new pictures and a list of gratefuls

Walking home.
While we were taking a tour on a real English bus. 
this is a picture of the stick that went into my foot. (yes, the long one.)
I should be in bed, but I really need to say how grateful I am for today. ( :

- I found out I might be getting a really, really cool job this summer, and yesterday I had one-and-a-half other job offers

-I am on a list of potential people for a random, amazing job this fall

- I get to edit

- I went running (albeit not very far.)

- I really like my spanish teacher. She told me what argentine candy has peanut butter in it. (that's not the only reason I like her. I promise. ( :  )

-I randomly met a girl in the bathroom at the university today who speaks english and is married to a guy who is from minnesota and lived in colorado, and she gave me her e-mail address and told me to send her an e-mail if I ever needed anything.

- Aubrey and I went to institute and I saw my friend there and he introduced to all kinds of people, including a boy named Ariel who lived in New York, and a guy who served a mission in Nevada that loves Kurt Cobain. (he dug the fact that Aubrey was from Seattle.) We are making friends!

- I found a new favorite Argentine food.

- I talked to my mom and got an e-mail from my Dad.

-My internet works.

- I love life!

The end.  

how to (not) look argentine

Last night, Aubrey and I had the good luck to go out on the town with our Argentine friend Leo. We went to dinner at "Johnny B.Good," watched english music videos, walked around town, and ate amazing ice cream. ("Granizado.") Besides the walking around late at night part and maybe the ice cream, probably not the best way to increase our argentine-ness. Really, really fun, though. 

In our conversation over dinner, I was told that the reason I look like I'm from the states is partially because of my skin, clothes and hair, but mostly because of my face! That's not something I can really fix. But, then do I need try and fix it? It occurs to me that when people in the states look like they're from another country I like it. And if they told me they were upset because they wanted their features to look more north american, I would be a little confused.

Por eso, although I do feel somewhat of an urge to go buy an entire new wardrobe and get a haircut, I am going to settle for working on my castellano until it becomes beautiful and only minimally accented. I can do that without plastic surgery. 

Side note - did you know that clubs and bars in Argentina only start to get busy at 2 or 3 in the morning? 

Why I'm grateful for cell phones.

So, I wanted to finish this post and post it later, but it turns out you can't really finish a post when half of it is about where you are at that exact moment. So enjoy. ( :

Buenas! 

 

I'm sorry I haven't had a regular posting schedule for my blog yet. But tonight is different. So here goes.

 

 

Here I am, sitting on the upstairs back patio of our apartment, watching it rain as I eat pasta noodles and oil-fried, chopped vegetables. And the sky is a big dark purple cloud occasionally illuminated by a bright white light, and I don't really mind the sprinkling drops on my bare skin and laptop. I'm not thinking about how I was totally stressed today, or about all of things I don't know starting tomorrow morning. I am trying to think about all of the people I have met on this trip so far.

 

 

Before I came to Argentina, I felt meeting and getting to know other people would be the most important part of my stay. That has proved true, although (like everything else) not exactly how I thought it would. It turns out that I can be fine on my own. I can stand on a mountain by myself in the driving wind and rain and be happy. I can sit by the side of a lake and ponder the dark blue water and feel profoundly peaceful. I can wake up, read my scriptures, get dressed, eat too much sugar because I'm nervous, and walk into the lab to work on my own project completely independently. And I can walk home alone in the rain without an umbrella, and jump through ever puddle from here to Jujuy. And I can even go to bed before midnight with no one saying I should.

 

 

On the other hand, I miss my family a lot. And when I talked to my Grandma on the phone last night, and when my friend wrote on my facebook wall saying she need me back home, and when my brother called me tonight to say that he got a 31 on the ACT, my heart got a whole bigger to hold all of the joy I was feeling.  

Bariloche

The house in Córdoba

 So, these are a few pictures of our apartment in Córdoba. Alicia, our professor, lives downstairs and to the left. We're the left door on the right hand side, with the big balcony behind the tree. ( : The man on the bike is (as you may have guessed) not part of our house. I met him in Plaza Derrago, of San Telmo. The flowers were beautiful, and he does, in fact, have CDs on the spokes of his wheels. 

A big part of yesterday and today were a little bit bleh - I made some silly mistakes, and I was feeling a little out of touch and frustrated. Fortunately, this afternoon when I came home from the lab, Aubrey suggested taking a walk (that's the top picture). We saw some more of the town around where we live, which is basically a lot of apartment houses interspersed with stores, a few restaurants, and a LOT of bakeries. It turns out Argentine people love bakeries. Who knew? I guess I do to, so I can't blame them... Anyway, it was sunny and interesting and quiet, and helped me get my thoughts together. Afterwards, we ran over to the "DVD Club" and rented How to Lose  Guy in 10 Days. Yes, we are girls. Thank you for asking. I'd never seen it before, so Aubrey had some empanadas and I ate some slightly burned milanesa, and we settled in to enjoy a chick flick, along with various and asundry insect house guests. I enjoyed the movie a lot. As far as I could tell, so did the bugs.

Every now and again, I look at the stars, and I feel some wonderful things. Tonight I was wondering about love and the sky and how big balls of burning rock related to something as flimsy and elusive as the emotional chemistry between two people. I don't think love made the stars, although I guess it could have, but I do think what makes us love changes the way we look at them. And I suppose, if I were a star, a big, burning amalgamation of rock and gas, that "love" would be why I looked at us. 

Anyway,  those are my thoughts after a semi-house-bound week. Tomorrow Aubrey and I will go back to the lab for a little more practice, but on Saturday morning we're leaving for Bariloche for a week. Estoy muy entusiasmado para este viaje. (I'm very excited for this trip). 

More soon.

Love, 

Jessie

Buenos Aires photos (and my feet in Córdoba)

Hola, tierra grande! (Hello, wide world). 

I would like to apologize now for not updating my blog at all. However, please forgive me enough to enjoy these pictures until a time when I can update my blog and it is not late at night when I should be sleeping. ( : 

my parade

just for your information, I am still breathing.

I am going to keep breathing.

This test will pass - I may not, but it will.

*big exhale here*

It doesn't matter what my grade is. Right now the only thing I can focus on is staying calm and preparing the most effective and efficient way I know how.

Or, in other words....

Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter 
Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter 
Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade 
Don't tell me not to fly, I simply got to 
If someone takes a spill, it's me and not you 
Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade 
I'll march my band out, I'll beat my drum 
And if I'm fanned out, your turn at bat, sir 
At least I didn't fake it, hat, sir 
I guess I didn't make it 
But whether I'm the rose of sheer perfection 
A freckle on the nose of life's complexion 
The Cinderella or the shine apple of its eye 
I gotta fly once, I gotta try once, 
Only can die once, right, sir? 
Ooh, life is juicy, juicy and you see, 
I gotta have my bite, sir. 
Get ready for me love, 'cause I'm a "comer" 
I simply gotta march, my heart's a drummer 
Don't bring around the cloud to rain on my parade, 

I'm gonna live and live NOW! 
Get what I want, I know how! 
One roll for the whole shebang! 
One throw that bell will go clang, 
Eye on the target and wham, 
One shot, one gun shot and bam! 
Hey, Mr. Arnstein, here I am ... 

I'll march my band out, I will beat my drum, 
And if I'm fanned out, your turn at bat, sir, 
At least I didn't fake it, hat, sir, 
I guess I didn't make it 
Get ready for me love, 'cause I'm a "comer" 
I simply gotta march, my heart's a drummer 
Nobody, no, nobody, is gonna rain on my parade!