Two Months

Hola Chicos! 

Well, believe it or not, it was TWO MONTHS ago today that I left New York (or should I say, Newark NJ) to head to Buenos Aires! In some ways, the 2 months have flown by, in others, not so much! But, regardless, God has blessed me with this amazing opportunity here and I'm so thankful for it! I'm anticipating that the next 2 1/2 months are going to fly by!

This weekend, my host mom went to visit her son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandsons in Santa Fe, a province about 3 hours away from the city. She invited Bot to sleep over the apartment while she was gone, which was a special treat! Meaning, I didn't have to stay in this apartment alone the whole weekend!! We had a pretty relaxing weekend, if I do say so myself!

Yesterday, we headed to the zoo which is a few blocks away from my apartment! So strange to find this zoo smack in the middle of such an industrious city! It was a gorgeous day and we spent a few hours walking around checking out the animals!

Gordon girls visiting the zoo!

These little animals were ALL over the place! NO idea what they are! 

I made a friend :)

We were both so amused at how lax the zoo was. They practically let the animals roam wherever they wanted. Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but SOME of the animals were basically free to roam. Others were, of course, kept in cages! 

Today Bot and I went to the San Telmo fair again to get some souvenirs and lunch! We then headed to a Methodist church we visited a few weeks ago. There we met up with John and Jaime who are American students studying here as well that Bot's host mom introduced us to. After church we headed out to eat with John and Jaime to catch up on life. They head home in about 2 weeks, which is a shame because we wished we had hung out together more!

All in all, it was a good and restful weekend for me! Classes tomorrow. . . 

More evidence that God has been good:

-I was all set on coming home about a week and a half early since all my classes would end by July 6th, which is before the official end date of my program on July 15th. I had confirmed on all of my syllabi when my classes ended and decided that I would call the airline in the next few weeks to get my flight changed! Well, just a few days ago, one of my professors who has missed 2 classes, decided to extend our class until July 11th to make up for HER lost time! Needless to say, I was raging mad! I calmly emailed her and explained my situation, asking if it was absolutely necessary for me to attend the last class! She emailed me back (a little cryptically, so I'm still trying to decode it) but it APPEARS as if I will in fact, be able to head home early!

-Yesterday, before Bot and I headed to the zoo, we stopped in at pizzeria to grab some lunch. Outside, I saw an Argentine man wearing a New York Jets jersey! It made me smile! Sometimes, it's the little things!

-Hearing that the Yankees came back from being down 9 runs to beat the Boston Red Sox 15-9 really made my day! Even though it's killing me not to be able to watch baseball, I love checking up on those Bronx Bombers!

-Some of you know how big of a Dispatch fan I am. Dispatch just announced their new US tour dates ... including Boston!!! So, already, I am making plans (and saving money) to go see them on October 6th with my best friend/roommate and baby brother!

-My cousin Tara just officially announced that she is pregnant with her 5th!! I babysat for Tara over Christmas break before I left for Argentina and so got closer with her! I am so excited for her and Mario!

-Still to this day, seeing long boarders in Bs.As. makes me so happy. 

-Julieta, our Argentine friend here, invited us to her house again on Friday with some others from the church! It's so great to get to know some 'porteños' more!

Well friends, thanks for following my South American journey! 

Un besito, 

-C

We are FAMILY!

Where do I even start with this one? I'll apologize in advance, 'cause I'm sure this post is gonna be a bit long (given the fact that I haven't posted in a while AND my parents were in Argentina for the past 10 days!)


As most of you know, or at least can deduce, my parents were in Argentina for the past 10 days! They got here last Thursday and they just left this morning! It really was a wonderful visit! 


The Friday after they arrived, we took a nice bike tour of parts of Buenos Aires. It was a good way for my parents to be introduced to the city and a great way for Bot and I to see some of the barrios (neighborhoods) that we hadn't yet visited! It was a beautiful day and our tour guide was fantastic! 

Our stop in La Boca on our bike tour

My dad even got a flat tire on our trip. No problem, our guide used her spare to repair it (much to the frustration of my dad, who LOVES to fix things on his own). About 10 minutes later, another girl on our tour got a flat...unfortunately our tour guide didn't have anything to replace it with, so the adventure commenced as we went 'off route' to find someplace to fix the flat! It ended up being very entertaining! 

Friday, my mom and I headed out of the city to do some horseback riding! Our taxi driver took us about 30 minutes outside of the city and we met a woman from Holland who came to Argentina about 2 years ago and started her horseback riding company. It was fantastic, the three of us rode for about 5 hours all around a gorgeous park/forest! Unlike in the US, we were able to canter at our own leisure. For those of you not horse-savvy, cantering is when the horse gains some speed and sort of jogs. Almost everywhere that my mom and I have been horseback riding in the past, they never quite let us canter the way we want to. So we thoroughly enjoyed it!

My mom tried her first maté . . . don't think she LOVED it

Cantering

Even though I can't stand these ridiculous hats/helmets, I added this pictures! 

Sunday was, of course, Easter! We spent the day doing some walking around the city. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling too well so I spent some time resting. But my parents experience San Telmo, a wonderful fair every Sunday with hundreds of vendors. After some adventures, we made it to church! Not so sure my parents got too much out of the service, since it was all in Spanish. But they got to experience a Spanish church service!

Easter Sunday! As the Greeks say: "Cristos anesti. Alithos anesti" (Christ is risen. He is risen indeed)

Monday-Wednesday, while I had classes, they took a trip to Iguazu Falls which is North of Buenos Aires. They said it was incredible. It's a trip I'll be making with Bot and her parents once they get here! So I won't say much more about it, since I'm sure I'll have a blog entry about it in a few weeks :)

The recounting of the week cannot be complete without me mentioning the MANY fantastic meals we enjoyed! My parents tried their first 'asado' (barbecued meat) here in Buenos Aires! Even I must say, it was delicious! Among other things, we had milanesa, hamburguesas, chivito, empanadas and so much more! 

Along with all the food we ate, my parents got to experience riding the subte (subway) in Buenos Aires. The first few times, they got lucky, but one night, we had to take the subway when it was especially crowded. Much to their dismay, we packed ourselves onto the subway! At one point, my dad even experienced a pickpocket attempt on him! Always an adventure in Argentina!

Yesterday (Friday) we boarded a ferry and headed to Uruguay!! Colonia is a colonial town in Uruguay that has a lot of history to it. Again, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the weather while taking lots and lots of pictures (as always) 

Bot and I trying to spice up our pictures a little a bit, so I tried a new pose!

Scaling the side of an old convent in Uruguay

FAMILY in Uruguay

Last night, we headed to Cafe Tortoni. A famous cafe here in BsAs. We went to see a Tango show. To our surprise, the food was quite horrible! BUT the show was great. My parents got to experience a bit of the Tango culture here in Argentina. And we had a good last night together, enjoying ourselves!

Waiting for the Tango show to start!

It was such a speical treat for my parents to visit me. I know how blessed I am for them to be able to make this trip. I know that neither of them ever thought they'd be visiting ARGENTINA. But, another place to check off of the list of places visited! I miss them already! But I'm so happy we got to spend time together.

Thanks for coming, Mom & Dad! Love you!

Well, signing out. Muchas gracias for following my Argentine life!

Cariños,

-C

Bruce and Christine take on Bs.As.

An exciting week & a half to come in Argentina....MY PARENTS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

It's so strange to have these two worlds collide: my life back home has come into contact with my new (temporary) life here! How crazy!?!

PERFECT TIMING: as I was meandering around, about to walk past the apartment that my parents rented, RIGHT as I was walking in front of it, my parents pulled up in a taxi! Literally, the timing could not have been more perfect! Not to mention, we were both about an hour early, so it was just incredible that we connected so flawlessly!

Since then, the guy they rented the apartment from came and showed us the place and then we went out for some lunch! I impressed my parents with my Spanish as I ordered lunch for us. We did some food shopping, while my parents got a kick out of the cuisine here in Bs.As.

I left them a few hours ago so they could rest after their 17 hour trip down here. Now, I'm leaving my apartment once again to go back to their apartment and go out for dinner...ASADO (meat) at the request of my dad!!

It looks like it's shaping up to be a fun and exciting week and a half! (even though I have classes all next week)

God is good!

Besos,
-C

Patagonia Adventures!!

Caution: this is going to be a long post! Stick with me! :)

This past weekend, I headed to Patagonia, which is in southern Argentina!

It started with me sleeping over Bot's house on Thursday night, we had to catch a taxi at 5am, so we headed to bed around 11! Unfortunately for us, we're so accustomed to going to bed a lot later, that we weren't able to get to sleep till around 1am! 4:30am rolled around and we drearily got in our taxi and headed to the airport to head to El Calafate!

When we first arrived in El Calafate, I expected to see the glaciers, but turns out the town of El Calafate is actually not too near the glaciers. It looked like Mars, desert-like and dry, it was quiet the contrast from what I thought it would be like!

Thursday and Friday in El Calafate were very relaxing! We didn't plan any excursions on those days, since Sam wasn't meeting us there until Friday. So, we got accustomed to the hostel and spent a lot of time reading, napping, and checking out the center of town! 

I was very happy to be able to start and (almost) finish a book that my roommate gave me quite a few months ago, What's So Amazing About Grace by Phillip Yancey while Bot did a lot of her school work. I think the rest was definitely needed for both of us! 

Our hostel, Nakel Yenu, was absolutely fantastic! The staff were so fun! Veronica met us when we arrived and helped us to get settled in our room. We met Frederico later on that night, who I instantly liked! Dreadlocks, Reggae music 24/7 and incense to burn at night!  

Bot and I booked out own private room, which proved to be really nice since we spent a lot of time in the hostel. There were constantly people out in the lobby (right outside our room) but it made it a really enjoyable and friendly atmosphere!

On Friday night at the hostel, we were even invited by Frederico to a BBQ that was an intentional time for everyone staying to get to know each other! It was great! Some locals cooked up a bunch of meat on the grill and a bunch of us ate together in the kitchen! We met a very interesting Israeli man, who quickly turned out to be VERY creepy! But we had some good talks with a girl from Australia who was vacationing in South America for a few months!

BBQ dinner!

Sam and I on the night of the BBQ...with Frederico in the background! :)

So, on Saturday, we got up very early to head out on a boat tour to see the glaciers! Our bus picked us up around 7:30 and we drove a little while to the boarding dock. The glaciers were absolutely breathtaking! Along with the glaciers, we saw a bunch of icebergs as well! I don't think the pictures even capture what we saw! As we were sailing along, we'd start to see a bunch of big icebergs, which we knew meant glaciers were ahead! Our boat, thankfully, was big and comfortable and we were able to relax inside while we waited to see the sights! Once the icebergs started appearing, everyone would run outside and snap pictures in the freezing cold before running back in!

Here are just a few pictures:

 On the boat!

Our Boat!!

Ginormous iceberg!

Glacier!!

Well, Sunday, we headed to El Glacier Perito Moreno, the most famous glacier in El Calafate! Again, we got up very early and boarded our bus that took us to the glacier. On the bus ride, we had a tour guide who would tell us facts about landmarks we were passing and whatnot. Later, we were dropped off at the glacier, to explore for 4 hours. Unfortunately, it was a rainy, rainy day, which turned into SNOW later! It was so cold, and we spent a good deal of time in the café because we were so cold! But, it was incredible! The paths led us pretty close to the glacier, which was massive! And we got a lot of walking done, and pictures were taken like crazy!

Sam and I FREEZING!

El Glacier Perito Moreno, believe it or not, this doesn't even capture the massiveness of it!

Bot and I throwing up the peace signs, of course!

On Sunday night, we met up with some friends from our program, Erica and Grace in the middle of town for some dinner. As we were ending our vacation, they were just beginning theirs! Sunday night were were exhausted and Bot and I had a flight early again the next day. 

We said our goodbyes to the hostel this morning and hopped in our taxi on the way to the airport! In true Argentina fashion, it turned out to be an adventure! We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we noticed there was some construction going at the airport, no big deal! We checked in and got our boarding passes, paid the airport tax (ridiculous) and got on the line that was beginning to form to go through security. Well, our flight was apparently the first one to head out today, which means that the airport staff were just starting their day. The construction had impeded with the machinery for security, and basically, what it came down to, was that the crew couldn't find outlets to plug in the metal detectors and scanners! So, for about 30 minutes, multiple staff would come in, assess the situation, and leave! Finally, they ended up moving all the equipment so they were able to reach the outlets! Always an adventure!

Last picture in El Calafate, waiting for our plane to arrive!

Also, this weekend, I downloaded an app on my iTouch that allows me to text cell phones from the US for free! Very exciting for me, although it only works on wifi (and I don't have wifi in my house) it's super useful and I'm able to be in contact with those of you at home! Let me know if you want my number! :)

My parents head to Argentina on Thursday and I'm super excited for my time with them here! It's bound to be a lot of fun, but I already expect our goodbyes to be hard!

Keep me in your prayers, as I think I'm starting to get sick, which is no fun!

Thanks for following me in my adventures! 

Miss you all!

Un besito, 

-C