What are the chances?!!!?...

So you folks back home are gonna love this one. This past weekend I had another great opportunity to pass time with my tutor, thank you Lord so much for Tomás, and his group of 20 ole boys. It was a trip made in seven cars full of Argentinos, and one lanky gringo slung in the back seat of a European hatchback. Destination: some frickin´place in the middle of who knows Motive: Play paintball Conclusion: Good lawd!!! For starters, throughout the ENTIRE day I didn´t understand a bloody thing, I´m talking about nothin!!! These boys speak so fast with so much slang, and obviously with a group that big the themes are complex and built up over time, it was impossible to follow anything. That´s all good though, that didn´t change the way a fired my gun, hahaha!!!, the yankee (their word for norteamericanos), pronounced "junkie" got his in the end. For starters we arrive through the backyard of some guy´s farm literally in the middle of this cornfield lookin´place with an old abandoned brick house as the centerpiece with two guys workin´this paintball "deal" out of the back of their pickups . There wasn´t really much of a road and considering the fact we were all in little hatchbacks, I wondered how in the hades are we gonna even do this. Nonetheless we get "kind of" parked, if you wanna call it that and head out for the extravaganza. The paintball experience was great and after 4, maybe 5 hours, only cost about 17 bucks for EVERYTHING, right on eh! Suddenly, and I mean out of nowhere these black clouds move in. It literally looked like movie twister. I´ve never seen clouds that black move in the fast and completely take over a crystal clear blue sky in just a few minutes, it was so wild, almost like the apocalypse or something. Well, we decide to end it obviously and start paying our tabs. Ya´ll, here´s where it gets good. The bottom falls out like a monsoon in the middle of some African plain. Sheets and buckets and wind like you wouldn´t believe. A hurricane on land you could call it. The catch is, we have our seven little hatchbacks plus the other peoples cars playing hangin out in this super soft field mud. Every last single one of them, due to this monstrosity of water, was sunk up like a joker. Are their two trucks here, no. Tractors possibly, no. Then how are you gonna get some 10 odd cars out of this swamp in the middle of podunkville back to dry land..........with a WHOLE LOT of manpower. It literally took all the guys pushin and rockin´every single car and pushing almost all the way out of the field back to the road. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!! I´m not one to use cuss words that often but I´m here to tell that day I took on the mind of a sailor. Eventually everybody settled in and it became one big joke that nobody could believe and praise the Lord we all made it back home with our adrenaline crash and slept like babies. Change of subject. Last night was a real epiphany for me, so wild. I was takin´it easy with Tomás, once again, two of his friends and another girl in my program named Emily, from New Jersey, this girl dominates Spanish (essentially the only other yankee I pass time with) and Portugues, LUCKEEE!!!! Nonetheless, this experience from a Castellano perspective was completely the opposite from the Sunday playing paintball. Somehow I just "tuned" and got caught up in the mix. A couple points throughout the evening "I realized", wait uh´minute, I´m communicating in Spanish, but I had not been aware of it until I conscientiously thought about. It was SOOOOO wild, but I savored everyminute it. I´m here to tell you, in a second language, its the small steps. A random story I know but very interesting, at least for the guy experiencing it. Final shout out goes to all the new folks who´ve left comments recently. I sure do enjoy them. Much love to my people. Time get back in "The Groove"

Round 2:Me vs. The Man Inside This Computer

Alright, here we go, and hopefully all will be well. Where do I even start, it has been a little minute eh? Well, for starters this past weekend our group within the program made a little trip to the capital city, Buenos Aires for a little big city fun. No doubt, I enjoyed myself, but I´m still a man thats all about some Mother Nature, but that´s all good. The city is happenin, without a doubt, but all that movement and concrete smothers me, not to mention we more or less went the more touristy route. I will say this though, Saturday night we got the opportunity to see a Tango show with a live band in this really ritzy place, the food was off the hook!!! It was really a first class presentation. The dancers were on point and the band was on top of it as well. I also had the opportunity throughout this trip to get to know our Resident Director from Argentina, Alfredo Brunnori, who is also an English professor here. I make note of this because the things he has shared with me about the language and his experiences have been priceless. From old personal frustrations with English, to old stories from when he studied abroard in Virgina and always had to talk to ("Uncle Rick" I think was his name) and didn´t understand a bloody thing. Not to mention Alfredo is the ultimate link here between English and Spanish so his ability to explain grammatical issues, level of patience, and knowledge of sayings and slang is unmatched. I have thanked God often that we have him here as our Director. Nonetheless, shifting gears, finished up the first week of classes within the program; the others with Argentine students begin on Monday. The level of intensity in my Spanish class, granted its for advanced students (which is an even better question of WHAT I´M DOING IN THERE!!!!) We are essentially writing like crazy and for me that´s a real beast, I mean shoot, its hard enough for me to write in my own language. I´m gonna keep chuggin along as always though. I´m going tomorrow to play paintball with my tutor and his group of 20 friends. What would I do without Tomás. That guy has kept me so connected with the leisure life outside of home; not to mention I´m with Argentine folks, thank Lord once again!!! Another beautiful example of why the word coincidence should be eliminated from the English dictionary, yeahyuh!!! I interviewed for an internship here today and it looks as though all is well. What does this mean, well....I will be working in one of the offices here on campus, for free, but will receive credit for an upper level senior class since EVERYTHING will be in Spanish. I will have to write a big paper afterwards but it will be worth it. Today has been a good day with the language and last night was really good but I think its time for a chill evening. I bought the local paper earlier today, which is a great source of practice being that its more like written daily language. I think i´m gonna take it to a place called the Espacio Cultural (much like a scale down Barnes and Nobles here) catch a coffee, read a bit, and then go catch a flick afterwards. I heard Antes de Partir with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson is worth it, so who knows, we´ll see. I hope the weather has been as nice for ya´ll as it has been for me. We´re just starting to get just a little teeny taste of fall but everything is still green. You know, that perfect temperature you get during those early summer nights, but the perk to the beginning of fall is that it lasts all day!!! Really random quick side note that came to mind for Mitch and Dad. Apparently, Osvaldo told me that metal work was a really popular thing down here at one point, and I don´t completely remember, but may still be. Pardon that one, you all know how mind works, if I have a thought i have to throw it out there in that moment or I´ll just keep walkin and drop it on the ground like nothin´ happened. Well, the weekend begins, with much to do and little time to do it in, but thats the story of all our lives eh? Every single flippin one of you I love and miss dearly. Sometimes I wish I could rent a teleporter like in the old Star Trek days just for an evening of some good southern love back in Georgia.....course then my Spanish advancement would be affected...... and they´re probably really expensive anyway!

Frickin´ Technology!!!!

I just wrote well over a page and this dag gum´ piece of junk machine lost it all. I apologize, but regretfully, you all are going to have to wait a little more. I´m so irate right now, oooooooohhhh!! I gotta get outta here and cool off. This really pisses me off.

Spanish slap in the Face!!!, ssuuuuuhhhhhLAP!!!

Wild to think that I´ve been here now for over two weeks but I must say that all is well. The house that I´m staying in is located in one of the nicest neighborhoods, URCA, in Córdoba. God´s hand was really on getting me in this living arrangement. It´s only me and an older gentleman who´s close to sixty and a couple times throughout the week his son Sanitago, who is 19, comes by and stays, but trust me, I have no complaints about the living situation. This guy, or older man, is named Osvaldo Seppi and I´m here to tell you what he is a trip! I´ll get a picture up soon. He reminds me of a Argentine Walter Mattheau. I guarantee you if he spoke English or I spoke first class Spanish if would be a riot! We have so much fun together already and pass a good bit of time together when we can doing unorthodox things in a nice neighborhood like sharing Mate, a drink specific to Argentina, on the sidewalks in the evenings. He is very energetic and ¨character¨ doesn´t even begin to describe this guy. He´s the perfect image of an older man who´s done well for himself, lives amongst wealthy people but don´t give a dang about what they think. I don´t recall if I had told ya´ll before but he´s a civil engineer and does well for himself. We had asado, very traditional beef here and prepared over open fir or in an "asador", last sunday with Santiago, his older daughter and her boyfriend. Such great people they are, I am sooooo blessed to be staying with them. My tutor, Tomás Garson, who´s 28, is a first class guy as well. He lived in the States for 5 months therefore he completely understands the frustrations with the language and has been such a great supporter. Although I still speak very basically he is very encouraging and that is so crucial in the beginning. I´ve been amazed at how my comprehension ability has grown just in 2 weeks, crazy. Tomás has been great and brought me out with his friends every weekend so far and a couple times throughout the week for a REAL Argentine recreational experience, MAN that´s been great. He´s a music head like myself so the first weekend was to a reggae concert with DJs, interesting mix, and this last weekend was to a place called Cosquin that´s right smack dab in the middle of the mountains with a lake beside the stage, frickin´ridiculous. Thanks to Tomás my interaction with Americans has been very limited and I´m sooooooooo grateful for that. Its been a big change for me though. I went from being the guy in the group who cracks jokes and always has something to say to being the guy who does a lot of listening and interjects randomly, but that´s all good. I´m willing to lose a part of me for six months in order to get a better grasp on this language. Classes this month for the Intensive language Portion, have been just that. We took a pretest and I´m in the most advanced class. Sounds cool right, but I´m here to tell you. The exepectation level is up there. Alot of bloody writing, IN SPANISH!!!! Nonetheless, we´re gonna keep on chuggin. I´m been quite antisocial with the other Americans and only speak to them in Spanish, unless its something really difficult to communicate, but that´s rare. I just take my complex thoughts in English and simplify them. I take the bus every morning and evening, about 15 minutes from the house, but its very easy, only .30 cents one way HAH! Blessed there as well, that´s not always the case for folks on easy use of the bus system. I do have to admit though, the other day I fowled up BAAAADDDD! Long story short, after two bus rides, heavy rain on the completely other side of the city, a taxi, and 3 hours of my life gone, I got home. What an experience. Second language use is very interesting. You have good days and you have bad ones, you just never know. I had my first dream in Spanish last night, not a long one but still a very cool experience. I´m not taking time to correct any typing errors or double checkin´ stuff, I´m just rollin the thoughts out, so pardon any funny sounding sentences or grammar issues. Time to go cook some lunch and do some homework. I love you all and continue to get SSSSOOOOOO much joy from all your comments. I apologize for not being able to respond to everyone individually but you know you´re all in my heart and thoughts. Take it easy English speakers!!!

Photos finally!..,well, a couple.

Here´s a link to some photos. Only a few due to the fact it has proven to be more of a task than I realized to get them online. This is all from when I was staying at the Hostel, nothing of the new crew here, just the great group I buddied up with before I arrived.

Here´s the link http://picasaweb.google.com/ramblinjamman/FirstWeekInCRdoba

Things begin to smooth...

First and foremost, I have to give so much love to all of you out there who have left posts; Cates, Dustin, Jenny, Kate, Sagar, MLW holluh atch´you (your words could be no more beautiful and uplifting). They´re very exciting to read and quite encouraging. Well, here we go. Once I was finally in the hostel it was a bit chaotic trying to figure out the system of living there, very different from here, but FINALLY got checked in. The setup in these hostels are so right on. Guys and girls share rooms, wild eh?!!? It was me, two girls from France, a Brazilin guy, and two guys from Chile. We got to be buddies quite fast, thanks to the guitar (man I´m happy I lugged that thing down here.) As Ive said in the past, music has the ability to cross ALL language barriers. The girls asked me to play a couple of songs, make note everything in Spanish at this point, so with no hesitation I did. The the Chileno and the Brazileño listened as well. They all enjoyed it, clapped and made me feel so welcome, and then proceeded to invite me to have dinner with them, boom!, connection made. At the hostel, which only costs 8 bucks a night, HOLLLLUUHHHH!!!!, has two fridges, and a sink and oven for everyone staying there to cook with. A frickin´ great setup no doubt. In the evenings it gets quite busy with all the folks down there but it´s great because supper time is essentially social hour. Everyone shares with whoever they´re with as well, wine, food, whatever, so right on. At this point there is another German girl who had already been there for right at six months, I understood almost all that she said, the one French girl was another story, quite hard. The other French girl had an intersting setup, a French dad and Dominican mother, so she spoke Spanish fluently was much easier to understand. So we all eat and share some wine and the Spanish is unleashed full fledged. Still a struggle for me, and I commented a 1/16th of what I normally would in a conversation, but I kept up, kind of. Long story short here, I got to become great friends with these folks as a few days passed. We took a couple trips through the city together, to the mountains, and spent most evenings sharing supper. I will elaborate more on this later. This one guy named Stefan, from Germany, remains to be, hands down, the biggest character I have encountered yet. He´s forty, homeless, has a twelve year old, speaks some of the most broken Spanish I´ve ever heard, but is so frickin´chill it´s ridiculous. He spends most of his time travelling, and works a couple months throughout the year in Germany to save up for travelling, but has no home there. I´ve grown to love this guy and will elaborate more on him later as well. I´m workin´on getting some photos up, so hold strong, I´ll let you all know asap. Much love to you all, talk to you soon!

Goodbye English, hello mayhem...

I just got into Córdoba this morning and it feels like it took forever. I have been travelling solo so my socializing has went to almost nothing compared to life back home. I knew this would be inevitable in the beginning, but its still difficult. Not being able to talk to people when you want is frustrating not to mention how something so small can be something so big when you are communicating in another language. The good thing here is that I was very prepared for this, and Im making it a strong point to keep myself cool and have faith that God will continue to guide me along and help me in my struggles. The flight was only about 11 hours instead of the 13 I thought it would be. Who knows where I got that number. I arrived into the Buenos Aires airport Thursday morning, took a cab to the bus center and bought a ticket. The only one available to leave that day was for the evening at 9 25, which meant a lot of time just bumming around, but Im good at that, HAHA!!! Finding the bus proved to be a heck of a situation. Buses there are referenced by their departure time, not bus number. The traveller doesnt know where the bus will be until it arrives and they announce it on the intercom. Understanding Spanish is hard enough for me right now and you can just forget about understanding an intercom. Thank the Lord, literally, this younger guy named Gustavo came out of nowhere and went out of his way to help me and get me on the right bus. Between my broken Spanish and his broken Engilsh, I made it. The trip was about 8 hours and went by in a flash. They have "coche camas" here that is essentially a double decker bus with seats that completely recline with leg supports so falling asleep is a breeze. Once I made it to the capital city, Córdoba, I caught a taxi to a hostel close by for a shower, FINALLY!!!!!, and a little bit of rest in a real bed for the first time in days. Nonetheless, Im here now and will hopefully be allowed to meet up with my host family a little earlier than planned, we ll see. The hostel Im in is a cool little place and only costs 8 bucks a night, so thats nice, and the folks there seem cool. Well, time to go cook some supper. Hope life in the States is treating everyone well. Talk to you all again in the next few weeks!