No Penguins in the South

How ironic that my one true “assignment” is to write a blog post every month and I procrastinate like it’s my job…Argentina and its laid-back,
“tranquila” mentality is really getting to me! I no longer hate sleeping so little during the night, and have come to look forward to my lazy afternoon siestas.

            Right now, I believe that I am beginning to hit the point where most students start to experience bouts of homesickness. A few weeks ago, I still wasn’t truly homesick. However, I recently returned from a trip to the South of Argentina that reminded me incredibly of Steamboat. The trip began on a pleasant note and over the few days transformed into that of a dream, something surreal. On a Thursday night, I was reunited with my fellow 11 exchange students in the district. I’m still amazed that I was able to speak after that encounter, due to the amount of high pitched shrieks of glee I emitted. The incredible thing about exchange students is how close they become in such a short period of time. I had met these students one time previously for a brief two days, yet they already felt like my family. Exchange students have their own sort of secret language, a mix of several different languages and hand gestures combined into one. What I love the most is that although that everyone speaks different languages, we find ways to communicate. Often times someone will say something in English, and although I know exactly what they want to say, it sounds weird. I have a German friend who frequently tells me that he wants to “Be on the toilet” instead of “go to the restroom”, but I have yet to correct him because it makes my day every time.

            My trip to the south was only six days long, and it was a blessing to escape the heat and humidity of Mercedes! We arrived at 7 am in a quaint, touristy town of Calafate, named after a flower and berry that grows ardently. Despite the fact that we had traveled all night long, we made a quick stop at the hotel to drop off our bags and were out the door to visit a glacier park. I have a feeling the majority who read “glacier park” are without a doubt thinking, “Wow, a park full of ice…how riveting”, but I can assure these people they are wrong. In the middle of a lake, surrounded by picturesque towering purple mountains peaked with snowcaps, sat a massive glacier. Glistening and formidable, it expanded over kilometers of water and land. I had previously thought that glaciers were flat and smooth, but there were peaks and valleys, and the ice shined a pure blue when the sun hit it. Every once in a while a large chunk would break off and smash into the lake, sending roaring waves into the air. Because the glacier was so large, there were boardwalks all around the lake to view it from different angles. We spent the day walking, singing, and without a doubt annoying every other person in the national park with our rambunctious laughter.

Repping our country flags!

The next day, we left Calafate to drive three hours to Chalten, a “town” with less than 1,000 inhabitants. There was a small grocery store, several hotels and touristy shops, and a homemade ice cream store- everything I needed. Mountains on all sides surrounded Chalten, and the air was pure. Although some of the others couldn’t stand the cold, dry climate, I was thriving. We went one day to take a hike up a mountain, and ended up on a rocky cliff overlooking the town bathed in the afternoon sunlight. Later, we paid for insanely overpriced homemade ice cream, and after eating one cone, promptly returned for more. The ice cream here is different than in the United States, not just in the South but in general. I can’t describe it, it is so much more creamy and delicious, and there are so many flavors it shouldn’t be allowed. Any chocolate lovers out there? Come to Argentina and you can take your pick of a wide variety of chocolates, including Marroc, Chocolate Amargo, Chocolate Blanco, Chocolate Patagonia, Chocolate con Nueces, and all kinds of other chocolates filled with chunks of deliciousness.

            One of my favorite days in the South was when we embarked on a boat ride across a lake to go walk on the glaciers. As we steered through the water teeming with tiny icebergs, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was on the Titanic. We docked the boat next to some brilliant red rocks with swirly patterns, and clambered onto a glacier! With the help of the guides, we attached crampons to our shoes so that we could properly “walk”, or waddle like penguins, up and down the slopes. In some places the glacier was melted and there were small pools of icy clear water. Our guides passed out cups, and everyone knelt down to fill them. We toasted each other, and giddy with happiness, appeared to be rather tipsy, embracing the phrase “high on life”.

Good thing I noticed it was upside down.

 

 

 

 

On our trekking tour

Can I move here please?

In the beginning, I thought, “Oh, ice is ice, and I’ve seen plenty growing up in Steamboat”. The ice in the South, however, was so different from that which I have seen. Every day was more beautiful and breathtaking than the previous day. It didn’t matter if we were hiking through a forest to find a semi-frozen lake, venturing out to visit a waterfall, or simply meandering through town; every day was truly magical. After six short days, I now have a close family of exchange students who understand me. We had burping contests, ate ice cream everyday, and taught each other our favorite cuss words in our own languages. A definite successful trip, I would say.

Yes, this is real.

 

My Spanish is beginning to come along, I am now at the point where I can understand almost every conversation, although I still can’t speak in the way I would like. Here in Mercedes, the people have their own sort of dialect full of phrases and words that are not used in many other parts of the country. Fortunately, I found a fantastic “book” in the South, called “Che, Boludo!” (Hey, asshole!). Essentially a dictionary of the bad words and phrases distinct to Argentina, complete with drawings of the hand gestures and their meanings, my vocabulary has increased immensely.

            I hope to soon begin Tango lessons, which is a disaster waiting to happen, but I figure as long as I don’t know anybody it can’t hurt to try. My school ends in about two weeks, and it is almost summer break!! It’s strange to think that it’s already snowing in my town, as it has been a balmy 90+ degrees here. Hoping to stay alive during the summer- my plan is to live in a pool, as almost everyone here has his or her own small one. Wish me luck.

Besitos <3

Already a month?!

Despite the reputation some exchange students have for being lazy and procrastinating when it comes to matters such as writing a blog or participating in school, I think I speak for all when I say that this reputation can be unfair. Trying to be the ideal exchange student and ambassador, I wrote about all of my experiences three weeks after I arrived. Due to circumstances out of my control however, such as an almost laughably horrible wifi connection in my first house, I was not able to upload the blog. I recently moved houses even though I have only been in Argentina for seven weeks, which I will explain in my next blog, and in my new house I can actually use the internet! Therefore, apologies to all; below is the first blog that I had hoped to originally post.

Before my actual arrival into Argentina, I had my first taste of the culture and people on my final flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. After a fiasco in the airport during which security confiscated a present for my host brother, causing me to miss my flight, I was fortunate enough to be put on a different plane. For those wondering, it pains me to admit that the present security confiscated was a knife. Well done Kelly. One would think that as a mature 18 year old who had traveled many times before, it would have occurred to me that security just may find a knife to be threatening, yet this trivial detail slipped my mind. After I took my seat on the plane, I began to cry the ugly, sobbing kind of cry out of relief, nerves, and exhaustion. To my embarrassment, the man sitting next to me, from Argentina, witnessed it all. Instead of requesting a seat change, which is what I would have done in his case, he kindly asked me, “Todo esta bien?” In slow and broken Spanish, I began to tell him what I was doing and explained that I had just said goodbye to my friends and family. I had heard that Argentinian people were very warm and welcoming, but that description does not do justice to how kind this stranger was to me. He helped on the rest of the flight, he carried my luggage, and upon our arrival into the country, he waited for me and made sure that I made it into the right line to pass through customs. This man’s kindness was only a sample of what I would begin to experience.

            Not only did my host family meet me at the airport, but several members of Rotary and various exchange students did as well. As I walked out, they all came to kiss me on the cheek in the traditional form of greeting, which I nailed thanks to Sebastian Camargo who showed me what to do! They refused to let me carry my own luggage, and ushered me into the car to drive to my new home in Mercedes Oeste, a city of about 50,000 people located an hour outside of Buenos Aires.

 

Colegio San Patricio

Trying Mate for the first time!

I attend a private school, Colegio San Patricio, which has 6 grades. In my district, there are actually three other exchange students. Sven, a boy from Germany, and I go to the same school, started the same day, and are in the same room. Here in school, even though I am 18, I am in the 5^th year so that when school ends in December and begins again in March, I will be with the same classmates. There are about 30 kids in one classroom, and they stay together all year long. During the day, the teachers change rooms while the students stay in one room. Sven and I were the first exchange students the school had ever had, and so the best word to describe my first day of school was pandemonium. The director introduced us in front of the entire student body, and when he set us loose, chaos ensued. We were truly swarmed by kids wanting to touch us and talk to us, and I felt like I was an animal in a zoo. There is a courtyard outside with glass windows up above, and when we looked up, the glass was full of faces eagerly pressed against the windows to get a better look at the “foreigners”. All day long, every time I did something, I had a million people watching me with fascination. I went to the bathroom and it was like people had never seen anything more riveting. Although all of the energy was exhausting, it was very flattering as well. During class, Sven and I felt like celebrities because everyone wanted to talk to us and could care less what the teacher was saying. Needless to say, I was rather exhausted after my first day of school. Shortly after my first day, the school was closed on a Thursday and Friday due to “cleaning”. What everyone failed to mention, however, was that this cleaning was actually a disinfection process to rid the school of rats. I thought it was a joke, but no. There are actually rats in my school. Welcome to Argentina!!

The rowdy boys in my classroom

             A week ago, along with several other exchange students in my district, I went to an annual festival here that is entirely dedicated to Salami! Mercedes is famous for peaches and salami. The festival is three days long, but I only went the first night as it is not very common for people my age to go. A band opened the night with the national anthem of Argentina while various "queens" paraded around. There is a queen of salami, and various others for corn, grapes, etc that come from different parts of Argentina to participate in the festival. I was incredibly surprised to learn that there is no queen dedicated to Dulce de Leche, a type of caramel sauce which the people here consume on an hourly basis. It doesn't matter if the food is already sweet, Dulce de Leche is a necessity. Cookies with chocolate? No, definitely not sweet enough, let's add some dulce de leche! :) At the festival, there were small kiosks that sold all kinds of sweets, plants, scarves, and succulent food. There was dancing and singing, and I half expected to see some fireworks in the shape of salami, but was sadly disappointed. Additionally, I think I would have enjoyed the festival more if I actually like salami, as it is one of the only meats that I do not like. I did not think that the festival was the best time to mention this, however, so I graciously forced down every different type of salami that the vendors wanted us to try.

At the Salame Festival with the Rotary Club President and exchange students from Oklahoma, Germany, and Switzerland

With the various queens!

             The people here are incredible, the food is riquisima, and every day I learn something new. I am pleased to find that although I may not understand every word, I can definitely understand the meaning of the conversations here. When people speak slowly, I understand almost everything. Although I have only been here for two weeks, it feels as though it has been a month because the past few days have been filled with activities! I know this is the beginning of an incredible journey, and can’t wait to see what lies ahead. Besos!

I have friends!