El primer fin de semana: The 1st weekend.

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  Rosario, Argentina
Sunday, September 7, 2008

So school started on Thursday.  I will be taking two Spanish classes, one in grammar and the other in conversation.  I placed into level 4, which should be fine for me... I think.  I really wish I would´ve brushed up on my Spanish language prior to my trip.  But I suppose there´s not much I can do about it now, right?  My classes should be fine... the two Spanish classes, and then a management class and a marketing class.  So far, I´ve actually had the Spanish grammar class and the management class.  My management class has 3 students in it.  Talk about 1-on-1 time with the professor.  I feel like he´s looking at me ALL THE TIME.  But the other girl in the class thought he was looking at her the whole time too.

We have no classes on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays, and so we have long weekends.  We eat breakfast and dinner with our families every day, and lunch is provided by the school.  Meals here are pretty good. My first night here, my mother Nélida made chicken and sweet potatoes.  Everything she cooks is very healthy, but VERY good and tasty!  Lucky Melanie.  On Thursday night, she made milanesa-- an Italian dish (my family here is very Italiano... as much of the culture seems to be... to me, anyway).  Milanesa reminds me of wiener schnitzel-- she took carne (beef) and pounded it thin, and then dipped it in some egg mixture with lots of seasonings, and then she dipped it in some kind of breading and baked it (although it´s normally fried).  Mm mm mm...  Let´s see...

el grupo in the lift in our hotel

Friday night, she made gnocchis (a dumpling-like thing made out of dough from mashed potatoes and some kind of flour) with a tomato and cream sauce. Yum.  Saturday night (last night) she made empanadas (for which Argentina is famous).  And apparently SHE´S famous for her empanadas too.  For good reason.  They were spectacular.  She gives me so much to eat with each meal, and she and my host sister eat so quickly.  I take about 4 times as long to eat.  Dinner´s always a fun time.  It´s me, Nélida, and Julia my sister.  we eat our meal while watching some comedy about Argentinians in love.  And it´s weird.  there´s two janitors who work in buildings across the street from one another, and they´re in love.  And they´re very weird.  And one can´t walk, for some reason.  And then there´s a blonde girl who´s in a relationship with one guy, but is actually in love with Léon, but is not in a relationship with Léon because they think they´re brother and sister (which they´re actually not... but it´s still weird).  And after that, Papá Francisco comes home and things get really loud.  And it´s about 10:30 P.M.  in an apartment complex.  The cops would be called in America.  when Francisco comes home, we watch Argentine ice skating.  It´s judged by a man (whose face has been SEVERELY surgically altered) and a drag queen.  And it´s strange to watch this particular version of figure skating because the female skaters are normal-sized women.  They´re not all 92 pounds-- they´re incredibly large-chested and well-proportioned women.  But the skating turns out quite a bit different because the women are normal-sized and their skating partners can´t just toss them around.  IT´s just very different from any version of figure-skating I´ve ever seen.  And after the competition, these scantilly-clad (sp?) women come out and ice ¨dance¨ with a little dog, who always seems to relieve himself on the ice.  Then they have to stop and clean it up...

my "boots" which are actually slippers

and then it´s impossible to skate in the yellow ice... it´s just very comical.

Last night, a distant cousin of Francisco (and good friend of Nélida) named Chuli came for dinner.  We waited for Francisco to get home to eat.  We began eating around 11:30 P.M. and finished dinner about 1 am.  They´re on such an odd schedule here-- it´s going to be hard to get used to.  And the youngsters (well, my age) don´t leave their houses till 1 or 2 in the morning and don´t return till 6 or 7 am.  When did I get so old?  I can´t handle such long days... and last night we ate our empanadas, then dessert, and both with wine (Argentine wine is fabulous-- both tinto [red] and blanco [white]).  Wine makes me about 1200 times sleepier... good luck with your long night, Mel.

OH!  The other day, we had a walking tour of the city, and a boat tour on the river as well.  We ate lunch at a restaurant on the bank, and it was a fabulous meal... lots to eat.  First, they brought out bread (great bread-- almost crackers, actually, with every meal) and then empanadas (pie crust in a circle, filled with beef, and then folded over, crimped, and either fried or baked).  We thought that was a fabulous meal, and ate all of it.  Then they brought out about a foot-long sausage (chorrizo) that was very filling... That had to be the meal, right?  And then they brought out the actual meal after our 2 meat appetizers-- a rack of ribs... someone said it was spine.  It was very fatty... but kind of good, nonetheless.  But a lot of meat.  And then veggies.  And then papas fritas (French fries) and then dessert.  My stomach´s going to be ful full full for the entire time I´m in Argentina.

It´s really cold here, and I´m glad I brought my coat, hat, mittens, and scarf.  This morning it was 2.9 degrees Celsius (which is about 37 degrees Fahrenheit), and I walked to church (there´s one Lutheran church here, and the rest are all Catholic).  The service was very short, about 30 min. long, and that included Communion.  There were 15 people in church-- mostly older folks.  The pastor was very nice, and somehow knew all about me-- I think Francisco went up to the church the other day to talk to him and tell him that I would be attending today.

Today I´m going to go running by the river again... it´s really pretty, and a nice run.  And safe-- so don´t worry, all.  Looks like it´s going to be a beautiful day.  I´ll write more later, and put up pics!!!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

un grupo de estudiantes	my bowling competitors	bowling	1-bowling
2-bowling	and more bowling	my team won by like 2 points	this dog walked us home and almost died :(
me in the elevator	flan :)	the city from the river	a boat on the river
the boat	Maarja, Lily, and Jillian	Samiie and Ashlyn	the bano in the boat
the bridge across the rio	1st course-- empanadas	2nd course-- sausage (chorrizo)	and our meal... rack of ribs?
rack of ribs... what was left, anyway.	the flag monument in rosario	lots of protesters like fire	kids hang out at flag memorial to skip school
flag memorial	1-flag memorial	2-flag memorial	kids at flag memorial
eternal flame for unknown soldiers	3-flag memorial	4-flag memorial	5-flag memorial
near the flag memorial	flag memorial (to resemble a ship)	my bedroom	closet
TV and toilette items	my view from my room	my bed :) i love it	a cafe... very italian looking
corner cafe	fruit vendor	church	there's grafitti everywhere
the city	my school :)	the front doors to my school :)	the building next to my school :)
a cool sign	a beer tap at the table?? :)	don't be fooled... it's only graffiti	me and mora
mi mora	the park :)	1-the park :)	cool buildings
alfajor :) mucho de chocolate	i'm eating my alfajor	mora	1-mora

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