long walks, birthdays, and frustrations

Countdown to Iguazu - 3.5 days!!! I'm so excited!!!

This weekend has been rather unproductive on the homework side but I've gotten out and about. Friday and Saturday I walked and walked and walked around Centro. The weather is just cool enough that walking outside is perfection. I love it.

Yesterday I went to the Catedral in the Plaza de Mayo, which is the oldest cathedral in Buenos Aires. Their beloved Grl. San Martin is buried in there. It is a beautiful church.

Last night was my friend Stephanie's birthday party! She invited Alex, Celia and me to her house for dinner and cake with her host parents, Jorge and Helena - what a hoot! They're 70+ years old and crazy hilarious!!! They are John and Joni in thirty years. I really enjoyed dinner with everybody.

I have to admit I got kind of jealous of Stephanie. My host mother is nice, usually, and she takes good care of me...usually. She just has some issues, I guess. I try to get her to talk about serious topics and we'll be going fine for two minutes and she'll break off with "oh, don't these bananas look SO nice?" I don't get it! I'm on the verge of giving up. She's very emotional and dramatic. This "hosting" job is just a way for her to pay her bills. I know she enjoys having students in her house so she's not alone, but I also know the underlying motivation and it just kinda cheapens the whole situation. I dunno. I'll be really glad when Mom and Gma come to visit in two weeks!

Today's objective is getting IFSA homework done. I have a volunteering meeting with EcoClubes tomorrow (finally!) so I hope to get involved with that soon. All my UT academic crap has been taken care of (supposedly) so the next big project is INTERNSHIP (i.e., PLEASE HIRE ME!!!).

On the frustration side of things, Alex and I were talking last night about our struggles with Spanish. For whatever reason, we were under the impression we'd be fluent at the end of this shindig. I'm still holding out hope. I know this month is just going to be an English rampage since I'm traveling and with family, but May and June are going to be pretty school-intensive. I think the biggest problem is that I am not meeting any Argentine peers. I'm group-shy as it is, and since I already have IFSA friends I don't really have any loneliness-driven motivation to meet people. Argentines can be a little standoffish too. They're nice, but they usually don't interact with us past the "Oh, you're foreign...where are you from? That's nice. You speak really good Spanish." At least in my school, all of these students have been together for 3+ years because they've all been taking the exact same classes.

So...I don't know. I'm hoping this volunteering thing works out. I also want to find a book club or cooking class or SOMETHING...especially something that's free, mwahahaha :)