Around the world and back again...

Celebrating 2012!

2012-02-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

First of all Feliz 2012 everyone reading I hope you had a fantastic New Years and holidays before returning to work or school. I have been loving every moment in Argentina and so far this year is looking to be wonderful. For the new year I spent time with my fathers family in Neuquen another province in Argentina. Thre was 43 in total on New Year's Eve and it was an a amaizng experience. We left Mar Del Plata on the 30th and we stayed with my mothers family in Bahia Blanca for the night and the next morning we had another six hour drive to Neuquen where we met my dad's six sisters and one brother and their families needless to say it was crowded at times. It was incredible to see this many people loving each other and working as a well oiled machine to get things done, simple tasks like making one meal is a lot harder when feeding a large amount of people and it always worked out because everyone shared and worked together. The celebration was not only to bring in the new year but to celebrate life of those in the family who have had tough times in the past year and rejoycing in the fact that they were there and alive and happy with family surrounding them.

To be a part of this big Argentine family was so much fun that night we celebrated the night while singing, dancing, and eating, until 6 am. We slept in tents and others slept in my aunt's house until we woke up the next day to 40 degree heat. We all jumped in the pool and it was so warm it was like a jacuzzi you can imagine with 43 people in it splashing about and having fun. We spent six days at my aunt's house in the woods, we went to different rivers to go swimming and cool off from the hot weather, we went exploring in the woods, roasted marshmellows, visited a honey factory and spent time with each and it coming from a smaller family I had one of the most memorable new years with this family and they made me feel as if I was one of them, truly incredible the time I spent with them.

My family went to Villa Pehuinia for two days where we rented a cottage on the lake and we went swiming in different lakes and rivers and climbed a volcano it was a beautiful and peaceful time. The drive there was
so beautiful we drove through the mountains and the natural beauty was inderscribable. We then went to my dad's sister's house in Gral Roca for two nights, we went swimming in the canal and the river to stay cool and ate some tasty asado which is an Argentinian bbq, we drove to Bahia Blanca for our last stop of our two week trip for four days we went swimming in pools, shopped and spent more time with both of my father's and mother's families.

We returned from our two weeks of travelling and such and I have been enjoying the sun and the beach on sunny days and on rainy days I go shopping, bake, cook and spend time with my host family. A couple of weeks ago I went to a free Bruno Mars concert on the beach and it was great. These past two weeks my dad's borther and family have been staying at our house so we have been going to the beach every morning and I have even tried surfing anf body surfing. I am having a wonderful time here and enjoying every minute with my wonderful family, I'm not sure when I will be changing so I am making every moment count. In the next two weeks I will be going on my north trip on the 15th for seventeen days and on the 18th I turn 18 so February is sure to be a delightful month, and in March I return to school until July. Chau, un beso, Kenndall

Christmas without Snow

2011-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

So for the past couple of weeks I was on one of my Rotary trips. It was amazing and on the trip I had some of the most fun I've had since being in Argentina. We left for the trip in the beginning of December and the first couple of days we traveled and traveled what seemed like a never ending distance on a big two level tour bus. There was about fifty of us exchange students from all over the world, (U.S., South Africa, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, Swizterland, and many more) and it was an amzing experience bonding with everyone. We went and saw penguins and there was hundreds of them waddling their way into our hearts I know I wasn't the only one that wanted to take one home with me. Later that week we went to see glaciers and we even went hiking on them with spiked boots and we all shared Bailey's with some glacier ice and it was an extremely enjoyable day. Later that week we stayer in Calafate and we went to more glaciers and it was so beautiful watching the pieces fall into the glacier water and it was as loud as an explotion and we were far away to begin with. This glacier was incredible it went on for miles and miles and it was hard to take in the enormitity of it all. The whole trip was a bonding experience and I made so many new friends.

For Christmas we stayed in Mar Del Plata and many cousins came over to celebrate Christmas here for Christmas we celebrate it on the eve and eat and open presents until 4 am! Christmas day we went to my host family cousins pool and spent my first Christmas without snow lounging by the pool. My host family has been really great making me feel more comfortable throughtout the holidays because they know how hard it is being away from family. Christmas is certainly different here there is not a lot of carols or cookies so one day my friends came over and we improved while making gingerbread cookies and sang Christmas songs. On Christmas day we ate melon and ham and other cold cuts which was a different experience from a big turkey dinner. The best part of Christmas is that at midnight everyone runs out into the streets and there are fireworks everywhere! All you here in the sky is bang bang boom it was like I was inside a big bag of popcorn. I had a really great Christmas even though as an exchange student you miss your families during the holidays you get to see so many new things and you realize how amazing of an experience this exchange is.

For the New Years I am traveling with my host family to visit more relatives in their huge family which should be a lot of fun. We are going camping and I get to teach them how to roast marshmellows and make smores. I hope everyone is having wonderful holidays I know I sure I am in this beautiful country that is getting warmer every day ( today being 32) Cheers and Happy New Year. Chau y un beso. Kenndall

Time flies when you're on an exchange....

2011-11-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have been in Argentina for over a month and a half now and I appreciate every moment that I am here. It is an amazing and hunbling feeling knowing that you get an experience like this and get to live on the other end of the earth and soak up different languages and culture. I have hired a spanish tutor and now I have 6 hours of tutoring each week and I have only been going for two weeks but I notice a difference in my vocab. already! I am now able to speak in sentences not very clearly mind you and my verb tenses are usually incorrect but it is a work in progress.

This past week my host family took me to Bahia Blanca and surounding area to visit their family and it was an amazing vacation. We went to Bahia Blanca and we met their family who are so sweet and treated me like I was one of them. We went to Dorrego for a festival and we went to Monte Hermoso where we saw dirtbike and four wheeler races as well as the beautiful sunset on the ocean. My host family showed me around the three cities and I loved them all. We celebrated my host mother's father's birthday and I met a large portion of their huge family. After five days of vacation we drove back to Mar Del Plata and it was time to hit the books, study for spanish, and do mounds of laundry.

School is almost done already and I can not believe that it finnishes at the end of the month and summer begins in a month! I'm really excited for a warm summer and spending it at the beach which is a ten minute drive from my house. This summer I am going to the south and north of the country and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time on a bus with exchange sudents! My host-family is also planning to take me camping with their extended family and go to Monte Hermoso where they have a summer house to see different areas of Argentina.

This week in Mar Del Plata there is the international film festival so every day my host mom has taken me and we have gone and watched movies from Korea, Denmark, Mexico, and other places of the world. It is really interesting to see all of the different cinemas and even though I had to read the subtitles for two of the movies I understood the one from Mexico and it was an exciting moment when I didn't have to read the subtitles to understand what was going on in the documentary.

In just a week I will have been here for almost two months and I am so grateful for this experience and I love learning new things from my host family and friends on a daily basis. Every day here is an adventure and whether it's going to the supermarket or walking along the coast which is one of my new favourite hobbies I am enjoying my life in Argentina. Buenos Noches! Chau! Kenndall.

Monte Hermoso

Pizza with the host family

Dorrego

My first time watching a rugby game.

New Culture and New Friends.

2011-10-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks I have been going to birthdays and going to school with new peers and everything has been amazing. Last week I was introduced to new classmates that I will be going to school with this year and after summer for the rest of the year and they are really nice. I'm just starting to get the hang of my every day schedual and I'm working on expanding my vocabulary so that I'll be able to communicate with everyone more and be able to soak up the culture to the max. I am starting to get the hang of more words and I know more and more vocabulary and can understand more of the language but I am working on verbs and stringing sentences together to improve.

In the three and a half weeks that I have been here I have cooked my host family pancakes with maple syrup and kraft dinner. (Real gourmet dinners) I am planning on making them more different types of food throughout my time here. My host family has been great with me, they are always trying to give me tasty food and asking me how I am enjoying myself. They have signed me up for volley ball and we take walks on the coast and go shopping it's pretty great. They have been trying to help me with my spanish by putting a big poster of verbs on the wall and labels all over the house so that I can learn more spanish.

Last week I met a lot of exchange students from all over the world at our district meeting, where we went to meetings involving topics about our exchange. It was a day conference in a city called Olavarria and theres was about fiifty exchange students and fifteen Rotex attending along with Rotarians. I met so many nice people and I can't wait to see the exchange students again in December for out South trip. At the meeting that I attended we were told about the two trips Rotary offered for the exchange students in our district and one is to the south and the other to the north of the country. On the south we will be whale watching and seeing penguins and walking on glaciers, it is for eleven days and starts in the beginning of December.

This is such an amazing experience and I am so happy to be on this exchange. I love Argentina and I'm just starting to get to know it, I'm sure once I have a handle on the language it will be even better. So I must go and study my spanish some more. Until next time, Ciao.

My first week in Argentina

2011-09-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday the 16th my mom and dad drove me to Toronto and at 11pm I was on my way. I made it through customs and security all right so I walked to my gate and I started to become nervous and I have never been on a plane before. I flew all night and sat in the middle row of the plane in between two people so it wasn't the best sleep I've ever had. I landed in Chile and had to go through security and then find my next gate and board the same plane to Argentina. I landed in Argentina and had to go through customs and a few things and I finally met my host-family. Marisa, Raul, and Delfina were waiting for me with flags and warm embraces and it was very relieving to be greeted and finally get to Argentina. We drove for 5 hours to get to Mar Del Plata, and it was a jam packed car with my three suitcases and my host family and I. We arrived to my new house late at night and I walked in to my beautiful room. The whole house is nice and I love it, my host family is lovely they are very caring and I enjoy staying at their home.

On Sunday we went to the coast and looked at the beautiful ocean. We then went to coffee with my counselor Miguel Diaz and we explained that I would be going on a Rotary Retreat on the 8th of October. On Monday I went to school and I made a lot of friends. Everything is great here and I am enjoying everything, on Wednesday we had no school and so Julian took Delfina and I to the coast. It was beautiful to be able to walk in the sand and feel the ocean. The week went be quickly and on Sunday we went to a 50th birthday and it was a great big bar-b-que with lots and lots of food. I am loving Argentina and it is only my first week here. I just want to thank my rotary club for making this possible for me, without the Timmins Rotary Club none of this would be possible, so thank you for everything you have done for me.

Well I have to get ready for school tomorrow and practice my spanish because even though I am learning it is sometimes hard to speak it, so practice makes perfect and so I am working on it little by little to improve. Ciao. Kenndall

The end of an era of waiting and a fabulous new beginning!

2011-02-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

On February 4th. 5th. and 6th I went to Mattawa for my Rotary Winter Retreat...wait, back it up a few months, in September I applied to be an exchange student with my Rotary club in Timmins and I got accepted at the beginning of October, if I remember correctly. I would like to thank the Timmins Rotary Club for supporting me and choosing me to represent them in this exchange program. Without the club I wouldn't have got the opportunity of a lifetime to go on this wonderful weekend and soon my life altering exchange. I would also like to extend a special thank you to Tonya for helping me out through the application process and for supporting me the entire time. This is such a wonderful thing being a part of the Rotary Youth exchange and I am so excited because I've always dreamed of traveling and the Rotary Exchange is a great opportunity to do just that. I had to wait to be accepted to the District level to see where I was going and to be an official Rotary Exchange Student.

This weekend was AMAZING! I got up in the morning and got on the bus to Northbay. When I arrived, a lady named Natalie picked me up along with Katie, who is a Rotex, (a Rotex is a person who previously went on an exchange and came back to give us advice and help all of the exchange students out), to drive us to our final destination, the ecology centre. At first I was so nervous and didn't really talk to anyone because I was stressing out.When I finally got settled in at the ecology centre I found out that I was rooming with Julie, an exchange student from France and Chantal another outbound student like myself. I must say the ecology centre was beautiful and I enjoyed my stay there.

The whole weekend was filled with positive energy lots of wonderful people and great experiences. Many of the great experiences involved wolf howling, drumming, wet boots, camp fires, interviews, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for the world. I met many interesting people there who showed me that it's okay to be scared and nervous about going away and not having complete control of your life when it comes to spending a year away from home.

After bonding and meeting new people on Sunday morning there was the flag ceremony where they called out the countries in alphabetical order and named the exchange student who would be going there. The first country they called out was Argentina and then they called out my name. I was in shock when I went up to get the flag and have my picture taken. When I got back to my seat reality set in and I started screaming. They then called out the rest of the countries and all the students found out where they were going as well. It was the most amazing and rewarding experience for everyone. Afterwards we talked to the people who were from our host country and I talked to Augustina and Federica who were both from Argentina. It was neat because two of the Rotex students went to Argentina so I talked to them as well. It was incredible and I learned so much from everyone.

Afterwards I got a ride back to the bus stop in Northbay and took the Northlander home. My parents were proud and delighted for me and so were my friends when I told them. I am ecstatic to go and I am just counting down the months. I am learning spanish and boy is it hard! I am trying my best to work on my speech for the next weekend in March and I need to find a tutor fast because this teach myself thing is pretty tough.

Anyways I still have 6 months left here and 4 left in school so I have to stop blogging and get homeworking so I can keep up my grades. Annnnnd I have to go and learn some more spanish because that's going to be interesting! So Adios Amigos! Until next time!