El verano completo

So, throughout the summer I have failed to be exceptionally diligent with my blogs, and I am sorry about that, life has been busy and changing over the last months. Shortly after my trip to the South, we had a great Christmas celebration with my host family. Luckily, I had a great set of packages from home that helped bring the Christmas spirit from the U.S. Also, I felt fortunate that I didn't feel overly homesick, as I hear that the holiday season can be particularly tough on exchangers. Then, quickly followed New Years, just how it does up there in the Northern Hemisphere where my class from school got together and had a party into the wee hours of the morning.

Shortly thereafter, January 4thish, I changed families. The Moretti's so far have been great, and I am very settled here now having been here just over two months. The family consists of the parents Jose and Monica and two kids, Juan Pedro and Maria Eugenia, 24 and 22 in age respectively, and the chihuahua Bionda. Everybody is very nice and exceptionally welcoming, although at first Bionda was very wary of the outsider living in her home. 

The house is located in a gated community called Los Lagartos (The Lizards), and it is a very upscale neighborhood. Thusly, I have access to tennis courts, golf course, and swimming pools.

So, since the move, life during the summer has been pretty calm, I swim most days to keep in shape, and I play a good amount of tennis. I have yet to brave the golf course so as not to disgrace the Hansen/Swanson family name and to avoid setting Argentine records for the largest divots.

Life is good, I see my friends from school often, as well as my exchange friends Jonas, Oliver, and Ray who all live about a half hour away. For my birthday on the 12th, we had a big group from school along with the aforementioned three over to the house for swimming, Frisbee, and an asado. It was a jolly ol' time, and I ended up having as good a birthday as can be expected sans almond spice cake. (Can you believe there is no buttermilk in Argentina? Also, there is practically no peanut butter here, although my family saved me and sent me some for Christmas. Life has been full of PB&J for the last two months.)

And just a few days ago, my most exciting adventure of the summer came to an end. I recently returned from a week long trip to Iguazu Falls with the same group of exchange students that I went with to the South. It is definitely one of the most breathtaking places on the planet, and I will do a recap accompanied by some great photos here on the ol' blog in the next day or so once I get the pictures uploaded and all.

Anyhow, I again want to apologize for my absence, I have recently rehashed my outlook on blogging and will try to write more, shorter, anecdotal blogs from now on, and I hope you all find it in your busy schedules to check in from time to time.