Midwest, stand up!

Well, I've spent about 15 hours this weekend studying for my huge midterm Tuesday, so I'm going to take a little break and write this. Not really a very exciting week. Monday (Labor Day) was Independence Day here, but sadly there were no fireworks or anything exciting :( However it was my host sister's birthday, so the whole family came over for dinner, plus her husband's sister, mother, and grandparents. The whole in-laws being best friends thing here weirds me out a little. Anyway, there are two pictures of her with my host mom. She was pregnant and actually had her baby, Tomas, last night, which was exciting. Thursday was my midterm...it actually went pretty well I think. Thursday night right after soccer practice a bunch of us went out to a bar for awhile, and we've started to make social plans with the Argentine girls on the team, which is nice. Yesterday our soccer game got canceled on account of rain, of course after we'd already gotten up early and taken the bus to the train station. Very Argentine. My friend Emily from BC and I decided to get coffee and medialunas then, since we were already up. The train station is kind of a sketchy area, but we were at a nice little cafe. While we were there, two guys came in and sat down behind us, then left without ordering. We even commented that it was weird, and after my friend Danny's backpack situation I should have immediately known something was up, but anyway they stole Emily's iPod out of the pocket of her jacket on the back of her chair, so that sucked. I must be bad luck or something, because I've been with three people during attempted or actual robberies. Last night I went to this dinner party that an American girl from my program / one of my classes was having. Her friend from high school is visiting, so they rented an apartment, and therefore could cook/have people over. She made delicious falafel with yogurt sauce and Thai peanut butter soup, and we had wine and homemade banana bread. It was so nice to eat something different and fresh for once! It was a very fun but interesting time, because of all the girls, 3 go to Barnard, 3 go to Smith, one goes to Tufts, and one goes to a tiny college in Vermont. They were all dressed so fashionably, with boots and tights and high skirts and what have you, talking about their houses in the Hamptons and Maine. Everyone was kind of like, "wait where do you go again...", and as we were leaving this one girl actually said "Everyone I meet from the Midwest reminds me of my one friend from the Midwest. Is that weird?" So yeah, the culture shock of being with 8 Coasties was almost as much as being in a room full of Argentines! haha. Afterward we got ice cream, and then my friend Kara and I went to have a drink at a restaurant. We were apparently looking lost looking up buses in our Guia T, and this huge group of twentysomething Argentines approached our table. These three super nice guys started talking to us and helping us out, then one of them takes out this pamphlet about a church, and they tell us they are "Evangelios" and we'd be welcome at their services next weekend, etc. etc. It was a bit bizarre. Then after waiting in the freezing cold at 3 in the morning for a bus for half an hour, we went to go meet up with my host brother Fran and his friends at this bar/boliche place where someone was having a big birthday thing. It is very common here to rent out an entire place for your birthday and just have a ridiculously big party with bouncers, drink specials, etc. Anyway, we get there, and it is this kind of mini two-story boliche. It was incredibly loud, hot, crowded, and dirty, with broken glasses and alcohol all over the floor. Fran introduced us to a bunch of people, then kind of left us with these two guys, both named Santiago, to apparently entertain us. We started dancing and it was just a disaster because a) i was wearing a sweater b) i had to hold onto my fleece and huge purse for my life c) i cannot dance to any music, let alone cumbia and other Latin American hip moving stuff d) consequently half the club was watching me for entertainment e) this guy was a huge creep. He was very drunk, and kept saying ridiculous things, asking over and over for my name/number, trying to kiss me, whatever. We eventually escaped from him, although he continued to follow me around the rest of the night. Then I started dancing with this Portuguese guy, and couldn't understand anything he was saying to me, until we switched to English. He had spent a winter (his summer) in Utah working as a ski lift operator. I feel like more than half the guys I meet here have done this or are planning to do it...no wonder I've never met an Argentine in the U.S...they're all out west on the ski hills! Anyway, inevitably the conversation quickly switched from cultural comparisons to "you're beautiful, i'm crazy for you, kiss me, i love you, etc. etc." I mean, this was really my first experience going out dancing but unfortunately all the guys were exactly like the Latin American stereotype (shoe store take 2). It's just uncomfortable, what do you even say to that? I just want to dance or have a normal conversation, not hear drunken, pathetic, and comical one-liners from some guy who's been repeating the same thing the entire night. I just find it annoying and demeaning almost. And they're just all over you immediately, so physical and doing stuff that at home that would be considered sexual harassment. Although I guess that's not very different from drunken college parties...it's more the verbal stuff that's so weird. Fran wanted to stay later, so around 5:30 AM I had to figure out how to get home alone. I walked a couple blocks to catch a bus on a big street, but while I was walking this car of four drunk guys pulled up next to me. They were shouting to me to get in the car, and then reversed and drove up on the sidewalk in front of me. Then I kind of freaked out and just stopped in front of this closed kiosk where I could see a young guy inside, but when I looked to him for assurance he kind of gave me a snide smile and laughed with the guys. By then the bus was passing, and luckily even though I wasn't at a stop I pounded on the door at the stoplight and the driver let me on. The bus ride at 6 in the morning was honestly as crowded as lunchtime rush hour rides I take through the downtown to get to class on weekdays. Young people, old people, children. The night life is just absolutely ridiculous. The majority of the kids in the program have this experience, actually like times 10 at a huge boliche with a lot of drinking, every weekend. I don't know...I just have no desire to do it. I gave it a try because it's a cultural thing, but I felt terrible all day and it's just not worth it to me. Oh well.

So today (after sleeping till noon...Fran slept till 4!) I've just been studying more for my exam. I am extremely nervous, because I didn't understand anything from the readings that it's on, and although we got the (very complicated) 5 questions beforehand, I have 8 pages of answers I bullet-pointed out, and I'm basically just memorizing phrases that I wouldn't know the meaning of in English. Sooo, it's basically a disaster, and I don't know how I'm going to write in Spanish for 3 hours. Yuck. This coming weekend I'm going to Iguazu Falls though, so I'm really excited for that. I tried to put up some kind of random, day in the life kind of pics in the subway, of one of my school buildings (white), the YMCA where I have soccer practice (upstairs on the right of the brightly lit pedestrian street), and Avenida 9 de Julio (the 14 lane one that is impossible to capture in pictures). Also, just thinking of more cultural tidbits, up until high school all the kids wear little white lab coats to school. Public, private, over the uniform or regular clothes..it's super bizarre looking. There is a new show on TV called "Gran Cunado" (big brother-in law), a take off on "Big Brother." It's political satire, and it's all heavily made up men playing the president, Cristina, her husband, Nestor (the ex-president), and other big names. It's set inside the Casa Rosada, and supposedly is hilarious, if you know what's going on politically, which I don't, ha. It reminds me a lot of the SNL political stuff from the election, and it's been kind of controversial and in the news a lot here. My host family hates the president so much it's kind of disturbing. Yesterday the little grandson who's 4 starting singing some song about "Cristina, hija de puta" and to keep my window shut Fran folds up newspapers that have her picture on the outside and slams the glass shut on her face. They say things out loud like they hope she dies tomorrow. Okayyy, well, enough procrastinating, hasta luego.

finde de deportes

Sorry that I only write huge weekend summaries, but here's another... Friday I went to the big mall and surrounding trendy shopping area in Palermo with Hanna. As usual, the only thing I bought at the mall was food (a delicious cheesecake tart), but I did get some knock-off Converses later on, so now I can really look like an Argentine. Funny story of the day: we went into a nicer shoe store for Hanna to look for boots and ended up drinking mate in the back room with two employees (see creepy picture). This guy was just saying ridiculous things to me, like "I fell in love with you at first sight," "I want to marry you," "You are so beautiful, we'd make a great couple" in the middle of the store with all these other customers around. I was trying not to laugh because he was acting so sincere and all but then I was starting to get uncomfortable. He kept asking me to go get coffee and stuff, then the other employee helping Hanna suggested having some mate in the back. Sharing mate here is really common, even among strangers almost, so it wasn't all that sketchy, especially since there were other employees back there. Anyway, I was ready to get out of there but Hanna kept whispering to me it would be an experience and egging the guy on. So, we go in the back and drink mate and take a couple of pictures and these guys are literally trying to kiss us and keep grabbing our hands and this guy is literally confessing his love to me and it was just unbelievably pathetic and comical. There's definitely a stereotype of guys here being like that in a boliche or out dancing and stuff, but it was the strangest thing to be hearing in the middle of a shoe store. All in all, it was a borderline inappropriate but hilarious experience. Saturday morning we had soccer practice. The losing team from practice Thursday had to bring facturas (like doughnuts), and I figured we'd eat them after practice. But, in typical Argentine fashion, only 8 people showed up, and we ended up drinking mate and eating the facturas for the first 40 min of practice, then transitioning directly into a scrimmage without any stretching or warming up. Of course I had eaten 4 doughnuts, this after my regular breakfast at home, and in combination with the 80 degree weather I thought I was going to die in the middle of the game. But it was fun to be playing outside. Saturday night I went to what is known as a "superclasico" rugby game with my program. I don't quite understand what exactly constitutes a superclasico, because it seems to be a very firm and permanent designation, like River/Boca, and not just something you could call any big game. Anyway, it was up north in the smaller, wealthier suburb of San Isidro (where I went biking), and it was SIC vs. CASI, the two rugby teams from San Isidro. The atmosphere reminded everyone of a big high school football game. It was pretty intense and interesting, except for that I have never seen a rugby game before in my life and knew absolutely none of the rules. All I can say is...strange sport, huge thighs. After that we took the train back to Belgrano and got Chinese food for dinner in Chinatown. It was delicious, and the sauces and spices were a flavorful change from the bland, although good, pasta and meat here. After that Hanna and I went to a cafe till 3:30 in the morning. It was both the worst food and worst service I have ever gotten in my life. We ordered a strawberry licuado (milkshake or smoothie) that tasted like chalky, warm apple juice and milk. It was so disgusting that we actually complained, and they told us it was because they use powder, not fruit. Then they just took it in the back, added more powder and charged us for it even though it was so bad we couldn't even touch it. This afternoon I went to another soccer game, River Plate vs. Independiente. I went with like 5 other girls from my program, and we sat in the platea (nicer, you actually sit down), as opposed to the popular, where I was for the Boca game. It was super fun, but a totally different experience. We had seats, were in the shade, and were down below from all the fanatics. The River stadium is the biggest in Argentina, up north of the city, and where they play national team games, but because it wasn't quite full and not as steep or packed in as Boca's, it was less intense. We were by all River fans, but none of us really cheered for anyone in particular. I've been pretty inculcated by my Boca host brother, so it would have been hard to root for River. But they won 2-0, and it was a really exciting game, with lots of chances on our end and two missed/blocked penalty kicks. I tried some stadium food (a dubious looking hamburger that actually was delicious), and we chatted with some Argentine fans. We had to wait like half an hour to leave after the game because they literally trap you in the stadium until the visiting team's fans leave to avoid riots. I much preferred the atmosphere and craziness of the Boca stadium, but I was there for a superclasico after all, and this was better for actually watching the game (instead of worrying you're going to die). There were still a ton of rabid fans, and the field was gorgeous. I've just been watching the beginning of "Futbol de Primera," the two hour soccer recap we watch every Sunday night. There will be a longer feature on my game, because Independiente is another of the big, storied clubs here, so I'm excited to see it. Tomorrow is a feriado, Argentina's Independence Day, and I think there are some parades or demonstrations or something downtown, so hopefully I will see some of that. Otherwise I will be studying for my midterm...Have a good week.

Mi Casa

Well, I've been promising people some pictures of my apartment so here they are! A couple of interesting notes on each room:

-bathroom: the european bidet...i still don't exactly even understand how one would go about using it.. -kitchen: no dishwasher :(, have to turn on gas on the wall and light the stove with match, no light in refrigerator, microwave that gets more use than any other appliance in house -bedroom: really big! tons of closet space, my own TV, very small bed w/ no box spring -living room: have sat in there about 3 times, TONS of family pictures everywhere, connects to dining room with big, fancy table i have never sat at -balcony: nice, but completely fenced in, so you feel a bit claustrophobic and can't lean out to look down in the street or anything. the cat lives out there (except they brought her inside for a bit yesterday and today. it was terrible, and now my pajamas smell like cat) -elevator: sliding white door which you can see. then there is a real door that locks right in front of that. then there is a tiny little vestibule with another locked door to get into the apartment.

So I live on what I'd call a pretty typical residential city street of the upper/middle class barrios. On one side of my building there are more apartments, and on the other side is a glass store. Like industrial size pieces of glass, mirrors, etc. On my block there are also several hair salons, a laundromat, a Steinway piano store, a children's bedroom furniture store, a bakery, an outdoors/Columbia outlet, 3 cafes, one kiosk (drinks, candy, phone cards), a school supplies/paper place, a pilates studio, and more apartments. There is only one bus stop on my actual block, but many more right around me. I was lying in bed last night and had the weird realization that it was completely silent. No street noise, no sirens, no wind, nothing. I don't know if it's usually like that and I've just never noticed, but it was weird to be in such a huge city and have it be quieter than at home, where we have the train and the constant freeway noise. Although every morning at 7 AM the construction starts on the new apartments behind us, directly outside my window, so that makes up for it.

My first parcial (midterm) is a week from tomorrow...in the class during which i have my eyes closed about half the time...entering panic mode. Hasta luego.

milonga and mataderos

Yet another weekend summary... Friday I had another of my tango classes, then traveled north to Belgrano to hang out with my friend Hanna (and eat ice cream, of course). It's getting fairly cold now, so we meant to go shopping for boots or jackets but never made it out of the cafe. Saturday morning I had another soccer game, and we lost terribly (5-1!) to UBA, the big public university. They were actually pretty good, but we played horribly and with some ridiculous errors from the goalie, the lack of any sort of midfield, and people's complete inability to trap a ball, we were down pretty fast. One funny thing of the morning...about 5 minutes before kickoff I took out my prewrap to make a headband and all the Argentine girls were just so fascinated. I ended up making about 10 of them because everyone wanted one and wanted to know how to put it on, where to buy the stuff, etc. I wish I would have had my camera, because basically the whole team had on my yellow prewrap, and then carefully took it off to save after! I rushed back from the game for my last tango class Saturday afternoon, and finally got up the nerve to wear my heels. For dinner we hesitantly went to this kind of sketchy looking, smaller parilla, but it ended up being delicious and cheap, as we've found many hole in the wall places are. We had huge portions of salad, french fries, chorizo, steak, flan, and wine, all for $12 dollars each. Saturday night our whole tango class went out to a milonga to practice what we'd learned. We met up at 11 at Salon Canning in Palermo, a traditional tango place where locals go to dance. The atmosphere honestly wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was super fun. It reminded me of a wedding or prom or something, with tables set up all around a small dance floor, big mirrors, and a bar in the corner. Per tradition, they played sets of four tangos, followed by a short "cortina" of non-tango music in which people find a new partner, go get a drink, etc. The cortina was always some goofy 80s song from the U.S., so I thought it ruined the mood a bit. There is actually a lot of complicated tango etiquette, so as beginners we were all a little nervous. Our instructors told us to stay toward the middle of the floor and let the advanced couples circle around the outside, but we still managed to have quite a few collisions. There were some really really good dancers there, and we all enjoyed just sitting around watching cute old people. I danced with the guys in the class, and then two random old men asked me to dance. One of them, who was about 60, was actually an American, but told me he lives in Tokyo and Bangkok. He was super good, and apparently was there with some contingent of world class Japanese tango dancers for a competition. He told me that I was good at one thing: not anticipating and trying to lead but rather waiting for the man to direct me. I guess that's a compliment in dancing...? I didn't get home till about 3 AM, and then stayed up finishing The Motorcyle Diaries so no one else could tell me they couldn't believe I went to South America without watching it!

This morning I slept in late, then took somewhat of an adventure out to this huge fair way out in the outskirts of Capital Federal that Kyle had heard about. It was about a 45 minute bus ride, but still only cost 30 cents! The Feria de Mataderos was definitely the biggest, least touristy, and best fair I've been to here. We strolled around for about 3 hours, looking at all the artisan booths and food. Our program always warned us not to eat food off the street or from vendors, but we couldn't resist--food was the only thing all 3 of us bought. We had typical northern Argentina fare for lunch--locro (a kind of corn/meat stew) and tamales. We also got some fruit and cotton candy!, and I bought organic, artesanal cheese and homemade dulce de leche to take home. There was live, traditional music, and a bunch of people dancing. There were also a lot of people out giving speeches and handing out literature for some big labor coalition/party. I guess it's a much more working-class area, and we also noticed there were a lot more indigenous-looking people there. I guess I should eventually start buying souvenirs and such at some of these fairs, but I keep thinking I have so much time left and also everything is so dirt cheap (even really nice, hand made jewelry, leather, etc.) that I'm afraid if I buy one thing I won't be able to stop.

I just can't get over how friendly the (adults) here are, in general. At the fair, vendors just want to chat with you, people scoot over to offer you space at their picnic table, and everyone seems to want to have a conversation. Yesterday when I was walking home from somewhere this younger woman asked me what direction a street was. She was going the wrong direction entirely, and it happened to be my cross street, so I was very proud of myself for being able to tell her exactly how many blocks it was back in the other direction. We started walking together, and she told me she's from Patagonia but in BA for graduate school. Then I told her what I'm doing here, etc. When we got to my apartment we kissed goodbye and then she kind of spontaneously told me to wait, she'd give me her email address. So we exchanged email addresses (and names haha) and she told me to let her know if I ever had any questions or was in Patagonia or w/e. A long time ago another college girl randomly gave me her number on the bus. Also the other day in customs picking up my package I asked this young woman (in Spanish) if she would help me listen for my number because I couldn't understand what they were calling out over the loudspeaker. She then asks me if I'm from the U.S. in perfect English. Turns out she's a Spanish major from Michigan but has been living in BA for 2 or 3 years after college doing mission work with her church in a women's prison. We ended up talking for a long time and she gave me her contact information and the name of the church she goes to here and all the service times and everything. I guess this is the coolest thing about being here--just meeting random people from everywhere, seeing all the connections, and realizing what a small world it is. In the beginning I was really hoping to make all these Argentine "friends," but I've come to see the challenges in that. But in some ways, brief encounters, conversations, and acquaintances can be just as rewarding.

Well, I am going to go start another movie to distract myself from the fact that I have 3 hours until dinner. I have to admit I did absolutely ZERO schoolwork this weekend. Nothing. It is terrifying. And amazing. I have literally no grades yet in any class. I just hope I will actually be able to survive the last month when everything hits me at once and I have to write 2 10 page papers in a week...

No me jodas!

Hola... Another Monday, another weekend to report on. Thursday night my friend Hanna's parents, who were here for the week, took us out to dinner at the amazing all you can eat place we'd been before. Honestly, best food ever. It was really fun to be with parents again and hear them try to speak the little Spanish they'd picked up to the waiters. Friday I had my first tango class. It was a bit slow, and, as always, there were quadruple the number of girls as boys, but fun anyway. The teachers are Argentine, and one of them complimented me on my dancing posture, so that was exciting. I have "learned" the tango so many times, but everyone teaches it a little differently, the steps are weird here, and all the lessons in the world can't make me a good dancer, unfortunately. Friday night Fran and I cooked hamburgers on the stove...that was interesting.
Saturday morning we had our second soccer game against the Universidad de Palermo, and we won 2-0. I got called for a penalty kick for honestly not even touching a girl, and the reffing continues to be ridiculously tight in the games. After the game we walked 10 or 15 blocks to the next small town up the coast where a girl on the team lives. We bought food at the grocery store and sat in her backyard eating and talking for like 3 hours. It was so fun, and I'm really glad I decided to not rush to my second tango class and just stay for lunch. At first the American girls always hung out separately from the Argentines and talked in English, but now we are all legitimately friends, and we were all talking together in Spanish about boyfriends, music, and other "normal" girl things, not just the usual conversation topics of majors, cultural differences, etc. Saturday night I stayed in and cooked pasta, which was quite the process. I had to light the stove with a match, and use a pot with a handle-less top. Fran later explained to me that it broke when they were banging it like a drum out on the balcony during a protest. I had heard that people go out in the streets with pots and pans for the marches and stuff, and sure enough I looked at the pot again later and it had a ton of little indentations on the bottom. Store bought sauce comes in a bag here, and tastes exactly like the sauce in pizza Lunchables, so that was pleasant. The grandkids also came over again, which was fun.
Sunday morning I got up early to run in my first ever 10K race. It was in Palermo, through a bunch of parks and up some big avenues. Ed, Kyle, Hanna, and her mom all did it. It only cost 45 pesos (less than $15) and we got sweet yellow dri-fit jerseys. I was pretty wary about doing it, because I've only done 5Ks, and I'm always dead after those...and I am just not a runner in general, as you probably know. But for some reason, I ran the best I ever had in my life. I finished in 51 minutes and felt fantastic almost the whole time, so that was really exciting. I even beat Hanna and her mom, who are huge runners and have done a half-marathon. Now I know it's just lack of will power that doesn't let me do more than 30 min. of jogging when I got out to run...The rest of the day Sunday I just relaxed...watched two movies, went to a bar with Fran and his friend to watch the Boca game, went to night Mass. Sundays when Boca plays the games usually aren't on TV at home, only in bars and restaurants, so every place you walk by is filled with men glued to the TV. The only people on the streets are pressed up against the windows, watching the game from outside. It's pretty cool. Boca tied--they're doing really terribly this season, which is too bad.
Today I had to go to the program office to watch this historic documentary for my class. The office is on Avenida Corrientes, the huge theatre district avenue, right by the obelisk. I was sitting in this little room up on the 8th floor with another girl watching this old black and white film of people protesting the military violence of the 50s when gradually we started to hear something big happening outside. We went over to the window, and were able to see this huge march/protest coming down the avenue. It was incredibly loud--drums, whistles, fireworks (like big fireworks, M80s and such), sirens. There was paper and confetti everywhere, and all the workers were carrying signs and flags and dressed in Argentina's blue and white. From what we gathered, it was some kind of restaurant industry thing, because all the signs said "gastronomico" something or other about salaries and such. People were all out on balconies watching, and it felt like the 4th of July or the Macy's parade or something. But down on the sidewalks all the businessmen and other locals just kept walking on by with barely a look at the commotion right next to them. Honestly, protests and marches are so common here it is unbelievable. I live pretty close to the legislative district and other government offices, and literally almost every day some kind of smaller thing is going on. My host mom will sometimes say, "Oh, leave some extra time to get to school today because the news said there's going to be a big teacher's union strike in the plaza at 3" or something. There just seems to be so much more activism and participation going on here. Someone's always protesting something. Which brings me to my recent realization that the amount of political pessimism here is a huge contrast to the U.S., especially after such an exciting election with slogans of hope and change. Everyone just assumes that things are going to get worse, that the government is corrupt, that nothing is going to get done. And, sitting there watching Argentina's dark and oppressive history on the screen, it definitely made sense. People protest here because they have to, because that's the only way to make things happen. I take for granted the relatively peaceful and democratic history of the U.S....it is incredibly hard to imagine a past full of military dictatorships and mass disappearances shaping your political education. Every day I see the front of the newspaper and wish I actually had the ability to read it regularly and thoroughly...there is so much interesting stuff going on politically and I'm really lost on most of it, but it's just not feasible for me to keep up with only Spanish sources.
Well, in other news I got 2! packages of food recently so I now have a nice stockpile of chocolate, peanut butter, gum, and ketchup..which can solve just about any problem, obviously. I had to go to customs to pick them up, and that was a bit of a pain and very bureaucratic, but definitely worth it. I have just 2 episodes of The Office left to catch up on (Michael Scott Paper Company, what?!?! haha), so I'm going to do that before I go to bed. Hasta pronto amigos! p.s. "no me jodas" is kind of my phrase of the week, i've just started hearing it everywhere. it means like "are you kidding me!?!?"

Villas

Hola, Well, yesterday I had a very different experience here in BA. My Argentine Solidarity Movements class took a field trip to the way southern outskirts of the city to see a "villa miseria" (town of misery). The villas here are the huge slums around the outside of the city that you drive over on the highways in and out of Buenos Aires. They are known as extremely dangerous areas and are full of people in extreme poverty. I had, as you might expect, had no contact with them whatsoever except for being absolutely stunned when I drove past one. We started learning about them in this class last week, and the trip was actually to go see a soup kitchen of sorts started by a woman from the neighborhood. Los Piletones is a small villa in the greater barrio of Villa Soldati (which is not in itself a villa, just the name of the district, which is confusing). It is one of the smallest and safest in the city. It was formed in 1985, near a lake and abandoned factory that made huge concrete water containers (piletones, if I understood the professor correctly). Today more than 4 thousand people live in 500 "houses." The sewer system is collapsed, and gas, running water, phone lines, and postal service are nonexistent. There are rerouted wires dangerously crisscrossed everywhere you look because everyone is stealing the electricity. The streets are full of stray dogs, trash, and dirty children. Some apartments are made of cobbled together bricks, others of cardboard and tin. Most don't have doors or windows, only cloth or makeshift wood. I have never seen such terrible living conditions in my life. It makes sleeping on the steps of a church in the middle of BA seem comfortable...not really homelessness like you'd usually think of it but almost worse.

The soup kitchen was started by a woman named Margarita and her husband, residents of the villa. They have 10 of their own kids and adopted 2 off of the street. He lost his arm in an industrial accident. The woman was just amazing, and from basically nothing grew this place into a huge compound serving 13,000 plates daily. They also have a library, small pharmacy, medical center with volunteer doctors, and afterschool center kind of place for all the kids. She's been interviewed by a lot of BA newspapers and is mentioned all over the internet as an inspiration for internal solutions to the villas' problems.

I tried to read up on the villa situation in general a bit more online, and it seems very complicated. The government has declared all kinds of sanitation risks and a state of housing emergency, but it is also the government that originally gave the land to poor people to inhabit. Mostly they began as temporary housing for immigrants coming into BA, but have turned into permanent residences. The villas have grown exponentially since the big crisis of 2001. Before that, during the military dictatorships, the government expelled thousands of people from their homes there in an effort to wipe out the villas. People buy and sell "houses" or rooms, but it's all just cash transactions, without any kind of deeds or legal rights. There are obviously no safety codes or fire inspections, and there are often 3 families living in one dirty concrete room. The streets are so narrow and debris/trash covered that it would be nearly impossible for a firetruck or ambulance to get into the villa. There is no government or police presence. Drugs and violence are very, very common. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, using grant money from the government, are currently building some tenements right next to the villa, to the strong opposition of all the residents. It is on what used to be a park, and blocks the entrance. Margarita told us she worries that once people move in there will be big conflicts between the two settlements.

On another note, I've started volunteering every Wednesday at this Jewish Salvation Army of sorts. It's in this garage thing in a grittier part of the city, and basically they collect and sort donations of clothes, books, furniture, etc. They throw away the really bad things, donate very used things, and sell nicer things at very low prices to the poor people of the neighborhood. The two times I've gone I've just sorted through bags of clothing, but all the volunteers there are super nice and I had some really interesting conversations. I also talk in passing to the people who come in to buy stuff, and all the customers and volunteers know each other and seem like one big family, bargaining and joking and drinking coffee. It's not quite the work I was originally hoping for, but it's a really good atmosphere and I feel like I'm actually doing something helpful.

I have spent the past hour working on this to avoid researching the Catholic Church's stance on divorce for my theology paper. Honestly, is there that much to say about it other than don't have one? Ha, well it's actually interesting to be in a college theology class reading all this stuff because I'm realizing that for all my years of Catholic education I really don't know a lot of doctrine and technical positions on issues. Well, off I go to the Vatican website, hasta pronto.