Home Sweet Home

I had quite a looooooooong adventure coming home, but now I am safe and sound in Chicago. My first two flights went very smoothly, but when I arrived in Miami at 6 AM on Friday morning, I was glad to be on the last leg of my trip. At that point, I had no idea what I was in for.

First, I learned that my flight from Miami to Chicago was delayed because the crew had not yet arrived. Then, when we finally boarded the plane and tried to take off, the pilot discovered mechanical problems with the aircraft. We waited on the plane for 90 minutes while they tried to figure out what was wrong. Once the plane was "fixed," the captain announced that we'd have to wait another 90 minutes until the weather cleared in Chicago. After a total of 3 hours on the plane, they announced that they were canceling the flight because as it turned out, the plane wasn't actually fixed. Sketchy.

Once I got back into the airport, I sprinted to the customer service desk to get on another flight. An American Airlines agent found a spot for me on a plane that was leaving in 15 minutes, and I arrived at the gate just in time. I was incredibly relieved. But my bad luck wasn't over yet. The captain on my new plane announced that we'd be delayed 90 minutes because there were storms in Chicago. Apparently, 90 minute delays were the theme of the day. Ironically, I was trapped on this plane on the ground for 3 hours (just like the last one) before we finally took off.

All in all, I spent 14 hours on moving planes and 6 hours on stationary planes. I've never been a fan of the O'Hare airport, but when I landed there at 5:35 PM (7 hours after my scheduled arrival time) I was overjoyed to be there. Unfortunately, I waited for my luggage for yes, 90 minutes, and it never showed up. I filed a missing baggage report and I'm still waiting to hear if I'll ever see my suitcase again. It'll be a shame if I lose everything I bought in Argentina, but I'm so relieved to be home that I'm not too upset.

My first few hours at home have been somewhat surreal. I can't quite believe that I just spent a month volunteering in Argentina. I feel like someone else was there, not me. It'll take a while for everything to sink in. I already miss my students and speaking Spanish, and preserving my Argentine way of life in America will be difficult if not impossible. On the other hand, I appreciate many things about my life in America more than I did before I left. I learned more in the past month than I have during any other period of my life. My experience was both challenging and rewarding, and the lessons I learned will stay with me forever.

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my travels, and I wish you all the best of luck on your future adventures.

Chau, Chau!

Fourth and Final Week

It has been quite a memorable last week in Argentina. I left off explaining that the bus companies were going on strike AGAIN, but fortunately, they reached an agreement and ran for brief periods throughout the long weekend. On Friday, I was able to go to Cordoba to teach my adult English class. It was the birthday of one of my students so we had cake and sang and everything! I spent the next two days wandering through central Cordoba, exploring everything from Parque Sarmiento (kind of like Central Park) to the Evita Fine Arts Museum.

Monday was another holiday (Flag Day) so everything was closed and there were no classes to teach. That morning, I happened to wake up with a horrible fever, so I stayed home all day. I realized that I would have trouble passing the swine flu inspection points at the airport in four days if I still had a fever, so I decided to see a doctor. On Tuesday, I went to a private clinic in Cordoba. The doctor confirmed that I did NOT have swine flu and he wrote me a note to take to the airport certifying that I was swine-flu free. I hope it helps. I REALLY do not want to get detained on my way home.

Although I did not feel any better on Wednesday, I went to work anyway because I refused to miss my last day. My job makes me happier than anything else here, and I did not want to leave without saying goodbye to everyone. I brought the students lots of stickers and colored paper as gifts and they could not wait to use them. My fellow teachers also made me a lemon pie and a goodbye card! I had tons of fun that day (despite my fever) and I was SO sad to leave.

Today is my last day in Argentina, and I am currently at the airport waiting to board the plane (my first of three). I will be flying back to Santiago, Chile, then to Miami, then to Chicago. I am not exactly looking forward to spending 24 hours in airports, but I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends. At the same time, I am going to miss so many things about Argentina. The people here are the nicest I have ever met, and I admire the perspectives they have on daily life.

Hopefully, I will soon be able to update you on how my flights went. The next time I write will probably be from the comfort of my own home, and since I will have so many hours of down time at the airport to think, I am sure I will have new reflections about my trip to report.

See you soon!

Week Three

Although the bus companies went on strike last Friday, they resumed service on Saturday, so I traveled to Alta Gracia where I had my favorite day so far. It took 2 hours on 2 bus rides to get there, but it was worth it. Alta Gracia is a beautiful town up in the mountains with many parks, lakes and museums. I visited the homes of Che Guevarra and Manuel de Falla (the composer). I also spent some time perusing a local art fair. I bought so many hand-made souvenirs that I nearly ran out of money! I had JUST enough to pay for the bus rides home.

The next day I went to La Quebrada, a nature preserve about an hour from where I live. I walked around an enormous lake for a few hours and then headed home. For dinner, my host father cooked carne asada (a famous Argentine BBQ dish). Sundays in Argentina are sacred, and everyone stays home to cook with their families. There is a VERY strong, smoky BBQ smell in the air on Sundays.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty typical work days. I´m getting more and more responsibilities at the English Institute, and teaching is always the highlight of my day. I just started a unit on animal vocabulary with my youngest students and we´re having so much fun. They were ecstatic when I brought them animal stickers yesterday. Stickers are rare here, so I´m glad I brought a lot to give them.

Unfortunately, my host mother is making it clearer and clearer that she´s only hosting me for my money. I think I´m a pretty easy person to host, but she can´t wait to get rid of me. She hates the U.S. and automatically associates me with many negative stereotypes about Americans. I understand that she´s a busy woman, but she makes me feel quite unwelcome. At least my Spanish lessons with her have been going well. Last night she taught me about the tradition of Argentine tango, and that was really fascinating.

On Thursday morning I went to school with my host sisters to see how schools differ in Argentina and the United States. I attended a third grade Spanish class and a seventh grade English class. I noticed that there´s a much more casual relationship between students and teachers here. And they have coffee/tea breaks every few hours. Perhaps that´s why they have a longer school day.

Ironically, bus drivers here make more money than teachers or doctors, but they´re still not satisfied with their wages so they´re going on strike AGAIN starting today. To make matters worse, Monday is another holiday so the buses won´t be running for four days! I desperately hope they reach an agreement so that I can travel this weekend. I want to see as much of Argentina as possible and I´m running out of time!

Hasta pronto!

Week Two

Last week I promised to tell you about my first adult English class, so that´s where I´ll begin. The students are extremely friendly and teaching them is so much fun. Most of them are related, so the class is like one enormous family. We played Taboo with their vocabulary words and shared mate, the most popular type of tea in Argentina.

On Saturday the weather was horrible, but I didn´t let that prevent me from exploring. I went to the town of Unquillo where I toured a tiny art museum and bought a scarf and warm socks. I was freezing all day, and when I returned home, my room was icy too. It wasn´t until three days later that my host mother admitted that my room DID have a heater and she had just forgotten to turn it on. The following day I went to a village called Mendiolaza. It is extremely small and quaint, and I took some artsy photographs. Ironically, Mendiolaza is so tiny that I spent more time waiting for the bus home than I did walking through the village.

On Monday I was excited to get back to work. Unfortunately, I took the wrong bus and arrived half an hour late. There are four buses that run to Cordoba (where I teach) but I accidently took the one that goes to the AIRPORT in Cordoba. After conversing with the driver and realizing my mistake, I got off and waited on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for another bus. It was a looooooooong wait, but at least I had a nice view of the mountains. Finally, the bus came and I took it back to Villa Allende (where I live). Then I had to wait for another bus to take me to work. I was terrified that I would be in trouble for being late, but my boss didn´t mind at all. Nothing ever runs on time here, so it was no big deal. The students and teachers were just happy to see me.

I´m sorry to say that my host mother, Cecilia, hasn´t been quite as sweet as she was when I first arrived. Her husband works in the States, but he came to visit this week and the two of them took off for Buenos Aires. They left me with the three kids to play babysitter/maid. Fortunately, I like the kids and I´ve been enjoying some time away from Cecilia.

Since then, things have gone pretty smoothly at work and at home. Teaching is always the highlight of my day. It´s not always easy, but the younger students are super cute and they kiss me goodbye at the end of class. The only downside of my week is that I´ve had a bad cold. Ignacio (my host brother) came home from school yesterday and said that his friend has just been diagnosed with swine flu and his school is closing for ten days. Now I´m worried that my cold is really swine flu. If it is, I´ll have trouble getting back into the U.S!

The most fascinating news from today is that all the bus companies have gone on strike. I had no way to get to work, so I´ve had a pretty low-key day. I hope the buses start running again so I can explore some new towns this weekend. Strikes are quite common here, as are power outages. Our power went out three times this week (once while I was taking a shower at 10:30 PM). Apparently, people shut off the electricity as a form of political sabotage.

My host parents are returning from Buenos Aires tonight, so I´m sure I´ll have new stories about them for you, and hopefully some tales of my weekend adventures as well.

Feliz junio!

Week One

So much has happened since last week that I hardly know where to begin. Adjusting to the Argentine way of life has been exciting and challenging. Daily schedules differ drastically from those in the U.S. People wake up very early and work or go to school until 2 PM. Then they have lunch and take an afternoon break until 5 PM. EVERYTHING closes during that time. Then they go back to work or school, and dinner happens around 9 or 10 pm.

I can´t drink the water here, so I have to use bottled or boiled water, even when I brush my teeth. It sounds like a pain, but I´ve gotten used to it. The food is quite different but I´ve tried everything my host mother has cooked and I´ve like everything so far. Last night we had a meat pie with ground beef, potatoes, cheese and raisins. It didn´t look particularly appetizing but it tasted fine. My favorite dish so far is a traditional dessert made with sweet potatoes called ¨dulce de batatas.¨

On Sunday, I got to explore my hometown of Villa Allende. It´s small but beautiful and I can see the mountains in the distance. The only bad part is that there are stray dogs everywhere, and they kind of terrify me. They bark and chase me whenever I walk by. On Sunday I also started taking Spanish lessons from my host mother, Cecilia. There are a lot of differences between the language here and in other countries. For instance, the letters ¨y¨and ¨ll¨ are pronounced like a combination of a ¨z¨¨ and ¨sh.¨ It´s so hard to remember!

Monday was a national holiday, La Revolucion de Mayo, so I went to Unquillo with my host sister Constanza to see a parade. Unfortunately, Constanza (age 10) didn´t know the bus system as well as her mother thought and we got lost on our way there. But never fear, we made it in the end. I heard traditional music (guitars, flute, drums) and heard speeches from the local schoolchildren.

On Tuesday, the weather changed dramatically, just as I feared. It has been cold and rainy ever since. I´m currenly wearing long underwear and my fingers are freezing because I can´t wear mittens while I type. Anyway, Tuesday was supposed to be my first day of work, but my supervisor accidently sent me to the wrong place. I found myself in an orphanage of children between the ages of 1 and 4 who had been taken away from abusive parents. I was completely unprepared to face this situation, and the two other volunteers were not very helpful.

Tuesday afternoon was probably one of the hardest afternoons of my life. The conditions in the orphanage were extremely depressing and even though I did everything I could to comfort the children, it never seemed like enough. Most of the kids wanted to be hugged the whole time but a few were afraid to be touched by anyone. One boy fell off a table and started bleeding all over the floor and another girl nearly swallowed a nail. Even though the experience was disheartening and exhausting, it was hard to leave. After just one day, I felt attached to the children.

The next day, my supervisor apologized for sending me to the wrong place but told me that La Casa del Nino (my original placement) wouldn´t work well for me because it was too far away. He suggested that I work at the St. Mark´s English Language Institute in Cordoba, so I decided to give it a try. When I arrived there on Wednesday, I immediately fell in love with my new job. I teach English classes to 7 and 8 year-olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14 and 15 year-olds on Mondays and Wednesdays, and adults on Fridays.

The other teachers are young and enthusiastic and the children are adorable. They hardly know any English, so ironically, I get to practice a lot of Spanish while I´m trying to teach English. The only tricky thing is that the Institute teaches British English, so I don´t recognize all of their terms. To get there, I have a 15 minute walk to the bus stop, a 15 minute bus ride, and a 30 minute walk to the school. Even though I spend 2 hours commuting everyday, I don´t mind because I love my work. Since I´m considering a career in education, it´s perfect for me.

Well, I´d better bring this to a close because I have to head to Cordoba to teach my first adult class this afternoon. I´ll let you know how it goes.

Buenas tardes!

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!

Just 2 More Days!

I can't believe this week has finally arrived. Just one month ago, I was finishing my final exams and my trip to Argentina seemed far off in the future. Now my room is flooded with clothes, bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and photos of family and friends. I'm going to try cramming everything into my suitcase tonight. Wish me luck!

I've traveled abroad before, but I expect that this experience will differ drastically from the others. In middle school I went to Europe with an International Ballet Ensemble, in high school I went to Costa Rica with an environmental science class, and in college I went to Italy with 10 U-M students for a cultural preservation internship. This summer, I'll be traveling alone. And I'll be traveling to South America, a region I've never explored.

I'm really looking forward to improving my Spanish and volunteering in la Casa del Nino (an orphanage that houses over 100 children ages 2-15). I've worked with children in the past, but working with orphans who speak a different language will be an exciting challenge.

I've tried to envision what my life will be like in Argentina, but it's nearly impossible. Instead, I've decided to just hop on the plane, ready to embrace whatever comes my way. I just hope my trip doesn't involve those dreaded, classic travel moments like missing flights or losing luggage.

I'm not sure how often I'll have Internet access once I arrive in Argentina, but I'll try to post as often as possible. I look forward to reading your IISP blogs from around the world, and I wish you all the best of luck.

Buena suerte en sus viajes!