I found myself in my pjs and confined to bed. That afternoon Dylan stopped by to get his stuff and give me my hw. He had found a new family and was moving that afternoon! Lucky for him that something worked out so quickly. I spent the rest of the day in bed, sleeping, watching movies, and eating the food that Sole brought to me.

By Thursday morning I was feeling slightly better, but still under the weather and was still confined to bed. I did absolutely nothing the entire day and only left my bed to use the bathroom. In all fairness, I was not deathly sick or even more than under the weather. Had I been at DU, I still would've been in my classes and living life as usual. The most unfortunate thing about the timing, is that not only did I miss my first parcial = midterm in my History of Political Ideas class today, this is also a long weekend with no class on Monday and it is very clear that my plans to go to Iguazu are completely out of the question. The good news, is that I sent an e-mail Wednesday and the professor said not to worry about it that we would work it all out when I was better, and everyone else bailed on Iguazu too. So, I spent the entire day sleeping, eating, and watching more movies!

Friday morning I was feeling much better and was even permitted to bounce into the kitchen for my own glasses of water! However once I had my water, it was back to bed for me! I couldn't believe how seriously Sole was taking this and I was still eating very simple food. However, the rice that she kept making me was really good and mixed with some type of cheese, which I really enjoyed. I spent the day thinking and watching more movies... Hoping that soon I would be allowed back outside or at least into the living room for extended periods of time. I am seriously out of movies to watch on my computer and the internet is not all that stable in my room...so it makes life interesting. As frustrating as these few days have been to miss classes, activities, and time with friends, I am really counting it as a blessing. I clearly needed the time to rest and relax with no obligations. What better/more efficient way to clear out an entire weekend than doctor's orders?! I'm convinced that no matter how much sleep I get here I am just going to continue being exhausted 24/7 and I fully intend to blame it on the mental exertion of learning a new language and/or the viento zonda whenever possible.

Saturday I actually saw the outside for the first time in days! Granted it was only to meet my friend Audrey and trade movies with her, but it was a breath of fresh(ish) air. We even got to talk for a bit before she and Caitlin (another friend) headed off to ice cream. Then it was back to bed for me ... with new movies!!! On the bright side, I did eat lunch and dinner at the dining table with Paola and Sole. :)

Sunday I actually escaped from the house! Bundled up of course under Sole's orders with scarf and fleece jacket (in 70º weather) I headed to the grocery store to meet Deven. His family was out of town for the weekend and he wanted to do something nice for them, so we decided to make chocolate chip cookies! I helped him get the ingredients and then we went back to his house to make and bake them. He lives in an amazing house and from the outside it doesn't look like much, but the inside is BEAUTIFUL! Its so colorful and its HUGE! The house is really long and skinny with 2 small courtyards. The architecture here just astounds me. The cookies turned out amazing and we had a great time making them. It was honestly just nice to be out of the house and have a change of scenery.

Monday was a holiday (Columbus day) and so we had no classes and I just spent the day relaxing at the house again and slowly starting to work on hw for the week so that I would be ready for classes and not start the new week behind. I also took some time in the afternoon to walk around the park with a friend. We had discussed meeting there at 4, but right as I was about to send her a message to confirm, my cell phone ran out of credit... Being that it was a holiday, NOTHING was open, so I just decided to walk to the park and hope that she would meet me there. When I got there, I had missed a call from her and had another text saying she was still at her house waiting for confirmation from me... I tried charging my phone with a credit card, but apparently my card is not authorized for these measures... As I sat on the grass trying to come up with a plan, I finally decided that I could just ask to borrow someone else's phone to send a message... Oh great, gotta ask a complete stranger, in spanish, to borrow their phone. I finally decided on a group of girls who looked to be about 13-15 years old. They could immediately tell I wasn't from there, and asked if I was from the US. I told them yes, and they started trying to speak phrases of english to me. It was pretty fun to hear and to try to help them with the translations. One of the girls let me borrow their phone and I sent Lisa a message to come meet me. 5 minutes later the girl squealed in delight! "Tengo un mensaje en ingles!" (I have a message in english)! Long story short Lisa and I finally met up to walk around the lake and talk. The girls were absolutely delighted to talk with me until Lisa got there and we had a really good time. It just amazes me how much I've changed since I came here. I NEVER would've done that at the beginning! Hooray for improving confidence.

Overall I'd say the weekend was a success. My stomach is basically back to normal (although Sole still won't let me eat yogurt or anything with dairy besides the cheese in the rice) and I just have a stuffy nose from my cold. I also had a lot of time to relax, catch up on things around the apartment, and more importantly: sleep. Sometimes events are just a blessing in disguise and I'm super happy I had this one. :)

I hope everyone is doing well and that this message finds you enjoying life. My advice for the weekend, take some time to relax with no plans and just enjoy life. Honestly we don't do enough of that anymore and it can be truly beneficial for the body, mind, and soul.
All my love!