Supastar!

My friend's mother asked Mathis and I to help her with an advertisement for her store. It's called Marybe, and it's a really nice perfumeria (makeup store, but I think it sounds nicer in Spanish). It'll be broadcast on Channel 7, I think - the Santiago channel. Check it out!

;)

WEEEEEE! Photos! They're all out of order because this internet is a nightmare - and they're all stolen from Facebook or my family's camera - but that is A.O.K. because they're finally here.

Mmmm. Goat. (I think.)

My Frenchman :)

We're adorable when we're not fighting about my sleeping habits..

I shlurveee this photo. Flor, Huerto, & Coti.

The padres!! Gladis & Gustavo.

I shlurveee this photo as well.

Mi casaaa! So cute right?

Squinty Molly & Inti

With Rocio and Bere earlier this year..

My itty bitties <3

Ok so ya, I know they're not that much... but I really do NOT have the patience with this gas station internet.

Besos! Molly

The Saga of the New Boyfriend

OK, so let's start by saying that he's supppaaaaa cute and very French and a lil' bit clumsy.

It's fab.

Now, normally when I have a boyfriend (or boytoy) in the States, he is, you know.. whatever I want to share. My parents won't meet him for awhile, everybody is NOT all up in my business, people don't tell my parents when they've spotted me and said boy in a certain place at a certain time, etc. etc. etc.

Not the case in Argentina, because this is the land of know-it-all.

So, I had just gotten together with Mathis, and we went to a party together. I hadn't told my family I was dating him or anything, I wanted to wait it out a little bit. You know, be sure. So after this party ended, we went to a club, and I got home around 7 am. All is normal... or so I thought.

The next morning my family wakes me up for asado (YUMMMM) at about 12 pm. I sit down, all groggy and smelly and whatnot, completely unable to speak or think in Spanish, and, BAM! ATTACK!!!!

Poppa Gustavo: "Good morning lazy! How was the party last night?"
Sleepy Exchange Student: "Mmmm, it was fun..."
Gustavo: (smirk) "Uhhhh huuuhhhh.... so you went to La Sala last night, RIGHT?!?!"
Molly: (blinking, dumbfounded) "Um. Yes. How did you know that? I haven't even spoken three words yet..?"
Gustavo: (wisely, like a Buddha) "You forget, I know everything and everybody... You went to La Sala with Rosa, right??!"

(I have no idea who Rosa is. But I probably went to La Sala with her.)

Molly: "Yeah, I guess.. wait how do you know everything about my night only a few hours later?"
Gustavo: "Oh there's more.... so Mathis eh? EH?"
Molly: (shrinks into self) "Guuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh?"

He then proceeded to tell me that I had to invite Mathis over the next Sunday so they could drink beer and they could have a "chat". That would consist of only "three words". I can only hypothesize as to what those words might be.

That chat never happened, THANK GOD, for the fault of the disorganized nature of the Argentine peoples. But my family loves the Frenchman, he's always at my house, eating my mother's food and chillin. It's also really funny how my brother is always cranky with me, but when Mathis is in the house, he is the most endearing person ever.

So I got to meet Mathis' family as well. I went to go eat empanadas with them and we sat outside talking for 7 hours. Exhausting, fun, and completely Argentine. And later that week they took me to Tucuman, another province close to Santiago, so I think I've got my brownie points.

Now, I've failed to mention a crucial element of this story: Mathis is FAMOUS in this city. All the Argentine girls are in LOVE with him. Like no joke. It's a liiiil' bit ridiculous.

So I'm getting mad female hate for that one. My friends in other schools tell me they defend me to the jealous she-monsters. Hahaha. And there's this one girl in my school who has refused to speak to me since she found out, EVEN THOUGH she's had a boyfriend for nine months and has never met Mathis, just seen him on the street.

Ah, bliss. Now it's vacations and we'll just hang out in the pool all summer, eat some alfajores, maybe learn a little French...

Oh BTW this all happened like a month ago, I'm just a horrible blogger. My bad! I try, I swear..

Loooove! Molly

I never thought I'd get to say this...

The dog ate my homework.


No, not really.
He ate my uniform instead.

I don't have to go to school today!

Hahahahaha, I find this amazingly, spectacularly, mind-blowingly ironic. Especially because I actually wanted to go to school today, as there was absolutely nobody at school last week. They were all on some religious retreat.

But, such is my luck, I'm home for the day, and for the first time since I've arrived in this beautiful country, I tried to go to sleep and failed. This never happens. I am ALWAYS able to sleep. It's a talent of mine. That siesta that goes on in Santiago? From 2 to 6 pm? Where everything is closed and the streets are almost completely empty? Yeah, I own that siesta. I nap like no other.

I have other fun here besides napping, obviously. For instance, this weekend... hmmm what happened this weekend?

On Friday, I went on an adventure to the supermarket with Mathis, the French boy. I bought 50 pesos worth of chocolate (like $15/20 ish dollars, but since the dollar is stronger, 50 pesos goes a loooong way) and he bought 30 pesos of chocolate. Typical fat foreigners. But wait. It gets worse. We then ventured over to Phoebe's house (she's the hick from Pennsylvania - JUST KIDDING. Sort of. Love yins Phoebe. hahaha.) where she had a bunch of friends over, as well as her sisters friends, and we made tacos, listened to music, and watched movies until 5 am. (The best thing about Argentina-time is that 5 am is generally not considered a late hour, but rather a normal one. No parent gets mad if you call them for a ride from 3-5 am.)

So that was fun. Saturday was not as nice a day - I had a mild spat with my host dad and cancelled my Saturday plans. I figured that I didn't want to add to any tension within the house by leaving it. A good call on my part, I would say. The one comforting aspect of Saturday was that I discovered that I'm pretty good at arguing in Spanish. That must mean I'm getting better.

Aaand then, Sunday. Que lindo día... a lovely day. I went to a birthday party. It was an asado. Asado is the meat they barbeque here. Every Sunday, people get together and cook like three cows together, it's quite the festival. So I went to that party, ate a lot of really delicious meat, chatted with the extended family for a bit, and then left to go to my friend's house. I hung out there a bit, then we went to the cetro (downtown), got amazing Argentine ice cream, and did a bit of walking. We ended up at the zoo - a horrible zoo by American standards, normal by Argentine standards. Later we headed home, after drinking more coffee, and then I relaxed until I went to sleep. My 11 year old sister decided she wanted to give me a foot massage, as a bonus. All is well. A nice, calm day.



MOM - here is a picture of my in my lovely Catholic school uniform. I'll try and find some of the family when my host mom comes back from Mar del Plata. She has the camera right now.

Kisses! Molly

An interesting development...

Sniff sniff. I smell something new. A change in the family dynamic.

And it is either thanks to me, or that strange phenomenon of growing up - I'm not really sure.

Basically, this is what's happening: I have a fifteen year old brother.

(He is your typical fifteen year old boy: sometimes you just want to kill him. The other day, he wouldn't let me have the remote when ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT was on. This is a sin punishable by death. We yelled for fifteen minutes. I settled it by calling Mommy.

Being an only child, I've never really experienced the whole remote control wrestling thing. Good lord, it is exhausting. And annoying.)

His name is Inti, and he is chock-full of hormones, so sometimes he is a diva/moodmonster on a bike. When I first got here, he seemed to spend a lot more time in the house, but now - not so much. I think what's happened is that because I spend a lot of time socializing outside of the house (I'll get to that later), he has realized that he can too. I have officially made an impact. YAY.

So that's my little gem of wisdom of the day. About the socializing thing: I try and create a 80-20 balance of time inside-ouside the house. Family is important here, and every Sunday the fam gets together and eats delicious barbeque. However, I'm quite absorbed in my social life, especially because I've come to realize that if I spend too much time in the house I will have a dead sibling on my hands. So I've created my balance, and I'm glad to say it's working.

On the weekends, I hang out with friends or other exchange students. My favorite thing to do, still, is go dancing. Here it is just SO MUCH FUN. During the week, there are a few things to do, but usually I just hang out, maybe get something to eat. Santiago is tiny, and you can't really go anywhere besides a friend's house or the town center.

Hmmm what else? My Spanish is coming along well. For about two weeks I had a bit of a rut where I felt like I wasn't learning anything, but now I'm back on track. I just have to actively work on it. For instance, when I go home I usually translate some of the things I wrote down in school, it's a good way to pick up new vocabulary. I still haven't perfected the Santiago accent on the "R", probably because it's IMPOSSIBLE. Ah well.

Also, I know I haven't blogged in a while. SORRY! I've gotten pretty caught up in everything here. I'll try and work on that one. Lovelovelovelove.

Kisses, Molly

I miss the word "chill"

Because, if you think about it, "chill" is one of the greatest words ever invented. There is no Spanish equivalent. You can´t just say, "Hey, wanna chill?" It always has to be more complicated than that.

Sadness.

Other than that, I feel my español rapidly improving. I´ve even somewhat figured out out to talk in the past tense. But I still don´t speak incredibly well, which can be useful, like when some goon starts talking about his abs or something. I can pretend I don´t understand and be all "no entiendo!".

But, often, the blush gives it away. It´s times like these I really, reallllly wish I didn´t have those cute lil Irish genes. You know when you blush a little bit, and you think you´re being sneaky, but then some Argentinian points it out and yells:

"AYYYYYYYYYYY LA MOLLY ESTÁ COLORADAAAAA!!!!!!"

Fail.

It´s these embarrassing moments that are the best. I´m comfortable with my classmates, and they´re comfortable with me - comfortable enough to loudly ask me various questions, like:

a) Who´s uglier
b) Who´s cuter
c) The worst possible swear words in English
d) DO I SHOP AT VICTORIA´S SECRET?!

and so on. Then they announce my answer to their immediate vicinity, which usually entails about 12 people. Who then announce it to their immediate vicinity. You get the picture. Here, nothing is ever said in private.

But it´s all good. I feel a lot less like a zoo animal, because people have gotten used to me.

Now, I can just ... CHILL.

Blurppppp.

Yawn.

Today was my third day of school. I´m exhausted. I haven´t had my siesta today, and apparently I´ve gotten really used to them, because I feel like I´m about to fall over. Whatever.

Usually I´d just go to bed early, but they eat dinner somewhere between 11 and midnight, so that´s not gonna happen.

Anyways. I need to blog. So, here is the lowdown - IN OUTLINE FORM - on what´s up in Argentinaland.

1. School.

School is FUN. After ten years at Catholic school in D.C., I never thought I´d end up back there. But lo and behold, I attend el colegio Santa Dorotea. We pray every morning. On my first day, a nun ran up to me and engulfed me in a bear hug while saying "GRACIAAAAAAS". I was.. a little taken aback.

The kids are insanely nice, open, and friendly. I never spend a minute alone. My weekend is packed with plans with school friends. (On my first day of school, I went out with my friends Bere and Noe, as well as Bere´s boyfriend, who is certifiably insane behind the wheel. All exaggerations aside, he was tailgating bicycles and going 120 km/hr on tiny packed little city streets, all while chowing down on an enormous footlong sub. Fabulous.)

So school is good. Easy, but we do more work than many other schools in the city, so my brain is getting a little bit of exercise (besides the whole learning Spanish thing).

2. Family.

I like my family a lot. The house is comfortable, they cook great food, they speak absolutely zero English, etc. etc. etc. My mom works as a phys ed teacher for handicapped adults (autism, Down´s Syndrome, etc.), so that´s tight. My dad doesn´t work. Entonces, I hang out with my dad a lot, and he forreal forreal knows what´s up. We have excellent conversations, all in Spanish, ranging from racism in America to a detailed analysis of the weather to teen pregnancy in Argentina vs. the US. No biggie.

It bothers me a bit that my ten-year-old sister has taken over all of my belongings (laptop, shoes, etc.) but I´m trying not to let it get to me. It´s more of a cultural thing. There is less of a sense of privacy/personal space here, so it´s only natural to her. Plus, the family is sharing everything with me, so why should I be a crankmeister about my stuff?

3. Santiago del Estero.

I love this city. It´s a great place to spend a year. It´s dry and hot, in the north, with absolutely zero tourists besides the eleven AFS students spending the year here. I get stared at on the street constantly, which bothers me like no other, but it´s not like I´m gonnna stop looking like a white girl anytime soon. Hopefully I´ll get used to it.

There is no such thing as "pedestrian´s rights" here (WHAT A RIDICULOUS CONCEPT!). I´m horrible at crossing the street; I always feel like death is an imminent possibility. If you do get in front of a car, they will not stop.

When it´s not the siesta (because here in Santiago, we love our siestas), people are always out on the street, buzzing about. They all ride around on little motos/mopeds. Like, you´ll see an entire family with a three month old baby on one tiny little moto. My friend Phoebe said that she saw somebody riding on a moto, straight up carrying an entire bicycle... on top of it. Hahaha.

Also, they have mad parties here. Hehehehe. And they´re really fun.



So, yeah, that´s pretty much it for now. I´m going to go have my evening tea and banana (my family ridicules this combination... haters). xoxo Molly

The drama begins...

So the current issue on my mind is this:

I´m SICK. With a cold. For about .2 seconds I thought it was swine flu, but then I gave the inner drama queen a little slap on the face.

OK, OK, a cold - no big deal, right? It´ll go away in a few days or something. But it´s kinda funny how some things get lost in translation. My family and I do not agree on what this illness is. They are convinced that my cold stems from a) the sun, b) having bare feet on the floor, c) eating too many empanadas and having a stomachache which then somehow travelled to my head/nose/throat [this one is my favorite; I haven´t even had a stomachache], d) my sleeping positions, etc. etc. etc. I think they may have used the word "cold" (resfriado) once.

Hilarious! All I need is some Sudafed and Ibuprofen and I´ll be fab.

But anyways. That isn´t too upsetting, just comical. Also, discussing my ailment often turns into a circus, what with wild gesticulations all over the place. Sometimes, when it gets really desperate, we get a point across with cartwheels and handstands, and the occasional charade.

So that´s that. About the family and my first week in general:

I like it here. A lot. I´m starting school on Monday, so I´ve spent the week getting to know the fam and learning my way around. I have a ten year old sister (Sofi) and a fifteen year old brother (Inti) and two parents (Gladis and Gustavo). They like to bike and cook delicious lunches.

However, I´ll write more about them later. I need a nap. My head hurts.

xoxo Molly

April...

I leave for Argentina in a few months - this summer. Yesterday I got a phone call saying Argentina accepted me! So exciting.

My name is Molly and I'm spending my senior year of high school in Argentina. I want to go abroad for a number of reasons, a few being: to learn Spanish, to get to know Argentinian culture, and to gain a deeper and more mature world view. I'm looking forward to knowing and loving my new family and friends as well as taking myself out of my comfort zone in order to experience another part of the world.

Not to say that it will be easy. So far, it hasn't been easy. I've transferred high schools - a tough experience - and I'm working my TAIL off this year in order to graduate early. Luckily, I have the support of my family and friends (even though they're pretty upset that I'll be gone for an entire year). I know that once I get to Argentina, I will have some hard times, both with the language and my surroundings, but I know that I'll be able to pull through.

All in all, I know that this will be one of the best years of my life!

Keep watching my blog for updates on my struggles, triumphs, and day-to-day life.

Loooove,
Molly