La fiesta de cumple

Yay, two posts in one day since I haven posted in a while. So Saturday, I get back to the house at like 8 and the family is like, quick shower and get ready to go, we are going to a birthday party. One thing I have definitely learned in this country is how to go with the flow. It has been really good practice actually, to just go with it. So, I got ready to go, and then of course we had to wait for something, and then we went. One of the cousins was driving so I was like yay, someone my age will be there, but no, he didn't stay. In the car were Betty (my host), her sister, her daughter, and her granddaughter, and me. I actually understood most of the conversation in the car on the ride there, and I'm pretty sure the whole thing was about how 'titas' would solve the worlds problems. It was quite interesting and so hilarious.

We walk into the house (its like 10:30), I look around, and I immediately wonder why I thought it would be a good idea for me to go. Just imagine the people who are at a 40th birthday party, a bunch of people about 40, some of them have kids, most of the children there were 10 and under because anyone older had found anything better to do, and so I talked to the aunt for a while, what else was I going to do. Then the other cousin showed up, and I was very glad to have someone close to my age to talk to who I had at least met before. I could even understand most of the conversation, which is definitely an improvement on when I got here, I couldn't understand a word he said the first week I was here. We danced for a while, and that was cool to experience some of the local dances, I cant really say I learned them but I could follow pretty well.

So then it was time to leave (at like 2:30am), so I walk out to the car and of course it takes a while for everyone to make it to the car so I had a nice conversation with the first cousin, and then everyone gets there and Adri is like no, your going back with Rodrigo, the other cousin. So whatever, its cool, he's about to leave too. But then we don't go back to the house, we go to his friends house where the other cousin shows up too and its me and 8 guys who have known each other since grade school; it was really interesting to see their interactions. I really had a close look at how 20-something-year-old guys here act with each other. It was definitely different than how I've seen guys act with each other in the US. But I really got to practice some Spanish, and laugh at their pronunciation of words in English. And somehow like all parties here end up, he finally took me home at 8 am, enough time to get 4 hours of sleep before I was up for lunch (which I made myself an omelette with tomato and cheese, I was really missing omelettes  they just cant understand eggs for breakfast here) Then I wrote my essay about the farm we went to Saturday. And then I took a nap.

Today, Monday, we had dance class which was AWESOME. That is a class I think I can really excel at, at least compared to some of the others in the class haha. We start with a good amount of stretching and some abs, and some warm-up basics. Then, we learned the very basic steps of Tango. It was so fun. Also, its so easy getting to be the girl, I don't really have to do anything but follow, way easier than having to remember the steps. I really need to get a picture of dance class, its just great.

Since I dont have any pictures pertinent to my post 

El Paraiso

Well first for the rest of Wednesday: I took a walk around the park, which was incredible - it was exactly what I needed after studying all day.

Thursday we went back to the place that we rode horses two weeks ago, though instead of riding horses we learned a local dance - that starts with C, and then played a game similar to Bochee Ball that starts with B. I've learned so many new names I just cant keep up.

Friday at the visa office was, to say the least, long. So 4 of us have an 'appointment' at 7 am Friday. So we all make it on time, and there's already a line outside the door, the place opens at 7. So we wait, go in, hand them our appointment paper with the pictures, we wait, and then the pictures were all the wrong size and on the wrong type of paper. So we leave to go get another picture taken, but the first place doesn't open until 8. But no, the place actually didnt open until like 9:30. So I'm like whatever, I'm going to take a walk. So I take a long walk around the center and on my way back I found an open picture place, so I call my friends and we get our pictures taken. So back in the visa office at 9am, we give them our pictures and appointment papers again, and then we wait. There were some interesting people in the visa office, but mostly, there were a lot of missionaries, Mormon missionaries from Utah. So we had a great conversation, in English, with that group. One by one we are called back, and they took my fingerprints (again) and my parents names, and then send me to another bench to wait. Then I'm called back, they go through some more paper work and then one of the papers isnt signed and stamped correctly by the University, but they are like we can keep going though the stuff anyway, you will just need to turn the paper in another day. So then we have to pay the tax, but we dont just hand them 300 pesos, no, we have to walk 8 blocks to a bank, give them the money and get a receipt, and then walk back. And then give them the receipt and wait some more. And then sign like 10 more papers, and then they are like turn this in the front. So we go back out to the front, turn in the paper, but we arent done yet, we have one more wait until we are done for the day. So the missionaries are still there too so we talk some more with them, they were happy to have other people from the US to talk to I think, since they were used to talking in Spanish all day everyday. So its like 12:30 by now and they call us back for one last time to sign one last paper and that's it. I think I just experienced the definition of inefficient. So after that long detailed description of Migrations in Argentina, and missing dance class :( we went to school to take our first test for Spanish class. (Which I got back today, and I passed!) After school I just went home and slept, because...

Saturday, I had to be at school at 8:30 to go to the country side to a place called El Paraiso. It was amazing, I slept the whole way there, so when we got off the bus 2 hours later the beautiful view surprised me.

We started the day with breakfast. Which was great because I would not have made it until lunch without food. They even had some gluten free bread crackers that I could eat with homemade peach marmalade (I did not enjoy the plum as much). And then we went and rode horses around a little circle on traditional saddles. And then they brought the cows in, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I did not expect to watch a lot of lassoing and branding of calves. And they kind of just believe in letting the cows roam free most of the time, so it wasnt really an issue when a cow or two jumped the fence and climbed the mountain behind us. The asado for lunch was amazing. An asado is basically where they just grill lots of meats (beef, pork, chicken, sausage) over a grill outside. With the asado we were served a salad emphasis on the sal. There may have been equal parts salt and salad. I dont think anyone was quite able to eat that. They even had gluten free empanadas, so I had my first empanada there, which was really good. I think it just had cheese in it, but there may have been something else in there too. For desert apparently I was special because I got a peach and everyone else got chocolate ice cream. It was a good peach.

The cow that watched us eat lunch

After lunch we climbed the hill across the stream and the view from there was incredible. We were really in the middle of nowhere.

Then after lunch we all sat around and listened to some traditional music on the guitar and a traditional drum, and watched some of the traditional dances to that type of music. And an adorable 3-year-old demonstrated some zapateo.

And then I slept most of the bus ride back to save up some energy for the evening, which will be in the next post. 

Ritmos y Clase y Feriados

After such a great weekend, the week started back a bit slow, but at least I had dance class. Ritmos Monday morning was a great way to start the week, and wake us up. We did some basics and then some Meringue. It was quite an interesting class, and I look forward to the next ones.

Nothing particularly interesting happened in class Monday or Tuesday. We presented our posters, discussed traveling in Argentina, learned about gauchos (kind of like cowboys) (and taught by a professor who was very easy to understand), and talked about music. Tuesday's morning class was canceled and today, Wednesday, is a holiday. I am enjoying this Argentine schedule. Though I think the holidays should be labeled a bit better. At least in the US when you have a day off its labeled like Presidents day. Here its just labeled Feriado. Not that I should be complaining about days off haha.

Having a day off is nice though, we have our first test Friday and the professors have been making it sound intense. I've spent most of my morning studying, and eating homemade yogurt. I dont love that its getting cold here already, its only February and I already am in sweat pants and a jacket. I sure hope it warms up again, its been in the 60s, and after the 90s, I'm just not ready for that (I aint about that life).

I'm very happy to have ear plugs, the baby is teething and having trouble sleeping at night, apparently she kept waking up screaming last night. Luckily I slept straight through it all.

So in summary, things I like: dance class, food, days off, ear plugs, and reggaeton (a style of music here). Things I don't like: when the temperature drops below 70 here and threatening exams. So basically, I am doing pretty well.


Since I dont have any pictures of going to class, I thought I would add some about food. Since after my food project in Spain, I have the habit of pulling my phone out and taking a picture of everything I eat. So now for a short course in 'Traditional Foods Served in the Home to People on Diets in Argentina'. (Dishes served throughout day: anytime from just waking up to just before bed)

Beef and squash with cheese

Beef and eggplant with cheese and tomatoes

Chicken bites, rice, and stir fried vegetables

Pork, mashed potatoes, and vegetables

Beef, eggplant, and tortilla verdura (eggs and greens)

"estofado" (stoved): chicken, potatoes, pepers and onions cooked in a pot on the stove

Spaghetti with tomato and chicken

Cumpleaños y Arte

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I didn't do anything Friday during the day and then my weekend just took of flying!

School Friday wasnt too bad. I didnt have to show up till 2:00 so that wasnt so bad. Had a nice lecture about speaking in Spanish and not spending too much time talking to people at home - both of which im breaking right now haha. We learned some more history, but to me the take away message was "Argentina is not a law abiding country". That difference in culture was really interesting to the class because both the US and Japan are pretty much law abiding countries. Don't worry, I will continue to follow the law because, if Argentines are not generally law abiding, I don't want to see who they have too put in their jails :)

Then in Spanish class we made posters, flash back to middle school. It was fun making up a tour of the country and a collage to advertise it.

Friday night I went to the birthday party of a local: Fede. It was an awesome party! I liked seeing how they celebrate birthdays here. Also, there were a lot of US students there so my witnessing the culture was diluted with some great US hits like Thrift Shop and The Bad Touch and then we demonstrated the Wobble. And then they showed us their favorite songs from here and how to dance in an Argentina appropriate way. I went home around like 3:30. Krysten's host brother drove us home which was really nice, and so I got to experience how someone our age here drives. Luckily at 4 am there weren't many people on the road, everyone was still out partying.

Saturday when I woke up, after lunch, I did my homework. I was pretty proud of myself for that. Though I still have to ask my host family about a few things that I didn't understand. Having class on Saturday at 7pm was something different. We met downtown to visit the Art Vendors area but they gave us papers to fill out so I felt like even more of a tourist. Then we all went out together for dinner at a pizza bar where it took them like 2 hours to bring me a salad so that was different. And then it was a warm salad of mostly raw onions. But I had a great time talking about cultural differences with the Japanese and Brazilian students. We learned some interesting hand gestures as well as read an Argentina slang dictionary.

After the bar I was still quite hungry so I bought fries and ice cream for dinner. It was soooo good though. The ice cream ended up being half Dulce de Leche and half Chocolate which was an excellent surprise. Im pretty sure I worked of those calories later though. Ryan and I walked to meet some friends that he met here. And then we went to a boliche which was AMAZING. I had such a good time at that boliche, it was unlike anything I've seen in my live and its pretty much just indescribable. So we all had a pretty good time there from 1am till 6am when the lights come on. And then it was pouring rain outside, and the streets were very full of water so I got very soaked pretty quickly, and it didnt help that cars kept driving by and splashing us by hitting the puddles. I felt like I was in a movie with the wave of water coming towards me. The bus never came so we just walked back to the center and made it by like 7:30 am. We found our bus back and I was back in the house here by like 8:30 am, I was very glad that Betty was not up yet. I was not quite ready to explain in Spanish my appearance - dancing for 5 hours and then walking home in the rain. But after a few hours of sleep I'm up and ready to go again. Not really, all I'm going to do today will be finish homework, eat, shower, and sleep. I have to be ready for dance class and university tomorrow! I'm excited for it.

Sorry I dont really have any pictures I took. I pulled this one off of Facebook.

El Documental

So today started off a bit rough, but luckily it didn't go downhill from there. I guess it started last night with the loud children and that craziness but this morning came early. I got ready to eat breakfast, but then no one was awake, and there was no breakfast food in the fridge, so for breakfast I had like 3 mouthfuls of cornflakes. Then I go to leave, and the handle comes right off the door. After standing there freaking out for a minute, I realize I can just put the key in the lock and use that to pull the door open. But anyway, I made it to the bus and to the CPC to get my picture taken for my visa. I walk into the space between the 2 buildings and the line is out the door and starting to curve around the other building. Luckily, nice old fat man #1 for the day gives me clear directions to where I get my picture taken and there was no line for that. Also, I then went to the cafe/ gas station next door and ate yogurt and ice cream for breakfast - yes, I know that was not the best choice I could have made haha.

School today started with a power point presenting the history behind the history documentary about Argentina that we watched. And then after lunch we had an hour an a half power point about the history of Argentina  up to the point of the video. All of this, in a very dark classroom, the only light I had to take notes was from the reflection from the projector. But actually, listening to history in Spanish made it that much more interesting because I had to work on understanding the meaning at the same time as learning something new.

Spanish class after that was great as usual. Its really interesting and a good practice of Spanish to compare cultures between the US and Argentina. Though somehow Alabama usually gets dragged down in the discussion, first Robert E Lee day, a discussion about the continued presence of the KKK, and then MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks. I think the professor now thinks Alabama is the most racist place ever.

After school I went to the pharmacy to get a tums equivalent, and met nice old fat man #2 for the day. My proud moment of the day was describing tums in Spanish, since that brand doesn't exist here. And they are officially the best antacid I have tasted in my life, if they were a candy flavor, it would be my new favorite candy flavor. Sadly the description of the flavor is: clasico, so that is entirely undescriptive.

Then, at the kiosko nice fat old man #3 recharged my bus card for me and I got my phone recharged and he wanted help learning the numbers in English, he got thirty wrong but he had the rest right.

So now I'm listening to a late summer storm (one of my favorite smells) I'm listening to the clown childrens TV show for about the 8th time since I have been here, and I've only been here 2 weeks. The clown - not my favorite, I even like the Backyardigans better than him. I can already sing every clown song on there.

Cosquin Rock

So I went to bed early Sunday night, and woke up late Monday morning - the best way to live on days off. What I learned, if I wake up at breakfast at 11 (which is a yogurt) then they wont feed me lunch at 12 (they give me a piece of fruit), so its better to wait till 12 to show up so I get lunch (like I did today). But anyway, I left at 1, and went to the Terminal de Autobuses. Luckily while riding that bus to the bus station, we (Courtney, Ryan, and I) saw some people wearing the Cosquin Rock t-shirts, so we followed them. When they got off, we got off. When they stopped walking, we stopped walking. They caught on pretty quick that we were following them but they were cool with it, and even showed us where to get tickets and then which bus to take.

That bus terminal was larger than some airports I've been in, so it was really helpful to have guides. So we make it to the festival, and I'd never been to a festival so it was all totally new to me. And we just start walking following the crowd, which worked for us because it was at least a mile walk with several turns to make it to the Aerodromo. First we pass some vendors and then food. The first thing I said when I saw the food was "I could really go for a cup of fries" like 3 vendors later they were selling cones of fries so I was in luck. And that was my first experience with street vendor food here, and I'm still alive. We finally make it to the entrance after seeing many more interesting things going on around us - like tons of security with clearly displayed guns. Inside the fence the place is huge. It was like 2 football fields by 4 football fields (the easiest way for me to measure). And if it was to hold 80 thousand people comfortably I guess it had to be.

So we walk in the gate after 3 checkpoints and an intensive bag check (and ponytail check for Courtney). The first thing that happens is I am handed a #1 finger like at sports events, and a free condom (a first for me). And I was like, after that start to a festival - this has got to get good. At 4pm the place isnt too crowded yet, the sun is still up and its pretty brutal. So we take a lap, and during this lap we were handed these large granola bar looking things which when I examined close later turned out to be rice bars so I could even eat them! Over the course of the afternoon we also get 2 more bars, several orange bracelets, a chocolate milk similar to yohoo, and 2 cups of yogurt with cornflakes. I was enjoying all that free food that I could eat, that doesn't usually happen for me.

The music was decent, it wasn't my favorite but I enjoyed the experience of listening to it in that setting. Oh, I guess I should describe the setting. First of all, we just drove straight out of the city of Cordoba for like an hour and a half until we get to a dirt road and then the bus just stops and we get out. We walk past all the vendors and into the area and the view is incredible. Straight in front of us was the Cordillera, a mountain range that looked like it was right there next to us. And the sunset over the land on the other side was very pretty too! There were 2 big stages, and a small one with some hardcore metal music. On one big stage was rock music, and the other one was reggae. There was definitely a difference in people between the two stages. At the rock stage it was just like a huge mosh pit. Everyone was jumping and purposely bumping into each other, I did not get close enough to participate in that on purpose. By the reggae stage the only thing you could see was people smoking marijuana. It was difficult not to stare when someone would just pull the stuff out of his pocket and roll it up and light it; it was hilarious. I just haven't been exposed to that prevalent of drug use before.

Also, the brothers who are the cousins of Adriana who invited me there, were very helpful with the little things. Like they got us in line to get a bracelet for something that the only word we could understand was acrobats and 9:30. So at 9:30 we went to find the acrobats and apparently the bracelets got us inside the fence so we could see closer, and that show was super awesome. I'm totally just going to plagiarize what Ryan wrote because its so much easier, and its completely accurate:
"Fuerzabruta at the Cosquín Rock Festival: They have everything. They have descending swimming pool ceilings full of scantily clad interpretive dancers, styrofoam tiles full of confetti to break over people's heads, massive truck horns, a Mad Hatter-esque DJ, gale-force wind fans, sprinklers of different sizes, and fake houses full of lawn furniture and convulsing people. It's like straight from a Stefon Weekend Update interview. — withCourtney Dean Dunnigan and Grace Arney at Cosquin Rock » Santa Maria de Punilla." 

The descending swimming pool with the ... dancers

We really just had a good chill time at the festival and really enjoyed ourselves without putting ourselves in danger. I didn't take many pictures because I didn't just want to pull out my iPhone there and start looking like a tourist. Courtney took some so I will add those when I steal them, probably from Facebook.

And on a different subject, waiting for lunch today was totally worth it: she made me spaghetti from rice noodles with tomatoes and chicken. It was very good. And vegetables and beef for dinner that I got to help cook, they are finally kind of letting me in the kitchen. Though today it could have been from the overwhelming 3 kids surprise dumped on them when Betty's son went out with his wive so there are 4 kids under 10 running around this house screaming right now. Its cool. Its also 11pm and I have to get up at 8 tomorrow and I don't think they are going anywhere anytime soon.

Estancias y Boliche

So I did not go out Friday night because I knew I would have to get up at like 7 am, which is really early for this country. But I made it to school, made it on the bus, and slept the whole way to the Jesuit Missions (Estancias). The one we visited was in a very pretty part, and it was well maintained.

The tour of the building was long and contained intensive Spanish. But we all made it, and some of us even learned some things. I though it was interesting that nearly everything the estancia was displaying was not original to the estancia, because it had all been looted when the Jesuits left. So we were walking around a historic building, looking at  historic articles that actually weren't really part of the mission. But it was a good way to double the amount of history in one space. We weren't allowed to take pictures so I don't have any pictures of that. I do have a picture of the lovely pond that we learned was where the waste from their early toilets went.

The pool we went to next was a nice contrast. It was fun to go swimming in Febuary and be hot. It was a nice big pool and they served us lunch (Argentina style of course, late and large).

When we got back to Cordoba, I went to a place called Shopping Cordoba (actually they call it Shopping Cordoba, thats not translated) which was a very nice mall. I found the tickets to the Rock Festival I'm going to tomorrow, and while waiting in line had a long Spanish conversation with the old man standing behind me. He was only a little creepy, but really easy to understand so that was nice. He was standing in line to pay taxes in cash, as was everyone else in that long line.

Also at the supermarket in this mall I found a gluten free aisle.

I finally made it back to the house and showered, had some dinner, and of course, got ready to go out again :)

She served me so much dinner, I made it through less than half of that, and then saved the rest for lunch today. 

I had missed the boliche last weekend so I was so excited to go this weekend! It like if you can imagine a rave + a club set in a theater with no seats. They aren't all like that but this one was Studio Teatro. But I had a great time. We got there around 2 after hanging out at a local's house for a while. And I danced for 3 hours, there weren't even as many creepy people there as I thought there would be. They turned the lights on at 5 so that was time to leave. At that point I realized nearly everyone else from the group of like 20 I came with had already left. So Ryan and I walked to the bus stop, waited for a bus for like 30 minutes. And then I was in bed by just after 6. Great night/ early morning. Best part - I woke up after 4 so I even got a full nights sleep haha. However, there is no way I'm going to be able to stay out all night like that every weekend. I have no clue how people here do that several times a week.

So I have literally nothing to report for Sunday during daylight hours because I was asleep. So now to make plans for the Rock Festival tomorrow! I'm sure it will be an interesting cultural experience.

Visas (parte 1)

So I don't think that last post ended up posting correctly from my phone but at least I had it all done to post, and I'm writing another one for right now. This one will be short though. After I got home from school yesterday, I went for long walk with Betty and Lorendra (somehow I'm still not sure about that name, they just say it so fast). We went to a really cool park/ outdoor recreation area that will be great to take walks in when it gets a little cooler, which i think it will soon. Then we went to the carniceria (meat shop) which was smaller than I expected it to be. It just had a few pieces of meat but they all looked super fresh, so that was good. And then I had the beef we had just bought for dinner. It is an interesting way of life to just take a stroll to the meat shop and then cook that for dinner.

Raw cow meat: Beef

Today I went to class, which started at 9 and I did not quite make it on time. And after lunch we went to the center to the Migraciones Office for residency visas which was an interesting experience for both us an them I think. First for the city bus we took there, luckily at 2 the buses are not full because they just piled all 20 of us on one public bus and we rode the hour into downtown. And walked in a single file line to the office, I'm sure we looked hilarious. But they finger printed me and wrote down my cell number and that was that.

Then I went to this mall called Dinosaurio (dinosaur) which was super cool. It was one of those mall supermarket combination things. I was trying to buy a ticket for a concert there but I completely cannot follow the directions of my host family. I have not yet successfully followed directions they have given me. Its pretty bad. But the mall was awesome to that was fun to walk around. And of course like a tourist I took pictures of it.

There was an ice rink

and a game center

They even had ramen though it was really expensive 

Also, I finally got some ice cream! I have been craving ice cream since I got here and it was so good: Dulce de Leche con Grancitos (like caramel with chocolate chips).

Tomorrow we go to the Jesuit Missions, it will be a long day I think.

Los Jesuitas y una sorpresa

So, since I missed my upload yesterday I thought I would try uploading from my phone during our 2 hour lunch break which is just not quite enough time to go back and eat. But it's ok because I brought a packed lunch with ice that leaks horrible when it melts.
But anyway, yesterday morning we went to the cathedral down town so first I was proud of making it down there by myself though I did get off at a stop to early so I got to walk some and see a bit more of the city. But the cathedral was so pretty. They had the tour in English which was strange since 4 people there didn't speak English and we all knew passable Spanish but anyway. I took lots of pictures of the cathedral and some other places the Jesuits founded.

El Catedral

La Manzana Jesuitica

Notice the nice boat like ceiling

Everywhere had very detailed, and brightly colored tiling inside

Some very old books I'm not sure I was actually supposed to be taking pictures of

And then I went home for lunch which was so great, they had tortilla patata which was my favorite meal from Spain. I took an interesting route there because I picked the wrong bus but anyway, I made it. After a quick lunch I made it back for my 3 and a half hour Spanish class which wasn't that bad actually. We even had a 30 minute break in the middle.

Tortilla patata y calabasin con queso

I made it home with no problems which was new and different. I almost feel as if I have found my way around the neighborhood. One day I'm going to take the back roads bus and find out if I can make it back that way.

I fell asleep during my normal blog time which was a nice nap. Dinner was good but somehow I ended up eating alone with the baby. Who I now have photo evidence of with the salt shaker.

After dinner I went to a kind of hang out place and talked with some students and locals in Spanish for a while which was some great practice. I really enjoyed it.

Yes, that is the salt shaker in the baby's mouth. And no, I did not use it when I was offered it 2 minutes after I snuck this picture for proof. 

Today was an interesting morning. I got to school and they were like 'surprise, get in this unmarked car and hand them this piece of paper'. And then we drove for a while on a gravel road. And then we pulled up at this farm house. And then some people were like, 'ready to ride horses?' And we were like 'sure'. So first we made some bread dough by hand that was then cooked in a fire oven. And then I learned how to trot a horse. It was an interesting experience to learn how to ride a horse in Spanish.

Mine is the circle one

Oh, I guess you figured that out

My horse's name was osa (female bear)

Courtney not falling off the horse behind me!

Primer clase

First day of classes! But first food, luckily I woke up in time for breakfast this morning. I am not going to get tired of fresh squeezed orange juice, homemade yogurt, and cornflakes for breakfast anytime soon.

Oh and I forgot from dinner last night, I had a nice steak and vegetables for dinner, and then for dessert... they asked me if I would like to try something tradicional y local and I was like sure. So they give me this desert and make sure I know I have to eat it together, but it is a piece of salty, soft cheese under a piece of what I think is candy sweet potato. It was strange, it was one of those things that was good once but not something I would pick again. 

Queso y batata dulce

It went well for the most part. The movie we watched, "La Mision", was a very long movie, actually in English not that it mattered because there wasnt much speaking, and they put on Spanish subtitles so we could practice, and for the international students that dont speak English. It was about the Jesuit influence among the natives in the Iguazu falls region. And then at the end, warning Im going to ruin the movie, everyone from the movie who you liked died, actually just pretty much everyone died. So I guess its at least historically accurate, but not a great way to start school.

For lunch today with my little packed lunch (which I found out there was a microwave) and we all ate at the little cafeteria tables in a row. I could have been back in middle school, except without the girl/boy segregation haha.

Our first culture class was so long too, especially since it was that after lunch class. Though, I realized that was my first class in which the instructor talked solely in Spanish for the entire hour and a half, so that was an accomplishment for me - I got through a class all in Spanish  The language class went by much quicker, I think its going to be a good level for me too. It started out easy today but it will definitely get more difficult. Also, now I feel a bit better about my use of formal and informal, though I'm sure it will still be a struggle for me.

After school, I finally made it to a supermarket, which here are called DISCO. I laughed to myself every time I said I was going to the disco. But, it was so cool there. So first, we walk in, and I manage to pick a card with a wheel that doesn't really work very well, and then someone comes over before we go in and I think she is offering us bags to carry our stuff in because they didnt have any baskets, but instead she wanted us to put our backpacks in the bag. And then they didnt fit, so she just let us keep them. It was an interesting exchange. The store wasnt that big, but it was cool to look around. I was surprised at their variety of shampoos and conditioners and soaps (which is what I went for), and then they had some aisles dedicated to things that we probably wouldn't have had. For example, there was an entire aisle dedicated to crackers and toasts, another to salt and oil. And of course I took lots of pictures from the grocery store.

El Disco

This one I just couldn't believe, if you look closely, on the right is baby food and on the left is honey.  I was very appalled at this stocking plan to say the very least. 

This is a whole section of loose tea leaves called Yerba which are used for making Mate, which is the traditional drink here. I thought it was funny they were packaged in what I think of as flour and sugar bags. 

Ryan was very amused by the name of this candy. I will admit, I was too. 

Some nice bags of milk, and they had a lot of kinds of milk, but there was no soy milk anywhere :(

And while waiting for the bus, I'm sure I looked like an idiot, but I was wondering what is able to grow on a power line? They looked like sea urchins to me but they were surrounding the power lines. 

And I still forgot to take a picture of the buses, tomorrow, when I have to get up early to take one to the center; I will try to remember to take a picture.