Yesterday marked three months here in Esperanza. I am really excited to be here, I feel as if now I have an aptitude for the local dialect and customs more than I did when I first arrived. My relationship with my host family is still excellent. On the 25th I will be leaving to go on vacation to the south of the country with my Rotary district which will be lots of fun. After that I will come home and watch my brother Pedro graduate from high school, this should be a great moment to share with my family. After this we will spend Christmas here in town and then go to Pina Mar for New Years. Then hopefully if everything goes according to plan I will go to Brazil to visit my host brother Hermano Campos who I havent seen since he left the states in July. There is just the issue of obtaining the tourist visa to travel to Brazil because Brazil is one of the only countries int he Americas that requires US citizens to obtain a tourist visa prior to arrival at the border.
Yesterday there was a rotary meeting for all of the kids who are leaving my district here to go abroad. A lot of the exchange students here from abroad came and we spent the morning and afternoon with each other here in my town, it was a nice day to share with my friends.
Last night my dad had a massive heart attack, my mom called me this morning to tell me what had happened. This really scared me. It is terrifying to think that it could have very well been that the last time I saw my father was when I said goodbye at the airport. Thankfully he is stable now and in good hands at Beth Israel. It just really pains me to think that there would have been so many things I wish I had said and so many things I would have not said. I love you dad, I hope you get well soon.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
:)
Things are really starting to settle in here, I'm hitting a routine every day and I really like it. I've started to go to scout meetings on Saturdays, this is something that I really like, we do a lot of volunteer work. One of the major differences between american scouts and Argentine scouts is that here the program is done through the Catholic Church. However they are very respectful of the fact that I'm not catholic and I help make their shrines to the Virgin Mary so I think it all works out.
There is also a new American Exchanger in my town her name is Courtney, we are here with the same program, she is staying about a mile and a half from my house. So if i ever want to practice my English or talk to someone about how a cultural difference between our two nations I have an outlet.
There is also an Austrian boy, an Italian girl and a Swiss girl in my town, we have little exchange getogethers sometimes. I hang out with the Austrian frequently his name is Jakob.
In November my fellow rotary students and I will be going to Patagonia. I am also trying to organize a trip to a chilean national park with my scout troop.
Saludos desde la Argentina,
Evan :)
There is also a new American Exchanger in my town her name is Courtney, we are here with the same program, she is staying about a mile and a half from my house. So if i ever want to practice my English or talk to someone about how a cultural difference between our two nations I have an outlet.
There is also an Austrian boy, an Italian girl and a Swiss girl in my town, we have little exchange getogethers sometimes. I hang out with the Austrian frequently his name is Jakob.
In November my fellow rotary students and I will be going to Patagonia. I am also trying to organize a trip to a chilean national park with my scout troop.
Saludos desde la Argentina,
Evan :)
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
The First Month
I apologize to everybody for not posting more on here, I haven't been on my computer all that much which is awesome! Things with my host family are going incredibly well, they are very open people who care about me and give me the same respect they give their own children. Things at school are going well too, although I do get bored sometimes because the material can be a little dry at the technical school, I spend a lot of time in the library reading magazines and in the workshop learning how to weld. I have made a lot of friends here which I attribute to the first week I spent here with my host brother Andres, he set me up with all of his friends and for that I am forever grateful.
I have had to make a change to my diet here, my host family eats meat at all meals but breakfast, and at lunch we usually eat some type of grilled beef or chicken or sometimes steak, or for example today we ate cow kidneys. Not necessarily my favorite thing but it was interesting to try them. For dinner it is usually another type of seared beef or chicken. With every meal there is always lettuce served with olive oil and apple vinegar, or cabbage with the same dressing. There is also always bread with every meal, and it is always the same, it is an imitation french style bread (although its not as good) and obviously water, but they usually drink carbonated water or Coca Cola. The other food that is typical here is asado which is when they take seasoned raw meat and put it on a grille about 3 inches above a surface with hot coals on it. It takes longer to cook because there is no hood to the grill its open air, the flavors are rich and smokey. The only thing I don't like is that the majority of the people here prefer their meat very well done, so I have to specifically ask for juicier meats.
I haven't done a lot of traveling here, Ive been to Buenos Aires for a weekend and in short I didn't like it, its like NYC in the sense that its a concrete jungle and it is difficult to find any place that is quiet. There is also a lot of crime there but it's robbery of average people that is the most common. If you are walking by yourself downtown, not in a sketchy neighborhood, you can be robbed at gun or knife point. Which is something that really scares me.
I really like the people here, they are very trusting and loyal, people always invite me over their house to drink yerba mate or just to hang out. Many people here have never seen a foreigner before so I have somewhat of a novelty here in town. However one thing that takes a lot of getting used to is the sleep schedule here because the siesta is vital to not being a zombie throughout the day. I usually take a nap around 4 although the official siesta time is between noon and 3 o'clock and when people go out on the weekends kids usually eat dinner with their families first, usually between 9 and 10 o'clock, and then go out for the night to someones house until 2 in the morning, and then to a night club or quincenera until 6 or 8 in the morning. People call me the grandpa because I go home between 5 and 6 in the morning.
But all in all im having a great time here, feel free to contact me through facebook or email :)
ciao ciao
I have had to make a change to my diet here, my host family eats meat at all meals but breakfast, and at lunch we usually eat some type of grilled beef or chicken or sometimes steak, or for example today we ate cow kidneys. Not necessarily my favorite thing but it was interesting to try them. For dinner it is usually another type of seared beef or chicken. With every meal there is always lettuce served with olive oil and apple vinegar, or cabbage with the same dressing. There is also always bread with every meal, and it is always the same, it is an imitation french style bread (although its not as good) and obviously water, but they usually drink carbonated water or Coca Cola. The other food that is typical here is asado which is when they take seasoned raw meat and put it on a grille about 3 inches above a surface with hot coals on it. It takes longer to cook because there is no hood to the grill its open air, the flavors are rich and smokey. The only thing I don't like is that the majority of the people here prefer their meat very well done, so I have to specifically ask for juicier meats.
I haven't done a lot of traveling here, Ive been to Buenos Aires for a weekend and in short I didn't like it, its like NYC in the sense that its a concrete jungle and it is difficult to find any place that is quiet. There is also a lot of crime there but it's robbery of average people that is the most common. If you are walking by yourself downtown, not in a sketchy neighborhood, you can be robbed at gun or knife point. Which is something that really scares me.
I really like the people here, they are very trusting and loyal, people always invite me over their house to drink yerba mate or just to hang out. Many people here have never seen a foreigner before so I have somewhat of a novelty here in town. However one thing that takes a lot of getting used to is the sleep schedule here because the siesta is vital to not being a zombie throughout the day. I usually take a nap around 4 although the official siesta time is between noon and 3 o'clock and when people go out on the weekends kids usually eat dinner with their families first, usually between 9 and 10 o'clock, and then go out for the night to someones house until 2 in the morning, and then to a night club or quincenera until 6 or 8 in the morning. People call me the grandpa because I go home between 5 and 6 in the morning.
But all in all im having a great time here, feel free to contact me through facebook or email :)
ciao ciao
Saturday, August 23, 2014
The First Week
Wow, so much has happened in such a short period of time, I am here safe with my host family the Klinglers here in Esperanza. My first week here has been fairly atypical in the sense that I only went to school twice this week because Monday was a national holiday and Thursday and Friday I went with my family to drop my brother off at the Airport in Buenos Aires. He is going to be on exchange in Salem, Oregon. So I have been trying to not think or do anything in english but it is much harder than i thought it was going to be. Im also acclimating to the sleep schedule here because the siesta is an integral part of the day. People here also stay up much later, for instance to come back to your house on a weekend at 3 or 4 is considered to be taking it easy. But overall I love it here, the people are extremely friendly and my town is a very tight knit community and for this I am grateful because everyone knows everyone and people always say hello whenever they see friends. The food here is also amazing, the traditional dinner for a large group of people here is called asado, it is like BBQ but there is less seasoning and instead of being cooked in 30 to 40 minutes on a gas stove its cooked for 2 or 3 hours over hot coals on a grill that sits on top of a brick oven. They also eat all of the parts of the cow like the intestines, kidneys, and the liver. It is so delicious. I really love the culture here and the people. Ill be posting on this in this format about once a week, but I will be posting pictures randomly on here.
Untill next time
Caio
Sunday, July 27, 2014
1
This blog is for everybody who want to keep tabs on what I am up to over the next year as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Esperanza, Santa Fe Argentina, posts will be in both English and Spanish (eventually). Feel free to message me :)
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