Today I got home from a weekend trip to a small town in the province called San Hilario. It's where a classmate of mine is from, and she goes there every weekend to be with her mom. It also happens to be the town of the Japanese student Ruka. So, this weekend, she invited me to go with her.
We left straight from school on Friday and got on a little, fourteen passenger mini bus to the town. It was more or less an hour and a half, partially on the highway and partially dirt roads. We arrived to her house around 2 in the afternoon starving, and we sat down to some delicious beef and salad for lunch. Afterwards, we went out so she could show me the town. It has a population of about 600 people, and is super rural. Rural, not like Vermont, where everything is just spread out. Rural in the sense that to take a hot shower, one has to go and fill up the tank with water and wait for it to heat up, and when it runs out, it doesn't matter if you still have shampoo in your hair. Rural in the sense that a lot of houses don't have glass in their windows or doors that close tight, or that most of the family sleeps in one room. What surprised me was that here in Formosa (the city), there's a lot of people that talk about how impoverished they are and how tough their living situation is, but there in the town, everybody seemed pretty content and grateful for what they have.
I had a chance to go to the school and talk to a few classes there in English, and then Spanish. The English teacher had a very good accent, and although he talked reallyyyy slowly, he didn't sound like an Argentine.
Apart from that, my friend and I passed most of our time going from house to house, drinking terere and chatting. It was nice to have a laid back weekend for once. I enjoyed it.
Monday morning (aka today) we got up at 4:20am to get the bus around 5:00 and head to school, arriving at 7:28am as they were about to close the doors. So obviously, seeing as I went to bed around 1am, I am exhausted. Time for a siesta. There's photos on my Facebook if you all want to see, but don't google San Hilario Formosa because none of the pictures that show up on Google are actually from the town.
And... 43 days till I leave, 45 till I get home. Six weekends left. Woah.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Why I will never use public transportation again...
Just seeing me walking down the street, I can usually pass for a local. I mean, I'm not a platinum blonde, blue eyed European, I'm a brown haired, brown eyed American. Until I open my mouth most people don't realize that I'm not from Formosa. Today, it was definitely obvious not only that I'm not from Formosa, but that I'm not from a city... or suburb... or any place with public transportation (RCT doesn't count, that's for old people).
Here's the back story. I was at a friend's house for the night, and when I got up in the morning I wanted to head home for lunch. She, on the other hand, had no intention whatsoever of changing out of pajamas and groggily explained to me how to get to the bus stop (seeing as her house is on the other side of the city from my own). I made my way to the bus stop and waited about 10 minutes till the bus arrived.
Now, I'm no stranger to the city buses. Last year I had to take the bus to school and back every day, and I know how to get to most of the other neighborhoods of the city by bus. Taking the same line as I always took home from school shouldn't have been a problem...
The bus came, I paid for my ticket ($2.50 pesos, .30 dollars) and took my seat, expecting to have a short twenty minute bus ride to get to my house. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Passengers were getting off and nobody was getting on. Finally, we were driving down some dirt road in the middle of one of the poorest neighborhoods that I had driven through maybe two times all year. I was the only one left. And the bus stopped. Ok. The bus driver looked back at me and said "Aca termina," (it ends here), and I, confused, asked "Como que aca termina?" (What do you mean, it ends here?). Until today, I had assumed that the buses go in a loop. That they circle and circle in a never ending cycle. I knew that each line went in two directions, but I had figured that they do the same circle, and no matter in which direction one gets on the bus, it will always get you to your destination at some point. That is apparently not true.
The bus driver simply told me that I had to get off the bus, and that in awhile he would be back. Ok. Awesome. I was stuck sitting at the intersection of two dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, where there were kids running loose, horse drawn carts, and lines of one room huts with outhouses out back. A phone with no credit to call and no numbers for taxi services. A backpack with a wet bathing suit, a towel, and a hundred pesos. I figured I would just sit there and wait, while the bus went about another block and parked. The bus driver got off, walked around the bus, entered, exited, entered, exited, and about a half hour later the bus driver got back in the bus, started in up, and came back to my little dirt street corner. I got on the bus and started to make my way towards the back when he paused me and asked "y tu boleto?" (and your ticket?). I pulled my ticket out of my pocket and showed him. He lauged and said I had to pay for another ticket. I explained that I only had a hundred peso bill. Luckily, he had change, if not, he would have left me there on the corner. I paid for my ticket and went to sit, and a full hour later I got back to my stop.
Now, that traumatic experience was not my fault. How was I supposed to know that I had to wait for the bus driving in the opposite direction? I figured that either way, the bus would pass by my part of the city. I place 100% of the blame upon my friend, who was too lazy to get herself out of bed. Oh well. Won't make that mistake again.
Other quick news: I have gained a little respect from my swim team recently. In the past week we have been betting on who swims faster in certain events, and I had already racked up two bottles of Coke and an alfajor. Tuesday, we decided to do the ultimate challenge. I, the distance swimmer, would swim 600 meters nonstop. The two fastest sprinters on the team, who swim fast but get tired after 60 meters, would swim legs of 120 meters and trade off. And I won. So I'm awesome. We actually hadn't bet anything on that race, but I think I deserve a few liters of Coke for that one.
Here's the back story. I was at a friend's house for the night, and when I got up in the morning I wanted to head home for lunch. She, on the other hand, had no intention whatsoever of changing out of pajamas and groggily explained to me how to get to the bus stop (seeing as her house is on the other side of the city from my own). I made my way to the bus stop and waited about 10 minutes till the bus arrived.
Now, I'm no stranger to the city buses. Last year I had to take the bus to school and back every day, and I know how to get to most of the other neighborhoods of the city by bus. Taking the same line as I always took home from school shouldn't have been a problem...
The bus came, I paid for my ticket ($2.50 pesos, .30 dollars) and took my seat, expecting to have a short twenty minute bus ride to get to my house. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes passed. Passengers were getting off and nobody was getting on. Finally, we were driving down some dirt road in the middle of one of the poorest neighborhoods that I had driven through maybe two times all year. I was the only one left. And the bus stopped. Ok. The bus driver looked back at me and said "Aca termina," (it ends here), and I, confused, asked "Como que aca termina?" (What do you mean, it ends here?). Until today, I had assumed that the buses go in a loop. That they circle and circle in a never ending cycle. I knew that each line went in two directions, but I had figured that they do the same circle, and no matter in which direction one gets on the bus, it will always get you to your destination at some point. That is apparently not true.
The bus driver simply told me that I had to get off the bus, and that in awhile he would be back. Ok. Awesome. I was stuck sitting at the intersection of two dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, where there were kids running loose, horse drawn carts, and lines of one room huts with outhouses out back. A phone with no credit to call and no numbers for taxi services. A backpack with a wet bathing suit, a towel, and a hundred pesos. I figured I would just sit there and wait, while the bus went about another block and parked. The bus driver got off, walked around the bus, entered, exited, entered, exited, and about a half hour later the bus driver got back in the bus, started in up, and came back to my little dirt street corner. I got on the bus and started to make my way towards the back when he paused me and asked "y tu boleto?" (and your ticket?). I pulled my ticket out of my pocket and showed him. He lauged and said I had to pay for another ticket. I explained that I only had a hundred peso bill. Luckily, he had change, if not, he would have left me there on the corner. I paid for my ticket and went to sit, and a full hour later I got back to my stop.
Now, that traumatic experience was not my fault. How was I supposed to know that I had to wait for the bus driving in the opposite direction? I figured that either way, the bus would pass by my part of the city. I place 100% of the blame upon my friend, who was too lazy to get herself out of bed. Oh well. Won't make that mistake again.
Other quick news: I have gained a little respect from my swim team recently. In the past week we have been betting on who swims faster in certain events, and I had already racked up two bottles of Coke and an alfajor. Tuesday, we decided to do the ultimate challenge. I, the distance swimmer, would swim 600 meters nonstop. The two fastest sprinters on the team, who swim fast but get tired after 60 meters, would swim legs of 120 meters and trade off. And I won. So I'm awesome. We actually hadn't bet anything on that race, but I think I deserve a few liters of Coke for that one.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Month of May update....
It's been awhile since my last blog, so I figured I would give you all (you all aka Mom and Bui) an update. There isn't a whole lot of news, but hey...
I've been at La Ribera more than two months now. I absolutely love my school. I have: Math, Geography, English, Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy, Business, Economics, Culture and Communication, Language (like English class in the US) and Community Investigation and Intervention.
Culture and Communication is a class where we supposedly learn about culture... I guess. Usually the teacher just lets us chat the whole class, because the other exchange student and I are "sharing our cultures" ahem ahem doodling and talking about what we did over the weekend ahem ahem.
Community Investigation and Intervention (Proyecto de Investigación e Intervención Comunitaria) is a class where we have the whole year to choose a problem in the city we would like to know more about and possibly change (eg lack of water in the poorer areas, graffiti, lack of knowledge when voting, etc). The class is actually pretty interesting, because the teacher just came to Formosa from Buenos Aires and expects more of the students. Expecting more... meaning that we have to actually do the homework and take tests (the horror!).
Philosophy. What can I say about Philosophy. I'll put it this way: history bores me out of my mind, but it's a useful subject. Philosophy bores me out of my mind, and no one can explain to me why it's useful. So. For those of you that know my feelings about history, multiply that by about 10 and you'll understand my feelings towards Philosophy.
I actually really like our Business class. We've been doing a lot of accounting, and being a number person, I like doing the work in that class. It's a lot of keeping track of accounts and sales and debts. The teacher is also my Economics teacher, which I also find interesting, but I only have that class once a week so we don't get a lot done.
I must say, I'm kind of awesome. Not so humble... but pretty awesome. I've passed every test we've taken so far:
Language: A+
Economics: A
Business: A+
*Chemistry: B+
CII: A
Math: A+
* I didn't understand a thing, but I passed due to rote memorization. The day before the teacher put all of the questions AND the answers to the exam on the board for us to study. The only question I got wrong was due to the fact that I misread the teacher's handwriting and thought that he put a 2 on the board when he actually put a 7. I think first quarter grades come out next week or the week after, so we'll see how everything turned out. The kids at this school are a lot more responsible about doing their homework and usually have it done in time for class, although usually that just means copying a classmate as the teacher is walking in.
I also had to do a presentation for my class about Vermont. I was actually kind of scared at first, thinking that they would be entirely uninterested and just chit chat throughout the presentation, but I swear, I have never seen them so concentrated in over ten weeks. Afterwards, they actually had intelligent questions, and the rest of the week kept asking me about all sorts of things from the US. I had to make the same presentation for a few other grades, and they were all pretty interested too (though their questions afterwards weren't so intelligent; they asked things like "Do you like McDonalds?" and "Do goats bite?".)
What I really like about La Ribera is that the students are very friendly. I spend a lot of time with my classmates outside of school. I've been to birthdays, to friends' houses, out to eat, and just to hang out and drink mate. All in all, so far so good in school.
Other news (although it is old news): swim team is back! In mid April we started again, but not in Don Bosco. There is an "indoor" pool (a pool with a metal removable roof) a few blocks from my school where we train every night from 9 to 10. It's late, but it is actually pretty convenient because it doesn't interfere with my Italian classes or tutoring my cousin. The pool is superrrrrrrrrrrrr hot, (I actually don't think 13 "r"s acutally explain how hot it is) so it's hard to do long sets, but a hot pool is better than no pool. There aren't many of us that go, but it's nice getting more attention from the coach. We still hang out as a team, including those that don't swim any more, but it usually means walking over 30 blocks (no exaggeration) looking for a place where we can all agree to eat, then arguing, then deciding to get empanadas delivered and eating at 1:30am, walking another 15 or so blocks to go get ice cream and ending up going to the ice cream store that was right next to the house where we ate dinner. But hey. We have love-hate relationships. Last night we hung out, but I decided to make life easier. Being the organized American that I am, I put on our Facebook group "Friday night after swim practice. Hipermercado. Who's going?" We got together after practice, went to the Hipermercado, ate dinner, played pool, and nobody cried or argued or died from hunger or exhaustion. It was actually pretty fun.
More news: Formosa has actually gotten a bit chilly. It has been around 50 degrees the past few days. Although 50 isn't that cold, it's a humid cold, a cold that is inescapable by putting on a jacket. The cold arrived quickly. Last Tuesday I was walking around it shorts and a tank top, and come Wednesday, I was in leggings, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a sweat shirt, huddled up in the kitchen drinking coffee. My reputation as a polar bear that is incapable of feeling cold has been ruined. :(
Travel news: I am probably going on the India 2014 trip with the Academy, which I am super duper excited about. Time to start learning the language (though I still have no idea what language that would be...) and I have decided to backpack Europe summer after freshman year in college. Just saying. Two thousand bucks, a backpack, a cellphone, and a passport.
Also, I was accepted into the Coast Guard AIM program. For those of you who don't know, it's a week long summer camp at the Coast Guard Academy for rising seniors who are interested in attending the CGA. I applied in March and got my acceptance notification the first week of May. That means I have to train, because there is a lot of physical work at the camp. Running. Push ups. Sit ups. And I have school. And swimming. And Italian. And a social life. So far, I've managed to stick to a schedule, so hopefully I'll be in shape for the camp. I've made it through some tough swim camps, so fingers crossed, this won't be too different. The annoying this is that almost all week it has been raining, which has messed up my running schedule a bit. But I can't change it, so there's no worth complaining.
Sticking with the college theme, I've been looking a lot into colleges lately. Most of the schools I'm looking at are in the greater Boston area, DC, or other urban areas in the East. That means that I get home, have a weekend at home, go to the CGA for a week, go to Coutts for two weeks, and have two weeks of college visits down the East Coast, then back to school. Yayyy.... (I actually am kind of psyched though... kind of).
And, last but not least, I have decided that I'm probably going to be hospitalized or in a psych ward by next December. Four AP classes, college apps, capstone, snow, lifeguarding, swim team... in freshman health class they voted me as the first one in the class who would be declared mentally unstable and I'm kind of thinkng they're right. We'll just have to see. Are there even mental wards in Vermont?
This part actually is it: I got my return date. I leave FSA on Tuesday, July 16th. I get home on July 18th. Less than two months. Eight and a half weeks. Sixty days. Wow. Time flies.
LAST THING, I PROMISE: If anybody wants to Skype, send me a message. Today is rainy and I have nothing to do till 8 tonight.
I've been at La Ribera more than two months now. I absolutely love my school. I have: Math, Geography, English, Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy, Business, Economics, Culture and Communication, Language (like English class in the US) and Community Investigation and Intervention.
Culture and Communication is a class where we supposedly learn about culture... I guess. Usually the teacher just lets us chat the whole class, because the other exchange student and I are "sharing our cultures" ahem ahem doodling and talking about what we did over the weekend ahem ahem.
Community Investigation and Intervention (Proyecto de Investigación e Intervención Comunitaria) is a class where we have the whole year to choose a problem in the city we would like to know more about and possibly change (eg lack of water in the poorer areas, graffiti, lack of knowledge when voting, etc). The class is actually pretty interesting, because the teacher just came to Formosa from Buenos Aires and expects more of the students. Expecting more... meaning that we have to actually do the homework and take tests (the horror!).
Philosophy. What can I say about Philosophy. I'll put it this way: history bores me out of my mind, but it's a useful subject. Philosophy bores me out of my mind, and no one can explain to me why it's useful. So. For those of you that know my feelings about history, multiply that by about 10 and you'll understand my feelings towards Philosophy.
I actually really like our Business class. We've been doing a lot of accounting, and being a number person, I like doing the work in that class. It's a lot of keeping track of accounts and sales and debts. The teacher is also my Economics teacher, which I also find interesting, but I only have that class once a week so we don't get a lot done.
I must say, I'm kind of awesome. Not so humble... but pretty awesome. I've passed every test we've taken so far:
Language: A+
Economics: A
Business: A+
*Chemistry: B+
CII: A
Math: A+
* I didn't understand a thing, but I passed due to rote memorization. The day before the teacher put all of the questions AND the answers to the exam on the board for us to study. The only question I got wrong was due to the fact that I misread the teacher's handwriting and thought that he put a 2 on the board when he actually put a 7. I think first quarter grades come out next week or the week after, so we'll see how everything turned out. The kids at this school are a lot more responsible about doing their homework and usually have it done in time for class, although usually that just means copying a classmate as the teacher is walking in.
I also had to do a presentation for my class about Vermont. I was actually kind of scared at first, thinking that they would be entirely uninterested and just chit chat throughout the presentation, but I swear, I have never seen them so concentrated in over ten weeks. Afterwards, they actually had intelligent questions, and the rest of the week kept asking me about all sorts of things from the US. I had to make the same presentation for a few other grades, and they were all pretty interested too (though their questions afterwards weren't so intelligent; they asked things like "Do you like McDonalds?" and "Do goats bite?".)
What I really like about La Ribera is that the students are very friendly. I spend a lot of time with my classmates outside of school. I've been to birthdays, to friends' houses, out to eat, and just to hang out and drink mate. All in all, so far so good in school.
Other news (although it is old news): swim team is back! In mid April we started again, but not in Don Bosco. There is an "indoor" pool (a pool with a metal removable roof) a few blocks from my school where we train every night from 9 to 10. It's late, but it is actually pretty convenient because it doesn't interfere with my Italian classes or tutoring my cousin. The pool is superrrrrrrrrrrrr hot, (I actually don't think 13 "r"s acutally explain how hot it is) so it's hard to do long sets, but a hot pool is better than no pool. There aren't many of us that go, but it's nice getting more attention from the coach. We still hang out as a team, including those that don't swim any more, but it usually means walking over 30 blocks (no exaggeration) looking for a place where we can all agree to eat, then arguing, then deciding to get empanadas delivered and eating at 1:30am, walking another 15 or so blocks to go get ice cream and ending up going to the ice cream store that was right next to the house where we ate dinner. But hey. We have love-hate relationships. Last night we hung out, but I decided to make life easier. Being the organized American that I am, I put on our Facebook group "Friday night after swim practice. Hipermercado. Who's going?" We got together after practice, went to the Hipermercado, ate dinner, played pool, and nobody cried or argued or died from hunger or exhaustion. It was actually pretty fun.
More news: Formosa has actually gotten a bit chilly. It has been around 50 degrees the past few days. Although 50 isn't that cold, it's a humid cold, a cold that is inescapable by putting on a jacket. The cold arrived quickly. Last Tuesday I was walking around it shorts and a tank top, and come Wednesday, I was in leggings, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a sweat shirt, huddled up in the kitchen drinking coffee. My reputation as a polar bear that is incapable of feeling cold has been ruined. :(
Travel news: I am probably going on the India 2014 trip with the Academy, which I am super duper excited about. Time to start learning the language (though I still have no idea what language that would be...) and I have decided to backpack Europe summer after freshman year in college. Just saying. Two thousand bucks, a backpack, a cellphone, and a passport.
Also, I was accepted into the Coast Guard AIM program. For those of you who don't know, it's a week long summer camp at the Coast Guard Academy for rising seniors who are interested in attending the CGA. I applied in March and got my acceptance notification the first week of May. That means I have to train, because there is a lot of physical work at the camp. Running. Push ups. Sit ups. And I have school. And swimming. And Italian. And a social life. So far, I've managed to stick to a schedule, so hopefully I'll be in shape for the camp. I've made it through some tough swim camps, so fingers crossed, this won't be too different. The annoying this is that almost all week it has been raining, which has messed up my running schedule a bit. But I can't change it, so there's no worth complaining.
Sticking with the college theme, I've been looking a lot into colleges lately. Most of the schools I'm looking at are in the greater Boston area, DC, or other urban areas in the East. That means that I get home, have a weekend at home, go to the CGA for a week, go to Coutts for two weeks, and have two weeks of college visits down the East Coast, then back to school. Yayyy.... (I actually am kind of psyched though... kind of).
And, last but not least, I have decided that I'm probably going to be hospitalized or in a psych ward by next December. Four AP classes, college apps, capstone, snow, lifeguarding, swim team... in freshman health class they voted me as the first one in the class who would be declared mentally unstable and I'm kind of thinkng they're right. We'll just have to see. Are there even mental wards in Vermont?
This part actually is it: I got my return date. I leave FSA on Tuesday, July 16th. I get home on July 18th. Less than two months. Eight and a half weeks. Sixty days. Wow. Time flies.
LAST THING, I PROMISE: If anybody wants to Skype, send me a message. Today is rainy and I have nothing to do till 8 tonight.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Iguazu!!!
Two weeks ago I was able to fulfill a dream I've had since when I was about five years old, that dream being a trip to Iguazu Falls. I went with a group of exchange students during the long weekend for Easter (which did mean, sadly, that I missed my host mother's birthday and Easter). We left Saturday night, a group of 9 students and 3 volunteers, from the Formosa bus station. In a couple hours we arrived to Corrientes (for those of you that don't know, that would be the capital city of the province Corrientes), got a bite to eat, and got on the tour bus. We were in a group of about 40 total. We spent the night on the bus, and I was naive enough to think they would give us blankets and pillows like most of the buses do and against the advice of my entire family I wore a pair of shorts and a tank top ... which meant I spent a very sleepless night coughing and blowing my nose from the awful cold I had had for the past week and shivering while trying to curl up into the tightest little ball possible. I don't know why they insist on putting the air conditioning so high at night when everybody is freezing, but every bus does.
Around nine or ten in the morning we arrived to the Wanda Mines, which are some mines of semi precious stones, like quartz, and we got tours throughout the mines. The photos are awful because we had just spent a night *trying* to sleep on a bus, and were exhausted, but it was really cool! Afterwards we continued on to the hotel, and after an hour or two in the bus we arrived, went to our rooms, and got ready for lunch. I was sharing one room with three girls, an Austrian, an Italian, and a volunteer from Formosa. The room had space to sleep six people! It was great, two stories, bathroom, air conditioning... By that point it was around 12:45 so we headed out with the group of exchange students to go get lunch. We walked through the blazing heat to one restaurant- there was an hour wait. We walked a few more blocks to another restaurant- hour wait. We walked back towards the hotel to a cheaper looking restaurant and the whole group was able to get a spot to sit, and we waited about a half hour, before the owner of the restaurant said he wasn't sure if he was going to serve us or not. So we up and left. Finally we found a place that served food where there was space and waiters that were actually decent, and we ordered our food. And waited. And waited. And after an hour and a half were finally served. By that point it was 3 in the afternoon and the only thing we had eaten all day were a croissant and a piece of toast each, so you can imagine that we ate pretty fast.
Afterwards, we went to the hotel, slept, slept, slept, went to the pool, and had dinner from the hotel buffet. And, because it was the German girl's birthday the following day, we went to the center of town and we all sung happy birthday in our respective languages and we got back to the hotel late... allowing us an hour and a half of sleep before waking up the next day for Iguazu.
A little bit of sleep would have helped, seeing as that day we walked over 6 miles of trails around the falls. It was incredible! I don't know if you all have been to Niagara, but Iguazu is Niagara times 10. There's not only one major fall but dozens, and instead of hotels and streets and noise, it's all nature, crocodiles, coaties, fish, birds, and rainforest. It was amazing. We got to go in boat to the falls and actually went completely under a few of them and got soaking wet! The only downside of all that was that to get back from the boat trip we had to climb a never ending set of stairs, and we were all so tired our legs were literally quivering by the time we reached the summit. Thankfully we got to sit for lunch, which was a huge buffet. But, we are all stingy people, and although the buffet cost about $10, that is pretty pricey for an Argentine lunch, so half of us paid and we just stuffed our bags with fruit and cookies.
On our way back to the hotel we went to a nature reserve type place that had some huge buildings made of huge trees and all this information about mate (a common bitter tea-like drink in Argentina made from a plant) and we tried ice cream with mate flavor, which was strange, to say the least. We were all ready to be back at the hotel, so pretty quickly we got back on the bus. We got back, slept, had dinner, and then had a nice night in the hotel, drinking mate and terere in a group of about 6 students, the volunteers, and some other Argentines and Israelis that we met in the hotel.
The next day we headed out early. We went to the San Ignacio Ruins, which are ruins of a Guarani village from the 1700s. It was interesting but we got distracted taking a bunch of pictures and we didn't really listen to the guide. Afterwards, we had lunch (and there was a huge scandal; apparently there was a blonde girl who ate and left without paying and they sent the bus driver after her. The blonde girl turned out being me, not the platinum blonde girls from Germany, Denmark, Iceland, or Austria, and it turns out I did pay, so ha). Then we headed back for Corrientes. We spent the bus ride all in the back of the bus drinking mate and sleeping. Finally we got to Corrientes and later on, to Formosa, around 10:30pm, and then headed to our respective houses. It was a great trip, we all had a lot of fun and it's definitely a place I would like to visit again. Photos are on my Facebook, I'm too lazy to upload them here.
Around nine or ten in the morning we arrived to the Wanda Mines, which are some mines of semi precious stones, like quartz, and we got tours throughout the mines. The photos are awful because we had just spent a night *trying* to sleep on a bus, and were exhausted, but it was really cool! Afterwards we continued on to the hotel, and after an hour or two in the bus we arrived, went to our rooms, and got ready for lunch. I was sharing one room with three girls, an Austrian, an Italian, and a volunteer from Formosa. The room had space to sleep six people! It was great, two stories, bathroom, air conditioning... By that point it was around 12:45 so we headed out with the group of exchange students to go get lunch. We walked through the blazing heat to one restaurant- there was an hour wait. We walked a few more blocks to another restaurant- hour wait. We walked back towards the hotel to a cheaper looking restaurant and the whole group was able to get a spot to sit, and we waited about a half hour, before the owner of the restaurant said he wasn't sure if he was going to serve us or not. So we up and left. Finally we found a place that served food where there was space and waiters that were actually decent, and we ordered our food. And waited. And waited. And after an hour and a half were finally served. By that point it was 3 in the afternoon and the only thing we had eaten all day were a croissant and a piece of toast each, so you can imagine that we ate pretty fast.
Afterwards, we went to the hotel, slept, slept, slept, went to the pool, and had dinner from the hotel buffet. And, because it was the German girl's birthday the following day, we went to the center of town and we all sung happy birthday in our respective languages and we got back to the hotel late... allowing us an hour and a half of sleep before waking up the next day for Iguazu.
A little bit of sleep would have helped, seeing as that day we walked over 6 miles of trails around the falls. It was incredible! I don't know if you all have been to Niagara, but Iguazu is Niagara times 10. There's not only one major fall but dozens, and instead of hotels and streets and noise, it's all nature, crocodiles, coaties, fish, birds, and rainforest. It was amazing. We got to go in boat to the falls and actually went completely under a few of them and got soaking wet! The only downside of all that was that to get back from the boat trip we had to climb a never ending set of stairs, and we were all so tired our legs were literally quivering by the time we reached the summit. Thankfully we got to sit for lunch, which was a huge buffet. But, we are all stingy people, and although the buffet cost about $10, that is pretty pricey for an Argentine lunch, so half of us paid and we just stuffed our bags with fruit and cookies.
On our way back to the hotel we went to a nature reserve type place that had some huge buildings made of huge trees and all this information about mate (a common bitter tea-like drink in Argentina made from a plant) and we tried ice cream with mate flavor, which was strange, to say the least. We were all ready to be back at the hotel, so pretty quickly we got back on the bus. We got back, slept, had dinner, and then had a nice night in the hotel, drinking mate and terere in a group of about 6 students, the volunteers, and some other Argentines and Israelis that we met in the hotel.
The next day we headed out early. We went to the San Ignacio Ruins, which are ruins of a Guarani village from the 1700s. It was interesting but we got distracted taking a bunch of pictures and we didn't really listen to the guide. Afterwards, we had lunch (and there was a huge scandal; apparently there was a blonde girl who ate and left without paying and they sent the bus driver after her. The blonde girl turned out being me, not the platinum blonde girls from Germany, Denmark, Iceland, or Austria, and it turns out I did pay, so ha). Then we headed back for Corrientes. We spent the bus ride all in the back of the bus drinking mate and sleeping. Finally we got to Corrientes and later on, to Formosa, around 10:30pm, and then headed to our respective houses. It was a great trip, we all had a lot of fun and it's definitely a place I would like to visit again. Photos are on my Facebook, I'm too lazy to upload them here.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
First Day of School, take 2
As most of you know, this year I changed schools. Before I was going to Industrial, a public technical school, but this year our schedule changed to the night classes, until 9:30pm. And 9:30pm classes would be awful, not to mention having night classes in one of the more dangerous neighborhoods. So, I was changed to la Ribera, a private school 11 blocks from my house.
Now, most exchange students say that apart from the first five minutes after getting off the bus at the start of their exchange, the first day in school is the most nervous feeling anyone has. So imagine not having to go through that once, but twice. Awesome.
One difference with my old school is that this school starts at 7:30am and ends at 1:30pm (though this week and the following, at 12:30pm), which means it is a six hour school day, not three. Which also means waking up at 6, not 10. I like the uniform better, though. At Industrial, just wearing the shirt would probably have covered just as much skin as putting the skirt on over, but the skirt at la Ribera actually is close to St. J dresscode standards. The downside is that the new uniform cost 840 pesos, plus the shoes, which rounds out to a good 1000 pesos ($160).
I got to school at 7:15, and when I entered, I asked one of the women in the office where I needed to go. She kind of just pointed me down a hall, and after wandering about with a scared little deer in the headlights look on my face for about five minutes a student asked me where I needed to go and helped me find the classroom. When I entered, there were already about eight students waiting, and as I took a chair off a desk to sit, one of them warned me that I shouldn´t sit there... when I asked why, he said "ahi se sienta la mala" or "the mean girl sits there." So I changed seats. It turns out that in my class there are two other kids from the swim team and one other exchange student from Italy, so I already had a couple friends. After about five minutes the bell rang to go downstairs for formation, where each grade lines up and they raise the flags and blah blah blah. Then the director started to talk, and she called me out in front of the whole school to introduce myself. Which was awesome.
Class started with economy, then technology, with the same professor. I have never in my life had either of those classes so although I understood the Spanish, the actual content was confusing. Afterwards was Geography, and finally Chemistry. In each class we did a "diagnostic", questions about the subject to judge what point we were at. We also had two blocks of recess, about ten minutes each, to buy snacks or go to the bathroom.
There were a ton of differences with this school. It is much cleaner, without writing on the walls. The desks work and the students are pretty well kept. Everyone I had talked to before said that private school students aren´t very respectful and are noisy and whatnot but I found that they were actually much better behaved than those in my previous school. They were also a lot more sociable, very willing to chat and offer help. Hopefully it will all stay that way.
Other news: today is my six month birthday in Formosa. It actually is way more than halfway, because the program isn´t a full year, it´s actually about ten and a half months. So there are about 140 days left, or a little over four months. We haven´t received our travel information yet, but AFS made a change. Now they won´t have orientation in Buenos Aires or Miami, we will spend a night in the bus from FSA to BA, pass the day in BA, take a plane that night, and arrive in Miami the next day, and from there go home. I don´t like that change, I liked the orientation and think that another meeting with all the exchange students will provide a nice close to the exchange. But anyway, that´s still a ways away.
As far as swimming goes, the pool at Don Bosco is officially closed for the season. We have weekend practice in a 50m indoor pool, and weekdays we are free. My friends and I are looking into getting one lane to ourselves three days a week to train in the afternoons, because we have an important meet coming up in late March. Apart from that I am working up to going for a run. One morning I actually set my alarm for 5am to go run, seeing as the early morning and late nights are the only times physically possible to go running because of the heat, but I woke up, wondered what in the world I was thinking the night before, and went back to sleep. But one day. It will happen.
Now, most exchange students say that apart from the first five minutes after getting off the bus at the start of their exchange, the first day in school is the most nervous feeling anyone has. So imagine not having to go through that once, but twice. Awesome.
One difference with my old school is that this school starts at 7:30am and ends at 1:30pm (though this week and the following, at 12:30pm), which means it is a six hour school day, not three. Which also means waking up at 6, not 10. I like the uniform better, though. At Industrial, just wearing the shirt would probably have covered just as much skin as putting the skirt on over, but the skirt at la Ribera actually is close to St. J dresscode standards. The downside is that the new uniform cost 840 pesos, plus the shoes, which rounds out to a good 1000 pesos ($160).
I got to school at 7:15, and when I entered, I asked one of the women in the office where I needed to go. She kind of just pointed me down a hall, and after wandering about with a scared little deer in the headlights look on my face for about five minutes a student asked me where I needed to go and helped me find the classroom. When I entered, there were already about eight students waiting, and as I took a chair off a desk to sit, one of them warned me that I shouldn´t sit there... when I asked why, he said "ahi se sienta la mala" or "the mean girl sits there." So I changed seats. It turns out that in my class there are two other kids from the swim team and one other exchange student from Italy, so I already had a couple friends. After about five minutes the bell rang to go downstairs for formation, where each grade lines up and they raise the flags and blah blah blah. Then the director started to talk, and she called me out in front of the whole school to introduce myself. Which was awesome.
Class started with economy, then technology, with the same professor. I have never in my life had either of those classes so although I understood the Spanish, the actual content was confusing. Afterwards was Geography, and finally Chemistry. In each class we did a "diagnostic", questions about the subject to judge what point we were at. We also had two blocks of recess, about ten minutes each, to buy snacks or go to the bathroom.
There were a ton of differences with this school. It is much cleaner, without writing on the walls. The desks work and the students are pretty well kept. Everyone I had talked to before said that private school students aren´t very respectful and are noisy and whatnot but I found that they were actually much better behaved than those in my previous school. They were also a lot more sociable, very willing to chat and offer help. Hopefully it will all stay that way.
Other news: today is my six month birthday in Formosa. It actually is way more than halfway, because the program isn´t a full year, it´s actually about ten and a half months. So there are about 140 days left, or a little over four months. We haven´t received our travel information yet, but AFS made a change. Now they won´t have orientation in Buenos Aires or Miami, we will spend a night in the bus from FSA to BA, pass the day in BA, take a plane that night, and arrive in Miami the next day, and from there go home. I don´t like that change, I liked the orientation and think that another meeting with all the exchange students will provide a nice close to the exchange. But anyway, that´s still a ways away.
As far as swimming goes, the pool at Don Bosco is officially closed for the season. We have weekend practice in a 50m indoor pool, and weekdays we are free. My friends and I are looking into getting one lane to ourselves three days a week to train in the afternoons, because we have an important meet coming up in late March. Apart from that I am working up to going for a run. One morning I actually set my alarm for 5am to go run, seeing as the early morning and late nights are the only times physically possible to go running because of the heat, but I woke up, wondered what in the world I was thinking the night before, and went back to sleep. But one day. It will happen.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Open water swim
Today was my first international open water swim! I went with my team for a swim in the Paraguay River, which is between 300 and 500 meters wide in this area and separates Argentina and Paraguay. The swim wasn´t a competition, it was organized by one of the Formosa teams to give swimmers a chance to experience open water. My coach, always trying to be helpful, explained to me that I didn´t have to be worried about swimming in the rivers, there aren´t any crocodiles.... because the piranhas already ate them. There actually are piranhas, but apparently they don´t do anything to swimmers while they´re moving. Though I have to say, the number of dead piranhas I saw on the bank before swimming didn´t help much.
The race started at 8am, or supposedly started at 8am. We actually got in the water around 11am. There were two swims, an 800 meter swim and a 1800 meter swim. I originally was going to do the 1800m swim, but in the end did both. Two of the kids from the team signed up for the 800 needed someone to accompany them and help them out, so I went with them. And wow, do I love river currents. I just floated alongside them as they swam, and in the end it took about 15 minutes. There were only two minor problems. One was that every swimmer needed a noodle attached to them by a rope in case of emergency. And the two kids swam close to eachother so they got tangled. The other part was that near the end of the race there is a very strong current, and the kids didn´t believe me when I told them we had to aim wayyyyy to the other side of the finish line. So the girl was pushed a lot by the current and I ended up towing her in. Apart from that, everything was great, I never even had to put my goggles on.
It was really cool to get to do an open water swim in Argentina, and that it was technically in international waters. It definitely wasn´t the super organized Kingdom Swim (never thought I would be calling it super organized), but it pulled together. For example, there was no count of how many swimmers entered the water. Even if I didn´t have the permission slip, I could have just jumped right in. There were a ton of safetly boats, kayaks, and jetskis, along with lifeguards swimming in the water and the obnoxious noodles we had to have. We had a lot of fun. Anybody who has been to an open water swim with me knows that I usually am just a bucketfull of sunshine, happiness, and all good things in the world before a swim, but today that was actually true. All the swimmers entered smiling and left smiling, which was great.
Other news: the new exchange students arrived in FSA yesterday! Boys from Japan and Thailand and girls from Iceland and Austria. We all went to the terminal to meet them, and wow, I hope my face didn´t look that scared when I got off the bus. I was impressed by the Japanese boy, who got off and immediately tried out his Spanish (hola, mucho gusto, hace calor, etc etc). Later that night, we all went to the birthday party of the Iceland girl´s host sister, and I got a nice chance to talk to the Japanese boy Ruka and the girl from Iceland, Salome. It is really weird to be the older exchange students. It really makes me realize that there is very little left, less than 5 months. Woah.
The race started at 8am, or supposedly started at 8am. We actually got in the water around 11am. There were two swims, an 800 meter swim and a 1800 meter swim. I originally was going to do the 1800m swim, but in the end did both. Two of the kids from the team signed up for the 800 needed someone to accompany them and help them out, so I went with them. And wow, do I love river currents. I just floated alongside them as they swam, and in the end it took about 15 minutes. There were only two minor problems. One was that every swimmer needed a noodle attached to them by a rope in case of emergency. And the two kids swam close to eachother so they got tangled. The other part was that near the end of the race there is a very strong current, and the kids didn´t believe me when I told them we had to aim wayyyyy to the other side of the finish line. So the girl was pushed a lot by the current and I ended up towing her in. Apart from that, everything was great, I never even had to put my goggles on.
After that we went to the start of the next race, in which a couple other kids from my team were competeing. We weren´t many, because a lot of parents didn´t give the kids permission. That race started around noon, and I was strongly tempted to give in to the peer pressure from the other kids on the team and just hang on to the noodle and go for a float down the river. But, my competitive side took over and I swam. It went by quickly, the current definitely makes a difference. At the end, I totally couldn´t see the finish line and everyone was yelling at me to go the other way.... but anyway... I don´t know how much time it took, because when I finished we all started looking for the other kids that competed. When they finally came in, it was obvious that they had a lot of trouble crossing the current to get to the bank. Two swimmers from the team actually swam out to help the last girl. But everything turned out well and nobody had major issues. I think overall I came in 4th out of all the swimmers.
It was really cool to get to do an open water swim in Argentina, and that it was technically in international waters. It definitely wasn´t the super organized Kingdom Swim (never thought I would be calling it super organized), but it pulled together. For example, there was no count of how many swimmers entered the water. Even if I didn´t have the permission slip, I could have just jumped right in. There were a ton of safetly boats, kayaks, and jetskis, along with lifeguards swimming in the water and the obnoxious noodles we had to have. We had a lot of fun. Anybody who has been to an open water swim with me knows that I usually am just a bucketfull of sunshine, happiness, and all good things in the world before a swim, but today that was actually true. All the swimmers entered smiling and left smiling, which was great.
Other news: the new exchange students arrived in FSA yesterday! Boys from Japan and Thailand and girls from Iceland and Austria. We all went to the terminal to meet them, and wow, I hope my face didn´t look that scared when I got off the bus. I was impressed by the Japanese boy, who got off and immediately tried out his Spanish (hola, mucho gusto, hace calor, etc etc). Later that night, we all went to the birthday party of the Iceland girl´s host sister, and I got a nice chance to talk to the Japanese boy Ruka and the girl from Iceland, Salome. It is really weird to be the older exchange students. It really makes me realize that there is very little left, less than 5 months. Woah.Monday, February 18, 2013
Random Differences Part 2
-After almost 6 months, I realized I have never seen a smoke detector.
-Nobody wears helmets when they ride bikes.
-While driving through the city, my friends marvel why the police don´t pull over a motorcyclist for not wearing a helmet... I marvel why they don´t pull us over, because we are 11 kids sitting in the bed of a truck.
-My twelve year old cousin can go to the corner and buy beer. I was honestly shocked when I saw him walk through the front door with four liters of beer in his arms.
-My house has mango, lemon, guava, and grapefruit trees.
-There are a ton of stray dogs here. In the US if I saw a dog walking alone down the street, I would take it in and look for its owner. Here, they are just something normal. And honestly, some of them are pretty picky with their food. One night I was eating empanadas with friends and a skinny little dog came over to beg for food, so we gave it a piece of bread. And the dog just stared at it. Guess it never heard of beggars can´t be choosers.
-Wood flooring is almost obsolete. It´s all tiling and linoleum. I actually can´t think of any wood flooring that I have seen here.
-Motorcycles (well, they say motorcycles but they are really just mopeds or something like that) are very common here. It makes sense, because everything is nearby and the roads are flat and there is no snow or ice.
-The voting age is 18 and is more or less obligatory, though at 16 it is optional to vote. 18 is also the drving age, though 16 for motorcycles.
-There is no spicy food. The occasional semi-spicy sausage. But in Formosa at the least, there is very little spicy food.
-Nobody wears helmets when they ride bikes.
-While driving through the city, my friends marvel why the police don´t pull over a motorcyclist for not wearing a helmet... I marvel why they don´t pull us over, because we are 11 kids sitting in the bed of a truck.
-My twelve year old cousin can go to the corner and buy beer. I was honestly shocked when I saw him walk through the front door with four liters of beer in his arms.
-My house has mango, lemon, guava, and grapefruit trees.
-There are a ton of stray dogs here. In the US if I saw a dog walking alone down the street, I would take it in and look for its owner. Here, they are just something normal. And honestly, some of them are pretty picky with their food. One night I was eating empanadas with friends and a skinny little dog came over to beg for food, so we gave it a piece of bread. And the dog just stared at it. Guess it never heard of beggars can´t be choosers.
-Wood flooring is almost obsolete. It´s all tiling and linoleum. I actually can´t think of any wood flooring that I have seen here.
-Motorcycles (well, they say motorcycles but they are really just mopeds or something like that) are very common here. It makes sense, because everything is nearby and the roads are flat and there is no snow or ice.
-The voting age is 18 and is more or less obligatory, though at 16 it is optional to vote. 18 is also the drving age, though 16 for motorcycles.
-There is no spicy food. The occasional semi-spicy sausage. But in Formosa at the least, there is very little spicy food.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)