Hooolllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Im in Argentina!
The journey here was pretty average to say the most, it started with my bags getting lost. They didn’t arrive in Auckland, they were left in Wellington somewhere. After Air New Zealand did an absolutely excellent job trying their hardest to find them I was told that I would just have to go to Argentina without them, and they would be sent to my host family, which was poos because I wouldn’t have any clothes to wear for the three day orientation in Buenos Aires. Finally just as I was about to check in – minus my bag, I found out it had arrived from Wellington on another flight. I had to do a mad sprint from international to domestic and got it just in time.
The plane ride was boring and the food was yuck as, I think I had chicken or something but I didn’t eat it. I think the coleslaw was plastic grated up. Everything is so relaxed here, you could probably take anything you wanted into Argentina, they didn’t even want to scan our bags at customs when we got there. We had to fill in a declaration form too on the plane, but no one ever took it off us and when we asked them they didn’t even want it. Its so chill. After the 11 hour plane ride we had to wait at the airport for 5 hours until some Malaysian students arrived, the AFS volunteers brought us “toast” from maccas, but is was like a cheese and bacon bagel. They said it was like breakfast after lunch or something. I think that they meant afternoon tea. By then it was dark so we didn’t see much on the bus ride to our camp which was about an hour out of Buenos Aires.
One thing about Argentina is they love to eat meat, for the first night at orientation we had a massive hunk of steak, like massive. Probably 3cm thick and took up half the plate. Then the next day for lunch we had snitchel, then spag bol for tea and the next day half a chicken for lunch each. They literally cooked a chicken and smacked it in half with a machete; it was the most chicken I have ever seen on one plate. We eat pastries for breakfast and have coffee. It is so different to New Zealand and I can see why people get fat on exchange, if you don’t eat the food you’re offered it is rude. We eat until we pop.
At the orientation camp there were students from Thailand, America, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Brazil and probably a few more that I don’t remember. We had a talent show on the second night at orientation with our countries. We sung heads, shoulders, knees and toes in Maori and also weaved flax flowers to give to the AFS volunteers. The Americans thought it was cool how they were all arguing over their performance and we New Zealanders were sitting on the grass weaving flowers in peace. After the talent show somehow it turned into a dance party. Argentinians love to dance, not just the girls but the boys too and it doesn’t matter young or old, everyone has a good time. It’s really different to New Zealand, dancing that night was more fun then any party I’ve ever been to. They know how to have a good time without alcohol here.
After orientation me and another girl from NZ, Isabella and a boy from Switzerland, Moritz, flew to another city called Bariloche where we were greeted by more food and mate (it’s a kind of tea that everyone here drinks and shares with each other out of the same cup, I didn’t have my meningitis shots for nothing). We then caught a bus to our cities where our host families are, it was double decker and we sat at the front of the top storey so we saw everything. The trip was exactly like going round the devils staircase. Halfway we were stopped by police, they are soooo scary. They came on the bus and asked for our passports they then stood there comparing them and made a drug dog sniff my bag. I felt like a criminal they are so intimidating. They drive on the right side of the road here, but the buses drive in the middle of the road even on blind corners and it is hella scary. I don’t think anyone cares about safety here haha, no seatbelts ever, no give way rules its crazy.Im at my family now and it is really hard to communicate but it gets a little bit better each day. Im so worn out from listening to them speak Spanish and trying to talk it myself and then when they don’t understand me it is annoying because you cant even convey the most simplest wants or needs to them, so there are a lot of misunderstandings. I love my new family though and Mariela (my mum) is scarily the same as my mum (Marie), they are both crazy. The city is beautiful and the people are so nice and open. It is hard to get used to kissing people in the cheek because you are expected to greet everyone like that, the men do it to each other too. There is a lot to get used to, but its fun.
Mariela, Sol, Rocio y Yo went to a meeting at a school today because apparently my school is falling down and the teachers want the students to move to a bad school and some want a new building to be built. The minister of education was there and was going to decide the fate of c.e.m #48 (my school). There was a lot of arguing that I couldn’t understand so we just left because no one was listening to each other. I think I am meant to start school this week but apparently not now because the school is falling down. I don’t really know what’s going on, but its all fun and I can’t wait to do more.
