no siento frío cerca de ti, dentro de mí brilla el sol

It finally got cold. I woke up yesterday to go meet some of the other volunteers for a guided trip to Alta Gracia (a little town outside of Cordoba) and I left in only my sweater and I was freezing. All day I was cold and all day I thought, this is it, the weather is getting cold, it's actually starting to resemble winter.

And then I woke up today and...well...it's warm. Again.

(not that i'm complaining)



Yesterday I got up too early for my own good and was almost late getting to the meeting spot (the Cordoba City based volunteers were being picked up en route for our Alta Gracia trip) yet, in true Argentinean fashion, the bus was about half an hour late. So I froze. Slowly and painfully.

Rumour has it that we paid "so much" (except not really) for the trip because we were getting an English tour guide. Hah. Not a chance. I understood him better in Spanish. Which says something. I mean, my Spanish is rapidly improving (I can now decipher the incredibly challenging Argentinean accent) but it's not thaaat good.

I mean just to give you some idea, reason why Argentina is not the place to go if you want to learn UNIVERSAL Spanish. Well, they say "vos" instead of "tu" (which means you) and apparently they throw in the word "sos" and they have this tendency to say this like ¡CHE! and ¡VISTE! and the like and they don't pronounce their words and they talk at the speed of light. Just today I was asked if I spoke Spanish, to which I responded a little, and then the woman launched into this long, very fast sentence and when I gave her a blank stare and said I don't understand she rolled her eyes and started speaking English, yeesh.

Well, before I get too sidetracked.

I've been informed by my mother that I need to blog. Like, a lot. With more frequency. I think preferably (for her) I would be blogging every hour, every minute, every second, about what I'm doing. Such demands! Joking aside though, I'm quite happy to blog today as I have much to tell and am in a very happy mood. :)


They piled twelve volunteers into a bus for a guided tour of Alta Gracia yesterday. And when I say bus, think Little Miss Sunshine. This is the image I've come to imagine the bus in because (while our bus didn't break down) we saw about seven cars start in a similar fashion to the Little Miss Sunshine bus and since ours was it's spitting image (except in colour), well...you can make the connection.

Anyway, apparently the don't believe in seat belts and the second last row of seats was missing so since I was sitting in the back row they let us stand up and walk around the little area (if we so pleased) while the bus was moving.

Basically the bus was a party. For the hour drive they passed around mate, facturas (yummy pastries), and we listened to loud, obnoxious, really addictive Spanish music.
After our fun-filled bus journey we arrived in Alta Gracia, which is positively the most gorgeous little town ever. Or rather, the one street we saw in detail and the others we saw from the bus window indicate that it is one of the most gorgeous streets ever.

There's a beautiful little lake/pond surrounded by trees and I nice pathway and a green lawn and it was so nice to just sit and enjoy it and not feel like you had to do anything. Then we visited the Jesuit Residence and it's beautiful. I mean, there's a beautiful gate to get in and then a lovely garden and you walk through it to go up the big steps and there are three sides which are all connected by one long balcony and you have to go out on the balcony to get to different rooms. I don't know, maybe it was just the sunny, chilly day that made it so beautiful and lovely, but it was perfect.

Today I started work at my new orphanage - Eva Peron. I had to take a 25 minute bus and then walk 5 minutes to get there, which wasn't so bad and it's beautiful. It's a lovely house with a huge garden out front that is basically like a park for kids and then the whole thing is gated at the front. There are about 22 children in the whole place and the oldest is 9 and the youngest three are one and a half.

I love it. I don't think I've enjoyed a day in Argentina more. I mean it went by so fast (and thats not why it was my favourite day). The staff are so much more friendly and chatty and welcoming than the staff at my last orphanage and the kids are so much fun to hang out with. I mean the older girls loved to play with my hair and the little ones loved to play peek-a-boo and to have me swing them in their arms and I think the fact that I've picked up the basic Spanish used with little children made the transition so much easier.

**FYI I can't spell these words very well
Come - eat
No - no
Callate - quiet
Ven Aca - come here
Sientate - sit down
Si - yes
Agua - water


I am working with two volunteers from Denmark (Søroen and Mikkel - although Søren was sick today) and they speak no Spanish so the staff is really happy to have me because I act kind of like a translator (yes I can speak that much Spanish now) and I am way more chatty, which I think they kind of like.

The kids are also really sweet. I think my new favourite that I want to adopt is Pepo. I was informed by Esteban that that's not a real name but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a real name. When I asked, Daniela (an older girl) told me that he didn't have a name) and I learned that Pepo was brought in by the police who found him wandering the streets alone one night. For the record, Pepo is only one and a half.

The atmosphere was also really different from the last place because a lot of the kids talk and while the younger ones were a bit shy, the older kids weren't. I mean, it was weird to have them come up to me when I'm sitting there with Damian (the little boy who came with me from the last orphanage) and ask me my name, tell me theirs, and ask me where I live, how old I am, if I go to school, am I married ( yes that was a question).

When I finished work I walked home. That might not sound so strenuous but it was. Last night I planned out my route (courtesy of google maps) and mentally prepared myself for the two hour (yes, TWO HOUR) walk home. It was actually really nice, I'm bringing my camera next time. It was nice to have the time in the fresh air to myself and to get to watch people and see everything on my way home, not to mention the good exercise (my mom is probably jumping for joy) and how well it cleared my head. I was in such a good mood when I walked home, I mean I was smiling the whole way and it just felt so good to be by myself and walking and experiencing.

Now I am exhausted from all the walking and I think I'm going to take a much belated (it's 7:30pm in Cordoba) siesta and get a little shut-eye.

Sophie leaves tomorrow morning, I find that really weird and hard to wrap my head around. It's kind of a defining moment. I mean, I've officially been gone two weeks (I'm really not counting down the days until I get home - just until I visit Esteban in Santiago, hehe), but it's weird to think it's been that long already and to think that another week will fly by and then Laura (from England) will be here and I'll have a new roommate.

A little cultural update... Argentina celebrated it's independence last night. The streets were crazy, the music loud, and the party endless :)

I have an album of pictures up on facebook. There aren't many but I intend to keep adding to the same album. Here's the link (for all you non-facebook friends- feel free to add by the way): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101729&id=504021617&l=48df314156

Enjoy :)