Bella Vista

Yesterday was probably my favorite day here so far. I finally got to go see my family's "weekend house" they are always talking about. It is in Bella Vista, a tiny town in the province of Buenos Aires about a 40 min. drive out of capital federal. I'd never been in their car, and apparently there is a garage right under the apartment building. Also, it is the law to have a fire extinguisher in your car, but our apartment doesn't have a fire escape, a smoke detector, or non-barred windows. Interesting. Anyway, we drove past this huge shanty town called Villa 31 on our way out of the city. I'd heard about it in my class, but it was really powerful to see it. It was just miles and miles of trash with tiny cardboard and tin huts and children and dogs running around everywhere. There are a TON of homeless people in the city, but you kind of forget that outside the city the poverty is a hundred times worse. There was also a smaller shantytown on the road into Bella Vista, but when we got about a mile in it turned into vacation homes. We had to pass a little gate thing to get into their "neighborhood." The house was brick and really nice, with bunk bed type bedrooms, a big great room with a fireplace and a ton of pictures, a big kitchen, and an upstairs I didn't even see. Outside there was a big patio with a cool wooden roof and fans, an outdoor grill area for asados, a nice yard, and a small pool. My host mom's two brothers and their kids were there. The grandma (who was also there) actually owns the house, but the whole family spends practically every Sunday there together. The younger cousins also had friends over, so there were quite a few of us. We played soccer in the yard for awhile with all of the kids, which was really fun. Everyone kept asking me to take a shot, or trap the ball, or this or that. The uncles would stop what they were doing to watch me play and clap and stuff. It must be just so rare to see a girl who actually plays. The uncle was grilling all the meat for lunch during this, and kept walking over with small pieces for people to try. Soon after we all sat down at a huge table outside for an actual, place settings and everything meal. The grandma's maid apparently comes with them on the weekends, because she was doing all the other cooking and cleaning up. We had beef, pork, blood sausage, grilled potatoes--it was delicious. Later we swam and just hung out in the yard. I talked a lot with Fran's 22 yr. old cousin Gonzalo, who is very interested in U.S. culture. He spent two months in New York a summer or two ago to learn English, and he is obsessed with the Giants. The whole family actually tried to talk to me in English sometimes, which was pretty funny. The adults know a couple lines from movies or whatever, but the younger kids are all already taking English classes in elementary school, and the parents were quite proud to have them try to speak to me in English. Gonzalo, Fran, and I played tennis on the neighborhood clay court later, which was cool, as I've never played on clay. After that we walked into town to buy some cookies and soda for "tea" (the afternoon snack around my dinner time at home). Walking there it felt like a mix between Mexico, some random beach town, and my cottage. Gonzalo actually lives in Bella Vista, and he knew literally every single person we passed walking on the street or in a car. I finally got to have my first mate (the famous and extremely popular yerba tea from here) when the entire family sat down to drink it. You just keep refilling the same little pot with hot water and pass it around to everyone in turn.

We headed home around 7:30ish, and in the car I was informed that the entire immediate family was coming over for dinner (so the two sisters, the brother, all the spouses, and the two kids). Fran and I went to Mass at 9, but I'm still not understanding much at church. Everyone got to the apartment around 10ish, and we all sat in the living room eating empanadas from some take-out place, which is I guess what they always do when everyone comes over. We'd been sitting about 5 minutes when Pablo, Fran's older brother, said "should we tell them?" to his wife Loli and the sister Flor jumped up and screamed "no!" excitedly. Loli then announced that she's pregnant. Now I guess I've never been with a couple who announces an engagement or a pregnancy or anything, but everyone was just freaking out. The mom and a sister were crying, people were kissing, I got a million hugs, there was shouting. It was really really cool to be part of such an important family moment like that. They then spent the entire dinner talking about it, discussing how the sister Caroline's baby (she's due in May) can have a friend, telling Mateo he'll be the oldest cousin, talking about how big Loli's breasts will get (haha everyone looked at me then to see if I understood what they were talking about), etc. At the end of dinner everyone stood up and the oldest sister gave a formal toast that was very touching. She said something about how it was a double blessing, a pregnancy and Claudia (my host mom) receiving apparently really good news about her cancer. When everyone left Fran and I watched the movie Nueve Reinas until 3 in the morning. It is like Argentina's most famous movie, and it's about con artists in BA with a big twist at the end. Even with the Spanish subtitles on and pausing it to ask Fran something every 10 minutes, I was pretty confused. I'll have to watch it again with English subtitles sometime because what I got of it I really liked.

So, it was quite a day, with lots of family time. I really do feel like part of their family now, which is nice. I just love how they spend so much time together. Fran and his siblings are actually good friends, and they see each other enough to know what's going on in each other's everyday lives. Same with all the cousins. It's so different from our society in which you usually just see extended relatives for big holidays, if that. It has also been cool to kind of experience having older siblings. Yesterday did make me miss my real family a lot though, and I was probably the most homesick last night even though I had had the most fun. I am excited though for when my brothers and I are older with our own families, and I really hope we are as close as this family.

Fin de Semana

Holaaaa. So this was supposed to be a relaxing weekend in which I did nothing / saved money after a hectic and expensive (but totally worth it, danny!) week with my friend. The thing is it's kind of hard to do nothing with so much going on in this city! Here we go...my friend Ed's parents were here visiting this week and Thursday night they took my friend Hanna and I out to dinner at Clasica y Moderna, the cool bookstore/restaurant with live music where we'd been a couple of weeks before. We heard some great guitar and piano, had the best pasta we've had in the city, and drank plenty of wine and coffee. It was really fun to be with someone's parents for a night because it kind of felt like home. Friday we had the shorter of our two visa appointments, but mine still took an hour and a half. We had to be fingerprinted at the police station and such. Friday night the program had organized a free trip to the theatre for 15 students. We saw the play Gorda, which is adapted from Fat Pig, written by an American playwright. We were in the third row and it was super good and fairly easy to understand. It was about this very obese woman and how a normal weight man falls in love with her but receives a ton of criticism from his friends / the culture. The woman was in her bra and underwear or a swimsuit for half the play, and it was interesting to see how it was received in a society with such a high rate of eating disorders and demand for thin women. After the play I went home and ate empanadas out on the balcony with Fran and his friend Fede (the one they call Gordo, ironically). They tried to help me with my pronunciation and then we played guitar and ate the Thin Mints my mom sent me. Fede had mentioned something about Girl Scouts, and even though I really wanted to hoard the cookies for myself I decided they needed to try them. Around 1 AM I was ready for bed and they went out to a party.

Saturday morning was an outdoor practice for the UCA soccer team. I was really excited to finally get to wear my cleats and play outside, and it was a fun couple of hours, even if the level of play wasn't quite what I'm used to. The field was pretty far away at their "agriculture" campus, but it was nice enough (except for having no nets). After practice I took the subway home with this girl from Bolivia and she helped me find the apartment of another Argentine girl who is lending me a coat for my trip this weekend. Saturday evening Argentina was playing Venezuela in World Cup qualifying. My host sister and her little kids came over and we all ate sandwiches and watched the game on the host mom's bed. Everyone was super into it and apparently it was a big deal because it was Maradona's first important game as coach or something. I played with the 2 yr. old girl a lot, and I think finally we're friends. The 4 yr. old Mateo was also much more friendly. It's hard for me to tell if they don't like me because children don't like me in general or because I accost them when they're off by themselves and try to talk to them in some terrible imitation of their language. After that I went to dinner with a couple of my friends at this all you can eat restaurant in Palermo. It was probably the most wonderful place I have ever been to in my life haha. It was the best quality of food I've had here or probably anywhere, even though it was all you can eat. Everything was made to order, so they had lines for asado/meat grill (with huge steaks, etc.), pasta dishes, sushi, fish, tarts, pizza, and desserts. After that we were too stuffed and tired to do anything so we just went home.

I'm going to do yesterday in a separate post because we did so much stuff. Today I slept in, did some errands, and then went to see the indy American movie Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with Hanna. Right now the Buenos Aires independent international film festival is going on, so there are awesome movies from all over the world playing all over the city. We both had wanted to see that movie this fall in Madison and never got around to it, so we decided to do it, even though I felt a little guilty going to it in Argentina. I am seeing a different Argentine film on Wednesday though. Tomorrow I have two classes and soccer practice, plus the program director is taking all the March birthdays out to lunch, so it should be another busy day, but after that come my two vacations so I'm feeling good! Oh yes, we bought bus tickets to Salta, the capital of a northern province, for Easter weekend. It is an 18 hour trip each way but the buses are apparently insanely nice--totally reclining seats with foot rests, AC, breakfast and dinner served, etc. Well, thanks for reading, hasta pronto!

Tigre

So yesterday was a feriado, or national holiday. It was actually a pretty somber one, Dia de la Memoria, commemorating the start of the military dictatorship and the disappearances of the '70s. Anyway, my friend Hanna and I got up early and took the commuter train (for less than 2 pesos!) about 30 min. to Tigre, a smaller town about 18 miles north of BA. Tigre is part of the Parana Delta, and many people have vacation homes / cottages along the various criss-crossing rivers and clusters of islands. It was a beautifully hot, sunny day, and we started out walking along the river, past a huge amusement park, and towards the Puerto de Frutos, a little touristy shopping area. We met up with another friend Katie and her friend Josie, who is an Argentine and a med student in BA but graduated from Kenyon College last year. We got a traditional asado at a restaurant, complete with sweetbread, blood sausage, kidneys, etc. I wasn't feeling very adventurous so I had a spinach salad instead, but it was nice to have some not disgusting looking greens. We discovered that Josie's family is from El Calafate down south in Patagonia, which is exciting because we just bought plane tickets to go there next Thursday through Monday. It is home to the famous Perito Moreno glacier, and Josie gave us lots of other tips on stuff to do. She's also going to lend us winter jackets because we didn't bring any and it will be below freezing! The whole buying a very expensive plane ticket without having anywhere to stay or any concrete plans was a little stressful, but now I'm going, plans or not!

Back in Tigre, Hanna and I split off from the other girls to take an hour long boat ride on the river. We took a big wooden open boat for about $6, and it was certainly worth it. The rivers are super brown, disgusting, and polluted, but somehow still beautiful. There are lots of ethnic rowing clubs and country club/campground type places along the shore, and (surprisingly) many people were out swimming. There are also many whimsically named private cottages with docks and boats. If I didn't look down at the water, I could have been in Spread Eagle! After we got off the boat we got 1/2 kg. of flan ice cream for 14 pesos total and realized we've been paying way too much in BA. We just sat and talked on the riverbank for awhile then, with hundreds of other people. We walked down about half a mile and the entire riverbank was just completely covered with young people drinking mate, families having picnics, couples making out (this may warrant an entire separate entry someday haha), etc. Everyone was just out relaxing and having a good time, so it was really fun.

Last night I finished my reading assignment for class tomorrow. We are reading this boring and confusing book that takes me forever, and I only bother to look up one or two words every page otherwise I'd never finish. The book also has a lot of slang and sexual words that aren't in my dictionary, unfortunately. This morning I did some more class-trying and subway-riding, and now I am completely exhausted and ready for bed. It's really hard to get to bed at a reasonable hour because we eat dinner so late. I was starving for lunch around noon today but ended up waiting until 4 to eat so that I wouldn't have to binge before dinner. Ahhh the eating habits here are so strange. Well, that's all for now. Chau!

Danny!

Holaaaa todos. Okay, let me just warn you this is going to be a super long entry because I did more stuff this week than probably the entire month before combined! Danny just left about 2 hours ago, and I finally have some time to sit down and write. Where to begin...it was a super fun and jam-packed week with a great friend! We did just about every touristy thing in the city, according to my trusty guidebook. Some overly-detailed hightlights...
Museums: the MALBA (modern art), Bellas Artes (with a large collection of Argentine art), and the City Museum (which featured a whimsical exhibit of old children's games and toys)
Barrios: La Boca...we got a glimpse inside the stadium of Boca Juniors, saw some tango in the street, admired a lot of local art, and generally soaked up the fun atmosphere. San Telmo...we ate at an old cafe right on Calle Defensa and the Plaza Dorrego where Sundays thousands of people crowd the square to shop at the huge fair. Recoleta...we enjoyed checking out some new parks, cafes, and the fancy open air mall along the main drag where we saw a free tango show one night and stayed for lessons after. Plaza de Mayo/Centro...we saw the cathedral, the Casa Rosada, and rode the ancient subway Linea A. There were also a ton of security protests going on this week in this area that shut some streets down and got pretty intense I guess. We got warning emails from the embassy haha.
Festivities: St. Patrick's Day...we went to this bar called The Shamrock that was packed with Americans but it was very fun and festive and we had a Guinness. My birthday...My birthday was yesterday but we started celebrating Friday night. My friends Hanna and Ed surprised me with all these pieces of delicious cakes that we always want to buy. Danny and I went out to eat and sat upstairs in this glassed in room overlooking a big street in the theatre district...it felt like New York. Then we went to this really cool, classy bar in an old mansion a block from my house called Milion. We felt a bit underdressed and tacky but it was super fun drinking wine and Cosmopolitans and watching all the beautiful people. Saturday morning when I woke up my host mom immediately grabbed me and pulled on my ears 20 times, which is a custom that she thought was done everywhere. Needless to say, I was half asleep and a bit surprised. Claudia and Fran sang me happy birthday and were generally quite excited. The sister and the grandma both called to wish me happy birthday, so it really felt almost like I was at home. Fran told me Obama was on the phone for me, and when he handed me the phone I decided to play along, saying "Hola Obama." It was actually his grandma. During the day Danny and I just hung out around Recoleta, and we went to happy hour at this brewery and tried their sampler thing. There we happened to sit next to this middle-aged guy named Jeff from LaCrosse (small, small world), who noticed my Badgers shirt. We ended up talking to him for over 2 hours. He was just this crazy guy who is apparently independently wealthy from the railroads and owning a bar in LaCrosse (only a bar in Wisco could make you independently wealthy...). He has been to Argentina more than 10 times, and just about everywhere else in the world as well. He was just such a character, it was so funny. For dinner, two of my friends from the program, Danny, and I went to this super nice restaurant by the cemetery. Hanna insisted we do something special for my birthday, so we got champagne and thought we ordered lobster ("langostina"), which was really 6 shrimp on a plate. Six. They were at least delicious for 60 pesos...beware the false cognate. After dinner we got ice cream, met up with another friend, and then walked towards Palermo to meet Fran and his friends. We went to this awesome bar called Jobs. Here they have a lot of what I'd called "entertainment bars," in which you can play pool, videogames, and board games. Board games! At a bar. It was sweet. There were just a bunch of picnic tables and TVs with soccer and music videos and people sitting around ordering pitchers, singing happy birthday, and playing Scrabble in between rounds of pool. We ended up staying till 6 AM! and it was super fun.

Restaurants (of course): So many. Haha we ate out every lunch and dinner the whole week, so I got to highlight a lot in my guidebook and we stumbled into other good places as well. At the famous Cafe Tortoni we got the hot chocolate with churros and a submarino (steamed milk in which you put a little chocolate bar shaped like a submarine!). At a tenedor libre (all you can eat) place we had kiwi, stawberries, medialunas, flied plantains, and ice cream. Sanjuanino had empanadas to die for and also delicious tamales. We went twice :) Juana M was super fun and classy the first night...we had steak, wine, and the extensive salad bar. In San Telmo we ate at a French restaurant where Danny tried tongue. I've gotten really into flan lately, and they usually have it pretty cheap for dessert.

Classes: More stress with classes this week...in my Solidarity class we took a bus out to the train station in Chacaritas to visit this little organization serving poor children and mothers. Tuesday night was my first time at USAL, and I tried a theology class and a political communication one. The theology class was awesome, although I almost left when no one was there 20 min after it was supposed to start. The class is just three Argentines, me, and the professor, who is in his 30s. The girl I sat next to was super nice and walked me to find the bathroom. A guy took me down to the student terrace during the break to meet his friends. They all kissed me goodbye after class. The professor was super understanding and informal. We all went around and talked about ourselves and if we believed in God or not. I barely felt nervous actually everyone was so nice. The professor said we can plan the midterm around our other exams, have class in a bar or restaurant sometime, and add anything that interests us the the syllabus. Overall, it just seems like a great opportunity to make a couple of Argentine friends and be forced to speak. In the political communication class I couldn't understand one word the professor said. Not one. So I won't be taking that. But I did meet a cool French foreign exchange student. Wednesday Danny and I went out to try my UBA class really far away. Getting there was a disaster because the subway line we needed was shut down. And then the professor never even showed up...we waited almost an hour. But just being in the building was seriously an experience. I can't even describe this place...I'll have to get some pictures of it from Danny to put up. There are just graffiti and signs everywhere. In classrooms, in the halls, from the ceilings. It's dirty and it smells and there are people smoking inside. The desks are broken and vandalized. My building looked like this old warehouse, with broken windows and this graffitied garage door that opened up as an entrance. Really crazy. A lot of leftist leftist political stuff. The atmosphere is just like a movie or something. Thursday was my first program class...I have a couple of friends in it but it seems like more work than we were expecting. We have to read several novels, watch documentaries outside of class, and write an essay every week. Then my Psychology class was just super difficult to follow. The classes here are so argumentative and people are just shouting things out and debating and speaking really fast and interrupting. I felt super lost, plus I wouldn't have understood the reading in English. I've decided although it seems like a good class, I just can't deal with having it hanging over me the whole semester. It's a ton of complicated reading, and I just have better things to do. So, even though I feel really bad about giving up, I'm dropping it.

Ok, if anyone's still reading...here's the best story of the week. Danny and I were sitting at a table near the door in this basically empty restaurant. A guy came in alone and sat at the table closest to the door, right between us and the window. He had his back to us but kept looking toward the back of the restaurant, hoping to catch the waiter's attention I thought. All of a sudden I look up again and he's walking out the door with a backpack. Then I just get this sick feeling, jump up, and ask Danny if he has his backpack. Danny ran after the guy and he just set down the bag and fled when he saw Danny. So it was all good but we both felt really jittery and taken aback afterwards. Danny had had it right next to his feet. You have to be so careful.

Okay, I am absolutely exhausted and have a bunch of reading to do tomorrow so I'll be going to bed. Badgers lost today, that sucked. I tried to follow the game on the internet but just got disgusted. Thanks for reading, buenas noches!

Classes

Well, this week was as stressful as I'd been anticipating. I went to four, 3 hour long classes at UCA, the private Catholic option. This included two classes for foreigners (but still taught in Spanish by Argentine professors), Argentine Movements of Social Solidarity and Church and State in Latin America. The other two classes were actual Argentine classes, Theology I and Personality Psychology. First of all, paying attention for three hours at a time is hard in English and almost impossible in Spanish. Yesterday I had 6 straight hours of class, and it was terrible. Some professors speak in a way that is just hard to understand, even if they aren't talking really fast. Also, it is apparently common here for students to talk amongst themselves (talk, mind you, not whisper) while the professor is talking, which makes it hard to concentrate. Anyway, the Solidarity class seems pretty cool, and every one or two classes is a kind of field-trip to visit various social service organizations in BA. The professor for Church and State was the easiest to understand and also had a Powerpoint, but I'm probably not going to be able to fit the class into my schedule in the end. There were four Americans in the theology class, and the professor seemed very understanding and ready to give us extra help. There were also several super friendly girls who talked to us during the break and gave us their phone numbers in case we needed anything. However, the material seems a bit dry / review. Psychology was the most interesting class by far. The class was split into lecture (teorica) and discussion section (practica), except the discussion section wasn't taught by a young TA but rather a different 60 yr. old professor. There were two 20 something PhD candidates who helped out too though. Anyway, I didn't understand everything the professors said, but I could tell they were really great teachers, if that's possible. I caught some really interesting and inspiring stuff about psychology, effort, learning techniques, etc. They were very passionate and seemed knowledgeable. During the practica part we split up into groups and did this fun exercise where each group had to describe the room from a different point of view (e.g. toddler, firefighter, etc.). We also were put into groups to present on different course authors over the semester, so that will be good for meeting Argentines. All the people in the class knew each other because since they are in the same track they have all their classes together over the 4 yrs. They were very animated and into the class, but not really friendly towards us foreigners. A couple people were drinking mate, and the professor kept randomly walking to the back of the class to drink some of it in the middle of lecturing. It was quite bizarre. Anyway, the class seems really good but I'm nervous because Psychology here is extremely psychoanalytical / Freudian. The reading is very theoretical, and it took me almost 2 hours to read 30 pages on "The Self-Conception of the Ego." Another weird thing is that we had to go down to the photocopy center and BUY the syllabus. Books are really expensive here so most classes use photocopies instead, but it's not like in Madison where everything is all bound up together and organized for you. I literally had to go to the library, find this old book from the 50s, check it out, bring it to the photocopy center, and pay for the photocopies. Kind of a hassle. The finals in my classes are either 10+ page essays with an oral defense, or oral exams where you expound on a course topic in front of a panel of professors. Intimidating. Really really intimidating.

So, next week I have classes to try at two more universities, plus my mandatory program grammar class starts. It's just that now I don't know whether to go back to the good classes at UCA or try other ones, because all the schedules overlap and I didn't even get to try 2 classes I had registered for at UCA because of schedule conflicts. And "try" here is not a little 50 min. talk--it's 3 hours of mental torture, so I'm not all the psyched to go to 10 classes or something in a week.

I visited my host mother in the hospital three times this week, and she's doing better and will be returning home Monday, which is good. I also went to an Argentine movie that just came out, Amorosa Soledad (Loving Solitude/Loneliness..roughly). It was actually fairly easy to understand, and it was about this girl living in BA so we recognized scenes and customs, which was cool. Tuesday I went to soccer practice again, and it was more fun because there were more people. Also, two of us from the program went out for pizza and beer with an Argentine girl from the team after, and that was really fun and she gave us lots of advice.

Good things of the week: I finally found real butter in the grocery store, and I used about half a stick last night on two rolls. I also saw my first strawberries at this market today and splurged on them (although they weren't very good). Nothing like stress-eating! At least I have a reason to put off all the worrying because Danny arrives in 10 hours! Although I won't believe he's actually coming until he's standing in front of me...

Clasica y Moderna

Holaaaaaaa. Another fun weekend... Saturday my friend Hanna and I went to La Boca, one of the older and more colorful (literally) neighborhoods to the south. It is home to Boca Juniors, lots of outdoor tango, and brightly colored tin buildings. It is also known as a fairly dangerous neighborhood, and you are never supposed to be there at night. We got a little lost and scared after getting off the bus too early but eventually made it past the soccer stadium (where last night at the Boca game more than 60 hooligans were arrested, several people were taken away in ambulances, and a huge police force shot pellet guns at rock throwing fans) to the more touristy area. We were approached by this chef at an outdoor restaurant who insisted on taking our picture by his restaurant, walking us down the street to various good leather and mate stores, and generally showing us around. Everyone seemed to know him and wanted to ask us where we were from. We bought some cool, handpainted earrings at the open air market, saw some dancing, and heard some locals drumming down by the river before it started pouring.

My host mom is actually in the hospital for a couple of days so it's just been Fran and me at home. Saturday night he cooked this huge steak in sea salt that he let me try and it was delicious. We just hung out and watched soccer for a couple of hours, which was really fun. At one point there was this flashback to a '82 Boca v. River game and I'm listening and all of a sudden I hear "Cacho Cordoba" (who was my Argentine coach in Wisconsin) and see him scoring a goal on the scree, so that was super exciting. Later Saturday night Hanna, Ed, and I went out for pizza then went to this awesome old bookstore/restaurant called Clasica y Moderna to hear some live music. There was a 25 peso cover but we got a great table right in front, and the atmosphere was amazing. Karina Beorlegui, a tango singer, performed with these three guys on guitar, Los Primos Gabino. They did tangos in Spanish and fados in Portuguese. The guitar was amazing, and one guy did some songs with a Portuguese guitar and this tiny thing called a "guittaron" or something. We had cafe con leche and sat enjoying the music with the rest of the crowd, mostly older intellectual types. It ended around 2:30, and we went straight to bed!

Yesterday Fran came with Hanna, Ed, and me to San Telmo, the oldest neighborhood and original center of Buenos Aires, also more to the south. On Sundays it has a huge, famous open air "feria" or market with crafts, food, street performers, everything. We walked down Calle Defensa and saw the Plaza, then went to El Federal, a historic bar, for lunch. We got HUGE steak sandwiches and Guinness for pretty cheap. It was super fun, and having Fran there made us speak in Spanish, which is always good. We also ran into my friend Lina before lunch, so she came with us. I feel like Fran is getting to be friends with my friends now, and we are actually starting to be able to use sarcasm, humor, teasing, etc., which is quite difficult in another language but makes conversations much more interesting and breaks up my simple, limited sentence constructions. Yesterday was also "Dia Internacional de La Mujer" or International Women's Day, which I had never heard of but is apparently fairly celebrated here.

Well, classes at two of the universities start this week and one of them still doesn't have the schedules out. Seriously. It looks like I won't have anything on Fridays and probably not on Mondays either, which will be really nice. I am getting more and more stressed about classes though because the whole system is just a mess and all the ones I want to try overlap. I probably won't have a schedule set in stone for another three weeks, and I just like to have things set in stone!! Also, Danny will be here this Saturday, which is crazy. Now I'm off to a cafe for a couple hours to eat lunch and attempt to start the books on Argentine history I bought. Hasta pronto.

Friendly people

Hola! Well, this week lacked the excitement of the weekend in Bariloche but here are some highlights...

Wednesday night a friend from the program and I went out with my host brother and two of his friends for a drink. We went to this interesting bar/boliche thing called Business, but it wasn't very busy as it was Wednesday. A bunch of other girls from the program eventually met up with us as well so it was fun. The place was playing Madonna and such the whole time though, and it is a bit annoying to be constantly hearing American music in restaurants and stores instead of something more "cultural" like tango or Rock Nacional. One of my host brother's friends is called "El Gordo" (fat one). And Fran is called "El Chino" because his eyes get really squinty when he smiles. Apparently in friend groups here everyone has a nickname based on appearance and no offense is taken at all, which I find a little bizarre. Anyway, Fran and his friends had class the next morning but we ended up going home "early" for them at 3 AM! It was fun to be with people our own age, and we learned some good slang words and got some advice on classes.

Last night, I spur of the moment went to the practice of the women's soccer team at UCA, one of the universities we can take classes at here. I was a little nervous to go, because I was going with two girls from the program who play soccer in college in the U.S. and I didn't know what to expect from the Argentine players. Turned out I had nothing to be worried about...it was the most relaxed, weird practice I'd ever been to. First of all, it was in this tiny, hot gym on the top floor of a YMCA, because field space is hard to get here, especially for girls. The coach, Martin, was probably 30, and was super soft-spoken and chill. Only 4 Argentine girls showed up, none of whom was at all athletic. They practice indoors twice a week, and outdoor 8 v. 8 games start in April, but I don't even know if they usually have that many people. Practices are basically optional, and none of the girls had played organized soccer before college, because there is really no club or high school system here for girls. During practice we played hand ball, did a bunch of calisthenics, and jogged around a bit. If they hit you on accident or kicked the ball at you they freaked out and apologized profusely. It was super interesting, but I don't know if I want to be practicing in a tiny gym all the time so I'm going to check out some other teams. It is just bizarre the lack of options for girls here given that soccer is the national obsession. People look at you really weirdly in the street if you're carrying cleats or a ball, and my host family keeps proudly announcing to everyone that "Dana juega al futbol," like it's this exciting, exotic thing. It made me really grateful for the opportunities and cultural acceptance female athletes have in the U.S. I just take it for granted at home.

Today was a great day. It was super sunny out, and I got up early and went for a nice run. In the afternoon I headed out to walk around by myself. I went down to Ave. Corrientes, which is the theatre district. It's a bit like Broadway, with a bunch of cool old bookstores thrown in. I bought this Argentine history book someone had recommended and Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" in Spanish, although I don't know how much of it I'll understand. I also got some more brochures about a French 35 mm film series going on and other cultural classes. After that I crossed Ave. 9 de Julio, the crazy 14 lane one, with all the midday traffic. I was so hot I gave in and stopped at this Mega McDonald's, where I had planned to get some soft serve ice cream but ended up buying this Starbucks-esque coffee drink at "McCafe," this weirdly fancy little enclave inside the regular McDonald's. Then I made my way over to the Plaza de San Martin, where I intended to continue plodding through Monday's newspaper (I get through about 2 articles every half hour) and start my book. I sat down on a bench in the sun and awhile later this middle-aged businessman sits down next to me. Someone else stopped and asked me the time, but I didn't understand what they said, so the man answered. Then he asked me where I was from and we got into this big conversation about the city, politics, everything. It was really cool to talk to someone random and hold a real conversation. It got awkward, however, when he asked me to go to dinner with him. I said no of course. Then he asked me how old I was and seemed somewhat shocked/disturbed to discover I was 19. Anyway, it was still cool. He left, and literally two minutes later this guy my age stops to ask for the time. Then he starts a conversation, eventually asking me if I wanted to go see this cool lake in Palermo, the next barrio over. Had to say no to that as well. THEN, this 60 or 70 yr. old woman sits down and starts talking to me (w/o the time ruse). She randomly started telling me about traveling in Europe and all this stuff and asking me what I was doing in BA. When she learned I'd be here until July, she launched into this litany of places to see in the country. Then she starts whipping out all these pamphlets and maps and giving me directions to various tourism centers. Apparently she likes to get info about the city to give out and enjoys going to cultural classes and presentations herself. When I was confused as to one of their locations, she insisted on walking me the couple of blocks there. She talked to the people working there, explaining that I was a tourist from the U.S. and that she wanted me to have all the necessary information on the city and such. She was treating me like her granddaughter or something. We then walked to two more tourism offices, and in the second one we sat down with this travel agent like woman who explained literally 20 different pamphlets, printed me out a list of tango milongas, and gave me her personal number. The original woman from the park also had two heavy shopping bags in her purse that she kept shoving all the books and pamphlets in for me. All this took like 2 hrs, and then we walked back to the plaza where there was this cool exhibition going on called "Buddy Bears" or something. Basically, there were about 100 big ceramic bears in a circle around the plaza. Each one was for a different country, and they were all painted somehow to represent the country with its colors, dress, etc. I think it's a traveling show from Berlin put on by "La cultura por la paz" or something. Anyway, it was really really cool and there were a bunch of people there taking pictures with all the bears. I got a picture with the lady ha. I didn't get much reading done, but talking to locals was way way better! People here are generally so friendly, it can be almost unnerving. In the U.S. you just don't expect random people to strike up a conversation with you on the street. It's cool that people are so interested in tourists and eager to share their city with you. Unless they are creepy and want to rob and/or kidnap you. It can be hard to judge haha.

Tonight we went out to a milonga called "La Viruta" to take a tango lesson. It was actually in the basement of the Armenian Cultural Center, in the Armenian district of Palermo. It was super crowded and hard to see the instructors, and we only got through the basic step and one variation. But it was still fun and I got to dance with some good Argentine men. I also danced with this British kid who introduced himself as Mateo instead of Matt because he assumed I was Argentine. We were both speaking broken Spanish for about 20 seconds until we realized we both actually spoke English! He's traveling around South America for 3 months after high school with a bunch of his "mates", staying in hostels and just exploring. Later in the open dance we girls danced with these really old men who were super intense and got kind of annoyed we didn't know what we were doing. Well, it's almost 4 AM y estoy muy cansada!! I guess I'm going to have to get used to this. Chau!

Bariloche

Hola! This past weekend was our program trip to Bariloche, a small touristy town in the lakes region of Patagonia near the Andes on the border with Chile. Ninety of us (half the entire group) took a 2 hour flight south Saturday morning. When we arrived we took tour buses into the main part of town for lunch. After that we drove to Cerro Campanario, where we took a chairlift up a mountain to look out over several lakes and the Andes. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and the view was absolutely breathtaking. Definitely the most beautiful thing nature-wise I've ever seen. The entire region is basically just super clear blue lakes and huge mountains. There is barely any flat land in between anywhere. Later in the afternoon we went to Bahia Lopez, a bay where we started a short hike up to Mirador del Brazo Tristeza, to look out on more lakes. Basically every cool view the entire weekend was lakes and mountains, but I could have looked at them forever. Absolutely amazing. That night we took a city bus from our hotel into the city center with all the restaurants and pubs. I had trout for dinner, because Bariloche is apparently known for its salmon-colored trout. We missed the bus home so we had to take an expensive taxi back to the hotel. It was the scariest ride of my life...the guy was going 80 km/hr down the middle of the winding road through mountainous terrain, passing buses and generally driving like crazy. Taxis also don't have working seatbelts here, which is upsetting. Two of my friends from WI and I jumped in the pool for 5 minutes even though it was freezing, just because we hadn't been swimming in so long!

Sunday morning we got up and took a guided hike up a mountain near the hotel. After that one of the guides Jaime rushed three of us down to make it to this boat excursion we had paid to go on. We literally ran down the trail, sliding on rocks and dust and jumping over tree trunks. It was quite scary and exhilarating, and is apparently called "patacross." Our guide was very proud of us for making it down so fast. Around 2 we boarded the Cau Cau, a touristy ferry that runs on the Nahuel Huapi, a huge lake. Our first stop was at a national park, home to the Bosque de las Arrayanes, the only forest in the world of these twisty, orange-colored trees called Arrayanes. The forest was really cool, and it looked like a fairytale or something with all the trees of such a bizarre shape and color. After that we went to La Isla Victoria, a private island turned national park filled with exotic trees from all over the world, including sequoias. The weather was pretty rainy and cold, but we still enjoyed the tour and the variety of trees. On the boat we also got to feed seagulls up on the open deck. You just stood there with a cracker in your fingers and your arm outstretched and a bird would swoop down and snatch it from you. Saturday night we found a cheap cafe in Bariloche and afterward had some delicious ice cream. We also bought chocolates and raspberry beer, as Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina (there is a shop on every block in the town) and famous for its artisan beer.

Monday morning we checked out of the hotel early and set out for an all-day hike up Cerro Lopez. It was about a 3 hr. hike up to this little refuge on the mountain where we ate lunch and hung out with all the guides. The view was absolutely fantastic. I was really proud of myself because it was a lot of hiking and I'm not usually outdoorsy/adventurous. Everyone did really well even though there were some difficult rocky, steep spots where people were slipping and sliding down. We got back on the buses to go directly to the airport after this, and I got back to my apartment in BA around 11 at night. The flights were super easy, and the security is way more relaxed than in the U.S. There is no 3 oz. liquid rule, they don't make you take off your shoes or even show your passport/ID, and the girl behind me had a kitchen knife in her bag that they didn't confiscate.

All in all, the trip was a really nice (if short) break from crazy city life in Buenos Aires. The town of Bariloche itself was touristy, but the natural beauty around it was the most stunning thing I have ever seen. My pictures don't capture even a slice of how beautiful the scenery was. Seriously. I would love to go back in winter for skiing, which is what the town is most known for.

Well, I have a 3 hr. Spanish placement exam tomorrow morning that determines whether or not I can enroll in the public university. I'm trying to do some last minute grammar cramming...Hasta pronto. Chau!