My Host Family:
Mom - Alina
Brother - Valentin 10yrs old
Sister - Juliana 15 yrs old
My mom works at her family store which is attached to our house. Their store is essentially a Staples of Office Depot. They sell all sorts of office supplies and my mom´s job is designing cards for all sorts of occations. She makes first communion, quince, holiday, birthday, or any other event you might want a card.
A Typical Day in Argentina:
On the weekends I wake up anywhere from 10:30 to 12. I´ll usually get a little something to eat and then take a shower. Lunch is around 12-1 so by the time I finish showering it is time for lunch. Here, lunch is like dinner in the US. Everyone leaves work and the stores close for a couple hours so everyone can go home and eat lunch together.
Lunch can vary from pasta to asado (BBQ) to soup. Beef is present no matter what the dish is in some form. I have noticed beef and cheese and bread are staples and if you don´t like them then you´re out of luck.
After lunch is siesta time. People take a nap for a couple hours while the stores are still closed. The stores open up around 5pm and everyone goes back to work. The stores will remain open till 10pm or so. Food places will stay open much later than that.
Dinner here is eaten extremely late compared to US standars. Most families in Argentina eat around 9-11:30pm. The latest I have eaten dinner here so far is 11:30. Surprisingly you aren´t starving before dinner because lunch is usually a big meal and I´ve eaten some snacks in between also. Dinner is a smaller meal than lunch and of course has beef and cheese included.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
7/12/10
This will be an attempt at an organized recollection of the past days´ events.
A couple of days ago on the 8th we took the kids from the deaf school swimming. This is the second time we´ve done this and is a nice change of scenery than the school. Th pool is about a 5 minute walk from the school and is indoors. The kids for the most part don´t know how to swim so our job was to help them learn a bit. This proved to be difficult because of us not knowing sign language and them being kids with lots of energy. Towards the end of the time swimming they were all diving in so they were quick learners.
The 9th was Independence Day here in Argentina. We met up with the school we´ve been working with at the Plaza for the parade. A lot of schools were there and participated in the parade. There were bands and dancers as well. We were one of the last to go and we walked down the street with people that came to watch waving flags and cheering.
The 10th was relaxed and I got to see some more of downtown Resistencia. I drove around with my host sister and her friend. Later that night we went to the boliche again which we stayed at until 5:15am. I took a nap later that day (now Sunday)and woke up from that at 9pm. Of course I was still tired and went to sleep again a few hours later.
Later that night (Sunday) I drove around with my host Mom checking out the city again and then we all went to a hamburger restaurant. The hamburgers are fairly similar to ones back home and they had a spicy mayonaise, which I normally don´t put on my burgers, but I tried it and it was delicious.
Finally today we went to a school to talk with students our age. We split into groups of around 8 which allowed for more questions and conversation. We talked about music, sports, school, and other random topics. After our conversations we had some food to celebrate today being our last day with talking to these kids. Someone made this dulce de leche cake which was delicious and reminded me of the Oreo cookie and gummy worm dirt cake. I talked with a few more people after this and then we all went home. Around 2pm we all went to the school of one of the AFSer´s host sisters. We met with her English class and the oher English classes that were going on. I was surprised at how well they spoke but it turns out they have been studying English for 2-3 hours per day for many years. In one of the classes a girl returned from Deleware 2 weeks ago and we talked with her about her AFS trip and experiences.
A couple of days ago on the 8th we took the kids from the deaf school swimming. This is the second time we´ve done this and is a nice change of scenery than the school. Th pool is about a 5 minute walk from the school and is indoors. The kids for the most part don´t know how to swim so our job was to help them learn a bit. This proved to be difficult because of us not knowing sign language and them being kids with lots of energy. Towards the end of the time swimming they were all diving in so they were quick learners.
The 9th was Independence Day here in Argentina. We met up with the school we´ve been working with at the Plaza for the parade. A lot of schools were there and participated in the parade. There were bands and dancers as well. We were one of the last to go and we walked down the street with people that came to watch waving flags and cheering.
The 10th was relaxed and I got to see some more of downtown Resistencia. I drove around with my host sister and her friend. Later that night we went to the boliche again which we stayed at until 5:15am. I took a nap later that day (now Sunday)and woke up from that at 9pm. Of course I was still tired and went to sleep again a few hours later.
Later that night (Sunday) I drove around with my host Mom checking out the city again and then we all went to a hamburger restaurant. The hamburgers are fairly similar to ones back home and they had a spicy mayonaise, which I normally don´t put on my burgers, but I tried it and it was delicious.
Finally today we went to a school to talk with students our age. We split into groups of around 8 which allowed for more questions and conversation. We talked about music, sports, school, and other random topics. After our conversations we had some food to celebrate today being our last day with talking to these kids. Someone made this dulce de leche cake which was delicious and reminded me of the Oreo cookie and gummy worm dirt cake. I talked with a few more people after this and then we all went home. Around 2pm we all went to the school of one of the AFSer´s host sisters. We met with her English class and the oher English classes that were going on. I was surprised at how well they spoke but it turns out they have been studying English for 2-3 hours per day for many years. In one of the classes a girl returned from Deleware 2 weeks ago and we talked with her about her AFS trip and experiences.
Monday, July 5, 2010
7/5/10
It has been a little over a week since I came to Argentina and I've experienced a lot. I've gone to various schools to talk with kids and let them ask questions about what we like to do etc. Popular questions seem to be what is your favorite sport and what music do you listen to. Today we met with a group of kids that were around 12 years old and they asked everyone these questions.
I also went to a boliche this past weekend which is basically a dance club. We stayed until 6am which is very common and I was so tired after this. I slept for many many hours after I came home.
This week I will be seeing Toy Story 3 with Spanish subtitles and will remind me of when I used to watch Toy Story as a kid.
Monday, June 28, 2010
6/28/10
Today is the second day of being in Resistencia and I've already done a lot. We visited a school to talk to kids today about the US and Argentina. The class was very loud because everyone talks at once. After this I went back home for lunch and then took a 4 hour nap. I like the siestas everyone takes. Then later in the afternoon we went to another school to talk to some AFS people about what we will be doing this month. Now I'm waiting for dinner and will probably go to sleep soon after.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
6/23/10
I had the first day of orientation today. There were 36 kids from all over. Many of the kids were from California and New York. We had class until 10:30 and everyone barely made it.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
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