Avon Rotary Youth Exchange
2009-2010 Outbound Catherine Lloyd
|
| This was taken my first weekend in Argentina. This was my first visit to a dam in the Valle Grande (big valley), near my town of San Rafael. |
June 12, 2010
It is amazing to realize that this will be my final update on my year here in Argentina.
As my current host mother is actually Chilean, I spent Easter weekend in the harsh reality of the aftermath of the earthquake. We crossed the Andes on a mostly unpaved road, which was slow and bumpy, but provided incredible scenery. While we were visiting family and friends of my host mother, the primary purpose of the trip was delivering clothing, food and blankets to victims. It was incredible to be in a place you see on the news, after the news. People can not carry on hugging and crying in the streets as they are when the news breaks, but it was somewhat unsettling to see children playing in streets piled high with rubble or grandfatherly men chatting in front of destroyed buildings. Entire blocks of deserted houses, marked with a spray painted X, were classified as uninhabitable (although a few had lights on inside) and the Chilean kids I met pointed to every collapsed building or plot of rubble as a friend's home, former grocery store or church.
In April I joined about 50 other Exchange students for a 17 day bus tour of Northern Argentina. Like our South Trip, we logged a lot of time on the bus, but had a lot of laughs along the way. The itinerary included a goat cheese farm and vineyard in San Juan, cave paintings in the impressionable Talampaya National Park in La Rioja, kissing llamas in Tucuman, seeing a mummified Incan child in Salta, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn and seeing the Mountain of Seven Colors and other incredible rock formations in Jujuy. The highlight of the trip was the Iguazú Waterfalls (from both the Brazilian and Argentinean sides) – the world's widest waterfalls and almost undoubtedly the most spectacular place I have ever been.
When not travelling, I continue to go to culinary school in my hometown of San Rafael. As it is the only first few months of a 2.5 year degree, I have actually cooked a surprising amount (and have learned a lot about designs and types of kitchens and restaurants, as well as cutting techniques and various salads and cold sauces) and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. My new classmates are a wonderful group and we get together frequently to play soccer, eat an asado or just hang out.
While I'm still quite aware of when I stumble on a verb conjugation, Argentines are consistently impressed by my Spanish and I've been able to convince people - for just a few minutes - that I am merely from a different province. I spend more and more time thinking and dreaming in Spanish and have found that, if startled, the word that escapes is Spanish. When talking in English I slip Spanish words in without noticing and am actually struggling a little to write this because the English words aren't leaving as quickly anymore or I am phrasing things awkwardly as it appears I am formatting it the way I would in Spanish.
I'm not sure how greatly anticipated the World Cup is in the United States, but it's probably redundant to say how much of a big deal it is here in Argentina. The TV has been counting down the days until Argentina's first game for a month or so now and once it was less than 10 days, an hourly, minutely and second count down began. We watched the team's plane take off and 9 hours later tuned in to see them land in South Africa. And each day listen intently to reports from practices, etc.
This year has been, without a doubt, the most incredible of my life. The most difficult and personally challenging, but more than anything it has been the most fun, the most interesting and the most thought provoking 10 months of my life. Never have I been so proud, nor so ashamed to be from the United States. We take for granted our incredible civil liberties, confidence in our government and efficiency of so many aspects of our daily lives - like our postal system or grocery stores. I had not realized that accessories we consider basic and necessary – like a dryer, dish washer, microwave or car – are in fact a luxury. As proud and grateful I have found myself of the United States, it's embarrassing to visit in a country school that closes during harvest seasons and has wooden tables built by fathers and think of my own dear public school where we complained about how the air conditioning was always too high in the computer or lab or how the grounds crew didn't maintain our practice fields well enough. And I can't look an Argentine in the eye and tell them that I know people that can't even locate their country on a map, let alone identify what language they speak.
Its an incredible thing that when I arrived here I spoke only English and marveled at every bizarre thing these strange Argentines did, and now I speak all day in Spanish and wonder if I haven't lived like this my whole life. The novelty of saying “8 in the afternoon” has completely worn off, as has reporting home that I returned from a night out dancing after 6 AM. The siesta has become a critical part of my day and I just can't get enough beef.
As I start to gather my things for my long awaited, and now – almost - strangely dreaded, return to home, I want to take a moment to make a plug for Rotary International. It's true that a year long exchange like I did is not for everyone; but it is for a lot more people than the relatively small amount that go. I was a little hesitant to pack up and go to a country on the other half of the world, and if reading snapshots of my year can't convince you to spread the word – I have met literally hundreds of exchange students and never have I met one that regretted going on an exchange. But what I have found is a huge amount of adults, and even kids my age, that tell me they wish they had done something like this.
Sorry this was a little longer, but it's a difficult thing to put ten extraordinary months onto paper. Thank you to everyone who sent me letters, packages, or emails throughout the year – It was always nice to hear from home. I look forward to seeing you all in a few short weeks! (Return date is June 27th)
With love,
Catherine
San Rafael, Mendoza 5600
ARGENTINA
March 5, 2010
Hello all!
It's been a long time since my last update, but I think I left off shortly before Christmas. Surprisingly for a country with so much Catholic influence, Christmas was not nearly as big of a deal as it is in the US. Both in the commercial build-up sense of it and the actual celebration. My family began celebrations by joining a packed church for a Christmas Eve Mass at 9 PM. We returned home and got the house ready, as around 11 PM family members arrived for a big dinner. Dinner finished in time for us to welcome Christmas by watching fireworks on the lawn (remember it's summer here) at midnight. After we finished dessert the younger generation went out to meet up with friends. The following morning, December 25th, each child opened their only present - from Papá Noel - and we had a big lunch with the leftovers from the previous night. The afternoon was spent passing by relatives or friends houses, preferably those with pools.
New Year's Eve passed not unlike Christmas; with a Mass and then a big family dinner, although this time with the other side of the family. Unlike in the United States, the moment of the New Year is always spent with family (between dinner and dessert). The fact that we always spend New Years with friends is another indicator for the Argentines that our culture isn't nearly as family oriented as theirs is. Well I think there is some truth to that, I would like to argue that it also has to do with the culture of time schedules - Argentines don't usually meet up with friends before 12 PM, anyway.
During early January I had to make a trip to Mendoza, the nearest city to San Rafael, for some Visa paperwork. What might have been a routine visit waiting for the paperwork turned out to be a really great three days, as I ended up running into three other foreign kids touring the city.
During January many Argentines go on vacations to escape the heat and although my family did not go anywhere, I was lucky enough to be invited to join Bruna (the Brazilian exchange student who lived with my family in the US) and her family on their vacation. I flew from Mendoza to Sâo Paulo, Brasil, with a layover in Buenos Aires, and was finally reunited with Bruna after over a year and a half. I spent the majority of the ten days at her aunt's beach house in nearby Guarujá, loafing on the beach and remembering what it is like to not understand the language around you (although I could use my spanish to pick up on the gist of conversations - and could understand a surprising amount of written portuguese - I was back to square one in terms of communication). A highlight of the visit was a trip with Bruna and her father to see a professional soccer game at the Santos home stadium - the stadium the great Pelé first played in professionally.
In the second week of February I switched to my second host family. As the only other family in San Rafael that sent their child on a Rotary Exchange is a widowed man, Roque Penizotto, and his 24 year old son Jesus, I am more appropriately living with Roque's girlfriend Amparito Ramírez Alarcón and her 17 year old daughter Merce (María Mercedes de los Angeles Ramírez Alarcon - I sometimes feel left out here with a mere three names). Every change like this comes with advantages and disadvantages. One thing I am really enjoying from this switch is the proximity to the center of the city; I am now only five blocks from the main street and it is easy for me to walk or ride my bike anywhere I have to go. I also have to admit that it is nice to have my own bed room after sharing with my two sisters in the previous family. Amparito, my new host mother, is Chilean so I have also enjoyed learning about yet another culture as I adjust to listening to the Chilean accent eating lot more Chilean foods, like corn based meals and soup - and a lot less beef.
A number of people have asked about the recent earthquake in Chile. It happened around 3:30 Friday night (my parents remind me that would be 3:30 Saturday morning - call it what you will) and I was at a quinceañera - 15th birthday party - when we felt it. San Rafael is said to have felt it at a level 5, which is moderate, but as someone from an essentially earthquake-free area of the world I thought it was very exciting. It lasted around 30 seconds and instead of the ground shaking or vibrating, as I had sort of always imagined it would, it felt as if the lawn was a carpet being tugged from one end to another. When I stood up it felt almost like standing on a "bongo board". While exciting at the time, it is quite sobering to realize how geographically close I was to a serious catastrophe. I don't know how much news coverage this earthquake is receiving in the US, but although the death count is much lower than the earthquake that hit Haiti, as the 5th strongest earthquake in history, it was 500 times as strong. Needless to say with the proximity Argentina and Chile have, all futból animosity has been thrown aside as the news covers little else than this tragedy.
The future continues to look bright for me in the Southern Hemisphere, as this weekend I will meet up with my fellow "Cuyo Region" exchange students for the Fiesta de la Vendimia, the National Wine Harvest Festival of Argentina, in Mendoza City. Having graduated from high school in the US and then finished up another school year here in Argentina, I am now enrolled in a local culinary college scheduled to begin March 15th where I will (hopefully!) learn local cuisine and skills I can use for the rest of my life, as well as meet other Argentines my age. Other than that I´ve been running, reading and mastering rolling my R's - it's much more difficult to put in to the middle of a word for the appropriate amount of time, than just make that RRRR noise alone. Try it.
With love,
Catherine
San Rafael, Mendoza 5600
ARGENTINA
December 19, 2009
So much has happened since my last update! The biggest thing being my "South Trip" with Rotary, which was an incredible 17 day trip through Patagonia. For those of you interested in looking at it on a map, from my hometown of San Rafael I went North to Mendoza then east to Cordoba, where the 55 Rotary exchange students currently living in Argentina from all around the world met up. From here the agenda included Puerto Madryn, El Calafate, Ushuaia, Esquel, Bariloche, San Martin de los Andes and then finished in Cordoba. From there, I worked my way back to San Rafael via Mendoza City. Each of these cities, as well as various stops along the way, brought an incredible view. Mountains and lakes, beach and ocean, rocky cliffs and the continuesly vast, flat and dry nothingness of the Patagonia desert. It would be tedious for me to document each wonderful place we went and each great memory I have from this trip, but I will touch on a few of them for you.
From El Calafate, we headed even farther south and after passing briefly through the Magellain Strait and part of Chilé, we found ourselves in Ushuaia - the very southernmost city in the world! While the city itself is somewhat bleak (it was originally a penal colony!) especially as dusk begins early, being surrounded by scenic mountains and knowing I was closer to Antarctica than to Buenos Aires was definitely very cool. From there, the trek to our next stop, Esquel, meant a full 34 hours in the bus.. Oh boy! I should remind you here though that 34 hours on a bus is much more bearable when it is a double decker bus with 55 other exchange students. We found ways to keep ourselves entertained and although I feel cliché saying this, we definitely bonded significantly considering the relatively small amount of time we spent together.
I returned to San Rafael in time for my final four days of high school (ever) and then boarded back onto the bus for a weekend in La Serena, Chilé. This weekend was fairly tranquil and was only the nine exchange students from the Mendoza Rotary district, but we´re lucky enough to be a close group and we enjoyed walking along the beach (and putting out feet in the South Pacific ocean while we were at it) as well as looking at the incredible birdseye view of the city from an enormous 40 m concrete cross in the nearby port city of Coquimbo.
Back from Chilé I enjoyed a little summer vacation before my Fiesta de Egrasadas - a sort of combination of prom and graduation for my high school here. For the Fiesta, each graduate enters with a parent (girls with their fathers, boys with their mothers) into the party salon which is packed with grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Each graduate is allowed to choose the song they enter to and at the direction of my classmates (and to the amusement of all in attendance), I entered to "American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz. The Fiesta began at 9:30 PM which meant that, true to Argentine customs, I arrived around an hour later. We entered around midnight, ate dinner and danced until around 6:30 AM when the graduates hobbled down the street to a nearby café for coffee and breakfast. I was finally home at 7:30 AM and promptly fell asleep.
The 15th of December marked my 19th birthday (!!) and I am pleased to report that I spent the afternoon lounging poolside with some of the girls in my class. Sunny, cloudless and about 90º it was definitely a birthday that will always stand out in my mind. December 15th also marked exactly four months in Argentina, which jeans I only have six more. While four months is less than half way through my year I can already tell that the rest of the exchange will fly by. As much as it sometimes seems like ages ago that I was with my family and friends in Livingston County, I´ve also come to realize that I have made connections and friendships here that within no time I will be missing. My language and communication skills continue to improve each day and while I still occasionally find myself at a frustrating loss of words I have recieved a lot of compliments on my Spanish, which keeps me excited and motivated.
So much has happened since my last update that this one is a little bit hard to even write and perhaps a little scattered, but more importantly than all these places I visited and things I did is that I´ve started to genuinely love Argentina and living here. Not to say that I don´t miss the United States and all of you there, but I realize what a short amount of time ten months is to live in and learn about a foreign culture and each week seems to go by more quickly than the week before. I am hoping to keep doing as much as I can and get as much out of my time left as I can!
Hope you have a very feliz navidad!
Catherine
San Rafael, Mendoza 5600
ARGENTINA
November 23, 2009
I'm writing this from San Martin de los Andes on the final leg of my journey, which has been absolutely incredible. True to the itinerary, we've seen penguins, whales, dolphins and some animals more specific to Patagonia - like the guanaco and condor. In addition to animals, I've been blown away by the huge range of breath taking scenary; we've seen flat dry desert stretches, lakes and snow capped mountains, tree covered hills and the sparkling Pacific ocean. Wow! And although the trip has meant logging a lot of hours on the bus I've been having fun getting to know the 54 other exchange students from all over the world. What an experience!
November 5, 2009
Well it's been over two months in San Rafael, Argentina now so I guess I'm overdue for an update. In some ways it seems hard to believe that the two month mark has already come and gone, but at the same time I feel like I've been here significantly longer than that.
Now that I've been here longer and reread my first update I worry that maybe I exaggerated about the general poverty and pollution in the streets, but I'm not sure if it's just that I've gotten accustomed to it. I think it's a combination of the two, along with the fact that now that the grass is green, the trees have leaves, the sun is shining and the sky is blue everything looks a lot more cheerful than when I first arrived. (After all, it's just about summer here!)
Before I came to Argentina the Brazilian exchange student who lived with my family, Bruna, claimed that (in addition to many other reasons I shouldn't go to Argentina) Argentines were lazy. While, I'm reluctant to give the people of this country a label with such a negative connotation, I will admit that they have a very laid back pace of life here (although with temperatures recently hitting 100ºF the siesta culture is starting to make a lot more sense to me) One laid back custom I've come to really appreciate is their "asado". The closest thing we have to this in the United States is a Barbeque, although I'd like to be fair to the Argentines here and say that our barbeque doesn't even compare.
An asado usually happens on a weekend because its as much an activity as it is a meal. An asado begins as the first pieces of meat begin to cook - the women chat as they chop and prepare vegetables and the men gather round the grilling pit. These are often family gatherings (I just had one to celebrate my host grandmother's birthday), but can also feature many friends as well. As could be expected of Argentina, the asado features many different cuts and types of delicious beef and sausages accompanied, lightly, with potato salads, peppers and some other vegetables. We typically eat at one long table and remain there for a coffee and good conversation long after the table has been cleared of both lunch and dessert. I've been to asados that have lingered on until almost 6 PM - a time when I used to eat dinner!
For Columbus Day (Which translates to "Day of the Races" here) my school usually puts on some kind of an act. In light of somewhat recent discoveries on the nature of Columbus and the European settlers' interactions with the native population of South America, the teacher in charge of this year's act decided to abandon the usual act featuring Columbus and the Indians and instead make a celebration of "America". An interesting thing I learned here is that to South Americans "America" means all of the countries in the North and South American continents - Not specifically the USA (I am either referred to as a North American or a Yankee, never an American).
This year's "El Acto" featured a traditional song and dance from around ten different countries in "America", including the traditional song and dance of the United States - Cotton Eyed Joe. Each class prepared (in one week) an assigned dance and my class just happened to be the Tango! It was really fun to learn some of the basic steps and somewhat amusing to me, the (North) American, to put on a black dress and heels and do the tango after watching my Argentine host sister in jeans and a cowboy hat kicking up her heels to Cotton Eyed Joe.
As it turned out, that was not my last tango, as the exchange students of my district were invited to join a school from San Juan on their trip to the country's capital and the birthplace of tango.. Buenos Aires!! After a 16 hour overnight bus (!), we arrived in one of the most immense cities I've ever been to. Five days wasn't nearly enough to see everything, but we got a good introduction by hitting some of the major sites like La Boca (the neighborhood with brightly colored houses and the soccer stadium for the professional soccer team), San Telmo, the National Congressional Building, Palmero, various churches - including the only Russian Orthodox church in Argentina -and the Obelisk (a monument in the middle of the widest street in the world), to name a few.
My favorite part about Buenos Aires was probably the Plaza de Mayo. The Plaza de Mayo has a lot of history for Argentina as it has been the site of a lot of major protests and speeches. Although I couldn't find a way to actually get on the balcony, I did go on a tour of the Casa Rosada, from which Eva Peron delivered her famous speech and Madonna preformed "Don't Cry For Me Argentina!" for the movie Evita. The Casa Rosada is the building the President traditionally works out of and was supposedly painted pink (hence the name Casa Rosada) as an effort to show a better relationship between the two major political parties - whose colors are red and white.
Although it was in a hotel conference room in socks, we did get to Tango in Buenos Aires as one of the teachers chaperoning the trip also happened to be a tango instructor. Hopefully between my two tango experiences something will stick with me and I will be able to go back to Buenos Aires to tango and see more of that awesome city.
As of right now I have other travelling to look forward to as this weekend I leave on an 18 day trip of Southern Argentina with my fellow exchange students. We begin in Cordoba and move south from there - we'll see penguins and killer whales in their natural habitat, hike on the world's only growing glacier, go through the Patagonia desert and pass through Chilé and the Magellian Strait on our way to Ushuaia - the Southern most city in the world!
Things continue to go well with day to day life; I'm still with the same host family and going to high school. I've started playing field hockey because it's one of the few sports girls play here. Needless to say it's a lot more intense than it was in gym class and I have a long way to go before I catch up with my teammates that have been playing for more than 10 years, but I've enjoyed getting back on a "team" and having more time to interact with people and work on my Spanish.
My Spanish continues to improve each day. While I still have a lot of instances where I find myself, somewhat frustratingly, unable to express myself in the way that I would like to, I understand most of what people say to me and find myself able to reply more quickly and more completely as time goes on. I definitely speak more Spanish than English during the course of a day and have even found myself thinking and dreaming in Spanish, which has proved to be both very rewarding and very strange.
I continue to happily accept letters and packages and hope all is well with you!
September 15, 2009
So, I've just finished my first month here in San Rafael, Argentina! San Rafael is a city of about 170,000 south of Mendoza - which is on the western side of Argentina, near the Andes Mountains.
I arrived here on August 15th and have to admit that I was initially somewhat overwhelmed. Argentina is in South America which means a lot of things, but one of things I noticed right away was the poverty; roads are full of pot holes, sidewalks are often no more than a dusty path, there is no system for garbage disposal, buildings are crumbling, stray dogs are everywhere and I'm yet to see a public restroom with toilet paper. Despite the image that description might have just put in your head, Argentina really is wonderful. It didn't take me long to learn that it isn't the wealth of the nation or the beauty of the scenery that make up a country (the scenary, by the way, really escapes my words. It turns out there's a reason that c lichés like calling mountains majestic or scenary breath-taking exist), but it's the people. As corny as that sounds, it's really true. The people of Argentina are a warm and friendly group of people that are eager to embrace you both literally and figuratively. People have been overwhelmingly friendly and enthusiastic, everyone wants to know where I'm from, what I think, how I like Argentina, etc. Everyone is greeted with a "beso", which is a kiss on the right cheek. There is no age or gender divide for besos - and it also takes the place of the "peace be with you" handshake in Church.
Religion plays a major presence here. I think statistics put about 85% of Argentines as Roman Catholic but I wouldn't be surprised if you told me it was closer to 95%. Religious images - in statues, necklaces, posters, wall hangings - are omnipresent. I go to Mass with my family each Sunday and we say grace before lunch each day. It may be because I go to a Catholic school, but most of my classmates wear some sort of religious necklace, like a cross or a saint pendent.
A third major blanket observation I've made about Argentina is about beef. I was warned before I came that Argentineans eat lots and lots of beef and it's true, but what's really amazing to me about it is the nature in which it's done. They don't brag about it the way I think Americans tend to brag about food consumption, they just quietly and consistently carve of huge hunks of beef. When I first arrived I was served a delicious pastry filled with beef, cheese and herbs called an empanada. After an empanada was described to me, it was suggested that if I didn't want meat there were ham and cheese empanadas coming out of the oven shortly.
My host family has been wonderful. My father Esteban, 44, is a lawyer and a judge, and my mother Ana, 38, is a psychiatrist. Their oldest daughter is doing an exchange year in Palmyra, NY and I've taken her bed - which is in the room I share with my sisters Marina and Josefina. While I have to admit I was initially somewhat unenthusiastic about the prospects of sharing a room with a 15 and 14 year old, it has turned out to be a non-event. In fact, I like to think it helped me integrate into the family more quickly because I didn't have anywhere to isolate myself. I also have a 12 year old brother named Patricio.
I mentioned earlier that my school is Catholic. I am now a member of the equivalent of the senior class here at Colegio de San Rafael Maristas. As a Catholic school we do have a uniform, although I'm sorry to report it is not plaid like dear old St Agnes. Instead I wear gray slacks, black shoes, a white button up shirt, a tie, a blue sweater with the school logo and my hair tied back. On Tuesdays and Fridays I wear my gym uniform which is a pair of green sweatpants with a gold stripe and a coordinating blue & green trac k jacket with a white polo shirt underneath. The pants, jacket and polo are also embroidered with the school logo. For those of you wondering, I love wearing a uniform. It simplifies my mornings considerably and since we wear something different on Tuesdays and Fridays it doesn't become too tiresome.
My school takes up one city square - the center of which is an open air courtyard where students gather for the "formar" at 7:45 each morning. We're supposed to arrange ourselves in straight lines based on grade and gender and face all in one direction to greet the school director. At his word, we turn inward to face the center of the square and watch as the flag of Argentina and the flag of Mendoza (the District) are raised to the tune of Argentina's flag raising song (not the same as the national anthem). With the flag raised we turn back to the director and listen as he leads a prayer and then recite the last part of it along with him.
Here classes are divided into two sections - humanities and a more math orientated branch - and kids stay in one classroom the entire day and the teachers move from class to class. I mentioned the poverty in Argentina earlier and it's still very evident in a private school like Maristas. We don't have whiteboards, text books, projectors, TVs or even a clock in the classroom (just desks, chairs, a teacher's desk, and a cross hanging on the wall flanked by a portrait of the Virgin Mary and one of San Martin). At the beginning of class the teacher sends someone to the director's office for a piece of chalk and, when necessary, to get the map (which is returned after we're done so that other classes can use it). Students have to pay for photocopies, including mandatory handouts and tests. Despite the big differences, school isn't unlike school in the US; the kids pretend they didn't know there was a test and the teachers don't fall for it, the boys have to borrow pens from the girls, etc.
We have classes from the end of the formar until 1 PM, with three 10 minute breaks - during which students buy pastries, cookies and candies from the school store and play a little soccer or socialize in the courtyard. At 1 kids are picked up by their parents who are returning to their homes for lunch. Lunch is the biggest, most important meal of the day here. After lunch there is some down time as the entire city closes down for a "siesta", or at least a little quiet time. All shops and stores, including the post office, are closed from around 2 until 4 or 5. You go back to school in the afternoons at different times in the afternoon depending on your schedule - I have classes from 3:40 until 5:50 on Tuesdays and from 4:30 until 6:30 on Thursdays. Other than that, my afternoons are free.
I've learned that you really need to utilize your siesta or it's hard to make it through the day. Dinner, which is like our lunch (a sandwich or leftovers) is usually around 10 PM and friends don't start to meet on weekends until around 11:30 or midnight, at the earliest.
So you're probably wondering about my Spanish. My host father and my oldest sister have fairly good English and while that's certainly an option for communication, my Spanish has been improving every day. I still have to think about a lot of verb tenses and conjugations and I don't think my sentences are necessarily correct, but I like to think I can usually convey what I want to say. My comprehension has gotten a lot better and as a general statement I think I can understand a good portion of what is said to me. It's been difficult at times because Argentineans have an infamous accent, making them pronounce a lot of words much differently than how we learned in Spanish classes (for those of you familiar with Spanish, one example is that they pronounce the ll - which usually makes a y sound - as a j, which is totally different) but I'm becoming accustomed to that and understanding more and more every day. I certainly have a long way to go, but hearing Spanish all day has helped all the Spanish I learned in high school resurface so that some times I surprise myself with a word I come up. It's sort of a strange experience, but definately an exciting one.
So overall life is really good in the Southern Hemisphere. I'm learning to take siestas, eat beef every day, give besos and say the Our Fath er in Spanish. As a side note, I'm quite pleased to report that the Big Dipper is upside down here! Many thanks to everyone that helped make this awesome year happen for me and much love to all!
Love,
Catherine