Argentina Travel Guide : Books : Argentine at 17: An American student's notes on dodging cars and flaming matches, disappearing teachers, cursing grandmas, and life-changing hospitality in South America

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Argentine at 17: An American student's notes on dodging cars and flaming matches, disappearing teachers, cursing grandmas, and life-changing hospitality in South America
enlarge	Author: Nathaniel Norton Category: eBooks In Stock Sales Rank: 628,318 Format: Kindle eBook Language: English (Published) Media: Kindle Edition Edition: 1 Number Of Items: 1 ASIN: B00701O0TE Publication Date: January 19, 2012



Editorial Reviews: Product Description A teenager thriving in his high school setting with athletics and great friendships decides to leave everything familiar for nearly half a year living and learning with Argentine strangers. In this honest, at times funny book, Norton describes the struggles and unexpected joys of fumbling through an entirely new culture which becomes his home for five months during his junior year in high school. He recounts how his preconceived notions evolve as he experiences life in a high desert town in western Argentina, about the idiosyncrasies of the “real” language for which his high school Spanish classes didn’t quite prepare him, about struggling to understand and be understood with sometimes hilarious results. From learning to dodge oncoming speeding drivers who seem to laugh at traffic laws to classroom napping and children who assumed he frequently encountered Brad Pitt back at home, Norton embraces a life utterly at odds with his suburban life in the U.S. He learns more than he expected about his place in the world, gains a new perspective on his home country, and provides an honest critique as well as enduring love for the country whose citizens warmly took him in. He even asks at one point, where am I truly most at home, Argentina, or the U.S.? “Although they don’t have as pretty streets, the latest technology, or a stable political system, here in Argentina I am 100% sure that they live more fulfilling lives... because of how they invest their time.” Product Description A teenager thriving in his high school setting with athletics and great friendships decides to leave everything familiar for nearly half a year living and learning with Argentine strangers. In this honest, at times funny book, Norton describes the struggles and unexpected joys of fumbling through an entirely new culture which becomes his home for five months during his junior year in high school. He recounts how his preconceived notions evolve as he experiences life in a high desert town in western Argentina, about the idiosyncrasies of the “real” language for which his high school Spanish classes didn’t quite prepare him, about struggling to understand and be understood with sometimes hilarious results. From learning to dodge oncoming speeding drivers who seem to laugh at traffic laws to classroom napping and children who assumed he frequently encountered Brad Pitt back at home, Norton embraces a life utterly at odds with his suburban life in the U.S. He learns more than he expected about his place in the world, gains a new perspective on his home country, and provides an honest critique as well as enduring love for the country whose citizens warmly took him in. He even asks at one point, where am I truly most at home, Argentina, or the U.S.? “Although they don’t have as pretty streets, the latest technology, or a stable political system, here in Argentina I am 100% sure that they live more fulfilling lives... because of how they invest their time.”