Spring Break (and a couple other stories)

Whew! I guess it’s time to dust off the cobwebs of this ol’ blog and update it again!  I feel like a lot has happened, and yet not so much has happened, but some written processing might help figure out how much has actually gone on since my last update. 

[Just looked at last update]

Summary of this blog post:

·         I get midterm grades this week and that should be…so-so, I haven’t been doing as well as I could be     (A’s) but I’m not doing too terribly (as far as I know) with B’s

·         Annalise searched for an English-speaking church in BA and found a small gathering of people that meets every two weeks, called The Well.  We’ve been twice and both times have been pretty great—it’s a great group of people.

·         We found a group of people off the BA Expat website that were interested in hanging out and so the first day of Spring break we met up with them at a bar and ended up hanging out with some of them later during break as well

·         Spring break happened, a lot of it was chill, but it also included a sleep-over, a trip to Tigre, and a viewing of The Avengers (which was awesome)

·         I think my brain is telling me that I should be on summer vacation now…which is not good because I still have 8 weeks of classes left.

[Actual Blog Post]

Ah yes! Midterms.  I guess this week I’ll figure out how those actually went.  I feel like they were ok, but I really can’t be sure.  I do know how I did on my globalization one, I got a B+…I was one of the three students who did, and we were the lowest grades in the class.  Of course, we all got an email saying everyone’s name and grade…and I know that a B+ is good…but I feel like I should be able to do better.  I felt the same way about the B- I got on a paper.  I was expressing my frustration about getting a “low grade” and when I told my friends it was a B- they did that whole concerned-look thing where they want to make sure that I’m not getting too down on myself for a B- because it’s still really good—they wanted to make sure I wasn’t being TOO much of an over-achiever, to the point that I didn’t know what good grades are anymore.  I understand that.  But these classes have been so much easier than the ones at Hope, and if I get B’s at Hope (and sometimes A’s), then I feel like I should definitely be able to get A’s here.  But I guess we’ll see where I’m really at at the end of this week…of course, now I’m kind of dreading it, but hey, what comes, comes.

So after midterms was SPRING BREAK! Wooooo!!!  Of course, it’s really actually fall break here (May = full on autumn, leaves are changing colors and everything!) but everyone has been calling it spring break anyways.  I stayed here in Buenos Aires with Annalise and we’ve had our days of adventure as well as our days of extreme laziness…and I feel like those days have been dominant…don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining—just saying. 

Now, before Spring break happened, Annalise was looking for some English-speaking churches in the area and she found this small gathering of people called The Well.  They meet every two weeks and the Sunday before midterms happened to be one of the times they met, so we went to check it out.  It’s a subte (Argentine subway) trip and a few blocks of walking away, but it’s closer than any other English-speaking church by at least an hour of traveling. So we got there and it ended up being Annalise and myself, the couple who run it, Paul and Emma, a couple from Germany, Hans and Rosemary (such a cute older couple!), another college student from another program, Laura, and then later Paul’s dad came.  It was just the 8 of us, and we sang two songs and then did prayer requests, and then we continued where they had left off with the end of the first chapter of Colossians.  This was the third time they’d met, and so it was (is) still pretty new.  After Paul talked about the passage, the floor was opened to anyone who wanted to say something about it—adding to what was said, disagreeing with what was said, questioning it, what have you, it was all welcomed.  After that we kind of just stayed around talking for a while. It was so great to find a community of Christians again.  It was really REALLY hard to go from Hope College, where there is never a lack of Christian groups on campus, to absolutely zero Christian community.  I hadn’t realized how much I had missed it until Rosemary started praying out loud and I realized it had been the end of February since I had last heard someone pray.  It was so wonderful to find that place, and I am SO glad that Annalise did happen to find it. 

We went back yesterday, but we got a little bit lost (ok kind of really lost) on the way there, so much so that we were contemplating not going at all.  We convinced ourselves it was a good idea to continue to try to find it, and eventually we did.  Once we finally got to the church, there were signs directing us to a different place than we had been (there are several groups that meet at the church on Sundays I guess and so being moved around kind of seems like part of the deal).  Well this week we were in what seemed to be an office of some sort (so much smaller than the sanctuary obviously) and there were not 8 people there, but closer to 18.  There were SO MANY PEOPLE and it was totally AWESOME!  We were too late for worship, but we came just in time for prayer requests and then the lesson.  We were there for about an hour before it started to draw to a close, but one of the things that was brought up was the desire for a more community-like feel among the people and how we should go out to dinner together after, and potentially meet on the off weeks as just kind of a hang out where we can bring people (potentially non-Christians) and just hang out.  Well, people liked the idea of going out to dinner after, and so we did.  Of course, everyone couldn’t make it, but a group of 8 of us went out to a Chinese food place that was not too far away.  I had such a great time—it was a blast!  The people that went were Paul and Emma, Annalise and I, Rosemary, Paul’s mom Lily, and two brothers Alex and Danny.  Alex went to high school with Paul, and Danny I think just recently graduated from Biola University in LA.  It really was a great time and I loved getting to know Alex and Danny and getting to know people better, in general.  I really, really hope that we end up being able to meet with them more than just every two weeks…because that means I will only see them 3 more times… L sad story.

And that’s another thing.  I feel like my time here is so temporary. I really want to be able to become friends with people here, but I feel like once I leave…well, that might be the last time I see them.  I feel like I’m caught between wanting to make the most of my time with people here and not wanting to start something that’s not going to go anywhere.  But, I’m going to go with the “make the most of my time here” option because I really enjoy their company and so why should I keep that from happening?

Speaking of meeting new people, this brings me to another part of Spring break with another group of people.  The first Sunday we went to The Well, they had not yet decided to go out to eat afterwards, and so Annalise and I went to a restaurant/bar called Sugar which we had heard had American food…and I had really been craving some wings (which they had).  So we headed over, and it was pretty quiet (I mean, it WAS Sunday night, people had work in the morning!)  But we were able to try some buffalo wings and cheesy fries as well as some vodka lemonade (which was pretty good, if you ask me).  We deemed it worthy of coming back to, and we also found out that Ladies Night was Thursday and that for 40 pesos at the door, women got free drinks until midnight. (PS that was foreshadowing.)  So sometime during the week, Annalise posted on the B.A. Expat website that she was new in the city and looking for a young adults group to go out with.  Well, she got several responses (most from people asking if 28, 29, etc., was too old for “young adults” and if they could come anyway—of course they were welcome!) and so we made plans to go out Thursday to Sugar (most of the group was ladies, so it worked out well). 

So Thursday came (and that was our last day of classes before break started) and we met up at the bar.  By the time I got there, Annalise, Nicole, Drew, and Olivier were all there.  Nicole and Drew are Americans that happen to be living in BA right now, and Olivier is a French guy who happens to be in BA.  Throughout the night more people came (Yvette, Juan…and some other people that I don’t know that I was ever introduced to…) but the three I mentioned earlier were the ones I talked to most.  Now, I won’t go into any details, but it can definitely be said that I drank too much that night…but we all have to learn our limits right? And…yeah, that’s all I’m going to say on that topic.  Anyways…Thursday was fun, and I got to sleep in until whenever I wanted to on Friday…so that was good.  Saturday we went out again with the same group (well it was supposed to be the same group but it ended up being Annalise and I with Drew and Olivier) and I had much less to drink—but it was still fun.  We ended up staying out until about 4 just because we were talking and having a good time.  That was probably the most porteña (Buenos Aires local) Annalise and I have been since we got here, it was great.

Sunday we spent the evening with our friend Laura from IES who was also staying in town.  We found a cool restaurant around my house and we had a great time just talking and hanging out.  I think Monday might have been a lazy day because I don’t remember anything important that happened that day…but Tuesday we (Laura, Annalise and I) went to Tigre.  It’s a city up north that’s an hour train ride away.  We ended up leaving on the train at about 9 in the morning, so we got in at about 10, and we got to Puerto de Frutas (a very market-heavy area of the town) at about 10:45, which we found out was way too early for anything to be open.  So we went to a café to have some breakfast and we were sitting and chatting for a while and by the time we had paid and walked out, many, many more shops were open.  We pretty much spent the entire day walking around, buying little things, and then enjoying some lunch when we got hungry. It was so awesome to have a day out that was still really chill.  I really enjoyed that day a lot.  Then when we ended up deciding to head back (around 6:00 I think?) we went our separate ways to eat dinner at home, and then we met up again at the movie theater to watch The Avengers (which was awesome. So incredibly awesome.) 

Wednesday was another chill day, which ended up with me sleeping over at Annalise’s house.  It was a classic sleep over.  We made a junk-food trip before we actually went to her house, we played cards, we talked a bit, and we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning watching TV on my computer.  It was great.  And so Thursday we kind of slept in until like…2:00?  Yeah, another lazy day.  That night there were plans to meet up with the Sugar group again (I guess that’s what I’m calling them now?) but I was feeling kind of down and so Annalise and I didn’t end up going, we were sitting and talking in a plaza for a while—PS I’m really, really grateful to have such a great friend as Annalise here with me.  It’s really been a blessing to have her here.  Friday we chilled to do homework…so I spent all my time on the computer, obviously.  Saturday I don’t really remember doing anything particularly productive, and then Sunday I finally did some homework and then we went to The Well and out to dinner, etc.  So it was a pretty chill Spring break, but I really enjoyed it.  It was so nice to be able to have so many days of just…nothing.  I’m certain that if we had gone anywhere else that would not have happened…and I needed a break, not a sight-seeing trip.  So point of the story is: Spring break was great.

Also Sunday night, Yelena and I switched rooms because we made a deal at the beginning of the year that at the halfway mark we would switch.  I definitely had the better end of the deal.  My room was at least three times the size of hers, and the bathroom was way bigger (at least two times the size with like, 4 times the storage space) and so it’s kind of hard to down-size my space by so much, but I’m glad that we are both able to have the “nice room” for at least half of our stay.  Also, this room I am in now is much closer to the front door, so when I’m super exhausted I can pretty much just walk in the door, walk three steps to my room, and boom! Bed.  It will be wonderful.

Also, I really am ready to be done with classes.  I’m pretty sure my brain has been too well conditioned to the American school year that it’s about ready to be on summer vacation now.  Which is not good…I still have about 8 weeks of classes left!  But this weekend, (Thursday through Sunday) I will be in Bariloche which is a town (ok, more of a city) in Patagonia.  I get to go with my class about Patagonia and it should be super awesome.  They told us it was jam-packed with things though, so be ready, but I think it will be awesome.  Also, I will probably give you an update about that after it happens—I might even add pictures! (Maybe, I mean, it depends on if other people take them, lol, I’m so bad at remembering to take pictures of things!)

Anyways I hope that this update fulfilled your desire to hear about what’s been going on with me.  I hope you enjoyed reading it—it was good to write a post again.  That was seriously way too long to let my blog go un-updated.  Consider the lesson learned and I will try not to do it again…try.

Thank you for reading,

Chau,

Kiki