FoooooooooooD

Sunday, July 12th

I was going to go to 11 oclock mass, but I slept in instead after receiving a confirmation text from Rebeca. I did get up and read through my Bible what would be presented in mass, scribbling down some translations that might look familiar later. For lunch I at some more of the white chicken Maria Laura left out. Then finished up some lovely MSC business!

Met up with Rebe, who else would it be?!, around 2, and we walked to the Recoleta market. This was my favorite market that we’ve seen, out of the 3 well-known ones. And I was on my game in terms of picking out gifts, and while I didn’t purchase anything, I’m pretty sure I have great ideas for my family members (you guys should get excited!!) Normally, John is like, yeaaaa, thanks for the thought but I won’t really use this. But not this time mister!

Oh, I did buy one pair of earrings…for myself….but it was something I’ve been looking for since the beginning! It’s a pair of earrings made out of Argentine moneda. They’re constructed so the sun shines out . I wanted to buy pesos, but I don’t think my ears could’ve held them up. Still not sure how the delicate things are going to react to cheap street metal. Oh well, it’s worth it, haha.

We walked around for a while, then we headed inside the Cultural Center. I don’t know if I described it last time, but it’s basically set up that could furnish your entire house from the various shops in the center. And then on the primer piso, they have some really nice, very trendy looking restaurants. I think Rebe wants to eat there for one of her last nights.

We then had some time to kill before mass, so we stopped in at the local Café Martinez. I’m still unfortunately only eating bland foods (p.s. there’s nothing like not being able to eat a lot to really appreciate/crave how great Argentina food is!), so I got 2 medialunas and a tostado. A lesson in pronunciation for me, as Rebeca said, although I’ve already forgotten which was which. See, I thought I was ordering a simple piece of toast. Homegirl brought out a GINORMOUS, beautiful ham and cheese grilled sandwich. Oh it looked so beautiful. I couldn’t help but appreciate it, even though it was unwanted. So yea. There’s a big difference between tostadas y tostados, but again, I’ve already confused them. It was a good chat, full of speculations about the future and where it might take us. For me, hopefully abroad again.

Mass was wonderful. There was a new preacher and I was really able to follow him. I actually paid attention to the homily for the entire time, and I understood it all! It was one of those oh so great love each other like Jesus did – even when there were problems, He forgave and so should we. I love being reminded of that because while it seems so simple, I so often get caught up in the negatives and forget to just spread love. Also, we’re still not doing the “peace be with you”, where you turn to your neighbor and say “peace be with you” because in Argentina you would cheek-kiss and the Church doesn’t want to spread the flu. So this priest had us each take a pause to pray for the person next to us, that the peace of God spread onto them, which was just absolutely lovely. After mass we also looked at the side of the chapel, where the confessionals are. They were a little intimidating due to their size and old-fashioned stature, but then I smiled when I saw the electronic fans inside, as well as the red lights that indicate occupied.

Hung out at the Roadhouse for a while enjoying the Internet. I was actually really productive and emailed several schools for potential interviews, as well as the Minister of Education here? Well, I actually submitted a request to some generic email, so we’ll see what happens. And I downloaded some fun official documents to try to pore through in Spanish. There’s so much I still need to learn about the educational system here! But I was thinking last night that I can’t focus on the Internet the whole time because I’ll have that back in the States. So I’m hoping to go to the Biblioteca Nacional this week and see what they have to offer. Maybe also see if any University’s here have stuff? Not sure about that one, but it couldn’t hurt. It was really nice to get back into work mode.

Headed home, where Maria Laura basically forced milanesa down my throat. I mean, let’s be honest, it doesn’t take much for me to eat milanesa. Y con puree, yummm, it was so good. I mean, I go to the sale barn and get chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. Yes! I also got to catch up with Lulu, who just got back from a vacation for a bit. She still has three weeks left (this next week is still one that should’ve been school), but she does have homework during these two weeks. I tried to make myself go to bed at a reasonable hour so that I would get up at a reasonable hour. Then, right before bed, I remembered that I have teacher training with another company in the morning! Whew, that was a close call. That’s when I decided to start using my planner again. I had put it away, curious to see how life functioned without a planner (like my DG partner, Fink), but I must say I spent a long time holding it when I took it back out.