Our Outbound Student, Jacqui Philp has had an exciting last month in Argentina. She has settled into school, is enjoying plenty of game time on the hockey field, is coming to grips with the language and loving the culture. Jacqui has spent her first 4 months with the Sanchez family and has certainly been made to feel at home. Take a look at a snippet from her latest report.
"Life in general here is pretty great, and filled with little adventures like going horseback riding in the mountains above Capilla Del Monte with Valen, adventures around the lake on the back of a quadbike, kayaking around said lake with my counselor here Juan Carlos, and more recently going out with new friends and of course the party after party after lunch afte
r dinner with all our family and friends.
r dinner with all our family and friends.You’ll notice I said our family and friends, because that is genuinely what it feels like now. No longer do I get a standard kiss on the cheek from grandparents when they come to visit (usually every day) a warm embrace with a big smile, usually, I’m introduced as Jacqui my daughter, or Jacqui my sister, and there’s never a time I don’t feel at home.
I have of course also started school, now about a month, and in all honesty, its been a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. On one hand it's absolutely great, it’s a very small school compared to what I’m used to, our whole year is in one class that sticks together while teachers come to us, and luckily everyone is so great and I would go so far as to say I’m friends with everyone even if I can’t really have a proper conversation with them.
The other great thing to have happened was being selected for a hockey team that plays in the Super Liga, meaning every second week we travel to one of the bigger cities like Cordoba to play teams from all over the place and train twice a week with have a friendly game on the Saturdays we don’t travel. Before I played in La Cumbre, I played one or two games of what was similar to summer hockey, on a small grass field, and it wasn’t until I finally got to a proper turf and could really play properly that I realised how much I had missed having a stick in my hand. I use the term ‘proper’ turf loosely, since it’s a harsh sand turf that has worn holes in my stick, elbows and knuckles alike, but being called the ‘hero from New Zealand’ makes it all worthwhile for sure."