Mucho Más Mejor

       Well yes that is grammatically incorrect. I'm not sure where i came up with it but one day it just popped out of my mouth: very much better, thank you. Mucho  más mejor, gracias. So Callie and i started saying it as an inside joke, we said it a bunch around our friends and despite their incessant corrections we kept saying it. They tease us about it but they think its funny too and sometimes we catch them saying it. The other day of the the ACA girls said it and i was so surprised. I asked her where she got that and she said her roommate had a firiend who was the roommate of an ACA who had a friend who started it. That would be me. Actually the more you say it the more correct it sounds. 
         Yesterday I went over to my friend Alan's house and cooked for about fifteen of our friends. It was so nice to be able to cook again, i miss making my own food. I made spaghetti and mine and Nathan's special red sauce...except they don't really have spices so it was a variation of the theme but it still tasted good. I was told it was good so that's a plus! I must be one of those people, i actually like cooking. It makes me happy to see everyone enjoying something i made for them. I can't wait until i have a kitchen of my own and i can invite people over for food. Maybe i really should reconsider going to culinary school. I will have to learn how to cook meat since i'm in the beef capital of the world. It would seem like such a shame to leave Argentina and not know how to cook one of their main foods. Although really i've only had meat once since being here, it sounds kinda yucky. But who knows. I have yet to try the traditional meat.
         But the best day this weekend was actually Friday. I got up early, did my laundry, got my money from the ACA bank, went on a killer run with Callie and José, i even went to Vespers. It was awesome and because everyone sleeps in on Friday there was almost no wait for the laundry.  I just felt so productive  :) i love being productive....except for when i don't. 

Here are a few photos from The weekend....pirated from Callie, Alan and Lauren :)

 

I don't always go to Vespers..but when I do I always wear my Green dress :P
Sapphira, Me, Alan, Callie, and Brittney after Vespers

 

 Brittney, Me, Alex, Sapphira, Lauren
At Alan's right before lunch. Alex was so excited.

 

These are my girls! Love them to pieces.

 

Felizidades

         Yesterday: So at 4am yesterday morning a group of very tired, some grumpy, and some ungodly happy ACA boarded the bus for Concepcion de Uruguay (still don't have a Spanish keyboard, sorry). Its about a 3.5 hour bus ride, i think, to get our visas and all that jazz. Basically, we just sat in the office for six hours while we all signed our names on at least ten different pieces of paper. Not fun or exciting. I think most people slept on the bus, i tried and failed. I had gone to bed at 12 that night but then got up at 3.30am so i had only 3.5 hours of sleep under my belt. I won't bore you with the details of the bus ride but by the time we got back i had vertigo and could hardly form sentences in English much less in Spanish. See, some people can function on little sleep, not me. But seeing as we got back at 4pm i couldn't go to bed yet so i watched one of my favorite anime movies, Howl's Moving Castle. Its one of those movies that reminds you of your childhood/teen years and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. But the best part of that entire was going to bed at 8.20 and being asleep less than ten minutes later. I slept all the way until 10am this morning. Never have i ever been so happy to sleep than falling asleep yesterday.

      In General: So i have come to realize that although i am learning at a slower rate than i had hoped, Spanish words and verbs are popping in and out of my head all the time. I still understand more than i can say but i don't mind too much. I am definitely picking up the dialectic speech and I am slightly remorse  because i know that no where else in the world speaks like they do and to anyone else it will sound silly. But i don't care cause i actually think it sounds better...maybe because all the 'Sh' sounds remind me of German....did i already talk about this? I'm still pretty tired from yesterday so i can't remember. Well anyways i am excited because i will be able to get money again which means that i wont have to be left behind when all my friends go on the weekend trips. Oh did i mention every weekend is three days because we have no classes on Friday? Well Monday is a holiday too, so its a four day weekend again. Life is good here in Argentina. :)

A Cultural Note to the Americans at Home

      Ok it has come to my attention that some of you readers have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to some of the cultural aspects of Argentina. Instead of expecting you all to google everything i shall explain. I think i mentioned some of this earlier but take note there will be a quiz at the end.

1. Mate (pronounced Mah-te) is a type of herb/tea which is highly caffeinated, in most cases bitter, and is customarily drank out of a small cup through a special straw. Ok, now there are a billion different brands of mate which different flavors and it can be made with or without sugar (usually not).
2. Mate is hot. You put crushed mate leaves into your cup, stick the straw to the bottom, fill to the leave line with hot water and drink. The straw has a filter so the leaves do not travel up your straw. You must refill the water after each time you drink. Great OK so got that covered.
3. Sharing mate is a sign of friendship. You don't all get your own cup, you share. You all drink from the same cup with the same straw. Germs are not an issue, and refusal of sharing is well...kinda an insult.
4. Terere. Terere is a form of mate but it is made cold, with ice and the water is mixed with a....i guess koolaid is the closest thing to it. If you know Tang, they use that sometimes. But anyways, its fruit flavored and sweet and because its made cold the mate taste is much lighter. Terere is most popular with those of us young generations.

     Great now you all know what I've been drinking. Not alcohol, not juice, not soda, not water.
Also i would like to add its banned from campus, which is hilarious because no one cares. Its banned because of the caffeine but frankly we don't give a damn. But really, the Argentinians can't go a day without this stuff, no only is it a cultural thing for some people its an addiction. Their get crazy headaches without it I am told, much like coffee drinkers. But any morning/after/night of the week there are people lining the streets with their water containers and terere. At some point i'll take a few pictures so you guys can see what i'm talking about.

So now you are all educated. In approximately 8 months i shall be home and you can hunt me down and get a taste of mate and terere. 

Sólo Una Broma

Friday: we clean. EVERY friday, everyone in the dorm cleans, sweeps and mops their rooms. Its nice actually and because its so frequent there really isn't much to do.
Saturday: Everyone goes to church....except me. I feel a little guilty admiting this, but i cant sit still that long and i don't understand anything they are talking about so i decided i was exempt from going to church. So i get to sleep in until lunch at 12.15. Its great :)
Sunday: Do all the homework i have been avoiding for my three day weekend.
      Now this weekend i did all those things and some! Yesterday Callie and i went with her roommates and a bunch of friends out to what they said was "golf" but what they really meant was we had a Frisbee and terere and we sat on the golf course all day and hung out while drinking about a gallon of terere. In case anyone is still confused about what terere is, there is always Google. Anyways, it was really fun, they are all really nice and patient with mine and Callie's crappy Spanish.
But here are a few pictures i pirated from Callie's facebook.

Callie is the far left, and Mel her roommate is the center. Love these ladies!  

Crammed on the couch watching The Heat for a friend's birthday party
The two insane looking guys are Tato (on the couch) and Niko.

 

 

(left to right) Mel, Callie, yo, y Nini and Tato is in the background

And terere was had by all

     The picture of all of us on the couch was last night for Leila's birthday. It was really fun, we watched a movie, ate some kind of amazing cake/pudding/cookie thing, talked, got smacked in the face by pillows, you know the usual. These people are so much fun to be with and they are so good about (nicely) correcting our Spanish, which is really helpful. We say something and they correct us then give us the chance to say it correctly. Its like they all took a class in How to Teach Americans to Speak Castellano.

   My Life-Line here has become the daily (we aim for daily) runs with Callie. There is a 4k dirt track we run and then a little work out area with bars and things for arms and abbs workouts. Not only is it great exercise and an amazing de-stresser its our time to talk or vent about life, school, and everything else. Because i didn't bring an alarm clock Callie just sneaks in my room in the mornings and wakes me up for our runs. I love it, nothing better than starting the day off with a jog and a friend in the fresh air. Only hiccup is there is old guy who has taken an interest to me and Callie and we don't understand him but he is a little creepy. I don't think he means to be, but he is. He too is often out for a run when we go, so that's interesting.  But the town is pretty safe so no one panic. :)

Oh and the title means its only a joke, which is something i say often.

Three Years and Counting

    Well today is the day marking mine and Nathan's three year anniversary. If someone had told me three years ago when i went to UCA that i would meet this incredible guy, fall in love, and be together three years from then i think i would have laughed in their face. But here i am, three years later still dating the same guy, still in love. Although, this year I'm thousands of miles away on my own adventure, to once again find myself like i did when i left SMS and transferred to UCA. Except this year i go by my full name instead of a made up name haha. Jokes on me. But here i actually like me full name, they roll the " R" and it makes my name sound interesting and exotic. In English Rebecca is terrible and Becca is much better, here Becca sounds a lot like vaca and i don't really want to be called cow...
     Well i think its official i LOVE terere....mate is good too but it can be really bitter and i don't like that so much. As soon and i get money out I'm going to get me some mate/terere supplies. Mate agrees with me. Actually pretty much every aspect of Argentina agrees with me. I don't know why but i hardly have any allergies here, my face has cleared up even more, i love Spanish, the food is good...just everything. Its awesome...I'm beginning to think i should look into work options in S.America for later in life. I always thought Germany was the place for me, but maybe I like Argentina better...we shall see. Despite all the staring i get from being a white "blonde" girl i feel like i can fit in here. Their idea of beauty is so much easier to work with than in the states, i wake up every morning and feel beautiful, even on the days that if i were home i would say i look bad. So far i haven't found anything i dislike about the Argentinian culture....its nice for a change.

What Does The Fox Say?

Ring-Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding -Ding,  Ring-Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding  ^_^
    Lets see do i have anything interesting to say....Oh! It was Sunny today!! Oh my goodness i was so happy!! I was literally wiggling in my seat all day, Callie could attest to that. We were sitting in Geography and shes laughing at me cause my knees are bouncing a mile a minute. Oh you know what else?!?! I got Soooo much sleep last night. So exciting. I was asleep by 11pm and i woke up at 10am.

    My friend readjusted my neck which was awesome. Although, for one horror stricken moment as he yanked my head to the side, i thought he was going to rip my head off....but no, i just heard an obscene CRACCCKKKK. It was scary but the result so worth it. Unfortunately, it made me realize i have a myriad of knots in my shoulders and back, buuut for my birthday present from my friend Brittney i was promised a full body massage so i'm cashing that in soon.

    So....i am trying to figure out this whole money situation because apparently we can't actually get into Uruguay this little trip we are going on to get our Visas sooo not sure how i am going to get cash out, i really don't want to take it out in pesos with the 5 to 1. Its possible that i might be able to get USD cash out from the school but it might take some time....so to anyone planning on coming to Argentina, do yourself a favor and bring your money in cash. I wish i had brought more in cash, unfortunately that was not in my instructions. But oh well....one way to do money control.

Insomnia Strikes Back

    Well in case you couldn't tell from the title sleep suddenly seems to be keeping to herself the days leaving me high and dry...or in this case awake and irritated. Not sure what warranted my reoccurring insomnia but it might be due to the fact that i'm out of socks and my feet are freezing at night. I almost brought like....all my socks until mom said no, now i'm wishing i had ever pair of socks in the world.
     Did laundry today, i thought today would be a good day to do laundry....apparently everyone else thought so too. Between actually washing, drying and all the waiting in between it took 5 hours.  note to self...get up early if you want clean clothes,
     I know fully intend on outsmarting insomnia...worked out so hard all my muscles are twitching, i think i could sleep standing up.