Mi Familia Argentina

So far, I have been living with my family for almost a week and it is going very well. My family includes my host mom, dad and sister. My host sister is in the Argentine Navy and will be leaving in a couple of weeks to return to school. She is close to my age so it is nice having her around the house to chat with. After she leaves, my host parents' nephew will be moving in. He is a bit older than me and is an engineer. Also, my host parents are very friendly and like having guests over for dinner or for mate in the afternoon. There are lots of people around for me to practice my Spanish.

The house is very comfortable with a large garden:

my host fam's garden (ignore the tp - i had a cold)

My host mom loves to tan. When I woke up Sunday morning, she was out back mowing the lawn in her bathing suit. She's a very funny, warm person. I spent Sunday morning with my family relaxing in the back yard and reading the paper (trying to improve my vocab!).

All of the bedrooms are on the second floor of the house.

mine has bunk-beds! slumber party, anyone?

Of course, my family loves to drink mate! They have about 8 mate cups in the kitchen and then an assortment of fancier cups are on display around the house.

a fancier mate cup that my family used this sunday - i have yet to discover the difference in cups

My neighborhood is a little outside of the city and the houses vary in size and style.

a shabbier house in my neighborhood

It is very quiet and peaceful in my neighborhood. However, I am still getting used to taking the buses, walking around and figuring out how safe it is. My family is very helpful and patient in explaining things to me in very slow Spanish. They don't speak any English so as of now, our conversations are slow and filled with me saying "no entiendo" frequently. My family was kind enough to invite me along a mini-vacation to Bahia Blanca to visit family for a long weekend. I am looking forward to bonding with them on the 12-hour overnight train ride tomorrow night.