The Day Has Come...

I have a bit of catching up to do in the blogging department..and I am gonna do it. I'm committed to this blogging bit. fore real...mainly for my own selfish reasons so that when I am older I can look back and feel nostalgic by reading all my AWESOME authentic blog posts.

Okay...catching up time...here goes...I believe the last post touched on Thanksgiving and 14 year olds playing rugby...So from there, a few great things have happened..I haven't been to more rugby practices due to scheduling conflicts (full time jobs can be lame sometimes), but in 2012 I am coming back fully rugby steam ahead.

Some notable things (in no particular order):

-Tenue, the dog that lives in Jess and Mai Ann's house (owned by Vicki Johnson who is an expat who's been here for 30 years), impregnated one of the street dog whores--who he tends to impregnate---and she had puppies. They are cute little fur-balls. very fun to play with.

-Mai Ann works for a Salmon exporting company so she gets sweet deals on fresh fish..trout and salmon typically. So the other night she cooked us a great dinner of trout with a blueberry-walnut-onion topping..and keenwah (i have no idea how you spell that food..the thing that's like rice slash cous cous). and salad. twas amazing.

-I learned (from reading some random shit online) that if you have an ipod or a cell phone you are trying to play music from out loud, but the volume just isn't enough... you stick it in a ceramic bowl of some sort..and it amplifies the sound. MindBlowing. For shitty rental car-rides where there is no ipod adapter or cd player, a bowl is a good substitute.

-I made a baked ziti...big enough for an entire family...made kinda like how my mom makes it, but i had to substitute the cheese (didn't have any mozzarella) for this creamy weird cheese that comes in tuby-packaging...It was good though. Because of it's size..I had it for lunch and dinner for approximately 6 days.

OKAY...now the most important event or thing to report was the trip from the weekend of December 9thish...when i saw MATI!!!!!! So I headed up to Santiago on Wednesday night December 7th. Poor guy flew in leaving BsAs Wednesday Night and landing in Santiago at 2am. My bus didn't get to Santiago until 7am, so he had to stay in the airport in the early morning hours..but then he came and met me at the terminal..yet another blissful reunion. Granted we were both delirious from travelling and lack of sleep ...best way to remedy that..you guessed it, we got on another bus to head to Valparaíso. Mati conked out on the bus, while I watched Forest Gump, dubbed. The dubbed version of Forrest Gump is really offensive. They make Forrest have this like overly exaggerated mentally retarded voice...just dumb.

2 hours later, we arrived in Valpo. From the terminal we hopped on a public bus, but we were unaware of where to get off...so we went all the way across the city..figured out our mistake and came all the way back on another bus. We took an little lift elevator type thing to get up to the section of the city where our hostel was. Valpo is just a bunch of hills and cliffs...thus to get around easily by foot, they've installed all these funiculares.

Our hostel "Jakarta" was pretty cool. These two dudes run it, and there were a bunch of Australian and French people staying there at the time. Mati and I napped for a bit and then headed out for a late lunch to what we were told, is the best seafood place in Valpo..Called "Los Porteños II"...On our way there, as we were arriving to the restaurant, Mati almost got pick-pocketed. HE accidentally put his wallet in his back pocket, and some ASS tried to take it out...right as he was doing it, Mati noticed and turned around, and they guy just played dumb and pretended like it was an accident...Mati was about to throw some punches, but he took a deep breath, decided not to make a scene and we sat down to eat. We had beer and Paella. YUMMMM.

After stuffing ourselves to the brim, we decided to head to Viña del Mar (next city over) to go to the beach. It happened to get really cloudy and windy at this point, so we froze our little tooshies off on the beach. We went and had coffee at a McCafe to warm up...McCafes are funny...they try to be Starbucks, but are still so clearly McDonalds.

After Viña we were still sleepy from all the travels so we went and napped some more at the hostel. It was like 11pm before we mobilized for dinner and found this weirdass restaurant that was open (everything was closed because Thursday December 8th was a holiday in Chile..and Argentina)..so we decided to go..we were the only ones there and It was like someone´s house..very strange. Had some Asian chicken dish, which was quite good.

View from outside the Funicular that we took to get to our first hostel

Friday morning we got up and had a yummy bfast at the hostel..free with our stay! Toast, a fruit drink made with apples, oranges, and bananas...and some salami and cheese. A-ok.

We decided to trek to our next hostel..called Casa Club or something..which was in a different area of the city..kinda shitty area, but the room we stayed in was huge, which was nice! And it did have a spectacular view of the port and water. After dropping our bags, we headed down this path that has a great view of the city...we also went to the Naval History Museum...and we walked EVERYWHERE and took a bunch of photos..making it back to our previous hostel (we accidentally had taken the key with us)..We had some empanadas for lunch. YUM. It was kind of an overcast day, so we opted out of the beach, but did go to a shopping area to buy mati a bathing-suit slash shorts ..bc he was silly and forgot to pack a bathing suit or shorts of any kind.

We headed back to our hostel to nap in the afternoon...and get ready to go out at dinner timeish. In true Argentine fashion, at 8pm we decided to "tomar la leche" which literally means "drink milk" but actually means have some coffee. So we went to this cafe that was on the pathyway with the great view..called Cafe Arte Mirador. The old man running the place was totally overwhelmed and short-staffed and our coffee and pastry were a little weird. Not gonna lie. But the view was breathtaking and great for a photo op.

After coffee, we headed back to the neighborhood where our first hostel was..bc supposedly there was this festival of lights thing happening. the flyer looked cool, so we went...and then after hiking up the horrifyingly steep hill to get there, we realized festival of lights meant some of the hostels in the area put up a string of Christmas lights and maybe a lantern. It was a bust for sure. But at least we were getting a lot of exercise walking all over creation. So then some time after 10pm we decided to head to dinner. We went to this place, that was really hard to get to and involved hiking like 6 flights of steep cement stairs...called Altzaga. It was delicious. We shared two fish pasta dishes. The pasta is all handmade, right there in front of you (it's an open kitchen concept). Mati tried his first Pisco Sour...he was definitely underwhelmed and prefers his Fernet and Coke...granted Mati and most Argentines like to take any opportunity to say they are cooler than Chileans...I try to be unbiased and appreciate the beauties of both places...but I obviously have a littttle bit of a bias ;)

Saturday we woke up, waited for the dude at our hostel to serve us breakfast...literally the man that was running the hostel didn't know shit...there is a giant sign in the hostel that says breakfast will be served between 8am and 11am. So Mati and I got up at 10...we went outside and there was one other couple there also waiting to eat...and the dude runs out and is like "BE righttt back...gotta go buy the bread"...so we were delayed a bit on starting our day...and to spite the dumb man...we stole some of the bread (he had given us 2 pieces each..but we took a third) mwhahahhahah.

It was finally sunny in Valpo..so we put our suits on and prepared to have a beach day..We got to Viña...to the same beach we went to on Thursday, Reñaca, and started to catch some rays...it was another one of those days where empanadas for lunch were in order (for me, that´s like everyday). As we lied on the beach, I put on minimal sunscreen...and didn´t reapply. When we were leaving, I felt a little crisp, but didn't think it was that bad.. Then we went back to the hostel and I showered...and I was SOOO RED. Like fireball Candy red. everywhere. IT was like 6pm and we wanted to get on the road back to Santiago...we were gonna spend our last night there. So we headed to the terminal and got on a bus to Santiago.

One of the other PiLAs, Julia, is working in Santiago and she has an apartment there with her husband (who came with her to Chile)..they happened to be away for the weekend, so she offered up her apartment to Mati and I. Which was sooo generous and so great! Free place to stay. And the apartment is in a great part of Santiago (called Providencia) 1 block from the metro, and just all around very nice.

Mati and I grabbed a bite at a place near the apartment..then we treated ourselves to some gelatto. I was hurting pretty bad at this point because of the sunburn. I tried not to move much as I lie in bed, bc the slightest movement caused quite a bit of pain. I was also emitting a ridiculous amount of heat.

Anywho, the next day we got up, bought some bread and jam and breakfasted at the apartment...We planned to sightsee all afternoon becuase my bus left at 10:30 that night (Sunday), and Mati´s plane left Monday morning at 7am. So we went to Plaza de Armas, El Museo Nacional, La Catedral Metropolitana (which is gorgeous)...and La Moneda (the presidential palace). I am pretty sure we went to all those places when we did the high school trip in 2007, but it was so long ago, so seeing all that stuff again was cool. We then took a taxi to La Vega, or El Mercado Central, which is this ENORMOUS fish market with a giant seafood restaurant in the middle. It was quite cool..we had shome shcallops and a cold beverage, and then we decided to WALK to San Cristobal (the mountain I went to with Laura that one time..with the Virgin Mary statue on top of it). We decided to walk, mainly because from the Mercado Central we could see the peak of the mountain...but GUESS what...it was a long walk and I was in flip flops, sunburnt, and shvitzing like none other. When we finally arrived, we took the funicular up the mountain, snapped some amazing photos. It was my second time there and I was hot and tired and sunburnt...so I definitely wasn't all that thrilled about the breathtaking views..but Mati was!! He was loving it and with his new camera was having a blast taking some stellar photos.

We headed back around 5ish to the apartment..bc we wanted to go in the pool that's on the roof of the apt building. So we did. Very refreshing. Then we got changed, relaxed a bit and Mati accompanied me to the bus terminal. Again, saying goodbye never gets easy...it's always hard and sad...but we had the most amazing and fun weekend together...just the two of us...and that's something to be happy about.

Mati stayed at Kris and Julia's until he had to head to the airport at like 3am. They are really chill and said he could stay there (they got back from their trip on Sunday night). 13 hours after I left Santiago, I was back to work in Puerto Varas. It was definitely a rough morning. I had kind of a rough week that week.

This past Saturday, I went to the Angelmo marketplace (place with all the wool and stuff) in Puerto Montt to do some xmas shopping. On Sunday..didn't do all that much...in the afternoon I really wanted to watch the Patriots game, which wasn't on any of the channels I have in my house. So I headed down to a bar that I had heard has DirectTv...and asked if they would kindly put the game on. And they did! And I drank some beer. Some peeps from Colorado showed up and at the beginning of the game, the Broncos were winning, so they felt bad for me and said they would buy me a beer (the dad offered me the beer...he was an older like in his 60s and was there with his son. he was nice)..then the patriots turned it around and we won like 41 to 23 or something. I got a free beer out of it too! So all in all...a good day.

Yesterday (Wednesday December 20th) we had a breakfast for new socias at the Hotel Cumbres (that we always do events at)...it was goodddd. Had some yummy foods. THen I went to the office, worked and then came home to get everything ready to leave on my 8pm bus to Santiago!!!! EEEKKKKK. On the bus to Santiago, I was in the front row seat on the 2nd floor. It was aweeesooommmee. Seriously.. I felt like I was driving the bus, bc the whole front is a giant window.

They put on The Bourne Ultimatum...which is a quality film for bus rides, in my opinion..Half way through the bus made a stop and turned off the engine which restarted the movie, and they couldn't get it back to the place we had left off. As a solution, they put on the movie Hotel for Dogs...not sure why..But of course I watched it...of course it was bad...then i went to sleep.

NOW, I am in the office in Santiago...meaning the Day HAS COME that I leave to go home for Christmas. I AM SOOO PUMPED....i really miss all my loved ones...like so much, so this is a much needed break and trip for me. My transfer to the airport picks me up at 6pm!! Sooo soon.

See many of you very soon!!!

BIKES, Thanksgiving, Naps, Santiago, 14-year-olds-playing-rugby

I feel the need to sputter a list of things I have been doing that are noteworthy/fun/I wanna remember...I've been in sort of a gloomy mood lately...for no particular reason, until TODAY when Mati and I confirmed our trip to Santiago/Valpo for next week. (Thursday Dec 8th and Friday December 9th are holidays here). SO, that has obvs instantly lifted my mood, thus prompting me to share shum shings.

SO..two weekends ago Zoe, the PiLA that's in Bariloche, came to visit. She's a real cool cat and on the Saturday that she was here, we had some grand plans to go to the Saltos of Petrohue (some waterfalls that aren't too far from here). Due to Friday nights festivities and imbibing, the group really didn't mobilize until about 330-4pm on Saturday...and the last bus to Petrohue left at 4pm...AND all the rental cars were rented. We were bummed, and it was Zoe's last day so we had to come up with a new plan. ENTER BIKES. Mai Ann has a bike, and some friends that own a hostel had two available bikes..So Mai Ann, Zoe, and I set out on what was initially going to be a leisure bike ride around PV...25 km later, my derriere was hurting quite a bit. But honestly, it was pretty awesome...we went all around Lake Llanquihue and had breath-taking views the entire way.

The following day, I was invited to eat a crap-ton of seafood with a friend from the rugby team...The deal was that a boy in town has cancer, so a family/group of people/i don't know the actual relationship, cooked up a bunch o' "curantos", and sold them for 3000 pesos (6 bucks) to raise money for the boy with cancer. A Curanto is essentially a clam-boil bag..equip with mussels, clams, chorizo, potato, chicken, and some weird potato massy things that were delish..and BROTH...So we stuffed our faces with that and then I went into a serious food coma.

The following week entailed a lot of prep for thanksgiving. By a lot of prep, I mean on Wednesday night Janine and I trekked to Puerto Montt to a giant grocery store in search of a whole turkey...and some other gringo-ingredients. IT was a serious adventure..we also had to find a turkey baster..easier said-than-done. But we were successful. I came home at 10pm Wednesday night and made an apple pie. That's right i made an apple pie. From scratch. I also attempted to do some of the prep work for my stuffing...that I had to make a ton of! Thursday I worked all day (well, I snuck out of the office an hour early...i had to COOK..don't tell anyone). I came back home and started a cooking frenzy. The stuffing had about 3 million ingredients so it was a long process. Just before 8 i popped it in the oven to cook (the thanksgiving feast was supposed to start at 830).

Mawenko, the hostel that lent us bikes, let us rent out the place to have our Thanksgiving feast. It was 4 gringos, some Spanish peeps, and bunch o' Chileans totaling 20 people. I rolled into Mawenko at like 845 thinking I would be incredibly late...and i was the first one there. Typical South America.

We ended up feasting at 10:30pm when I was absolutely ravenous with hunger. Our meal consisted of:

TURKEY (duh), cooked by Elias-Chilean, on the mens rugby team, bigfan of pisco sour (basically the national drink of Chile)...the turkey was in fact infused with pisco sour. yum!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP: so freaking yummy. Made by Mai Ann!

MASHED POTATOS (another DUH), cooked by Janine. Smooth, buttery, and scrumptious!

MY stuffing: ingredients included: bread, walnuts, apples, chorizo, chicken broth, sage, onions, cellery, among others. It was a hit.

FALAFEL BALLS with YOGURT SAUCE: I bet your scratching your head right now...BUT because we had a multicultural Thanksgiving where 90% of the guests didn't know what Thanksgiving was, falafel balls were in order. Ibai, Spanish dude, was the chef!

Apple Pie: made by yours truly..little burnt on top, but plenty of butter and sugar to make up for it.

NOT-Pecan Pies: 2 faux-pecan pies made with Walnuts (pecans don't exist here) made by Ben.

BEER, PISCO SOUR, and SPRITE. And wine. duh.

We feasted, clutched our overstuffed bellies as we tried to eat more, and there were NO leftovers. That's a first for me at Thanksgiving. I normally eat leftovers for approximately 1 week after turkey day.

I peaced from the party around midnight, bc Friday morning I had a really early day...Our Annual Seminario started at 830am on Friday and I had to be there before 8..GASP. I normally roll out of bed around 830 and stroll in to work before 9! The seminario was a mixed success...a lot of people didn't show up, so instead of having 150 peeps, we had like 80...but the speakers were fantastic.

Friday afternoon I went on a shockingly long run...for me (60 minutes...insert otro GASP) and then boarded a 10:15pm bus to Santiago. I had been told earlier in the week that I had to be in Santiago on Monday Nov 28th for a stupid errand at the Chilean equivalent of the IRS. DUMB. Anywho, I thought I'd take advantage of the weekend and spend it in a warm climate. Janine was nice enough to message all her friends in Santiago asking if I could stay in their house. Shockingly, 2 responded....Daniela and Juan (they are boyfriend-girlfriend)..and Daniela picked me up from a metro stop on Saturday morning. She proceeded to take me to Juan's parents house were they were preparing a birthday extravaganza for a 2 year old. With a bombass princess cake, and lots of delicious treats! After a short stop over there, we went to Daniela's mom's house (a few blocks away)..had lunch..and I was literally falling asleep in my pork and rice, thus they offered to let me take a nap (mind you I had met these people around 1 hour before). I went and passed out in one of their beds..don't even know whose it was, and slept like a baby till 5pm..when it was time to start the 2 year old's bday bash. IT was really cute and there were a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds running around. I met Juan, and his entire extended family, and chatted it up with a bunch of people. Around 9pm the kiddies started to go home. I, being the dumb north american that I am, thought the party was over. WRONG.

The real party had only just begun. Large platters of raw meat were brought out to the BBQ..which had a spectacular view of the Andes mountain range. 1130pm, meat was served up (including porkribs, chorizo, steak, and chicken) along with tomato salad, potato salad and rice. Oh and WIne and beer. And pisco.

After we finished eating, Juan's Dad takes out the light bulbs he has set up, and exchanges them for black-light light bulbs, and hangs up a strobe light (you know, everyone just has a strobe light lying around their house). Decorating people with toilet paper and dancing ensued. I on the other hand started to lose some steam around 230am and the party had no signs of slowing down. So again, friendly new friends said I could take a nap. So I went up to Juan's mom's bed (again, I had just met this women) and napped there until 545 am when Daniela woke me up and said we were gonna head home. She and Juan live on the other side of the WORLD in santiago...so we took a bus, and were gonna take the subway, but we were there at 630 am, and the subway didn't open 'till 8am on Sundays. FAIL. So we called Juan's uncle, who has a taxi and he was out working that night. He gave us a ride home and because he was so generous, we obvs had to sit and eat breakfast with him. so we did. At 830am I went to sleep.

At noon I awoke, showered up, had lunch and then headed to the centro to meet up with Laura Marrin (one of the PiLAs in Santiago). We did some sweet touristy stuff, saw some nice views of the city, ate gellato, and then headed to Julia and Chris's apartment (Julia is another PiLA in Stgo...Chris is her husband. he came to Chile too for her PiLA year. Cute). Janine happened to arrive in Santiago that day, and another friend of Janine and Julia's from college was visiting..Elizabeth. She cooked us a delish dinner and then I had to head back to Juan and Daniela's.

Monday morning, I got up, breakfasted with Juan (Daniela had peaced out at like 5am bc she had to travel to Antofagasta) and then I had like an hour commute to work. I forgot to mention earlier, it's flipping hot in Santiago. Like 85 degrees..which was refreshing at first, coming from PV and all...but once i SWAT through all my clothing on the metro, I was not diggin' it so much.

Anywho, I worked from the Santiago office on Monday, did my stupid errand, and then took a 830pm bus back to PV.

12 hour busrides...have become a way of life for me. They sound terrible, but being able to travel the length of a large part of the country is pretty freakin sweet...and only at about 20 bucks a pop.

Erm, yesterday I went and helped out the rugby boys youth team of a friend of mine from the men's team (Cesar). His team has mostly 14 year old boys..but he's a forward and the backs don't have much guidance. So I came to lend a hand. It was actually really fun and I enjoyed getting back out on the pitch..even if I was just teaching. ALSO, 2 girls came because they want to play and get a girls team started. THey both are named Camila and are wicked badass. We are already facebook friends and have big plans for a girls team. WOOT.

Tomorrow I am likely going to see the youth team play in Llanquihue ('bout 5 km from PV)..And NEXT week on Wednesday night I head up to Santiago to meet up with MATI!!!!! SO EXCITEDDDDDD!!!

The group

My finished products!

The many steps to stuffing

living tranki

Since I´ve moved, I have definitely gotten more into a routine. I get up in the morning, make me some coffee (I HAVE A COFFEE MAKER IN MY NEW PLACE...CLUTCH)...and have granola with warm milk due to the frigidness of the mornings. Just too cold for cereal with cold milk.

Work is about a 10 min walk from home..maybs 15 if I am particularly sluggish and not entirely awake. This time of year we are wrapping up all the projects from the year, and have a big event next Friday. After that, it's a lot of paperwork and planning for next year!

After work, I tend to get a few groceries. Shnacks, and something for dinner. Then, Every other day, sometimes more, after work I like to go jogging along the costanera (the street on the lake Llanquihue). It's pristine and gorgeousss. When there aren't too many clouds or volcanic ash...you can see the Volcanoes (Osorno and Calbuco) which are stunning.

Next week is thanksgiving..hard not to be at home, but I'll probs be doing something with the gaggling of gringos living here in PV. THere are quite a few of us. It's impressive how many foreigners have found their way to PV and stayed here! IT's just that GORGEOUS...and tranki.

The ash from Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano has been spewing since June. Fortunately, here in PV we don't normally have many negative affects. A large chunk of the ash has been blowing east to Argentina. Even still, flights going north in Chile are hard to come by, so anytime you need to go to Santiago or fly thru Santiago, odds are you're flight might be cancelled. Accordingly, I am taking the bus to Santiago to leave for Xmas. 13 hours on a bus is worth it to make sure I get to be home for the holidays :)

This Thursday, the PiLA who is in Bariloche Argentina (Zoe) arrived for the weekend (she's doing a visa run...aka she entered Argentina on a tourist visa and thus needs to leave the country every 90 days to renew it). She was telling us how bad the ash is in Bariloche and the whole city is going into an economic depression due to NO tourists and all the businesses are closing. It's very sad, bc Bariloche (though I've never been) is a natural paradise of lakes and mountains that is now covered in toxic ash :( It's nice having Zoe visit, and despite the disarray of Bariloche, I will probs go in a few weeks! It's only a 6 hour bus-ride away!

Today there is a possibility of hiking or something outdoorsy..depends on if it downpours or not. We'll see.

Next weekend I'll be trekking up to Santiago again for a work thing the following Monday...and then a few weeks after that, I'll be heading home for 2 weeks!

Puerto Varas and long weekend in Buenos Aires

So I have been here in Puerto Varas for a month exactly (today). The cold has been an adjustment and the slower paced small-town lifestyle is also new. BUT, I am settling in quite well. In the last week of October, I moved to a new house. A friend of some of the Americans I know down here was renting this room, and then he moved to another part of Chile, so he offered it up to me! The house is a little bit further away from the center, but it's only a 10 minute walk to work. My room is much dryer, gets natural sunlight all daylong, and there's no mold! WOOT. 3 other women live in the house: the owner, her cousin, and this other girl in her late-twenties who's a massage therapist!

The house is itty-bitty, but it's comfortable and warm. Which is what I was looking for! My internet got installed yesterday, so I have everything I need! I can see myself staying here through the summer months and then maybe finding a new place afterwards. It would be nice to end up living with friends, because it's somewhat isolating to be in a house with none of the people you hang out with.

I have been spending time with Jess, Mai Ann and Janine (the 3 other Americans, all former PiLAs that are still here in PV). And they have been introducing me to their friends, etc. They all hang out with the mens rugby team here, AND I was talking with some of the mens players last night, and they would totally back me if I wanted to get a women's team together! So over the next few weeks and months, I am going to start investigating that...apparently 3 years ago, there was a women's team, but wasn't very organized and fell apart. BUT, there are women interested in playing,...and that's all you need to start a team!

Work is good. I've been getting more and more responsibility and this time of year is very busy here, because we 'wrapping the year up' with events, etc. Our anual Seminar is November 25th (So soon) which is a huge event with important speakers, etc. Also, our major government funded project ends in December, so all the reporting/financial stuff needs to be turned in over the course of the next month. But I am liking it. AND starting in January, I get to work on new projects...of my choosing! So it's nice to have that kind of freedom to really take the bull by the horns and do what I want.

Last week I got my ticket home for Christmas...which I am so excited for. I haven't been out of the US for so long...it's only been about 3 months at this point, BUT now that I am in CHile where everything is a lot more foreign and unfamiliar, missing home happens quite a bit.

BUT, this past weekend, we had a long weekend here in Chile..So i took that opportunity to go to Buenos Aires! I left PV Thursday Oct. 27th on a bus to Santiago. I got in Friday morning, worked all day in the Santiago office and then headed to Fran's house to chill for a bit. I slept till 430am and then headed to the airport for a 720am flight. I got into BsAs on time...Customs was kind of a bitch because about a gagillion people arrived at the airport in BsAs when i did...from every country in Europe.

Mati picked me up at the airport and brought COOPER!!!! Who was sooo excited to see me (Cooper...and Mati obvs). I swear Cooper recognized me! We headed back to Capital and had coffee at El Destino...which USED to have some of the best medialunas around, but they got a new baker,...and they're not AS good. I'm gonna have to find a new spot. Afterwards Mati and I packed up to head to La Plata (with Coop) to spend the afternoon with his family. His baby nephews are getting so big and it's just sooo cute. His parents' dog just had puppies too, so there were oodles of puppies and babies to play with. BLISS.

Mati and I (with Catalina and Santi -his niece and nephew) went together to buy tickets for the Semi-final rugby match between San Luis (mati's old team growing up) and SIC (another team from Buenos Aires). Later that night, we went to Manu's (one of Mati's closest childhood friends) place and had a few beers and a picada before heading to the game. The game was SPECTACULAR....so intense. Sadly, San Luis lost, but it came down to the last second when San Luis scored a try and they were down by 2 (so they just needed the kick for the points after)...but the try was scored in the far corner of the try zone, so it was a really hard kick to make...and the poor guys missed it. Not by much..but he did. Nevertheless, it was very exciting. We headed back to Mati's parent's house, had dinner and then drove back to Capital (to return the car we borrowed from Gaby, a friend of Mati's). I was soooo tired from my trip that I passed out in the car..mouth wide-open, druelling...the works.

We had to get up really early the next day because Mati had a game at 10am. We took Cooper, which was fun. He ran around like a maniac. Mati played scrumhalf (which he normally doesn't do for this particular team) and the game was excting..but they lost. The team they played was quite strong. We went back with Ruleman (mati's rugby friend) to his place, because he has a dog too...a giant pitbully type dog who is really sweet, but is bigger so sometimes he would stomp all over Cooper without intending to....They played like maniacs and then Cooper was nearly comatose he was so tired by the end of the day.

Mati and I cooked steak for dinner! Yummy.

Monday we did a bunch of errands in the morning, with Cooper...and then we both headed downtown so Mati could go to work and so I could go buy the list of things that people in CHile had asked me for. Monday night Mati cooked an amazing Pasta dish with a whitewine cream sauce, ham, onions, panceta, mushrooms, and Chicken. YUM

Tuesday I just kindof hung around Devoto and played with Cooper a bunch. I had to get up at 3am on Wednesday to get on a 615am flight back to Santiago. I got into Santiago at around 830am and had a long van-ride to the office. The driver literally drove around in circle sin downtown Santiago. I made it to work...delirious from lack of sleep and worked all day. I headed to the bus station, via subway...with my giant hiking backpack and just bummed around the bus terminal till my bus left at 915pm. I was so tired on the bus that I didn't even watch the crappy movie they always put on.which I normally love. I got in a little late to PV (at around 945am) and headed straight to work (thursday Nov. 3rd). Thursday afternoon and evening I was kind of a zombie and just went to sleep. Same deal Friday night because I hadn't so much recovered from so much travelling and lack of sleep. Saturday I went for a gorgeous run along the lake..truly spectacular...so much so that I ran 10 minutes more than my standard 30 minute jog. HAHA. I had to hang around the house most of the day Saturday because the internet man came to install an antena on the roof, etc.

THEN Saturday night, I went to Janine's house for a little Mexican fiesta. Her friends from college, who she met while studying abroad in Mexico, are here visiting...There was margaritas, guacamole, pico de gallo, and refried beans...also BLISS! twas quite fun.

So yeah..I am getting into somewhat of a routine here in PV. It's still new, but between work, the gorgeous natural beauty...and the possibility of RUGBY....I am very excited for what's to come!

Chilly in Chile

It has been a long stretch since I have written...many things have happened...In Argentina, I couldn't really give you a day-by-day account of my last few weeks there, but here are some some highlights in no particular order:

1) I mastered making 7-layer dips and EVEN a spinach and artichoke dip. YUM. I also made a few ice-box cakes for to accompany my dips. Very cool.

2) Mati and I got a puppy! Or Mati got a puppy! His name is Cooper. He's a monster, but also the cutest thing under the sun.

3) The Panteras (the rugby team) won the entire tournament we'd been playing in. We were the champions the development league (there is also a "championship league"). So that was a plus.

4) I got my bus ticket to Santiago...the ticket said there were baggage weight limits...

5) I left Argentina October 2, 2011 at around 5pm...I managed to get all my crap on the bus, even with the baggage limits..The man loading my baggage told me I was way over, so I promptly handed him a substantial tip, and bam...didn't have to pay any overweight luggage fees. WOOT. I was on the bus for 20 hours. Not much to tell there. I saw the movie Zoo Keeper (I have to shamelessly admit, that I enjoyed it)...and Bridesmaids..which just keeps getting funnier!

CHILE

I arrived in Santiago Chile Monday afternoon (October 3rd)..I got off the bus andfound a taxi driver..unfortunately, despite being fluent in Spanish I couldn't understand a damn thing the man was saying to me. Chilean Spanish..is weird.

I managed to tell the taxi driver where I needed to go and he took me to Francisca Valdes's house. (She's one of the founders and directors of Mujeres Empresarias)...I got to her house and right as I pulled in (around 230pm) she was coming home (for lunch...people do that here). She's just the greatest. So cool..so stylish, so nice. Alll goood things. SHe also has a giant French Mastiff named Saul. (pronounced SAH-OOL...Marta, feel free to correct me on that one)..He's enormous and the sweetest thing in the world. He weighs 54kg but doesn't really bark or get mad about anything. He is also exactly like the dog in Turner&Hooch (great, old Tom Hanks movie..if you haven't seen it, hop to it). Anyway, Fran's house is absolutely stunning. Huge, decorated beautifully and my room was just adorable and equipped with a flat screen tv...not too shabby. She and I had lunch while watching a telenovela, and we also just chatted getting to know one another. After lunch, I showered, bc I smelled like a 20-hour bus ride and then I went to my room to play with my itouch around 330pm...and all of a sudden I woke up and it was after 8pm...I was le tired. Fran and I had dinner together, watched the news, and then I passed out again and all of a sudden it was morning and I had to start work!

The Santiago office is gorgeous. They just moved into a new space which is in this brand new tall glass building with an amazing view. I met everyone in the office on Tuesday, and they are all super fashionable and smart women! My main work-work while I was in Santiago was doing this Powerpoint presentation for Fran...she needed it to be in English and is going to be presenting it in Costa Rica to some dudes from the IADB that don't speak Spanish...and it's basically asking for money for this big investment fund, so it was quite important.

Fran and I went home for lunch and watched a telenovela..(we had like a 2 hr lunch break) and then went back to the office until like 630. Then we came home, got Saul and went for a run. It was great and I got to know this fancy neighborhood she lives in (called Vitacura)

THEN at night, her husband, Lucho came home and we went out to dinner to a delicious Seafood restaurant near their house. I tried Merluza Austral, a white-fish they eat here...it was yummmmmy. Lucho is great..he went to law-school at American, so he knows DC. He also runs marathons like all over the world, horseback rides, and does a whole lot of other cool shit.

On Wednesday, I walked to the office, because Fran had a meeting somewhere. I had about a hundred meetings with different staff members, so I could get to know them and understand what they do. Then I had to take an adventure to go to a different part of the city (on the metro) to buy a bus ticket to Puerto Varas for Thursday night. I got to the place, (and i went during my extended lunch hour) and of course, it was closed from 1pm-3pm (for THEIR lunch hour)...so I had to wait around an hour until it opened up again. So I walked around a bit, discovered that Santiago has DUNKIN DONUTS!!! amazing. I managed to get my ticket and then I headed back to the office to work a bit more on the powerpoint presentation. Carolina Eterovic, the other co-founder and director, invited me to dinner that night with her husband and another friend of their's.

She and her husband picked me up and we picked up their friend, a French dude who works with Carolina's husband. They work for the Wine Company called Cono Sur...The restaurant we went to was called La Mar...it's a Peruvian seafood restaurant. We drank a bunch of Cono Sur wine and champagne, and I also tried a Pisco Sour..which is like the national drink here. It's kind of like a Caipirinha. I had this rice dish with calamari, octupus, fish, etc. It was spicy and delicious.

Thursday morning I went to a breakfast that Mujeres Empresarias hosts 2x per month in Santiago for all the new members they have. It was very chic and I got to hear a bunch of the "socias" talk about their businesses. People are involved with all sorts of things from private daycare centers, to beauty products, to pet boutiques, to fancy old-folk's homes...very interesting.

After breakfast, I went back to the office and finished up the presentation for Fran. She was also leaving that night to head to Miami for the weekend and then Costa Rica on Monday..I went back to Fran's around 4ish to pack up all my things to get ready to leave on the bus at 930pm. The taxi came at 8 and I got on the bus okay. 12 hours later I arrived in Puerto Varas on Friday morning.

It was super foggy and rainy..AND COLD...so I couldn't really see anything when I first arrived. I was also really sleepy...the bus driver had to wake me up. Barbara (one of the women who works in the Mujeres Empresarias Patagonia office) and Jess picked me up from the bus station and took me to my house...I got there and the house was colder inside than it is outside. Not even joking...The girl who I am living with rents the first floor from the people upstairs (an old couple)..her name is Alexandra, and she works alllll day (cafe during day and bar at night) so she's never home. the house is really old and my room is incredibly damp, freezing, and their is mold all over the walls. ALSO, in order to have any hot water, you have to go to the kitchen and light the water heater which is powered by gas...which is stored in a large tank outside the house (that needs to be refilled every so often)...pretty archaic. So yeah, I am not so thrilled with my digs...I am in the process of finding a different place to live, bc this just won't do in the long-run. It's spring here, but at nighttime it's 30 degress out...and during the day it is normally in the 50s...so winter is going to brutal. I have been sleeping with 3 pairs of pants, 2 socks, 2 shirts, 2 sweaters, and mittens and a hat...just to give you an idea of how cold the house is.

Anyway, Friday morning, I showered and changed after Jess and Barbara dropped me off and then they picked me up an hour later. We went to a cafe for some breakfast and then drove to Puerto Montt (neighboring city..bigger) where we had a meeting with the major newspaper in the region, El Llanique..they are going to help Mujeres Empresarias with advertising for an award we are doing.

After Puerto Montt, we headed back to Puerto Varas and went to the office...Jess started teaching me some stuff, but then we were going to head to lunch because it was Jess's birthday! So, we went to this delish restaurant, where we met up with Francisca Sotta, the ME director. She's on maternity leave, so that's why she wasn't in the office. After lunch, Jess and I headed back to the office and worked a bit more. Then we attempted to get me a phone plan..buttt that also proved impossible. In order to get a plan here, you need either residency, OR 3 months proof of salary...neither of which do I have. So on Tuesday (after the long weekend is over) Jess and I are gonna talk to the Santiago office to see if they can get me a phone in their name...It's hard to survive without a phone..like really. That afternoon I went back home and then went to the grocery store to get some basic necessities. At night time, Jess, Mai Ann, and Ben (the other PiLA here working at another organization) picked me up and we went out to dinner to celebrate Jess's birthday. Then we went out to this bar,...I was exhausted so at around 2 I went home.

Saturday I went to see this other house (possible alternative to where I am living)..and it was so beautiful, but it's really far away from town, such that I would have to take a bus to work everyday...and everyone here in PV walks..Also, it didn't have wifi and was super isolated..so I don't know if that's really gonna work out.

Saturday afternoon I walked all around PV and got to know the area a little better. Then I came home and rested up for the party (Jess's party)...SO, later Saturday night, I went to Jess, Mai ANn and Ben's house and got to meet all their friends. It was fun. It's freezing though, and I still haven't gotten used to that.

Sunday, I slept a large chunk of the day, and tried to go look at places to live, but nothing ended up working out in the end..Today (monday) I will hopefully see 2 places. We'll see.

So yeah, Puerto Varas is beautiful...like stunning, but I really got to fix up this living situation...and work starts up again tomorrow, so I am going to be pretty busy..We'll see!

One month in BsAs

So today marks the one month mark that I've been here in Argentina. It flew by wayyy to fast. But such is life when you are having a good time!

Since last week..Mati and I went to this great middle Eastern/Armenian restaurant called Sarkis on Wednesday night...it was absolutely scrumptious! They had all the traditional hummus/ tabule/ Baba ghanoush/grape leaves classics and then we had a Lamb and yogurt dish for an entree. SOOO GOOD. I wanna go again before I ship off.

I went to LIFE a few more times last week. On Thursday we went to the Ejercito Celestial and it was really great. I brought my camera and all the kids were all excited and took pictures of everyyything. (re facebook album). Thursday evening Mati and I went to his friend, Ruleman's house (his names actually Marcelo, but everyone has nicknames here). Anyway, he has a new house and it's really great and he made us steak and potatoes. yum. He also has a puppy (who's enormous) who I played with all evening.

Friday I was dinking around and Mati had gone to work. He calls me up and is like "come fore a ride and we can look at all the pretty houses in Devoto (there's a bunch of McMansions in this neighborhood). So I got to go for a spin in the cop-car! FUN. But then we are driving and start heading towards Mati's partner's house...mysterious. We get out, and his partner's (Gabriel) wife and kids come out to say 'hi'. Then they ask me in, and I assume that Mati and Gabriel would stay..but they peaced out and I spent the afternoon with Gabriel's wife, Yanil. It was actually really nice and we talked a bunch..she was making me these delicious little pastry things (her grandparents are Ukrainian...so it's some Ukrainian recipe). They have 4 kids (2 girls who are older (like 8 and 9) and 2 little boys (one is 1 and the other 3). The boy who is three, Martin, (or as he likes to be called, Messi) is the cutest-most-high-energy little 3-year-old there is. He would just go around screaming. When he first met me, he was shy and didn't want to talk...and then half-way through the afternoon, he was calling me "tia" (which means "aunt"). IT was adorable.

Anywho, I left Yanil's and got a ride back to the apartment in the copcar (Gaby and Mati swung by to pick me up)...then I headed to practice. I came home after practice just in time to watch the Argentina-Romania game...which was on at midnight. Argentina crushed them! Score. Saturday I cooked. Or I made a cake and a 7-layer dip. The cake was for Gaby and Yanil, because they lent Mati and I their car on Thursday night and to use Saturday night to drive to La Plata. So Saturday evening Mati and I drove to La Plata with the 7-layer-dip in hand. His family really like it...it was like nothing they'd ever had before and they thought it was just crazy and exotic. Which is funny, because we eat that for like a superbowl party.

We stayed in La Plata Saturday night and got up early to come back to BsAs because Mati and I both had games. We returned Gaby's car and then some of the Clementes picked us up and gave dropped me off at a club in BsAs (Centro naval). We won the first game, I scored a try, and it was all just dandy. Then in the second game, the ref was downright crazy...like, just dumb. He cin-binned me for a high tackle (which wasn't a high-tackle for the record)..so my time in that game was short-lived. We won, nonetheless, and this was the last game of the tournament..which we WON. granted I wasn't here for most of it, but the Panteras are officially champions of the developing women's league in Buenos Aires. Woot.

I came home from the game...conked out. And here I am. Big plans for today are to hopefully buy my bus ticket to Santiago. Yikes! 2 more weeks here!

Trains and lack of sleep

So last Thursday (September 8th), I went to LIFE earlier in the afternoon and came back to the city (downtown) to meet up with my host sisters from last year, Luli and Magui. I went to Luli's new apartment (which is about 15 blocks from where I lived last year). The apartment is great! Sad that they had to sell the apartment on Talcahuano (it was there parents' place/where they grew up)...but they are starting anew. Anywho, at Luli's Magui and her friend Martina came over and we had dinner. It was just the best. We chatted about life and caught each other up about what's been going on in our lives over the past year...for dinner we had lentils with onions and chorizo over rice. SO GOOD. Luli invited me to stay over because it was so late...and Magui and Martina stayed too...so we had a lovely little pajama party. Magui made pancakes with dulce de leche filling...which we ate in bed! :) Next time, we are gonna have dinner at Magui's new place (she also moved).

Friday I did a whole lot of nothing...really I spent most of the day on trains...here's how it went: I left Luli's Friday late morning (okay...friday afternoon) and walked to Corrientes (main street that has a subway line) and took the subway about 10 stops to a station (Named Frederico Lacroze) that has a transfer to an above ground train (linea Urquiza)...which runs through Devoto...4 stops from Lacroze is the Libertador stop which is about a block and a half from the apartment in Devoto. I went home, changed, had some lunch and put rugby clothes on in preparation for practice (and because I was pumped about the world cup starting)..I was decked out in my pumas jersey and pumas shorts. I looked fly. Anywho, from the apartment I walked about 10 blocks to another train station/train line in Devoto (linea San Martin) to go to Palermo where there is a giant grocery store (fittingly called Jumbo)...I needed to get ingredients to make a 7-layer mexican dip, because initially the plan was to meet up with a friend of Mati's from work on Sunday, and I was going to make the dip. Getting refried beans in a can, salsa, and cream cheese requires going to more major grocery stores that have many imported items. So I headed to Jumbo and got my things, in addition to 2 liters of Stella Artois (bc I had to bring drinks for after rugby practice...see below) I got Stella (over Quilmes, which is the cheap, local Argentine brand) because it was on sale for 6 pesos...That's a $1.50 for a liter of beer. Sold. I would have bought a half dozen...but I had to carry everything (on the train)...So Jumbo had everything but the refried beans I needed...which was weird, because in March when I was here, Jumbo had it...I asked this chick that works there and she told me that there are all kinds of problems with imports as of late...I left Jumbo and took the train back to Devoto..and walked to another grocery store in Devoto that I knew had some imported stock...and I was successful and got my beans. Then I went back to the apartment, dropped off my loot, and headed to the Libertador stop to take the train back to Lacroze and then hop on the subway to the center where there is a connection to the brand new H-line...before, there weren't connections on the subways in Buenos Aires...the only way you could switch lines would be to go all the way to the end of them...it was dumb. So now the H-line crosses all the lines (they are still finishing it)...Anywho, there I met up with some rugby girls and we took the H-line to the E-line which in about 30 minutes brings us to about 8 blocks from the club we play at. (this is the end of my story, explaining how last Friday I spent my day on trains)

We practiced rugby and then had a dinner gathering in the club house afterwards. We all brought ingredients and drinks to make pizzas! Yum. THen I got a ride from a girl on the team's family to a bus stop closer to devoto. Her dad is a taxi driver. Normally I have to take 3 buses to get home (because the subway stops running after 11pm. So I get home and get showered because supposedly Mati and I were going to go out to this party of a friend of his. Mati got back from his practice fairly late, and then he alerted me that he wanted to get up (at 5am) to watch the Argentina rugby game. (v. England)...I definitely wanted to watch it, but I was fine watching a replay later in the day. We decided that we would be badasses and get up to watch it. SO, we went to sleep at 2ish, and got up 3 hours later to watch the game. It was a great game. I was impressed with the way Argentina played...yes, they lost...but I think that after England they are definitely the strongest team in their pool. After the game we took a nap till like 10am and then hopped on the train/subway to head to the center where we took a bus to La Plata to spend the day with Mati's family...it was a very chill and relaxing afternoon..we had to head back to the city around 7pm because Mati had to go to the custodia (where he works every other night). He headed there, I headed home, ordered empanadas for dinner and conked out watching tv. I had grand plans of sleeping 10-12 hours due to the lack of sleep from the night before...you guys know me, I NEED my sleep. BUTTT...at around 1:30am Mati messaged me telling me to get dressed because he was leaving work to come pick me up to go to one of his closest friend's house. Ale, his friend, had called him frantically because his father had just died. He had an aneurism, and died at his kitchen table. It was really awful. So we headed to Ale's family's house to be there for him...We stayed until 6am. It was semi-embarrasing because we were all sitting at a kitchen table chatting (or I was "listening") and I was legit falling asleep...at one point, my head flung forward and I nearly smashed my face into a cup of water on the table. Another friend of Mati's and Ale's gave me an Mati a ride home just after 6am.

Mati had a game that same day...so we had to get up at 10am to head to the pitch. It was a beautiful day out..low-70s, and sunny. Just lovely. The game on the other hand was absolutely a disaster. The ref was awful and he started the game by cin-binning (yellow-carding) the captain of Mati's team(the Clementes)..then just before the end of the first half..the opposing team scored a cheap-ass try off a penalty (they were with in 5 meters of the try-zone and did a quick tap, which you aren't allowed to do, and also obstructed the defense). But the ref gave them the try anyway, so the captain and this other player (of on the Clementes) started talking to the ref..it got semi-heated, and one of the players said something quite profane, which i won't repeat. So he was ejected and is going to be suspended (red-card) and the captain got a yellow card...and he already had a yellow card earlier in the game. 2 yellow cards=1 red card. So the Clementes were playing with 13. They played surprisingly well, considering the circumstances, but the ref couldn't have been worse. He didn't call anything against the other team, and they were just the biggest cheater-faces ever. Mati scored a try at some point when they were playing with 13..he dove over 3 defenders in the corner of the tryzone. It was sick. towards the ed of the game, the shit-ref yellow-carded one of the Clementes' wings...so they ended playing with 12. It was absurd. Needless to say, they lost.

After the game all the Clementes..and I..headed to Ale's house (he plays on the Clementes) to be there for him. He was just destroyed. But it was good that the whole team went. Mati and I came home. and had dinner. And then passed out. Unfortunately Mati had to get up at 530am to go to work at 6am. I on the other hand..with 2 nights of almost no sleep...slept...LIKE WHOA. I woke up at 1:22pm today (insert gasp). It was too late to head to LIFE, so I cleaned the apartment, did laundry, bought some fruit, and bought a drying-rack for plates. THe weather today, was GORGEOUS! 79 degrees and sunny. Love spring.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be more productive...I think that now that I have caught up on sleep, I'm ready to really start my week. I'm watching the Patriots-Dolphins game now...Mexican sports commentators are silly. (here in Argentina, for a lot of American sports, ESPN has Mexican commentators) They don't know so much about football. Teehee.

Life with LIFE

Everyday that I go to LIFE, I get more and more comfortable and into it... This week I have gone to two different comedores...one called Los Angelitos and the other one la Union. Los Angelitos was very different than the other two that I had been to. It's all indoors, and the coordinator is much more organized that any of the other ones. She's this French chick who coincidentally lived in Bethesda, MD for 6 years. Anyway, at los Angelitos this little boy, Fabian (6 years old), came in...He was just the cutest thing in the world. He came with his 2 cousins, one is a girl who is 8 and the other is a little baby-girl who is maybe a year and a half. Anywho, Fabian explained to me that he's not in school anymore (I couldn't really get him to explain to me why he's not in school, but he just said that his Mom took him out). It broke my heart a little when he told me how he wants to go back to school. So we colored a little bit to start, because I didn't want to give him Math or language worksheets that he may not know how to do, because than he would feel embarrassed. So like I said, we colored for a while. I love coloring. Then he asked to do homeworks like the other kids were doing. Sooo, i gave him some basic counting sheets and he got so into it. Then I gave him a packet that has a page for each number, 1-10...and you practice writing the numbers, etc. He was so diligent working on this packet. At like 6pm, the kids are aloud to play with the jump-rope or the ball...but Fabian continued working. I kind of wanted to take him home with me. I hope he comes back next Monday..it was his first time at Los Angelitos, and he seemed to like it, but the kids can only come if their parents let them/take them.

La Union (where I went yesterday) was also really good. A TON of kids came...like 25, and I mostly worked with this little girl who is learning English in school. She was super into it and asked me to write out fill-in-the-blank sentences for her, preposition practice, vocab words, etc. She's really smart and really dedicated. And she specifically comes to La Union so she can get help with her English (because all the volunteers speak English).

Last night after we got back from the Villa, I went out with some of the Volunteers. All of them are doing like internships at the LIFE office...but are all pretty nice. It was 2 French girls, this Estonian dude, Mart..., and then two Brits--a chick from Manchester and a dude from Nottingham. Mart (the Estonian) is really interesting. He had this high profile job in Estonia working in PR..he was in like senior management or something, and he decided he wasn't super happy with the work he was doing, even though he was making bank, so he peaced out and applied to this European Scholarship program to come live in Argentina for a year working at LIFE. CRAZY. He says when he goes back he wants to start an NGO that works with integrating Russian immigrants into Estonian society. He said that the population in Estonia is 30% Russian immigrants....and the state is doing nothing to integrate them. So yeah...very interesting. Also..Estonian is one of the weirdest languages I've ever come across.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to LIFE again...probs to Laferrere (another Villa...different from Ciudad Oculta)...and then at night, I am going to have dinner with my host sisters! I'm pumped. They are the best.

Spring is starting here in Argentina...so lovely. All week it's been high 60s and low 70s. ABsolutely gorgeous.

SWEAT

So today after sleeping in way later than intended...i got my toosh up, had some granola for breakfast..and headed to the gym with Mati...This gym here in Devoto is actually the best thing ever...I've yet to pay anything, bc Mati is friends with everyone, but even when I do pay, supposedly it'll cost me 50 pesos a month (NADA...it's like 12$)..Anywho..we jogged there this morning, (about 2km away) and it's actually quite warm out...Like 70s. So by the time I arrived, I was of course, sweating bullets. Mati did not even sweat one drop. In the gym, it's mostly dudes, trying to get huge, but then there are a few girls/women who prance around in fancy outfits. I waltz in huffing and puffing, dripping sweat, with my "I bleed HOYA blue" tshirt, and some mesh shorts that are approximately 13 years old. Anyways, I get going on some free weights, and get some weird looks here and there...and then I moved to a mat to do some abbs...every time a "trying-to-get-huge"-guy would walk by, he would stare at me with a puzzled look that read "what in god's name is this crazy girl doing...and why is she soaking wet with sweat?"...meanwhile, the other girls in the gym are using machines with 4kilos of weight on them...aren't sweating at all, have makeup on...and the large majority were not wearing sports bras...One even had a frilly pink bra with a matching frilly pink tanktop. The girls also seemed a bit confused by my presence..especially when i started to do some weird looking abb exercises..which for us (on GUWRFC/ in the USA in general) are completely normal: re: russian twists, cherry pickers, bicycles...

As a rule, girls here don't do hardcore working out type stuff...that's not to say that there aren't a handful of women who are avid runners, or weightlifters or cyclists, etc....but in a small barrio like the one I am in...girls and sweating..don't mix. I guess I won't ever completely blend in. Haha.

After about an hour at the gym, we ran back home...and I began to sweat again..when we got to the door Mati said something along the lines of "It's impressive how much you sweat"...definitely a self-esteem boost...NOT..

Marta, I was thinking of you throughout my sweating experience how in Portugal you said that in the gym Fernanda would just prance around and you would be soaking wet with sweat...and no one else in the gym seemed to be sweating..I feel your pain.

Anywho...today I have a lazy afternoon planned and may do something fun at night..But tomorrow we have a game, and I have to be at this train station at 8:15am... GASP. So probably I won't end up doing anything too crazy tonight. Game should be good tomorrow, minus the early wakeup time..IT's all 7s now in the girls league. I've never played in a real 7s match, so we'll see how it goes. Should be interesting.

First time blogger....here goes another adventure

So I am trying this whole blogging thing..finally. Really, it would have been nice to have catalogued some of my adventures in Argentina last year or even in Costa Rica a few years back. Now, as I embark on another journey here in South America, I think I will attempt to keep some sort of record of it.

To be quite honest, Emilia and Margaret's blogs in Australia/New Zealand were sort of the inspiration/kick in the ass to get on this. Thanks guys.

so anyywhooo, I am in Argentina...I arrived on August 19th, and everything has been just lovely since I got here. The weather is a bit chilly, especially coming from Boston in August...but I'm getting used to it. I am staying with Mati in Villa Devoto (a section of Buenos Aires)...it's quite nice here. Doesn't have the same hustle-and-bustle feel of the downtown part of the city, which is refreshing sometimes. Here in Devoto, a lot of rich people have fancy shmancy houses and there's a beautiful plaza, filled with exotic trees...and even some exotic birds. Well they may not be exotic to Argentines, but for me..they are strange. The apartment is on a street named "Nueva York"...so since the large majority of my friends are moving to New York this year...or have already done so...I thought I'd do the same. I opted for the New York south of the equator.

Anyway...to keep myself busy in BsAs, I have gotten myself involved with an organization called LIFE Argentina. It was started about 10 years ago, and it's an NGO that works with kids in villas (slums). LIFE works with various comedores (which are like soup kitchens/community centers..sorta) in Laferrere (a villa in Provincia), in San Telmo (neighborhood in Buenos Aires), a place called Costanera del Sur (http://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/areas/des_social/noticias/?modulo=ver&item_id=5&contenido_id=4041&idioma=es) and then 3 comedores in villa called Ciudad Oculta (which means hidden city)..The story behind the name is that the 1978 Soccer World Cup was held in Argentina. From the drive to the airport to the soccer fields, cars had to pass through this particular Villa. During the late 1970s, Argentina had a military dictatorship, and the government didn't want the international community to see the poverty encompassing this enormous villa...SO to prevent the international visitors from seeing the villa, they built a WALL around it. That's right...a wall. To hide it. Hence the name. The wall is no longer there, but the name stuck.

I have only gone a handful of times, because I had the flu..But it's quite an experience to go though. I first went to a comedor called "El ejerecito Celestial" which is one of the 3 in Ciudad Oculta. That first time, I was a bit shocked by the conditions these kids live in, and how it's freezing out and they run around in shorts and flipflops. But, after getting over the initial shock, I just jumped in and played with them..colored, read books. All they really want is attention. It's amazing how with just a little bit attention, they are so happy.

I also went to Laferrere, which is a very different type of villa. It's much more developed in terms of businesses and street traffic, but they still don't have potable water for instance.

At LIFE I have met quite a few foreigners...everyone is from another country. The people that work in the office are kids doing internships for the year or for 6 months. A handful of them are from France and then there is this other kid from Estonia (never met someone from estonia before)...This other girl that's just a volunteer is Australian...she's 18, named Nikita, and is travelling around Latin America until February. Nutz. I feel like that's what all 18 year old Australians do..travel the world. Anyway, she doesn't speak a lick of Spanish...but is taking classes. She's my buddy at LIFE, which is nice.

I am also playing rugby again, with las Panteras here...the team has changed quite a bit since last year, but it's nice to play some. We practice twice a week with games on Sundays.

This past weekend for my Birthday, Mati and I went to La Plata and stayed with his sister and brother and law..and their two kids. It was great. His sister, Paula, is really sweet and she took me out shopping and we got a cute shirt for me. She just had a baby in February...Juan Cruz. He's the cutest, chubbiest baby I have ever seen. Literally, his cheeks appear to be eating his face sometimes. They also have a 5 year-old, Santino..who is fun to play with. At midnight (of my birthday) they brought me out a delish cake (with dulce de leche and chocolate frosting. yum!) and sang me feliz cumpleanos. MAti unfortunately wasn't there at night because he had to work.

The next day we had an asado, (BBQ) and it was beautiful out. We sat outside and chowed down on meat all afternoon. We came back to BsAs that night because Mati had to work at 6am monday morning. I on the other hand spent the entire day in bed with a fever and nasty cold. I am better now...but it took me two days of doing nothing but drinking tea to get back to normal.

Last night I finally met up with this girl who worked in Puerto Varas, Chile last year at Endeavor. SHe's in Buenos Aires now working at Endeavor until October, and is going to come back to Puerto Varas because she has a job there! She gets there October 3rd I think, and then I will be there by October 5th!. I met her last night for coffee and she's great. We chatted a whole bunch, she gave me some tips, and we realized we have a ton in common. She's from Canton and went to Milton Academy (shout out to ISL schools)...and she went to Middlebury...Nor, she doesn't know you, but she graduated 2 years ahead of us...So yeah, she's great and I'm thrilled to already know someone for when I head down to PV.

SO yeah...that's all for now.for my first blog post everrrr.

I will post some photos of my work with LIFE as soon as I take some.