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Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
So about another week has gone by, I intended to post earlier but the internet keeps cutting out here.
well, the first interesting thing that i experienced this week was the southamerican cup for Patin (skating). definately something i haven´t seen before. In a nutshell, patin is figure skating, but not over ice my friends (too dificult to maintain in warmer climates, obviously), it´s the old school skates. so basically i got to watch male figureskating... and the male programs there aren´t as developed as it is in the states (becuase, it´s definately not the most machismo sport on the planet) but it was entertaining nontheless. we mostly went there to watch my host mom speak, since shes the director or sports in catamarca, and it was great. at least i think it was, not like i understood it, but everybody clapped, so i did to.
so i was sick and got better.. yep- that means school. I suited up in my obnoxiously plaid uniform monday morning at about quarter to seven (it really is ugly..) it consists of a skirt that´s nearly two sizes too long for me, a polo, the same socks everyday (not a good situation for me), oh! and old man shoes. for breakfast, i was asked what i like to eat, naturally being the american i am, i said toast. so-- my host mom made an enormous pile of toast, but since i don´t eat 15 slices in the morning, it´s in a bin in the firdge (which kinda defeats the point of warm crispy melty toast in the morning, but i take one for the team anyways)everything is good though, i enjoy my classmates-no specific friends yet, but it´ll come along with the language. So everyday we start with everybody in lines facing the flag, and they play a very very long dramatic song while somebody raises the flag slowly, i respect it but it´s still super cheezy :P . Also in school, since there are no books, i´m learning how to take notes by hand again. but the thing is that the teacher stands in the back of the room reading the page at a billion words/min and i can´t understand it, much less keep up. Also, something else i found interesting.. in english class today, we had to do a worksheet (yes, they´re making me do worksheets) and i kid you not, this was one of the problems:
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
5. Terrorists threatened.........................(blow up) the store.
not much else exciting has happend here, just trying to get into a routine here and focus on learning spanish and making friends...
well, the first interesting thing that i experienced this week was the southamerican cup for Patin (skating). definately something i haven´t seen before. In a nutshell, patin is figure skating, but not over ice my friends (too dificult to maintain in warmer climates, obviously), it´s the old school skates. so basically i got to watch male figureskating... and the male programs there aren´t as developed as it is in the states (becuase, it´s definately not the most machismo sport on the planet) but it was entertaining nontheless. we mostly went there to watch my host mom speak, since shes the director or sports in catamarca, and it was great. at least i think it was, not like i understood it, but everybody clapped, so i did to.
so i was sick and got better.. yep- that means school. I suited up in my obnoxiously plaid uniform monday morning at about quarter to seven (it really is ugly..) it consists of a skirt that´s nearly two sizes too long for me, a polo, the same socks everyday (not a good situation for me), oh! and old man shoes. for breakfast, i was asked what i like to eat, naturally being the american i am, i said toast. so-- my host mom made an enormous pile of toast, but since i don´t eat 15 slices in the morning, it´s in a bin in the firdge (which kinda defeats the point of warm crispy melty toast in the morning, but i take one for the team anyways)everything is good though, i enjoy my classmates-no specific friends yet, but it´ll come along with the language. So everyday we start with everybody in lines facing the flag, and they play a very very long dramatic song while somebody raises the flag slowly, i respect it but it´s still super cheezy :P . Also in school, since there are no books, i´m learning how to take notes by hand again. but the thing is that the teacher stands in the back of the room reading the page at a billion words/min and i can´t understand it, much less keep up. Also, something else i found interesting.. in english class today, we had to do a worksheet (yes, they´re making me do worksheets) and i kid you not, this was one of the problems:
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs in brackets.
5. Terrorists threatened.........................(blow up) the store.
not much else exciting has happend here, just trying to get into a routine here and focus on learning spanish and making friends...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Nearly a week
well, it´s almost been a week- a great week.
at midnight on friday i met up with a bunch of other rotary kids and we took the bus from Catamarca to Córdoba, arriving at six in the morning. of course, i didn´t sleep at all and had to go though all the Rotary standards of lecturing about how i can´t use drugs and have boyfriends and whatnot. but that´s ok because we had a good time at night, we had a dance, but it was weird or "different" because it was a costume party. i was a ladybug. :) the cool difference from rotary in the states and rotary here is that in the states we could only dance until midnight or so, but here it went to 2:30 and that was still early... i didn´t sleep that night much, my bed was like a rock and my pillow like a brick- but in the morning i was awake because there was no hot water for the showers. auctually, the shower didn´t exsist much either. imagine a bathroom without a shower, now put a showerhead and knobs on the walls, a drain on the floor, and a squeegie. that was it. Sunday we did more rotary meetings about such and such and left around four.
we took the bus from Carlos Paz (sorry, the hotel was in Carlos Paz (close to córdoba)) to Córdoba with some older "used to be exchange students". we ditched our stuff at one of the guy´s appartment and headed out in the big city. we walked like half an hour looking for a mcdonalds that turned out to be closed. so instead we went to a mall, which surprisingly is not very different from anything in the states (except that their fast food is empenadas and strange sandwiches) so some friends and i walked around until we were bored and convinced the older guys to take us out into the city. so we did. it was so cool. the arcitecture (despite the enormous amount of graffiti) was spanish colonial and very pretty. we saw a fountain show, then continued to something to the equivalent of a flea market. there were tons of people but it was still a good time.
we caught the bus around midnight and returned to Catamarca at about 5:30 am. I came off the bus with a sore throat, and it´s only gotten worse. I went to the doctor today and it turns out i can´t go to school tomorrow. (yes!)
now school is something else that is definately not what im used to. i´m going to Instituto Belgrano, supposed to be the best school in Catamarca, and today was my first day. First, there are only 3 years for highschool (i´m in second) and you don´t change classrooms all day, the teachers rotate, oh and there are no books. When i first came into the classroom everybody was sitting on the desks or talking and doing whatever, so naturally i thought it was some sort of recess, but oh no. it was "culture" class. so i asked where the teacher was and she was sitting at a desk talking to a group of students. then the bell rang, all of us went out of the class room and down the stairs to a small kiosk in the school ( i think it´s pretty cool ) and hung out for the real recess. when we returned to class i came in and sat down but the thing is that you´re supposed to stand next to your desk until the teacher says you can sit, oops. i felt like an idiot. but it´s ok because i missed that class, me and two other exchange students were asked to do an interview with a seventh grader doing a school progect about the environment, so he asked us how our country informs the people about global warming (or as he said, global heating) and whatnot, i was really impressed with this kid, he was super smart. we stayed there for about an hour and a half , missing tons of class time. but when we did return to class, it was literature class which i think the teacher spent more time shhh-ing the students and only read through one paragraph. it´s definately "different" from Conserve School.
at midnight on friday i met up with a bunch of other rotary kids and we took the bus from Catamarca to Córdoba, arriving at six in the morning. of course, i didn´t sleep at all and had to go though all the Rotary standards of lecturing about how i can´t use drugs and have boyfriends and whatnot. but that´s ok because we had a good time at night, we had a dance, but it was weird or "different" because it was a costume party. i was a ladybug. :) the cool difference from rotary in the states and rotary here is that in the states we could only dance until midnight or so, but here it went to 2:30 and that was still early... i didn´t sleep that night much, my bed was like a rock and my pillow like a brick- but in the morning i was awake because there was no hot water for the showers. auctually, the shower didn´t exsist much either. imagine a bathroom without a shower, now put a showerhead and knobs on the walls, a drain on the floor, and a squeegie. that was it. Sunday we did more rotary meetings about such and such and left around four.
we took the bus from Carlos Paz (sorry, the hotel was in Carlos Paz (close to córdoba)) to Córdoba with some older "used to be exchange students". we ditched our stuff at one of the guy´s appartment and headed out in the big city. we walked like half an hour looking for a mcdonalds that turned out to be closed. so instead we went to a mall, which surprisingly is not very different from anything in the states (except that their fast food is empenadas and strange sandwiches) so some friends and i walked around until we were bored and convinced the older guys to take us out into the city. so we did. it was so cool. the arcitecture (despite the enormous amount of graffiti) was spanish colonial and very pretty. we saw a fountain show, then continued to something to the equivalent of a flea market. there were tons of people but it was still a good time.
we caught the bus around midnight and returned to Catamarca at about 5:30 am. I came off the bus with a sore throat, and it´s only gotten worse. I went to the doctor today and it turns out i can´t go to school tomorrow. (yes!)
now school is something else that is definately not what im used to. i´m going to Instituto Belgrano, supposed to be the best school in Catamarca, and today was my first day. First, there are only 3 years for highschool (i´m in second) and you don´t change classrooms all day, the teachers rotate, oh and there are no books. When i first came into the classroom everybody was sitting on the desks or talking and doing whatever, so naturally i thought it was some sort of recess, but oh no. it was "culture" class. so i asked where the teacher was and she was sitting at a desk talking to a group of students. then the bell rang, all of us went out of the class room and down the stairs to a small kiosk in the school ( i think it´s pretty cool ) and hung out for the real recess. when we returned to class i came in and sat down but the thing is that you´re supposed to stand next to your desk until the teacher says you can sit, oops. i felt like an idiot. but it´s ok because i missed that class, me and two other exchange students were asked to do an interview with a seventh grader doing a school progect about the environment, so he asked us how our country informs the people about global warming (or as he said, global heating) and whatnot, i was really impressed with this kid, he was super smart. we stayed there for about an hour and a half , missing tons of class time. but when we did return to class, it was literature class which i think the teacher spent more time shhh-ing the students and only read through one paragraph. it´s definately "different" from Conserve School.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
First day (this is going to be a long one)
So after the crazyness of o´hare with my bags being too heavy and my extensive train rides between terminals because we weren´t clever enough to go to the domestic flight terminal for a domestic flight, I land in Atlanta and bum about until I´m about to board the plane. I saw another girl with a Rotary blazer (they´re on the rage in Paris) and introduced myself, there was then a group of four of us on the grueling 10.5 hour flight from Atlanta to the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. Turns out that even if you have been on an airplane before there are always new things to learn. 1) the moon is beautiful, oh wait, that´s just the light at the tip of the wing... 2) never ever ever go to the bathroom barefoot. no matter how fearless. don´t. 3) don´t trust airborne meats. Finally i landed at 7 45 B.A. time, breezed through customs, and met my host dad and one of my host sisters. we took a cab from the airport to his office, he works for the government and lives in Buenos Aires from tuesday to friday. we hung out at his office and got some café con leche and media lunas. then we headed out for the next domestic airport.
First of all. traffic in buenos aires is rediculous. there are lanes painted but don´t auctually exsist. it´s the first time i´ve seen somebody be in the farthest left lane and still manage to turn to the right. and the cars were so close that i swear i could have stuck my toungue out the window and swiped a couple of windshields. i survived though.
i boarded and landed my catamarca flight, and had several family members and friends to greet me. it was pretty cool. I have two host brothers, Federico and Eduardo who are both considerably older but i have pretty much spent most of my time with them and my little sister Florencia (i felt reasonably tall in argentina, until i met flor, she´s twelve and she´s like 4 inches taller than i am, kind of reminded me of when i first met greta). Mi mama is really friendly and funny.
right away we had lunch and i saw my house for the next couple months. it´s great, not too big. my host parents totally spoiled me, i already have my own bathroom, a cellphone, and a computer (i´m not expecting to keep it..). I like them alot, they´re really fun.
after lunch we went sightseeing, we went up this road on a ridge that overlooked the city of Catamarca, que bonita! we also saw a pretty cool lake. We stopped by mi mama´s office and it turns out she´s a director of sports (or something like that) and there are a bunch of gyms for basketball, gymnatics, and a track.. oh and did i mention there are fútbol fields everywhere! two auctually accross the street from where i live. cool huh?
so then we came back to the house and i txted a girl from rotary and she got all the other kids to come to the plaza and i got to meet most of them. lucky me all of them speak english, this spanish businuess today has been exhausting! The plaza is basically a huge hangout for anybody under 20. it´s nuts, there´s so many people there. so we hung out and then went to get a pancho. a pancho is a footlong hot dog bun with three little hotdogs in them (i´m pretty sure they´re big vienna sausages) slathered in mayo, mustard, and salsa. they´re pretty good, i only had a bite of one of the guy´s . Gene and Jude´s is still takes the cake.
it was about 20 40 hours, yeah they use 24 hr clocks, and i asked eduardo and federico to come pick me up, they did but the back of the truck now had new headboards for my room and a nightstand. i´m totally spoiled. i love it.
for dinner we just walked over to this place that looks like a gas station to an american, but was really a burger joint with a gas station attached. i walked in and florencia has like 5 friends there and we all sit down to eat. burgurs were good. we walked back and now flor still has a couple friends over and i´m chilling with Eduardo in the kitchen.
Maybe i´ll go to sleep soon considering i have to catch a bus at midnight tomorrow to go to cordoba and i know those rotary kids wont let me sleep.
First of all. traffic in buenos aires is rediculous. there are lanes painted but don´t auctually exsist. it´s the first time i´ve seen somebody be in the farthest left lane and still manage to turn to the right. and the cars were so close that i swear i could have stuck my toungue out the window and swiped a couple of windshields. i survived though.
i boarded and landed my catamarca flight, and had several family members and friends to greet me. it was pretty cool. I have two host brothers, Federico and Eduardo who are both considerably older but i have pretty much spent most of my time with them and my little sister Florencia (i felt reasonably tall in argentina, until i met flor, she´s twelve and she´s like 4 inches taller than i am, kind of reminded me of when i first met greta). Mi mama is really friendly and funny.
right away we had lunch and i saw my house for the next couple months. it´s great, not too big. my host parents totally spoiled me, i already have my own bathroom, a cellphone, and a computer (i´m not expecting to keep it..). I like them alot, they´re really fun.
after lunch we went sightseeing, we went up this road on a ridge that overlooked the city of Catamarca, que bonita! we also saw a pretty cool lake. We stopped by mi mama´s office and it turns out she´s a director of sports (or something like that) and there are a bunch of gyms for basketball, gymnatics, and a track.. oh and did i mention there are fútbol fields everywhere! two auctually accross the street from where i live. cool huh?
so then we came back to the house and i txted a girl from rotary and she got all the other kids to come to the plaza and i got to meet most of them. lucky me all of them speak english, this spanish businuess today has been exhausting! The plaza is basically a huge hangout for anybody under 20. it´s nuts, there´s so many people there. so we hung out and then went to get a pancho. a pancho is a footlong hot dog bun with three little hotdogs in them (i´m pretty sure they´re big vienna sausages) slathered in mayo, mustard, and salsa. they´re pretty good, i only had a bite of one of the guy´s . Gene and Jude´s is still takes the cake.
it was about 20 40 hours, yeah they use 24 hr clocks, and i asked eduardo and federico to come pick me up, they did but the back of the truck now had new headboards for my room and a nightstand. i´m totally spoiled. i love it.
for dinner we just walked over to this place that looks like a gas station to an american, but was really a burger joint with a gas station attached. i walked in and florencia has like 5 friends there and we all sit down to eat. burgurs were good. we walked back and now flor still has a couple friends over and i´m chilling with Eduardo in the kitchen.
Maybe i´ll go to sleep soon considering i have to catch a bus at midnight tomorrow to go to cordoba and i know those rotary kids wont let me sleep.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Contact info for the mass email
Hey everybody--
Address:
Pasaje Anesi 879
Catamarca, Cta. 4700
Argentina
Phones: (there is a time change, the same as eastern time)
host parent's home number: 011-54-3833-439412
(remember--the address and phone number are for my first host family and will change in a few months, i'll update of course)
I do have an international cell phone- the number is 447924208072
to call me from the US call 1-866-305-6462 (this number is free for you, not me) or direct using the country code 011.
CALLING IS EXPENSIVE, SO IS TXTING (about $.70/txt). you can always email me!
casey.murphy@conserveschool.org (<--i also use this for MSN)
casey.murph10@gmail.com , and of course---facebook to.
:)
-Casey
Address:
Pasaje Anesi 879
Catamarca, Cta. 4700
Argentina
Phones: (there is a time change, the same as eastern time)
host parent's home number: 011-54-3833-439412
(remember--the address and phone number are for my first host family and will change in a few months, i'll update of course)
I do have an international cell phone- the number is 447924208072
to call me from the US call 1-866-305-6462 (this number is free for you, not me) or direct using the country code 011.
CALLING IS EXPENSIVE, SO IS TXTING (about $.70/txt). you can always email me!
casey.murphy@conserveschool.org (<--i also use this for MSN)
casey.murph10@gmail.com , and of course---facebook to.
:)
-Casey
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
15 and 3/4 hours until take off
Yeah, I'm excited. No, I'm not nervious. I take off from O'hare at 3:45 tomorrow afternoon, and fly to Atlanta, then an 11 hour flight to Buenos Aires, then to land in Catamarca at 3 in the afternoon on the 11th. Right now I have no expectations, just planning on taking it for what it is. Lot's of travel-- we'll see how it goes.
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