random stuff

sooooooo some random thoughts. how about that.

this past weekend: went to iguazu falls in misiones, argentina (between paraguay and brasil). did tons of stuff that i´d love to write all about but would take far too much time to do it, sooo..... i´ll just say that it was a really sweet weekend trip. (thurs through sunday.) went in a boat underneath the falls on the brasilian side... so although i can´t say i´ve stepped on brasilian land yet, i HAVE been in brasilian waters. can i go ahead and add brasil to my list, then? did other cool stuff too, like visit an indigenous community that reminded me so much of nicaragua that it made for great reflection in my journal afterward. (it also made me addicted to lifehouse´s song, ¨you and me,¨ again.)

just finished my third week of classes here, which means there are only two more weeks of classes left. technically, only 6 days left. how crazy is THAT. (3 days of classes a week, mon-wed.) when we get to madrid it´s going to be like, hi, welcome to madrid, ok, bye... before we know it. i´m glad guanajuato was first so it seemed like longer of a time although it was still a really short time..... speaking of guanajuato...... i´ve received emails from most of my acting class friends (they are all so awesome!!!), and beto and i have been emailing each other con frecuencia... as in, a few times a week or more, and pretty long emails, and my favorite part, completely in spanish. yeah, it´s been sweet. tonight, i talked with my hermana mexicana online, diana. that made me happy... she said that she and her mom miss us. good grief, do THEY have any idea how much WE miss THEM!? i can´t wait to spend more time with that family there someday..... and i mean that. what beautiful women, linda and diana. so anywho, diana commented on how good my spanish was through msn, and i thought, you know, it´s a lot more odd for me to chat and write emails now in english than it is in spanish. seriously, i´ve forgotten how to say and particularly how to SPELL a LOT of things in english. i feel sorry for my upcoming teachers this coming semester.......... my papers are going to S-U-C-K (yes, i remember how to spell that one).

speaking of classes. sally got me signed up for most of mine today. looks like i´ll be taking two spanish classes this coming semester... which is REALLY good for me... to stay in practice... good grief... it´s going to be so difficult to return to regular life so soon... i just can´t imagine it right now.

so, dad got a job, and for that, i´m happy! (see, that was bad grammar, and more or less a translation from what is normally said in spanish. sad.) mom´s apparently p-o´d with him and, like a woman, not talking about it (as though that makes things better). yes, i can say this on here, because there´s this thing called free speech. ¿que pasa, madre?

i went to a SALSA class last night. it was awesome, and might i add, FREE. and taught by a friend of madre marta´s. sweet. there are also free tango classes which would really make more sense for me to go to... but what can i say... as bad as i suck at the salsa, and as much as i have the moves of a stiff, pathetic white girl, i love the salsa.

today i exercised my right to walk out on a class which was being taught by a professor who is a frickin´dingbat. such an intelligent man with tons and tons of experience in his field... just too bad he feels the need to teach what he feels personally about people and events (have definitely never heard the word BASTARD so many times at once in my whole life)... the way i looked at it, my parents and university are not paying for me to sit there and listen to such crap, and waste my time like that. so i left. me fuí. went walking, checked the email, vented a little bit to beto in a spanish email, which was quite fun, if i might say so myself. somebody from the class called it ¨leisha´s little revolution.¨ leaving a class that isn´t even really being TAUGHT in the first place. revolutionary. yeah.

alright, night time for leisha. yep, 11 pm, and its night time. i´ve gotten to bed before midnight every single night basically since i´ve been here. that´s right, leisha´s not even been out at night ONCE. just one ballet, and one salsa lesson (but at like 7:30 pm). sleep. it´s been good, really good.

started reading diarios de motocicleta by ernesto che guevara, the book i fiiiiiinally found..... am really enjoying it... i suggest everyone rent the movie, and soon, it´s GREAT! (but put on the subtitles!) the book, i´m hoping, will be even better..........

alright, again, night time.
random thoughts, over with for now.
love you, friends and family.
leisha

p.s. quote from a loved one in an email yesterday: hope to find your dreams a little closer to home. this hit me pretty hard.

piropo favorito

so my favorite piropo thus far would DEFINITELY have to be this one:
¨¡ay, DIOS!¨

strangely enough, i received it twice yesterday.
crazy.

hehehe

p.s.dont know what a piropo is? look it up! the internet is a fabulous thing.

perros y caca

i failed to mention the amount of dogwalkers in this city, not to mention the even GREATER amount of dogs here. seriously, imagine all the dogs in the world. then, imagine like 10 to 15 of them being walked at one time by one individual person. then, imagine all of those dogs pooping, like, all over the place on the sidewalk, and then imagine the dogwalkers and owners not doing a thing about it.

welcome to buenos aires!

if ONLY!

Dear colleagues in PW and Women's Ministries,

A quick note to let you know that Enough for Everyone is planning adelegation to Nicarauga, January 17-24, 2006. Goals for this group of12-15 people from across the PC(USA) include:
- learning about Nicaragua
- visiting coffee cooperatives & learning about fair trade (including 2overnights with coffee farming families),
- meeting the women who sew Sweat-Free Ts & visiting the garment co-opthey built with their own hands,
- witnessing Presbyterian investments in Oikocredit in action and learningabout micro-finance, and
- returning home equipped to share the good news in congregations,communities and presbyteries.

The trip is co-sponsored with Equal Exchange, our partner in thePresbyterian Coffee Project. CEPAD is our host organization in-country. Staff on the trip include myself, Mark Lancaster, Doug Orbaker of CEPAD,and Dary Goodrich of Equal Exchange (who many of you know from our coffeebooth at GA and PW Gatherings).

I would love to have leaders from your networks participate. Please feelfree to forward this info as you deem appropriate. Attached is a promoflyer as well as the trip application (due Nov 1). Details will soon beposted at www.pcusa.org/coffee.

Thanks,Melanie

contamination is NOT the solution, friends!

contamination is NOT the solution, friends!
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

coolest trash can on the face of the planet, right here in this picture. seriously.

reflection

reflection
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

in colonia, uruguay... enjoying the beautiful, sunny afternoon by the water.

màte!!!

màte!!!
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

mmmmmmm.

and, completely amargo.

big

big
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

buenos aires is big, friends and family. REAL big.

thoughts on buenos aires

• buenos aires is extremely european, in that most of its history involves immigrants from all over europe, particularly from italy. this is apparent in its people`s distinct accent and manner of speaking and behaving. also, in its moda (fashion).
• buenos aires has many mirrors within the city, and many glassy walls, for a reason. porteños (what the people here are called, due to the rìo de la plata`s location) looooooooooooove looking at themselves. they also love talking about themselves. for the looking at themselves thing, mom said to me, ¨well then you fit right in, don`t you.¨ yep, thanks mom. to sound a bit vain, it`s actually sort of nice to be able to look at myself in a mirror to fluff up my hair a little bit (hey, for like two seconds, alright? get off my back!) without feeling extremely vain, conceited, too concerned about what i look like. because chances are, the person in front of me and the person behind me are taking about two minutes to do the same thing, or longer.
• tango. the tango. yes, buenos aires is definitely the birthplace of the tango. if you all haven`t listened to much tango yet, you should start. right now.
• màte is the coolest drink in the world, and what would you know, it`s like a culture in itself here in buenos aires. i spent about four hours sharing màte with four friends that i met up with from the states (they are working here as yavs through the pc(usa)... sweet stuff), sitting in the park, doing the màte thing and talking and laughing and just enjoying ourselves. it was definitely fabulous. you guys should look up màte online and see what you find. likely there will be more on màte later.
• there are certain parts of ba culture that seem impossible at first. for instance, the realization that signs for everything is really an american thing was difficult at first. when you walk in a restaurant or a place to pick up food at a bar-ish area or somewhere similar, a foreigner almost never knows what to do. order first, pick it up, then pay, like a normal situation? or order, pay, pick it up, or pay, order, pick it up, etc etc etc... what in the world???? the spanish phrase ¨pero no hay señales¨definitely doesn`t do anyone any good. just keep that in mind.
• ba has its own language, called lunfardo. it`s like slang but an entire way of speaking, and only in this city. not so fun for foreigners. they also have their own special conjugation (actually, it`s in argentina as a whole, not just ba), called the vos form, in place of the tù form. now come on argentina, what the heck?

so... all in all... it`s pretty good stuff here. sure, it`s only been a week and a half, but i`ve picked up on quite a bit of cultural and linguistic type bits...

also, went to uruguay on saturday, and this weekend, brasil or bust. pretty sweet, huh? yeah, south america is pretty sweet.

love you all... hope everyone is well... i`ll see you all soon!

yep

You are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

bienvenida, leisha

i love buenos aires. it´s my 5th day here, and i´ve loved every second of it.

too much to say at once. just know that i´m doing awesome, and once again, i´ve found a place that i don´t think i ever want to leave!

(yes, mom and dad, another place. it really is possible.)

pregunta, por favor

¿está funcionando esta cosa, o no?

acting class, take three

acting class again last night, was in a group of 3 (was with two of my new guy buddies), and acted... and actually spoke this time... in spanish... que trippy!!!!

after, we hung out at bar ocho, chatted, took some fun pics.
i´m really going to miss this group.

and then there´s beto, whom i talked to even after that before i walked home.
he´ll be (hopefully) joining my host fam for lunch today, and then we´ll be chatting afterward, about things. wish me luck with the whole language thing, i think this is going to be an important conversation! (the words have come to me thus far, surely it´ll be just fine. if not, there´s always a diccionario, although it hinders the flow of convo a bit, that´s fer sure!)

tomorrow: final exámen in gramática. piece of pastel, piece of crumb pastel.

love you all... thinking of you all when i get the chance... :)
by the way, has ANYBODY gotten my postcards???? please let me know, i´m really curious about this.

you´d be proud of me, and... burrito

i actually got to sleep last night... before... MIDNIGHT!!!! be proud of me, be very proud of me.

also, i´ve been made aware that a spanish teacher must know how to roll his or her rr´s correctly (thank you, beto´s brother, captain obvious!!!)... on saturday night he wouldn´t let me say any single word with an r or rr without making me repeat it. finally i started searching for words that didn´t have r´s, just to get around it. but... i know i need to kick this thing in it´s butt... so i´ve been practicing. i´m starting with the word burrito. i think i´ve about got it down. (it´s all about letting the air flow from the front of the mouth instead of the throat, which is where i roll my rr´s from, most pathetically. the guys have made mention that i sound like a little kitty when i attempt it. i´m glad they laugh, because i don´t. i really have problems with this.) next word: not sure yet. i´m a little intimidated, by, like, all of them.

alright, last week here in mexico. not happy about this, not at all. if i would have known how amazing guanajuato was, i would´ve picked the guanajuato semester program, although i know it´ll be awesome to see argentina, as well. still. i know, you´ve heard enough about how much i love guanajuato. no more... at least not right now.

time to hit the jardín and write in the diario!
buen día, amigos y familia.

the beto`s and i

the beto`s and i
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

last night at bar santo.
finally a pic of both beto`s and i (and yes, i`m now spelling his name with a B)... see the flickr comment on the pic...

8am

i am officially a crazy night owl: i have stayed out until 8am the last two nights (or should i say, mornings). not recommended for people who require sleep (which is really most everyone), but still well worth it. last weekend here in guanajuato. don`t even want to think about it. however, i have been thinking about a possible return over spring break or something.......... yeah i`m sure my parents would just love that idea.............. but................ it sure sounds good to me, and flight prices to mexico city usually aren`t too shabby (and it`s easy to get here from there). i love guanajuato, what can i say. i adore the people here, the friends i`ve made, the special guy i`ve met, the charming colonialness of the city, the food, the family i`ve been welcomed into, the dance clubs, the whole shebang.

ok. enough for now.

am a bit tired. thinking that tonight`s a night of rest for me, considering the last two nights have not been. this week: last week of classes in guanajuato. ugh, i don`t even want to remind myself.

i love these gals

my favorite gals
Originally uploaded by LeishaJo.

patti, danael, and lupita.

these girls have been my intercambios since the beginning. i am reeeeeeeeeally going to miss them!!!!!!!