Busy Busy Days in South America

*was hoping to publish this with photos while in Santiago, Chile but now that I´m stuck in ARG with no idea how I´m getting out, I figured I could at least submit this so you could read about other parts of my visit. Photos to come in a day or two..

Here in Argentina, my sister spends quite a lot of time working. Her daily schedule has her starting University classes at 8:00 (which means waking up much earlier) and not wrapping up her teaching jobs until 9:00pm. Needless to say her free time is limited and her days are tiring. Why do I mention this, you ask? Well, I had the pleasure of spending my Tuesday following her around and spending a day in her shoes.

It began in the cold morning where we waited for a bus to come in the dark of a San Juan morning. Remember, it’s winter here so the days are shorter and the weather dips pretty low because of that whole dessert thing. From there, we made our way to the University where Alyson has two morning classes, one as a student and one as a TA. Fortunately, they were both English classes so my mind didn’t have to be at 100% so early in the morning. And surprisingly, both were interesting, albeit long. They teach English in a more conversational manner here and the students spoke very, even if it was with the same timidity that any non-native student has. We spoke about politics, random USA facts, and accounting. And not surprisingly, they asked how bad the US economy really was because of all the doomsday reporting that goes on in the media.

Following the two multiple-hour, morning classes, it was on to Alyson´s work-related classes. First up, 6th grade students. I won’t give too much detail here but another difference in these classes is the attention and organization. At all levels, students stand up randomly, come and go whenever, and constantly talk amongst friends regardless of what is happening. This was just amplified with 6th graders. 13 is always a bad age so I’ll chalk it up to that but half of those kids were simply not interested in any real schoolwork. I’m still not sure how my sister handles these ones.

After that, it seemed like smooth sailing the rest of the day. We headed over to “The Institute,” for another double-header of classes in what is most easily described as an after-school program for kids to learn English. Got to give it to these Argentine’s – they are committed to having their children learn English. Here is where the kids had plenty of questions and most were more than willing to practice their Spanish. I enjoyed responding to questions such as “Why do Americans dance erotically?” and at the other side of the spectrum – “Why doesn’t Obama pull all the troops out of the war?”

Then as all things, the classes came to an end and I was finally off the hook for my non-vacation, vacation day. But oh wait, there was more. Even though it was already 9:30pm and I was fading fast, Alyson’s friends wanted to get together for dinner. So of course, that meant pushing through and enjoying a little Argentine pizza at 11:00pm. P.S. Pizza chefs here could afford to visit Italy once or twice. Normally I wouldn’t care about staying out so late but the next day I was scheduled to spend a lovely morning and afternoon visiting one of San Juan’s popular spots – Moon Valley.




(Alysons best friends - the Dream Team)

So awake I was at 6:00am to enjoy a three hour drive out to this odd yet beautiful place. Simply put, it’s a huge National Park that feels just like you’re on the moon. Weird rock formations, vast expanses of crater-like valleys, and gorgeous views as far as the eye can see. Here are some photos below:







And that’s all the exciting news to report today. I finally got a rest day after 18+ days of nonstop adventure so I was able to catch up on all that’s happening in the real world. Glad to see that Washington still can’t be normal, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, and my future home of San Diego still has the same lovely weather as always.