La Primavera

Here in Pilar, we are in the full swing of spring officially - I´m starting my fourth week here in Argentina and the sun is shining bright through the window in front of me. Yesterday was Mother´s Day and we sprung forward with Daylight savings. So, for those keeping track, Buenos Aires is now five hours ahead of Pacific Time.

My week or so has been paradoxically eventful and uneventful. Last Monday the boys in our grade took on the teachers in a game of soccer, sadly we were defeated 3-2. But we followed up with some lunch at a local asado restaurant. Then, throughout the rest of the week, the relative placidity sank in, and routine stayed the same. Primarily consisting of going to school, going to my host grandparents home, and then back to my home, the days follow a similar pattern. Despite the apparent tedium, life is rich with culture and new things. I continue to learn Spanish and that is my primary focus throughout my days.

Although school gives me a place to associate with friends, some classes are quite beyond me, so my time is passed reading. So far, I have read in English A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, The Life of Pi, and Of Mice and Men, all fantastic reads. I am currently reading A Wrinkle in Time and afterwards plan to start The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Spanish. However, I do participate in some classes such as math, and English class, where I passed our last test with flying colors. Also, we have a debate class on Thursdays in English, so I did pretty well due to my native tongue!

Hopefully these little anecdotes will help paint a picture of my school days, I am hoping to slowly provide a picture instead of telling you all at once. After all, I need something to write about in the future!

Anyhow, my weekend resurrected eventfullness and Saturday morning, Alex, Patricia, Guillermo, and I went up north a ways to a farm set up where a new Rotary Club was having a kick-off party. Along the way, we passed the only golf course in Argentina that has golf carts which was designed by Jack Nicklaus coincidentally. Upon arriving at the party, we were greeted by members from our Rotary club and shortly thereafter presented with a feast where I think the goal was for every guest to eat their body weight in meat. Being the steak lover that I am, I saw nothing wrong with this and happily strived for the goal. (But in all actuality I heard a stat today that said the average Argentinean eats 80 kilos of meat a year, which equates to about 175 lbs. So by the end of my time here, I should have realistically attained that far-fetched goal.) Anyway, the party was enjoyable, complete with performers during the meal who entertained us with folkloricó and traditional pampas dancing. There were complex rhythmic drum routines, which was added to by an extremely entertaining stomp dance in which a man used boleadoras, which are old hunting tools consisting of long ropes with balls on the end. He would swing these in circles all about them and strike the balls on the stage, keeping an ever-changing beat, and meanwhile his partner was beating a drum in a very unique way all the while both were making complex stomps with their feet. Pretty awesome to tell you the truth.

Soon after lunch ended, I was introduced to a German boy who is currently in a city about 20 minutes away from Pilar. Together in our lack of understanding a lot of what is going on, Jonas and I got along quite well and he filled me in on all that I had missed amongst the exchange students. Apparently there are only five of us with my recent addition - Jonas, myself, a Danish boy, a Swedish boy, and an American girl. Everybody communicates in English primarily which makes things easy for me, but also is kind of disheartening as I realize that Jonas is striving to become trilingual. But, between talking to Jonas and my recent communication with a friend in Brasil, I realized that I am really quiet lucky having studied Spanish for three years back home. My friend in Brasil says that people have shown surprise recently as she has started speaking to them in Portuguese. Luckily I have had this luxury my whole time here and have strived to augment my vocabulary and work on pronunciation.

Anyhow, Jonas and I got along well like I said, I told him of the only German band I know, a heavy metal, electronic band called Ramstein, who are apparently kind of a joke in certain circles in Germany. After chatting for awhile, we went and played some Bocce ball with Guillermo and Alex (where we won of course.) Soon after, we were invited over to an arena where they had a horse show, complete with races and a bilingual narrating gaucho. Games were played and boleadoras thrown, and eventually, it was time to return home.

Sunday here in Argentina was Mother's Day as I mentioned, so we came over to the grandparents house for an asado. Guillermo´s parents and daughters were all here so it was a big family gathering where I again tried to eat my body weight in lomo and asado. After the meal I had the nice privilege of speaking to my mom via the incredibly useful Skype and saying hi to Uncle Keith, Aunt Vonnie, Tami, and Izzy who were all at the house in Yakima. Of course I wished her a happy Mother's Day although that probably didn't quite register as it is currently fall in the Northern Hemisphere. We had a lovely chat, but then I had to run off as it was also the day of Superclásico which is basically the match up of the two most revered club soccer teams here in Argentina. Boca Juniors (who I saw two weeks ago) vs. River Plate (all club names are in English for some reason and River Plate is the translation of Rio del Plata). Everyone in my household are avid Boca supporters, so I have fallen into their line of thinking or I risk estrangement. Superclásico is a huge event as it only takes place twice a year - think of it as the Yankees and Red Sox meeting only twice each year, about 40 years ago when baseball was the sport in the US. It gets pretty crazy to say the least. Luckily for all of our sanity, Boca managed to prevail 1-0 in a nail-biter, but everyone went home happy. Last night we ate some leftover steak and retired to bed for school this morning.

Fun fact: I start off my mornings with a bowl of Zucaritas which are actually Frosted Flakes, so even though I am half a world away, I can still find my favorite cereal!

Right now I am sitting in computer class, preparing for lunch in a bit, with the window open in front of me. The sun is shining in with a nice breeze carrying a smell that distinctly reminds me of Hawaii and leis. I am really shocked at how much the olfactory senses can recall memories, and actually I just went and pulled some freshly bloomed flowers from the plant and am currently relishing the memories of hot Hawaiian sun.

Life is going well for me here, thinking of times past and times still to come, and I hope all of you can be found in a similar state of mind - thanks for reading.