Hola Argentina

Well I´m here, in Parana, at my host family´s house. I want to keep my goal of writing short posts but I´m afraid this post is going to have to be quite long. Where to begin? hmm... I will start with my flights and after my day of packing/saying goodbye to people. I first went on a flight from Edmonton to Toronto. It just felt so nice and safe and I was reminded of how nice it will be when I go off to university in Vancouver. On a short flight, with mainly Canadians, speaking English and feeling quite safe and comfortable. That comfortable feeling lasted all the way until I was lining up to get on the plane to Santiago, Chile. The lady was speaking in English but I heard many people close by saying "español, español". That is when it hit me. People are not going to understand me when I speak English. I have been spoiled my whole life into thinking that everyone speaks English. I mean obviously I should have figured it out at UWC, but no, there I am standing in line, in a bit of a panick. Oh no, I don´t know Spanish. As I boarded the plane I begin to think "happy thoughts" about this trip I was about to take. I put off thinking about actually being in Argentina. I contented myself with watching movies, reading books, and sleeping a little bit. And of course, when you don´t want something to come, time always speeds up. I know that it was a 10 1/2 hour flight and it was the longest I had ever taken, yet it felt like the shortest. Before I knew it we were in Chile and then in Buenos Aires and I was off the plane, looking for my luggage. Everything went smoothly, I got my luggage went through customs without a problem, and bought my bus ticket. Everyone in the airports spoke English so my illusion continued. However, when waiting for the bus I decided to be a bit brave (stupid) and speak Spanish with someone. I asked this woman in Spanish if she was taking the bus to Rosario and she said yes and begin to chat to me (quite quickly) in Spanish. She caught on quite quickly that I understood very little of what she said so she asked where I was from. We proceeded to talk, but in a very slow way, haha, and I understood her. She did not speak any English but still we were managing to communicate quite well. I found out she was from Paraguay but her husband was studying at the university in Rosario and that she, herself, was a teacher. It was all very interesting. When we got on the bus, I didn´t think that anyone spoke any English, the bus driver certainly didn´t. I proceeded to talk with the lady in my limited Spanish. I was surprised, this was probably the longest conversation I´d ever had in Spanish with someone, in Spanish class I always hid behind my books, afraid to make a mistake, but talking with her, I didn´t feel worried. I apologized for my horrible Spanish but she said it was very good, haha, boosting my confidence. Anyway, finally I arrived in Rosario, got dropped off at the house of Ingrid (Bruna´s daughter) and rang the bell. Bruna quickly came to the door and I make a mistake of shaking her hand and saying nice to meet you. She explains to me that they do not shake in Argentina but kiss on the cheek. I feel a little foolish since I already knew that. Once we get to the door, Isabell is standing there. Ah, what a relief, a face I recognize. I hug her and Bruna says that we will only speak in Spanish from now on. Isabell catches the look on my face and says "un poco ingles", which means a little English. Haha, I was exhausted at this point after travelling 26 hours and sleeping very little (I found it difficult to sleep because at the back of my mind was the worry). We go inside and I meet everyone (with a kiss on the cheek), Ingrid, Ernesto, and the lovely shower. Hehe. After I was clean I went out into the kitchen and talked with everyone (only in Spanish) for about two hours. I had arrived at 9pm, and we went to bed around 11pm. It was quite challenging even though they spoke very slowly, I think understood about as much as Isabell and we spoke about our college, our friends, our EEs (yes haha, I had to explain my English essay in Spanish), our summers, etc. We asked a few questions but I think we both preferred (well I certainly did) talking because I could take as much time as I needed to form sentences and I wouldn´t look like an idiot when I didn´t know what they were asking me. However, as time went on it seemed to get a bit easier, by no means do I feel like I understand half of what is going on, but it was a start, I was speaking and listening only in Spanish and it is at this moment right now that I am truly grateful to Bruna for saying only Spanish because I know she speaks English, but I think I would just use it as a crutch, since Nancy, my host mother also speaks English. Anyway, we drove to Parana in the morning (it took 3 hours). We went first to Bruna´s house where I met Alex (from Brazil) and said hello to Karl Oskar (again it was very good to see a familiar face). Us four had a minute or two to talk, and it was all in English, haha, I am actually quite glad that I am in a host family by myself becasue I know I would just speak English to Karl Oskar and Isabell (by the way in Argentina we are supposed to call KO, Carlis, hahaha, but I haven´t got used to it yet). After an hour or so we drove to Nancy´s house. I met Nancy, and her two children Gonzalo (5) and Sophia (11). They had made me a banner that said in Spanish¨"Welcome Rochelle" and Gonzalo had drawn me a picture. It was very nice. Gonzalo was very shy at first and Sophia didn´t say a lot either. I spoke with Nancy for a bit and realized it was more difficult to understand her than Bruna because she spoke a lot faster, haha, I didn´t get much and she realized that right away. I was shown my room (which is Gonzalo´s room) and I began to unpack. She asked me if I wanted a nap but I thought it best if I stay awake so I unpacked, showered, and had a snack. After, Nancy and Sophia had to go out for a bit, Sophia was going to a friends and I didn´t quite understand where Nancy went, haha. They left at around 3:30 and it was me, Gonzalo, and Mariana (the babysitter). Gonzalo warmed up to me quite quickly after his mum and sister left. We played basketball and volleyball (they have a net in their backyard). I won two games of basketball and he won three. (haha, and no I wasn´t trying since I could dunk the ball since the net was so low). We played volleyball and I never understood any of his rules, he spoke to me in very fast Spanish the whole time and the only thing I ever got was when he said the score. haha, my numbers are at least good :) Anyway, I don´t know how but somehow I won all of the volleyball games and he soon tired of me winning (and again, i dont know how I won, haha). We went inside and played cards with the new deck that I had given them. I had also given Gonzalo stickers and both of them t-shirts (all Canada stuff from Zellers). Sophia liked her shirt, she wore it to her friends house, and Gonzalo liked his stickers, he put them on his notebook. Anyway we played cards from two hours. We played war for a while, but his game was different than the way I play and it took some time before I understood his rules, I needed Mariana as the translator (from Spanish to slower Spanish haha). She kept telling him that I didn´t understand when he spoke quickly but either he didnt care or didnt listen or didnt understand but he continued with his very fast Spanish which left me completely lost. haha. Mariana was good, she didnt speak English but I found her Spanish easier to understand. After I tired of War I suggested we play a new game. He taught me a new version of Rumy, haha, which took some time to explain. After a while I decided to teach him golf. He really liked this game and was very good at it. I then taught him baseball. We had a lot of fun but I was exhausted. I suggested we go watch a movie with subtitles in Spanish so I could understand. However, we put the Simpsons movie on but it was a copied version and there was no subtitles. I watched it since I´ve seen it already and laughed at the parts I knew were funny even if I barely understood anything haha. However, Gonzalo, it became very clear was a true little boy who liked to fight, he wanted to have a pillow fight with me and he began hitting me with pillows, haha, I didn´t want to wreck his mom´s pillows and I really didnt want to fight when I was so tired but he was relentless. Thankfully his parents soon came home after that. They told him that I was too tired to play anymore. We talked for a bit and then I went on the computer to check my emails. I fell asleep at the computer and Nancy woke me up. She said that normally they ate dinner much later (it was only 7pm) but she was going to start it now so I could go to bed early. We ate pasta and chicken (my favorite) and I offered to help clean up but she insisted I go to bed, telling me that later I would help. I should mention that I tried to join in at dinner but I am not much of a conversationist exhausted and in Spanish, haha. I slept for a very long time! From about 830pm until noon today! I feel very refreshed. I´ve had lunch and now Nancy is gone with the children to a doctor´s appointment. At 4:30 there is a meeting with all of the Spanish teachers (there are more teachers than students, haha, one for each day of the week) and the students are only KO, Isa, Alex and I. I should mention that Alex´s Spanish seems excellent already. I am sorry this entry is already so long, I think it is more for myself to remember the beginning more than anything else. I promise you my posts are not normally going to be this long. I just wanted to write this all down, also, many of you know, I like to talk a lot, and I have felt oddly silenced, there are so many things I want to ask and say but my Spanish limits me. It is quite a frustrating feeling not to be able to communicate as much as I would like. This is another reason this post is so long. I just wanted to give a picture of what the house and Argentina is like so far in my experience. It is different in a lot of ways from what I pictured. I had picutred a more European strucutre of roads, houses, etc, but I would say it is more North American in that sense with big double lane highways, and big sky scraper buildings in the cities. It does look a lot poorer in some areas, with a lot of garbarge in some places and things very dirty, but other places, like the neighbourhood I am staying in seem very clean and safe. Yet, there are bars on all the windows, they keep the house locked at all times, even when inside! It is so strange for me as half the time at home I forget to lock the house when I leave. I think perhaps one of the strangest things is that they wear their shoes inside, all the time!! I am not used to it yet, normally I would take them off. Gabriel, if you are reading this, I apologize for being so harsh with you when you left your shoes on in my room at the college. It must have been so strange to suddenly have to take them off all the time. Hmm, what else? Oh yes, the size of the house is a lot different. It has three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchen. In Canada this would seem small, one floor, no entry way, no living room, family room, basement, etc. There is a televison in the parents room and the kitchen. The computer is in Sophia´s room. I still haven´t any idea where Gonzalo sleeps while I am staying here. I went to bed too early and got up too late to find out. I like this place though, it is cosy and comfortable and a nice place to live. On television the channel on all the time is Disney. They have all the same shows, just in Spanish. I think it is time I finished writing. If you stuck with me this long, wow. haha, I am impressed. I think they will be home soon. To everyone that has written to me, I will respond as soon as I can, I just thought it was important I write down everything now before I forget. I hope to hear from some of you soon...