The title of this blog translates to: "You have an elephant. It seems to me that it is large." However, if you sing it...in spanish...it's sort of fun. Okay- done with that. It's been awhile since my last update but truth be told- life has been pretty normal. Normal, you ask? At least as normal as walking around in a city bumbling through a language you can't quite speak or understand and being able to drink legally and taking a forty minute bus to school can be. Yes, all is well in the life of Emily. This is the scary part- remember that 12 days into this blog? I am now over 70 days in, and my time here is half over! This, I do not like one bit. But the idea of seeing my friends and family again...well - lets just say I don't like to think about them that much because if I did I would constantly be in tears. Regardless- here are some of the things I have been doing. During the olympics, a few of us went to a bar and watched the game- Argentina won. Of course we did- we are amazing. Here is dana sporting the Argentine flag. Also as an outing we visited the botanical gardens, which are close to Plaza Italia, not to far from home, and the showed little skits as we walked through the gardens. There, you can almost imagine life without the constant sirens and honking and pigeons and trash, but not quite. Cigarette butts still litter the ground and you can still hear the car alarms that permeate my life and the city. Here is part of a skit- the character was convinced that the trees could talk. I would hug them too, if they talked. Wouldn't you? Oh yeah! I went to Mar Del Plata! That was fun, but I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I was so cold, I doubt I could have even pressed the button as many times as I would have liked if I had had it on me. Even when I did have it, the house was so full of smoke from a fire that we could not light that my poor little Sony Cyber shot could not handle it. 
Anyways- It went something like this. "Hey, so my host brother- he has this friend. Who has a Mansion in Mar Del Plata. And they want us to go and stay with them for the weekend. They will drive us. It's free." So I went. Missed my first class ever and it was totally worth it! It was basically just a weekend of good times, good booze, and (soon to be) good friends. I met alot of people and watched some horrible horror movies, but had a blast and lived the rock star life style, even if it was just for a few days. Here is a bunch of the crowd on the peer on the nastiest beach ever, haha. Que mas? Brooke, Katyln and I left Mar del Plata early to do the outing that weekend- which was La Estancia. It was a TOTAL tourist trap but I loved it. The day started out with a variety of things to do. The first being riding a horse around a little field, you could take a tractor ride...but really- I drove a tractor before I drove a car, so where is the fun in that? Anyways, I opted for taking pictures of people in this really neat tree that looked like a hand. And I rode the horses. Which was fun. Hadn't done it since...lordie know when. Anyways, after that, we had lunch with unlimited EVERYTHING. Water. Wine. Meat. Chicken. Chorizo. Blood Sausage (which i tried!). Potatoes. Ensalada. It was excellent and then there was some cultural singing, dancing, and despues we watched a gaucho show. And I got un besito on the cheeck from a gaucho. It was great. I also got to see Carpinchos, which are creepy dog rabbit things. And I caught a baby pig. And it hated me- as you can see from the picture here. A few more things, just to go through the motions. School: I am taking four classes. Spanish, which is good and fun, Latin American Nobel Prize Winners- the teacher is native porteño but speaks English with an english accent. It is funny as all hell. Latin American Short Story Writers- Too early in the morning but the class is okay and the material isn't bad, and the teacher is cool. Last, and certainly least: Impacts of Globalization. The three hours of torture in my week. I have plenty of amazing friends here- the group of girls is cooler than I ever could have expected. Jaclyn, who often offers insight on the strangest subjects and is usually down for anything and everything, Rachel, my movie popcorn gym twilight fan buddy. Oh, I want to explain all of them but it will take too long. Linda, Jen, Melissa, Cristina, Katelyn, Dana, Brooke...alot of good ones that I love and cherish already and can't imagine leaving. We are going to Iguazu in a few weeks, and I am so excited!!!! And then...drum roll please! On October 10th Ms. Christine Nelson will be making an appearance at the EZE international airport and I will be there waiting for her. I can't wait. Matt and Tricia are in town now with Wyatt- date with them on Friday. Roree Phillips is also tucked away somewhere in this crazy country...it's a jungle out there kiddies!!!! Have a very fruitful day. A few more pictures- because that's how I roll. Me and Rachel being great, and also one day i decided to give out free hugs. I even got some. :)
For more photos: Facebook albums here: La Estancia, More Estancia, and some more random photographs.
