First Day on the Job

This morning I went to school and had my first full day of class.  From 9 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon I am in a classroom with three rotating profesoras.  They are all wonderful and very entertaining! I like being in the Spanish 1 class because I am learning from scratch and learning the Spanish Argentina uses.  After class we took a tour of the campus-college is different here, that's for sure! The public school is free and the private you have to pay.  You choose a career you want and have five years to complete the program then go find a job.  If you decide you don't like your job then you quit and start all over with school.  It is not a very big campus so the tour was short and then we had empanadas for lunch.  (What I ate at Abuela's house)

We then split up into groups and went on a van to take a tour of the city.  We first went to the monument of their hero (San Martin) and talked about the fight for Argentina's Independence.  It was interesting listening to the stories behind how they fought thru the Andes Mountains and why San Martin is the hero of Argentina, whom I will be celebrating tomorrow. 

This is the monument with a hand pointing towards the Andes Mountains where most of the battles were fought.  San Martin had to go through the Mountains to fight for Independence.

This is the full view of the monument. 

This is San Martin.  We were asked to think outloud about the things we saw, especially with his sculpture.  Most say he is thinking about the things he did to get to Independence.  I saw he looks smug for winning the war.  My teacher agreed.

I wasn't really certain about this angel, but I think it's meant to symbolize how they were carried thru the Andes.

These are people working, especially the poor, who were forced to work hard labor.

This is our group (not everyone is pictured) in front of San Martin.

We actually have about 55 people in our Study Abroad group, the main people being from Baylor and Hawaii.

This is a neighborhood just down the Mountain from the monument that is deprived, so says my teacher.

Next, we went down the mountain thru the park.  There is a man-made park that is full of trees and plants to give oxygen to Mendoza.  My school is inside the park. 

We then drove to what is called the Plaza de Independecia.  That is the main Plaza with four surrounding Plaza's.  They built these Plazas so people could evacuate their homes and come to the Plaza which is more open.  (Argentina has many earthquakes) The Plaza's are full of street life, and we did a lot of walking to see all of them.  We exchanged money, but I have an ATM just around the corner from my house so I didn't exchange money today.  We also put money on our Red Bus card so we could start riding the bus to school.  One Plaza offers a portable library so you can grab a book, sit and read it, then put it back on the shelf.  There is lots of PDA in the parks and people staring at crazy Americans.  My teacher got mad at a group of high school girls because they were making fun of us and said a naughty naughty word.  I never realized how much I was in the wrong until I was on the other side.  I didn't look down on tourists or foreigners, but I could spot them out and laugh on the inside for their silly habits.  It hurts when you watch a group of people not appreciate that you are trying to learn their culture.  I won't make that same mistake again in America.  Here are some pictures of the street life and Plaza's:

This building is where most of the laws are passed and big-time politics happen.

These types of carts are everywhere in Mendoza.

This is at the Plaza that offers the books.

Part of Plaza de Independcia.

There is blue water in the fountains everywhere to represent the color of the flag.

I forgot to mention earlier that we drove past this on the way down the mountain.  It is used for wine celebrations and such. 

Here we have two women connecting hands.  One represents Spain and one represents Argentina. 

To top it all off I had siesta today, which is a nice long nap.  I woke up to my older brother, Tomas preparing dinner for all of his friends.  He made a seafood dish that had crab, shrimp, and......octupus in it.  I tried octopus, folks.  It had a good flavor, but it was a little too chewy for my taste.  I then visited with my sister, Clara and her boyfriend.  The boyfriend, Manuel is trying to know English fluenty because he works at a winery as an engineer and has to speak with different important people for his job.  He told me he would take me on a tour and give me discounts on my wine I wanted to bring home.  So get ready for more exciting blogs!