Photos

My Basketball Team Sub19 excuse my red face! The girls here call me Nati, quite hard to get used to that after my whole life of being Tish! :)

After a few deep and meaning full posts here are some of my photos

One of my cousins! So cute :)

Countdown App 29/09/2014 And the Money of Argentina


The money here is very similar to paper, it's very easy to rip and write on, and is not good around water! There
biggest note is 100 pesos which is worth about $15 NZD and there smallest note is 2 pesos equal to about
30 nz cents. They also have a 5 cent coin which is not even worth one cent in NZ! Missing from this picture
is the 50 peso note

The story of an Exchange student

This is such an accurate quote. How would I have been able to experience this amazing experience, without leaving my comfort zone? Don't let me kid you with all my happy posts, it's not all amazing. The truth is it is hard. To start with the language barrier poses a very hard challenge! I have mastered the art of charades and facial expressions, in order for people to get what I'm saying. The downside to a different language is you can't always tell if you have been understood properly and you can't always tell if you have understood what the other person has said! Here I have to look at people when they talk and read their body language and facial expressions to fully understand. This makes the conversation a lot more engaging and I find I tend to not day dream as much and actually listen to the person! 

At an AFS mini orientation last week they said to us, not everyone could do what you are doing, you are brave and we congratulate you for that.

That stuck with me, and I have thought a lot about it. It would have been very easy for me to stay in Kaikoura, the same town I have been in for my whole life, go to a school that I have been going to for 4 years, speak the same language that I have spoken all my life and be around the people I am most comfortable with. But instead I chose to leave everything in order to experience a different life and culture on the other side of the world. And yes this takes guts. A lot of people were very surprised that I was going to do an exchange. Natisha, the shy and quiet girl. They said "Aren't you scared?" "Will you miss your family?" Yes of course I was and I still am getting used to it now. The truth is not everybody can be an exchange student. Not everyone would be willing to take this giant leap of faith.

In the last week of NZ life and first week of ARG life I doubted myself too, I never truly knew if I had the courage to do this. It felt like a dream for such a long time and now I'm living it. Whenever people laugh when I don't understand or say stupid or mean things, I feel a bit embarrassed and sad. But really I should just hold my head high, I am here doing something so new and scary and they are still living their same lives they have for a long time. It takes real courage and grit to get through the hurdles this exchange poses and I am going to have to gather all of mine in order to make this exchange amazing. I came to Argentina to find myself and become more confident and day by day I am discovering new things. 

This will be unforgettable but challenging experience that will stick with me forever. 

If you have read this far I hope this post will make you think too. I didn't mean for this to be a negative post, but it's more like all my thoughts finally written. I am happy here, everyday I am able to communicate better and feel more at home here. I have discovered that little things make a hell of a difference. Today one of my friends said "Ah you are getting a lot better at understanding now!" That made me so happy to hear that, and just that little sentance made me feel a lot better and confident. Here I have learned to appreciate every moment and take everything just one step at a time.

 

2 Weeks

Today marks the 2 week mark that I have been here. Do you ever feel like time is going so fast but yet so slow? That describes my first two weeks perfectly. In New Zealand days went so fast and 2 weeks wasn't really a long time. I remember saying my goodbyes like it was yesterday and still get a bit teary when I think about them. Here in the weekdays I get up at 6.20am and don't go to sleep until 10.30-11ish so that makes the days super long. Finishing school at 12.30pm means it leaves half of the day to do whatever I please.
 Here the city doesn't come alive until about 6pm, everyone goes out to buy groceries, meet their friends and anything else in the center. This is a massive difference to New Zealand as by that time everyone is going home for dinner.
FAMILY
I still have to get to the social aspect of this lifestyle! I'm not used to being around so many family and other people all the time! Not that it's a bad thing, it makes everything more interesting! Yesterday my host family wrote down all the members of their family on a piece of paper, in total it was over 75 people, and that was only counting 1st cousins and their parents!! Then I wrote mine down and it was only 41..
Here I have noticed family is extremely important. They are always talking on the phone, going to see them or having dinner together. They are all very close and have a special bond with each other. This made me think about my family, no we aren't all as close as them and hardly have whole family gatherings but what we have is different. Neither family relationship is better, they are just different.

FOOD
Almost all the food I have come across here is really delicious. Asado (outdoor style of cooking) and the Empanadas are my favourite so far. These are not too different to New Zealand foods (surprise, surprise), Asado is very similar to having a BBQ in NZ but the meat has a different taste because of the way it's cooked. Empanadas are sort of a pastry with a type of meat inside then are deep fried. Wow, wow so yummy, must take a close up photo of them! Here the pastries from the Panderia (bakery with mostly sweet foods) are amazing! Very sweet and flavorsome, so different from anything I have tried in NZ before. I have also noticed I haven't had a decent amount of vegetables since I've been here, never thought I would miss Veges... But I do! If we do have veges it's potatoes, these little bean things, carrots or a little bit of corn. But here they aren't cooked separately so what ever vegetable it is, it is in the sauce of the food.
Also here they do not drink much water, every meal is served with a fizzy drink or juice. I find this hard but I always carry a drink bottle!
I need to take a photo but here milk is in bags and so is yogurt! The yogurt that I have had so far is very watery, kind of like thick milk! Still yummy, but it's quite different to what I'm used to haha :)
Also the other day I saw potato salad in a tin.. yup, gross :/
An amazing thing here is the Dulce de Leche. It's essentially caramel spread but so much better! You have it with everything here, the best is with peanut butter (NZ brought, they don't have it here) on crackers!

Update

Things I've noticed over my first week here
-People are very inquisitive, they look extra closely at people's body language and facial expressions and notice everything. It's quite normal to be asked how are you feeling? or is everything alright? by people that you don't really know or have much to do with.

-I'm not sure if it is just my host family or, General Roca, but people don't really wear seat belts here. I always put mine on just out of habit, but still it's quite weird feeling for me to be in a car on busy roads without a seat belt...

-The personal space bubble is noticeably smaller here. In NZ we seem to keep from being too close to people but here no one really cares! Boys and girls will come and sit right beside you or rest their legs or whatever on you, it's just normal here

-It's still a weird feeling for me kissing people on the cheek when I meet them. Maybe it's because I'm a bit shy? I'm not sure haha. When your with a big group of people you kiss everyone on the cheek before leaving, and that could be like 20 other people haha.

-I'm kind of tall here compared to the girls in my class.. I NZ I'm a pretty average height but here I find it funny that I'm considered tall

-People say my name is very hard to pronounce, especially my last name! In spanish a J  is an H sound and an e is very pronounced so it sounds like Ho ness when they say it... Also argentinians can't really say 'sh' so Tish ends up sounding like Tis haha...
-It's normal for kids and teenagers to be out late playing in the streets or walking around, I went to a birthday party last night and we were playing soccer in the street until about midnight!

-I was invited to join a basketball club. We train on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8-9. It's pretty fun and all the girls are pretty nice to me, so that makes it a lot better :) I have my first game on Saturday, I doubt I'll play much because I'm pretty new to the team, but I'm still looking forward to it!

First days of school

Here I go to a public school called Cemn 107. Since it's public it means no uniform :) I am in 4to, which is the eqvuiliant to year 12 in NZ. My school is a lot more relaxed and casual than little old KHS.
The day starts at 7.30 (!) and we go to the gym to see the flag being raised and the principal talks to us, then we head off to our classes. I have 7 each day with about 3 recreos (breaks) of anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Even after 3 days I can't work out the bell times! Then we finish at 12.30 to go home to have lunch, then on a Monday and Wednesday we have gimnasio from 2-3 which is pretty much just playing sports :) This week we played Basketball, Volleyball, Handball and a game kind of like dodgeball but I have no idea what it is called...
For the most part gimnasio is my favourite part of school, it's so fun and I find it's way easier to understand Spanish if I'm able to see them demonstrate what they are talking about!
As I said we have 7 classes a day everyday so that's 35 classes!
Here you don't get to pick your classes and you are with the same people in the same classroom everyday, all year.
My subjects are
-Maths
-Biology
-Geography
-French
-C.O.E which is communication, we study what's happening in the world and read newspapers etc
-Sociology
-Problematicas, which is basically a class about university and we learn about different courses and things to study
-History
-Historia educativa, the name means history of education so interesting.. not
-Literature
-Physical education

DIFFERENCES
-The class is very plain, because it's the teachers that move around not us
-If the teacher is not at school, there's no class!
-They use blackboards
-They call the teacher profe (Oy profe!) short for professor (teacher in spanish)
-It's normal to throw stuff around the room all the time
-They sing a lot! Bang the desks, whistle, chant etc.
-Everyone stays inside the class room the whole day, unless if they are going to the canteen or bathroom
-Some classes the teacher will talk the whole time, others don't do anything and it's quite common for the teacher to dicate (they speak, we write)
-Hardly anyone knows english, not even the teachers
-Everyone wears Jeans and Hoodies all the time, even when it's really hot!

School is getting better because I have made friends that help me understand and help me do the work. When we had french we basically spent the whole 2 hours looking through spanish-english dictionaries and the girls were teaching me different words and phrases.
They were very surprised when I told them we didn't have lunch at home, they thought that it sucked haha

My first days

It is taking me quite a bit to adjust to hearing, speaking and reading Spanish all the time! When there is lots of people around I find it pretty hard to understand anything and I think my brain shuts off a little haha. My host family are very good though, they speak very slowly so I can understand and try to include me all the time.

Differences I have noticed
-Milk is in a bag
-They eat Pan (bread) all the time
-Toilet paper doesn't get flushed it goes into a bin beside it...
-All meals are eaten together with all the family
-There are stray dogs everywhere

Random things I know!

Meal times
desayuno Breakfast : about 10ish or whatever time you get up, bread and crackers
almuerzo Lunch : 2pm this is usually a big meal with one or two courses
merienda Afternoon Tea: 6pm usually tea or some kind of drink with biscuits and bread
cena Dinner: 10-10.30pm ish this took a lot of getting used to! A smaller meal than almuerzo

The times here are so different than New Zealand. On the weekends we can sleep as long as we want (until 12 or even 1), and we go to bed very late, about 12.30 or 1ish
Really different to NZ when I would get up about 9ish on the weekends and go to bed about 9.30-10.30pm

I start school on Monday! (tomorrow) I'm going to Cem 107 which is a public school so that means no uniform! It starts very early though about 7.30 ish :O and finishes about 1 or 2 I think. That will be a totally new experience, but I'm preparing myself to not understand much haha. I find the people here speak sooo fast and and their words jumble into one! There are even people who get out of breath when they speak haha.

Also another thing I noticed is people are very affectionate! When you meet someone you kiss them on the cheek and hug them no matter who it is. Also when you leave and say goodbye you do the same. People here are very open with things like PDA and what they ask.

Sorry for the jumbled post but I just wanted to write something so I could tell you about my experience so far :) I hope you liked it!

My journey so far..

My travel to Argentina was very long! It all started at 6am on Wednesday morning when I woke up and had to say some hard goodbyes to my family :( Then there was the 2 hour trip to Christchurch with Mum, Aunty Penny and Nana. I finally left the good ol' Canterbury soil at 11.30 to catch my plane to Auckland. That part was probably the hardest part of the journey :'( After getting to Auckland I found out my plane to Chile was delayed for 2 hours! And man did I panic, I had a slim connection time to Buenos Aires any way with out a delay! The flight was 11 hours 20 minutes and it passed quite slowly... Then I basically had to run to my gate to catch the plane to Buenos Aires and ended up with 10 minutes to spare! After that flight I was greeted by an AFS volunteer and taken in a bus for an hour to get to the domestic airport. There I waited for about 5 hours for my final flight to Neuquen where I would meet my host family. I was literally asleep on my feet by then, having only about 3 or so hours sleep! But as soon as I landed I was so excited. I saw them through the gates with an argentina flag and a big banner saying Bienvendios Tish :) My host mum took photos so I will have to get those from her :) After that I was greeted with hugs and kisses and I already felt they were really nice :)