A simple exchange experience...

Being back in Elisa brings back so many memories, and all good... I was just a teenage girl looking to get away from my family for awhile wanting to experience something different than the typical high school experience (yes, it is quite ironic that I am back in high school as a profession)... when we had an assembly on exchange programs I couldn´t think of anything else more perfect- living with a new family, a place where no one knows you and learning to speak another language.  I never imagined it would turn into what it did and affect my life as it did... if I had never begged to study abroad, and the program to Spain hadn´t been full, and Mexico to close thanks to my mother saying how she could visit me, and Ecuador only having a 1 year program while I was only allowed to go for 6 months...I would have never ended up in Argentina.  I would have never experienced the all night boliches, or the asados en el campo (beef barbecued on farms), finishing school at 6:30 in the the afternoon, the endless rides in bike, moto, and car around town, the most perfect jeans that exist for women in Argentina, the most fabulous Italian food you will ever find outside of Italy, what it feels like to have endless amounts of grapefruit and orange trees in your backyard, or the warm sun pouring over you while drinking mate with your friends.. ah mate... or the endless countryside views, riding bikes down dirt roads, the Sunday afternoon soccer games or the all night soccer tournaments in the summer (everyones parks around the field, wait, around 10 pm there is an asado con cuero if you want to eat first, then entry to the field, teams from other towns come and it last until the last game is played around 5 am), the afternoons by the club pool, or what it feels like to sleep with a hot water bottle at your feet!  Or what it feels like to have an entire town know who you are and welcome you each time you come back as if you are one of them and they give you a piece of them each time you visit and you leave a part of you behind each time you go, and to this day, children saying hello as you ride by knowing who you are without you knowing them. I can´t imagine a life without all those experiences I never would have had if I didn´t beg to go on an exchange program, and the program to Spain hadn´t been full, and Mexico to close thanks to my mother saying how she could visit me, and Ecuador only having a 1 year program while I was only allowed to go for 6 months...I would have never ended up in Argentina... Elisa, Santa Fe, Argentina, a place that feels more like home than anywhere else, even my real home... 

Cementerios

Today I went and visited the cementery in Elisa.  There is something about cementeries here in Argentina that is different.  It can be because most are buried above ground in shrines that seem like little houses?  Or the pictures posted next to their name?  Or small children that catch your eye? Today I rode my bike with little Guillermina (my friend´s 6 yar old) down the dirt road surrounded by farms out towards the cementery.  We went during the siesta when most were sleeping but I wanted to take advantage of the warm sun.  The blue sky and the farmland for miles surrounded us as we rode our bikes.  Going through the cementery, visiting the people I knew that had passed, and seeing their familiar faces was somehow comforting being able to visit them.  Guillermina was my little tour guide and knew almost everyone (she almost knows everyone in town too, who is going out with who, etc... my little ball of information)...riding bikes to cementery is something to do in a farm town of 1,000 in the middle of Argentina.
After our return to the town Elisa there was a viewing for someone that had just died the night before.  Within 24 hours there is a viewing, mass and burial, so quick and nothing like the US. 

Argentina-Mexico...and now Germany!

Last Sunday was one of the best days here… Argentina was set to play against Mexico in the “octavos”. We decided with other students in my class to go to the plaza San Martín to watch the game because there they had HD screens for the public to gather and watch the game. In reality they put screens up all over the city, well 3 but if you included every TV that you can see from the street in every restaurant on every corner, it is a lot. They also opened movie theatres and people could watch the game in HD there. We wanted to be in the center of it all, to have the best experience possible since we were in the heart of Argentina! We arrived at the plaza by subway and upon making it to the street we saw a big tent. There were promoters and advertisement people everywhere and people roaming about with the celestial blue and white colors. Amazed we moved inside the tent to find multiple plasma tvs everywhere with pre-game coverage and people roaming excitedly about. There was a kid sections with games and mini chairs and tv´s at a lower level and an area for old people with chairs. We made our way through the tent looking for our friend Ayumi that was there already. Upon exiting the tent we entered yet another phase of the excitement, an extremely large HD screen at the bottom of the hill with tons of spectators taking their positions. The music, the costumes the drums, it was as if we had arrived to the field itself with the yelling and the worries and the excitement being expressed! Argentina started off the game playing not so well and the atmosphere was tense. Everyone worried by every goal Mexico almost made. The seleccion nacional this time did not seem as prepared or read as they did in the other 3 games. However, after waiting a period of time, goal Argentina! The screams and the relief filled the air. Yes it was an offside goal no one refuted that but as FIFA does not approve the use of technology to review plays and remake decisions as in other sports, what could they do? Argentina was winning 1-0! Mexico was so mad they fell apart it seemed. When the second goal occurred once again the entire plaza celebrated and we, my friend Grace and I, almost ended up at the bottom of the hill! From all the excitement the crowd moved about like a mosh pit and a landslide of people almost occurred and we were almost all toast-wheh! With the third goal by Tevez and that one this time, was fair- take that Mexico- everyone k new the game was ours but still waited till the final whistle to celebrate! With the rest of the people we walked down the middle of 9 de Julio, an avenue otherwise always occupied with traffic towards the Obelisco where everyone gathered to celebrate things. Everyone was hugging, cheering and beeping their horn- the walk was almost magical as if we had already won the world cup! As Maradona said, today we celebrate the victory and tomorrow we worry about Germany! People kept coming as dusk hit and the celebrations continued. People brought their dogs dressed in Argentina little puppy jackets! As the news said that night, in that moment we were all Argentina, we were all one!


So today, in less than 2 hours is the next challenge for the seleccion nacional. Since last night everyone has been very nervous and tension is high… vamos Argentina! VAMOS!!! Please please don´t let the journey, or as Maradona says, the story or the history in the making, end today…

Crepúsculo- Eclipse

So up until now I have kept myself out of the Twilight series, why?  I don´t know cause I read and follow everything else that is popular in the world and feel I need to take a stand somewhere maybe?  Despite me being a hopeless romantic and LOVING this kind of stuff, and friends raving about it, and then all the hooh hah with the movies... well tonight I went to see Eclipse.  I´m in Argentina, what the heck I thought.  So we run to the movies across the shopping mall to get in line over an hour before the start time.  If you are not there early you might get bad seats, or even worse, have to watch the dubbed over version- eck!  In a line of about 400 women and 10 men I thought this should be interesting... they started to let people in and everyone, including Marina and who I was with made a made a mad dash for the theatre to get the best spot possible!  When the only rows left were those undesirable front ones people sat in the isles!  When the movie started, applause!  Now is it just because of this anticipated movie?  No clue... With the first appearance of Channing Tatum, screams and shrieks throughtout the theatre!  And basically everytime he appeared after that with no shirt on... I can see why!  I just found it very interesting and wondering if this went down in the US when the movie was released?  The other funny thing was at certain parts when people would get super hyped there were others shushing them to be quiet!  The movie was in English with subtitles!  Really funny...anyway, I´m going to start book one in Spanish and my resistence has dimished against the Twilight series! Oh and of course when the movie was over, applause!