27 Days!!!!

Well, today officially marks the 3 month anniversary of being in Argentina. It has been a wonderful experience and I have learned so many things. The culture here is completely different. The city never sleeps. I don't know what it is about this place, but there's something. The city will make you crazy that's for sure, but at the same time you don't want to leave. I have mixed feelings about this place. Some days I love it, other days I would pay $5,000 to fly back to the US. However, more importantly... today means that there are only 27 more days until I see my wonderful parents. Hopefully if you are reading this you know me, if not.. well that's just weird. I have never been longer than 4 1/2 weeks without seeing my parents. So needless to say after not seeing them for 4 months I am going to be one happy girl. I'm a daddy's girl and my momma is my world and I cannot wait to wrap my arms around them on June 29. I am so blessed that my family has the means to be able to come visit me. Now, if only they could bring Matthew, Amanda, Maddie, and Arthur :)

I think that it's officially winter here, but I'm not positive. Right now, it feels awesome outside... but tonight it is going to be freezing. Some days it's cold and some days it's hot. If you know me, I hate dressing in layers. But here you almost have to. While you're waiting for the bus in the morning it is so cold, but then you get on the bus and it's hot. You get off the bus and walk to where you're going and it's cold and then you walk inside a building and it's like a sauna. I admit 50 degrees is cold, but my word these people act like they're in Antarctica. I see people in these HUGE jackets, scarfs, pants, boots, and gloves. I mean, yeah it's chilly... but it's not THAT cold. It's so funny to see... normally I'm in leggings a dress and boots, maybe a sweater. People stare at me like I'm absolutely crazy.

I lost one of my classes this week. You would think I would be upset about it or feel some kind of way, but I have never been happier. Pretty sad, huh? This was my 8am class on Tuesday and Thursdays. Of course, since it was at 8am I didn't like it to begin with. But my students just drove my crazy. So everything here is unorganized. So I had a student who was upper intermediate in the class and then 2 who should have been pre-intermediate. Anyways, the class was Intermediate 1 and the guy I work for somehow doesn't see the differences in the students levels as well as with the book we're using. Well I have another class that is Intermediate 1 and they are great. So I think I expected my 8am class to be at the same level. It was very hard for me to prepare classes because 2 of the students didn't understand anything, where as the other student was bored. The more advanced student would always complain to me after class about how he thinks he should be in a different class. One girl would want to do extra assignments and want me to correct them outside of class. I'm sorry, but no.. I don't get paid enough for that and your hand writing is terrible and I can't read it. So things weren't really working out and I think we all knew it. One of my friends from my TEFL course is taking over the class. She isn't a native English speaker which I think will be better for them. Anyways, I am much happier now that I don't have to teach that class. It was stressful having to wake up that early and travel across town for work, come all the way back across town for another class, then back across town that evening.

This experience has definitely made me realize that I am so grateful that I wasn't an education major. I always wanted to be a teacher and I think I still could teach little kids. However, there is no way I could do this my entire life. On the other hand, teaching ESL in a foreign country probably wasn't the best way to get introduced into teaching either. The infamous questions that I always get asked are: Were you a teacher in the US before you came here? Are you going to teach when you get back? Well then what are you going to do then? No I was not a teacher, I am 23 and just graduated college. I am absolutely not going to teach when I get back. There's a possibility that I'll teach ESL here and there, but it will not be my job. And finally, I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with my life when I get back. I've realized that I'm at that point where I just want to do new and exciting things. I know I have an awesome degree from one of the top schools in the nation, but I want to live a little. I wouldn't mind working odd jobs like being a bartender in a big city, working at a cupcake place, anything like that. I have definitely realized that I do not want a 9-5 immediately when I get back. I wish I could win the lottery and travel the world for a while. I want to go to South Africa and Greece so bad.

Okay, well enough rambling... I probably won't write for a while. I actually have to start planning my classes now. All of my classes wanted a lot of conversation and of course now they are complaining. No one is ever happy with what they get here, even if they ask for it. It's such a pain. I hope everyone is doing wonderful and I miss you all!

Much love! A

Here are a few pictures from Colonia, Uruguay!