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Sara
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Rotary
District 6110 Youth Exchange
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Nickname | Sara |
| Age | 17 | |
| Foreign Languages | Spanish | |
| Interests | Distance Running, Photography, Drawing, playing guitar, creative writing | |
| Host District | 4820 | |
| Departure | Aug 15 | |
Note: Most Recent Entries Appear At the Top
| Date | Travelogue Entry |
| 2/22/02
vacation in San Bernardo |
hey everybody!
well, i'm still here. i just got back the other day from vacation
at the beach. i went with my host family to a town called San
Bernardo. the beach was smaller, not so white, and the water not
quite as blue as a Florida beach, but still i had a great time. we
stayed in an apartment a half a block away from the beach and
spent all day every day laying out, riding jet skis, and surfing
(well, the guys surfed, i just kind of layed on my belly on the
surf board and let the waves carry me). San Bernardo at night kind
of reminded me of Fayetteville's springfest, but bigger. there is
one main street that they close off around 9:00 at night and
everyone goes out to walk around. they have all the normal beach
stuff--henna tattoos, hair braiding, clothes, jewelry, art. there
were also people who played typical argentine music and some
Brasileans danced. There was a man who came on the weekends and
drew amazing scenes from the Bible on the street in chalk. One
night Soledad, who's a well-known Argentine folk singer, threw a
free outdoor concert. Around 2:00 everything closed and all the
vacationers went out dancing. On friday some friends drove out for
the weekend and at one point we were 11 people staying in an
apartment for 7. Showering was a challenge, but other than that it
was great. One day we all squeezed into the SUV went to Pinamar,
which is a little more to the south. Thats where the people with a
lot of money go and the houses and the beach were beautiful.
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| Friday,
January 04, 2002 3:31 PM
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!
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Happy New Year everybody!! Well, since I haven´t written since before Christmas, I have a lot to tell. First of all, this turned into an off-tone holiday season because a lot has happened here in Argentina in the last few weeks, politically and economically. I know its been in the news, so I won´t go into too much detail. A week before Christmas there were riots all over the country and people ransacked over a hundred super markets. The president called for an "Estado de Sitio", which means that more than three people can't be together in a public place at one time. That didn't really work though, because the next night there was a protest in the city, the result of which was the president's resignment. We've changed presidents 5 times in the last couple of weeks, but people seem to like the current president, Duhalde. He spoke today and the people clapped afterward and my host dad commented that that was the first time in a long time that people have applauded an Argentine president. The peso is supposed to devalue up to 30% any time now, so the prices are already rising. People still can't take more than $250 a week out of the bank, so they can't withdrawl all of their funds like they would like to do. The good thing is that devaluation of the peso won't affect me, since my money is in dollars. The bad thing is that most of the ATMs are out of dollars. Well, enough about that. All the riots passed in time for Christmas. I changed houses the Friday before the 25th, but like I said, I already knew my second host family. On the 24th we cooked out and ate outside, just my family and I. At 12:00 midnight we brought out the presents and opened them. All around people were setting off fireworks. Then, around 1:30 I went with my host brother and sisters to a friends' house. All of our friends came and we celebrated Christmas again with them. We walked home when the sun was rising on Christmas morning We celebrated New Years' Eve pretty much the same way, just
without the presents. We cooked out again with the
family. This time we set off fireworks, as well. Some
people sent off miniature hot air balloons with a wish inside for
the new year. Later all of our friends came over to our house
and we listened to music, danced, and played pool all night. Well, I hope everyone is doing great and I wiss you all the best
for the New Year. |
| Wednesday, December 26, 2001
18:52 the news from bs. as. |
this is the first time i've had the chance to get on
the internet in a long time. im sure you know all about whats going on here. the dangerous stuff has passed and everythings pretty much back to normal. the only thing that happened to me was i couldn't leave my house for a few days. but i'm with good people and everything is okay. well, keep in touch. sara |
| Thursday, December 13, 2001 4:04 PM | hello all, ¿cómo estan? all is well here. friday was my last day of school and now i'm just relaxing and enjoying the summer. the other day i went to a friends house and we swam and layed out for three hours and i got burnt really bad, worse than when i would go to lake beaver for the whole day in the states. they say its because the ozone layer is a lot thinner here and in all of the Mercosur (which is brasil, chile, argentina, uruguay and paraguay). you be outside at 5:00 in the afternoon and get burnt. it's almost christmas but it doesn't feel like it at all. nobody puts lights up on the houses, the christmas trees are fake, and there's no snow. my friend was telling me about how they celebrate christmas here. on the 24th everyone gets together with their friends and family, they swim and cook out, then at midnight (which would make it the 25th) they exchange presents and there's fireworks and then dance the rest of the night. sounds a lot like how i'm used to celebrating the new year.
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| Saturday, November 03, 2001 3:45 PM | hey everyone, i know it's been forever since i've written. the phone line in my house got cut off for some reason and its still not turned back on (every day they say it will be fixed in 36 hours, but its been weeks), so i don't have internet. once in a while i can go to a friend's house and use their computer to check my e-mail though. the other day my host parent's son (i guess that would make him my host brother) came home. he was in australia working and studying english for a year, but not throught rotary because he's 25. he's nice, and it's interesting to hear his stories about australia. its funny when he talks in english, too, because he has a mix of an Argentine and Australian accent. school is going well. it get's easier all the time. the other day we took a field trip to Buenos Aires for physics class. we went to some place where there's big radioactive things. okay, i don't really know what it was, but what i understood was pretty interesting. summer is almost here and its already starting to get hot. the other weekend i went to the river with a Rotarian and his daughter and we went by boat to this really nice restaurant. then the boat came and picked us up to take us back. apparently a lot of foreign people go there, because they had menus in every language. i talked to some french people when we were waiting for the boat to pick us up. last monday i went with a friend of mine from school to her cousin's senior party. they reserved a club in the city and they all dressed up and there were hundreds of people there. these parties are always on weekdays, and everyone just goes home in time to change into their uniform and head off to school. i don't recommend doing this often. well, not much more to say. all is well. i hope everyone is doing okay back home. love always, sara |
| Mon Oct 15, 2001
1:22 pm |
i don't really feel any different. in fact, i feel like i'm at home here. sometimes i forget i'm living in argentina and speaking in spanish. |
| Sat Oct 13, 2001
3:15 pm |
hey everyone!! i know its been forever since i last wrote. i'm terrible. the truth is not too much new has happened. i've just been going to school during the week and studying the best i can. i'm not exactly the straight-A student i was in the states, but i try. on the weekends i get together with my friends. last weekend we all got together and made tacos (which is way more common in the U.S. than here. my host mom didn't know what tacos are). usually on friday nights we all go to one house around 10:00 and eat together. then on saturdays we go out dancing. last sunday i modeled for a clothing store that a lady at my school works for. it was a lot of fun. it was held at a club here in Don Torcuato and there were about 10 companies modeling. a german exchange student that i go to school with also modeled with me--two international models. yesterday i didn't go to school because my host family took me to the Festival of the Flower in Escobar. there was every type of flower you can imagine--outside and indoors. it was really beautiful. then we went to an ice cream place that had like a zoo outside with all sorts of birds--pink flamingos, swans, peacocks. all this for an ice cream cafe. tonight there's a party at the rugby club that my school's rugby team is throwing to raise money. i might go to that with some of my classmates because my other friends that are older (my next host sister and all her friends) have to get up early and vote tomorrow. monday i'm going to start taking boxing classes with two of my girlfriends. we're going to be the only girls in the class, but oh well. busy, busy. not much else to say. i think about you guys all the time. i'm pretty upset about whats going on right now. its really wierd to be so far away from the U.S. when all this is happening. i send everyone my love. i'll try to write more often. love always sara |
| Wednesday, September 19, 2001 3:02 PM | ¡Hola! It's been awhile since i've had a chance to write. I've been really busy because i go to school until 4:30 every weekday except wednesday. they're making me go to the two and a half hour long english class, which for me is like doing my little sister's homework. but i'm not going to complain, at least i have one easy A in school. so, about what happened in the U.S...on the 11th when we got
attacked it was on literally every channel here, and everyone talked
about it. a friend of mine has CNN in english, so i watched
that and was able to understand exactly what was going on, or at
least as much as anyone understood. i've talked to my family
in the U.S. and everyone wants to know what people in Argentina
think about all this. everyone is very sympathetic. they
say that this is a horrible thing to have happened and they can't
believe it any more than i can. a lot of people called to see
if i have family in New York. other than that i don't really
know. by now the news channels have moved on for the most
part, but i still feel sad and angry and kind of disillusioned about
it all. Well, changing subjects...This friday is the first day of spring and Student's Day, so there aren't any classes, even for college students. Here they have a day for everything -- parents, kids, teachers, students, seasons ... and we get out of school for all of them. But keep in mind that it never snows here, so they don't have any other excuse for a free day. Thursday night there's a party at my school and they're going to choose a king and queen, i guess of spring. After that I'm going out with a bunch of kids from my class. Friday night i'm getting together with my next host sister and a bunch of other friends to celebrate. I'm glad spring's here, and soon summer. i get two summer's this year! Monday was my host mom's birthday. We had about 20 or 30 people over for dinner around 9:00. We ate asado and a lot of other Argentine foods that i don't know the names of. I love the food here. My host parents say that they think I'm really a natural Argentine. I showed everyone my scrap book with pictures of all of my friends and family. The girls all loved my brother. They all want to move to Oregon now. Sunday I went to the Rio Tigre with some friends of mine to go roller- blading. The Tigre is beautiful place where you can ride boats down the river or walk around or go to the small theme park. I'm trying to think what else i've done ... Saturday night i went to my next house where a bunch of friends came over and we watched Vertical Limit. Lucky for me, all of the movies are in English with Spanish subtitles. I am pretty impressed with myself, though, because now i can understand Castellano on TV fairly well now, whereas before it was complete jibberish.
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| Thursday, September 06, 2001 1:34 PM | Hi Everyone, So last weekend i went to a Rotary Reunion for the inbound and outbound students in the area. It was at a church in a nearby town, and we were there from saturday morning until sunday around noon. The Rotarians told us all of the exact same things that i heard at the camp in Texas. I had a good time, though. There were students from Australia, the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Argentina. That was the first time i've spoken English with a native speaker since i got here. it was nice for a change, but it got confusing. sometimes i'd be speaking to an american and interject spanish words, or do the opposite with the Argentines. The other day i took the train to the city (Buenos Aires) with a couple of friends. I like Buenos Aires, there's a lot to see and a lot going on, but i'm also glad that i live somewhat away from the madness. The city is crawling with people and cars. There are beautiful parts, too, like the Recoletta, but i still haven't gotten a chance to visit very many places there. Yesterday i went to a friends house and we drank mate (a normal thing to do when we get together) and ate and watched the big soccer game between Argentina and Brazil (we won). I'm about to go with Marcela, my next host sister, to buy a black toy poodle, because she's wanted one for years and her dad finally said okay. Tomorrow's friday, just one more day of school. i like school alright, and it's getting easier, but it's like school anywhere in the world-- always waiting for the weekends. We're all going out for a birthday tomorrow night, and i think we're going dancing saturday, too. i'll write more later. i think about everyone, but so far i've escaped the home-sickness stage. Love, Sara |
| Wednesday, August 29, 2001 2:14 PM | Hey Guys! Well, I'm still loving it here. There's so much to do, especially compared to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Friday night a bunch of us, 10 or 15, went out dancing here in Don Torcuato, then we went to another disco on Saturday in Pilar, a nearby town. Things happen so much later here. On the weekends we eat dinner around 9:00, then we get ready to go out around 11:00 and come home at 7:00 in the morning or so. Then we sleep until the afternoon, get up, and do it all over again. I had a great time. The clubs are similar here, but i like the way people dance and the music better--very Latin (obviously). Of course, i had to start school this monday, and i was exhausted from the weekend. School here is no joke. We don't get to pick our classes and i have to take about 13 subjects: biology, chemistry, physics, trigonomotry, Language and Literature, Argentine History, English, gym, and computer computation ... just to name a few. Luckily, the teachers are giving me a break so far, considering when they give lectures i really have no idea what they're talking about (except in English, where the teacher always asks me what words mean). The kids are great, though, and all of them know some English, so they can help me if i need it. This weekend I'm going to a Rotary outbound and inbound reunion
in the country. I'm not really sure what we'll do, but it will
probably be fun. |
| Friday, August 24, 2001 12:06 PM | Hey Everyone! Yesterday makes a week that I've been here in Don Torcuato, Argentina. I love it. The only day that I felt home-sick was the first, because i couldn't understand the language at all and i didn't know anyone, but already I can understand normal conversations for the most part, which is really something because the Argentines talk FAST. That's the only big thing i've had to adjust to--i don't have to shower only once a week or baby-sit 10 kids, thank god. Well, both of the kids in my host family are overseas, but the parents are great. Valeria, their daughter, is in Oregon, but her best friend, Marcela, invites me to hang out with her friends all the time. I'm kind of a novelty right now, and everyone loves to speak to me in English (i always reply in Spanish), but i'm sure that will pass. A couple of days ago she invited me to her house for lunch and to meet her friends. She has a big house (it's actually two houses right next to each other, and i'll be living in one with her and her brother). They have a rec room with a pool table, and a swimming pool, which will be nice, because i'll live there in the summer. Tonight a big group of us are going to the disco for Marcela's boyfriend's birthday--that should be an experience. Hardly anyone my age has a car here, which in nice, since i can't drive. We take a taxi or the bus or walk everywhere. I've been to the city (Buenos Aires) once. It's a forty-five minute bus ride from my house. There are a lot of people there (14 million to be exact). We watched people dancing the tango (I might take lessons this summer), ate, went to an art show and walked around. It was pretty fun. Monday i start school. It's a private school, with about 600 students, grades K-12. I have to wear a hideous uniform--a plaid skirt and red sweater. Every single school, even the public ones, require a uniform here. They can't believe that in the U.S. we get to wear whatever we want. Well, that's all for now. I love and miss you guys! Write often. Love Always, Sara
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Farewells |
Interview Group |
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Pillow Fight |
What's Next? |
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Squish! |
Strike a Pose! |
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