EIL Intercultural Learning

Greetings from Argentina, where World Cup disappointment has slightly dampened the mood here in Chilecito!! Argentina´s 4-nil defeat by Germany has not upset me too much after an incredible first week and a bit here!!

I touched down in Buenos Aires last week on a Thurday. I'd never been long-haul flight before (16hours from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires!) but it wasn't so bad, I managed to sleep a good bit and there were lots of movies to keep be entertained. I stayed in a hotel in Buenos Aires for one night and had orientation in the EIL office there. It was nice to have a bit of a rest before the next leg of my journey, and to see a bit of the capital. Buenos Aires is a busy and cosmopolitan city and the traffic is crazy! The Spanish is a bit of a shock to my system, despite all my preparations, on my first day in Buenos Aires i realised how limited my vocabulario español is!

That night I had a choice of pizza or hamburgers for dinner, because I didn't understand anything else on the menu! It was ok though because before I got on my bus to Chilecito I had my first taste of of Argentine food at the EIL office. (and I have a feeling the food here might be a much discussed topic in this blog!!) We had empanadas for lunch which were delicious, pastry turnovers with meat or vegetable fillings. Then I set off on my 18hour bus journey to Chilecito, with one mission: cram as much Spanish into my brain as possible. I think I listen to 4 or 5 Learn Spanish CDs before I eventually nodded off to sleep.

I arrived in Chilecito last Saturday morning, where I was greeted by the Local Coordinator and my host parents. Its like the Wild Wild West of Argentina, really sunny and dry with deserts and mountains and cactuses.(or cacti?) I spent the weekend settling into my host family's house and getting to know my surroundings. On Saturday evening I went for tea at my local coordinators house and met the other two vounteers at my project, both of whom are German. Over the weekend I also discovered more yummy Argentine food: asado which is an Argentine barbeque, alfajores, which are biscuity sandwiches with dulce de leche and mate which is a type of herbal hot drink, a bit of and acquired taste at first but I've already grown to like it! I needed to get used to the climate as well, as its winter here and I had just come from Ireland's June heatwave!It can get quite cold at night, but the sun is always shining during the day so its quite warm and pleasant!

I started my volunteering on Monday. It's a great project, called "La Casita de Quirquincho" which was founded in 2008 by two German volunteers. In the afternoons, children come to "La Casita" or el comedor after school for a snack or lunch and a place to play. We give them a hot meal 2 or 3 days and on the other days a snack of milk and pastries. I'm really enjoying working there so far, all though this week I have been doing a lot of observing how things are done.

The kids that go to the comedor are really cute. Its customary here to greet everyone you meet with a kiss on the cheek or a handshake, so when we arrive at the comedor we get about 20-30 kisses and hugs from all the kids! They call me seño, which is short for señorita because they think I'm a teacher. On my first day we were making banana milkshakes and all the kids wanted to chip into help. That afternoon we played  game so I could learn all the kids names which really helped. There's also cards, balls, jigsaws, paints and crayons to keep the kids entertained. On Tuesday we made rice with vegetables and sauce and on Friday, my host mother donated mince meat to the comedor which meant we could make homemade hamburgers which went down a treat!

On Monday I also started my Spanish lessons. My local coordinator brought me to my teachers house, where I will be doing lessons every evening for about 3 weeks. She's really nice, we get on well and I'm learning lots! I've been getting compliments on how fast I'm learning, as on the for the first fews days I was mute because I understood nada. It's amazing what you learn when you are completely immersed in the language. I'm so grateful that everyone is so patient with my questionable language skills; my teacher, my host family, the other volunteers and the kids have all been great! One of the children at my project took it upon himself to teach me, pointing to things outside and telling what they were called which was really sweet! I a still have a long way to go with my Spanish but I am taking pride in little victories, like managing to have small conversations without blushing, mudding my words and stuttering!

We cycle to the project, but walk most of the way back because its uphill and steep!  A few of the boys have taken to "helping us with the bikes" ie. cycling for about fifteen minutes on the way home. They really enjoy it so its become a bit of of a routine!

That's all my news so far, I feel I've settled in really well here , and I'm so glad I've got this oppurtunity! I'm looking forward to the next 9 weeks and planning on making the most of them! So ciao for now!