What a great night!
Originally, yesterday evening, I had planned on going to a club called "La Barranca" with one of my friends vicky. Most of the people here in Iguazú that go out dancing go to a place called "Cuba Libre," which I had been to a few times before. But my friend vicky preffered La Barranca because most of the people that go there are brazilians, and they only play electro/electronica. (as opposed to the Reggaeton, cumbia, and electro that Cuba Libre plays) So, the plan was that we would go to La barranca, along with some of her friends. But as it turned out, Vicky's friend had to go to Brazil for something, and Vicky didn't want to go because it was raining. So, then I talked to one of my other friends, yennifer, about going to Cuba Libre that night instead. The plan was that I would meet up with her and her friend Dianna at the entrance. But, when I got there and was waiting in line, I heard some people speaking English. So, I asked them where they were from. The group was a Brazilians, from Rio de Janeiro, Foz do Iguazu, and some others from some beach city. (I forget the name) So, I got to talking to them, and they seemed prety cool. I ended up just going in with them at a little before 2am, and danced with them for awhile. Then, while I was talking to one of them, he said "I wander if those girls over there are american?" He was right; you could tell by how they danced that they weren't from here. So, I asked the girls first in spanish where they where from. they said "estados unidos." Good call, man. Turns out they were from california, and were studying in Buenos Aires, and were stopping through Iguazú for the weekend. So, after I danced with those girls for about an hour or so. Unfortunately they left, because they had started dancing at about 11, unlike most of the rest of the argentinians and brazilians there, that had arrived at 2 or 2:30. Still, it was so cool to just meet people like that, just by chance. I ended up sticking around with my brazilian friends until about 4:30, when they left. After that, I finally met up with the people I had originally planned on coming with, and 5 or so of the boys in my classroom. I ended up dacing until about 6 or 6:30am, and arrived home at about 6:45. Right now it's 7:11, and I am so ready for breakfast.
Thumbing it a few miles outside of Corsicana, Texas
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Viaje a Resistencia
Last weekend, from the 10th to the 12th of september, there was a RYLA conference in Resistencia, Chaco, which all exchange students in the district had to go to. The ticket for a 10-hour bus ride, one way, was 136 pesos, or about $33 american dollars. To me, thats insanely cheap. Us four, Angie, Deidre, Jane and I (all the rotary exchange students in Iguazú), boarded the Rio Uruguay bus at 8am. It was incredibly lucky that I got on the bus in time, given the circumstances that morning. I woke up, through pure coincidence, at about 7:15am. I had gone to bed the night before at about 3, so this in itself was nothing short of a miracle. My entire family was asleep, so i couldn't turn the light on in my room to look for and pack things more effectively. After I got out of the shower, I quickly pack enough clothes for 4 days, some gum, and my ipod in my Rotary duffle bag. I quickly left the apartment, got a taxi, and headed to the bus terminal. I ended up boarding at about 7:58, and the bus left promptly at 8. The bus had 2 stories, meals, reclining seats, blinds for the windows, etc. About 40 minutes into the trip, we came to a random National Guard security check. An officer boarded the bus, and asked everyone for identification. No problem, I thought. I brought my driver's license from the U.S. Technically, it's legitimate, state-department issued identification, and in theory, I thought, should suffice. But, the man asked me for my passport. I asked him why that, and why my license wouldn't work. It turned out that he needed to see the tourist visa and the stamp from Buenos Aires airport. Damn. He talked to me very threateningly for a little while, and there was an inkling of thought in the back of my brain that thought that I might have to get off the bus (worst-case scenario). But, there ended up being no real consequences except for an infinity of stress for me, and a lesson learned quite well. I thought, shit, if this happens every 40 minutes or whatever, I'm gonna need an awful lot of luck. But, as it turned out, on all the rest of the 3 security checks or so, the men only looked around on the bus, or my license worked fine as identification. We arrived at the Resistencia terminal at about 6pm, and a rotarian picked us up, took us to the hotel/hostel where we would be staying for the night, and showed me a some things we could do that night in the city if we wanted. after she left, we were on our own. We ate dinner at around 11 or so, but didn't really do much else becuase a lot of stores that looked interesting were closed, and we would have to wake up too early to go to a club or something.
We were picked up at 8 by another rotarian, a man this time, and he took us to the place were RYLA was being held. It was somewhat similar to a summer youth camp ground, with separate buildings for boys and girls to sleep in, a room where there would be lectures and events, and a dining hall/kitchen where we ate, and a lot of open grassy area with a little bit of trees and stuff. When we got there, there was mostly no one there yet, and we had a tiny bit of food for "breakfast." (cookies and maté; the girls had coffee) After that, exchange students and other argentinian kids began showing up. There was a lot of Germans, I think 9 or 10, and I basically started talking with them immediately. I almost instantaneously became quite good friends with a girl named Mellie. at first, I thought she was argentinian because she had dark hair, skin, and eyes. but, when she greeted everyone with "hi," I thought otherwise. Turns out her mom was philipino, and thats why she looked darker than most Germans. She, and mostly every other european at the conference spoke excellent english, which made communication immensely easier. After I hung out with my new friends for a little bit, I had to register for the event, which cost 65 pesos. I met a ton of people while I was in line, both exchange students and argentinians attending the RYLA conference. After registration, we had maybe an hour to just hang out and stuff, get to know everyone at the conference; there were alot of people there, maybe 70 or so, I can't say for sure. Then there started to be some games, of which we had to play. Again, just things to get to know eath other better, I think. Mellie and I saw some girl drinking tereré. There was an argentinian man, Maxi, who was 20, accompanying her everywhere, because her hostclub/family didn't want her to do anything alone. So, Maxi asked the girl if we could have some. She said there wasn't any left, so we snuck out of the game to go fill up the pitcher, and have some tereré. Maxi was perhaps the nicest person I have ever met. For example, if you just said "I'm thisty," he would return momentarily with water, without you ever asking him to do a thing. But anyway, Mellie, Maxi and I went over to the kitchen, got some water and juice, and made some tereré. By the time we prepared it, had a little, talked a little bit and went outside, the ballgames and stuff were done, and it was back to just hangin out. It was so nice to hang out with everyone there. for the most part, people sort of formed themselves into several circles all around the grassy area, several of which had a classical guitar involved. Everyone was unbelievably nice to me; I could sit down in literally any one of those groups and almost immediately people would ask me how I liked argentina, if I wanteed to play their guitar, what sorts of things I like, etc. We ate lunch, and about an hour later, there were 3 lectures, each of which was about an hour long, with a 10-minute break in between. They were about various subjects: teen pregnancy, being an organ donor, and some common problems that exchange students have. After the lectures, we ate dinner at about 9. Both lunch and dinner were quite good, with milanesa and mashed potatoes for lunch, and hamburgers for dinner. after dinner, there was dancing in the building where we had the lectures, although it was about an hour or so before people went from chillin out outside to dancing in the building. The dance was so fun. The music was great, and there was a DJ, with these enormous speakers that were maybe 8 feet tall stacked on top of each other. Mostly there was electronica, reggaeton, and cumbia. Everyone was so fun do dance with. At first I was just having a good time dancing pretty crazy to the electronica with my german friends. we were mostly in a group, about 5 or 6 of us. Then, I noticed they weren't in sight anymore. hmm, interesting. I turned around to see where they had gone. What do you know, everyone had formed a circle, and I was in the center. It was interesting, I mean that's the first time in my life that that had ever happened to me. It was really cool though, whenever I did something cool or crazy everyone cheered. I left the circle after a little bit and danced with some argentinian girls. I LOVED to talk and hang out with the german girls; they were so fun to be with, but when it came to dancing, they just didn't compare to the argentinian girls. Although, it was really weird for me to dance to Cumbia; for the most part I had never listened to that in my life, I just couldn't feel it and get in the groove like reggaeton. But, the girl that I danced with for most of the night showed me some stuff. while we were dancing, about 15 other girls asked me for a picture with them. At about 2:45am we had to go to our dorm buildings. Inside, I talked with Maxi until about 5am. That morning, we had to wake up at about 8 (on argentinian time this means 8:45) When I went to take a shower, I realized another fatal error in my packing: I had forgot to bring a towel. I was so frezing while I was showering, becuase there was a window in the stall I was using, and the wind was blowing. I walked back to my room freezing and wet, and luckily Maxi let me use an extra towel that he brought. I left then to eat breakfast, and after that we had time to ourselves again for maybe an hour and a half or so before we had one last speech. After the speech, there was a ceremony called "open hearts" and everybody talked about what they liked about the conference, the fun they had, and those sorts of things; it was about an hour long. By the time it was done, at about 3, the conference was done. There were about a million goodbyes, hugs, kisses, etc. I had especially long goodbyes with my german friends, and Tamy, the girl that I danced with the might before. It really sucked saying goodbye to everyone, knowing that they lived so far away, and it would be a long time before I would see them again. The original plan had been to stay at the hotel for another night and leave on monday, but Jane, Angie, and Deidre wanted to leave that day. we bought the tickets, and the departure time was for 8 o'clock that night. In the meanwhile, the girls stayed at the rotarian's house that drove us to and from the conference, and I hung out at a german girl's house that lived really close to there. Since I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep that night, I was very tired, and slept for the whole bus ride, of which there either weren't any security checks, or the soldiers just passed over me because I was sleeping. We arrived at about 6:45 the next morning, just in time for me to not have to go to school. Overall, it was just about the funnest time that I've had in argentina so far.
We were picked up at 8 by another rotarian, a man this time, and he took us to the place were RYLA was being held. It was somewhat similar to a summer youth camp ground, with separate buildings for boys and girls to sleep in, a room where there would be lectures and events, and a dining hall/kitchen where we ate, and a lot of open grassy area with a little bit of trees and stuff. When we got there, there was mostly no one there yet, and we had a tiny bit of food for "breakfast." (cookies and maté; the girls had coffee) After that, exchange students and other argentinian kids began showing up. There was a lot of Germans, I think 9 or 10, and I basically started talking with them immediately. I almost instantaneously became quite good friends with a girl named Mellie. at first, I thought she was argentinian because she had dark hair, skin, and eyes. but, when she greeted everyone with "hi," I thought otherwise. Turns out her mom was philipino, and thats why she looked darker than most Germans. She, and mostly every other european at the conference spoke excellent english, which made communication immensely easier. After I hung out with my new friends for a little bit, I had to register for the event, which cost 65 pesos. I met a ton of people while I was in line, both exchange students and argentinians attending the RYLA conference. After registration, we had maybe an hour to just hang out and stuff, get to know everyone at the conference; there were alot of people there, maybe 70 or so, I can't say for sure. Then there started to be some games, of which we had to play. Again, just things to get to know eath other better, I think. Mellie and I saw some girl drinking tereré. There was an argentinian man, Maxi, who was 20, accompanying her everywhere, because her hostclub/family didn't want her to do anything alone. So, Maxi asked the girl if we could have some. She said there wasn't any left, so we snuck out of the game to go fill up the pitcher, and have some tereré. Maxi was perhaps the nicest person I have ever met. For example, if you just said "I'm thisty," he would return momentarily with water, without you ever asking him to do a thing. But anyway, Mellie, Maxi and I went over to the kitchen, got some water and juice, and made some tereré. By the time we prepared it, had a little, talked a little bit and went outside, the ballgames and stuff were done, and it was back to just hangin out. It was so nice to hang out with everyone there. for the most part, people sort of formed themselves into several circles all around the grassy area, several of which had a classical guitar involved. Everyone was unbelievably nice to me; I could sit down in literally any one of those groups and almost immediately people would ask me how I liked argentina, if I wanteed to play their guitar, what sorts of things I like, etc. We ate lunch, and about an hour later, there were 3 lectures, each of which was about an hour long, with a 10-minute break in between. They were about various subjects: teen pregnancy, being an organ donor, and some common problems that exchange students have. After the lectures, we ate dinner at about 9. Both lunch and dinner were quite good, with milanesa and mashed potatoes for lunch, and hamburgers for dinner. after dinner, there was dancing in the building where we had the lectures, although it was about an hour or so before people went from chillin out outside to dancing in the building. The dance was so fun. The music was great, and there was a DJ, with these enormous speakers that were maybe 8 feet tall stacked on top of each other. Mostly there was electronica, reggaeton, and cumbia. Everyone was so fun do dance with. At first I was just having a good time dancing pretty crazy to the electronica with my german friends. we were mostly in a group, about 5 or 6 of us. Then, I noticed they weren't in sight anymore. hmm, interesting. I turned around to see where they had gone. What do you know, everyone had formed a circle, and I was in the center. It was interesting, I mean that's the first time in my life that that had ever happened to me. It was really cool though, whenever I did something cool or crazy everyone cheered. I left the circle after a little bit and danced with some argentinian girls. I LOVED to talk and hang out with the german girls; they were so fun to be with, but when it came to dancing, they just didn't compare to the argentinian girls. Although, it was really weird for me to dance to Cumbia; for the most part I had never listened to that in my life, I just couldn't feel it and get in the groove like reggaeton. But, the girl that I danced with for most of the night showed me some stuff. while we were dancing, about 15 other girls asked me for a picture with them. At about 2:45am we had to go to our dorm buildings. Inside, I talked with Maxi until about 5am. That morning, we had to wake up at about 8 (on argentinian time this means 8:45) When I went to take a shower, I realized another fatal error in my packing: I had forgot to bring a towel. I was so frezing while I was showering, becuase there was a window in the stall I was using, and the wind was blowing. I walked back to my room freezing and wet, and luckily Maxi let me use an extra towel that he brought. I left then to eat breakfast, and after that we had time to ourselves again for maybe an hour and a half or so before we had one last speech. After the speech, there was a ceremony called "open hearts" and everybody talked about what they liked about the conference, the fun they had, and those sorts of things; it was about an hour long. By the time it was done, at about 3, the conference was done. There were about a million goodbyes, hugs, kisses, etc. I had especially long goodbyes with my german friends, and Tamy, the girl that I danced with the might before. It really sucked saying goodbye to everyone, knowing that they lived so far away, and it would be a long time before I would see them again. The original plan had been to stay at the hotel for another night and leave on monday, but Jane, Angie, and Deidre wanted to leave that day. we bought the tickets, and the departure time was for 8 o'clock that night. In the meanwhile, the girls stayed at the rotarian's house that drove us to and from the conference, and I hung out at a german girl's house that lived really close to there. Since I had gotten about 3 hours of sleep that night, I was very tired, and slept for the whole bus ride, of which there either weren't any security checks, or the soldiers just passed over me because I was sleeping. We arrived at about 6:45 the next morning, just in time for me to not have to go to school. Overall, it was just about the funnest time that I've had in argentina so far.
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