Natalie comes to Argentina!!

So the past few weeks have been manic...the long awaited visit from my sister came and went in a flash but was fabulous! Was great to hang out with Natalie and for her to have a taster of my life here. I also particularly enjoyed her suitcase of goodies for me!! She got to explore the city with my friends before we went to Tandil for the weekend. Tandil was lovely, we stayed at a gorgeous little boutique hotel and walked, chilled, saw the sights...was beautiful.

Straight after this Natalie and I went to San Nicolas (about 3 hours away) to help serve at an orphanage for the week. At BAICA, the high school students all do a week of 'community service' and so I went with a group to the orphanage I went to for Christmas. It is really difficult to put into words how fabulous, sad, honoured...I felt. Our young people helped paint and clean and worked really hard as well as just making friends and hanging out. The orphanage has a lot of young guys and we took 9 young guys so they really loved hanging out together. Our students definately saw a new world, coming from rich, priviledged homes and experiencing the lives of the children at the orphanage was definately life changing for a lot of them. There is an album on my facebook titled 'Week without Walls' where you can see all the pics as Blogspot is really slow for uploading pics!

After that exhausting week which included a few cases of food poisoning (including a mild case for Natalie!) Natalie and I explored the city a bit. Natalie particularly liked Recoleta, which has a cemetry where she took a lot of pics and we saw where is Evita is 'buried'. We also spent some time shopping at the Feria and just enjoying being in the city! I love this city!

My time in Argentina so far has definately highlighted my ever-growing passion for wanting to help families in need. I am not sure how or where I can help, now or in the future but I am praying a lot for God's guidance and wisdom about how I can serve best in this area. A couple of friends of mine have a similar passion and have set up a website aimed at trying to help a local orphange near us...please check it out and if you are able to help please do, www.illuminatehope.org.

and that was it...2 weeks gone and I am left feeling great that I saw her but so sad at the same time. am so grateful that I am coming home in the summer for a bit...I miss so many of you so much...am so excited.

will update again soon...Besos xx

March and Easter.

I would apologise for my lack of Blog posts however you should be grateful because any posts would have been boring, mundane life stuff. March was one of those average months...I spent my life teaching, jogging, trying to learn Spanish and all the other everyday things life involves.

Oh, just remembered something I did...I ran a 7km race (with a couple of the teachers (above) and some of the students). It was for Unicef and was around the parks in Palermo...I loved it and love this city!! I am still in training for the half marathon and am in awe of Hel Bel who completed hers in good time and looked awesome! You will have some awful pictures to look forward to after I complete mine. That is, if I complete mine...I am running but it is tough and sometimes I think that if the race day is one of those 'crap running days', I may never make it!! ha. Hopefully my running buddy Joanna will ensure I do not fail!!

My friend Joanna has had a friend, Naomi, to stay for the past couple of weeks which has been fun. I love meeting new people and she has been a fun addition to the Espana crew. We have seen some of the city and went to see a tango show one night whoch was cool. I also liked her that bit more when she baked like a hundred cookies...it's the small things in life that make me happy, like a good cup of tea and a home-made cookie. Sweet.

For Easter I went to Mendoza, it is on the West side of Argentina and is one of their famous wine regions. I went with a friend, Christy. Was an ideal break. On the first day, we hired a tandem and biked around some of the bodegas, tasting wine and enjoying the good weather and good food. Yes, it does seem crazy that biking and drinking is encouraged. It is pretty crazy. We also hired a guide one day who took us to some of the smaller bodegas, was fabulous to learn the history of each Bodega, have a look around and taste wines. We also spent one day just chillaxing, we went for a run and had a picnic in the park. Christy has been living the high life of just travelling for the past month (jealous! apart from the bed bugs, definately not jealous of that). However, a few days of sunshine, a lot of wine, good food and a new place was just what I needed!

And for my last bit of really exciting news...I'm pregnant! Ha, not really (as if!). My sister Natalie is arriving in Argentina on the 14th April for 2 weeks so I am already way too excited about that...roll on the good times!

Miss you all as always but now only 91 days until I am on English soil again!! xxx