Only two more weeks of class left!! Its so strange because all my friends in the U.S. just had midterms and I am about to have my finals. After finals, on November 6, I am heading to Peru, Bolivia, Chile and then back to Buenos Aires for my last couple weeks. I do miss home and Charleston a lot but I will definitely be sad to leave Argentina. There are so many things I want to do, but even 5 months isnt enough time to do it all. I talked to my friend Allison this weekend and we want to plan a trip to come back after we graduate.

I am gonna go backwards this week starting with yesterday. Yesterday was el dia de la madre (mothers day) here. Seeing all of the advertisements and people with their moms made me really miss my mom. At least I got to celebrate with my host mom here Virginia. Liz and I figured she would get lots of flowers and gifts from her 8 grandkids and her own kids, so we asked if we could make dinner for her and Vicente instead. Surprisingly she allowed us. We made pasta, salad, and brushetta. We tried to avoid putting too much flavor into the food because we were afraid it would be too much since the food is usually more bland here. Virginia and Vicente were really impressed with our cooking and said it was the first time any of their 80 students had cooked for them. It felt good to cook and I was happy that they liked the food. I even heard Virginia talking on the phone about how good the food was to one of her kids. Its so funny because she is constantly on the phone talking to usually her kids or grandkids. Everytime I use the phone to call home the call waiting beeps in at list 7 times. And as soon as I hang up the phone rings. Everytime she answers the phone it always seems like there is some sort of crisis, but usually its just someone telling her about their day. Its pretty funny. I guess its common for older ladies to always be on the phone here.

On Thursday Liz and I went to the leather district searching for leather boots. Liz ended up buying a leather wallet that she justified by telling herself that she had had her other one for the last 3 years. I resisted a leather bag that I was in love with, but went back to buy it on Saturday when my mom told me I could have it for a Christmas gift. Its something I will use for everything. It had be used a shoulder bag or a purse. I love it! Thursday night I went back to the jazz club that I went to the week before and actually got there on time. It was great music and I actually met a guy from Akron (40 minutes from my hometown Poland in Ohio) who is traveling through South America until December. ITs crazy how I could be in a city with 13 million ppl and meet someone that lives so close to me at home.

Friday I wasnt too productive during the day as usual. I forced myself to research classes for the spring in Charleston which was hard to think about considering my classes here have been such a breeze. Later in the day I went to Lago de Palermo and read for my globalization class because I have my prefinal next Wednesday that I decided to get a head start on. Friday night one of Virginia and Vicente's previous students came for dinner with her Argentinian husband and new baby Noah. Jennifer met her husband Juan here while she was studying and they ended up getting married after 3 years of being apart after she returned to the US and then went to the Dominican Republic while she was in the Peace Cor. They now live outside of LA and were here for the week visiting Juan´s family. Jennifer came here speaking no Spanish seven years ago and now is obviously fluent. I hope to say the same in the future. Juan said I spoke Spanish well which was good to hear.

Later that night, I was supposed to go salsa dancing with Allison but the salsa place was closed for the weekend for some kind of government inspection. We ended up going to her friend Nina's house who goes to UCLA with her for her bday party. Nina´s host brothers are our age and are planning to go to the states in December to work at a ski resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Thats actually what Liz's boyfriend Franco is doing also in December. Its very common for Argentinians to do that because there are many job recruiters that come here from the U.S. to get workers. ARound 3am, we went to a club called Kika which was so much fun. The club played a great mix of reggaton and some actual good American music for once. I didnt get home until around 630 am.

Saturday I went to a park in Palermo with Griffin, his roommate Lizzy, and some other friends. It was a beautiful day to be outside. So we just relaxed most of the day and then I went home for dinner later on. Dinner was pretty comical which it is most nights. Virginia insisted on watching this show about a transvestite who actually really looked like a woman. For some reason transvestites are really popular on t.v. here. I guess they provide good entertainment. Later in the show, there was a midget stripper who stole someones boyfriend. It was pretty ridiculous. OF course the phone rang several times during the show,a nd Virginia always left the table to answer it, so Vicente would change the channel to a soccer game while she was gone. She would then yell at him to change it back when she returned. It reminded me of when my dad is constantly changing the channel when my mom is trying to watch something (but is usually falling asleep), or when my dad falls asleep and I steal the remote and then he suddenly wakes up and the first thing he says is ¨Where is the remote?¨ It was a pretty funny situation, which is how Virginia and Vicente are pretty much all the time. Usually they will bicker to each other about something and then just start laughing.

After dinner, I met up with some friends and a bar called Sugar which was packed on Saturday. Afterwards I went to a birthday party with Brenda and met some of her other friends I hadnt met before. (Its always someones birthday here!) I was pretty tired from the night before so went home early (around 3). All in all it was a good week, I am looking forward to this weekend. I am going to Iguazu which is like the Niagra Falls of South AMerica. I had friends who went this past weekend and loved it. I cant wait!! Chau chau!