stuff and stuff and stuff
Saturday, May 3, 2008
everybody’s looking for that something
one thing that makes it complete
you’ll find it strange places
places you never knew it could be
seizing the day…
ok. so AFS camp last week. the system changed. i mean, last year when we had the afs camp, the ‘old’ students and the new ones were together in the camp. this time, only the new students had the real camp. Saturday and Sunday. then the ‘old students’ or those who arrived last year went to the camp on Sunday.
there are reasons for that though.
an afs volunteer told me that afs doesnt want the new students mingling with the some of the old stus. well, there had been problems with some of the students who arrived last year. i mean, our group ’07-’08 is divided into two:
those who get drunk every single day and insult their host families upon arriving in the morning, totally wasted...
and those who don’t.
basically, im in the ‘good’ group.
well, we’re not exactly THAT good.
we just know where the line is.
and we dont cross it.
not that often. *grin*
okay. so this year’s camp is a hell lot better than the camp that we had last year. i mean, last year, it was so freaking cold! and by ‘freaking cold’, i mean like we were wearing already wearing four jackets and we were still shivering...
and it was raining so hard. and the floor was wet. of course they dried it up but it was still moist...
and we slept on that moist floor.
in that freaking low temperature.
we were wearing jackets and we were using 3 thick ‘colchones’ (i cant remember the english word. it’s like a bed sheet but it’s a hell lot thicker.)
and since the old and new students were together during that camp, we were like 50 people gathered in one place. we sort of slept at around 3 in the morning.
well, no one sleeps early at camps!!
besides, even if someone wanted to, he couldnt have slept either.
why?
people were having this weird race using sleeping bags...
and people were playing the guitar... and singing loudly... and it was just a huge party.
well, it was a camp after all.
this year’s camp was better. i mean, there are 9 students who arrived this february. last year, there were 15 students who arrived.
then, the weather was sooooo beautiful during this year’s camp. it wasnt cold nor hot. it was a perfect day for a camp.
and the group totally rocks.
sara (sweden) and i were talking that it could have been better if we’re in this new group.
they’re not THAT good either.
i mean, they do get drunk.
((simon once told me that in new zealand he has never drunk more than a cup of alcoholic beverage. here, he drinks whatever he sees.
i once told him that he’s a potential drunk.))
and they complain about their families (but they dont insult them in their faces). i really dont have any idea why i dont get along that well with some of those who arrived last year.
but come to think of it, there is something really positive about it. i mean, if i arrived with this new group, i wouldnt have gone out with argentines that much coz i would have been going out with the exchange students all the time.
ok. so last Saturday i slept at sara’s house so that we could go together to the camp on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning. we were supposed to meet up sebastian in a bus stop at 9:45. sara and i woke up at 9:50.
she woke me up, actually.
i was sleeping and then i was hearing someone saying “kimberly. wake up. kimberly.”
and i was like, “shut up...”
then i heard that person say, “it’s 9:50”
and i sort of jumped out of the bed, literally.
i mean, what the hell...
so we sort of worried about sebastian but in the end he didnt go to the camp coz he had a stomachache.
so in the camp, we just sort of fooled around while waiting for the rest to arrive. then they separated the new students from the ‘old’ ones.
we, the old students, had a talk about stuff regarding our stay here in argentina and stuff. they asked us about our objectives, if those objectives changed, if we fulfilled our objectives, what are the stuff that we dont like here, what part of the culture aould we want to bring back to our countries, and stuff like this... after the ‘session’, we went outside, sat beneath the shade of the trees, rolled over the grass...
basically, we just fooled around.
lawrence (australia) was lifting me everytime he could that i told him that if he wants to lift weights there are places called gyms to do that. i mean, when we meet up in town, all of a sudden im just going to feel that my feet dont touch the ground anymore. then whenever he picks me up bride-style he passes me on to simon. i mean, what’s up with me??? why me??????????
simon (NZ) kept on putting pieces of grass on my hair. and when he lied down beside me, i put grass on his mouth. and he was like “hey! kim! im not a horse!”
hehehe... i said i dont care and i kept on throwing grass at him. then i saw the blue pen on the ground.
the thing is simon and i go to the same school and we sort of have a weird pasttime writing and drawing stuff on our hands. people told us that we’re like kids coz there’s always something written or drawn on our hands everyday after school. so he was lying down and his arm was on my knees. so i took the pen and started writing whatever comes to my head.
and the pen-pulling-grass-throwing battle started.
again.
then i started throwing grass at miku (japan) and may (thailand) and a bigger battle started.
im so good... hehehe...
then, we were all whining that we’re hungry. so lunch time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the truth is that we were all fooling around for the entire day.
it was so fun.
the ‘empanadas’ were totally delicious. empanada is one of the typical food in argentina. i so love it that i ate 9 pieces once.
then, we ran out of empanadas on our table. simon asked may to get him one. she did. then i also asked her to get me one. may was like “why me??”. and suddenly simon gave me his empanada.
what a gentleman...
and he asked may to get him one again.
yeah... what a real gentleman. hahaha...
in the end simon was the one who got up to get more empanadas. then when he returned to our table, he was grinning like crazy so i asked him what’s up. he told me that he stole empanadas from the other tables...
sweet.
after lunch, the new and old students were separated again. the new students had to prepare a sort of a talent show and the old students had another ‘talk’.
first, an afs volunteer read chapter 21 of The Little Prince by saint exupery. but it was, of course, in spanish. so i was like thinking of what i have read during my freshman year...
then, the volunteer started calling our names and giving each of us copies of chapter 21. and i was like ‘why dont he just pass the paper at once? it’s not necessary to call us one by one.’
then cedric showed me the paper that was given to him. it was in deutsch.
oh. ok. that’s why.
there were 4 languages. german, english, spanish, and french.
chapter 21 was about the little prince and the fox. that was when the little prince realized that even though there are a million roses in the world, his rose is unique because of the time that he spends with it. that’s also the part where the fox wanted the little prince to ‘tame’ him. the little prince did. and then when he was about to leave, the fox told him that he would cry and then the little prince said that then it served the fox no good. the fox told him that yes it did him good coz whenever he would see a wheatfield he would remember that somewhere the little prince exists.
after that, we were asked about the relationship between the excerpt and us.
we are like the little prince who came from somewhere else. we are not going to stay permanently here in argentina but the friendships that we’ve made will last because now little things would mean something for us just like what the wheatfield means for the fox. (if anyone wants to know, the wheatfield reminds the fox of the little prince because of the color of his hair.)
okay. then after that nice chat, we went back inside to see the talent show prepared by the new students.
kyle (USA) did some ball tricks using a soccer ball.
miku (japan) did some tricks using chopsticks.
may (thailand) danced.
lawrence improvised. he used something that is very similar to a bamboo but smaller. he said that it’s supposed to be a typical australian instrument. then he placed the end of the improvised ‘great flute’ in the corner of his mouth. then he began to create sounds...
it was impressive, really.
then simon showed up without a shirt and his pants were rolled up his knees. well, before he presented his so-called talent, he already told me what he’s going to do. i cant recall what it’s called but it’s the sort of a ritual that rugby players do before a match.
lots of groaning, shouting, screaming, hitting fists against chest, hitting fists against the floor...
it was impressive.
i’ve seen him do that before. and i was like ‘what the hell are you doing?’ then he explained it to me. ok. rugby is not exactly a popular sport in my country so it’s totally acceptable that i didnt have any idea about it.
after simon’s presentation, he was red all over. his knuckles, his chest, his arms.
i mean, he was hitting himself (not to mention the floor) with full force.
it has got to be like that.
the ‘ritual’ is done before a rugby game so you have to show that you’re ready for battle.
it was amazing to watch. i wish i took a video of it...
generally, the camp has been really cool.
some find the cheer in every morning
some in the solitary night
i totally love lawrence’s eyes!!!
it’s a sort of a cool combination of green and blue...
i told him that i want to gouge out his eyes before i go and im going to place it inside a jar and bring it back to the philippines with me.
and he was like “that’s a bit morbid, dont you think so?”
i told him “no it’s not.”
and he told me that his eyes are boring.
what the hell....
those are the prettiest eyes among the exchange students!
then he told me that in australia everyone has eyes like his.
okaaaaaaay.....................................................................
btw, lawrence and simon loves shopping.
it’s just sooo good to know that boys who love shopping exist!!!
so we’re icecream buddies (we’re addicted to icecream. we ALWAYS meet up in an icecream shop. always.)
we’re also cake buddies. (addicted to sweets...)
we’re also going to be shopping buddies!
when im walking with simon, sometimes i cant hear what he’s saying. it’s not that he speaks softly. it’s just that he’s 189cm tall that the sound waves barely reach my ears!!! (sound waves??)
you’ll find it in the deepest friendship
the kind you cherish all your life
btw, i know tonguetwisters and some basic phrases in deustch!!! rebecca’s teaching me. and im teaching her filipino phrases. she likes my language...
i like the german language. i swear, im going to learn that someday. besides, i’ve promised some friends that im going to visit their countries someday... germany and austria, for example. and people in those countries speak deutsch. well, deutsch for germany and ôsterreich-deutsch in austria.
i swear, im going to learn nihongo then deutsch.
as of now, im trilingual.
i want to know more languages. i want to be a sort of a linguist.
at least 5 languages. english, filipino, spanish, japanese, german. at least 5...
an afs volunteer’s father told me that my accent is like that of a french who learned spanish.
okay.... i said that i dont speak french. they told me that if i study french im going to have a perfect pronunciation.
sweet.
let’s put french after german. so that’s 3 more languages to go... cool.
and, if you know spanish, italian is going to be a hell lot easier to learn.
so that’s another language to go.
4 languages pending...
when my parents call me, i now speak in a weird combination of 3 languages. and when no one speaks on the other line, im going to realize that im talking in spanish.
and then i cant remember some words in filipino. like the word ‘fracaso’. that means ‘failure’ in english. but for the life of me, i cant remember the filipino translation. could anyone tell me????
i remember that i ALMOST forgot the filipino word for ‘health’. i was thinking ‘karunungan’ but that’s wisdom. then, the word popped up!!
kalusugan.
that was strange. i mean, how could i forget words in my native tongue???
so im thinking... how do linguists manage to keep their heads straight with all those languages stored in their brains?????????????
i mean, for 8 months i’ve been speaking in spanish. my brain is like in spanish mode. then when all of a sudden someone speaks to me in english, im like ‘wait. was that spanish? no, it wasnt. okay. english mode.’
and when im already talking in english then someone comes and started speaking to me in spanish, im like ‘that wasnt english, right? yeah, it wasnt. click spanish mode.’
the first three seconds of ‘language switch’ is driving me crazy.
for example, an argentine suddenly comes over and started speaking in english.
this one drives me crazy.
i mean, some argentines (a very very few of them) knows english pretty well but they still have THAT spanish accent. and when they speak english, it sounds spanish even though it’s not. so for a second im like “what??? that doesnt exist in spanish. oh. you’re speaking in english.”
the same goes vice versa.
like, say, when im talking with exchange students who still have really strong accents. like keith (usa), when im talking to him in english then he’ll suddenly switch to spanish, it totally drives me crazy. i mean, when he speaks spanish, it sounds like freaking english!
places i want to visit someday:
>>> canada (vancouver, québec, toronto, and ontario)
>>> germany (specifically augsburg and hamburg)
>>> austria (vienna)
>>> japan
>>> australia
>>> new zealand (wellington and the place where Lord of the Rings and Narnia were filmed)
>>> switzerland
>>> england (i dont know any exchange stus from england but i still want to go there)
((geez. im going to tour the world someday.))
lawrence told me that he’s going to come for me in the philippines then we’ll go to japan together.
if only it’s that easy...
i mean, philippine peso has a lower monetary value than thailand baht! is there a country with a lower monetary value than php????
i want to know what country is that.
i want to upload heaps of photos in my multiply site but uploading photos takes sooooooo long...
i dont believe that anybody feels the way i do about you now
and all the roads we have to walk are winding
and all the lights that lead us there are blinding
btw, there’s a sort of a not-so-cold ‘cold war’ between sebastian and me.
he’s got an argentine girlfriend as of this moment. and they were together for like a month or something.
but that’s not the point.
im happy for my ‘little austrian brother’.
it’s just that he has changed DRASTICALLY ever since he has been going out with that girl (name is belen)
well, when he was still like the old sebastian, he told me that he was spending 300 euros per month.
wtf....................................
300 euros. that’s 1500 argentine pesos.
and that’s freaking too much to spend in a month.
i swear.
the thing is that he goes out with that girl every single day. and he pays for everything.
absolutely everything.
and the girl is just too spoiled.
i mean, he told me once that they were in a shopping center then they took a taxi to the town and then the girl wanted to grab some icecream in another town.
it’s hard to explain.
imagine that you’re in megamall and then you go to rockwell by taxi then you go to MOA by taxi jsut to grab an icecream.
geez.
i mean, there are icecream shops in town! why should they go to another town???
it’s just pure whim.
then, last Monday i was with sara (sweden), lawrence (australia), león (arg), beccy (germany). we’ve just grabbed some icecream and then we were walking towards the radio station coz we were supposed to speak on a radio program about our voluntary work with the foundation.
we were walking, then we came upon sebastian and andrea.
andrea is an argentine.
she was a friend of mine.
TAKE NOTE: WAS................
im not going to put into detail what she had done to me. let’s just say that she can absolutely win the nobel prize for making up stories.
imagine that. a new nobel prize category just for her.
she should be proud...... *sarcasm drip... drip.... drip....*
ok. so the next day, Tuesday, i’ve been talking to lawrence so when my phone rang, i thought it was him.
i thought wrong, basically.
it was andrea.
obviously, the message was in spanish. (for the life of her, she cant understand any english)
im going to try to translate the message as precisely as i can. "we're andrea and belen. we're totally pissed off with u. we cant believe that ur like this. especially me, im so disappointed with u. u judge belen even though u dont even know her. u dont know that she has done good to seba. i dont know but the only thing that i can tell u right now is that the only thing that uv managed to do is separate urself from us"
so that was the message.
it is a hell lot more annoying in spanish.
i swear. i was eating pasta when i received that message.
i was like “wtf... what did i do???”
so i asked her.
her reply was <<>>
freaking hell.
i didnt reply after that.
i told lawrence and simon about that. simon didnt know the girl but lawrence do. he was with us when we came upon seba and andrea.
lawrence replied, “what’s her problem? you barely see seba nor his girlfriend. that chick is weird. maybe she’s just sick of her shitty life and needs to let loose.”
hahaha....
and simon’s reply was the best: “wtf. she’s random. tell her either get your facts straight or shut the f up.”
even though i wasnt feeling that good coz someone was accusing me of something that i didnt even have the slightest idea, i actually laughed when i received lawrence and simon’s messages.
then, earlier that day, we were walking (simon, beccy, seba, and me) to the hospital. every Tuesday and Friday at 12 noon we go to the hospital for the volunteer work.
so i was walking with simon and beccy was walking with seba. all of the sudden, sebastian started walking faster.
i asked beccy what happened. she told me that sebastian was telling her that we should do the volunteer work faster coz he wants to go home early.
beccy started teasing him. she told him that if he really likes the volunteer work and that he doesnt want to stop doing it, just like what he said in the radio program, why is it that he always wants to go home early.
then, seba got mad.
i dont have any freaking idea what the hell happened.
then last Friday, simon, beccy, and i were waiting for lawrence outside the school. i saw seba so i asked him if he’s going with us to the hospital. he said no. so i asked him why. he said that marilia’s going to be there so he’s not going.
wtf....
the thing was they were supposed to meet up to talk last Wednesday. marilia was already waiting in town, then she sent seba a message asking him why is he late. then seba replied that he cant go coz he has to help a friend translate a letter to german. obviously, marilia got pissed off and sent him a message saying ‘thank you very much for telling me that. now dont ask when people tell you that you’re a liar’
then, when lawrence arrived, we were about to leave but seba got hold of my hand and told me that we need to talk.
fine.
then he asked me,”what’s wrong with you?”
geez. i was like “what’s wrong with me? there’s nothing wrong with me. try asking yourself. you, what is wrong with you?”
then he told me that i was ignoring andrea last Monday and that even he noticed that and that i dont like his girlfriend and that beccy was accusing him that he was a liar and that i didnt even talk to him during the volunteer work last Tuesday and that marilia told him that he’s a liar and that im acting as if that was true and that i didnt go to his house a couple of weeks ago when he had the burger party coz i dont want to be with andrea and belen and that we’re all implying that he should break up with his girlfriend and that he should only hang out with us and that he has a life and other friends not only us so we cant oblige him to always hang out with us...
wtf............................................................
i wasnt ignoring andrea. i greeted her. and i was trying to talk to her. yeah, i didnt want to talk to her but just to be nice i was trying to talk to her last Monday. but i was with the others and seba and andrea were talking about something else.
yeah, i didnt want to talk to her. not after what she had done to me before. but i wasnt ignoring her.
hell, if i WAS ignoring her, i shouldnt even have greeted her.
i dont like his girlfriend?? i dont even know her... yeah, ive seen her but never talked to her in the sense of ‘talking’...
every single person in the foundation keeps on cracking jokes about belen not because we hate her but because sebastian has changed a lot ever since he’s with her.
majo always tells him that he’s under a martial law, governed by belen.
that’s true but we’re just fooling around.
and beccy wasnt accusing him of being a liar!
beccy was just kidding!! wtf...
no one talked to him last Tuesday coz he was really annoyed. i was asking him what the hell was wrong with him but he told me to leave him alone.
so i did.
then now he’s annoyed coz i didnt talk to him???
he didnt want to talk with anyone! he was annoyed with what beccy told him! freaking shit....
yeah, marilia sent him a message about that liar stuff but i dont have anything to do with that.
im not marilia. and i dont have control over what she wants to say.
and, hell, im acting as if what beccy and marilia said is true???
if he feels guilty, it’s not my problem.
and no one’s implying that he should break up with his girl. and yeah, he’s got other friends. we freaking know that! no one’s telling him to hang out with us all the time...
f..................................
im pissed off.
still pissed off.
while we were arguing outside the school, simon and beccy went to the breadshop to get the bread donations. lawrence stayed with me. he was sitting on the steps of the school entrance but he can obviosuly hear everything.
i was pissed off. totally. so i told sebastian ‘chau’.
without the normal cheek-kiss (argentine culture)
and while we were walking, lawrence’s arm was around my shoulder. he told me that he heard everything. then he told me (in english) “dont worry about that mad austrian bloke. you have us. dont mind him.”
i was pretty upset but i sort of laughed a bit with that.
then i was telling beccy what happened.
the story took longer than normal coz i was telling it to beccy in spanish. then simon’s gonna lean closer and say ‘what?’ so im going to repeat it in english.
then, i told marilia about it.
she wrote a text message and saved it in my phone. she told me that if that andrea bothers me again, i have to send it to her.
the message goes like this: <<>>
i really dont know what happened to sebastian. he’s picking fights with everyone. and the thing is that in 2 months he’s going to go back to austria and that girl is going to stay in argentina.
it’s not as if they’re going to marry or something.
well, let him think whatever he wants to think.
he’s 15 and gullible.
but i swear, if i have the money and contacts to hire an assassin, i would have done it right now.
or, better said, if i could, i would have killed that andrea now.
last Friday, after the grand shouting match outside the school, when we were walking to the hospital, i was saying that im going to kill andrea before i go.
lawrence told me that he’s going to buy me a gun.
beccy said no. she told me that an ice stalactite would be a better weapon. the ice would melt and would leave no evidence behind.
hehehehe....
we’re potential killers.
geez. how i hate that bitch.
a long time ago, when i still trusted her, i told her that im interested in keith. then, she told sebastian about it. that was fine coz seba’s my friend. but she shouldnt have done that without my permission. that was a secret.
ok. fine. she’s a big blabbermouth.
then, she told me that seba told her that keith told him that keith likes her.
so i was like ‘okaaaaaaaaaaay........’
i mean, i dont have anything against that. it’s not as if i like keith. im just interested. he was pretty interesting for someone from the US. really.
then, i asked seba about it. he told me that keith has never told him anything and that he has never told andrea anything either.
there was like a massive flaming red sign hanging over andrea’s head.
the sign says : IM A BIG FAT LIAR.
then, seba told me that andrea told him that she wants something to happen between keith and her. seba told her that no, she cant do that coz it’s unfair coz she knows that im interested in him. she told seba that she’s still going to kiss keith regardless of whatever. seba told her not to do that. then she got mad at seba coz she thinks that seba cares more for me than for her.
what a freakingly stupid girl.
then, a couple of days later, she told us that keith is gay.
now, the sign over her head says : IM A BIG FAT DESPERATE LIAR. ANYONE WHO REJECTS ME IS GAY.
i would have said, ‘anyone who DOESNT reject you is either blind and totally dumb OR more desperate than you.’
this entry is freaking long.
till here.
XOXO
7:18 AM
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