Hi again.
Since my escapades in Rosario, life in Cordoba has been exciting (because its been filled with soccer). I signed up to play on the Girls soccer team for my university- we practice 2 a week and starting last Saturday we had a tournament! it rained the entire time... but we won 10-1 and i scored 2 goals! GO SCOTS!! Word travels fast in my group of friends (A mix of exchange students from my school and University Blas Pascal, where Ben went last year.) I keep getting invited left and right to play soccer and its amazing how soccer brings people together.
Lets talk about my soccer team in Cordoba first:
The 2nd picture is from the day after Easter. Our host mom, Myriam, wanted all of us to have a dinner together so we had Pizza. It was perfect in every way- so non traditional but the beginning of a relationship with her. She is a very private woman, and until recently, a "host mother" relationship didn't exist. we asked her one day to have dinner with us and just hang out and ever since then, things have gotten better :)
Since my escapades in Rosario, life in Cordoba has been exciting (because its been filled with soccer). I signed up to play on the Girls soccer team for my university- we practice 2 a week and starting last Saturday we had a tournament! it rained the entire time... but we won 10-1 and i scored 2 goals! GO SCOTS!! Word travels fast in my group of friends (A mix of exchange students from my school and University Blas Pascal, where Ben went last year.) I keep getting invited left and right to play soccer and its amazing how soccer brings people together.
Lets talk about my soccer team in Cordoba first:
- the girls are wild- soccer is like 3rd on their list of priorities, but its okay because I'm in Argentina- so do as they do
- They don't speak Englisher- well they do and most of them have been to the U.S before, but at practice and games, only Spanish
- we have a group text on whatsapp... things get heated there some times and to be honest the majority of the time I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.
- Going to soccer practice requires taking the collectivo (bus) for 1 hour, and then literally cramming 7 girls into the coaches car on the way home.
- There is only 1 other exchange girl from France on the team, and she lives 1 block away from me- so were bffs
- Her name is Irene- she speaks better Spanish than i do, but were on the same page with the girls.. we just sit back and nod our heads when they speak
- Drills at practice.... nope. We did drills one time at practice and i had no idea what was going on. Its no different than one of Pepe's practices .. except in place of his voice is a Argentine man screaming at me like I'm supposed to know what I'm done... SIKE.
- Ive gained more confidence in soccer, because at times the only common ground i have with these girls is the game. I may not be able to talk to them or say what i want, so i just do my thing (aka still run around like a crazy woman) and it works... alot better there then at school.... lol
My friends at UBP- aka the suburbs
- to get to the zona norte is about a 35 min bus ride and then walking a billion blocks to get everywhere. I live in "el centro" which is basically the downtown area. every at UBP lives in the suburbs in awesome houses. i love going out there to hang out with all of them.. but its a hike.
- Last Sunday, they invited me to play soccer with them. its a mixture of exchange students, mostly from Clemson, 2 Japanese guys, and then like 6 Argentine guys who take it way to serious. I guess women's soccer/ girls being good isn't a thing here, but when i scored a sick nasty upper 90 goal.. they were all shocked and one of them told me to calm down because i was playing better than him LOL...
- once again, another group text on what app for this team too. they days they play conflict with my other team, so looks like Sundays will be my day to play with them!
Real life now-
- School- ALL ABOARD THE STRUGGLE BUS- PARTY OF 1
- My brain hurts all the time.. so mentally exhausted from thinking in 2 languages
- every Tuesday- worse days of my life. Wednesday i have my "Historia de la cultura" class and i leave so frustrated and angry all the time. the class is 3 hours long, and its a philosophy class. we talk about deep things that are tough to grasp in English.. and in Spanish forget about it.
- I struggle with my reading comprehension here. i can read the readings for class, but could not tell you what they were about, or have the courage to raise my hand/ ask for help
- This past Tuesday i had a mental block- i was so frustrated and angry that i couldn't understand... i literally couldn't think. definitely one of the worse days I've had since I've been here, and coping with these away from friends and family isn't easy.
- For everyone who knows me- Monica mode is real. its alive, and its worse here in Argentina. i get so frustrated because i don't understand everything- explaining myself in Spanish becomes impossible...
- i never thought i would say this- but i miss the library at MC. i miss being able to just hide in the library and day and accomplish life. Here the library is at the main campus.. aka like an hour bus ride away and its just a hassle to go there. my house-full of 6 women- always has something going on and silence, doesn't exist.
- I have trouble asking for help- my pride gets in the way too often. but the other day we made fajitas for dinner and i asked one of the women who lives with us, Roxi, if she could help me. we sat down and read/ discussed together and it was helpful.
Besides the slight mental break downs- life here in Argentina is awesome; as long as we don't have to talk about school. Below are 2 pictures that sum up life here:
the 1st is with Roxi- she rents a room in our house and is like our big sister. We all go out, eat together, drink beer and just talk about life. she corrects our Spanish and we help her practice her English. she just started taking English classes so at the dinner table we go over the days of the week and months. its interesting to see how other people pronounce words, and things that seem so trivial and obvious to us are complicated for others. I guess the same goes for Spanish too.
The 2nd picture is from the day after Easter. Our host mom, Myriam, wanted all of us to have a dinner together so we had Pizza. It was perfect in every way- so non traditional but the beginning of a relationship with her. She is a very private woman, and until recently, a "host mother" relationship didn't exist. we asked her one day to have dinner with us and just hang out and ever since then, things have gotten better :)
In the midst of writing this blog- i was invited to play soccer again. this time with the girls from our exchange group. they just asked in the group- "wait monica you know how to play right?" Maybe ill just stay in argentina and spread my love/ skills for soccer instead?