Estoy Aqui!

After three flights, I am finally here in Cordoba, Argentina. I flew from Chicago to Miami, then to Santiago, Chile and then to Cordoba, Argentina. The most amazing thing about my last flight was that I sat next to a man named Jose who is affiliated with the orphanage where I´ll be working. He was extremely kind and helped me navigate the lines for passport control, customs, and swine flu inspection. People are quite concerned about swine flu here and everyone at the airport wore a face mask.

When I exited the airport in Cordoba, I couldn´t believe how hot it was. It felt (and looked) like California in the summertime. It´s winter here, but we´re having a warm spell. Unfortunately, the temperature is supposed to drop dramatically tomorrow.

I met my host family on Thursday. My host sisters, Lucretia and Costanza (ages 12 and 10), are adorable. My host brother, Jose Igacio (age 18), is nice but he´s hardly ever around. I like my host mother, Cecelia, but she works twelve to fifteen hours per day and seems stressed all the time. Her husband lives in the States so she runs the house herself. I try to help her out whenever I can. We live in a small house in the town of Villa Allende, which is 45 minutes from Cordoba. We also have a pet rabbit who lives outside my bedroom door!

On Friday, a girl named Ines showed me how to use the local bus system and gave me a quick tour of Cordoba. It´s the second largest city in Argentina, so there is a lot to explore. I didn´t get to spend much time there on Friday, but fortunately, I was able to return today. Cecelia takes an Italian class in Cordoba on Saturday mornings, so she dropped me off at 9 am and I´ve spent the morning exploring on my own. The cathedrals and plazas are beautiful, and the markets are fun to walk through.

I haven´t seen any other redheads here, so I definitely stick out as a foreigner. Whenever someone asks where I´m from, they seem very impressed that I traveled all the way from Chicago. I haven´t taken Spanish classes for the past two years, but I´m surprised how quickly the language is coming back to me. I´m starting to think in Spanish and last night I started writing in my journal in Spanish without even realizing it!

I´ve enjoyed my first few days here, but I am looking forward to my first day of work at the orphanage. Monday is a national holiday, so I won´t start until Tuesday. Ines warned me that most volunteers get lice from the children, so I´m planning to track down some special shampoo this afternoon. Cecelia says it´s no big deal, though. Her daughters get lice every few weeks.

I hope life in the States is going smoothly for everyone. I miss you all and I hope to have more stories from Argentina for you soon.

Hasta luego!