June 29, 2008 (Mid-morning)

So I’ve been bad and haven’t written in two days. Whoops!

Friday, June 27

So Friday was more Spanish classes in the morning. Friday was actually a really interesting day. In the morning, we had to draw a map of our barrio, marking places of interest such as stores, cabinas, internet places, etc. We didn’t know the boundaries of the barrio, so we ended up doing two barrios. Oh well. When we do it later we can do a smaller area with more details. For lunch we went to a Chinese food place. It was good and a nice end of week treat (Kat, of course, didn’t eat).

In the afternoon we had to interview people in town about different topics. (Apparently we are going to watch Agua con Chocolate next Friday.) It was difficult to approach people and ask weird questions. I know it made me stand out even more than normal. It is, however, something I’m going to have to get comfortable doing. After we completed that activity, we went to talk to some guy who worked for the city. He told us about himself and his work with youth. He expressed interest in helping us form our youth groups so we are going to return and talking to him Monday afternoon.

When I returned home the nietos were waiting for me. Isabel and Mayra accompanied me to the store to buy the detergent and soap I will need when I wash my clothes this weekend. I also bought a huge thing of Diet Coke because I was craving it badly and a chocolate bar for the three of us to share during the walk home. Once home, I chugged about three glasses of Diet Coke. Mayra was impressed. I then broke out my huge box of Crayons and Princess coloring book that I brought with me. Mayra and Isabel were extremely impressed with the pictures and all the different colors of Crayons. I let them each choose a page and ripped it out for them to color. Dorrion came along and wanted to color too, followed by Juan. Pretty soon half my coloring book was gone! Oh well. I can always locate more pictures to color.

I was having such a good time that I lost track of time and forgot that I agreed to meet Lauren on the corner to go running. When I looked at the clock it was 5:15. Yikes! I ran to the corner to find her and brought her back to meet my family while I quickly changed. Soon we were off running to this pretty park with playground, a little lake… and lamas, horses, and cows chilling in the shade! It was wild!

After my run it was dinner time and then time to take Fanny and the girls back home. We all piled into the car and Marco (I realized his name is Marco, not Marcos) drove us to another sister’s house I hadn’t yet met to introduce me and then to Fanny’s home. Marco then proceeded to drive around the city until Juan decided he was hungry and wanted fries so we stopped and a little restaurant. When we finally got home I was exhausted!

Saturday, June 28

I woke up early on Saturday to go running with Lauren. We went back to the same pack and there was actually some other people running. Apparently we aren’t the only crazy ones! I had to cut my run short because I had Spanish tutoring with Cissa. It was helpful. We spent two hours just talking, with an emphasis on my pronunciation. I have to loose my Argentine accent. L
After tutoring I returned home and the nietos wanted to color more. After many more pages from my princess coloring book it was time to go to a parade. Apparently there is a rose plantation nearby and Saturday was the festival of roses. We walked to the center of the city and waited for the parade to start. As we waited people walked by selling cotton candy, toys, and food. The parade was really pretty—full of floats covered with roses, gauchos, and traditional dancing. I took a lot of pictures!

When the parade ended, we returned home for a HUGE lunch with all the family. We had soup and shrimp (that I helped peal) and more rice! Afterwards the women cooked the live crabs that had been spending the morning on the counter (and freaking me out). While the crabs cooked, I showed everyone my photos again and then Mama Inés got out her photo album and showed me her photos. It was a lot of fun!

Later that afternoon I walked through the center of the city looking for WiFi or at least skype so I could talk to my parents. Finally, I found an internet place with one computer that had skype on it. It was really good talking to my parents, but I got some weird looks for talking in English. When I got home, I read some more Flintstones and Scooby Doo stories with Isabel and Mayra. After we finished I got a little tired and went into my room to watch a movie on my laptop and be anti-social.

Around 8:00 we went to the center of the city to watch the fireworks. They were awesome, much better (and closer) than anything I have seen in the states (where you have to worry about safety). We were there for about two and a half hours. My back started to hurt and I was cold and tired. By the time the fireworks ended I was grateful to return home. Another exciting and eventful day!