First week continued

This week has been a little hard. It's the beginning of a transition that I'm not sure how to make. My biggest frustration is the language. Argentines have an accent that I'm not used to hearing. They have words that are different than the ones I know, much like England and the United States. I haven't had a ton of practice yet, though, so I'm sure I'll get used to it the more interaction I have. Robin and sometimes Carlos speak to me in English. There are other Americans here that I've been spending time with. There are two couples here from the States and right now the husbands are in Peru because they're all moving there in the next 10 days. Last night the wives Sarah and Jill had a ladies' night and invited all the women. Sarah has two little boys and Jill has a little girl. Unfortunately, several of the women couldn't come because they weren't feeling well. But Jill, Sarah, their kids, and I had a good time! It was nice to feel completely comfortable and be able to speak English! I know I need to be practicing my Spanish, but it's nice to relax and feel at home once in a while! Yesterday, I went with another volunteer into Pilar. We took the bus, which is much like a bus in Chicago, but not as clean and more jerky. I had an embarrassing moment. When you get on the bus, you tell the bus driver how much you're paying based on where you're going and then you put your coins in the machine. Well, I was digging in my wallet to get out the right amount and all my coins spilled out on the floor. There was a line behind me waiting for the machine, so I was keeping them from sitting down on the moving bus. A couple people helped me pick them up, but I just felt like the rookie bus rider foreigner:( Oh well, I'll probably never see those people again. But, a note for Melanie and Jo- I'm getting better at standing on a moving bus! And it made me feel better that even the locals were having a hard time keeping their balance:) The volunteer that I went with is from Mexico and she speaks pretty well in English. We spoke in Spanish most of the time and she helped me learn some words and how to say some things. I was able to understand her much better because I am more familiar with Mexican Spanish! We walked around the center of town and looked in different shops. We got empanadas for lunch and sat on a bench on a walking-only street to eat them! The plaza there is really pretty! They have walk-ways, benches, some statues, and trees!

Today is Sunday and would have been my first day to go to church, but I had two different people I was going to go with and both of them got sick and so they didn't go. So I didn't go this morning, but there is a service tonight that I might go to.

This week we will be getting ready for the group to come on Friday. I will be going a couple days early to get things ready.

Prayer requests: That I would understand the language and be able to speak it well enough to be understood.

First week

I live in a one bedroom apartment. I have a kitchen, dining area, and a bathroom. Here are some pictures.

I arrived safely. My flights were on schedule and I didn't have any problems except for one. When I got to the airport in Chicago, they told me that my bags were overweight, which was no surprise to me. I was prepared to pay. They said because the airplane was full they weren't accepting any extra weight, so I couldn't pay for the extra and I had to get my bags down to about 23 kgs each. That's about 50 lbs. My bags weighed 67 lbs and 75 lbs. So I started unloading things that I thought I could do without like shampoo, conditioner, mousse, lotion, ect. I knew I could buy those things when I got there. That wasn't enough, though. I ended up leaving 3 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, an earring holder, and a blanket. At first I was mad, but after I got on the plane, I realized that at least I got to go. It shouldn't matter what I bring with me. My first flight was about 3 1/2 hours to Mexico City, then I had a 3 hour lay-over. Then it was a 9 hour flight to Buenos Aires. Robin Radi (the lady that I will be working with) and Aline Mulieri picked me up from the airport. It was nice to see a familiar face in a foreign land! (I know Aline from school.)

This week has been pretty slow. Robin has taken me to the store to get the things I had to leave behind plus some other things for my apartment. I've worked a little bit. Robin and I share an office and I get my own desk! We're preparing for two mission trips coming up next week and the week after, so we've been talking a lot about the details of what's going to happen with all of that. I made two brochures for the two groups. It tells them all the important information about Argentina, like culture, money, things to be aware of, and so on. I think I'm going to really enjoy leading groups because I love mission trips and want to help everyone have a great experience!

Robin has three little girls, 6, 5, and 3. They are so cute and so much fun! I've been hanging out with them all week! They speak both Spanish and English and so they've been helping me with my Spanish a little bit! We've played soccer, played on the swing set, and they've put on little shows for me!

I'm going to a ladies' night right now. But I'll write more soon! Sorry it took me a while with this one.

One week away!

I am now one week away from getting on the airplane! I'm so excited!! It's becoming more of a reality as it gets closer! This week I will be packing and saying some good-bye's. I think it will be hard to decide what to bring and what to leave behind, but I hope that I will be able to make wise decisions! I will also be calling my family and double-checking our way of communication while I'm gone. I have three different online live chat/webcam services where you can reach me. I have Skype, Yahoo Messenger with Voice, and Windows Live. If you have any of these, feel free to give me a call sometime! My names are angie.morgan for Skype, capt.morgan421@yahoo.com for yahoo, and capt.morgan421@hotmail.com for Windows Live.

This week I found out where I will be living! I will have a one bedroom apartment on the missionary complex, which is called the campo. It will be fully furnished so I don't have to buy furniture or dishes or anything, but I may get a few things to make it more personalized and homey! And, it's kind of funny, but in the sunrise picture that I posted a while ago, I think you can see the apartment complex! I didn't know that it was in the picture when I posted it or that I would be living there. It's kinda cool how that worked out! I took that picture two years ago when I was there on a mission trip!