Final Hours...

My plane takes off in about 7 hours, but i wanted to write a few final words...Overall my trip was perfect and was everything plus more that I expected. South America is a wonderful place to be...Even with the corrupt governments, unstable economies, continuous protests, and extreme poverty, South America is one of my favorite places to be. Working with the children in these poor areas has really opened my eyes to things we never see in the states. And even though these kids lead of life that many of us do not think exist, they are some of the happiest, most polite, and eager to learn kids. This has really opened doors that I will definitely through in the future. I love volunteering and many places in South America would not survive without volunteers, like L.I.F.E. I just hope and pray that Argentina figures out its problems that they are having right now between the government and the people of the campo. Its messy. But Buenos Aires is an amazing city, and I would suggest it to anyone. And if anyone happens to ever be traveling down here and would like to volunteer for L.I.F.E. notify me and I will give you more information...I also have information for many other volunteer possibilities throughout South and Central America, so if anyone is interested let me know...God Bless...

¡Falta un poco!

Well i have just about finished picking out which kids i want to bring home with me. i go to one comedor right outside the city 2 times a week and there i work with a little boy named Arnaldo! He definitely is my favorite kid. we always work on addition and subtraction, then switch to learning to read, because although he can do math he can not read. i always write 5 to 10 easy spanish words for him to practice and learn while i am with him. he hates doing it for some reason though. he just is not interested in learning...but he does like it a lot when i read him kids stories! but every time i am with him i want to bring him back with me...after we finished our work yesterday he wanted that he and i color together, so he colored half and i colored half. it was funny because when the other kids saw that i was coloring his they wanted me to color as well, but i told them they should color it themselves and Arnaldo took up for me and told the other kids to leave me alone because we colored the picture half and half! he is adorable.

Also on Sunday, i got a free trip to Uruguay to the old colonial city of, Colonia del Sacramento. It is a beautiful old city, built by the portuguese. i enjoyed it. My spanish teacher last semester is from Uruguay so now i can go and tell her that i went and she will smile at me like always and tell me how great it is that i went! For now I will be going...God Bless.

Las Cataratas y Los Niños

Volunteering is still going great and this weekend I took a trip to Iguazu Falls, which are beautiful water falls in the jungle that split Argentina and Brasil. So here are some pictures of the kids I work with and the falls...enjoy



This is one set of the falls...


This is the other set of the falls...

markets and children

well it has been a few days since i have written, but i have been quite busy...right now it is a beautiful wednesday at 12 :30. i am making me some coffee and toast for breakfast ( my breakfast here is at 12:30...haha). because my volunteering does not start until usually 3 in the afternoon my day starts about 12 which is very nice...but of course i do not eat dinner until about 10 or 10:30...all porteños eat late here...its crazy...but i am now used to it.

this weekend on saturday and sunday i went to two different weekend markets here in the city. the one i went to on saturday was really nice arts and crafts and handmade stuff. and the one i went to on sunday was in an older part of the city, called san telmo, and the market was HUGE. it was an antique/arts and crafts fair that they have every sunday. i have never seen so many antiques and antique stores in my life...and trust me i have been to a lot. it was market after market and store after store...there were a ton of people there...it was amazing because there were street musicians playing, street singers singing, puppet shows, magicians, tango shows, the place was alive. there was one orquestra band that played and they were about 8 people playing different instruments and they were amazing. i bought their CD and i want to go to one of their shows coming up. also that day i had a small problem...after i left the festival i sat down at a cafe for a quick bite to eat because i was starving...well i got my bill and it was 23,50 pesos and i only had 22 pesos...i did not realize that here, like many places, you get charged a service charge and for some stupid reason i did not bring my debit card with me that day, and i was also by myself...so i explained to my waiter that i did not have enough money because i did not know i had to pay a service charge and all that and i did not know what i was going to do...well he reached in his pocket and gave me 2 pesos! and yeah that might not seem like a lot but people here do not get payed very much and a lot of them live off tips, so 2 pesos is a lot. it was an extremely nice thing. i thanked him a lot and told him i was going to come back and leave him a really good tip because that was very nice and as i was leaving he said to me in english ''we are friends'' personally i will definitely remember that for a long time.

the last 2 days of work have definitely been my favorite. monday i met cristofer who is the cutest kid i have ever seen. i colored with him and played with him most of the time. i also read some with a little girl...we were reading spanish books so we were actually both practicing...i love just going outside and playing with the kids...its my favorite. and yesterday the place i went there were a ton of kids...they are all so happy and after we got done working on school work they went crazy just running around and playing...it was so much fun...there was one little boy there his name was john and he did not really talk much and was very quite. so i sat with him and he practiced writing his letters and colored all to himself. he was very reserved, but such a good kid. so far at all the places i have been i love all the kids...even the overly rowdy ones...

overall everything is going very well here, well there is a crazy strike by the farmers in the country and a conflict between them and the government, and the other monring the subte was shut down all morning because of a strike, but minor details...it is south america so you just adapt...but ahora tengo que irme, voy a ducharme...hoy voy a un cumpleaños con L.I.F.E.!!! God Bless.

Hace fresco...

well i have finished my first week (it was only really 3 days though) of volunteering. so far i love every minute of it. Not so much the length of time it takes to get to each place though. All the community centers and stuff are outside the main city in the poorer areas. I have found out though that i will not be working at a specific orphanage like i previous thought, but i enjoy what i am doing now. i have the possibility of working at 4 or 5 different community centers with children from the local area. Yesterday i went to a school support, where kids from the neighborhood come in and we help with school work and anything else they ned help with and today i went to teach english, although the little girl i was working with, Denise, was a little more interested in coloring the pictures that learning english. but we did work on her spanish and spelling because a lot of the kids do not know how to read or write. she told me she did not want to learn english. afterwards though the other volunteers and i took the kids outside and we sang songs and played duck duck goose! the kids from yesterday and today were so polite. we walked in and they all ran up to us and greeted us with kisses and hugs and did the same when we left! They are amazing! i am really excited to work with them more. What happens every weekend is that the oranganization will send me an email of all the activities for the week and i sign up for them. very simple process. below is the schedule i got on tuesday evening. it is good because i dont have to pay the transportation because my program i am here with already does even though 20 pesos is less than 7 dollars.

i am not even sure what else to say about the kids so far. there are a couple hyper ones, but they are still great. it definitely gets depressing seeing the neighborhoods we go in, and i have only been doing it for 3 days...but it definitely makes me feel better talking with the kids and playing with them and stuff!

the other volunteers that i have met are all amazing people. i met a couple from sweden who moved here two months ago just to learn spanish and volunteer, a girl from LA who was tired of living in the states so she is traveling and living all over south america, a ton of students who study in buenos aires from all over the world also volunteer here. it is awesome to talk to them and here their stories. this is one reason i dont like to be a tourist. for me traveling is about the people you meet, friends you make, and lives you change. its not about visiting every country in the world just to say you have done it, its about making every minute worth while and worth remembering...kind of deep, but i have a lot of time when i am sitting in the subte...but anyway enough of my philosophy...i am going to now go and spend some time with my host mother while she fixes dinner...until next time...

MONDAY:

SCHOOL SUPPORT & ENGLISH CLASSES in Los Angelitos - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator : Catherine Eaton

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:45.

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

SCHOOL SUPPORT & ENGLISH CLASSES in Laferrere

Coordinators : Lisa Cooper

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:45.

Cab: $25 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

TUESDAY:

FOOTBALL in Laferrere: Activity for male volunteers or female sports/athletes

* Local club will loan soccer field so we can play with the kids.

Coordinator: Aaron Beale y Stan Unrau

Meeting point at 2:30 Stop for public bus # 64 on Av. Rivadavia & Rodriguez Peña - Congreso neighborhood - LIFE t-shirt mandatory

Public transportation by van : $10 each round trip - doesn 't count off your deposit.

SCHOOL SUPPORT in La Union hace la fuerza - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator: Amelie Hawkins

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00 back in the city around 19:00.

Cab: $ 20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

SCHOOL SUPPORT in Las Horas Felices - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinators: Julianne & Jonathan

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00.

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

ENGLISH CLASSES in El Jaguel

Coordinator: Tanja Braecklein

Meeting point: LIFE office at 14:00, back in the city around 19:30.

Public transportation: $5 each - does not discount from your deposit.

WEDNESDAY:

BIRTHDAY PARTY in Los Angelitos - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator: Jack Cox

BIRTHDAY PARTY in Ejército Celestial - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator: Amelie Hawkins

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00.

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

THURSDAY:

SCHOOL SUPPORT & ENGLISH CLASSES in Laferrere

Coordinators : Stan Unrau

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

SCHOOL SUPPORT & JUEGOTECA in La Unión hace la fuerza - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator: Amelie Hawkins y Ari Silverman

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

SCHOOL SUPPORT & JUEGOTECA in Las Horas Felices - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinators: Caroline Frauman

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

FRIDAY:

SCHOOL SUPPORT & JUEGOTECA in Los Angelitos - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinators: Catherine Eaton & Jenal Austin

Meeting point: LIFE office at 15:00, back in the city around 19:00

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

ENGLISH CLASSES in El Jaguel

Coordinator: Tanja Braecklein

Meeting point: LIFE office at 14:00, back in the city around 19:00

Public transportation: $5 each - does not discount from your deposit.

SATURDAY:

COOKING CLASSES in Ejército Celestial - Ciudad Oculta

Coordinator: Charlotte Neale-Edwards

Meeting point: LIFE office at 14:30, back in the city around 19:00

Cab: $20 pesos each – ROUND TRIP

random city shot
Aduana (customs building)
modern buildings are being built around Puerto Madero
la casa rasada
random city shots

Lunch Time! Un churrasquito!!!













Here are some pictures i have finally put up. it takes a while to load them on here so i cant put too many up at one time...but i will definitely put more up later.


Also i had my first day volunteering today!!! the organization i am with threw a giant birthday party...we went to a comedor (like a soup kitchen) in one of the poorest/most dangerous parts of Buenos Aires and had a birthday party for all the children that have birthdays in May! There were a ton of little kids running around everywhere...we were making them ballon animals and they were playing all out in the street. it was a lot of fun!!! we also gave small gifts to the children that had birthdays this month. we also took 3 tortas (cakes) and decorated the whole place! the neighborhood was definitely a poor one and you can tell that the families do not have much, but it was awesome to see these little kids running around having fun and for the ones that had moms they were there and i could tell that they were happy to see their little children running around!!! i had the best feeling in the world while i was there...just to see these little kids having so much fun with balloon animals ( i could only make swords) was amazing! there were also other volunteers there as well. Some from ireland, scotland, england, US, france...i will also be volunteering again tomorrow and friday, but both at different locations...

5 days wearing the same pants, but the luggage has arrived

i just wanted to let my readers know that llego el equipaje!!!! i have now luggage sitting on my bed!!! i was pretty excited that it finally got here because the pants i am wearing are getting a little stinky...

today i wonderned about the city again with a friend and took different means of transportation to get used to it. i went to el cemeterio de la recoleta, which is amazing. i dont really know how to explain it but i have pictures that i will post when ever i figure out how to do that. we then walked to one end of the city and walked around a nature preserve then decided to take a bus back which was a bad decision because it was rush hour...it took about an hour and half to get back to my house on the other side of the city. i had to stand pretty much the whole time as well considering there were a ton of people on the bus.

i have noticed here that unlike new york or other big cities in the united states you hear a variety of languages, but here for being a huge city i only hear spanish...there are you occasional english speakers that are few and far between but all i ever hear is spanish...just an observation.

Porteños, i have also noticed, have a very relaxed life. new york city and BA are completely different cities(i personally like BA better). My host mom is still helping me tremendously with spanish, which i am thankful for. but i am going to head out and unpack...God Bless

Subway during rush hour=Sardines in a can

Today was quite productive. i got up and out of the house about 10 in the morning to be at my orientation at a small cafe next to the Palacio del Congreso. Congress Building. i had to be there at 11. i also got to see where the office of GIC Argentina is (the program i am with). after that i had some free time before my meeting with L.I.F.E. (the organization i will be volunteering for). so me and a few friends i meet at the orientation went exploring. it was cool...a lot of walking though. Buenos Aires really reminds me of Paris. the city is amazing with the old architecture with tall modern buildings sporadically appearing over the tops of the old buildings. i had the best panini of my life for lunch (which was about 3 in the afternoon). i went to a meeting a learned a bit more about L.I.F.E. and i will be working in poor areas around BA. They do a lot of different activities throughout the week, so i am not sure yet exactly what i will be doing, but i believe i can start wednesday!

i have also discovered why i get so attached to places i travel. when i go to a place instead of taking a couple weeks to get warmed up to...it takes about a day. i love exploring and getting to know places and meeting people and i feel like i have already been here for a month but it has only been 2 days. for some reason i am not afraid to just go walking around randomly even though i am not completely fluent in spanish...so it is definitely going to be difficult to leave in a month and it is all about making the best of my time while i am here! i dont want to miss out on stuff because i am nervous to go out or afraid...i have the same chance of getting killed here by the crazy drivers than i do in union...

when i was coming back home from my orientations i took the subte...and when those doors open to get in, it is every man, woman, and child for themselves! it is crazy...i was squashed in a corner for the first 5 stops until we started nearing the end of the line where i get off...it reminded my of panama riding the Diablo Rojo (Bus public transportation) when you try and fit as many people in one place as possible. But there was a really pretty woman beside me so it was that bad! haha...

Today was a great day and i cant wait to start my volunteer work!!! And still no word on my luggage! God Bless.

Buenos Aires

Well today was my first full day in BA. It is an amazing city. I took the subte (subway) from one end to the other today to go find some clothes to wear since i do not have my luggage (which i think i might be getting!!!). i went to the shopping center. i can tell you now that porteños (people who live in BA) know their fashion. every store was designer clothes which cost a lot even in pesos...so i finally found a cheap store and bought a shirt for about 25 pesos or 8 dollars. then i just wondered around the city exploring. i saw the giant obelisk which is the middle of the city. then i came back to the house and took a nap then got back up and went to a restaurant down the street for some rest and relaxtion. that was pretty much my day.

el dia primero

Wow...so i finally have this blog set up. and what a time it has been the passed 24 hours. craziness...1st off i traveled for over 24 hours and i was in the santiago, chile airport for 8 hours...i pretty much made it a temporary home. not to mention my luggage did not arrive in buenos aires and i got thrown right into spanish trying to figure out how to deal with that. hopefully it will arrive here in a couple days. the airline gave me $70 to buy my stuff so that was good. then i had to deal with the taxi driver because he had the address where i was going, i didnt know where i was going and he kept asking me questions, but i guess it was good for my spanish. but everything got so much better when i arrived at my homestay family. it is amazing!!! even though i had so a bad travel time everything seemed to be alright when i got here. all my worries went away. i am staying right in buenos aires. i walked outside and i am on a busy street with shops and restaurants. I am staying with a mom and her son while i am here. She and I sat around for a few hours and just talked and ate dinner. it was amazing...and she is so patient with my spanish and she speaks english so she can alway translate what she says if i dont understand and she helps me out a lot. i have only been here a few hours and my spanish has already improved. if anyone ever wants to learn a language the only way is to go to that country and live! i have not met the son yet because i went to bed before he returned last night and he leaves for work at 7 on sundays. I have all my orientation stuff tomorrow so then I get to find out my hours of working and exactly what i will be doing. But i am getting ready to go explore a little and buy a toothbrush and some clothes. Please pray that my stuff shows up! God Bless.