The Family Visit!

The week that was so anxiously waited for has come and gone! And I can honestly say I would not change a thing about it. That moment when I saw my beautiful family and friends, and got to hug them again, was the best feeling I have ever had! Those kinds of moments can't be repeated. Those extreme feelings of excitement I felt when I saw them walk through the doors of the airport. It took seven full challenging months of being 7 thousand miles away from them to be able to have that one minute of unbearable happiness.  

We met at the airport and then went to our hotel in a neighborhood in Buenos Aires call Recoleta. Luckily this is one of the safest, cleanest, and more modern ares of the city. I have gone to Buenos Aires, but staying in Recoleta for a week really made me see the city from a different perspective. 

  

Once we got to our room, everyone gave me all the little goodies that they brought me from America. It was a lot more than I expected, and it felt like a little birthday party opening all the presents! My family brought me syrup, 2 jars of peanut butter, 2 boxes of Annies mac and cheese, a can of pumpkin to make pumpkin pie, steel-cut oats, and all the burrito ingredients that aren't found in Argentina. Then Robin and Katia brought me 2 bags of pancake mix, maple syrup, and a cute little bunny with Goody's chocolate as an early Easter present! I love them all so much :)

Apart from the food, my mom picked out a bunch of winter running clothes because Fall will eventually be turning into Winter here and running is going to get cold. She also brought be super cute little frog PJ pants :)

                                                   

 

Our first meal together was in a cute little Italian restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. Our waitress was super nice, and I am pretty sure it was my favorite meal because I was just so excited to be with  them again. I was still taking in the fact that I could really touch them and see them face to face. The first day almost felt like a dream.

The first morning, we all went to coffee. We talked about how the Argentinian culture is a lot similar to the European. The idea of everything being served in smaller portions, and the whole 'little coffee and pastries' for breakfast. They loved being served croissants and little cakes every morning, especially Will and Katia.

     

So they got to enjoy eating breakfast like I have been doing for the past seven months, but I missed the American way...pancakes with peanut butter and syrup. And since they brought me a good amount of those things, we had a morning of making a pancake breakfast! It turned out to be more of a brunch because everyone was jet-lagged and sleeping in till ten or eleven. It turned out delicious and very American!   

       

In Recoleta, our hotel was only a block from the cemetery, which is a really important historical monument in Buenos Aires. A lot of really important families are buried in this cemetery, and the graves are all so pretty! Some a lot creepier than others, but still cool. We spent hours walking around the maze of graves, actually getting a little bit lost every once and a while. There were some wild cats wondering around that gave it a 'scary graveyard' feel, and we decided it would not be the nicest place to be in the dark. But during the day, it was really impressive.

    This picture is next to Eva Peron's grave. She is the most important women in Argentine history, and we all expected her grave to be the biggest and most decorated, but surprisingly it was quite hidden. We kept getting lost trying to find it actually.

Later that night, we were taken to a Tango show! This was a special little outing because we got to really experience the Argentine culture. I have been here so long and I still hadn't gone to see a live Tango show. I was glad that my first one could be with my family, because going to that sort of thing seems to be extremely touristy, and that's exactly what I wanted to be for that week. Being an exchange student, you are sort of forced to act like a local, and try your hardest not to be a tourist, so it was really nice to get a break from that. People talking to me in English at the hotels, walking around with all kinds of maps, getting rides in tourist buses. It was pretty fun, and it was a nice break.
The show was really good; we not only got to see the dance, but hear tango singers and listen to the tango band also. The dinner they served at the show was delicious also. Will decided to leave his vegetarianism behind for the week so he could eat the famous Argentine meat, and he took his first bite at the show. I am sure he doesn't regret it!

 

     

Katia, being the super extraordinary English horseback rider that she is, had boots custom made here in Argentina. The leather made in Argentina is some of the best quality, and is about four times more expensive in America, so they had been planning the whole time to get fitted for boots when they came. We looked at the fashion boots while they measured Katia in the store, and Robin ended up getting measured for a pair. She will definitely be the only one in Bend with those boots!
I can't wait to see Katia ride with her beautiful Argentine leather :)




We definitely took advantage of the city shopping! Buenos Aires has some of the prettiest and biggest shopping malls, and also the most expensive. We did more of a sight seeing trip to the malls, and bought most of our souvenirs in the outdoor market close to our hotel, or on Florida street where there are a lot of street vendors and cute little shops.


  The first mall we went to was called "Alto Palermo". I hear from the locals that it is the prettiest mall to go to. It was really nice, but I gotta say I was more impressed with Abasto. Abasto is a mall that I've already been to once. It's the one with the theme park inside, so the visit there was more about Will. Unfortunately, the rides were closed when we were there, but we ate frozan yogurt and just admired the size of the mall.
 

The next outing we went on was to Puerto Madero. I have always heard about how nice it is, and I have driven past it a few times, but I had never been able to stay and walk around. Driving past it, you don't see how beautiful is actually is, so I never knew what all the hype was about until I was really there.
The plan for that day was actually to take the bug yellow tourist bus around the whole city, but the tickets were sold out, so the girls ended up walking to the port, and the my dad and Will went to see a soccer game. It worked out perfect because Will got to have some guy time aside from sipping coffee and shopping with us.
We walked up and down the little shopping strip as the sun went down, and ended up at a cute little cafe right next to the water.

   

We got home after that busy day and my daddy made us burritos. It was a perfect end to our day, and I'm so glad I got to have my favorite burritos made by the best burrito chef ever! I missed his cooking so much. I tried replicating it a couple times, but they never turned out the same. So one day I will get good at it and make them just like he does. 

                      

 

The next day I took my family to La Plata to see the city where I have spent the last seven months of my life. I thought it would be a good way to spend one of their days here because we were so close. I wanted them to see my school, downtown, my ballet studio, and even meet my host family. I was really excited, but at the same time, super nervous. 

First, I took them to the park where I run. We brought a picnic of egg salad, crackers and cream cheese, ham and cheese sandwiches, and fruit salad. It was delicious, and the weather in the park was perfect! The whole time I was thinking how crazy it was that my family was actually walking around with me in the place that I spent so much time thinking about how much I miss them.

 Will is a crazy rockclimbing monkey, so the whole week he would hop on every other tree he saw. When we went to the park, he was practically in heaven! He and my dad spent a good amount of time crawling around in the branches, and watching them made me smile.  It was definitely family time :)

The trip to my host family's went amazing! I thought that translating was going to be much harder, and that there were going to a lot of awkward moments, but it was the complete opposite. Everyone had such a great time, talking and laughing and sharing stories and feelings about the exchange experiences. My host dad and Emilio ended up inviting my dad and Will to the soccer game, and that's how they were able to get tickets and go. We just drank tea and coffee and ate delicious cake and little sandwiches. 

It was the coolest thing to see our families getting along so well, even with the language barrier. Experiences like that make you see how amazing it can be to study abroad, and how you really get more out of it than you expect. 

The last two days of our trip were in the breathtaking jungle of northern Argentina. The Iguazu waterfalls.

Yes, it was my second time there, but the waterfalls were just as impressive! What was also very impressive was our hotel. It was so beautiful; I felt like I was in a movie! 

                               

We spent one day just relaxing by the pool, tanning, and drinking smoothies. It was so nice to have nothing to do, and just enjoy being surrounded by so many people that I love! 

We ended up taking a walk down the road, not exactly knowing what we were going to see. We walked about  two miles away from the hotel and found a little stand where the native tribe, the Guarani people, were making and selling jewelry and other little souvenirs. It was a crazy experience because they didn't speak very  good Spanish, and definitely zero English. They spoke the native language. Will was blown away by the fact that we were buying things right there where they were making them by hand. It was somewhat mindblowing for me too to see these people living out of nothing but these little shacks with nothing but what they find in nature. And I was just a couple miles down the road in a four-star hotel. We ended up buying a lot of things between the six of us. 

We got up the next morning bright and early to get to the park and have the whole day to enjoy the falls. The beginning of the day was perfect. The weather wasn't too hot, and because the little train that takes you to the falls was taking too long, we decided to walk instead and it turned out to be a fun little journey. 

We came out of the trees and saw the first waterfalls, and everyone was speechless! Even on the second visit, they seemed unreal!

 

On our walks, we actually saw a TON of wildlife. So much more than I saw on my first visit. We got really lucky with the amount of animals that were out and about. 

The most amazing one to me was the alligator! It was super camouflaged, and if it weren't for the group of people looking into the water, we would have missed it.  

Then, we saw
a tucan, and also
a bunch of cute
little monkeys!

They were running around the roofs of the restaurants and jumping from tree to tree. It was so cool! They are so human-like, especially when you look at their faces close up. Will enjoyed feeding them some of his french fries. Then, there were these little rodents that were trying to eat all the food people dropped. they are pretty cute, kind of like squirrels, but I don't know what they are called.

Will got a butterfly to land on his hand, and it actually stayed there when we walked. He kept it on his hand for probably a few minutes, and it was like his little friend for a while.


So things went really well until about one o'clock when the rain started coming down. It started as a trickle, and turned into huge penny-sized drops just dumping down on us. We had seen all that we needed to of the falls, so we made our way back in the pouring rain. It was actually quite an adventure, and it was fun racing through storm in the middle of a jungle. Another moment when it felt like a movie!
It ended up getting sort of miserable when we had to wait for our ride in the cold with soaking wet clothes. The rain stopped, but there was still a little bit of wind that just made our wet clothes feel even more wet and even more cold.


SOOO when we got to the hotel, me and will filled the bathtub with warm water and got in together! It was perfect to get in hot water after walking around for an hour freezing, and it was also fun to be in the bathtub with my little brother again. It has been at least 10 years since that happened!









We all separated in the Buenos Aires airport on Tuesday. It was definitely sad, but not as sad as the first goodbye. I only have three more months before I get to be with then again, so There weren't too many tears shed this time.
Also, I was on my way to the airplane into Santiago, Chile! How can I be sad when I'm about to land there?! I got to Chile on Tuesday night, and now I'm staying in Sebastian's house until April 9th! Chile really had a different feel from Argentina. First that this house is a lot less city, and a lot more country. The climate is also dry, more like Bend, and it feels good to be out of the humidity for a while.
I went to school today and yesterday, and it was awesome! It is a private catholic school, so I actually had to wear a uniform. It was the first time in my life that I have worn a school uniform, and I kind of like it. It definitely solves the problem of figuring out what to wear every day. I have a white blouse, a dark blue dress, a red and black tie, dark blue long socks, and black school-girl shoes.
The kids are so nice and so accepting of exchange students; here, and in Argentina. I love it!

Sunday is the big day! The 10K that I have been training for! Let's see if I can beat Sebastian :)

Update!

Well it has been quite a while since I wrote a blog entry. I wish I updated this more, but honestly, there wasn't much to say this last month or so. All February, my day looked somewhat like this:
10am wake up and go for a run. 12pm come home, shower, and eat lunch. 2pm-6pm relax, watch TV, run errands. 7pm (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) ballet. 11pm eat dinner. 2am go to sleep.
My summer days never looked too much different than that. There were little outings here and there with some friends, but since Emilio had to study all summer for school, I was pretty much on my own a lot of the time. I had a gigantic amount of free time when I would watch American TV shows that play here with Spanish subtitles, like Friends, Dr. House, C.S.I, Grey's Anatomy, and some other popular ones. I also picked up the hobby of bracelet making which I got pretty good at. I've made a bunch now, and I actually have some people paying me for them! I never even tried to sell them, so I feel pretty talented. I also read The Hunger Games, and I loved it!
Of course, I also spent the month getting better at Spanish, as I do every day, even if I don't want to. I would say I can officially call myself fluent now. I understand everything without having to process every single word, and I can't think of a situation where I would not be able to explain something to someone in Spanish. The words come to me now without thinking about it, and I can't even imagine now what it was like not to understand when someone talked to me in Spanish. So, with the language now mastered, I am really truly enjoying myself. I feel comfortable being around people, and much more confident. I used to be so tense all the time, dreading the next moment someone would come up to me because it meant I had to really focus on each word they said, and most likely get embarrassed somehow. Now all the tenseness is gone, and I can enjoy being Argentinian:)
What did happen at the end of February is that the new AFS exchanged students arrived. In La Plata there is now a girl from Germany, and Zac, my new friend fom New Zealand! I talked to him a few times on skype and a lot on Facebook before he got here, knowing that if I had had an English speaker that knew the town and the language, it would have helped me a lot in the beginning. I did have Emilio, which I am so extremely thankful for, because without him I would have died the first couple months. I officially consider that boy family, I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to say bye! But anyways, I have been spending a lot of time with Zac, and it's interesting to watch him have the same questions and go through the same struggles that I did when I first got here. Like the food for example. He is super worried about gaining weight and eating unhealthy, so he will come on runs with me sometimes, and I took him to a little place a go to buy trail mix. Also, this Saturday, AFS is getting together to introduce the new kids, and Zac and I get to cook something for dinner and dessert. I'll show him where to get the good fruit and vegetables:) I'm pretty excited, AFS get togethers are always super fun.
School started on Monday. Monday was the craziest first day of school I think I've ever had. First of all, all of the kids in their last year who will be graduating want to celebrate their 'last first day' just like they celebrate everything else possible in my school. So, as the tradition is I guess, all of the kids go to a huge party the Sunday night before school, drink way too much, and party all night until 7:30 in the morning, when they all show up at school with silly string, confetti, and whatever other messy party material. Then they go throuh to all the classrooms turning over desks, screaming, throwing confetti, and just going crazy! Then in the hallways, the music is blasting and everyone dances and makes a mess. This event went on all morning, and after a few hours, we went back to class as if nothing happened. It was definitely something that could never happen at Bend High, which I am somewhat thankful for. I loved the party and all, but what happened next scared me and made me appreciate the strict rules we have in the schools at home. I guess there was a fight at the party before they got to school, and it wasn't resolved, so a few boys (I'm sure they were drunk) started fighting in the hallway, and one was punched in the face, thrown to the ground, and got his head cracked open. I didn't see the fight, but I did see the boy laying down on the floor with a dangerous amount of blood around his head. Everyone was freaking out and crying and yelling at each other. And today, the story was in the newspaper. I heard that the boy went to the hospital, but is doing okay now, and the one who did the punching is suspended for now. So definitely a day to remember. Also, Dilja, my Icelandic friend, didn't like her school, so she transferred and now goes to Bellas Artes with me! She is a year older, so we don't have classes together, but we get to see each other every day, and she thinks Bellas Artes is way more fun. There is also another girl who transferred to my school who is an exchange student from Ontario, Canada. I met her today and she seems super cool! She is with Dilja in seventh year. So I have made some new friends in these first few days, and I can definitely say school is more enjoyable now that I understand everyone. I used to constantly feel like people were talking about me and I didn't realize.
So, the last thing I am going to write about is the most exciting...Tuesday is going to be such a great day, I don't know how to even express my excitement in words! MY FAMILY AND ROBIN AND KATIA ARE COMING TO SEE ME!! Originally it was going to be just the Baney family coming for spring break, and my family was coming in July, but then we decided spring break was a better time because Argentina is much prettier. July is winter and instead of pretty greenness everywhere, it's just grey clouds and freezing coldness. So all 5 of them arrive the morning of the 20th and we are going to stay about 5 days in Buenos Aires, then go for 2 days to the waterfalls in Iguazú that I visited in January. They all fly back home on the 27th of March, which, for me, will be the beginning of another extremely exciting adventure...I get to go spend two weeks in Chile! I have been training the past month for a 10K race in Santiago, Chile that I'm going to run with Sebastian and his dad. Sebastian is the Chilean boy who stayed as an exchange student in my house from August to January this year. Apart from talking to him a lot on Facebook and seeing him on skype when I called home, I also connected with his dad over Facebook. His dad saw that I am a runner, and wanting to return the favor of having Sebastian in our house, he told me he would sign me up for this huge race and let me stay with them in their house for 2 weeks! So, on the 27th, I'll have to say bye to my family and the Baney girls again, but I'll be on my way to Chile until April 9th:)

So this entry doesnt have pictures because to upload pictures I have to borrow Emilio's computer, and it's broken right now...but luckily my parents are bringing me my laptop, and I'll be able to put pictures up and update my blog a LOT more often!

Mom, dad, Will, Robin, Katia...I will see you guys in just a few days! :D