El Día del Estudiante

Tuesday was el día del estudiante. Here in Argentina, on the first day of spring no one is in school and they celebrate the whole day.

Here at the UAP (pronounced WAP), they had a fair like set up on the student field. Human foosball, slides, a mechanical bull and a soccer tournament were the most popular events taking place the whole day. Around 12:30, they stopped for lunch. THAT was interesting, but it filled me until about 3pm.

After lunch, a big group of students got in a circle and starting playing some clapping games. Of course, they were all in Spanish, but it was interesting to sit on the side and observe these people. They were playing simple games that I taught some of my campers this summer and they were having blast. Sabrina and I took pictures, while Chelsea and Ashley got in the circle.

We met some more of the students and have hung out with them since then.

Since the town is so small, there's not a whole lot to do. It's like being stuck at Southern or Andrews campus without a car, and none of your friends have cars either. So for fun at night, you go to the gym and play volleyball. The students here in Argentina are very healthy and very fit. I have yet to see anyone out of shape or overweight. So every night we gather in the gym and play volleyball, basketball or fútbol. On Tuesday, it was about 3:30 when an amazing volleyball player named Diego asked me if I wanted to play volleyball at the beach. It's a sand court right next to the gym. So I agreed and got my posse together. We ended up playing til dinner. I must've hit the ball wrong once 'cause I had a TON of pain in my shoulder. I haven't really played since then because it hurts to serve or spike, which are the things that I'm good at. So I'm on temporary leave.

Two nights ago, I went to the gym with a ton of people with every intention of playing volleyball. After warming up with Pinky, a student here named Ezequiel but he looks like Pinky from Pinky and the Brain so everyone calls him that, I sat down on the blechers to let other people warm up. I started talking to James, he looked really bummed about something so I thought I would see what's up. We ended up talking the whole entire time the gym was open. I felt bad 'cause I invited a ton of people to play and they were all waiting on me to play. I kinda wished they had just gone and gotten into a game instead of waiting for me. But what can you do.

So last night, all the girls were going to go to another gym and do this power jump class, it didn't really sound interesting so I went to the gym by myself. I had a thought that I should bring some homework while I wait to play, so I brought some of my Grammar and Conversation homework. There ended up being a girls volleyball tournament, so none of us could play. I sat down and started on my homework. Just being around volleyball makes me happy. LOL.

They had a game of beach volleyball so I went outside to join a team. It was FREEZING COLD. I was about to head back to my dorm to get a sweatshirt, when James and Paul yelled at me for leaving. Apparently, they were coming to play. So James gave me his sweatshirt and we stood around for awhile. We ended up going back into the gym 'cause it was too cold to just hang out while the game was going on. Paul and I ended up talking for a good portion of the time while James shot hoops.

I needed to do laundry so I decided to get up before the sun and do my laundry, so as I sit down here in something that reminds me of a factory, the smells of freshly cleaned clothes and breakfast linger in the air. I am so blessed to be here in Argentina learning this language I've been studying for about 1/4 of my life and meeting these awesome people I can call friends.

Today marks the day of completing my first official week of school. The content of the classes aren't hard, it's just that everything is in Spanish and my brain is overloaded. I know that it will get easier the longer that I'm here. I find myself forgetting words in English when I talk to my friends. Keep me in your prayers that I can continue to stay focused on school! Miss you all!