Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!

Hola from Buenos Aires,
So we left Santiago on Friday (at 4:50am no big deal) and flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am having a great time already and I think that our two weeks here are going to be really great. The city is so different from Santiago and really feels and looks a lot like Europe.

From Buenos Aires

From Buenos Aires

On Friday, we went out to lunch at the Cafe de los Madres de Mayo and came back to the hotel for orientation. We found out who we would be living with and how the Subte (subway) works and about the basics of the political and education systems here. There are a lot of differences from Chile and it sounds from the presentation that the education system here is really good. I will be interested to see what the perspective is from inside the schools we visit. After orientation we had an amazing dinner at a really nice restaurant. We had a giant mozerella stick, tons of bread, and Tracy and I split salad and a steak and pesto ravioli. They were all so good. The pesto made me think of being home and eating NeeNees homemade pesto. For dessert we had amazing fresh fruit salad. I was so full.

Saturday we were brought around the city for a tour and we got to stop at some really cool markets and went to the Casa Rosada (pink House) which is like their white house. In the afternoon we got to meet our families. I am living with a really young couple. They are 26 and have only been married two years. I'm the first student they've hosted so I was a little nervous. But they are so nice and really chill. My dad, Farin is in the military and my mom is a psychologist. They also have a 4 month old Bulldog puppy name Roco. He is nuts and loves me and makes so makes so many pig noises and farts a lot. But he is really fun. As I am writing this he is biting me and if I ignore him he starts to bite my computer and jump up, but he is too fat to make it onto the couch...oh no whe clawed way up onto the couch and is sitting on my lap. He is quite fat and crazy. My fam says that he doesn't usually act this crazy and that he's in love with me. haha. I also don't think he's supposed to be on the couch and my padres think I taught him. ooops. lol. Saturday night we met up with my abuela and tio, my padre's mom and brother who is my age.

From Buenos Aires

From Buenos Aires

Today we went for a drive around the city so I don't get as lost tomorrow. There are tons of cool parks, museams, and markets to go to in the city so I think i'll be very busy this week. Then we watch the big Argentinian Rivalry game. I feel asleep. There is something about Sunday afternoon sports that does that to me. But it was just like watching sports with Justin cause I would be woken up suddenly when my dad would start screaming and jumping when something big happened in the game.

Also, its weird to keep refering them to as my padres cuz they are so young. Its weird cause I still feel like I have to be very polite and formal but they are so close to me in age that it kinda feels like I am hanging out at a friends apartment. So its a little weird but really cool. And I think they like me too so in a few days I think we'll all be a little more comfortable.

Also, the Argentinian accent is going to take a little getting used to. Instead of the "y" sound (as in yo) (which is used a lot in Spanish) they use the voiced "sh" sound (its time for a little nerdy phonetics talk) like the "s" in the word treasure. Its very hard to understand them and they have trouble understanding if I don't use the voiced "sh" sound. I said the word "ayer" which means yesterday and they just stared at me and corrected myself to say it "asher" and then they understood. I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quick though, I just hope I don't keep talking like that when I get back to Chile. I think my Santaigo family will disown me.
That's all for now. Hopefully I can stay up on my entries while I'm here. Chau!