The 14th Lama

That's right peeps I got to go see the Dalai Lama last Wednesday Sept 14 at 10 am and I still made it to school on time!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

This is actually his fourth time visiting Argentina. The talk I went to was called "Encontrando la Felicidad en Tiempos Difíciles" or in english : "Finding Happiness in Tough Times". If you didn't know he is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

His comfy chair on stage!

People crowding in!!

Yes, I was super excited and lucky to be able to see him speak in Luna Park.
The only things I knew of the Dalai Lama were that he is a Tibetan spiritual leader and a laugh that makes you laugh. I didn't really have any expectations but I thought it would be a really neat experience. I also can say now I've seen him in person too (not many can do that). However, I hoped he would say something so profound and he did say a few things that I thought to myself (wow, I've never approached a situation like that).

Something I read in the Clarín newspaper article is that the official translator of the Dalai Lama, Gerardo Abboud, is from Argentina and loves milanesas! Also, you would think the Dalai Lama knew a bunch of language...well, he may but Spanish is not one of them. He spoke English to us and Gerardo translated in. In addition, I was looking at the crowd of people and I saw a lady signing to a group of women but she wasn't signing English, she was signing Spanish!!!!! How cool is that! (I didn't get a picture of her but still pretty awesome)

Patrick and I waiting for the Lama to arrive. We were pretty close too!

Finally on stage!!!!

"What is the purpose of our life? is to be happy... From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being." - Dalai Lama

My Love & Hate Relationship.

Love.
So... I wanted to spill my guts about how I feel about a particular thing, which is a constant love in my life while in Argentina... that is...SPANISH or Argentine Castellano, which pronounced, caste-SH-ano, is significantly different from all other forms of Castellano (this means Spanish language). Unlike the Castellano spoken in Argentina other Latin American countries like Mexico, Chile, and Spain for instance, the "ll" makes a "ye" sound instead of a "sh" sound. For instance, the verb llover in most places is pronounced "Yeo-ver" and here in Argentina it is pronounced "Sho-ver".
One can definitely say it's quite peculiar...

Is Argentina trying to copy the Italy???

Is Argentina trying to get massive attention for pronouncing regular Spanish words strangely?

I, believe, now being apart of/ having the Porteño lifestyle (a Porteño is a person that live in Buenos Aires) that Argentina is being Argentina. They are not mimicking anyone or trying to get notice by the world. Within the rich history of Argentina and the mixing of cultures from Europe and the indigenous people this interesting, different, and refreshing caste-SH-ano appeared.

Some other differences in Argentina Castellano from other Castellano is using the Vos from. However, please do not get confuse Vos with Vosotros. When speaking in the 2nd person singular from usually a person would say "Tú" but in Argentina, they use "Vos". In addition, conjugating is slightly different as well.
Examples:Vos comés – tú comes, Vos querés – Tú quieres, Vos hablás – Tú hablas
In Vos, the emphasis is on the last syllable of the verb which is why an accent is added. Also the stem changing verbs like querer, do not change in vos from. I just wanted to share some of my knowledge about this amazing culture I have come to love.

Hate.
Listen, I'm going to be real with y'all. Most days I get so damn fed up with Spanish.
People talking to me in Spanish...
Me trying to talk in Spanish...
Hearing the word "Spanish" even ticks me off!

Sometimes, I will just come home exhausted from the long day of classes. And I'll just want to listen to my music (mostly in English) and drown out ALLLLL the Spanish spoken around me. I hate the fact, I am not able to understand people once I have add a question in Spanish. I also hate the fact that sometimes can't add anything... I said anything...to a conversation if my host parents or any family comes over.
Sooooo infuriating! I hit a wall, so many walls and it feels like I can't climb/jump/grapple/whatever over the dang thing!!!! ughhhhhhhhh!

I hate not being able to speak/understand simple Spanish like if a person were to ask you "Hey! How was your day?" Or "What are you plans for the weekend?" There are some many ways to say one thing it is very difficult to remember all the way. Sometimes I even get lost in the translating in my head and there will be one few word I don't know which causes me to be stumped. Many days, I don't even want to try...or give anything thought toward... that word...
Something I found out while studying here in Argentina, is that when a person has class that is spoken in another language it forces your brain (usually) to focus more since you may not understand. Unlike in English spoken classes, an US breed American would have to been dosing off and not even paying attention (this happens not just with me but a lot of my friend). Now, since my brain is being forced to focus more... it just becomes a huge OVERLOAD.

Then I start to scream inside...
shouting random cuss words...
become just cold and get irritated easily...
I feel overwhelmed and can't help to think...I'm not cut out for this.

Learn.
All this said and done, I try to remember a quote my Aunt Lori wrote in a card she sent me.

"There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there; you most go beyond them." -Bruce Lee

Lesson 101: Sometimes all you can do is "keep on, keeping on" when things like life, homework, relationships, family, friends, work and especially language get tough. One must have that faith that your headed in the right direction and moving forward. That is all one can hope for as well. My love/hate relationship with Castellano may be frustrating A LOT of the time but if I keep on trying something will give and it won't be me.
Now this is when someone says "Mira vos" which is the equivalent to "Well, look at you!" :D

Lujan Zoo...where I can feed leones, tigres y osos! Oh my!

That's right.

I went to the Lujan Zoo which is about 2 hours out from Buenos Aires which is semi-famous for letting a person literally...feed, pet, and play around with the animals. I kid you not!

I met up with some friends: Scott, Caitlin, and Patrick at Palermo Zoo in Plaza Italia then from there we had to go across the street to buy a ticket for a round trip to Lujan and back to Buenos Aires. The ticket all together was 20 pesos (Awesome). Then we waited to catch the 57 bus and got at about 12:15pm. The ride about an hour and 50 minutes but a person also has to work in how many bus stops we take to pick up/drop off people.

Once we finally got there, my only thought....
"Pet tigers, feed an elephant and played around with some lion cubs=
This will be INCREDIBLE"

Jealous yet? Check out the pictures!
First we visited some tigerssssss :^D


Then the sea lions... presh.

King of the Jungle....kind of sleepy = big kitty haha.
Soooo can anyone find Bambi? Yes, we saw deer...lots of them.
I held an egg.... wow.

In that same area at the Zoo, some bears were fighting.... or more playing in their eyes.
I know crazy right?!?!? We ended up getting to feed the bears with our mouths which means everyone gets a wet and sloppy kiss from him.

AWWWWWW...it was really like WOW bear, you gave me a lot of tongue! Are you French?

We only got to do this because my great friend Krissy and Paul told us what time it started!
Sooooooo kudos to them!

Monkeys! This fool tried to take my camera when I was feeding him...trifling haha.

Toucan Sam!!! I didn't know you got locked up... dang.

Albino peacock was quite beautiful. I'm just saying if you don't have color you're beautiful also.

CUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBSCUBS :^D

YES, I said cubsssss so cool. These cubs were right next to the turtle village I didn't get to take pictures of but that was awesome as well!

Next, we got to feed an elephant! Can you say you've done that? Probably not.
Some of my peeps (Myself, Patrick, Scott, and Caitlin...oh and the Elephant). After that we sat around for a little bit before we had to catch the bus back into Buenos Aires!

The Falls rivaled by all!

Hola beautiful world!
How are you today?

I, a few weekends ago, went on an awesome trip to Iguazú Falls or in Spanish: Cataratas del Iguazú.

Can I still you I have never seen something amazing with my eyes and in person?

------- I want to ask you reader, Have you ever just wanted to marvel something beautiful? I don’t mean cars and I don’t mean people! I don’t mean anything superficial.---------

I’m talking about beauty in nature and something so awestruck can leave one lost for words. Well, I went to on of those places haha. A few friends of mine went up north to the where the falls are on a long weekend in August. We thought as our first long weekend of school we should go somewhere we won’t forget. (Yeah I forget this experience)

Iguazú Falls is in the northeast province called Misiones of Argentina. The actually falls themselves can be seen on the Argentina side and the Brazil! (How amazing) To get there a person can go by plane or by bus. Since I’m still a college student (cheaper is better over comfort) we decided to go by bus which was 18 hour bus ride that was 826 pesos so a little passed 200 U.S. dollars round trip.

Yeah… 18 hours is correct.

I know everyone is thinking how terrible to be stuck on a bus that long. Well, we had snacks, drinks, our ipods, a book, and there is even a movie playing at a certain. Lucky for us our journey was overnight so we received lunch, dinner and a little breakfast. Upon arriving at the bus terminal we had to figure out how to get to our hostel.

*side note – A hostel is a cool traveling hotel that is cheap, exciting, and different. A person is paying for a room like hotels but you’re paying for the bad you sleep on. It is a great way to meet traveler who are coming from around the world.*

The hostel we stayed, Hostel- Iguazú Falls, was pretty awesome because they have different theme for each night and we were only staying on was a Saturday with a theme of Samba/BBQ.

Just imagine a bunch of college students coming from different parts of the world together to dance, eat, and drinks = Greatness. Just look at some of pictures and smile for yourself

The next morning we actually went to the National Park Iguazú. It was 40 pesos to get in because we had visas instead of 100 pesos! Then once in we took a lovely train ride to actually get to the falls. As one is walking you will come across furry animal that looks like a mix of a raccoon and anteater haha.

Also while walking our anticipation was so high when we started to hear water I would say “Oh man, Oh man we are sooooo close” hahaha. Once taking our first look at the view… it was just incredible. That is saying the least! : ^)