Dia Numero Uno

I'm exhausted. This has been a long and difficult day. it started out well b/c I ended up having a 2 person row to myself for my flight. Once in the air i started reviewing my Spanish but quickly got distracted by all of the good movie choices. I ended up watching Taken. Umm not the best choice for someone who is going through basically the same experience as the girl that gets kidnapped...Needless to say it kind of freaked me out b/c I am very aware of the fact that my father does not possess the skills to find me and kill my kidnapers if i was sold as a sex worker. (if you don't know the movie, read the plot of it so this makes sense).

I then proceeded to sleep for 7 hours! I didn't think the was possible on a flight unless you had Niquil. I actually had legitimate dreams, that's how good i slept. Weird. When i woke up a snack was in my lap and I only had 51 minutes before landing. That's when i started freaking out. I had only made it through reviewing Spanish 1 material... not good.

I guess the highlight of the trip was getting my very own white face mask to wear while the surly flight attendant sprayed the cabin with insecticide. haha wtf?? Swine Flu really messes things up. I had an additional form to fill out just about my personal health.

Its funny, you watch movie about the "future", like the year 2018, as if I won't live to see that time, and you see the world as being full of destruction, disease, war, and robots and think "I'll ever experience that". Well putting on the masks and seeing everyone getting off their planes w/ the masks on makes the whole situation pretty surreal. ----Cue flamboyant male flight attendant scolding people not wearing their masks: "Do you want to die sir?" lol

Once i retrieved my luggage i found 2 people from my program who were on my flight. They were both from Texas, actually over half of my group is from Texas. There is only one of girl besides my self who is a Yankee. I never thought I'd be the minority being from the north. Unfortunately for my new friends their luggage didn't make it onto our flight and they have to wait till tomorrow to get it. Real glad that wasn't me.

Once we got through customs, we met our group, kissed our guides Paula and Sol (my first cheek kiss), and waited for the rest of the ISA group to arrive. Just so you don't make my mistke, its only one cheek kiss, not two. whoops. We then boarded a bus and headed to the University of Belgrano to meet our host families.

When we arrived all of these older women and men were lined up gossiping to one another. All of the kids ran to the window and started making predictions as to who their parents were. I felt like I was on the Price Is Right: we waited for the guides to call our name and claim our prize, i mean families :) Once i was called i met the wonderful Blanca aka Mimi and Andrea.

Andrea didn't speak a word of English and Mimi wasn't much better, at first. Mimi was a doll. She was very patient with me and tried to communicate as best as possible. I literally just had to go with it b/c there was no way to translate. I got the gist of what she said and she only had to resort to the Translation dictionary three times. Success!!! haha

Andrea made a lunch of potato and meat and i got a chocolate mousse dessert. So good. So much for my diet?!!?! After that Mimi showed me all the past girls that had stayed with her and talked about the rules of the house. I got to shower and then i unpacked. The apartment was beautiful. It has personal security guards and an elevator that goes directly to our door. Sweet... I also have a bathroom to do my business and a bathroom to shower, plenty of space, EXCELLENT location, and wonderful accommodations. 

When it was time for me to go to the ISA meeting mimi called me a taxi, kissed me goodbye, and sent me on my way ALONE. Well, we got to where the driver was told to go but i couldn't find the building anywhere. I started to panic a little and i asked for directions but it took me to the same place. Day 1---first outing alone---already lost with no phone, no map, no help. Bueno! Instead of panicking i just figured I would walk back the way i came. I saw a girl walking with what looked like grandma so i asked if they were from ISA and sure eough they were. I found the building with them. Horray! It turns out Mimi told the driver 974 when the building was actually 874. Regardless, i made it and was relieved to be able to open my mouth again to speak actually sentences. 

Federico was another guide who told us some useful information. He told us that it is normal to spend the night elsewhere instead of at our home. He actually encourages it. He says that's why they invented hotels bahhhhhh!!! He continued to tell us that people here make out in public like its their job. We should not be frightened by excessive PDA or nakedness (??!?!). Lastly, he warned the ladies that since kissing is so public, when a guy asks you back to his place he's expecting "everything". wow. good to know.

...moving on, after the meeting i explored the main street with a big group of ISA people. We set off to find adaptors, convertors, phone cards, and cell phones. Well 2 out of 4 'aint bad? It was really difficult communicating but somehow i was able to purchase a phone and phone card only to realize after buying the phone that i needed a different phone card. Perfecto! i can only pray that the phone actually works once it is activated in the next 24 hours. Not only do i have to place into the right Spanish class, i also have to survive for the next month basically alone. oy! yeah, i'm starting to feel overwhelmed.

I walked home and found a school with an outdoor enclosed soccer filed where adult men were competing and i also found the free impromptu tango lessons that occurs every night right down the street from me. very cool. I ate dinner @ 8pm and I decided to call it a night. enough is enough for day 1. lol as i write this my neighbors are blasting techno/house music, oh wait now its Sting (right on!). hahaha  So this is how its gonna be for the next month??

yup, the adventure has certainly begun.