The Countdown Begins

I haven't got anything all that exciting to report on from this week. Nor do I have any new photos. So I've decided I'll just give a little bit of a rundown on some of the more interesting points and throw in some random photos from my travels.

Much to my delight, the snow decided to stick around for several days this week. It was nothing short of bliss going about daily life marvelling at this natural wonder coating every surface. To see a landscape that has become so familiar to me, so dramatically reconfigured in the space of a day was incredible. It is almost as if this is the way that Junín is meant to be. The town seems to have come alive with the snowfall - it's as though the snow brings with it a renewed sense of joy in the people - or that may well just be me living in what, up until now, has always been a winter-wonderland reserved to ski parks and childhood fantasies.

My "lasts" have been going well. My last football session with my younger companions was wonderful.  The coach wanted to throw a little party for me so we spent the first hour pigging out on junk food and then, hyped up on all the sugar, took to the courts for a super-charged and very enjoyable game of football. They seemed to be caught between going easy on me seeing as it was my last week, or seizing their last chance to show me up. By the end, I had scored three goals and been "caño"ed (having the ball kicked between your legs) three times.

I had a great conversation with my football coach, who up until that point had only ever heard me say things like "How many pushups?" and "Where do I stand?". Once we were out of a fast-paced football context and my brain didn't have to try and deal with football and a foreign language simultaneously, we were able to converse really well. He seemed astounded by the amount of Spanish I was able to speak and understand. Another coach, who had a very broad grip on the English language, then decided to join in on the conversation. He spoke in English and I spoke in Spanish and whenever we felt necessary, each of us would revert to a bit of Spanglish. My coach was sitting there with a giant grin on his face - very chuffed that he could understand almost the entire conversation despite not knowing a word of English. Some of my teammates that spoke English decided to pitch in a little bit, making for a very entertaining conversation.

My last week of school went very well. I gave each of my teachers a "Temora High School" pen and a little Australia badge as a small token of my appreciation for accepting me into their classrooms. Each of them seemed shocked by the gesture and thanked me enormously. The last day of school affected me far more than I had expected. I found myself getting teary-eyed quite often, especially when I received applause from the entire school during an assembly to celebrate Argentina's national day of independence. It's hard enough finding the words to say goodbye in English. I gave up the search in Spanish, finding it far easier to just smile and offer a handshake or a hug and a kiss.

And from there, the countdown begins. In about two weeks time, I'll be hopping on a plane bound for Australia! Tomorrow we depart for Mendoza with plans for some snow skiing, as well as another trip across the border to Chile. Speaking of our Chilean neighbours, one of them is arriving to my family in Australia as we speak. A while ago my folks got contacted by WEP to ask if they would like to host an exchange student. They accepted on the condition that the student was from a Spanish speaking country - the hope being that I could continue practicing the language. Mum also insisted that they be male as she didn't feel that our household could cope with a girl. A Chilean by the name of Tomás made the cut and will be living with us for the next five months. Hopefully the next two weeks are not sufficient time for my family to realise that they would much rather a Chilean as a son than yours truly.

That's all I have for now. Sorry about the lack of quality and completeness -  this one was a bit of a rush job as I felt I should put up another post before departing for Mendoza. I will probably make a few improvements while I am away. Hope you enjoyed it regardless!  Until next time!

Snow!

I will get to the snow stuff eventually, however I'd first like to recount a recent incident in my host home and do a quick update on daily life.

Firstly daily life - everything continues to run quite smoothly - my Spanish is making slow and steady improvement, with conversations and situations with larger groups of people becoming far easier. I still enjoy my time at school and am improving (finally) at making productive use of my free sessions in the library. I even managed to complete (finally) my Agatha Christie book that I borrowed earlier on in the year, "Diez Negritos". The chilly weather makes it difficult to find motivation to exercise but I have been doing my best to take advantage of every clear patch of weather to go for a bit of a run and I still have my several sessions of football per week.

Now, 'the incident', which goes under the name of "Un Oso en el Baño" whenever it is recounted by my host father. He had taken note of my nightly trips to the bathroom to pee at 2:00 in the morning and decided he would leave me a bit of a surprise. Sitting on the toilet waiting for me was a giant stuffed bear - somewhat of a shock when entering the bathroom in a half-asleep state, early in the morning with a few second delay before the light flickers into life. This is where the recounts of my host father and I differ. He claims that I let out a loud, overly girly scream (complete with hand actions in his retellings). I maintain that he heard was actually my Dr Hibbert laugh, distorted by the bathroom wall. As for the girly hand actions, how he knew that is beyond me.

And now, as promised - the snow! A couple of days after I got back from my trip to the north-west, it began to snow here in Junin! Something that's probably not all that exciting to many of my readers, but it was a first for me! It was only a very light fall and not enough to produce the stereotypical snow-covering that I had always pictured, but it was enough to have my standing transfixed at the window for half an hour or so. To me it was simply magic! Then it decided to get considerably warmer for a bit over a week, much to the dismay of my host brother who was hanging out for the first opportunity to ski for the winter. However thankfully it cooled off again  (though I don't always feel all that thankful drudging home from school in wet, windy, sub-zero weather) and on Friday afternoon I went snow skiing at Chapelco Ski Resort with Luis, Agus and a few of his friends.

I had only been skiing a couple of times previously and not for several years but it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things. Though I was still far inferior to my companions, I improved quickly and took a liking to skiing through the trees, something that I have never been able to try before. It felt incredible to be dodging backwards and forwards between the trees and other natural obstacles, sometimes through foot deep snow.  Whenever the speed became too much and my balance failed me, I would end up buried in a mountain of snow unable to contain my laughter. It was fun, exhilarating, and at times frightening - a feeling that I will hang onto until my next opportunity to partake in snow-sports. Though I have the opportunity to go water-skiing most summers, and many skills and feelings resonate through both sports, the freedom felt whilst snow-skiing cannot be beaten.

Possibly the best part of the day, was the fact that (besides the miniscule price for rental of boots and a helmet) the full day of skiing didn't cost me a cent! This was because it was the first day open for the resort. Despite being first day of the season there was a lot of snow and some slopes were closed as the visibility was too poor. This being said, well over half of the runs and lifts were not being used due to lack of snow so the lines for everything were aggravatingly long. That was the only real downside to the entire day however. I had an awesome time and cannot wait for my next opportunity to ski, whether it be here in Argentina, or back home in Australia.

After all that snow-related happiness, it began to snow while I was walking to church this morning. Then, just to make my weekend complete, while I was putting together this blog we got some heavier snow-fall and I was finally able to see that awesome snow-covering that I was talking about earlier. I ducked outside to get myself as many photos as I could before my hands started to freeze and came back in to complete this post by the warm fire, watching the snow continue to fall outside. I'm hoping that, and the following photos, are enough to invoke some jealousy in my readers.

When I elected to come to come to Argentina on exchange, experiencing the snow was something that I was not expecting. I must admit, until I received confirmation that I a host family had been found for me in a small community near the Andes and I did a bit of research, I wasn't even aware that there were places in Argentina where it snowed. I guess that's a good reminder of one of the reasons that I am here, not just for the incredible experiences and some sightseeing, but for the things that I am learning and knowledge that I am acquiring along the way.

After four months in Argentina, I'm still having daily realisations of how amazing it is that I am here -
whether it be on a gentle Sunday afternoon bike ride, seeing kids playing football in the street and smelling the asados grilling throughout the town, or a game of football with my classmates enjoying the continuous banter in Spanish (and every once in a while, English). Occasionally I reflect on the fact that it has become normal for me to be surrounded by conversation in a language that I probably would not have even been able to recognise a year ago and now am able to understand a great deal of. 

As I enter my final three weeks in Argentina it is very easy for me to spend my time thinking about the ever-approaching departure date (23 July for anyone who may be wondering), particularly as I approach 'the lasts' of everything - my last week of school, my last music lessons, my last football sessions and my last Spanish classes. However, as my mother reminded me in a recent phone call with my family at home, it is important for me to not dwell on this, but to make the most of my remaining time here. And that's what I hope to do - enjoying each of my 'lasts' as they come along and jumping at every opportunity to try or see something new in my remaining weeks. I have a week in Mendoza with my host family to look forward to, as well as a day in Buenos Aires before I leave, so I haven't got 'home' on the brain quite yet.

That's all I have for this time. I hope you enjoyed it and apologise for another delayed posting. The trip to the north-west caused a bit of a disruption to my blog-writing habits and it's taking me a while to get back into the swing of things. However, for my many loyal readers, I aim to re-establish the regular, polished professionalism that defined my earlier postings. I leave you with this disturbing image of the stuffed beast from my late-night bathroom encounter.

"El Oso" (which in reality is not a bear, but a lion) in his usual spot below the stairs.
 I was going to recreate the bathroom scene,
 however I found it far too traumatic and had to settle for this shot