Mom and Dad Survive Argentina: Part 2

Tuesday: I had class once again. Mom and dad sat in a café while I went to teach one of my classes. Then we went and walked all the way down Scalabrini Ortiz, one of the big avenues. We walked down there because we heard there were a bunch of leather shops and we wanted to try and find something good. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. We did a good bit of walking so mom and dad went and hung out at the apartment while I went and taught my 2^nd class for the day. After my class we went to Gringo Stand-Up Comedy. It was a stand-up comedy show that was in English and is the only one in the city. It was actually really good. A little inappropriate to go with my parents, but nevertheless it was funny. I’m definitely going to go again before I leave. On the way to the comedy show I kept thinking about cancelling class. Mom and dad wanted to go to Tigre on Wednesday and I had never been. I was also nervous about them going outside the city alone, especially since I had never been there before. So I ended up cancelling my afternoon and night classes for Wednesday.

Wednesday: On Wednesday the three of us went to Tigre to celebrate 4^th of July. While everyone back home was tanning, drinking, and on a boat… we were on a boat, but bundled up because it was cold and rainy. Tigre is where all the people from the city go for the day to escape the city for a bit. So I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to get there. We could go from Retiro then switch to Tren de la Costa about halfway through. Or we could take the train from Retiro all the way to Tigre. I talked to the taxi driver on the way home from class and he said it was simple and quicker to just take the train from Retiro straight to Tigre. That’s what all the locals do, so that’s what we decided we should do. So the train is supposed to arrive and leave and we are waiting for the train and waiting on the train for a little over 20 minutes AFTER we were supposed to leave. Then all of a sudden an announcement comes on, the doors open, and everyone runs. Well we decide to join in. I heard something about “Tigre Tren 1” but wasn’t really paying attention. Mom, dad, and I run to the train and when we get on the train, I realize for all we know they could have said something about a bomb, who knows. Luckily we made it to Tigre. We took a boat ride around the delta and had some lunch. There was also this cute little stray puppy out there. He was black, long tail, a little chunky and precious. He had to be Arthur’s long lost brother. I mean this dog had white feet like Arthur, black toenails like him, gray around his nose from distress, the way he walked with one foot not really touching the ground. It reminded me of Arthur 100%, not to mention when I tried to give him some food he wouldn’t eat it. Once again… he acted the exact same as Arthur, well as Arthur did. It was sad because that was Arthur at one point and now Arthur has a great home. But, this little puppy doesn’t. I definitely want to go back and visit him before I leave… and pray he is there. I would spend all day playing with him. Then like always on Wednesday nights, we went to Poke. It’s really a restaurant called Magdalena’s Party where all the expats hang out. But on Wednesday nights there is a chef from California that cooks. It’s absolutely delicious. I get the same thing every time: Costa Rican Casado. It has black beans, rice, meat, lettuce, pico de gallo, and some kind of spicy sauce. I absolutely love it and continue to go every Wednesday.

Thursday we made the trek over to Colonia, Uruguay. It was awesome. It was such a beautiful day and plenty of time. The first time that I went, I went for 6 hours and that was about 4 hours too many. This time we went for about 2 hours. It was just enough time to walk around and relax. Of course dad had to drink a beer in Uruguay. There’s not much to Colonia, but when can you go to another country for $100? Not too often, so why not? There was another cute little dog there. He actually ate my crackers though, so I was happy about that. We went to have drinks with Mike, the manager of where we stayed, when we got back to the city. Then we went to Gourmet so that dad could try the empanadas. Now I think he understands why I used to eat them every day. They are delicious and cheap.

Thursday night we went home and packed up to head to Iguazu, which deserves its own blog post so,

To be continued…. (pictures below)

Stanley before Colonia

Stanley in Colonia

Colonia, Uruguay

Figuring out life

Wish you were here Matthew :(

Dad's beer in Colonia, Uruguay

Sweet puppy in Colonia

BA Gringo Stand up Comedy

wish you were here Bobo!

Happy 4th of July from Tigre, Argentina

Arthur Jr.

Mom and Dad Survive Argentina: Part 1

As everyone knows, because it’s not like I made a huge deal about it, but mom and dad came a visited the past week and a half. And let me tell you it was AWESOME. I got to sleep in a big bed, have home cooked food, go to awesome dinners, get a massage, and just spend time with my wonderful parents. We did VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) and stayed in an apartment in Recoleta. It also luckily was closer to my work, so I didn’t have to wake up as early… which was great.

Friday: I picked mom and dad up from the airport. All Thursday night, I couldn’t sleep. It was like a little kid on Christmas Eve. I was like there’s no way I’m gonna cry when I see them. Well, I was wrong. I was so happy. Talking on Skype for the past 4 months just doesn’t do it justice. The airport and customs here is surprisingly really fast. So we went to the apartment and dropped everything off. Then we went to the Brasilian Embassy to get our Visas. We had to wait and it was about 200 degrees in the building, but that’s ok. Then we went and grabbed lunch. Mom and I ordered a salad. Well, it had ZERO lettuce. Literally what was on the menu was what we got… those weren’t the toppings. Then we went back to the apartment so mom and dad could rest. I took them to eat and Club de la Milanesa for dinner. Milanesa is a typical food here. It’s either pork or chicken, fried or baked, and they beat it so it is super thin. Then you can get toppings on it. I personally love it, mainly because this place has American cheese. Then we went by Spanglish to drop off the goodies for Maya and Johanna. We came home and just chilled. I wanted to get a good night sleep in a big bed, and that I did. Of course, I made mom sleep with me. J

Saturday: Oh gosh, I can barely even remember what we did on Saturday. I know that we slept in for quite some time. Mom and dad thought that they were going to get up before me... that didn’t happen. We went and walked around the cemetery and the church right beside the cemetery. Then we picked up bagels from a friend. She used to live in the States and really missed bagels, so she started making homemade bagels in BA. They’re awesome. Then we went and had lunch in Plaza de Mayo where Casa Rosada is. We were going to do a tour through Casa Rosada, but I decided I didn't really want to. We also walked around Puerto Madero and I got to show mom and dad where I work. That night we went to Fabrica del Taco in Palermo for dinner. It’s one of my favorite places in the city and I’ve become friends with one of the cooks. Normally there is a long wait, but we’ve been able to get in pretty quick since I’ve become friends with the guy. Tom and Suji came along for dinner which was always fun. After that we came home and rested. Mainly because I was tired, mom and dad were ready to go. I think by the end of the week they realized why I’m always so tired and how tiring the city can be. 

 

Sunday: We went to the San Telmo market. Just like any other market you could think of. It was crowded, noisy, and of course… touristy. We were able to find some good things though. Mom and dad tried a choripan. They’re pretty good, but your stomach ends up hating them. Then we ventured to La Boca, the colorful but dangerous part of town. That's where the Boca Juniors stadium is located, one of the soccer teams. We went to the store later on and my 2 good friends, Maya and Johanna, came over for dinner. They had wanted some spicy food so daddy cooked his famous spicy chicken pasta. It was awesome. We all just hung out for a few hours and they drank some wine and talked. It was nice for my parents to meet the 2 girls who I hang out with all the time. We had some good conversation, so it was awesome!

                    Maya                                                                                                          Johanna 

Monday: I had to work. So back to work I went. I came home in-between my morning class and my afternoon classes so we could go pick up our Visas for Brasil. We get there and I tell them that we need to pick up our visas and they tell us to go to line 5. We talk to lady and she said oh no you’re supposed to be in line 4. There was no one in line to wait on us so we had to stand there. As we are standing there I told dad they were going to make us go back to line 5. We get up to the line and I get very irritated with the lady and she could tell. Because what does she do? Tell us that we need to go back to the other line. We go back to the other line and the lady said the problem isn’t the line, but you can’t pick them up right now. THEN WHY DID SHE TELL US TO GET IN THE OTHER LINE? WHY DIDN’T SHE TELL US IT WAS THE INCORRECT TIME? I started crying and so the lady went to the back and the visas were ready. I already knew they were ready, because I checked the status on them 3 hours before. So then I go back to work and mom and dad go out for the day alone. I was pretty nervous for them, but they made it back alive. I went to my last class of the day then came home and we just chilled. Dad cooked another awesome dinner and we just hung out, watched tv, ate, and mom rubbed my feet. Needless to say life was good.

To be continued……….

The Adventures of Flat Stanley

Well, as some of you may know, my dear friend Flat Stanley decided to accompany me on my trip in Argentina (and hopefully around South America). It's been a while since we've been able to hang out, so we've done lots of catching up these past few days. Stanley, Suji, and I went to La Boca, Spanglish, and to get some ice cream at Freddo. Stanley is still a little bit jet-lagged so we didn't get too crazy. Suji is a friend from California who I met at Spanglish... she's by far the funniest person ever. The best part is that she thinks Stanley is just as funny as I do. 

The whole Flat Stanley thing started way back in Elementary school. You would take pictures with Stanley and places he's been then send it to another classroom or person participating. So ultimately Stanley can travel all around the world. I still am just baffled by the fact that no one knows what Flat Stanley is. Clearly their childhood sucked.

While hanging out with Stanley, Suji, and other friends at Fabrica del Taco aka the best Mexican restaurant around. I heard a song faintly in the background. I could kind of make out the song, but not really. Now let me remind you this is a Mexican restaurant in Argentina, so it's already a bit off. But then all of a sudden people near me started singing and it was "Lose Yourself" and I immediately stopped and thought of John. It was perfect timing for me to just sit back and take everything in and remember John. Today was a year since his accident. That day is very blurry because I had only been out of surgery for 3 days. I vaguely remember mom saying he was in an accident and is going into surgery, but would be okay. Then 2 days later, I remember her telling me he had passed away. John and I weren't that close and didn't keep in touch or text like him and his other friends. However, no matter what every time I saw him it was like we were the best of friends.. which is what I loved about it. The days after his accident were a blur because of the pain medicine and everything. However, I will never forget heading to the Clinton's for his Celebration of Life. We tried to get there a little early because I was on crutches, but it didn't matter. There were already tons of people there. It's amazing how many people's lives he impacted in such a short short time. He'll never be forgotten.

Like always, this week was pretty uneventful. Mom and dad will be here on Friday and I cannot wait!! I am so so so excited. I've been trying to get clothes washed and things done before they get here! I feel like a little kid the week before Christmas. All of my friends are getting super excited too. They know how much I want to see my parents and they want to meet them.

Anyways, just wanted to check in and say hey. I'll try and post some pictures or something while mom and dad are here!! :)

love to everyone!

Stanley goes to the bar

Stanley meets the Sujinator

Stanley works on his Spanish

Stanley loves Quilmes

Stanley tries Fabrica

See you again, sweet angel

Maddie running away didn't end as I had hoped. I kept praying that she was just going out for an adventure and coming down to Argentina because she missed me. Unfortunately, she was found on Friday and the story ends there. I say unfortunately, but then again I am thankful she was found. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that she is at peace. I don't have to constantly think about if she's out there wandering somewhere confused. I never thought that March 2, 2012 would be the last day that I ever saw her. And honestly, had I known.. I never would have left. She's been my sidekick for the past 13 years. I don't know what it's like to be at home without her. I don't know what it will be like when I go home for the first time and she's not there. That's when it will really hit me. She's been my napping buddy, personal heater, and all around happiness the past 13 years of my life. She was right there by my side when I broke my arm, had my wisdom teeth out, had wrist surgery, had a muscle biopsy, and then the 2 awful fasciectomies. No matter what, she was always putting a smile on my face. But, I know it was her time and she is no longer suffering. But, it sucks... it really does. It was selfish of me to want to keep her around as long as possible, but I never wanted to let go. She truly is man's best friend and I will never forget her.

RIP Sweet Angel, we love you and miss you.

Maddie Watkins 4/25/99-6/15/12

On a happier note, mom and dad will be here in 12 days!!!!! I'm getting so excited! Who ever thought it was a good idea to go 4 months without seeing them was #wrong! It will be a nice break from a world full of crazies. Well I guess they aren't completely normal, but as close as it gets!! And way more sane than most of the people here :) There's not much going on down here. It's still pretty chilly. Good news is that in August it will slowly start warming up! I'm excited for that... I need some warm weather in my life! One of my students  got fired last week and now the other 2 want to try and change the classes. At this point in time, I really don't care. As much dumb stuff that has happened since the time I started teaching, I really could careless. There is no organization to this culture and no respect for other's time. Which is fine, I've learned patience since I've been here. I've also learned patience with the fact that people call me Anne. I hate it and I want to punch the people who do it. My name is Annelise. If I wanted you to call me Anne, I would have introduced myself as Anne. I don't care if you can't pronounce it, at least try. It drives me absolutely crazy. Don't call me Anne and then get mad because I don't respond. It's not me being rude, but I don't know any Anne's. My name is Annelise and forever will be. Not that difficult. 

Ok, I'm done ranting. This might be my last post for a while. I've gotta start getting things ready for mom and dad to get here. They come for 10 days then 2 days after they leave Emily gets here! So I've got a pretty busy July and I couldn't be happier to see the people I love most!

love -A

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you. Thank you for everything!

"Love Knows not it's own Depth until the Hour of Separation"

Well, we're back on the roller coaster of emotions. Hey, who knew roller coaster wasn't one word... not me! It's amazing how much pain people can endure just to be overjoyed with happiness a few days/weeks/months/years later. In the past year and a half so much has happened, and it has been a roller coaster. For the most part, the good has out-weighed the bad. As many of you know, and if you don't know.. I don't know why you are creepily reading this... my granddad passed away in February of 2011 after suffering PSP. However, with that downfall we officially adopted Arthur, the little rascal. Three months later, I tragically lost a friend. A month after that, I had my LAST surgery on my leg which inevitably changed my life for the better. However, unfortunately a few short days later, another friend tragically lost their life. Then in August, mom's entire side of the family got together for a memorial service/celebration of life for Feepapa. In December, I graduated from Clemson!!! Then three months later I decided to move to Argentina. A month or so after being here my grandmother got sick. I felt like my world was crashing down. I barely had any friends and the language barrier didn't help.. the last thing I needed was for something to happen to my best friend in the entire world. Luckily, she is doing great and I couldn't be happier... or so I thought. Everything was great on my end, mom and dad are coming in less than 3 weeks and life here is getting easier. Little did I know what was going on back home with my sweet angel, Maddie. My poor baby just celebrated her 13th birthday. She's old and gets disoriented very easily. Apparently she had wandered out of the electric fence twice and everyone had to search for her, but was finally found. However, on Saturday night she wandered off and has still not been found. I know she is old and inevitably we were going to lose her... I just don't want it to be this way. I knew it was coming eventually, but who knows what she is thinking right now. I am just as lost and confused is she is. She's my world, my rock, who I go to when things get bad. Yeah, I know... white girls and their dogs.  We had another dog before Maddie, but only for 6 months before she died. I've had Maddie for 13 years... that's a long time. I hope and pray someone finds her... and SOON! I don't know what it's like to go home and not be greeted by her kisses... that's all I've ever known for the past 13 years. Obviously it hurts so bad now, but nothing will be worse than walking into my house in November where I left her 8 months ago and her not being there. Everyone, please keep praying she comes home!! With that being said, I couldn't be more happier that we have the 1 man party now.  I don't even know what life would be without having a dog, especially one to come home to in November. No matter how sneaky he thinks he is and how weird he may be for not liking cheez-its, I still love him.  God has a plan, no matter whether or not we like it.. He is in control of the situation. As hard as it is, I have to constantly remind myself that.

Ok, on to something HAPPY! Mom and dad will be here in 18 days!!!!! I'm super excited. I've been trying to sort out a few details with getting our visa's to go to Brasil and figuring out places to go eat while they are in BA. Nothing too exciting has been going on recently. The dollar situation down here is awful. I have a friend going back to the states for 2 days JUST to get dollars out of the bank. It's crazy. This country never ceases to amaze me, there's always something crazy going on. Friday night, like always I went to Spanglish. I hung around with Maya and Johanna for a bit and talked. Thank God for them! Then came home and skyped a friend until 7am... dumbest idea ever! Seriously, I thought I was going to die on Saturday. I went to an Underground Market Saturday afternoon. Everything here is super unorganized so of course it was nuts. It was in an old factory which was pretty cool. There were a bunch of people from the states who cooked items and were selling them... like red beans and rice, bagels, chocolate chip cookies! The bagels and chocolate chip cookies were delicious. I am so glad that I got them, so nice to have a bite of the US sometimes. After that I literally could not keep my eyes open any longer so I came home and napped then went to Spanglish again. There were SO many people there.. it was awesome! Unfortunately it ended on a bad note with a friends bag getting stolen with her DNI, credit cards, house keys, etc. Like I said... something is always happening in this country.

Today was interesting. I had my classes and was obviously still upset about Maddie. I got very frustrated in the first one towards the end because I just wanted to skype mom to see if there was any update. I'll have to apologize to them on Wednesday. Then I had my classes at Duke Energy. The lady from HR came to observe one. This is the class that complains about absolutely everything. They told me that they liked a lot of conversation and that's what they wanted, but then complained to HR that we talked too much. That's not the case, it was an equal medium of both. Anyways, the HR lady observed for part of the class. Of course, we were talking about employee benefits and not being motivated by the company, all of that kind of stuff. None of my students said anything because they were nervous since the HR lady was there. They didn't want to say the wrong thing, which I'm sure made me look bad. She just picked a bad day to come. The lesson was planned and everything, but I had to semi-alter it because I could tell the students were super uncomfortable. So it'll be interesting to see how that goes.

That's all for now! Hope everyone is doing well. Please keep praying that Maddie finds her way home safely!

love -A

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! 

Another 90 days

Hi everyone! Just a quick update about life here in BA. I'm supposed to be at class in an hour and have to start the journey their shortly.

Life seems to finally be falling in to place, which is making deciding whether to stay or come home early a little difficult. I finally got the books for ALL of my classes I'm teaching which is such a big help. I no longer have to stress out everyday about what I am going to teach. It's been such a relief this past week. Friday I was supposed to go to the Brazilian embassy to get my visa and go buy a sube card. A sube card is just a charged card that you use for the buses. Monedas (coins) are almost nonexistent here and you can only use coins on the bus. It's such a pain in the ass to be completely honest. I have to buy things constantly that I don't want/need in order to get coins. However, I woke up at 9am on Friday. I opened the window before I was going to shower and it was raining. So naturally, I climbed back in bed and did absolutely NOTHING all day. Luckily I don't need my visa right this second. And the sube card is going to have to wait. Mercedes luckily has one, so she is nice enough to trade cash for coins. I went to Spanglish Friday night like always and met some pretty cool people. Hopefully they will be there this Friday night.

It's hard to believe that I've been here almost 90 days. The only reason I know this is because my visa is close to expiring. When my visa is about to expire I have 2 choices: leave the country or go to immigration. Apparently going to immigration is pretty painful and it's actually cheaper to leave the country for the day. You can also only extend your visa at immigration once, so I've been told to save that for the one time I absolutely have zero time to go. I guess there is a 3rd option, just don't renew your visa the entire time you're in Argentina and then pay a fee when you leave the country. However, I have been told that if you overstay your visa for quite a bit of time, they don't let you back in the country for a year. I probably would have done that except for the fact that before I leave I want to travel around South America and then fly back out of Buenos Aires. I don't want to risk not being able to enter back into the country.

 So Saturday morning, Analia and I hopped on to Colonia Express and went to Uruguay for the day. It was such a sweet little town. It made me think of Rock Hill. Not exactly, but after being in Buenos Aires, that's what it reminded me of. Unfortunately it was cold and overcast, but I didn't care. It was so so nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the big city for the day. We met a girl from Colorado who was also leaving to renew her visa. The 3 of us went to lunch at a cute little cafe. They had a Gwinnett County, Georgia license plate hanging on the wall, so I knew we were in the right place. They also had apple sauce and my word it was heaven. It was such a great day all around. I'm so glad that my visa was about to expire so that I had a reason to leave. After I got back from Colonia, I went to Spanglish - of course! Afterwards, I went to dinner with a few old friends and then some new ones. Two of the new guys were from Argentina and the other one was from Chicago, studying abroad. He's only here until August, but hey that's better than nothing. He's the first person that I've met who is just beginning their trip. Normally everyone I meet is close to leaving.

Last night I went to Lauren's with Analia for some tea and just to talk. Okay, they drank tea, I ate ice cream, and we talked. I still can't get used to the whole tea thing. I'm so thankful that I did TEFL with them and was able to make 2 great friends here. Yeah I have friends here, but it's hard to really know someone when you see them every 2 or so weeks. Luckily the 3 of us live within 10 blocks of each other and don't have to plan anything. We just randomly decide to meet up, which is great!

We have a "long" weekend this weekend. I don't know what "holiday" it is now, but the holiday is on Friday. Naturally, I'm not happy about this because I don't work on Fridays anyways. So it isn't really a long weekend... it's just a normal weekend. But ya know it works out perfectly. I normally get homesick on long weekends because I get bored. Unfortunately this weekend I wanted to go to Mendoza (wine country) with an International students group, but they aren't getting back until Monday morning.. so I can't do that.

This actually ended up not being so short... I think because I have no reason to walk in the rain to my next class. I could take the bus, but that would meany using coins, so it's not worth it!

Love you all! I'll post pictures later... it's taking too long now.