Surviving Solo

Well I can't speak for Renae as I haven't heard one thing from her in 7 days now (so weird!), but as for me, I'm loving life in Argentina. When she left for the field house last week we didn't have a place to stay, hadn't figured out a permanent money situation, had about 2 friends once the girls went back to Buenos Aires, basically still needed to figure out EVERYTHING! So needless to say, I was a bit worried for myself when she said she had to go for two whole weeks, without communication. Me?! Alone in Cordoba?! I'm not a city person, I am hopeless with directions, my Spanish is the poorer of the two... I may or may not have been thinking, “yup, this is the week that I will die”.

But guess what, I am not only surviving but in the always optimistic words of Jen Schneider, am doing great! I moved into a sort of foreign student house (more on this later), made it to the bank, have had more adventures in one week than I can even begin to describe, and best of all have found myself surrounded by friends. Every single person I've met has been more than friendly, and is always willing to help a sista out. One day last weekend my friend Lucas brought me to swim at the river in Cuesta Blanca, an hour bus ride outside the city. I got crazy burnt since Naenae brought the sunscreen to the campo, and felt like the most conservative human in the world next to all the Argentinians in their inappropriate swimsuits (seriously, no age limit, no weight limit, nada.... everyone wears thongs), but had tons of fun swimming, jumping off the rocks, and playing a game that Lucas brought. Another day I met a guy, Martin, on campus, and was brought for pizza and beer “to make me feel at home”. Just yesterday, I was wandering around with my map in hand like usual, when I was approached by a guy named Alex, brought to where I needed to go, and invited to an asado tonight with him and his friends. It's crazy to me that this is such a huge city, yet everyone out there is so friendly and always takes time to make a gringa feel at home. I definitely stick out more without Argentinian-looking Renae, as well, and am always being asked my story, kissed on the cheek, and told to enjoy my time here.

Now, for the craziness that is my living situation.
So I somehow ended up signing a two month lease on a house right by the University. Normally, you have to stay for six months, but since it is the summer here and nothing is going on, they let a handful of us randoms come to live until the end of February. Here's a quick character profile of the unlikely group of people that is my roomies:

Luca: 22 year old Argentinian from a small town four hours from here, came to get a job cutting hair since there isn't enough work where he's from, is always jamming music and dancing around, chain smoker, tons of tattoos, speaks in thee fastest and slang-iest Spanish I have ever heard, and can't seem to slow it down no matter how many times I tell him that if he wants me to understand he needs to speak slowly and clearly. For example, “mas o menos” turns into “maomeo”. Impossible!
Renato: 25 year old gay tv announcer from Brazil, speaks ONLY Portuguese, with maybe 10 words in both Spanish and English thrown in there, came to volunteer for the summer with people with disabilities, has a facial expression that never changes and therefore has become the butt of many jokes, has the habit (especially after having a beer) of speaking very fast Portuguese, disregarding the fact that no one can understand a word.
Joaquin: 20 year old Argentinian from the next province over, here for summer school since he is studying medicine, so has school all day every day then comes home to post up at the table and study, is the son of a doctor and is super into politics, also has a passion for photography.
Kanya: 20 year old half Indian girl from Sydney, Australia, here to volunteer with kids for six weeks, knows un poquitito (tiny little bit) of Spanish, wakes up to run at 6 every morning (yes I say I am going to go with her every day, no I haven't made it yet), vegetarian in the country known for meat.
Marcia: from Brazil, is studying to be a teacher, here to volunteer with kids for 6 weeks as well, luckily for Renato speaks Portuguese, as well as a bit of both Spanish and English, brought a blowdryer which yes is an interesting fact because I actually got to do my hair for the first time yesterday since leaving the states!
Last but not least, Santiago: super tall 21 year old friend from home of Joaquin, here to explore the city and decide if it's where he wants to go to school, wants to be an actor, plays violin, piano, drums, and guitar,  and of course sings as well (I've got him hooked on Eric Church and am making him learn to play his songs), can't beat me at speed to save his life, and is the one I spend the most time with so far since neither of us have much to do during the days. So we go exploring and are in constant Spanish lesson mode, unfortunately for me he's only here til this weekend.

So like I said, it's an unlikely group of people. We are about as opposite from each other as six people can be, and there is TONS of info lost in translation between the three languages, but somehow they already feel like family. We have been cooking together every night, from Brazilian pasta to Argentinian asado to ordering pizza, and are planning a roomie trip to the river this weekend. I can't explain how thankful I am to have all of them, especially during this time when I was so scared of being lonely.

The only thing I am having trouble with is finding volunteer work. I came without having contacts, and figured it would be as easy to find work as it was in Ecuador. But the situation isn't as dire here, and on top of that it's summer vacation like I said so literally everything is shut down. So I have spent hours on hours researching and emailing, and have just now finally started to unearth a few organizations that I hopefully can be of use to. So I'm going tonight to help out at a shelter for homeless women, and have an appointment in a volunteer office next Wednesday to talk about more options. It's frustrating to be here wanting to give all my time but not having an easy way to do it. But I'm trying to remind myself that not everything comes easily, and just to keep looking. I think God must just be waiting for me to click on the right website or run into the right person, so I better keep clicking and keep talking. But if you have a prayer slot open for today that's what you can use it on: that I find my perfect volunteer opportunity, and can be the most help possible for the people down here. I'd appreciate that!

Well that's about all I got for today, much thanks to those of you who are still submitting yourselves to reading about our crazy adventures ;) All I know is I'm super excited to hear all Renae's stories when she gets back to town next Wednesday, and if it's anything like my life has been lately, we might have to talk for 24 hours straight to get caught up.

Happy Thursday everyone!
And Happy 1st Birthday Jo Hope Miller!!!

Melting in this summer heat (sorry for those of you back in ND, I had to),
Jenna Flynn