Christmas in Argentina

Christmas was really different for me this year. My friend Joy and I went to a children's home in San Nicolas (approx 4 hours away). We stayed with a lovely family, Tom and Colleen, who work at the home. We arrived on Christmas Eve and had dinner with the children and some of their families in the home. We then all went outside for 'fireworks'...this involved people just setting off fireworks in the street and throwing lit fireworks into the air, was crazy.

Christmas day we took some of the teenagers to a pool nearby. They spent the day in the pool and playing games. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great day hanging out and getting to know some of them. The mosquitos were out in force and despite many applications of mosquito repellent I was attacked, literally.

Boxing day we spent the morning at the children's home with the younger children. We got to have a look around and meet some more of the children and staff, we also gave the children some games and colouring things etc.

This christmas was so different from usual. This was my first christmas away from home and although I did miss my family and friends it was such a priviledge to share christmas with the children and staff at the Sunrise centre. I had previously visited the home and was struck by a sense of hopelessness and sadness however I feel that God really opened my eyes and heart to something new this time. This home is providing shelter, love and hope for these children. The children were so polite and welcoming and showed such a loving and protective attitude towards each other. I was reminded in each of these children that they are loved and precious to God and we are called to love them as God does. It is such a pleasure to have been given the opportunity to get to know them.

Please check out their website if you want to know more http://sunriseofargentina.org .

Happy christmas to all...

Feliz Navidad de Donner!!

Happy Christmas from Donner!!

Just a quick message to wish you all a Merry Christmas, apologies to those who do not receive a card, present or squeeze from me this year. distance is between us, money is short and the postal system (of both our countries it would seem) is crap! Be sure to know that I am thinking of you all and missing a lot of you heaps! I wish that you have a very happy christmas and that 2010 is awesome...Enjoy it!! I look forward to seeing you all in July!!

Besos, Donna xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanksgiving At The Beach

So the end of November marks Thanksgiving for the Americans and I am not one to moan about any reason for two days holiday so last week for Thanksgiving myself, Joanna, Clare, Brittny and Candy headed to the coast...hoorah. We went to Villa Gesell, about 5 hours away and was gorgeous. It is still spring here so being out of season and a North american holiday the place was really quiet. The weather was lovely so we just spent all day on the beach, ate well and slept well. Sad to say I got a little sunburnt but had the Thai Aloe Vera on hand (Em and Hel - was not even near the burnage of Thailand!!) so all brown and skin damaged now.

The sea was pretty rough, especially the first couple of days which resulted in me (unexpectedly) losing my glasses and, temporarily, my dignity (enough said). Anywho, I learnt my lesson and I also bought some new shades. Was great to hang out with good friends and just relax for a bit. There are a load of photos on facebook for those who want to see more.

Unfortunately just before we left I found out one of my little kiddies has moved to Brazil so am down to 4! Also Mosquitos are out in force again and are loving me...am now applying Jungle spray every night, looking beautiful!

Busy, Busy Times

So this last week or so has been really busy.
First, a good friend (Clare) celebrated her birthday so some friends and I went to a beautiful restaurant all dressed up and just generally had fun!

(Girls - Me, Jobo Hobo, Clare Bear, Brittny and Linds)

Following that weekend, this week has been late night after late night, I feel like a student again just much more tired after a late night! I went to see Jason Mraz live in concert which was cool, he seems a little weird which I like, he was entertaining...fun times!

One of my lovely housemates, Joy, had a couple of friends visiting from the states so we went out to dinner which again was lovely. I love meeting people and was cool to get to meet some of the people who Joy loves most...made me realise how much I miss my friends though. I will look forward to some coming to visiting (hint hint)!!

I also got to meet up with some girls from London this week. Two of Lucy's (a friend from uni) friends are travelling and while in BA they met up with me for a coffee, well was actually some cold beverages and some mate. Was random as have only met them once before but was fabulous to talk about lucy (!) and just generally catch up. There are so many awesome people in the world.

Finally...on Friday my class and the Kindergarten class had a sleepover. Was not as crazy as I thought! The kids had a treasure hunt, had a visit from some bee people and just ran around like crazy people outside on the playground with torches before watching High School Musical 3 (awesome) and eventually falling asleep.

Result: I am really tired...good job I only have a three day week because of thanksgiving and am heading to the beach...xx

October News

So, life goes on as normal...work and play. My little kiddies are continuing to make me smile every day, they find everything hilarious, especially me so that is great! I have started to see how much they are learning and that is amazing. We have been practising ‘I have...’ and ‘I don’t have...’ so I get a lot of ‘me have...’ and ‘me no have’ which is definitely progress and probably not dissimilar to my use of Spanish!

Feliz Primavera! Happy Spring!

The end of September was the start of Spring here and with it the good weather, mostly. With every day or two of beautiful weather we have a storm, weird but true. Weather news...has been reaching highs of approx 32 degrees Celsius...lovely. At school we also had a 'Spring Fling' where the children came dressed as animals...check out two of my cuties!!


Spanish lessons are continuing...’going well’ would be a lie but ‘going’ would be an accurate description. Being the Special Needs child, the teacher loves me and I have special ‘talk when I want to’ privileges in class so is not all bad.


Had a long weekend in October so went to a town in Cordoba (about 10 hours on bus) for Oktoberfest, the German beer fest. There is a little town that hosts it every year and that was fun. A couple of friends and I didn’t book any accommodation so ended up sleeping in a hostel common room after paying to camp but without a tent...we considered sleeping in the open air however, those who know how ‘well’ I camp could guess that I quickly shot down that idea and went for the wooden bench INSIDE idea. Was a lot of fun; beer, friends, sunshine, hail storms, random people...


We have thanksgiving off, whatever that is, so am heading to the beach for a few days at the end of this month. Enjoying Argentina...places, food and people!


For you peeps that are praying for me can you please pray for the school and continue to pray for my Spanish and general settling in here.

New Blogger

So have decided this is probably the easiest way to keep in touch, especially as my email seems to hate attaching any sort of file. So from now on I will attempt to update news here and upload photos for you to see...