La semana dos

Chicos! Muchas Gracias for your comments! They made me feel loved and missed :) Things are shaping up over here in Lomas de Zamora. I am now quite comfortable in the apartment I stay in. Vanessa, my host mother, treats me like a friend, and makes me laugh all the time. She made empanadas on Wednesday which were delicious. She was "ashame-ed" of them, but I thought they were a fantastic treat. Another volunteer came to stay with us for 4 days. Chad is a 31 year old from San Francisco. I thought maybe I´d make a friend/traveling partner, but no, he already left without saying goodbye, and without helping me with the kids one bit. However, I gained confidence out of the experience, because I realized how indepenent I am, and how quickly I catch on. Chad would never have been able to take the bus, lead workshops for the children in the community center, or even buy a bottle of water without me. He was the tipical tourist, taking pictures of people and places in worse shape than he is used to. He is off to the capital and then Rio de Janeiro for another week, and I can´t imagine how he is going to do it all himself. Buenos Suerte Chad! Anywho, another volunteer comes on Monday. All I know is she is an 18 year old girl who is staying for 3 months. Also, I met a German girl, named Daisy, who volunteers with me on Thursday nights. Her spanish is better than her english, but it is easier to talk with her than the locals, and she is definately a cool chick. Daisy and Ines (a worker at the community center) invited me to a party tomorrow night, where they will be singing Cher songs lol. I´m down! I will not be able to stay in Argentina a full 3 months if I do not find a traveling partner. It is just too dangerous on my own. Any takers?! Work thus far has been s-t-r-e-s-s-f-u-l. I worked way to many hours my first week, and had to put on a 40 minute work shop 5 times for children ages 3-5...IN SPANISH! We did some excercises (hop on one foot, touch your toes etc.), crawled on the floor and acted like different animals, ring around the rosy, duck duck goose (pato pato nieto), and I made up a version of the "Hokey Pokey" in spanish. My project coordinater and the people at the community center have this crazy idea that I am an expert with toddlers or something. They couldn´t be more wrong. Teaching, especially little children, is the last job I want to be doing. I would prefer picking up garbage, or bulding a stone wall anyday. I have cut my hours down from about 45 to 20 hours a week. This is not including travel time or lesson planning time, which I will be doing all day today. I think that is a sufficient schedule for FREE work. Enough about me. Here is some interesting facts about Argentina and Lomas de Zamora: ·The trash here is put in these raised metal crates about half the size of a normal trash can,and is picked up by a donkey drawn cart. ·Coins are more valuable than bills, and people hold on to them for dear life. ·The President is a woman, Cristina Kiershner (probably butchered that spelling), that only has a 20% approval rating. Her husband was president before her. ·There is a strike almost everyday, because unions here are very powerful.... teachers Wed., Subway workers Thurs, and Banks Today. ·Spiderman (El hombre de araña)and Power Rangers are very popular among little children, along with beating each other up. ·The word "Balulo" means big balls and can be used as a bad insult or as a greeting like "dude" Thanks for reading! Abrazos y Besos! POST A COMMENT! Appreciate America ya´ll. We really have it good.