My first day in Argentina, after getting to sleep at around 3am I woke at 9am ready for my day. I had crossaints and cake for breakfast and started my plan for my stay discussing when Belu was free and what we wanted to do together.
We then went for a walk around Carapachay her suburb and went to sort my transport card. We then went into Buenos Aires where I visited the Argentina Guiding Association shop. It was really cool to see their uniform, badges and kneckers and meet fellow guides from another country.
We then came back home where we went shopping for Chocotorta ingredients and ate cake and Mate before heading to Belens friends house for a BBQ and to make the Chocotorta a buicuit cake. I don't think Mate is for me!
I met many of her friends which were super nice and tried to speak English with me. It was great to hear their lanuage and feel closer to them all at their house, with their food and culture. We left at around 1am and got home and went straight to sleep.
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The next day I didn't do much as I wanted to feel more comfortable at home and enjoy some time to myself.
I had a great long chat with Belens Brother and sister and they ended up showing me all of their Mate cups which is a type of tea of here that it very important and they collect the cups wherever they go. They're also made out of pumpkin.
In the evening when Belu returned I had Empanadas for dinner and ice cream with another group of her friends that she went to school with. They were lovely and could speak English, some really good, some only a little. They were a very nice group.
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Today I went out by myself to Palmero, I was very nervous traveling alone as I couldn't speak the lanuage and hadn't travelled alone anywhere in months due to always being with Carys in America. It was a lovely city to see and I got to explore many gardens including a rose garden, botanical gardens and ecopark which used to be a zoo and now has a few animals still there. It was great to see some traditional Argentinan animals.
I walked around a lot and got to read my book. It was very peaceful and nice to be on my own for a bit.
They returned on the bus and spent all evening talking to Belens Mum and Dad about Australia and then called my own parents who spoke to them.
We had the earliest night we have had since me arriving and I had a lovely nice sleep.
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Today I had a very long nap in the afternoon and enjoyed some time to read my book, rest and eat.
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Today I got up nice and early to get ready to join Belen at Guides. She starts with her 5 year olds at 11am util 2:30. Today they were going on a walk to get ice cream. It was a rainy and pretty chilly day so we only had the 4 Guides out of there usual 9. The Guides were very cute and all were very nervous to begin with but warmed upto me very quickly. They were able to speak a little English and say hello and tell me what colours they knew. They did however enjoy talking into my phone in Spanish and it translating to me in English. They taught me how to play their version of tag and how they do some painting. We then had lunch before playing on the park. They loved this and enjoyed very much playing with me on the park. We then walked to the ice cream shop about 10-15 minutes away. We then all enjoyed an ice cream, I got Dulce de Leche and cookie flavour it was very good.
We then walked back where they got picked up and one of the girls decided to jump all over me and sing let it go or as in Spanish... Libra Soy. A girl after my own heart.
We then joined the Guides to Rangers in there meeting. They began with a march and flag ceremony, a guide from another unit then came to visit and share their recent trip to South Korea as part of the World Guiding Jamboree. The whole presentation was in Spanish but it was great to see all the badges and kneckers they had collected. They then showed groups of the Guides their photos so the guides decided to come and speak to me and practice their English. Which was great. I the joined the older Guides with their meeting of painting the cupboard doors in the storage room. They all asked me heaps and heaps of questions but it was lovely to get to know some other Guides and participate in some service.
We then left to get ready for a night out with Belens friends.
Tonight we spent the evening exploring a lot of the musuems, as they were having a free night for everyone to enter the musuems for free. We started at the Woman's bridge which is called this as the structure of the bridge is shaped lie the famous tango pose of the woman laying on the man's arms, the arm sticking up is the man's arm and the base of the bridge is said to be the woman's body. I was hoping for a bit more of a feminist story, but this was still interesting.
We then went to a Market where we watched people doing the tango and see little market stalls.
We then explored a musical museum that was a very old and beautiful building with no roof that had two woman performing Argentinian songs.
I then got to sit in the driver's seat of a bus and honk the horn, I was very loud and I loved it. I then enjoyed a musuem that was created in the old bank, this had an English translation which was great and I loved reading about how and why it was converted into a musuem. We then went into this underground art musuem which was pretty cool before grabbing some Empanadas for dinner- so delicious!!!!!
We then caught a very long and busy bus home where I was holding on for Dear life. We then all fell asleep on the bus before catching an uber and car home from the final bus stop.
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After a nice long sleep in, Belens "chosen family" as they all call it, full of all her parents best friends who are all each other's godparents and children's godparents, arrived at the house for a big BBQ. We enjoyed a pre-BBQ meal of bread, cheese, ham and olives, before tucking into some pulled pork sliders- as I would call them. It was very good and they were all so lovely to talk to. They all understood English and some could speak to me so they got me to say my life story and how I had met Belen. I shared plenty of stories and photos!!!
We then rushed away to Belens friends house to re-meet her mates and meet some new ones. We enjoyed some sweets and pastries and played a trivia which Belen and I ended up winning- first time in my life!! We then enjoyed some homemade Empanadas which I enjoyed helping to make!
We then headed home to bed.
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Today I decided to recover from the weekend and spend all morning in bed and then enjoy a walk around there town before eating lunch and having a lazy afternoon before Belen returned.
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Today I headed out on my own to Recoleta, the capitol city in Buenos Aires. I headed by train and enjoyed seeing the famous "Torres monumental" a monument clock tower that was given by Britian as a present when Argentina become independent. I call it " mini big ben".
I then saw the Falklands war monument with the Argentinan flag flying.
I then went for a long walk to the obelisco another present from Britain for their independence. This is an impressive structure as I find it very similar to the Washington Monument.
I then had some lunch and tried to hold off entering the rain but giving up once I saw the rain wasn't going anywhere!!
I walked in the rain around different monuments and historical buildings including the " Teatro Colón" an old theatre, the "El Antereo Grand Splendid" an old theatre converted into a library, I loved it here and had only wished I'd been able to read the books!!!
I then walked to the Plaza de Mayo where I saw the Pink house where the mayor lives and San Martin's grave a very famous man here in Argetina who fought for the Independence of Argentina.
I then took the train back home to warm up and enjoy some good dinner.
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Today was another day I decided to rest and enjoy walking around the local shopping centre and go to a lovely local park where I sat and enjoyed my book.
Belen and I then went out to the cinema, we saw Barbie the only movie in English with Spanish Subtitles. The other option was a movie in Spanish with no subtitles- not sure I'm ready for that!!
The movie was very weird but it was great to enjoy some time just the two of us and laugh our heads off.
We then did some Friends Face masks whilst watching Gossip Girl.
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Today was one of my most favourite days!! I got to go into Belens school today and meet all of her amazing children for their English lesson. They all said hello to me and introduced themselves by saying My name is... and I am ... years old. It was very sweet, and they then showed me a hello some they had learnt in English. They then started writing sentences in English about my visit and drew me lots of pictures.
I was then whisked away to meet the 4th and 5th grade students who had prepared lots of questions for me in English to improve their lanuage. It was amazing and the teachers gave such great feedback saying that the students had all written down fve questions including what's your name... how old are you... where do you live ect but almost all of the students then asked me questions they hadn't written down or prepared. I thoguht that was pretty amazing that they were able to meet me, feel comfortable and then think of questions they wanted to ask me, figure out how to say it in English, ask me and then understand my answer. I really hope they all become a lot more motivated in this subject since meeting me.
I then met the 6th grade who asked me the same sort of questions.
It was an amazing experience and I loved it!
I then joined Belen at her university, it's a very small uni but it was great to see where she goes and sit in on one of her classes despite having to read my book as I couldn't understand any of it...
We then had a little bit of food as one of her professors was leaving.
We then enjoyed some spaghetti bolognase for dinner and watched A TV show.
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Today I attended a hospital with Belen as she had a practical uni assignment to do. I attended and finished reading my book. We then had some lunch together and headed back home so that she could study for her exam tonight. I worked on a presentation I will be sharing on Sunday to her Girl Guide committee about Girl guides in Australia and my experience at Our Chalet.
Belen then headed to her exam whilst I sat and did my work and relaxed.
Belen then returned from uni and we watched some more gossip Girl before heading to bed to prepare for a busy day tomorrow.
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Wow what a busy day! I began with an early morning to an appointment and too meet another one of Belens friends. We then travelled home to eat lunch and relax a little before heading out and meeting another Girl Guide group in her region, they were around my guides age and lovely! They were working on activities for the 5 senses and I got to make my own alphahoras. They also shared their guiding transitions and songs and allowed me to share a song too. We then had to leave early to see one of her friends who's birthday it was. She spent all afternoon with her to act as a distraction as her boyfriend organised a surprise party for her. It was lovely to meet these friends and talk about life and Switzerland. We then left her at the party and headed home to get dressed before heading out to a restaurant with all her friends for her cousins party. I ate nachos and had a drink of Fernet. It was great to see her friends again talk about the past week.
We then got home to bed before another busy day tomorrow.
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1st of October
I can't believe it is already October!!! It's 20 days until I turn 20!!! Can't believe I'm gonna be an adult and out of my teenage years!
Today we got up early to attend a Guiding event with all of the older Guiding units from 14 to 18. It was all about sharing recent and upcoming events in Guiding to inspire the Guides to sign up for Guiding events. I got to do a big talk about Guides in Australia and my experience in Our Chalet. It was interesting as they didn't always understand what i was saying so everything was the translated. I then got to see pictures and be part of a presentation of the latest World Jamboree in Sourh Korea. All the Guides then gave me presents and took so many photos with me!!
It was great and I felt like a celebrity 😂😂.
We then ran for the train before heading home for lunch and then left for Tigre a lovely part of Argetina that has a big river and was where Belens dad was born and grew up. We went to the musuem where we learnt a lot about the history of Tigre and saw lots of art from Argentinian painters.
We then had Pancakes for an afternoon Marienda and headed home for a relax, dinner and long sleep.
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Today I went to the biggest University in Argentina, where Belen used to go and her brother goes. It is a beautiful university that has an amazing art faulty with lots of artwork on the walls. There was a big building with many levels and I walked up as many as was possible. Then I went for a walk in the gardens and was disappointed to see the ecological garden was closed due to renovations.
I then took the train back and had a lovely long walk back to the house.
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The next few days I spent preparing for my journey home. Saying goodbye to all her friends and family.
I was a super hard goodbye but I know we will see each other once again!
Miss you Roomie!!!
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