See for Yourself

This video was from the other day when we went to the Fair at Recoletta! Today We went to an industrial fair at Plaza Italiano.  There were many sheep, horses, cattle, and cows being shown.  Check out my facebook for more pictures!

This was a little excerpt of the tango presentation that I saw at the University of Belgrano yesterday.  Friends...how bout we be trying a lil of this at the next date party??!

Today I had a typical Argentine lunch of Corizpan! My Argentinian friends in Cordoba would be so proud of me because when I tried this with them last December, it was not my fav at all, but today it was FABULOUS! It is fresh bread with cow meat in the middle.  Add a little salt, throw on some of the mysterious pesto and pepper sauce and you are good to go!

Firsts

There have been a lot of new things that I have tried or learned lately.  I'll let you in on the good and the bad.
1. Some of my friends and I went to the Recoleta Fair yesterday.  It was amazing and was an explosion of culture in one single park.  There are tons of venders that set up shop in the park every sunday and it is an excellent place to buy artisan goods and souvenirs.  (maybe you will be one of the lucky ones who gets one!)  There was also lots of musicians and carts selling food from cakes to corizpan (it is like subway sandwiches but 1000 times better!).  Actually, get the subway image out of your head because you can not even compare it to that.  But you know what kind of sandwich I'm talking!!

2. I attended a Catholic mass last night with one of my friend's host mom.  I have never attended an actual mass service so it was very interesting.  The priest talked super fast so it was often difficult to understand what he was saying.  There was a lot of up and down movement of the congregation.  What I mean is that we sat and then we stood up many times as they recited prayers.  After the service everyone exits out the main door and gives the priest a hug and exchanges a few words.  I thought this was a pretty cool gesture because the priest was not just someone in the front of the church giving a message, but makes a conscious effort to know everyone that attends.  It is cool to reflect on the fact that God knows every single language in the world. GEEEZZ thats a lot of knowledge!  Here is one of the verses that I love.  (It is in Spanish, so LOOK IT UP! You won't be disappointed!)

"Siempre pido en mis oraciones que, si es la voluntad de Dios, por fin se me abra ahora el camino para ir a visitarlos." Romanos 1:10

3. IT IS A LOT COLDER HERE THAN I THOUGHT! holaaaa winter!

El sello de mi universidad nueva

4. Today I went to my orientation at the University of Belgrano.  This is where I will be taking half of my classes.  It was awesome and the orientation consisted of all the international students from all over  the worlds.  I talked to many people from Sweden, Germany, and France.  One of the neatest phrases the director told us is that, "we are not citizens from our specific country, rather, we are citizens of this world."  Once I got home today, I remembered him saying that and what a powerful phase that is.  There are no lines of division, but we are are here to be educated and learn from each other about different cultures and customs.
5. I saw a demonstration of Tango today! woah. oh. my. word. I do not think that will be possible in my book.  Especially thinking back to my time as a cheerleader (that lengthy time of 1 year in high school), I was off by either 1 or 2 beats for every dance and chant.  I'll let you know how it goes when I go to a Milonga (Tango dance bar).
6. I got a Subway card! Now I will be flying in the undergrounds!
7. The ravioli here is not your typical 3 cheese, but it had a meat and other ingredient mixture inside.  Not a fan.  
8. Ok so here is the history lesson for today. (Feel free to zone out if this is not your thing)  Buenos Aires is a very old city.  For instance, one of the churches I visited was built in the 1700s.  In the beginning many residents in Belgrano lived in La Boca (neighborhood).  However, when yellow fever hit Buenos Aires decades later and wiped out 1/3 of the population, the rich folks moved to a distinct neighborhood in Belgrano.  They did this because it was less population which created a smaller chance of them catching the disease.  Therefore, as you can imagine, this neighborhood is like the Beverly Hills of Buenos Aires.  The starting price for many of the smaller residences is 5 or 6 million dollars.  The majority of the houses have their own private security man that stands in front and many video cameras.

The city that does not sleep

So before I embarked upon this new journey, many people told me that I would expect to find Buenos Aires very similar to NYC.  As far as I can tell, this has proven to be completely true.  Some similarities: there are lots of dogs with sweaters, mass amounts of people walking everywhere, tons of restaurants, beautiful parks, and a huge night life!

Yesterday we had our orientation and meet many people in our group.  There are also other students from California and Michigan.  After lunch we took a wonderful city tour through many of the neighborhoods in Buenos Aires.  We went through Puerto Madera, Palermo, Belgrano, and La Boca.  La Boca was one of the first ports and all of the buildings are different colors and made from a wide variety of materials.  This is because when new inhabitants first got off the boat, they did not have many materials or a large quantity of paint, therefore all of there buildings are a mish-mash of items found on their boats and on land.

One of my favorite aspects of the trip has been getting to know the locals.  I was in a local coffee shop yesterday and some of my friends and I got to talk to some Argentine lawyers that were sitting next to us.  Not only does it help improve your spanish, but you get the real scoop on the best places to go in BA.

Today we all traveled to China Town (yes your read that correctly, there is a China Town in BA!) and bought some rinky dink cell phones.  This has been a problem since we have gotten here because we have not been able to contact each other in the program and therefore it has been a nightmare trying to meet up with friends because we hardly know our way around! Don't worry mom and dad, I'm getting the hang of it!

Check out this video! This is one of the craziest things I have seen in BA.  This was right outside the University of Belgrano and it is a tradition that has been carried on for decades here.  When someone graduates, their friends and family wait outside the university from them to come out and then they start throwing eggs, tomatos, mustard, ketchup, flour, and many other items at the newest graduate! IT WAS CRAZY! Apparently I ended up being right in the middle of the action and scurried out of the way fast! Not so sure I want to graduate in Argentina...plus the smell was absolutely horrendous!

Estoy aquí!

woah, golly geee that plane ride was a rough one! It was about 10 hours and anyone want to take a guess at how many hours Kelsey slept?? Ding Ding Ding, whoever said zero is correct! I was so lucky to be on a flight with 6 other members of the program I am in in Buenos Aires! A few of them I knew already, but the others instantly became my new best friends I would have for the next 4 months.  After we left the airport, I was taken to meet my new family.  I am living with a woman named Susana and she is, as they would say in Argentina, divina!! She loved the book about Texas landmarks that I brought her and when she saw a picture of some cowboy boots, she proceeds to tell me that I should have brought mine because they are totally in style here! (missed the boat on that one!)

After unpacking and taking a 1 hour nap, I went on a tour of the city with another girl in my program and her host mom, who live across the street.  Buenos Aires is beautiful, however, there is tons of trash on the streets and people are walking everywhere.  Don't expect to get anywhere in a car very quickly.  Anyways, we are having dinner in a few hours, of course around my American bedtime, but luckily Susana has lots of snacks!

Well folks...this is just about it for now.  My brain hurts from being so tired, but I promise to update you on all the haps soon! Adios!

Buenas Noticias!

I am so excited to say that I will be returning to Argentina this coming July! After my wonderful experience in December, I have decided that I will study abroad in Buenos Aires for the fall semester.  The school semester is a little different in Argentina.  My classes will start in July and I will return to the grand ol' USA in the beginning of November.  This time, I will be going with a program though the University of Oklahoma.  There are 17 students going and we will all be studying at the University of Belgrano.  I will be taking 4 Spanish classes and 1 International Area Studies class.  I can hardly wait to immerse myself into the culture again.

When I arrived back to the United States after my 3 weeks in Argentina over the winter break, I made a radical decision.  I CHANGED MY MAJOR!! It was a tough decision and really scary to drop 9 hours of class that I had been enrolled in, but looking back on the semester, I know it was the right thing to do.  I am still a Spanish major, but I am also majoring in International Area Studies.  You might be wondering, so why did Kelsey go and shadow doctors in Argentina then and give up on being pre-med?  Well lemme answer that for ya...I still absolutely love helping people and medicine, but after experiencing the culture and people in Argentina, I decided that I could not spend many more years studying in medical school because I wanted to return to a spanish speaking country as fast as I could! Therefore, my current plan is to finish my undergraduate studies at the University of Oklahoma and apply for the Fulbright Scholarship my senior year.  If awarded the scholarship, I would hopefully be teaching English in Spain for 8 months and then return to the U.S. for graduate school.  I would love to then study public health, but all of this is definitely subject to change!

While it will be hard to say good bye to everything I know for 4 months, I know that this is the path the Lord has set before me.  I will be able to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House in Buenos Aires and I have already talked to the director, who is ecstatic to have a new American volunteer soon! I know the Lord will move in mighty ways while I am there and I can not wait to be used by Him.  To Him be all the glory!

P.S. Check out this sweet blog with tons of pictures of Buenos Aires, Argentina! http://www.akworld.net/webblog/

my heart will stay in argentina

I'm. going. home. in. 5. days.

This can't be real! I feel like I just got to Argentina and I can't believe that the time is going by so fast. As I keep meeting other volunteers in the program and they tell me that they are staying for a couple months, I can't help it but to get a bit jealous. This past weekend I went to the "country." That is what everyone here calls where the mountains and rivers. Many people have vacation homes in the country where they go to escape from the city. Some friends I had made at the Ronald McDonald House and I drove to one of their homes that was about 2 hours away. This weekend I truly experienced hospitality like I have never seen before.

Before I went to the country, I worked on friday in the hospital! Friday was a fantastic day because the older doctors have begun to talk to me more! I got to explain to one of them why I was in Argentina and what I am hoping

to do with my life. THIS IS HUGE because

the older doctors don't really like the volunteers that come and and the doctors are typically cold towards them. In the hospital, it was a typical day where I followed Dr. Ellie as she saw each patient. Another kid brought her a letter and a picture. It is the coolest thing to see the relationships between Dr. Ellie and the patients because she has more love to give than anyone I know.

After working at the Ronald McDonald house in the afternoon, (I have now decided that I want to volunteer in the house in OKC when I get back to school because I LOVE it so much) we headed for the country! After miles (actually kilometers, but I don't really know the metric system!) of driving through the mountains on winding roads, we arrived at my friend Yani's house. Her family welcomed me with open arms and treated me as one of their own children. That night we went to one of the pueblitos near by and had dinner in this old German village. It was SO cool!! All the architecture and wood work resembled Germany because that is where the Germans settled when they immigrated to Argentina. One of my favorite parts were the people dressed up in old fashion, German clothes who came to your table to play the flute or trumpet. Woahhh ok...enough there!

On saturday, Yani, Nico, Martin, and I went to another pueblito where there is this famous river. As we drove to the river, the view of the mountains and landscape was breathtaking. We arrived at this old fashioned village in which you had to walk every where because cars are not allowed. All of the shops are tucked into the mountains and it was fun walking up and down the cobble stone paths to the river. This was another day that I clearly wore the

wrong shoes! (I think the count is up to 3 now?) I wore sandals and after wading in the water, we climbed some rocks and my slippery shoe caused me to fall. Don't worry mom, I'm fine! Embarrassing moment #1. One of the coolest things was when we found this waterfall and all of us climbed to the top and jumped into the chilly waters below. Time after time we climbed the rocks and did different tricks into the water. This has been one of my favorite mems so far!

That night we went back to the house and Yani's father cooked a typical Argentinean meal. This consisted of Asado (meat), grilled vegetables, bread (OF COURSE!), and lots and lots of coke a cola. I don't think I have ever drank as much coke in my life until I came to Argentina. The meat was absolutely delicious, as was all of the other food. And let me just tell ya that every single item had salt! oh my word, I thought I might die from a heart attack, but it was yummy! Even the salad had salt...and lots of it! Lots of the other volunteers came out to the country this afternoon so we had about 15 people eating dinner together and lots of different spanish convos going on. As you can imagine...my head was spinning! Hold on people, can we each just talk one at a time and maybe a little slower? Just kidding! So here is embarrassing moment #2: At dinner at everyone was talking, I leaned back in my plastic chair and it broke. Both of the handles snapped and and I put the room full of 15 vibrant and enthusiastic spanish speakers to silence. And then everyone began to laugh! After I regained my breath, I laughed too as the father insisted that I now come and sit next to him in a chair that was unbreakable.

On sunday, all of us went to the lake that is really close to Yani's house. It was a relaxing day spent by the water as we laughed and joked about just about everything. When we came back to the house, it was back to school for kelsey! I learned how to cook empanadas! This is a specialty in Argentina and when I first arrived I thought that they were just desserts, but NO! We made ham and cheese empanadas and meat ones! I will be willing to teach anyone back home as long as you pay for me to go back to Argentina some day. Just kidding...kind of! But after a lot of corrections and re-dos, I have perfected the art of empanada making. Before we left to go back to the city, I went into the bathroom and locked the door. Alright...embarrassing moment #3...As I tried to turn the handle to leave, I realized the lock was stuck. So yes, I locked myself in the bathroom and had to pound on the door and shout "hola" periodically in hopes that someone would come help! Soon, help came and the door was unlocked from the other side.

Even after knowing these people for just a few days, I am going to miss them so much! They are some of the kindest people I have ever met and especially my friend Yani who is kind of the mom of the group! She always was is looking out for me and saying, "Kelsey, cross the street now! or, Make sure your passport is in a safe palce!" Yani always put others needs before herself and is the kind of friend that you never want to let go of. As I said in the beginning, I only have 5 days left, but I am going to make sure that I deff make the most of it!

sassily serious

WOW! I do not even know where to begin! I guess I will begin by saying thanks be to God for all the blessings I have had here in Argentina and for a new worldly perspective. The past 2 days there has been a lot that has been going on some I'm gonna give it to ya straight!

WEDNESDAY MORN:

It was my second day at work with Dr. Ellie. I realized how exhausting it is to deal with really difficult people. Heath care is here in Argentina, therefore every one and their cat and dog comes to the doctor for really minor problems or for bigger issues. When I first started, the doctors would occasionally going into the break room and sit down and talk with each other as they ate a snack or drank mate. I was thinking to myself, "THERE ARE SICK KIDS OUT THERE, LET'S GO HELP THEM!" Also, I was wondering why the heck we were just going to sit around when there are things to do! You can see I was a little ancy! I have now come to realize that this is an important part of the doctor's day. This is the 5 minutes that they take every now and then where they can relax and not have to think about their work. Remember: the careers in the medical profession here do not get paid very well, so these doctors are working because they absolutely LOVE what they do!

Sometimes it is a little hard to understand what is wrong with the child because of the difficult Spanish terminology. For instance, today a mother came in with a 5 year old who was about the size of a 2 year old. His head was really small in comparison to the rest of his body. What I gained from the conversation was that he is really sick and this is due to the fact that the mother was an alcoholic when she was pregnant. Dr. Ellie told me that it is really sad to see so many cases that are completely preventable, if only the parents had only been informed about what to do and what not to do. (Although, some people don't always do what they are told!)

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:

This was my first day to work at the Ronald McDonald house here in Cordoba and OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS GOODNESS I love this place! This is a large building that looks like a house and holds up to 18 families. Families apply to live here and if they are accepted they are given a room, bathroom, and they are able to use the community kitchen and laundry room. The families that apply to live here have a child that is in a serious condition and the child has to receive daily treatment from

the hospital next door. Many times the families that live here have a house that is really far away from the hospital or don't even have a place to live at all. This has been one of the places that has helped my spanish get so much better! There are absolutely the nicest people you will ever meet working there and they would absolutely bend over backwards for these families.

This afternoon, I went with my new friends

Mattie and Yani, and many other volunteers from Argentina, as they gave me THEIR tour of Cordoba. And woahhh I thought my feet were going to fall off by the end of the day because we walked so much! We went to the town center, saw many famous statues and buildings, and ended it all at the shopping mall! Throughout the whole afternoon, one of my friends had my camera and was taking pictures. Constantly he was saying, Kelsii, Kelsii, picture here! I could have been in front of a trash can and he was wanting to take a picture! All my friends told me that I need to remember every single part of Cordoba, so therefore, the pictures are a MUST. At first they would ask, "Do you want a picture of yourself here?" and I would just say something like, "oh, no it's ok!" Well...I learned quick that no was not the acceptable answer and it was just easier to go along with it! Looking back, I am really glad I have all 80 something pictures from that afternoon so that I can look back and remember.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

I went with 5 of the volunteers to one of their houses to swim in the pool and eat pizza! It was super fun, but it is hard to explain how hard it is to understand them when they speak at the speed of light. It is how we talk with our friends in English, (really fast and shorter terminology) but in Spanish. That was nothing compared to when we started to play a game where there are 2 teams and you take turns drawing a card from the pile. The card has a main word at the top and 5 words below it. You say the 5 words below the main one to the other team and the other team tries to guess the main word. For example, the main word was glasses. The five words below were: sun, reading, vision, optometry, and help. That game is hard enough in English, but in Spanish, ummm hola? Let's just say I wasn't that much help for my team! One of the really popular songs that I am now OBSESSED with is this one. It is from Brazil. CHECK IT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-AbEQNHi2A There is a dance to it and everyone here knows it. I'm determined to learn...even if it takes me a year!

THURSDAY MORN: I woke up at my usually time, 7 AM, but it was a little more difficult after having gone to sleep at 2 AM. Last night I wanted to stay and hang out with my new friends even though I knew I had to wake up early. I mean you only live once right? I can always sleep later! Today I have made headway in the medical community here at Casa Cuna Hospital! One of the really stiff doctors who never cracks a smile, smiled at me today! At first I really only liked the brand new doctors because they would talk to me, but I have turned a corner with the older, grouchy ones! HIP HIP HORAAHH! I finished the book I have ben reading, "Heaven is for real" and if your reading my blog right now. STOP!! And go read this book because it is now one of my favorites! In summary, a 4 year old boy, Colton goes under for surgury and died for a few minutes on the table, but came back to life and was able to tell people about his experience. If your wondering to yourself, umm so what the heck does this have to do with my experience...just wait! Colton constantly talks about in the book how Jesus LOVES the little children. This is not just said once, but over and over and over again. Today I saw a glimpse

at why Jesus loves these children SO MUCH. Kids are innocent, they see things in black in white, and for the most part, put their whole heart into something they believe. Kids are generous and kind, and are never worried about what others think about them. We can learn a lot from kids. There was a kid today that absolutely broke my heart. He was born in Bolivia and his family moved here. He is now 5 years old and can't talk. The doctors have nothing to make conclusions from because the mother has no medical records and it appears as if he hasn't received very much medical attention, EVER, in his life. They have no idea why he can't talk and are at a loss of what to do. But, his smile would make you absolutely melt to the ground. It was hard seeing the most precious boy, so helpless, and the doctors had no conclusions. Thank goodness no one is ever sick when they get to heaven!

THURSDAY AFTERNOON:

Back to the Ronald McDonald house! Today was a special day because it is a holiday where everyone celebrates the 3 kings that came to see Jesus. In honor of today, there was a party held for all the families and the kids and the kids each received a present! There was laughter, food, and the company of such AWESOME people! What else could you ask for? One of the girls got a new tea set and was going around taking orders and pretending to make us tea. When I was pretending to drink the tea, she said, "I'm waiting! Finish, so I can make others tea!" It made me laugh so much in the way that she was so sassily serious. SO SWEET! It was a great opportunity for the kids to forget about their medical conditions and to have fun and laugh A LOT!

THURSDAY NIGHT:

I am back at my house and we are going to have dinner soon! All of Alicia's kids are coming over and we are eating together. I haven't seen them in a few days so I am excited to be reunited with them!