Into the Final Third

  As somebody who is on a mammoth trip abroad, and somebody with an Apple smartphone, its only predictable that I have an application on my phone dedicated to a countdown. You know, the ones that you track the approaching of big upcoming events with big exaggerated numbers of months/days/hours/seconds/mili-seconds and so on. I actually only downloaded mine a few weeks ago and I haven't really been paying it much attention, but today I decided to take a look at it...

Flight to Argentina - 114 days, 15 hours, 57 minutes since 12th July 2016. 

Homecoming (Flight Home to the UK) - 44 days, 8 hours, 3 mins until 18th December 2016. 

  So I'm a month and a half away from heading home and ending my Argentinean adventure, well into the final third of my first half of my year abroad (all the fractions). This revelation gives me a mixed bag of emotions. I'm inevitably excited to fly back to the UK into the depth of British Christmas, to see family and friends for the first time in half a year, to be home. Yet an equal sense of sadness and panic set in when I realise my time in this incredible country is nearly up. 

6 weeks left in this beautiful
place.

  I'll be the first to admit that on leaving the UK I never expected to feel so at home on the other side of the World as I have done. If you'd asked me to predict my sense of feeling on the 3rd November, I would have guessed that I would be eager for the last month and a half to pass so I could jump on the plane back to the comfort of the UK. Yet my current emotion is one of stark parallel. 

 I feel more comfortable and more integrated here than ever, with a host of new friends and acquaintances (English and Argentinean) that it'll be sad to leave behind. There's a list of things to do and places to visit in this country that I'm running out of time to plan. The 18th December is as much a deadline as anything. So I thought I'd write this little update piece to outline some of my plans for the next 6 weeks before I head home to England.  

  I am currently lacking a panic-inducing element of my Argentinean experience, of which the idea of returning home without witnessing it brings on a Brit abroad style sweat. I am yet to see an Argentinean football match. For many this would be nothing more than a bonus event if a ticket 'happened to pop-up', but for me no. It's been on the top of my to-do list since I stepped off the plane and that hasn't changed. 

  As someone that would state football as the closest thing they have to a religion, it would be absolute blasphemy to be in the ventricle of the beating heart of South American football and not see a match. Boca Juniors, River Plate, Estudiantes, San Lorenzo. Whoever. I'd even go and watch Arsenal*. The experience I had watching the All Blacks play the Pumas at rugby in Buenos Aires a month ago was incredible, but it simply wet the palette for the football experience. I want it.  

  So will I achieve this? Well as of this moment it's looking closer to reality than ever before. My ultimate aim was to watch Boca Juniors play at La Bombonera, and due to some very fortunate 'friend of a friend' contacts I have found myself in a situation where an ex-player is going to set me up with some tickets (thanks to fellow English gal Esther) for a game against Rosario Central in a few weeks. Considering Rosario Central was the first stadium I visited in Argentina, it all seems very meant-to-be and I hope this means I'm destined to be at the game in the middle of the carnage on November 20th. 

The End of the World
awaits...

  I also have an offer to go and watch San Lorenzo play this weekend in Buenos Aires, courtesy of a 12 year old boy who came to one of the camps that I worked on a few weeks ago. Over the course of the three day camp we spoke a lot about football and shared a universal passion for the game. After the camp he found me on Instagram and offered me a ticket to a game that weekend against Estudiantes. Unfortunately I had plans that time, but he recently offered me another ticket for this weekend against Huracán. I'm only too grateful for his willingness to show me 'the passion of Argentinean football' (his words) and I really hope it all works out this Sunday. 

The beauty of Perito Moreno in
El Calfate

  It's not all about football though and I do have another, very exciting trip coming up which is completely confirmed, and that is to the End of the World. Literally. On 26th November I will be flying to Ushuaia - widely considered the southern-most town in the world. After this I will be heading northwards to El Calafate - the home of the Perito Moreno glacier. It is famous for being one of the only advancing glaciers in the World and promises a chocolate box array of beautiful views and scenery. When you add to this the staggeringly unique and beautiful Cerro Fitz Roy, it makes for a mouth-watering trip and my Instagram is already giddy in anticipation.  

Taking the role of camp counsellor
incredibly seriously....

  Apart from football and glaciers, I'll be carrying on my normal routine here of working in Austin Bilingual School in Campana and heading off every now and then to do the English Immersion Camps. Whilst quite demanding, I actually do find the camps pretty enjoyable, and the 13 hour days of singing, running, dancing and generally just acting like a tit as a camp counsellor are going to be missed when I return to England. For an idea of the sort of tomfoolery I get up to at these things, the other day I spent two hours running around as a 'Golden Snitch' whilst a load of 12-16 year olds chased me as they played Quidditch. And I got sun-burnt...but anyway.

  The same can be said for the school and I've really built up a good relationship with a lot of the kids in both the secondary and primary areas of the school. Some girls from secondary have even offered to be a part of this blog and I'm planning on doing an interview with them soon. Soooo... if anyone has any questions that they'd be interested in asking some Argentinean teenagers, please drop me a message and you could feature on the blog (just let me pretend this would be a huge luxury for two seconds). It would be cool to mix UK and Argentinean cultures via an article so have a think and let me know if you think of anything. 

  So that's that for now! Not the most riveting of posts I understand but just a little update on what's going on and what I'll be getting up to in the final 6 weeks of my time in Argentina. I wish every article could be about an amazing trip or event, but I guess that's the reality and difference between a holiday and actually living and working in a new country. Either way, it's all fun and games and whether it's a two hour wait at a semi-derelict bus station or a trip to a natural wonder of the world, it all brings a new experience and a story to tell. 

*This is Arsenal de Sarandí from Buenos Aires, I hope none of you even thought for a second I meant the red filth from North London...