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
