La noche boca arriba

hogar dulce hogar

2009-07-12T00:30:00.003-03:00

Well I am finally back in my own bed typing this (sweating profusely, ironically, just like my first night in BA). I haven't slept for over 40 hours, so I'm pretty tired. Last night was a little hectic getting everything all packed up last minute and saying multiple tearful goodbyes. I had to pay over for my heavy suitcase, which sucked. Then, we got stuck on the 10.5 hour flight to Dallas with literally 100 Argentine 8th graders doing some big "Disney exclusivo" trip (they all had matching backpacks. and like one chaperone). They were super noisy and annoying, and they all screamed during takeoff like it was a roller coaster or something. So weird. They also clapped when we landed. The flight attendants were American, but we kept accidentally answering "si" and "gracias" and saying "permiso" or "perdon." Those common little phrases are just so ingrained into our heads now it's going to be hard to switch back over to English. When the Subway employee was talking to me at the airport I got kind of confused for a second, because he was also Spanish-speaking and I didn't know what language he was saying. So sad that this is the end of my Spanish career (classes / studying wise). Going through customs in Texas then they let about 200 Army members skip all the civilians, so it took forever. I was panicking the whole time in line, and literally sprinted through the airport to the airtram and to my connecting flight, but my friend Kristin and I ended up missing it. We got there with five minutes to spare but it had left early. Then we didn't get on the next one standby. Finally we left at 10:20 (instead of 7:40), but it was super frustrating to be so close to home and have to just sit there. My parents were waiting when we got into O'Hare, and I finally got to have the dramatic airport scene I've been dreaming of, haha. As soon as we got in the van and got on the highway it felt like I'd never left, and never been in Argentina. At home the boys had made me a "welcome home" sign, which was sweet. Alex grew like 5 inches and sounds so old now. I don't think Sprecher really remembered me, which was a bit sad, but I was obviously very excited to see him as well. My dad and brothers LOVED the alfajor I brought for them to try. I ate an entire container of raspberries plus some strawberries for lunch. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, so we spent the afternoon in the hammock and throwing the ball to the dog. Then we had hamburgers (and salad!!) outside for dinner (not quite an asado, but very delicious). Then my good friends Erin and Hannah stopped by and we took a nice walk. It was just as hard to start explaining my trip as I'd feared, but so good to catch up and be with familiar faces. Just a really beautiful summer day to come home to and relax (and unpack my life).

It's so weird to be back in my room. My desk calendar still says February 15 (the day I left). My stuff's in the bathroom drawer. Nothing much really changed (besides the season, my brother, and the fact that we have a new flat-screen TV). One last word about living in the huge city of Buenos Aires. A lot of this could have had to do with my particular family structure, but at times it really felt more similar to a little town in the U.P. than to a suburb like Mequon. The children marry and find apartments within blocks of each other. The kids go to the school of their parents. You use the same family run laundromat, butcher, and paper store on your block. These people know you by name. You can walk there, so you're always greeting people on the sidewalk, not stuck in your car. I guess I had just never thought of a city being like this, and I was pleasantly surprised.

So, I guess this is it. I hope you've enjoyed the blog...even as many words as I write can't do the experience justice. Hardest, best, most exciting, most growth-provoking time of my life. And now I'll have a record of even the most minute details and daily occurrences haha. I hope I've inspired everyone to visit Argentina!! Chauuuu boludos!

Chau!

2009-07-10T17:15:00.003-03:00

I absolutely cannot believe I'm leaving for the airport in less than an hour. Yesterday was Argentina's Independence Day. Fran and I went to their country club place again to drink mate and hang out for awhile. Then the family had a nice going-away "tea" for me around 6:30. I rushed from that to a restaurant where all the soccer girls were meeting for a goodbye dinner. We were supposed to get there at 9:30. I got there at 10:05 and was only the third of 8. Argentina. Anyway, the dinner was very fun, and we got a quick drink after that before heading home. Today I've just been trying to shove my whole life into my suitcases. I'll just say that my mother will be appalled when I open them...Tonight I fly out from winter in one continent, to summer in another. Crazy. Goodbyes are so hard, especially in another language because you can't really say anything you want to and I for one have trouble speaking Spanish while crying. I've been thinking of how last winter I had a little spiel I'd say when people asked "So why'd you pick Argentina?" Now everyone will ask "HOW WAS ARGENTINA?!?!" And that cannot be answered in a 2 minute spiel. Nor a 2 hour one. Five months of the most action-packed and interesting life I've lived. I went white-water rafting, skiing in the Andes, zip-lining, and mountain climbing. I had tedious and lazy days when I did absolutely nothing. I got to know an entire culture. Not just the tourist attractions, but the politics, the education, the family structure, driving habits, holidays, fashion, food, greetings, exercise, romantic gestures, I could go on and on. I feel like I know what it is to be Argentine. Maybe more than I know what it is to be American. I will have to write a closing summary of the experience when I get home, when I've had 12 hours to reflect on the airplane haha. But last night I finally got around to writing in my real journal (with my novels on here I'm just never motivated to actually put a pen to paper as well)...here's an excerpt:

"How is it that tomorrow I leave Argentina? Impossible. Tonight is my last night in my little bed. Never again will I hear the keys locking the door and hitting the silver tray. The sticky bathroom door opening. Fran's wooden blinds cranking down. The squeaky swinging door to the laundry room right by my head when I lie in bed. Claudia's pill reminders on her cellphone. The screech of the sliding door when we let Cleo inside. The garbage trucks at 2 AM. All of a sudden it is these little things that are hitting me. This is my home now. This crappy pillow actually feels good. The creak of the bed. My rows and rows of shallow closet doors. Another girl will move into MY room in a week. Use my chipped San Martin de los Andes coffee cup for cornflakes. And the red cracker tin. The tiny spoons. The faded dinosaur cups. Hear Futbol de Primera droning in the background. I will always remember walking on a glacier, taking my finals, getting robbed. But it is these small, everyday details I'm worried I'll forget. The smells, the sounds, what the bathroom looked like. How interesting is the psychology of place. How quickly minds forget. I want to memorize Fran and Claudia's faces, their laughs. What a weird sensation to be leaving people who've become loved ones and honestly not knowing if you'll ever see them again. I'm just in shock, neither sad nor happy to go at this point. Just shocked that yesterday I was sweatily entering these tiny white halls for the first time, dragging my huge bags behind me and absolutely TERRIFIED of what was to come, and tomorrow I leave, it's all over. Just like that. And an eternity passed in between."

Bueno, CHAU ARGENTINA...GRACIAS POR TODO!

en serio?

2009-07-06T15:06:00.004-03:00

Well, Saturday our remaining two soccer games were canceled because of the gripe epidemic. Fears about swine flue just exploded here while we were in Chile. They have now shut down all of the city's schools and universities. A lot of boliches and dance clubs are also closing. Other students in my program who still had exams to take are scrambling to write replacement final papers since they obviously can't stay till August, when the Argentine students will have to take their finals before their next semester starts. Fran, for example, had already started studying for some of his finals, but now has to spend his 4 week winter vacation worrying about them, so that sucks for him. It was also too bad about soccer, because now I won't get to say good-bye to some of the Argentine girls. Saturday night I went out to dinner with some girls and then we briefly stopped by someone's birthday party...pretty "tranqui" night for my last Saturday in BA, but the flu really did close quite a lot of places down, and the soccer girls couldn't really get their acts together to go dancing like we'd planned anyway.

Sunday afternoon the same girls and I went to San Telmo to do the touristy outdoor market thing one more time. It was a nice day, and we just wandered around and had lunch at a cafe. After that I left by myself to go to a nearby neighborhood, Parque Patricio, to meet up with my Argentine friend Fer, from soccer. It's kind of hard to explain the Argentine soccer league point system, but yesterday was basically the championship, and she's a big fan of one of the teams who was playing, Huracan, and lives close to their stadium. Anyway, we went to just a normal cafe thing, full of families and couples, to watch the game on TV, since it isn't broadcast to houses. We'd been sitting there about forty minutes, just talking and having a beer, when two men with guns came in and robbed all of the patrons/the cash register. It was all over very quickly, but it was the scariest situation of my life. At first I didn't realize what was going on. There was some commotion over by the door, but I thought people were having a disagreement about the game, given how intense fans get here. Then all of a sudden I looked up at the bar, close to where we were sitting, and there was a guy with a gun. Apparently he was telling everyone to put their valuables on the table, because Fer was taking everything out of her pockets. I immediately put my money, my keys, and my cellphone on the table. Luckily I didn't have a purse or anything else because I had already been mugged (thank you, father, for the lesson between robberies and muggings) in Chile. There were several children in the restaurant who started crying, and a woman was having a panic attack, hyperventilating and flailing around in the corner. One guy by us stood up, but the guy pointed the gun at him, made him get on the floor, and said "te juro, voy a matarte" (I swear I'll kill you). That was the one thing I actually understood of what anyone was saying. Let me tell you, in panic mode, your Spanish just leaves you. I didn't know what to do, and at first I was just saying out loud, in English, to Fer, "what do I do. Oh my God. what's going on." But luckily she realized what was happening first and told me to shut up and look down. The guy came over and grabbed all of our cash and my phone. He left my keys and my monedas, and Fer actually scooped them up before we left, since they're so valuable haha. I also had a present I had just bought for my mom on the table, but I accidentally left it there in the hurry to get out. Basically, they took everything, left really quickly, and then everyone started panicking and screaming. So Fer and I just got up and left, obviously without paying for the beer, and walked to her house in the other direction about 6 blocks as fast as we could. Fer felt so bad about taking me to a bar in a bad neighborhood, etc. etc. but it was a perfectly respectable place, in the middle of the day. They just timed it so no one would be on the streets during such a big game I guess. I couldn't even tell her I was fine though. I was hyperventilating and all I could say was "okay, okay, okay" over and over again. When we got to her house we calmed down a little and my Spanish came back, then her sister lent me money and I called a taxi. The taxi passed the place on the way to my house and there were a bunch of police cars and an ambulance there...probably for the woman in shock, because no shots were fired or anything.

When I got home, Claudia and Fran weren't there, and my parents weren't answering on Skype, but luckily I was able to reach Danny and talk to him for a bit. I was freaking out because my emergency phone number card was in my purse in Chile, and without my cellphone I couldn't call anyone here. I found Fran's cellphone number in the kitchen, but I don't know how to call cellphones from their land line. I ended up going down to the apartment below us where Fran's best friend Fede lives. I just started crying and couldn't really even explain what happened, but his family was super nice and he called Fran for me. He and Claudia were at the grandma's house down the street, so they told me to come over there. I did, but the entire extended family was there and it was just awkward so I went back home again. But then I realized I still didn't have any phone numbers, and I was just in shock I guess and didn't want to be alone. I eventually found my friend Katie's house phone, and she and Hanna dropped their movie plans and came over to sit in the lobby with me till Claudia got home. They ended up getting me pizza and chocolate, and then Claudia let them come up, so we just hung out for a couple of hours. It was so nice of them, because otherwise I'm sure I couldn't have gotten my mind off of it. I would have liked to go to the movie with them but I was literally terrified of going out on the street.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better today, but it's just crazy that two bad things could happen to me like that in one week. Just really bad luck, and it makes you want to hide out in your bed. Today it was raining, and I haven't left the apartment except for to get lunch at the bakery on our block, but hopefully I can go out tomorrow to do something at least. Although at this point with no money and no cellphone, there's really not much to do/it's hard to make plans with people. I literally had 200 Argentine pesos sitting in my room to survive on when I got back from Chile. And then I got robbed and became broke yet again. I'm borrowing money and it's going to be fine, but seriously. I'm just incredibly paranoid now, and every person I pass could have a gun. The other day a woman was killed after taking out money from an ATM on the main street right by me. It's just crazy. You run across someone on paco or other drugs or something, and they could kill you for 10 pesos, they're so addicted (this is what I wrote my 10 page paper on, ironically). I know bad things happen everywhere, but it makes me want to go home. And I'm going home Friday, so I suppose this was the time for this kind of thing to happen.

Well, hopefully I will have a completely uneventful rest of the week and be back in blissfully boring old Mequon by the weekend! Chau!

Chile Days 4 & 5: Western Union to the rescue

2009-07-06T14:04:00.004-03:00

Thursday morning we woke up and ate the nice included breakfast at the hostel, fresh fruit, tea, and bread. We then walked to the Western Union in the commercial center to pick up the money Hanna's parents wired us. We were super paranoid, but we decided we had to keep doing what we would have been doing had we not been robbed. So we walked up and saw the city's above-ground cemetery (similar to the one here in BA, but smaller). Next to that is an old prison that has been transformed into a park/cultural center of sorts. It was very interesting, especially all the paintings and graffiti the prisoners had done on the walls and in the cells. Then we went to the famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's house, which was been preserved and turned into a museum about his life and poems. It was a very cool, 4 story house filled with weird objects, little nautical windows, and a beautiful view of the harbor. After that we decided to treat ourselves to a seafood lunch, because Valpo is obviously known for its fish, being on the ocean. We walked into what looked to be kind of a tourist trap, but it turned out to be wonderful, if expensive. We sat outside on this fancy balcony up high overlooking the water. First we had this blueberry pisco sour drink that the waiter recommended. There was also bread with avocado butter. Then we got an appetizer of ceviche, which apparently is famous in Chile. It was salmon, shrimp, and two other kinds of white fish semi-raw/smoked and marinated in a lemon, cilantro, pepper, butter sauce. Finally we got red tuna steak with vegetables and ravioli blackened with squid ink, filled with salmon, and covered in a calamari sauce as our entrees. Fanciest meal I've ever had. We had wanted to go to Vina Mar, a beach town right next to Valpo, but we ended up running out of time. That afternoon we took the bus back to Santiago, went back to our original hostel, and then met up with our friend Kara and her Chilean boyfriend for dinner. We went to a parilla place, but we were so stuffed from lunch we just got dessert. Then we just went back and went to bed. They only had space in the dorm rooms, and it was just us and a 40 yr. old man, which was kind of weird, but it was much warmer than our private room before because it had all internal walls, so I could actually wear my pajamas haha.

Friday morning we went back to our fruit/yogurt place for breakfast, then took the subway to La Moneda (the equivalent of the White House or Casa Rosada). They weren't giving tours till later, however, so we just saw it from the outside. After that we went to a Chilean history museum, but soon got bored with the effort of exhibits in Spanish and the fact that colonial life there was basically the same as colonial life in the U.S. For lunch we found this bizarre, whimsical little cafe with its menu in the form of a letter in an envelope. We sat upstairs in this loft, and we had to climb a ladder up. There were mirrors all over the ceiling, and you could sit among pillows up on this little platform or in armchairs. There was this book in which you could draw, write philosophical things, etc. Mostly it was filled with lovers' declarations...very Latin American. We had delicious pizza and salad, and I tried this fancy black mango loose tea.

We managed to make it out of Chile that night, even though we had to lie on the health forms about some of our gripe (swine flue) symptoms and pass by a heat sensor haha. Overall, it was a really great trip, and really interesting to compare Santiago and Buenos Aires. Chileans and Argentines DO NOT get along, but the two places were relatively pretty similar to me. Some notable differences: in Argentina, you hoard monedas like they're gold. In Chile, you get millions of them, they're super heavy, and they're worth hundreds of pesos each. In Chile they say "hallo" instead of "hola," and "yah" instead of "si." It is also much harder to understand them, but that is probably just because we're used to the Argentine accent now. People in Chile didn't automatically assume we were from the U.S. We got Brazil a couple of times. Although we did stand out more, because in general the people are darker skinned/more indigenous looking. We had really good waiters/customer service in restaurants in Chile that we don't get in Argentina. However, outside of restaurants, people were very pushy, in your face, and always explicitly asking for a tip after helping you. Like for taking a picture, or finding you a taxi. It was much colder in Chile. The subway in Santiago was much cleaner/newer/faster/better laid out than the one in BA. Although it was weird that there were different fares for different hours of the day. The dress is more casual in Santiago, and the women are heavier. We felt normal/thin again because we weren't constantly seeing anorexic girls in boots. Santiago had a lot of newer, modern infrastructure that BA doesn't have. It had a suburban feel at times, and we saw a lot of bigger cars/trucks, probably because of the close mountainous terrain. The highways had big signs and billboards, which seemed more American. They also had Applebee's and KFC. In our opinion, the food in Chile was worse, and there is a heavy influence on greasy, fast-food type options in general. BA has many more one-way streets. Argentina has better soccer. I don't know, it's unfair to compare two places after spending such unequal amounts of time in them, but overall I'm happy with my choice of BA. So there's my trip in (much more than) a nutshell.

Chile Day 3: Valparaiso (Police)

2009-07-06T11:59:00.005-03:00

Wednesday morning we woke up, took freezing showers, and took a coach bus the hour trip to Valparaiso, a beautiful port town on the Pacific Ocean. It was pretty easy taking the subway to the bus station and buying tickets. We decided to just show up without hostel reservations, but luckily we immediately found a big, airy low-key backpacking hostel with open dorms in the city center. This young French guy was working the desk, and when we told him where we were from, he told us he has a good friend from Oshkosh, WI who did a high school exchange in Valpo, decided to stay, and is now working at a hostel up the street. So weird. The rest of the day we just wandered around the steep steep streets of the city among the multi-colored houses and secret staircases. We had empanadas and ice cream for lunch in the commercial district down at sea level, among all the fish stalls and vegetable stands. We also explored the historic district, a UNESCO world heritage site, and saw the Plaza de Justicia. We took another funicular elevator up to a look-out site. I thought the city was absolutely charming, but some people are turned off by how dirty and run-down it is. There is graffiti everywhere, more stray dogs than you've ever seen in your life, creepy men just standing around, and the smell of fish. The houses, which from afar appear Grecian or Italian in their steep ascent up the circular hillsides around the bay, from up close are quite run down, and their inhabitants obviously poor. Valparaiso is a pretty big tourist destination, but it is low-season (winter), and we were often alone in the streets. Which leads me to the big event, which is that we got robbed at about 5 in the afternoon. We were climbing a steep road, not talking in English or anything, because it was pretty tiring. We were walking close behind a completely non-threatening looking guy about our age. When we got to the top, he paused, as if to decide which way to turn, because there was a road to the left and a staircase to the right. We also stopped momentarily, and all of a sudden he just spun around and grabbed my purse, which was on my shoulder. It was probably the most shocking thing that's ever happened to me. Hanna was too surprised to do anything, but I managed to keep a grip on the handles and started screaming at the top of my lungs and shouting "stop." Don't really know why that's the word I thought of...Anyway, we struggled for a good 7 seconds or so, but he was stronger and was pulling me down the staircase. I almost fell, and after running with him down about 10 stairs I just let go and he took off down all the stairs and around the corner at the bottom of the hill. There was no one in the immediate vicinity, but luckily a postman heard me screaming, came over, and called the police for us. I was crying and getting somewhat hysterical, and neither of us could get more than a word out in Spanish, but the guy was super nice and just waited there. Luckily our passports were in the hostel, and our cameras were in our pockets. However, both Hanna and I had our wallets (containing every dime of our money, credit and debit cards, and drivers' licenses) in the purse. I also lost other insignificant things like my nice water bottle, my little journal, Purell (ha), my camera case, etc. Anyway, finally we see two police men (or who we assumed to be police...they were wearing basically army fatigues..the police and the army in Latin America seem to be much more strongly linked) just ambling up the street. We walk down towards them, two hysterical foreigners, and they just kind of look at us, waiting for us to say something. We manage to get out something about what happened, and then they say "oh yes, that is what we were dispatched to." They then start talking on the walkie-talkie, not asking for details or anything or being comforting at all. Then they flag a taxi, not a police car mind you, and one of the police men shoves himself into the backseat with us. They want to take us to our hostel so we can get our passports, but we can't remember the weird name of the hostel at the moment, and the card/map was in my purse, so we end up telling them the wrong corner and having to walk a bit to find it with one of the policemen. All this time he is hitting on us, asking if we have boyfriends in the U.S., etc. We get our passports, then they take us in another taxi to the station to file a report. We must have been the only thing happening all day, because all the police (25 yr. old men, the majority) are crowded around watching us and being just totally unprofessional, joking around with each other. My Heart Will Go On was playing in the background and we're sitting in this little room and it was just surreal. Then they messed up the report, saying it was Hanna who had the purse, not me, even though we kept trying to clarify it. Anyway, now we have very official (although incorrect) copies of police reports in Spanish, with the official Chilean seal and everything. When we were done it was already completely dark outside, and they're like, "can you find your way home from here?". We have just been robbed, have no map, and are two foreign girls alone. Um, no, we will not find our way back. So we waited around about an extra half hour for this armored police van to come pick us up and drive us to the hostel. In another stroke of luck, the one computer at the hostel had Skype, so we were able to call our parents about having no money. We couldn't eat dinner but we met these two very interesting Dutch girls at the hostel who gave us wine and chips, and we ended up talking to them for like 3 hours. The owner had lent us this really nice map, and asked if we could be sure to return it to him because he only had a couple. It was in my purse. So we had to explain that. Also, the rest of our time in Valpo we kept seeing the same police around (they are very into mobile units..vans parked in squares and officers walking around...just not during robberies, of course), so that was awkward.

Chile Day 2: Skiing in the Andes!

2009-07-04T13:55:00.005-03:00

We woke up early Tuesday and took the subway to this rental/transportation/gear place called SkiTotal (on the helpful recommendation of my friend Whitney who studied abroad in Chile). There we rented all of our stuff, including pants, jackets, etc. because we had absolutely nothing. It worked out great, except for I accidentally got one medium and on XL glove. We rode up to the resort El Colorado in a van, and the roads were incredibly steep and scary. It took about an hour and a half, and it was snowing pretty heavily at the top. As soon as I saw the runs I knew it was going to be wayyy different than skiing in the U.P./Sunburst. I have never been out to Colorado or anything and have only really skied a couple times in my life. The runs were straight down, no curving and no trees. I have never really mastered stopping/turning on naturally winding and slow runs, so the first part of the day was a bit rough for me. Actually it was terrifying and I felt like I was going to fly off the side of the mountain (see pictures ha). Hanna snowboarded, and she is quite good, but she coached me down the first couple of times thank god. I only ended up doing 2 green runs the whole day, but they were super long and so different than what I'd ever skied I figured it was okay. We rode the chairlift and also a T-bar lift, which was different. There were these ski school groups of intense little 7 yr. olds skiing circles around me and cutting in line, so that was fun. Later in the day they closed some of the higher runs because it was snowing so hard, and eventually it turned to near white-out conditions even on our runs. You couldn't tell the difference between the sky and the snow or see any holes or bumps, plus wearing goggles was a bit disembodying. Also it was easy to accidentally ski into deep snow or over into another run because there were no natural barriers. The ride home was also terrifying. It took almost 2 and a half hours, and involved passing through snow, hail, and rain, all on icy roads. There was just this long train of vehicles with their flashers on winding down this steep, guardrail-less tiny road. After we returned all of our gear we stumbled into this little strip mall restaurant called Fuente Chileno, only because we saw it had heaters. It ended up being amazing. We got these hamburger-like things with avocado and homemade mayo that tasted like sour cream. We also shared fries and a shrimp/cheese empanada, and I tried an artesenal beer. The skiing was a great experience, and the scenery was stunning, but the actual going down the runs was stressful and not as fun. I like having trees. Although we did basically have the mountain entirely to ourselves, and one of my biggest worries skiing at home is running into little kids falling and swerving all over the place.

Chile Day 1: Santiago

2009-07-04T13:00:00.006-03:00

Well, I don't even know how to start to explain my Chile trip. It was both extremely fun and extremely stressful. Some pretty ridiculous things happened (more on that later). I loved the country, but was so happy to go back to Argentina. Monday morning I had to get up at 3:30 to catch our early flight. There was some turbulence, but flying in to Santiago over the Andes was amazing. We got scammed taking a taxi from the airport to the hostel, but it was our fault because we stupidly arrived without knowing the exchange rate. Turns out a dollar is 530 Chilean pesos. I knew it was something big like that, but we basically took out an unknown amount of money at an airport ATM, were accosted by a million taxistas all claiming to be official, got lied to about the rate, and then paid an obscene amount of money, all the while knowing we were probably being scammed but really having no other transportation option. Our hostel was in the Plaza de Armas, the main historic plaza of Santiago, which was pretty cool. After we checked in we walked around there, saw the Cathedral, and went to the two main look-out hills, Cerro Santa Lucia and Cerro San Cristobal. We had absolutely beautiful, sunny clear weather, which is apparently very rare there. On the other days it was hard to see the mountains because of all the smog. Anyway, the hills were full of these luscious green gardens, palm trees, and flowers, which was odd because it was winter. There were old castle-like structures of different architectural styles on each hill. On Santa Lucia we found a vendor selling mote con huesillos, which is this delicious cold peach tea with pieces of dried peach and barley in the bottom. It looks a bit disgusting, but we loved it. To get up San Cristobal we had to take a "funicular" or this old elevator thing that takes you up these super steep tracks to the top. At the top there was a huge outdoor church where Pope John Paul II apparently said Mass, and there is also a humongous statue of Mary. The view from there was absolutely beautiful. After that we walked in some parks by the river, saw the bohemian Bellavista neighborhood, and had more money confusion at lunch. It is really strange and hard to get used to lunch costing like 6 thousand pesos. After lunch we discovered this frozen yogurt place where you pick from all the frozen fruits and they mix it in with sugar and a block of yogurt. Monday was actually a feriado in Chile for two saints' days, San Pedro y Pablo, so there wasn't all that much activity in the city. At night we went out to try to find some dinner around the plaza, but it was pretty sketchy and creepy, and all we could find were rows and rows of brightly colored, greasy fast-food type places. There are no cafes on every corner like in BA. We ate some nasty pizza in this little place where they were basically closing down as we ate, and we had to crawl out this little door in the metal outer garage-door like thing they put on at night to get out. We got locked in a panaderia trying to buy the next morning's breakfast too. That night there was no hot water, and the power went out when we were in the bathroom taking out our contacts. Not fun. It was also FREEZING in our hostel, and I slept in my jeans, scarf, and fleece. The buildings here just trap the cold, and it ends up being way worse than outside, without any heat of course. Our room also had three outside walls, up on the windy 6th floor, so that was also probably part of the problem. The plan for Tuesday was to ski, so we stayed up researching the various resort options, checking snow conditions, calculating prices of renting everything, etc., and went to bed early.

goooooooolllll (mas futbol)

2009-06-28T19:29:00.004-03:00

Well my first weekend of vacation was pretty jam-packed, even though I easily could have slept the entire three days. Friday I went shopping with two Argentines and an American from my soccer team. The Argentines were picking out clothes for me, but my shoulders were too big for the majority of the tops, and some of the stuff was just plain ugly, but it was really funny. We also looked at about 10,000 pairs of boots, and I was being my usual indecisive self. I finally bought a pair in the style that I wanted for 100 pesos. Granted they are fake leather, which is kind of a crime being in the leather capital of the world, but they were cheap, I liked them, and In WI I have to wear snow-proof boots anyway, so I guess it's okay. Friday night Ed had a little concert with the choir he's in at one of the universities here. The really weird thing was that all the songs were in English, and he was the only foreigner in the choir. They were actually very good, and all of the Argentines had almost perfect English in their solos. They sang The Killers, James Taylor, and a bunch of other famous American artists. There was also a Eurythmics/Michael Jackson medley that was hilarious and timely. After that we went out to eat at this super fancy place, Bar 6, in Palermo. It was a bit expensive, but my chicken mushroom brie thing was delicious. Yesterday morning was a our last soccer game with all the Americans still here. We won 3-0, and I got to play midfield again and scored the first goal. After the game we were taking pictures and stuff, and at one point we set up with all the Americans in front and all the Argentines in back. Right when our coach was taking the picture they started screaming and threw yerba mate and flour all over our heads, then chased us around with water bottles. We were so confused, but I guess it is a custom here when people graduate to throw flour and eggs and olive oil on them. The girls thought since we're leaving it would be fun. Anyway, it was hilarious, and I was absolutely covered. My hair was this weird yellow green color from all the yerba. After that we had planned to go out to eat as a team. We Americans thought we'd go to a nicer cafe or something, but the Argentines excitedly insisted on McDonald's!! Here it is actually rather expensive, and everyone loves it and goes for special occasions. We protested a bit, but I ended up giving in and eating there (although two Americans went to the grocery store across the street to buy salad instead). The Argentines thought it was so weird and funny that we don't like McDonald's. Also, our goalkeeper found 300 pesos (like 100 dollars) in the middle of the road on our walk there, and she paid for all the food. After that we were supposed to meet up with Fran and his friends for an America vs. Argentina soccer game, but the Argentines wouldn't commit to a plan even like 3 hours before, and it ended up not working out. Everything is so last minute here I can't handle it anymore!! All of us girls had other plans and stuff going on later, and we wanted to go straight from our real game, but they just don't understand the concept of schedules here.

Saturday night Ed, Hanna, and I went out to eat for our last meal as a threesome, because when Hanna and I get back from Chile, Ed will have already left for Brazil. We went to this awesome little jazz club/restaurant in Palermo that was in my guide book. It was literally the tiniest place I have ever seen...basically like the kitchen and living room of some couple's apartment. We celebrated Ed's 21st b-day early and got champagne, and the food was also delicious. A jazz quartet played for about an hour and a half right in front of us, and it was super relaxed and intimate.

The grandkids slept over last night, so I hung out with them a bit this morning. I decided to go with Fran to vote...I figured it's a pretty cool opportunity to see how election day works in another country! Anyway, at the polling place (a school), there were all these lists posted outside of citizens' names. You look at the list to see which "mesa" (table) you need to vote at. On our way upstairs we saw two military members with huge guns, which was kind of weird. I was actually kind of nervous because I didn't really know the rules about going in and everything if you're not a citizen. Anyway, upstairs was jammed with people, and basically we walked down some hallways with little tables set up along the walls to find Fran's number. At his table he waited in line, and I just stood off to the side. I got a lot of weird looks because it was a hallway of all men's tables (as I wrote before, they have gender separated voting). When it was his turn, he said his name and gave them his national document. They crossed his name off of a big list, and gave him an envelope signed by five witnesses at the table. He then waited to enter the "cuarto oscuro" (dark room), which was a classroom with all of the ballots for each party on different desks in a circle. You go in, shut the door, and simply seal the little slip of whichever party you want in your envelope. So there's actually no marking you do yourself (or hanging chads...or machines), and they're not really ballots. It just is like a piece of propaganda from the party you want, with the names of leaders of the coalition. There were more than 20 choices. Also, obviously, no write ins or independents. When he came out he put the envelope in a cardboard box and got his stamped document back. Very interesting.

This afternoon Fran, Claudia, the two grandkids and their parents, and I went to CUBA Nunez (Club Universitario de Buenos Aires, the club that Fran belongs to for playing soccer, sailing, etc.). We were supposed to go to Bella Vista to have an asado, but as usual, they changed their mind at the last minute and I didn't know what was going on for like 3 hours. I know I should feel lucky that they're even willing to take me with them on these kind of things, but it's just very annoying to never have a plan. I had other people inviting me to go to a Sunday market, a birthday brunch, etc., and I had to say no. But at 1:30 I was still waiting around for them to tell me what we were going to do. I'd always rather do the activity with the family, but it's just so unorganized!! I told Fran that I could never live in this culture for a long period of time, then he told the rest of his family, and they were all laughing about how I always want to know the night before what we're doing the next day...but really, is that too much to ask? Anyway, it is hard to explain what this club is because I don't really understand myself. It's outside of the city, on the river. It's basically like a country club, with tennis courts, soccer/rugby fields, sailboats, a playground, and a restaurant. You pay every month like places at home. But then there are actual semi-professional sports teams (only for men) associated with it, and it has various buildings throughout the city, many of which only men can use. Very weird. Fran gave me a tour when we got there, and even though it was a cold, overcast day it was very nice on the river and all. We ate lunch up in the restaurant with the rest of the family, and then Fran, Mateo, and I went out to play some soccer. We only had Mateo's little ball, and we were just messing around with him for awhile. Later Fran found a real ball and we got to play by ourselves a bit on the real field, which was fun.

Now I've just been packing because Hanna and I leave for Chile tomorrow super early (the taxi's coming at 4:30 AM...ugh). The U.S. lost 3-2 to Brazil in the Confederation's Cup final, which was very unfortunate. It would have been nice to rub in Fran's face, because everyone here thinks U.S. soccer is a joke...which I suppose is usually true, but not lately. Two more things I'm missing: a hairdryer and a dishwasher. And the custom of staying to the right when you're walking towards people...so many awkward crashes. Well, I'm super excited for this vacation within a vacation...I'll be back late Friday night, so expect to hear from me again next weekend! Chau! p.s. I have yet to buy a single souvenir for anyone...just a warning.

DONE!

2009-06-26T15:08:00.002-03:00

Well, today is officially my first day of summer (kind of...) vacation!! Yesterday I turned in my last final paper and gave my 15 minute presentation on how the scene changes in two Argentine documentaries show their different objectives...kind of technical for Spanish, but I survived. The presentation actually went really well, and I was so proud of myself after. I couldn't pronounce the name of one of the documentaries (which was obviously going to be a problem in an oral presentation), and the night before my host mom helped me practice the word, writing it out phonetically and with different accents to make it easier haha. I didn't really realize how stressed I had been until it was all over. I honestly can't believe all the writing, reading, and presenting I did in another language over the past couple of months. At the beginning of the semester I would have said it was absolutely impossible. I remember last semester actually crying in my Spanish professor's office when I found out I had to redo my first paper / she thought I shouldn't be in the class and told me my Spanish was horrible, the same day I found out I was accepted to my study abroad program. I used to spend hours and hours slaving away on 3 page papers. And yet I was successful writing 10 page papers here AND even more importantly gained so much confidence. I just now in the shower caught myself thinking in Spanish. So anyway, although I am still certainly not perfectly fluent, I've realized that my Spanish really has improved so much and I've picked up so many mannerisms and vocab words specific to Argentina. Now I feel like I can do anything academic-wise...next semester I'm taking my hardest major classes but they'll be in ENGLISH, so I'm not worried at all haha.

After my class yesterday my friend Kara and I went out to pizza and ice cream to celebrate. I was absolutely mentally exhausted, so I went home to try to take a siesta, but Skype and Michael Jackson's death were too distracting...speaking of MJ, my friend Ed from Madison has a choir concert with one of the universities here tonight and we're going to watch. They're singing a Michael Jackson song, which they had planned way beforehand, so that'll be interesting. Very sad. I'm listening to the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits right now :) Also in the news, the whole Governor Sanford and his Argentinian mistress thing was quite interesting. It's in the news here too, and I've been on the street in Palermo where the woman lives and everything. So bizarre that he was in the same city as me. I was telling my host mom about it and she made some comment about how Argentinian women are notorious for stealing husbands or something odd like that.

Last night was our last soccer practice. After, 3 other Americans and I went to this Northern Argentine (more indigenous, traditional) restaurant and I had the most delicious stone-bowl, wood fired casserole thing of sweet potato, cheese, corn, and honey. I slept in late this morning (on and off, awakening every time the phone rang, a door opened, someone's alarm went off, etc...it is hard to believe how loud this place is), then went to the gym for the last time because my membership is going to run out. Now I'm going shopping with an Argentine from my soccer team, and hopefully I'll finally buy some boots! We have a soccer game tomorrow, then the whole team is getting lunch after because some of the Americans are starting to leave already.

Other random things...I had my last day at my volunteering place Wednesday, which was kind of sad. I found an Oshkosh B'gosh kids shirt with stuff on it in English, but it must have been made here or somewhere foreign because it said something like "Happy campers are from THE Wisconsin." Anyway, I got excited about WI. I always find random Chicago Bulls t-shirts and such in the donated clothes, and whenever I pass someone on the street with a U.S. college shirt on it's also really exciting ha.

The legislative elections here are on Sunday. It's obligatory voting, and I guess all the bars and boliches shut down at 2 AM tomorrow night because of it. Apparently they've had the biggest campaigns for awhile, and you're always hearing about the elections and there are posters and propaganda everywhere. Fran was explaining some stuff about it this morning...very interesting. They still have gender-separated lines. They vote in schools, but you go into this classroom with all the windows blacked out, alone, pick up the ballot for whichever party you want, seal it in your envelope, and go back out. His older brother Pablo is "presidente de la mesa" for their district, which I guess is a volunteer position in which you kind of run the voting at the specific location or something. Everyone here has a DNI (like Social Security number...national ID), and they stamp it when you vote, so if you ever try to leave the country they check to make sure you've been voting. I was explaining that in the U.S. there are a lot of non-partisan, get out the vote, democracy type groups that publish unbiased info on candidates' platforms, etc. He said there's nothing like that here, he still doesn't know who he's going to vote for, and none of the young people believe in the system because there's so much fraud and "vote-stealing." For example, parties will persuade poor people to vote for them by busing them to their location or providing them lunch for their vote. Anyway, it is all very interesting and it will be cool to be here to see how it all plays out Sunday. The director of one of the documentaries I presented on is actually running for the House (diputado), as a very leftist candidate. His documentary is from the '70s but it is very famous and liberal, all about the oligarchy, oppression, Che Guevara, violence of the dictators, etc. He's very old now, and I had no idea he was running until yesterday morning crossing the huge 9 de julio on my way to my presentation I saw this big tent set up with loudspeakers, balloons, and people giving out pamphlets about his ideology.

Ok, well I'm going to be late to meet up for shopping....but now I'm late for everything so it's not that important...haha. Hasta luego.

Familia

2009-06-21T19:10:00.003-03:00

Well this week I was both missing my real family a ton while also realizing how much I'm going to miss my new family here when I go. Wednesday was my host mom's 60th birthday, and my two older host sisters planned this huge surprise party at the grandma's house. They were thoughtful enough to invite me, and I had a great time. Wednesday evening I went to Mass with Claudia because they were having a special intention about her birthday. Then around 8:30 I told her I was going out to coffee but would be home for dinner, and walked the 3 blocks down the street to China's (her mom's) apartment. When I first got there I thought it was going to be super awkward because I was underdressed and had never met the large majority of the almost 50 people there. The apartment was so huge and fancy, and everyone was milling around with their glasses of beer and appetizers. Fran had class and was going to come later, so I just tried to talk to the grandkids in the corner for awhile. But luckily a couple of his cousins my age started talking to me, and by the end I felt completely comfortable. The surprise was absolutely perfect...we were all hidden behind this wall/in the room around the corner with all the glasses cleared away and the lights dimmed and the grandma just sitting in her chair. When we jumped out Claudia just screamed and screamed and it was really funny. It was basically her ENTIRE family, like second cousins and everything. So crazy. Then we ate empanadas and they had a nice memory book and little thing to sign and everything. Claudia was so surprised to see me there too and kept telling her friends how well I had lied to her and all this stuff. It was just funny because I think they all kind of thought I was going to ruin the surprise. Anyway, I hadn't planned to stay very late because I had an exam the next morning but I ended up staying there just hanging around with the close family till the very end, and I talked to a girlfriend of a cousin about my age for probably about an hour about how she did an intercambio with Germans and all this other stuff. They really do treat me like actual family, and I'm so lucky.

On the other hand, no matter how much fun I have at their big family dinners or gatherings, it always makes me miss my own family more, because no matter how inclusive they are, I'm not their flesh and blood, I don't understand their jokes, and I don't share their history, etc. I had already last week missed Alex's graduation (and his lovely speech), and then this weekend I missed Max's Eagle Scout ceremony and my mom's big surprise of flying in his best childhood friend from FL. I feel like we have "big family events" like this much less often than they do here, because everyone lives so close to each other here and they're just at a different stage of life with weddings, babies, etc. So, it was really too bad to miss two relatively big occasions at home home. However, Friday night I got to Skype with two sets of aunts and uncles and my GRANDPA, which was really exciting. I called to see how the surprise went, and didn't realize that all of my relatives were going to be there. So it was really really nice to hear everyone's voices / blurrily see them (especially Bup, who I think was pretty amazed with the technology!). I was just in such a good mood after talking to them. Claudia waited to eat with me way longer than the 5 minutes I had said I needed, and then we had a great talk about family and I told her all about the surprise and the ceremony (she even watched it on YouTube with me after!). We've been having some really good conversations when Fran's not home for dinner, and I feel like we are getting much closer than we were before, which is nice. I also can express myself much better, which is good. Finally there are times when my Spanish is just flowing and I'm not thinking and I'm just saying exactly what I'm trying to say.

Saturday morning we had another soccer game. We won 6-0, and I got to play right midfield. I ended up scoring 3 goals, so that was pretty exciting. The first and probably only hat trick of my life. We only had 8 girls so we all played the whole game, and we just have the funniest conversations with the coach and the Argentine girls on the long train rides to and from the field. We've been making all these plans to go shopping with them and they really want to take us out dancing and have another asado and all this stuff before we leave. This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I was staying the whole year, because we finally have real friendships with them, right before we have to leave. Saturday afternoon the grandkids were over again so I played with them a little. Saturday night 5 of us went out to dinner at Juana M (my third time there--the place with the amazing salad bar) and then to Jobs, the board game/pool bar I had gone to for my birthday. One of the only games left to check out was "Sextionary" (in Spanish, of course), so we gave that a try, but the vocabulary proved to be kind of an issue. Ed kept asking Argentines what words meant, which was kind of awkward. They had SCRABBLE(!), but it was checked out the whole time. It would have been so fun to play in Spanish.

Well, basically I just have my program class paper/presentation Thursday left to worry about with regards to school. Unfortunately, the paper is a huge pain, because my class topic was Argentine documentaries, and we have to write this fairly technical cinematographic comparison using movies only available to watch at the office (when they're not being used by other students). But I have my other 2 big papers done and printed already to turn in this week, and I just found out I got an 8 on my all-Argentines theology class parcial, so I'm relieved and really virtually done, in the whole scheme of things. I leave for Chile a week from tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the big Madison football ticket online sign-up, which should be crazy. Luckily the two hour time difference means I only have to get up at 10:30 instead of 8:30 to do it. Today was also obviously Father's Day, and I missed giving my Dad our gift of a new digital TV for the living room to replace our 1989 model. Although I was quite fond of/proud of that little TV...hopefully I'll get to take it for my dorm room in the fall. And my brother Max flies to Amsterdam tomorrow for a 2 week Europe tour with school. Phew, life is exhausting! Well, that's all for now. Chau!

Lists

2009-06-18T23:47:00.004-03:00

My life basically revolves around lists, and the other night I just sat down and wrote what I miss from home and what I'm going to miss from here when I leave...some thoughts (about 1/3 of which are food-related, ha):

Things I miss now... -people in sweats -being able to flush toilet paper in the toilet -carpeted floors -Pandora -voicemail -antibacterial soap -big yards -fresh food -basketball -my feather pillow -Title IX -doing my own laundry (surprise!) -people picking up dog poop -unlimited water in restaurants -being able to go running easily -driving -having a printer -eavesdropping (and understanding what's being said) -textbooks -heated buildings -baked goods -fat people -getting the newspaper -turkey -promptness -Newsweek -not being paranoid about getting robbed -early dinners -PDA rules -seatbelts -non-fruit desserts -customer service -tall boys -folders -reliable mail service -having plenty of coins -big breakfasts -a bug-less house -objective grading scale -smoking bans -June meaning summer -not being able to run out of cellphone minutes -peace and quiet -SPRECHER -clean bodies of water -garage door openers

Things I will miss... -cafe con leche -classy old women -mate -cheap beauty services -Converses everywhere -Spanish speaking children -the amount of feriados -McCafe -delivery options -markets -being legal -city life -sensationalist news -the delight of getting a moneda -"che" -the relaxed lifestyle -avenida 9 de julio (and getting across in one trip two times!!) -going to school 2 days a week -people making the sign of the cross in front of churches -protests -Gran Cunado -constant soccer on TV! -medialunas -the exchange rate -cafes -being semi "exotic" for once -Argentine mannerisms -asking for help -peoplewatching -boots -balconies -nightlife -besos -doormen -the Skype start-up noise -family culture -having a maid..sort of -ice cream flavors -kiosks -flower stands -taxis -endless kiwi and avocado -pitying tourists -my soccer team -bus rides with my iPod -satisfaction of grammar successes -chivalry (minus machismo) -my family here (even Cleo the cat...)

Also...most commonly used Argentine words/phrases: -che: like hey, you -boludo: stupid, but used endearingly -viste?: you see -la puta madre: swear about your mother -dejame de joder!: stop kidding around -como me rompe las bolas!: how he/she breaks my balls! -que se yo: I don't know -mierda: shit -la puta que te pario: another swear about your mother -entendes?: do you understand -bueno: ok, good -este: ummm -beso: kiss (like when you say bye on the phone.."un beso! chau chau!" -epa/esa!: hard to translate...like yeahhhh, that's it -obvio: obviously -chau: bye (and, weirdly, good night) -ni idea: no idea -gordo/a: fatty -como andas?: literally, how do you walk...how goes it? -come te va?: how goes it, how are you -vos: Argentine you (instead of tu) -tipo: man -digamos: filler word.."we say"

Well, I am sure I will think of many more things, but I am avoiding starting a paper and wanted to do this. This week I had my two in class/written finals, both of which went pretty well. So this weekend I just have to focus on my papers and presentations and then I'll be DONE next Thursday. Crazy.

Asado

2009-06-14T18:15:00.004-03:00

Welllll, another week has gone by. Monday I went to a State Department presentation for students at the U.S. Embassy on careers/internships in the foreign service. The security measures at the embassy were way more intense than I was expecting...a ton of armed guards, metal detectors, visitor tags, escorts. I guess the State Dept. has a very military-like hierarchy, and they can send entry level people to basically any U.S. embassy in the world. One guy had been stationed in Micronesia, Lithuania, and Ecuador, moving his kids every 2 years. Another job that sounds cool in theory but is probably not for me.

Nothing exciting during the school week...lots of studying. Went to the library all day Friday. Got back my big essay exam and got a 9 (they use a 10 pt. scale here, not letter grades), so I guess that was actually exciting. Friday night Hanna and I got ice cream and went to Fantasmas de Mi Ex (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past w/ Matthew McConaughey). Luckily it was subtitled, not dubbed, but it was pretty much as terrible as we expected. The theater was packed however, and it was interesting to see which parts the Argentines thought were funny, like when guys in the movie were being awkward about being touchy with each other. Saturday morning we had outdoor soccer practice, but it was kind of pointless, as usual. Saturday night I finally saw my host sister's 14 day old baby Tomas, and played with the other grand kids for awhile. I also made the Ghiradelli brownie box my mom sent me awhile ago, which was quite the ordeal. I had converted the temperature and measurements, so I thought I was all good. However, their oven, which you light with a match like the stove, doesn't have degrees, only a knob that adjusts how big the fire in the bottom is. Also, the only two measuring cup kind of things they had hold the milk bag and the dirty silverware, respectively. I washed one out but then realized it didn't have any measurements smaller than like 1 cup. So I had to just estimate the water and vegetable oil. Also, no Pam, only butter to grease the pan. Also, no normal pan. Or oven mitts. Or mixing bowl. Or spatula. I mixed the brownies in this bucket thing with a spoon. It was just ridiculous. Anyway, in the end they turned out a little dry (after I only cooked them for 20 min) and stuck to the pan, but everyone at the party I brought them to seemed to love them, so that was good.

Saturday night was this big asado (BBQ) with all the girls on the soccer team. It was at an Argentine girl's house pretty far away. It was in a bad neighborhood but the house was actually super nice, with this outdoor pool/hall/patio in the middle and a big room in the back (a converted factory) where she has parties. We had chorizo and steak, salad, bread, and my brownies for dessert. The meat was soooo good, and of course I ate a ton. Then we made daquiris, played cards, learned how to dance to cumbia/reggaeton, etc. It was so fun, and I love all the other Americans and the Argentines. Several of the Argentine girls are like 5th year law students, and we had some interesting conversations about politics. They are all so incredibly friendly and funny and I don't feel nervous speaking Spanish around any of them. We didn't even go out dancing after, which was the plan, and I still didn't get home till 4:30. We waited about 45 min. for our bus in the cold too, so that was unpleasant.

I put up a random picture of our maid, Olga, making empanadas, because they look so much like little pasties. The other day she told me "Be really careful!! I think today might be the coldest day of the whole winter!" It was 46 degrees. Pretty funny, but I do wish it was summer here too. Well, I've slept/studied all day, but Tuesday starts my two weeks from hell so I've gotta keep working. I'm feeling a lot better about my papers now though, and tomorrow is a feriado (national holiday), so I'll have nothing to do but study. Hasta luego!

Iguazu Falls

2009-06-07T18:11:00.008-03:00

So this weekend was our whirlwind trip to Iguazu Falls...we actually spent more time on the bus than in Igauzu, but it was definitely worth it. Thursday night we got on the bus at 9, not to get off again till 2 PM the next day. Overall, it was better than our first bus trip to Mendoza. We were on the upper level, right in front, so we had a ton of space and a huge windshield to look out of. The seats went back almost horizontal, and we got blankets and champagne. Still, 17 hours is 17 hours. Iguazu is way north in the subtropical province of Misiones, and it was cool driving into the city...very red clay, smaller towns, and tons of trees. We stayed at this hostel some people had recommended and got our own room with three beds and a private bathroom for only $15 per person. The hostel was almost like a resort, and we had their all you can eat buffet for $6 each, read by the pool, and hung out at the bar outside all night with 2 brothers from England and another 2 guys from New Zealand. And the bartender was Australian. Anyway, we had a lot of funny conversations about everything from accents to music to who has the better version of The Office. Everyone just had such a cool story of why and where they were traveling. It was really inspiring and it made me want to be one of those people who spend 5 months backpacking through Latin America showering once a week and staying in hostels. Kind of. It seemed that the majority of the people at the hostel were actually British, and apparently they are horrible dancers. Perhaps I should move to England...

Saturday morning we got up early and took the hostel transportation to the national park where Iguazu Falls is located, right on the border with Brazil (the river which forms the falls is actually the border, and we ended up being about 50 yd. away from Brazil, but unfortunately with the expensive and complicated visa process, didn't actually set foot in the country). We spent the whole day doing the various looping trails of boardwalk. They have an upper one that takes you up high right above where the falls all break, a lower one down near the bottom of each falls, and one on an island about a 2 min. boat ride from shore. Then you take this little touristy train thing out to "La Garganta del Diablo" (Devil's Throat), which is the biggest and most famous. In the morning there was a ton of mist, and by noon it was sunny and beautiful. We saw about 5 rainbows. I really can't describe how breathtaking all of the falls were. The noise and the panorama of cascading water is just breathtaking. They just go on and on for what seems like miles. Each little vista showed you a different view, and some of the smaller waterfalls were actually the most beautiful. There were also a variety of bizarre looking animals, from coatis (see pic of raccoon looking things) to huge lizards to butterflies to yellow-breasted, blue eyed birds. Not quite the Amazon, but the most jungle-y environment I've ever been in. It was pretty touristy and crowded, but we managed to separate ourselves from the crowds for a bit and relaxed in the sun lying in the sand on the island...until we got freaked out by the lizards appearing everywhere and literally jumping into the air to catch flies. At the end of the day we did this really short, touristy raft trip where they basically soak you by gunning the boat against the current and up under one of the smaller waterfalls. It was super fun and kind of scary because you couldn't really breathe with the wall of water in your face. I guess it was actually more like the mist/splash back part we were in, but even that is a crazy amount of water give the size of the falls. We had jeans on, and it was like we had jumped in a pool, but luckily we brought extra clothes to change into. When we got back to the hostel around 4:30 we had about 2 hours to find some food and shower in the community bathrooms. We got to see about the first 20 min. of the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Colombia. The game was played at the River Plate stadium in BA, and just about everyone I know here was at the game. I was extremely sad to have missed an opportunity to see such a huge soccer game, but we planned this awhile ago, and I suppose it was worth it! We almost missed our bus home because of a mix up about the company, but luckily we got on. The ride home wasn't so fun...we made about a thousand weird stops in the middle of nowhere to pick up people, have smoking breaks, and let on scary looking military guys with guns to search for illegal immigrants or something. I had pretty bad nausea, they played the movie Doubt for the second time really load, and it was freezing. But, I slept pretty well and we only got in about an hour late, miraculously. This trip was super short, but so amazing. I guess in my rankings the glaciers still win, but this was pretty close. So so beautiful. The pictures don't really do it justice...hopefully the video shows the size a little better.

Now starts my last 3 weeks of classes--it's crazy. It seems like nothing, but in the last 2 I have 3 papers, 2 finals, and 2 presentations. So we'll see how it goes. Also, I bought a plane ticket to Chile for the week after classes. It'll be just my best friend Hanna and me, and we're going to do Santiago, some smaller cities on the coast, and a day of skiing in the Andes. So there's that to look forward to! And then home in a month and 4 days.

Midwest, stand up!

2009-05-31T19:14:00.004-03:00

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

2009-05-24T19:21:00.006-03:00

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

2009-05-20T21:17:00.003-03:00

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

2009-05-17T19:34:00.004-03:00

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!

2009-05-11T22:10:00.004-03:00

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

2009-05-06T21:14:00.004-03:00

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.

Bicicleta-ing

2009-05-04T20:46:00.005-03:00

Che, boludos, como estan? Today our program organized a whole day trip for 13 of us to bike around the northern suburbs of BA. We met in the morning downtown to get our bikes and meet our guides from the UrbanBiking company. We then rode our bikes through the morning traffic and masses of people over to the train station in Retiro and took our bikes on the commuter train. This was an experience in itself, as you can probably imagine. We took the train north up the coast of the Rio de la Plata to a small town called La Lucila. From there we had a nice view of the city. We started biking up the coast toward Tigre, a fun town I spent a day in awhile ago. Some of the time we were right along the water but mostly we wound around the very expensive residential neighborhoods. The houses were absolutely insane. San Isidro, the ritziest area of greater Buenos Aires, is where a lot of wealthy CEOS and such from the city live. Or have vacation homes. There are some "barrios nauticos," or nautical neighborhoods, that are only accessible by boat. There are also a lot of crazy expensive private schools in this area. We actually biked past the gorgeous private university where I have all my soccer games. We took a nice break to drink mate and eat an alfajor (the cookies everyone is obsessed here, but I think are disgusting). Eventually we got to Tigre, where we ate lunch on a dock by the big fruit market/port. From there it was a short ride over to a rowing club, where we switched from bikes to kayaks. Hanna, Kyle, and I had a 3 person kayak. The trip was eventful, to say the least. We were the slowest people, and we ran into several other kayaks, a dock, a tree, and got stuck in the dense shrubbery and brush sticking out from the shore. I had never actually been in a kayak before, and I am apparently terrible at rowing. Anyway, it was super nice out and a beautiful day to be on the water. We got to go in some narrow channels and jungle-ish parts that I didn't go through in the bigger boat tour we took the last time we were in Tigre. The water was pretty cold (and still super dirty), so luckily no one tipped over. I again felt like I was back at my cottage, and it was nice to get a second look at all the docks and whimsically named boats and cottages. After this we took the commuter train about 45 min. all the way back to downtown BA and took our bikes down into a parking garage. It was overall a super great day, with lots of activity and cool architecture in the small towns. You see why Portenos might need to get out of the city every once in awhile. The parts on main drags with lots of traffic were a bit nerve-racking (e.g. having a bus follow 2 ft. behind you on a narrow road), but we survived.

Going back to this weekend, I meant for it to be relaxing and full of sleep and homework, but I still did some fun stuff (of course! haha). First, I watched 3 Argentine movies on my computer with Spanish subtitles, which are super good for learning phrases and improving my understanding of fast speaking and bad/regional pronunciation. Saturday afternoon my host mom's grandkids came over and we went to the park and played at the house. They are so cute, and I just get so excited that they like me and want to talk to me in Spanish. The boy, Mateo, who is 4, loves alternating between asking his almost 2 yr. old sister and me questions about what different things are called and delighting when I don't know things she does. We raced down this hall over again and he would explain how to say things like "ready, set, go" and that "I had to give Cande a head start because she's younger." Saturday night I went to another all you can eat pizza and pasta place with 4 other Madison kids to celebrate Mifflin. Afterwards we went over to Kyle's host family's house. His family has 5 kids, and they have a super cool apartment that takes up the whole first floor of an old building on busy Avenida Santa Fe. They also have a pool and a yard, which is very rare. Anyway, his host sister Mery, who is 19, had a bunch of girls over and we got to meet them and finally "hang out with Argentines." It was really fun and the girls were super friendly. Eventually around 2 AM they convinced us to come out with them to this bar over near the cemetery, closer to where I live. We went with the big group, but then it eventually ended up just being Hanna, Kyle, the sister, and me. She was very easy to get along with and promised to take Hanna and I shopping later this week (before we went out we basically just sat in the apartment admiring all of the girls' impressive fashion...and bodies). Here it is very easy to look both under dressed and obese, a lovely combination. I did also get a lot of reading and paper planning done this weekend, which was good. A lot of people are starting to have midterms, but for some reason all of my parciales are the first week of June, with the final exam or paper being the second week of June. So basically I have not much now and am going to die later. I've been getting stressed that I'm not stressed, if that makes sense, because everyone else is. I have to write a cumulative 25 pages of final papers, none of which I can start due to lack of information and clarification of assignments. Don't really know how that's gonna work out...

On a final sad note, tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, Sprecher's golden birthday. We always have a party with margaritas, hamburger meat for him, etc., so maybe I'll be able to participate for a bit through Skype, haha.

Random cultural facts (for my father): They iron everything here. T-shirts, underwear, everything. Also, both Burger King and McDonald's are insanely popular and have DELIVERY. You can actually get just about anything delivered, including alcohol at 3 in the morning.

Uruguay, etc.

2009-04-28T12:20:00.003-03:00

Hola! Well, I had a pretty good week. My theology presentation went surprisingly well, and I was able to stay awake in my Church and State class...two good things, ha. Friday my friend Ed's girlfriend Emily (who goes to Madison but is studying abroad for the year in Brazil) arrived for a week visit. She also happened to be my Spanish class partner and friend last semester, so it's cool to have her here. We went to Clasica y Moderna, our favorite jazz club/restaurant place, again to hear a show of guitar and piano interspersed with Borges readings. Then Saturday night we went to the famous Cafe Tortoni for a very touristy/tacky but good tango show and dinner. After that we took a cab out to Palermo to go to some bars in Plaza Serrano, a very popular nightlife area where I hadn't been yet. Also Saturday was our first soccer game! We lost 2-1 to Di Tella, another BA university, but it was still really fun. It took 2 hours to get to the field, on the subway, then a commuter train, then a taxi...all for only 50 minutes of soccer...but oh well. We played on like a U-10 field, 8 v. 8, and the ref was calling absolutely everything. All of us Americans were getting super frustrated because the game is much less physical here, and everyone was way overshooting the tiny goal. The jerseys were so tiny, and there were only 8 so we had to pass them around. We also got Doritos after the game from the league, which was funny. The other team had some American girls too, and I talked to someone from Minnesota after. Sunday Fran and I went with his sister Caro and her husband to the house of the mother and father in law of the other sister. It was in this super fancy, gated neighborhood called Nordelta, about 45 min. outside the city. We played tennis, ate a delicious asado, and hung out with Fran's little cousins. It is very interesting how the entire family becomes friends with the inlaws of just one sibling. I feel like that never happens in the U.S. Anyway, everyone was super nice, and the neighborhood was insane...all these super modern, huge houses of all different styles. It was like a mix between a new Florida condo development and Stonefields (mini-mansions in Mequon) or something.

So, yesterday was our program trip to Colonia del Sacramento, in Uruguay. It was a 3 hour ferry ride across the Rio de la Plata to get to the tiny UNESCO world heritage town founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Our program director, Mario, actually has a bed and breakfast outside the town, and we went there first for lunch. It was absolutely GORGEOUS, with acres and acres of trees, a lemon farm, a pool, dogs, ivy covered walls, modern decorating, and rooms full of character. Some of the doors were from an old prison in Montevideo and had prisoners names carved in them, with slots to pass through food and everything. His small staff prepared this huge asado with chorizo, chicken, beef, and tons of sides and wine. We sat outside in the garden/yard surrounded by ponds and flowers. For dessert we had blueberry and dulce de leche ice cream and fresh fruit. After we just hung out there for awhile and then took a bus back into the historic district and just walked around for about 2 hours. The cobblestone streets and alleys of old buildings were super cool. We sat down on the pier in the setting sun for awhile as well. The river on that side is the same muddy brown as it is in BA, except apparently in Uruguay it's perfectly clean, not disgusting and polluted like the Argentina side. The brown color is actually because the river bottom is all red clay. We had thought mate was super popular here, but in Uruguay you didn't pass a single person without it. It didn't really feel like we were in a different country at all, except for having to go through customs. On the ferry home we sat up on the deck outside on this bench and just watched the stars in the windy darkness...no Big Dipper, because the constellations are different in the Southern Hemisphere (Mr. D, I thought of you!) Ok, well it's super late so I should go, that's all for now.

Vamos Boca!

2009-04-19T21:13:00.006-03:00

Today I went to my first Argentine soccer game, which just happened to be a Superclasico. It was Boca Juniors vs. River Plate in the Bombonera, Boca's stadium. My coach from Mequon Soccer Club played for Boca back in the '80s with Maradona, and he came down for the game. He also managed to get Fran and me tickets...kind of. The whole day felt like a drug deal or something. Fran and I tried to hail a taxi to the stadium, but no one would stop for us. He ended up taking off his Boca jersey because he figured taxi drivers were trying to avoid driving into the mess around the stadium (or were River fans!). We were supposed to meet Cacho's friend on this street corner, but we couldn't find him forever and no one was answering the cell phone numbers Cacho had given us. Finally this guy comes up to us and asks if we're with Cacho, but doesn't introduce himself or anything. We follow him around for awhile as he talks to random security guards and men in suits. It is honestly like the mafia...people were begging the guards to let them in because they knew this or that person, and people were being escorted in from cars and stuff. Also, there were 1100 police officers with rifles. Anyway, we finally get in the first gate, but then end up waiting at a second gate for like an hour. The original "friend" hands us off to another guy, but the tickets he gives us come up as already used at the scanner thing. So we wait again, and at this point Cacho's still not answering his phone and we're thinking we're not going to get in. Finally, five minutes before the game started this guy grabs us, pulls us through this crowd, and just says "they're with me" and we proceed to walk in without tickets. We raced up to the third tier and, having given up on Cacho, just found a spot to stand in the aisle of the highest "popular" section. The popular section is the least expensive and where all the hooligans and real Argentine fans are. The video I've attached is from right before kickoff, when the Boca players were coming out. Basically, the game was insane. I felt like I was going to be injured several times. I had to keep my hands over my pockets the whole time because of my phone and my camera. The game ended up being 1-1, and after the Boca goal everyone went nuts and we almost fell forward. There were balloons, flags, fire works, smoke bombs, flying papers. Our row unfurled the top of one of those HUGE flags you see covering a section of fans on TV. One of "La Doce," or the actual mafia of Boca who always initiates violence and gets arrested, was yelling commands at us about the flag. At halftime you literally couldn't have gone anywhere if your life depended on it...people were just sitting on top of each other. The whole time the stadium was shaking from people jumping, and Boca has a million songs that people scream at the top of their lungs. I also heard more swearing than I've heard anywhere else in my life. The actual playing of the game was almost hard to pay attention to, there was so much else going on. After the game we, after a lot of waiting and phone calls, met up with Cacho. He was wearing his Mequon Soccer vest, which was funny. He also introduced us to his nephews who apparently now coach in Mequon as well, and another former Boca player who was the coach of the Argentine women's national team. This guy ended up giving me his jacket, walking us to his appartment, introducing us to his son who plays on the Boca "minor league" team, and driving us to the subway station. It was kind of sketchy seeming, but he was Cacho's friend. Also, he kept talking to me about how I played and telling me I should play with one of the women's professional teams here. Cacho actually told me he'd already given my number to his friend with the Boca women's team (didn't know such a thing existed...) so I could have a try out and try to play with them. I don't exactly feel up to trying out for a professional team, haha, but I promised I'd give it a try, since women's soccer here is basically a joke, from what I've seen. All in all, it was a super fun and very cultural experience. I had thought going to a Real Madrid game was going to be the best soccer I'd see in my life, but this was like 10 times better. Crazy is really the only word for it. It definitely lived up to my expectations, except for that we didn't see any violence or riots or police stand-offs (or anyone die, for that matter) which was good. Now Fran is telling me I shouldn't be writing this stuff because the Boca mafia will actually come kill me, haha. Well, I have a 20 minute presentation on the Mormons for my theology class Tuesday so I must go. Vamos Boca!!

Rant

2009-04-15T23:46:00.002-03:00

Disclaimer: I have been having a rough couple of days and have decided to just write a blog of complaints, so don't feel compelled to read it, it's really for myself. As I'm sure you can tell from my previous posts, I'm having the time of my life, but today is my 2 month mark and I'm just going to indulge in some cathartic complaining!!

This is what I hate about Argentina right now: 1. Inefficiency and inconvenience. That just about sums it up. Every little thing you need to do here becomes an ordeal. Going to the store. Going to the doctor. Getting something printed. Our visa thing took 7 hours. I spent 3 hours today trying to get a simple signature for my medical release form. Bus rides to school take 40 minutes. There are lines for everything, and no one is in a hurry or cares if you are. There is always paperwork, or a strike, or a delay. The store closes early on Sundays. The worker forgot to make the copies you ordered. 2. Men staring. Seriously, you feel like a piece of meat. It is just completely normal and accepted to look a woman up and down blatantly, whip your head around after you pass her, beep, whistle, cat call, and generally act disgustingly. Also, women look at you and judge you. Basically everyone stares at you in an unfriendly and creepy manner and you feel the need to be paranoid constantly because everyone is just loitering around giving each other weird looks and you think you're going to be robbed. 3. Overly skinny women. There are no women athletes here, so no one has my kind of body. They are super into plastic surgery, fashion, tanning, etc. My host brother makes comments about me being fat all the time. Here that is supposed to be endearing (ironically). I don't find it very endearing, personally. 4. Eating dinner at midnight. I want to be in bed. And I'm starving at 6:00. 5. Girls and boys can't just be friends. If you hug a guy, it automatically means you like him. People don't hang out in mixed groups. And jealousy is expected and encouraged in relationships. 6. The photocopy system for classes. I don't care if there's not a book, but they could at least have all the photocopies together instead of having to go down every week, stand in line for half an hour, find each document on some computer / in a book in the library, pay with monedas, and have random papers floating around everywhere. 7. Lack of customer service. If you don't have exact change or at least some monedas, people just won't serve you, instead of rounding down or something like they'd do in the U.S. Cashiers blatantly hold conversations with each other or on the phone. People at a desk at a place like migrations or a bank will stand up in the middle of your conversation and go to another cubicle to chat or grab some food. 8. People talking in class. Really rude. 9. Confusing bus system. The bus guide doesn't show you where the stops are. I always get on the bus going in the wrong direction. And accepting only coins is the most inefficient and annoying thing ever. 10. No peanut butter. Or baking. Or good dark chocolate. Or Heinz ketchup. Or bread in my house. Or butter. The list goes on and on. 11. English music. Everyone here listens to music in English. I am here to learn Spanish. 12. No seat belts in taxis. With the way people drive here, not wearing a seat belt is just asking to get killed. 13. Dog poop everywhere. There are streets by parks where you can't look up for more than 5 seconds cuz you're bound to step in some. 14. Accents/vos form. People speak so fast and in such a different style than the Spanish we learn in the U.S. It is incredibly hard to understand. 15. Lack of monedas. An extreme coin shortage in a country that demands the use of coins for its main transportation. 16. The subway closes at 10:30. People don't even go out till 2 or 3 AM. Why? Well, there is my judgmental, typical American list of unfair generalizations. Now I feel better. Soon I will write a list of what I love, and I'm sure it'll be much longer. Yesterday in my Theology class with just 5 Argentines, me, and the professor, the majority of the class was discussion. When the Argentines spoke amongst themselves I couldn't understand A SINGLE WORD in some conversations. In others, just the last word of each response. I was exerting such mental effort but with all the back and forth and laughing and interrupting and slang I just couldnt follow anything. When the professor speaks I can understand, and when other students speak to me, for the most part, but listening to my peers speak to each other is like listening to German or something sometimes. I've been here 2 months, what the heck! It's not even like I don't know the vocabulary it's that I literally can't make out the words they're pronouncing it's all mumbling and spoken inside their mouths. Ugh. I almost walked out of my class in tears at several points because I was so lost and bored and I wanted to understand the topic cuz it was really interesting but no one spoke to me and I couldnt have interjected if I tried. A guy brought mate though and we all passed it around, so that was nice. I got home late last night after soccer, tired and upset, and ended up crying for the first time since I've been here. Luckily my host brother stayed up talking with me, and has promised not to speak to me in English at all for awhile. He went out to a kiosk at 1 in the morning and bought his mom (who had received some sort of bad news) and me chocolate and said his grandpa always said "when you're having an ugly day you need something sweet." Claudia also noticed something was wrong right when I walked in, even though I thought I was acting cheerful and fine, so it kind of felt like I was back with my real mom (but not really of course, mom!). Then I skyped my family today after this long hassle at the hospital today getting an electrocardigram and all for soccer (so unnecessary) and missed my mom so much and it was sad. And I am homesick, even though I don't want to go home, if that makes sense.

Okayyyy, that is all. Claudia and Fran are gone discussing some kind of family issue with his siblings for dinner, so I ate dinner by myself. But actually that was fine because I ate quickly, early, and as much as I wanted..non of which usually happen. And then I ate ice cream out of the tub just to be rebellious haha. Tomorrow will be a better day. This weekend we have our first soccer game and I'm going to the Boca/River game, so that will be awesome. Hasta pronto.

Mendoza

2009-04-13T16:16:00.006-03:00

Hola amigos. Well, I am finally home from my whirlwind two weeks exploring Argentina. This past weekend in Mendoza was absolutely amazing, and I did more adventurous things than I've done in the entire rest of my life. Mendoza is a city to the way west on the border with Chile in the Andes. It's known for it's wine and skiing in winter. I went with my friend Hanna, who also went to El Calafate, and a sophomore guy from Madison named Kyle. We left on a coach bus ("omnibus" here) Wednesday night from the huge bus station in Retiro with just about the entire rest of the city. The terminal was the most chaotic and crowded place I have ever been. And you constantly have to be watching your stuff and be paranoid because it's a dangerous area (I caught someone unzipping my friend's backpack while we were walking a different time). Anyway, our bus was 2 hours late, and it was very stressful because there are no boards or anything telling you where to go, only a woman on the loudspeaker constantly announcing delays, gates, and bus companies over the noise. We finally got on our bus and settled in for the 13 or so hours ahead. The buses here are actually as unbelievably nice as everyone said they would be. Our seats were "semi-cama," which meant they leaned back quite far into a bed position and a little foot rest came down from the chair in front. We were served both dinner and breakfast by the two attendants on the bus. They played music, showed a movie and a concert, and generally created a fun atmosphere.

We arrived in Mendoza around noon on Thursday. We ran into a bunch of IFSA people in the bus station because just about half the program decided to go to Mendoza this weekend. We walked about 10 blocks to our hostel, Simplemente Mendoza. Kyle booked the hostel, and it ended up being a great choice. The owner, Romina, was super interesting and helpful. She is from Argentina but grew up in Chicago. She then met her husband, who is from BA, in Texas, and they moved back south to open a hostel. Through her we booked all our tours and excursions. We stayed in a 9 bed bunk room with 5 students from the University of Oregon and one student from Germany. Later in the weekend we met some other Americans in the hostel and went out with them. One is moving to Waterford, WI this summer. Weird. Also met someone from Texas with a cottage on Sturgeon Bay. Small, small world. Anyway, Thursday afternoon we just walked around the town, which was extremely dead. Mendoza has huge plazas and parks, and we enjoyed just relaxing. We got ice cream, which Mendoza is famous for, several times during the trip. The weather was also beautiful...70s and 80s, not a cloud in the sky...all weekend.

Friday afternoon we took a winery tour on a bus. We visited the now-closed but formerly biggest winery in South America, a smaller family-owned boutique one, an olive farm, and a chocolate shop. The visits included wine/olive oil/chocolate tastings, which were for the most part delicious. At the chocolate shop though we got this disgusting chocolate alcohol that no one could drink. It was super interesting to see how wine is made, and we got lessons in wine etiquette at one place. The scenery was just gorgeous driving around...big, sunny groves and lines of grapes surrounded by mountains and the clear, fast-running pre-Incan irrigation system the city if famous for (it's all fresh water running down from the Andes that allows extremely dry Mendoza to be the 5th largest wine producing region in the world). We tried a bunch of different recommended wines at various restaurants and bars throughout the weekend, and I actually enjoyed most of it, even though I'm usually not a big fan of wine.

Saturday was our big day of adventure. We were picked up early in the morning in a van and driven about an hour away into the Andes. The landscape was incredible...mountainy like all the other places I've been here but also super different because of the red clay and arid landscape. We went to the base camp of the Argentina Rafting company, which was absolutely beautiful. It is situated on the huge Mendoza river in a gorge between walls of mountain. They had lovely wooden decks and lounge chairs, an outdoor restaurant, and fun music. It felt like a mountain resort or something. Anyway, we had signed up for half a day of zip lining and half a day of whitewater rafting. I was super nervous because both activities are(clearly) not me and I would consider them too dangerous even in the U.S. But, I ended up loving them both and it was another one of the best days of my life. The zip lining consisted of getting strapped into a harness, putting on heavy gloves, grabbing onto a cable, and flying across gorges and the river hundreds of feet up in the air. It was absolutely exhilarating. We did about 7 or 8 different passes, and the best was definitely going out over the river. We were actually doing the zip lining for about an hour, then we had a nice break to eat lunch and just lounge in the sun. In the afternoon we got dressed in wetsuits, jackets, helmets, and boots to go rafting. We were driven out to the beginning of the rapids, then split up into groups. It was the three of us, a young Argentine couple, and our guide Jason. It was immediately clear that Jason spoke Spanish worse than us, and it turns out he's from Colorado and just kind of moved to Argentina with his girlfriend on a whim, started learning Spanish (a month ago), and got a job under the table from friends as a rafting guide. The rafting was AMAZING! The rapids were class 3 and 4, so it was actually pretty intense. No one fell out, but almost. We were surrounded by mountains and churning water. Saturday night on our way out to dinner we stopped in the teeming Plaza Independencia to watch a street performer set up. We ended up staying for an hour and half watching this creepy guy get children to give him their parents' money. He also juggled fire and picked me out of the crowd to help him two times, one of which involved shaking my hips and thrusting a bowling pin into the air to Aretha Franklin or someone similar. It was awkward.

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and then took about an hour walk up to Cerro de la Gloria, a peak from which you can see the entire city of Mendoza and the Andes on the border with Chile. It was a nice, if very hot, walk, and we sat up at the top by a cool statue of San Martin the liberator for awhile. After that we went out for pizza and just sat in a park again. It was a really weird Easter; my two friends aren't religious and I didn't even make it to Mass but I explained the Easter story to them when they asked and ate 12 Peeps so I suppose it was okay. The bus ride home was nice as well; they showed Slumdog Millionaire and we played Bingo with the whole bus and a prize of a bottle of wine. We did, however, have to sit on the bus in line to disembark back in BA for 2 HOURS because there was so much return traffic for the Easter holiday. Well, now I'm back in my room, about to fold the mountains of laundry I just got done. Two of Fran's friends came over for "tea" for about an hour and we drank mate, so that was fun. I still get very frustrated trying to hold a conversation though, because when they speak to each other I literally get nothing at times. Oh well. Tomorrow I have class so it's back to reality...kind of, haha. If only my life here was going to stay reality. Hasta pronto.

Glacier Video

2009-04-08T15:40:00.003-03:00

El Calafate

2009-04-07T08:29:00.006-03:00

Hola! So, I just got home from the best trip of my life: El Calafate, in southern Patagonia, to visit Argentina's Glacier National Park. Anything I write here will not even begin to describe how cool this place was. I took 500 pictures (haha) so hopefully I will be able to put more up than usual or you can check them out on Facebook.
Anyway, I flew out Thursday afternoon with my two friends Ed and Hanna from Madison. Our plane was delayed like 3 hours but at least we got lunch vouchers. Landing in El Calafate it looked like Mars or something...red rugged plateaus and no sign of people or buildings. Also, the airport was the smallest thing I had ever seen. It had an embarking/disembarking place for one plane only. The terrain throughout the trip was so varied and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Mostly it was very dry brush steppe, I would almost call it tundra, mountains, and one lake. We alternatively felt like we were in Lord of the Rings, Antarctica, Land Before Time, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Thursday night we got in late and just crashed at our hostel, Glaciar del Libertador, which was super nice. We had paid for a 4 person hostel type dorm room but actually got a private, 3 bed room with a bathroom. Friday morning we got up to do this horseback riding tour but it was full, so we walked around town in the rain all morning, looking to book tours and rent winter clothing for our trekking the next days. Friday at 5 PM we did this "cabalgata" tour at a small ranch in the middle of this empty valley between huge mountains. It was just us and 3 girls from NYU. I havent had much experience with horses and was a bit nervous, since most of the other people were riders, but my horse Surgas was mostly fine, except for bucking as I was getting off. We followed our guide along these trails winding around and up these mountains for about 2 hours in total. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and we saw cattle and rabbits roaming around everywhere. After that we went back to the ranch for a huge asado of delicious beef, chicken, vegetables, and potatoes. All the workers were so friendly and the atmosphere was great.

Saturday was our big day: our glacier trekking tour was from 7:30 AM to 6:30 PM. The tour company, Hielo y Aventura, picked us up in a bus in the morning, and we drove into the national park. We drove along this lonely highway in the huge dark valley passing no one. It was like a movie. We had to pay park entrance fees two days that would have been significantly cheaper if we had our residency (which happens tomorrow), so that was annoying. Anyway, we drove to the touristy balcony things along the front of the famous Glaciar Perito Moreno and stopped for about half an hour, taking pictures of the stunning ice wall across the water. It was raining, but we did get to see two small breaks, where a big slab of ice comes crashing down into the water. All of the glaciers in the park are receding because of global warming, some at rates of like a meter a day, which is a ton. After this we took a boat across an arm of Lago Argentino (a HUGE lake, 700 meters deep at the most, the biggest in Argentina, on which the glaciers are situated). We arrived at the base of these huge, prehistoric looking mountains, with weird outcroppings, low clouds, and misty waterfalls everywhere. There we started our long trek up and around the side of the glacier. I guess I had always thought of glaciers as being on water, but it was actually over a huge valley of rock between two tall mountains, and you could see at higher levels the lines where it passed through, carving out the rock. We got to try some wild Calafate berries, for which the town is famous and makes ice cream and jam with. Then we get crampons and harnesses and actually went out onto the glacier with about 5 guides. We spent 3 hours walking around on the ice, seeing all the crevasses, deep holes, blue ice formations, rocks, and peaks. I felt like I was on the moon. In front of us were the snow-capped Andes and white for as far as you could see. We even ate lunch up there. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I could have been in just a sweatshirt, but we were glad we had rented hiking boots and also gloves because the ice is super sharp if you fall or sit down.

Sunday we did another tour, leaving at 7:15 AM on a boat excursion. We took a huge catamaran with about 100 other people up different arms of the lake to see 3 bigger glaciers. Upsala, the biggest, is 4 TIMES the size of Buenos Aires, but we had to stay about 7 km. away because of the dangerous field of icebergs in front of it. Still really impressive. We got super close to Spegazzini, and then ate lunch outside in a foresty/rocky (and freezing!)outcropping overlooking some other smaller ones. The lake is this crazy turquoise color because of the "glacial milk" or the pulverized, silvery rock suspended in the freezing water. The icebergs we saw were almost cooler than the glaciers. We were constantly navigating through and right up next to huge, weirdly shaped ice sculptures, some of which were deep blue. Volcanic looking mountains surrounded us, and you could again actually see the path of the glaciers due to tree levels and such. You could see the paths of long, thin waterfalls coming down from what seemed like a mile up. It was very windy, misty, and cloudy, which was cool.

Monday morning we checked out of the hostel then just walked around town until going to the airport around 3. The town is entirely based on tourism and in the absolute middle of nowhere, just right on the lake in this big valley. It has one main drag, and just about every other building is a tour office. It still had a lot of character though, with a lot of old, beat up cars, stray dogs, and locals hanging around the brightly colored stores. We got all of our meals at this crazy crowded corner grocery store and ate basically off our laps on our beds in the hostel with rented silverware and stolen plates. One night we even drank wine out of yogurt lids. So, the room was a bit messy and we got a bit sick of dry bread, but it was cheap. It had to be, since all the tours were so expensive. However, it was totally worth every penny. Best time of my life.
Well, I have class now, but I'm going to try to put up some videos later. I'm kind of in panic mode here because we had to go through this whole ordeal switching our second trip for this weekend from Salta to Mendoza because of this huge dengue fever epidemic. So it's been a big hassle, but at least I won't get dengue, so that's good. I leave on a 13 hour bus ride again tomorrow night, so it's a quick turnaround! Hasta luego.

Bella Vista

2009-03-30T21:05:00.005-03:00

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

2009-03-30T20:03:00.003-03:00

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

2009-03-25T16:50:00.004-03:00

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!

2009-03-22T20:58:00.005-03:00

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

2009-03-14T01:00:00.002-02:00

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

2009-03-09T12:36:00.004-02:00

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

2009-03-07T02:51:00.004-02:00

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

2009-03-03T20:28:00.006-02:00

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!

Che Boludo

2009-02-27T20:52:00.014-02:00

Bueno. This week went by super fast. We had more in depth and interesting orientations, including Argentine political history lessons, individual meetings with an academic advisor, and security briefing from the people at the U.S. embassy. On Tuesday my host brother came with two of my American friends and me to Palermo, which is a short subway ride from my barrio. We walked through the lovely botanical garden there and then visited the Jardin Japones, which I think is the biggest Japanese garden outside of Japan. After that we had a quick lunch at a cafe, where I ate a delicious brie and arugula pizza. Wednesday morning we visited the Universidad Torcuato di Tella, which is one of the most prestigious and expensive private colleges in Argentina. It was nice, but I decided not to take classes there because it is about a 50 min. subway ride / walk away and supposedly is set up very much like colleges in the U.S.

Yesterday all we had planned with the program was a short academic meeting with an advisor, so in the afternoon my friends Ed and Hanna (from Wisconsin) and I went back to Palermo to see the BA Zoo. But first we stopped for lunch at another of my guidebook-recommended restaurants. The Rio Alba was a nice parilla, but a little more expensive than we had anticipated. It is interesting that in Argentina there is a kind of cover charge for cubierto (silverware) and bread that gets added onto the bill at sit down restaurants. Also, you have to buy mineral water if you want water, they don't serve you tap water automatically or even if you ask. Anyway, Ed and I shared this huge rack of shortribs served on a sizzling minigrill. I have never eaten so much meat in my life, but it was delicious. Meat doesn't come with any kind of side here unless you order it, so it's always pretty much straight steak whenever you get it. On the way to the zoo we saw Barney wandering around charging people to take their picture with him (as you can see in the picture..which I did not pay for of course). The zoo was extremely interesting. First of all, you could get way closer to the animals and there was much less fencing in general than in the U.S. Also, feeding the animals was encouraged, with stands to buy general food and little holes in the fences to stick your hand through. The general scene was groups of children throwing food pellets and hitting animals in the head. They also had some interesting cages and set-ups for their "rainforest" building and other themes. There were random kangaroo-like things, cats, birds, and ferrets running around everywhere on the paths as well.

After the zoo I headed home to get ready for the big family dinner we were having. My host mother Claudia invited her other three children and their spouses over to get to know me and eat the summer sausage and wax cow filled with cheese I had brought them as a gift. Her mother was also here, as were the 1 and 4 year old kids of her youngest daughter. Needless to say, it was a lot of people, and I was a little nervous. I really had a great time though, and especially enjoyed trying to talk to the kids, because I was having a very hard time understanding the rapid fire conversation of the rest of the family and keep everyone's names straight. Everyone loved my food, and my host mom made a big show out of explaining it and cutting it up, which was funny. Everyone also wanted to see where I lived in an atlas and talk about various states they had seen in movies. We had crackers, meats, pate, and cheeses with some kind of Argentine beer for an appetizer, and then Claudia brought out homemade empanadas (little pastries filled with meat, onions, egg, etc) that we ate in the living room. On the outside they look exactly like little pasties (Mom).

This morning I successfully took a bus over to Puerto Madero, the fashionable new area along the Rio de la Plata where the Universidad Catolica Argentina is located. We had a little orientation and then signed up for classes manually, filling out forms, flipping through pages and pages of schedules and speaking with faculty advisors for two hours. It was kind of a mess and very stressful. The buildings are absolutely beautiful, very new and modern with outsides that look like brick warehouses along the water. I plan on taking at least 2 classes there, but I'll have to see how the shopping period goes. The education system here is completely different, in that students have to pick a major right when they enter college and then take pre-set classes pertaining to that major the whole time. There are no electives / the concept of liberal arts and literally all the times, days, and teachers are predetermined for them. That makes it a bit hard for international students to enroll. Also, if you take a fourth year poli sci course, for example, that means you'll be with students who've had three entire years of only poli sci, which is a bit intimidating. As much as I'd like to be fully integrated into regular classes with Argentine students, the classes set up specifically for foreigners are starting to look more and more appealing...

This afternoon I've just been resting and packing for my trip to Bariloche tomorrow. I did go for a run in the park I've gone to with Fran, which was really relaxing and interesting as always. I got lost coming home. I also picked up my laundry (at laundromats here you can't do your own laundry, you have to just drop it off and then you pick it up all clean, dry, and folded in these big bags). Very interesting (and nice I guess, if you're not OCD about color separation / not drying certain things, which I am to some extent). My Castellano (what they call Spanish here) is definitely still improving, although there were points during the week when it was just too much and I just had to go away from people and stop talking. I'm getting more used to the weird voseo commands (contame, accent on the a, not cuentame, for those of you who speak Spanish) and learning more slang words everyday (che boludo is a greeting like "hey stupid," but used with friends). Well, thanks for reading, chau.

Finally photos

2009-02-22T17:40:00.012-02:00

Hola mis amigos. It's been a busy first weekend in BA. Friday we had our last day of intensive orientation, where we learned a lot more about the different universities in which we can take classes and also our upcoming trip to Bariloche, a beautiful place in the southern lakes region of Argentina. Check out the sweet hotel we'll be staying at...www.amancayhotel.com.ar/English/index. Friday night after eating this meat and potato dish with my family at 10:30 I met up with some people from the program and we went out to this bar on a trendy street of bars, clubs, and restaurants across from the famous Recoleta cemetery. It was so weird to be able to order alcohol at a restaurant! I had some kind of dark artisan beer from Argentina. We sat outside and watched all the beautiful people walking by for awhile. Then we went to a 1:30 AM showing of Frost/Nixon in English with Spanish subtitles. I had wanted to see an Argentine film but apparently the movie theatres here show movies from the U.S. almost exclusively, which is really too bad. When the movie got out we decided to try and walk back to our apartments because it seemed well lit, but we ended up getting really lost, walking onto this dark, dead street with sketchy looking men lurking around, freaking out, and calling a taxi. Then the taxi driver misunderstood the first address, went way the wrong direction, and we thought we were getting kidnapped for a second or something haha. But I eventually got home...around 4:30!...so it was okay.

Saturday I slept till noon, and when I got up neither my mother nor my brother was awake! Around one I met up with my friend Katie who lives nearby and we walked about 25 minutes over to the Plaza de Mayo to meet up with two other girls. The weather was a little cooler so we sat in the plaza amidst the flocks of disgusting pigeons for awhile. Then we went to the famous Cafe Tortoni nearby, where the author Borges and other important Argentine literary and political figures have gathered for over a hundred years. We had a leisurely lunch, and I got to know a girl Kara from Boston who loves Euchre, Anna Quindlen, and Mass in foreign countries, so I think we'll be spending some more time together! After lunch we went to the beautiful Metropolitan Cathedral on the Plaza de Mayo, which looks like a government building from the outside, with its big concrete columns. We happened to get there at just the right time, so we saw the changing of the guards at the tomb of General San Martin, a national hero and the liberator of Argentina, Chile, and other South American countries. Our next stop was the Casa Rosada, or Argentina's equivalent of the White House. This is where the president works (but she doesn't live there). It was so unlike the U.S., because you could just walk right up to the building and go in for a free tour. The tour was in Spanish and I didn't understand a lot, but the various rooms inside were gorgeous. On my way home I stopped to get some photocopies made of my passport that we need for our visa or something. I went to this little open air Libreria, where a single man and his little son were working. I didn't have enough cash and they didn't accept credit cards, so I said I'd come back Monday, but the guy insisted he do it right then and said I could just come back and pay him on Monday. It was in my neighborhood and I came right back after getting more money in my apartment but it was really nice of him and characteristic of the little family-owned shops in the barrio. Saturday night for dinner we took the subway out to Palermo, a trendy barrio a little farther away. After wandering around in the rain for awhile we settled on this parilla called Don Julio that was recommended in my guidebook. There were a lot of locals there, but we also saw some other people from the program. We met some girls on a different program from NYU and this one girl had just been almost robbed at knifepoint when a man pushed her into a doorway and tried to take her purse. She screamed and sprinted away but the guy cut her hand. It was really scary. Two girls on our program have also already been robbed. I feel safe most of the time, but we keep hearing about all of these incidents, most of them in "safe" neighborhoods, not when people were alone, and not very late. Anyway, the restaurant was awesome. They bring you a glass of complimentary champagne while you wait for a table. Then there was bread and these great spice sauces for it. We got a bottle of white wine, and I had the beef tenderloin, which was excellent. Everyone who got steaks loved them. There were six of us at dinner. We got our food around midnight and then just sat around talking and relaxing for another hour of two, as is the custom. It was really rainy, so we decided to just get taxis home. When I got home around two, I was quiet coming in, but Claudia and Francisco were up and wide awake. I stayed up looking at pictures of family trips with Fran and listening to his favorite American music (Bryan Adams: Summer of '69 ha) for another hour. Then he was going out to get these alfajor cookies at some little convenience store for Claudia and himself. They wanted to get me one, but it was past 3 and I insisted I had to go to bed!

This morning I woke up and went to Mass at this cathedral near my apartment called San Nicolas. Claudia and Fran had gone last night, so I went by myself. It was very interesting, although I didn't understand most of it due to sitting in the last row, extreme traffic noise, babies crying in front of me, the echo in the huge room, and last but not least, of course the Spanish. After church I met up with two girls from my program so we could do this picture project we were assigned in our Spanish class. We had to go around taking pictures of our barrio, Recoleta, with certain themes and we'll have to present them tomorrow. Then we got lunch at a cafe called Carlitos near the cemetery and I had delicious ham, egg, onion, and ricotta crepes. I had never talked to the other girls before but they are from Barnard and Penn. It is fascinating the kind of social/fashion/overall personality differences between students from the coasts vs. the midwest and public vs. private schools. My three best friends I've made so far are from the midwest of course! After our lunch I walked through the cemetery by myself for a bit and bought this delicious ice cream cone from the well-known Freddo chain. I also wandered through a Sunday feria (fair/open air market of sorts) by the Recoleta Cultural Center. Then I walked around trying to figure out my way home without a map. I'm really starting to get my bearings a little bit. I stopped and walked through a grocery store, studying all the various kinds of foods and the few American brands. I bought a Spanish language Newsweek at a kiosk and some plums from a street vendor. It's so fun to just explore by myself, as I've never been somewhere long enough to actually get to know the place without a guide and a big group. I'm now feeling confident using my Spanish at stores and in various social transactions with locals. I absolutely love my area and walking around the lovely parks, plazas, and tree-lined streets. Sunday mornings are eerily dead here, and there was barely anyone out when I was walking around. Now I'm back in my room relaxing and chatting with Fran. I hope to go to bed early for once tonight, because I have another busy week ahead! Maybe I can get the Oscars on TV here. Oh, and I also (hopefully) added some photos to prove I'm actually here!

revival of the awkward moment for jordan: When the two girls and I were taking pictures in this park, there was this group of Argentines our age standing around dancing and clapping. This one guy had a boombox and a stick of incense. All of a sudden they made a train and came over to us, circling us and grabbing at us to start dancing. They were just going crazy and shouting and touching us. We asked them why they were dancing and one girl said, "Por la alegria!" (for happiness). We didn't know what to do they just surrounded us and kept singing and jumping around. One guy started to dance with me and the girl took a picture of us in which I look absolutely traumatized and we're using it for the "tension" theme for our project. But it was sweet.

Ravioli and Wine

2009-02-20T09:58:00.000-02:00

Hello again. Today was a long, tiring, yet really great day. We had an essay placement test at 9 this morning that could have gone better, but oh well. After that we had a long break so I went with some people to get pastries at this little bakery, and then we walked back to the Plaza de San Martin that we saw yesterday with the tour guides. At 12:30 we had another long session on academics, but at 2 we were done for the rest of the day. I wanted to try a restaurant out of my guidebook just to do something recommended. Other people were kind of hesitant, but I convinced a group of about 10 to go try it with me. My guidebook describes Juana M as "a hip basement restaurant with minimalist chic decor, down to earth parilla (grilled meat) fare at good prices, and the best salad bar in the city." It definitely lived up to the description. For about $12 I had ravioli filled with pumpkin and chicken in a spinach cream sauce, unlimited salad bar that had every vegetable, sauce, dressing, and side you could think of, and a third of a bottle of fantastic white wine. Everyone absolutely loved the place, and we spent a leisurely two hours enjoying our feast and some English conversations. I think I've found a few good like-minded friends in the group now who I can definitely see myself spending a lot of time with. After lunch four of us decided to walk to the Plaza de Mayo, which is very famous and right in the heart of the "centro" by the Casa Rosada (where the president works), the legislature, etc. We took a detour there down the pedestrian-only, touristy, shopping streets of Lavalle and Florida. It was 104 degrees today, and the streets were just ridiculously crowded with people. It was dirty and noisy and hot but super interesting. It reminded me a lot of the crowded outdoor shopping aisles in China. When we got to the Plaza we sat on a bench and people-watched for awhile to rest, because my feet were literally bleeding in my new shoes, which was very painful and unfortunate on a day when we walked probably 10 miles. It was my first time taking the subway on our way home, and it wasn't nearly as complicated or unpleasant as I was expecting, so I think I could take it alone fairly confidently now. When I got home I rested for awhile, drank a ton of water, and talked with Francisco. Around 9:15 we left to go running in a park. The program directors are always telling us not to go in parks at night because they're very dangerous but Francisco explained that in this park there'd be a ton of people running because the heat is more bearable after the Sun goes down. We took a bus to the park, which is on the border with Palermo, because I hadn't taken one yet. The system of stops is very confusing, you have to have coins (which are extremely scarce in the country--when I bought a drink the other day I just didnt get my thirty five centavos in change because no one has any), and the buses themselves are dirty and hot. However, we got to the park, which was actually like 3 big parks separated by roads, without incident. There were probably hundreds of people there--running on the wide paths, walking dogs, playing soccer under small lampposts, playing the drums, lying in the grass watching the stars or the crazy traffic whizzing by on all sides. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen. A little bit like Central Park. Parts of it get sketchy around 10ish apparently, and Francisco made us avoid the last cross street after our second loop around. We ran for about forty minutes, and I barely felt tired there was so much to look at. We walked home through another park and the well-known strip of posh restaurants and bars across from the Recoleta cemetery. Francisco kept quizzing me on directions and bus stops, and I asked him random questions about the city and how to say certain things. We've really become comfortable with each other and he is very patient and companionable. We were passing people seated at an outdoor restaurant and Francisco suddenly got very excited and quietly told me to look at a blonde woman sitting near the street. Turns out it was Lilita Carrio, a famous Argentine politician and leader of the Coalicion Civica opposition party. There was a policeman standing guard about four feet away against a wall. I had just done this assignment about important Argentine political/social figures and cultural references, and literally the last name I had looked up on Wikipedia before we left was Lilita Carrio! So that was really cool. When we got home around 11 we had dinner, a ham, cheese, egg, and onion torte, with Claudia. I am now exhausted but it was a really fun day. I absolutely LOVE what I've seen of the city so far, and I am not by any means a city person. I was completely overwhelmed after one day in New York. But Buenos Aires has so many trees, and so many different styles of architecture, and so many historical plazas and statues, it's totally different. I'm feeling more and more comfortable and familiar with my neighborhood. This experience is going to improve my terrible sense of direction and map reading skills significantly! Also, the fact that everything is so late and punctuality doesn't exist is kind of refreshing, and I am the most schedule-oriented, plan ahead person ever. Argentines live in the moment, for the present day, and at this point in my trip, that's all I can really do as well. I can honestly say I am perfectly content sitting here right now and I'm not worrying about my Spanish or the chaos of enrolling in classes or when I will start to be homesick or anything. I had a great day, and tomorrow I will wake up and have another one. The city is doing wonders for my attitude! Well, it is very late again. Actually, very early for here...Francisco just left to go out with friends...but late for me. Chau!

Dia tres

2009-02-19T00:39:00.003-02:00

Hola!

I'm typing now in my bed sweating profusely with the fan blasting and the window open because it is SO humid here. It has been incredibly hot...not that I'm complaining. I don't even know where to begin...I'm having a great, great time so far. Yesterday was the first day of orientation with the other students in my program. All of the orientation activities are being held in this old Italian palace, about a seven minute walk from my apartment. A lot of other kids have to take long subway or bus rides to it, so I'm lucky. Basically at orientation, which was also today and continues for the next two weeks, they talk to us in Spanish about safety, the family stay, class registration, etc. It can get pretty boring, but we get breaks to wander around / eat and the information is usually very useful. The food highlight of yesterday was the ice cream (which is more like gelato) we had at a cafe after lunch. Today in the morning we went on a guided walking tour of the surrounding area, which was really interesting and focused a lot on the French architecture of the wealthy district Recoleta, although I didn't understand a lot. The food highlight of yesterday was the ice cream (which is more like gelato) we had at a cafe after lunch. I've met some more friends in the group, which is a relief. UW has the most students in the program actually, but I only knew one of them beforehand at all. I would say most of the students speak significantly better than me.

I absolutely love my family situation. Claudia, my host mother, is so accommodating and funny. I already feel totally at home. I got up, ate breakfast, and left this morning before anyone else was up, and I was quite proud of myself for making it to orientation alone, on time. I set the table at dinner and they insist I tell them what I like, choose things instead of saying "no me importa," etc. I've met Claudia's two grown daughters briefly as well as her mother. Her husband died 15 years ago. I love eating together (we didn't eat dinner last night until 11:30!) and trying to communicate. Francisco, my host brother, always laughs at me, and they are very patient about repeating things and speaking slowly. I tried dulce de leche after dinner tonight and it was really good. They drink yogurt out of a cup, put mayonaise on a lot of stuff, and eat an apple or bannana for dessert. Last night Boca Juniors had a game on TV and Francisco asked me if I wanted to watch it with him, so of course I did. He is quite the rabid fan and insisted we wait until halftime to eat. Tonight we spent quite a bit of time showing each other pictures of our friends, and he answered all my questions about the subway, where to buy certain things, etc. He also had thought Wisconsin was a city, and he made me show him Mequon, Madison, etc. in an atlas. I have this book of Argentina colloquialisms, swear words, and useful expressions and he thinks it's hilarious. Anyway, it is so nice to have someone my age around, and I told him I didn't want to impose but that I'd love to go on errands, meet his friends, go play soccer with him--whatever--once in awhile to get to know the city better and spend time with locals, not just out with other Americans acting touristy and speaking English. He promptly asked me to go running in this park in another part of the city tomorrow afternoon with him, as I'd expressed interest in finding a less populated place to run.

Well, I should be in bed, I have a placement exam at 9 tomorrow morning. Sorry for getting carried away and writing so much. Today when I skyped with some people Spanish slipped in a couple of times and it was weird to speak in English. Also, right before I fell asleep last night I caught myself unconsciously thinking something in Spanish. So I know I'm already improving, although the effort it takes to function all day in another language is giving me headaches! Hasta pronto, todos. Chau! 2 awkward moments (for you, Jordan): My host mother's mom came over to meet me. My host mother insisted I bring out my little album of family photos, which she loves to look at while telling me how young and lovely my family is. Anyway, her mother opens the book, squints down at all of us in a row at a football game, points to my face, and says "Tu padre (father)?" My host mother felt terrible and kept telling me her mom is almost blind.

My apartment building is very old and stately looking, and it has an elevator that looks more like a dumbwaiter that goes up to a tiny foyer directly in front of each apartment door, not a hallway or anything. I have to use four different keys that look exactly the same to get in (one for the outside door, one for the elevator, one for the actual door, etc.). They are all very large and antique-looking. You also have to relock every door after you go through it. I got stuck in this little box between the elevator and the apartment door with no air and no lights for ten minutes trying to open the door. So then at night Francisco made me practice unlocking and locking each door. I'm sure he thinks I'm an idiot because I couldn't figure it out for so long. Then he left me outside, went off to have a drink, and told me he'd call in a half hour to make sure I'd made it upstairs.

Estoy aqui!

2009-02-16T16:56:00.003-02:00

Well, I'm here. Finally. I don't have much time to write because I'm at this cafe and my host mom dropped me off for a bit because they don't have internet in the house. The flights were long but uneventful. I've already met some cool people on the program who I can see myself traveling with. When we arrived in BA this morning around 10 AM here we waited outside in the sweltering heat for almost an hour for taxis to arrive and take us individually to our host families. Unfortunately I was wearing jeans. My taxi driver was CRAZY and my seatbelt didn't work so I was quite nervous. The drivers are really bad here. We drove into downtown on the Avenida 9 de Julio, which has like 14 total lanes of traffic both ways! My apartment is pretty much right in the middle of everything, a great location. There is a ton of traffic noise and people walking and old, tall apartments surrounded by stores and cafes. It is the steretypical city feel, but more charming than I expected. My host mother Claudia is so nice, and was so welcoming initially that I barely felt nervous or awkward at all. My room has a desk and lots of closet space. I share a bathroom with Francisco, my host brother who is 20 and a student at the Catholic university in BA. He also seems very nice and eager to speak English ha. They were very amused by the cheese and sausage I brought. They have a maid, Olga, who is in the house from the morning till like 4:30 every day, cooking all the meals and cleaning. It's really weird because they don't seem that wealthy. Claudia introduced her as part of the family, and they really seemed more like friends than employer / employee. The maid looks about 90 years old, no kidding, and my host mother is older than I expected as well.
This cafe I'm at right now, La Mala Cara, is playing American music right now, sadly. Sheryl Crow is not really setting the mood I want at the moment... Well, I have a very scheduled week of orientation and Spanish tests coming up. I also have to figure out if I'm going to be able to steal someone's WiFi or something, otherwise my Skyping might be very limited. Hasta luego!

Night before

2009-02-15T02:35:00.002-02:00

Well, I can't believe I leave tomorrow already. I don't know if I'm more nervous or excited. Had a minor panic attack when we just realized ten minutes ago my flight leaves at 12:30, not 2:00 as we'd been planning for. Also had some problems keeping my luggage under the 50 pound weight limit, and I can't take a couple things I'd like to. Exciting news....one of my best friends from Madison, Danny, just bought his ticket to fly down and visit me over his spring break / my birthday in March. He'd been saying he was going to come for a long time but I never took him seriously! So that's something really nice and unexpected to look forward to about a month in. Hopefully he can also bring anything I forget! Thanks for all the support these last couple weeks and the positive feedback on my blog. Some people asked me about commenting, and I think the easiest way is to select Name/URL and just type your name and leave URL blank. I changed the settings now so that comments should appear automatically, I don't have to approve them. I expect this first week to be crazy busy and stressful, and I'm also going to try to avoid contacting people right away and getting really homesick. But I will try to post at least something saying I got there safely and whatever. Next time you're reading I'll be in Buenos Aires! Ciao!

First post!

2009-01-20T00:53:00.005-02:00

Well, this is my test post for my new blog. After I chose blogger.com from the many free blogging options out there, setting this up was incredibly easy. I decided to name my blog "La noche boca arriba," after a short story by famous Argentine author Julio Cortazar that we read in my Spanish class last semester. The title translates roughly as "The Night Face Up," and the story is a bizarre, surreal blending of dreams and reality, past and present. The main character always ends up "boca arriba" -- lying on his back looking up -- be it on an operating table or on a sacrificial altar of ancient Aztecs, trying to figure out some aspect of his life. Cortazar is truly a fascinating writer, and I hope to read some more of his works in a class in Argentina. Read an English translation of "La noche boca arriba" here.
Also of note, we got our housing notifications from the program director last week. We were only given the name of the head of household and the address. I've been using GoogleEarth to check out my new neighborhood, and I'll be living in a fairly central, advantageous location. I also called my host mother on Saturday, but that ended up being somewhat of a disaster, as neither of us could understand each other. She kept repeating "You have to call the business" in English and seemed quite annoyed that I had called. I thought my Spanish was clear enough, but I guess not. She didn't even answer my questions about her name, if she had kids living with her, etc. Oh well, I guess you shouldn't judge someone by a one minute international phone call in your second language!
A little less than a month and I'll be in Argentina! Thanks for reading :)