Around the World in 18 Days (or something like that...)

Yesterday I returned from my biggest adventure to date. 18 glorious days- 10 in Peru, followed by 18 in Brazil. My usual second-by-second descriptions aren't going to cut it for this, there is just too much to tell.

Instead, I'll give some highlights and upload a few pictures, and that will have to be sufficient!

1. Cusco. In our first Peruvian city, we manage to evade altitude sickness while getting prepared for our four day trek to Machu Picchu!

2. The Inca Trail! Four epic days of hiking to one of the wonders of the world, Machu Picchu! A challenging, but exhilarating experience, this was an absolute highlight of the trip.

3. Lake Titicaca, the highest altitude fresh-water lake in the world, showed a whole new side to Peru. We stood on the floating islands of Uros, played a game of jacks with the kids on Taquile, and stayed in a hostel that was more home than ho

tel.

4. Arequipa/Lima. These cities in Peru were beautiful, but only used for passing through- as we raced through the south of Peru to get back to Lima and fly out to Rio de Janeiro!

5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, filled with diverse people and landscape- the beach, the mountains, but most importantly, the ACAI BOWLS. yum.

6. Paraty was a quiet historical port, five hours

south of Rio. We stayed in a pirate-themed hostel staffed by a Captain Hook look-alike and took a boat tour of some beautiful waters & beaches.

7. Ilha Grande. And it was here that we fell in love with Brazil, in all of its tropical paradise glory. Two hours south of Rio by

bus, and one hour by ferry, this giant island had it all- white sand beaches, waterfalls, rainforest hikes & some peace and quiet :)

Hate to Blog and Run, but...

I think its obvious by the infrequent posts, that life is getting a little hectic as I get closer and closer to the end of my time down here.
This past few weeks in a short summary:

1. Finals at UB and saying goodbye to some very good friends who had to go back to the States

2. My parents came to visit me here in BA, and we traveled down to El Calafate to hike on some glaciers



3. Leaving in a few hours for an 18-day whirlwind Peru/Brazil adventure

Sorry that's all I can give for now, but I promise more detail upon my return. See you in a couple weeks!

My Days are Numbered!

In realizing that this past weekend was the second to last one that I'll be spending in Buenos Aires, I still can't believe how fast this experience has gone. For me, really taking advantage of my last few weeks here in BA doesn't involve rushing around to everything in the city for the "last time." So much of it is just relaxing and taking in the environment that I have come to love. So this weekend was spent doing just that- relaxing and revisiting some of my favorite spots.

On Friday morning, I got my Brazilian visa! Since I am headed to Brazil in a month (less then a month, wow that is hard to believe) and all US citizens need visas to enter the country, it was something I needed to take care of. With relatively little complication (something about them telling me I needed an appointment, but me begging and trying to get everything taken care of anyhow...) I was able to get my visa and the right to enter Brazil for the next 10 years! Exciting.

Friday afternoon was spent in the Japanese garden. A touristy little oasis in the parks of Palermo. It was a beautiful day, and spending time amongst blooming flower in the city never gets old. Friday evening was spent at Chabad. After three weekends of being away, a certainly missed my Friday night Shabbos routine! It was great to see friends and eat a little (lot) of meat at the Chabad House in Recoleta.

Saturday was spent doing...nothing. I read some of my texts for school on the terrace of my house. It was incredibly tranquil and I enjoyed every second of relaxing. Saturday night I headed over the beautiful Colon Theatre to hear the French Philharmonic Orchestra. Beautiful!

And Sunday was spent walking around in Recoleta, working on my art project (taking pictures of buildings that I need to analyze), eating delicious feria (fair) foods, and doing some souvenir shopping (this is a real indicator that I'm headed home soon. yikes!).

Like I said, my days are numbered, but I'm trying to make them count.

A Trip to Pandora

To continue with my travels, this past weekend, I went to the famous Iguazú Falls in the northeast tip of Argentina (border with Brazil & Paraguay).

Honestly, I did not have high expectation. Everyone kept talking about Iguazú, but I have been to Niagara Falls upwards of 5 times, and eh. I thought it would be some nice waterfalls, it would be warm outside, and then we'd go home. Boy, did I not understand what I was in for.

This was one of the trips organized by my program, ISA. After coming back from a week of a trip organized by Rachel, this weekend was looking like it was going to be pretty relaxing. Our group left from Buenos Aires on Thursday night, to take an overnight bus ride to the city of Posadas in the province of Misiones. On the bus ride we watched the movie Jumper (I am only putting that in because I am 98% sure that it was the worst movie that I have ever seen, and I caution anyone who thinks they want to watch it to stay far far away) and after that I slept like a baby until we arrived at 8 am the next morning.

We went directly to Jesuit ruins. These ruins were pretty elaborate, and quite frankly, it kind of reminded me of the types of large stone ruins that I saw in Israel. It was walking around these Jesuit ruins that our group became acquainted with the red clay-like earth of the region. Red that stains clothes, shoes, and anything else that gets in the way! Our tour guide was very amused that no one in the 30 person group was paying attention to him. He remarked that we should probably work on our Spanish so that we could understand him. Little did he know that we did understand when he said that, and that had he been speaking in English, I'm sure the same ADD-esque behavior would have occurred.

After our Jesuit ruins tour, we went to a quaint estancia to relax for the afternoon and to eat lunch. There was a pool, a place to play volleyball and many reclining chairs that alluded to the fact we were about to overeat. Lunch was delicious, salads and MEAT for the carnivores, or pasta for the vegetarians. After eating way too much, we relaxed and then were sheparded to view a yerba mate plant on the same property. Once we got back from our little mate-plant tour, it had been about an hour since we had finished eating, and of course, more food was in order. Freshly made tortilla frita, or fried pieces of tortilla with sugar on top was the death of me, and everyone else. This dessert put us all into a food coma, which we slept off on the three hour ride to Port Iguazú, where our hotel was located. Once we got to our hotel, it was obviously time to eat again. We went to the buffet of our 4 star hotel and ate to our heart's content. It was an early night, since we were all resting up for visiting Iguazú National Park the next day.

Sadly, the next morning brought a cloudy, misty day. But, we were still super excited to head to the falls. After a delicious buffet breakfast (we did a lot of eating on this trip) we headed to the park. We entered what, at first, seemed like the entrance to a zoo- you know, pavilion, paved pathways. But soon, we were walking on bridges in what seemed like the middle of a forest. There are kilometers upon kilometers of these bridges that take you to the hundreds of water falls present. Its such a natural, beautiful, tropical environment. Suddenly, there were these powerful waterfalls before us, and it was absolutely incredible. Seeing all of the falls, the mist, the tropics, the flowers, and the wildlife, I knew for sure that Iguazú was the closest I would ever get to being on the Avatar-land of Pandora. The beauty was just unreal. To finish up the day, we took a small speed boat ride up to the edge of a couple of the waterfalls. We got soaked and had a lot of shriek-inducing fun.

We came home soaked, and exhausted. The night included another buffet dinner, and a rounding up fellow midwesterners for a nice Euchre game by the hotel's outdoor pool.

The next day, Sunday, it was already time to leave. Our last activity of the trip was to stop by a Guaraní (the natives of the region) village, to see how they lived. The Guaraní "tour" felt a bit like a human zoo, as we watched a group of them do a small song and dance to "welcome" us. Nonetheless, it still exposed me to the different groups living in Argentina, more than just the Caucasian-looking Italian and Spanish descendants in Buenos Aires.

After that, we headed to the airport, to fly back to BA. The flight was uneventful. With a laughably low level of airport security, we boarded the plane, watched the mist from the falls shrink in the distance, and the saw the city lights of Buenos Aires welcoming us home.

La Argentina Verdadera y El Chile Turistico

I just got back from an absolutely amazing trip to northwest Argentina and northern Chile on Tuesday, and I'm leaving for the infamous Iguazu falls today! With all of these travels, only two thoughts remain for me: how incredibly lucky I have been throughout this entire experience, and here begins the final stage of my sojourn down here in South America: travel.

Northwest Argentina is a region that has only recently become a destination. Albeit, mostly for internal tourism than extranjeros (foreigners), still, it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. I'll try to keep this relatively succinct...

Tuesday, Oct 5th
Flew out of BA and into San Salvador de Jujuy. The capital of Jujuy was nothing much to see, and I was anxious to move on to our first "real" stop of Tilcara. We arrived in Tilcara late at night...later than anything was open, it seemed. After knocking on our hostel's door was meet with silence, we stopped in another hotel that actually called the owner of our original hostel to come down to the hotel and retrieve us. Hows that for friendly! We got a good night's sleep, exhausted from travel.

Wednesday, Oct 6th
Our first day in Tilcara- we wandered around the pueblo and went to the ruins of Pucara, a several km walk. The pueblo was incredibly interesting, just a few dusty streets. Also, the people were darker, more indigenous looking than Buenos Aires. I definitely stood out with my pale white skin. We explored Pucara, in my opinion a mini mini mini Machu Picchu. In the afternoon, we were supposed to go to some caves, but couldn't find the guide we were supposed to meet. So, we went back to the hostel to ask for another suggestion of activity. There was a couple- an Argentine and Corsican, who lived in BA and another Argentine who were headed to the Cerro de Siete Colores (mountain of seven colors) in Purmamarca, the neighboring town, who invited us along. We all headed over to some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. The mountains were purple!! We just walked and hiked along, chatting in Spanish until we found ourselves watching the sunset and drinking mate on top of a mountain.

Thursday, Oct 7th
In the morning, we found a guide- a guy named Carlitos, who took us to Las Cuevas (the caves). There was about an hour of hiking, over loose rubble that used to be the bottom of a sea until we finally arrived at these hidden, unmarked caves. We had to craw through the pitch dark caves, using candles to light our way. One cave led to an incredible landscape, another to a dark chamber, It was so untouched, and peaceful. In the afternoon, we headed to the Salinas Grandes (Salt Flats) outside of Purmamaca. Salt flats are basically dried salt beds, and create incredibly flat landscapes. We frolicked around, looking at the small mining and taking perspective-altering pics.

Friday, Oct 8th
After inquiring extensively about bus schedules & pick up locations (I will spare you the agony of hearing about that) we finally were able to board a bus to San Pedro de Atacama. About 10 hours, and a border crossing later, we were in Chile! We arrived at San Pedro, a dusty tourist town and we were picked up at the bus stop (no terminal, no signs, just a bus, that had stopped) by our hostel owner, Roberto. Roberto looked like he belonged in Hawaii, with long hair, flip flops and a hakuna matata attitude. He drove us to the hostel in a giant dusty blue van, it was pretty comical. That night, we did a stargazing excursion. We learned about the stars of the Southern Hemisphere, got to see an awesome lazer pointer and look through telescopes at planets (Jupiter!) and nebulas. It was pretty amazing. It was freezing though! The desert at night is not for sissies. Thankfully, the tour ended with hot chocolate and a good night's sleep.

Saturday, Oct 9th
The morning was for relaxing, sitting in the sun, and cooking/eating some delicious breakfast burritos. In the afternoon, we went to Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). This national park that was named for its unusual looking landscape. As we stood on the cliffs and took pictures, it was very discouraging, because my camera couldn't even begin to capture the amazing sight before me. We hiked along in the canyons and valleys of the park, eventually seeing an incredible sunset over the giant sand dunes and mountain tops.

Sunday, Oct 10th
We had originally planned to the city of Salta on Sunday, but ended up staying an extra day in San Pedro.
We woke up at 4am, yes 4am, to drive two hours away in order to see El Tatio Geysers. I had never seen geysers before, and they were pretty amazing. We stood shivering but enjoying the dozens of geysers around us. Later in the day, we went to salt lakes. Again, beautiful, but they were freeeeezing, which continued the day's them of cold, but I took a quick dip, since I had come all the way to Chile and everything. The day finished with another incredible sunset, on a flat plain instead of surrounded by mountains.

Monday, Oct 11th
We said goodbye to all the people we met in the hostel- the Danish couple, the Indian-German, the American girls studying in Viña del Mar, Chile, and as well as to Roberto, and we went to the bus stop. Again, unmarked stop, no sign, no terminal, just a dusty makeshift parking lot. Our 10 hour ride to the city of Salta went very smoothly, and we arrived around 7 pm. At our hostel, I randomly ran into a girl in one of my classes in BA. How crazy! And we met an Australian who was traveling around the entire world, and we all went out to dinner & ice cream. We listened to his stories, everything from getting robbed by people who gave him taxi money to get home in Tanzania, to using pliers to save his debit card from getting swallowed by an ATM in France. Needless to say, it provided a lot of travel inspiration.

Tuesday, Oct 12th
We spent the morning in Salta, wondering around the main plaza and getting my first ever shoe shine (the shoe shining people just roamed the streets, so I thought, why not). And then sadly, had to begin our trek home. There were a few buses and some rather small pueblos involved in getting back to the airport. But I got there eventually, and flew home to BA without a problem. I got so excited to see my city as we starting flying over it. It was amazing how anxious I was to get back to "my" room, and "my" bed in "my" house. I was lucky to be greeted so excitedly by my host mom Elina, and my roommate Christine. Elina made a special dinner, and we even had a delicious desert-strawberries and cream. Good travels, but good to be home!


And now, I'm headed off to Iguazu Falls! What a whirlwhind, but I'm loving every second of it :)

Dancin' in the Streets

Hard to belive its now October, usually one of my favorite months filled with changing leaves, apple cider, crisp sunny days and of course, wearing cardigans. Instead, its spring here! Trees are blooming, its finally getting warm enough to skip wearing a jacket and we are only plagued with the occasional rainy day.

On Wednesday, last week, I had my last Parcial (midterm)! So now, I am pretty free until finals begin, the first week of November. To take advantage of that "free" time, I'm going to embark on some travels, but more about that in a second.

Thursday night was Simchas Torah! Its a Jewish holiday is supposed to be incredibly joyous and filled with lots of dancing. I went to the Chabad that I normally frequent, Chabad Recoleta to meet up with some friends and have a delicious dinner. Afterward, we decided to walk to a different Chabad, where most of the younger crowd would be. While we were walking there, we saw other Jews on the street and immediately started singing and dancing with them. And, we were just in the middle of Buenos Aires...singing and dancing...on some random Thursday. It was awesome!!! I've never had to live in a place where I've had to hide being Jewish, and I am so thankful for that! The vibrant Jewish community is one of the reasons I wanted to come to BA, and that aspect has certainly not disappointed. We eventually made it to the second Chabad and there was a room filled with a couple hundred young Argentine/traveling Jews, and it was just a very fun night.

This weekend is more of a preparation weekend because on Tuesday, I am going on a weeklong adventure in the Salta/Jujuy region of Argentina! Salta and Jujuy are provinces in the Northwest and they are supposed to contain gorgeous desert (not to mention 80 degree weather!!). The plans even include crossing into Chile while we're up there to check out the Atacama desert. So, I'm trying to make sure I have everything I need (for example, in this country, it is very difficult to find plastic or metal water bottles...) to be prepared for our trip.

After spending a week in Salta/Jujuy, I have one full day at home, then I'm heading off to Iguazú Falls! Therefore, blogging might be put on hold for a bit! However, I guarantee I'll have some great stories when I get back :)

Relaxing by the River in Rosario

Its been 10 whole days since I've blogged last! While I could think about that, and say, "Wow, self. That just indicates that you haven't done anything worth sharing with the world!" It actually indicates that my adventures around the city are so integrated into the normal patterns of my life here, that they feel like daily business.

Quick summary of last weekend/week:
Friday night and Saturday were spent in services, due to Yom Kippur. Sunday was a beautiful day, in which some friends and I welcomed in Art Week in Buenos Aires with some free symphony in el Parque del Centenario and another movie at the secret movie theatre in San Telmo.

(note: I really wanted to upload a picture here, but my internet connection would not allow it)

The week was only a three day week, with Tuesday off of school for "Dia del estudiante." Then, volunteering at Hogar 4 (with the viejos) as usual on Friday.

The highlight of this weekend, however, was a trip to Rosario!

Rosario is the third largest city in Argentina, and four hours away from Buenos Aires. Well, technically, its 4 hours away, but there were some sort of protests on the route to Rosario causing us to take the "long way," or the 5 and a half hour route. I didn't really mind, Argentina has certainly made me tolerant of long bus rides. These days, anything shorter than 20 hours is ok in my book.

On the bus ride to Rosario, I somehow managed to be the only person to stay awake. But the advantage of that was that I got to watch "Nueve Reinas," a great movie that had my favorite Argentine actor, Ricardo Darín, basically the Argentina George Clooney. We watched two movies, on the bus back to BA today as well. Both starring Darín. I guess the bus company bought the box set?

Anyhow, when we arrived in Rosario, it wasn't too sunny, but we did get to go on a boat ride on the river Paraná! This was great fun and there was singing and dancing to Juanes and other Latin American hits that Americans know, like La Bamba. Awesome! We had a free night, and some friends and I ate a delicious dinner in a cute restaurant outdoors, under a large tree with cascading branches. My friend Saba and I shared a giant fish called Dorado and we ended all up eating and talking at the restaurant for over three hours!

Today, it was a sunny, perfect day! We took a city tour this morning, ending up at the gigantic Monumento a la Bandera (flag), since Rosario is known as the city where the flag was born. We had some free time, spent enjoying the coast and the sun and then made our way back to BA in another 5 hour bus ride.

(note: I wanted to post pictures here too, but my internet would not allow it! sad.)

A very short trip, but a lovely one! I loved the beautiful architecture and the laid back, coastal feel of Rosario.

שנה תובה & Parciales

Thursday-Friday Festing & Saturday-Wednesday Studying

I'll let you guess what the better part of my week has been.
Yes, thats right. The festing.

Celebrating the Jewish New Year actually began on Wednesday night. I went to Chabad again, and had a deeeeelicious meal! It of course included traditional apples and honey, as well as salads, soup, red meat, (for the first time in almost three months), and desert, and lots of wine. There were about 20 people there, so it was fantastic just to meet new people and be in such a warm environment for the start of the holiday season.

On Thursday morning, I went back to Chabad and met up with some friends at services. After services and hearing the shofar (yay!) we were invited to lunch at the house of the parents of the woman who runs the "Chabad for Students Abroad in BA" program. Sorry that thats so confusing! Well, anyhow, we ate lunch and it lasted until 6:30 pm. Needless to say, I did not make it to my afternoon classes as I had planned. After lunch, we went to go participate in Tashlich. Here, however, they don't use bread for Tashlich! They just stand there and look at the water. It was a little unusual, but I wen't along with it. I mean, any way to symbolically throw your sins away is a good one, right? After all of that activity, I headed on home and pretty much straight too bed. Eating and relaxing and celebrating all day can get exhausting.

On Friday morning, I knew I probably wasn't ready to spend a whole new day stuffing myself with food, but I plunged ahead anyhow. I made it to services, on the later side and met up with my friends Talia and Natalie. Talia had received an invitation to lunch from a girl that she met at a Jewish Center for Women's Study (again, complicated, sorry haha). And so we all walked over to her family's apartment for lunch. Talia was invited at 1, we showed up at 2, and the girl didn't show up until 3! The message here is that the combination of Argentine time and Jewish time is fatal. That gave us an hour to talk with the girl's parents- who didn't know who we were, but were so excited that we had come/that we were from the USA/that we were sitting and talking/that we were going to eat her food. Eventually, the daughter showed up with some friends, including two girls from Caracas, Venezuela. The family was Sefardi and originally from Syria, so there was a slight variation on food but still maintaining the theme that it was delicious and there was a lot of it!

Before we knew it, it was 7:00 pm and time to return to Chabad for Shabbos services/dinner. Yes, thats right, another meal. So Talia and I started trudging over to Chabad when suddenly, torrential downpour appears from above. Great. So, we attempted to wait it out, but eventually, we just had to run for it, arriving at shul with dripping hair, soggy clothes and saturated shoes. Services then food. DInner was lovely, at first it was small, only about 7 of us, but people kept joining and some Argentine Jews even showed up toward the end. Again, I ate too much and by the end of the two days of festing, I was ready never to look at a plate of food again. Only now do I think I have partially recovered from the amount of food I ate. Good thing Yom Kipper is anti-food!

So, after all of this fun holiday celebrating, I had to head into midterms. School here is not as challenging as OSU- it doesn't even come close. But, I had four midterms (parciales, here) in two days and needed to look over some material. Sunday-Wednesday was spent hanging out at home, studying, hanging out with my roommates. Really nothing very exciting. On the upside, I did learn from studying! I now know all about Argentina's history in the 70s/80s ie the Dirty War. Scary stuff!

I survived my midterms, they weren't tooo bad. Although having three hours of essay testing in Spanish can make your head spin a little bit. To celebrate finishing, I went to a cafe (surprise surprise) called Quimbombo with some friends. I had a delicious sandwich with brie cheese and zucchini!!! Yum! Then, my roommates and I watched El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secrets in Their Eyes) which won the Foreign Language Oscar this past year. It was AMAZING. Having lived here in Buenos Aires for the past couple of months, I could recognize some of the places scenes were taking place. I understood a lot of the Argentina-specific spanish words they were using and many of the historical references. Even if I hadn't had those recognitions, the movie would have been fantastic. Go see it! Its great!

Anyhow, upcoming in the next couple of weeks: Yom Kippur, traveling to Rosario with ISA, going on a Salta/Jujuy adventure! and daily adventures in this lovely city :)

¡Vamos Argentina!

On Tuesday there was an Argentina vs. Spain fútbol game. Now, since "sports" are not my strong suit, this is all I knew going into the game. Spain won the Mundial, now they are playing Argentina. Any of the why ? who? where? Unknown. Thankfully, I have more sport-savy friends (in that they at least know the rules of soccer) with whom I bought tickets and went to the game on Tuesday.
The game was awesome! The River Plate stadium (where the game was held) is in Belgrano, not too far from our Universidad. We walked there, and slowly started seeing more and more people in jerseys. Eventually, the roads were closed off so that everyone could walk. After passing through the masses- more or less successfully. I got asked for directions, which was a misktakeee for that person, but always gives me a small feeling of pride. Anyhow, we eventually made it into the stadium- thousands of people, although it seemed smaller than the Shoe (OSU stadium). The game started off with a magical moment- before we knew it, hundreds of thousands of paper strips were shot into the air, slowly floating down and covering us in blue and white.
I was surprised by how quiet the game seemed. After OSU games (my only benchmark of comparison) which are loud, boisterous and full of standing and jumping, sitting down during the game- with only an occasional cheer or chant, seemed strange.
Nevertheless, it was a great game, with a great atmosphere, and I'm really glad, after that whole World Cup madness, I got to experience what a "world cup-esque" game would feel like!

La vida pluricultural

The theme of the end of the weekend was definitely multiculturalism.

On Saturday, I went to an amazing Deli & Juice Bar in Palermo Soho called bBlue (http://www.b-blue.com.ar/). I ate a delicious smoked salmon sandwich and had an unbelievably amazing Strawberry-Orange licuado (smoothie). Between the bagel the day before and the lox on Saturday, I joked that I completed my need for a bagel and lox. Haha.

Saturday night, I went to a really great movie. My friend Saba, is an intern for a website called What's Up Buenos Aires and her boss told her about a "secret movie theatre." Basically, a tiny one-theatre place in San Telmo that is completely unmarked and shows indie films. A group of us went, stopping at a DELICIOUS ice cream shop beforehand, called la Nona Bianca (the white nun, in Italian), and we arrived at the address of the theatre, where the only indication that something was going on was an older man standing in the doorway. I am convinced that this city loves "secret" places! From the infamous closed-door restaurants, to the unmarked clubs I always seem to pass when I walk home, to even secret movie theaters. This city is all about who is in the know, and when you end up finding something off the beaten path, you feel like you are part of that BA elite.

Well, anyhow, we saw this movie called Soul Kitchen. And here is where the multicultural aspects start to come in. The 2009 comedy was directed by a Turk, starred two Greek actors, was set in Germany and had Spanish subtitles. Woah. The movie was great though! It was hilarious, and really original (I will let you google the movie if you are interested in a plot summary).

Today, Sunday, was beautiful and sunny, like that spell of rain had never even come through. I had heard that there was a feria (outdoor festival) to celebrate Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year that starts on Wednesday of this week, near my house. A couple of friends and I went to check it out. What did I find? Falafel, klezmer music, and many stands selling Judaica! How awesome! The combination of the Argentine feria (so popular, there are dozens of ferias around the city every weekend) and the Jewish holiday was fantastic! I think this was the first in a set of ferias celebrating those who have emigrated to Argentina, as a part of the bicentennial celebration (Argentina takes this bicentennial business seriously, I think they are going to celebrate for the entire year). Anyhow, it was the perfect end to a lovely weekend.

Multiculture summary: On Saturday night, I went to an Italian ice cream place before seeing a German movie with Spanish subtitles about Greek brothers. On Sunday, I went to an Argentine-Jewish festival. I think thats pretty good for one weekend :)

Rain, rain, here to stay?

In my previous blog post, I talked about wanting to take advantage of my time in Buenos Aires.

However, as soon as I developed this crucial mentality, it began to rain. Not just rain, but pour. From Tuesday through Friday. A great way to welcome in the month of September. But honestly, September showers brings November flowers just doesn't have the same ring.

So, during the week of rain, I spent many afternoons and evenings sitting on my bed, with my window cracked, listening to drops of rain hit the patio behind the house. It was lovely. However, by Friday, I was antsy for the cursed rain to stop, so that I could return to exploring this wonderful city.

Therefore, on Friday morning Christine and I went to go pick up our visas. We had turned in the necessary paperwork months ago, but hadn't wanted to wake up early to beat the rush and get to the Office of Immigration at 8 am. Friday though, we bit the bullet and woke up to light rain, caught the subte and headed down to Retiro to become legal residents of Argentina. The process went fairly quickly. With some wild gestures, pointing, and asking questions to many uniformed Argentines, we finally figured out what to do and where to go. Forty-five minutes later, we exited the building into now torrential downpour to get back to the subte.

Since it was only 9:30, and class didn't begin until 2:30. We decided to go to Oui Oui, a French breakfast-place/cafe not too far from home. (http://www.blackbookmag.com/guides/details/oui-oui) We arrived at Oui Oui soaked to the skin but had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and BAGELS (my favorite part), as well as a "proper latte," according to Christine.

We trekked home to rest, then I trekked to class in the rain (everything is a "trek" when its raining). By Friday evening, however, the skies were still grey but they were not longer leaking!

On Friday afternoon, my friend Sam told me that one of her Jewish friends was also studying in BA and that we should meet up. Lo and behold, 10 minutes later there is a message in my inbox from Talia, Sam's friend, inviting me to a Chabad Shabbos dinner. So, I took the bus and headed over to Recoleta, where we had services then a dinner where I met about 15 other study abroad students from the USA.

It was so nice to have a Shabbat dinner, and before I knew it, I was eating chicken, yes chicken! So long pseudo-vegetarianism! Also, I was really excited to find other Jewish students here, and just in the nick of time- before the holidays. I assumed there would be a lot of Jewish exchange students here because of the huge Jewish population in BA, but the Rabbi told me there are only about 200 per semester that study here!

It was really reminiscent of being back in Columbus and a great way to spend a Friday night.

Here, there and everywhere...

I'm in Buenos Aires, but somehow all I seem to do is try to plan my upcoming travels...a trip to Salta & Jujuy? to Peru? to Brazil? It all sounds so tempting. However after hours of planning, budgeting and lonelyplanet.com-ing, I stop and think. I'm in Buenos Aires- I should be outside, exploring and enjoying the TWO MONTHS (eek!) I have left in this city.

And of course, the more I plan, the more time slips away, and its unbelievable to think that I am just under half way through this experience.

So the next couple weeks are an attempt at balance: remembering how lucky I am to be in this amazing city and planning the final chapter in this adventure, basically: the month of November.

Dia del Campo, more like Dia del Eat-o

I didn't know that Friday was going to spent in the campo (the countryside) with the viejitos (little old people), so I didn't realize that Saturday's "Dia del campo" ISA Excursion would be part II in a two-part series of campo adventures.

I woke up early again on Saturday morning (what a sleep-filled weekend, right?) to board the bus with 40 other ISA kids to go out to the campo! Our first stop was Lujan, an area outside of Buenos Aires that has a very famous basilica. The coolest thing about this church was that I had studied it in my Argentine art class! Therefore, I was very knowledge about the style and structure of the building. We sat outside at a cafe near the church and it was a very beautiful morning. The weather here has temporarily taken a turn for the better, and by better, I mean, it feels like spring!

After stopping at Lujan, we drove on to an estancia called Estancia Mimosa. It was basically a repeat day of the day before, but with a slightly fancier, more touristy experience. The day began with a "Welcome!" empanada de carne. Which I, unfortunately, had to pass on. We were welcomed by a traditional "gaucho" dance (hmm, I was skeptical) and some free time to roam around the estancia. There was some horseback riding to be done, but you could only ride the horses in a fenced-in circle. Honestly though, after the Chilean Horse Experience, unless I'm in the wilderness on that horse, I'll pass. I took pictures of other people riding though, and they all had a good time.

After our free time, was another traditional asado lunch. I watched the meat parade, yet again. I predicted each new type of meat that was going to come out, and everyone was really impressed with my knowledge. Little did they know that I had just simply seen the same thing the day before! My fellow vegetarian and roommate Christine and I ate some pasta (it was a little questionable) and some deliciously grilled vegetables. Basically, lunch lasted 3 hours, and by the end, we were ready to roll away from the table and take a giant siesta.

But no. We were given a couple more hours of free time, with the promise of merienda (the 5 o'clock tea-type meal) to come. While exploring the estancia, we saw some amazing peacocks! They were beautiful and the male unfolded his plumage and shook in order to entice the female! However, she wasn't having it, and simply would walk away. Ok, sorry for that peacock digression, but they were so cool! Anyhow, we had our merienda- mate cocido (mate in packets) and some sort of pastry and then all of us took a nice long siesta on the way back into the city.

Los viejitos y yo (The old people and I)

I had quite an action-packed weekend. And, interestingly enough, about 50% of my weekend was spent with the over 70 crowd. Let me explain...

Thursday night: My friend Diana found an open mic night at a Cafe in a nearby barrio, Bodeo. My roommate Christine and I successfully planned a bus route to the cafe. When we entered the cafe, however, the first thing I noticed was that in the small, intimate environment, about 95% of the patrons were over 70 years old. Not only that, but the cafe was a TANGO cafe. Meaning that all of the singers (and there were about 20, a long night) were going to be singing Tango. (Most people think that Tango is a dance, and it is, but it is also a style of music involving guitar, and very dramatic, emotional sounding music). Everyone, that is, except our friend Diana. So, in the spirit of not letting awkward situations getting the best of us, we waited until it was Diana's turn, then cheered her on through her indie song choices. It was a little bit of a strange setting, but yet another cultural experience in this lovely city. The old folk were completely amused by us American youngins, and they definitely enjoyed Diana's set (we did too)!

Friday: On Friday, I volunteer at Hogar Numero 4 (Home #4), which is a center for daytime activites for active seniors (ha that sounds like a brochure). The program is run through the Social Services sector of the Argentine Government, which funds multiple Hogares. My program, ISA has a relationship with Hogar #4, so another girl, Amanda and myself go once a week to volunteer. First, let me say that "volunteering" is a very loose term, because volunteers don't exist in Argentina. People don't have the free time to work without getting paid. Volunteering is a very American concept because many people are fortunate enough not to have to balance a full time job and school. Also, in the US, you "have" to put some volunteering on your resume, to get to your next level of schooling, or to your next job. In that sense, volunteering in the US can be very contrived and just part of the "getting ahead game." On the whole though, volunteering does produce that idea of social consciousness, which is a good thing.

So, anyhow. My friend Amanda had let me know that the Hogar was having an excursion on Friday to, in her words "some Evita museum" from 8 am to 6 pm. Although the excursion started at that ungodly hour, I was willing to go. I thought that Amanda was referencing the Evita museum that is near my house, so I thought I would be able to leave early and just go home when I needed to. We got up very very early in Friday to make the trip to the Hogar. When we arrived, we saw a tour bus outside and climbed aboard with about 30 senior citizens. Amanda and I still had no idea really where we were going but when we woke up 2 hours later, we were clearly far outside of BA. Amanda was clearly mistaken about the Evita Museum.
We finally arrived at Una quinta (a farm) and the old people were so cute and excited to get off the bus and explore the little farm/banquet hall/outdoor area where we would spend the rest of the day. We met up with another Hogar, to total around 70 senior citizens, and about 6 30-somethings that were in charge. Our first activity was a breakfast of medialunas and coffee, and then we had time to explore the outdoors for a little bit. Amanda and I tried to socialize with the seniors, and they were more than willing to hang out with us, but the people in charge of the Hogares had us hang out with them- which was really fun! Our next activity was to board this open-air party train (sorry, but that is the best way I can describe it) to drive to another quinta- where the Perons spent their time when not in BA (this is where Amanda got "Evita museum" from) and that was now a museum. We started driving there- the old people standing up and clapping, dancing and waving to the people on the streets. Interestingly enough, we were in a very rural area- most of the houses were made of cement, with curtains for doors. It was quite a striking contrast from BA.

Once we got to our destination, we waited outside of the museum, only to be told that it was closed during the week! One of the old ladies sniped to me, "Esto es bien argentino!" Translation: This is SO Argentine! And it was very Argentine to plan an extensive outing to a museum that wasn't even open! But, for the most part, the seniors didn't care. They just loaded back onto our party bus to head back to the quinta, to lunch.
Lunch was a traditional asado. And by this, I mean a glorified meat parade. There are four courses of meat: chorizo (sausage), blood sausage (the NASTIEST looking thing I have ever laid eyes on), chicken, and pork ribs. I ate salad. And I had some delicious flan for desert. The afternoon was spent in the sunshine, drinking mate, speaking Spanish and playing cards. I half-learned a new game, called Truco (trick)! Again, the 30-somethings wanted us to hang out with them instead of the old people, so Amanda and I just spent time speaking in Spanish and enjoying ourselves. Not too bad for a day of volunteering!
Around 6 pm we boarded the bus to go home. The one downside of the day was the combination of bussing that I need to get home ended up taking about 4 hours (rush hour in the city).

I was exhausted, but it was really a great day, full of Spanish and it made me feel really very Argentine.

That's our Mama!

Earlier today, our host mom, Elina, invited me, Christine and Dan to hear her give a talk about her recent book! Elina is a professor of Public Policy at the University of Buenos AIres (la UBA), and she has edited several books of her research findings (she oversees a team at la UBA). Her most recent book dealt with the reign of the Kirschners (past president Nestor, and his wife Cristina, current president).

So, this afternoon, Christine, Elina, Elina's daughter Laura (currently getting her PhD in Austin, TX but here for a visit) and I piled into the car. We ended up going the headquarters of the Justialista (Social Justice) Party (modern-day supporters of Peronism) in el centro, where about 70 people came to hear Elina speak! Elina said that she never was a Peronista (Peron supporter) and isn't now, but this group invited her to speak, and she came to give a non-partisan, researchers point of view about things.
We arrived at the venue at 6 (Dan met us there) and of course, things didn't get rolling until 6:50. Of course, my roommates and I were the only gringos in the place, or maybe the only gringos that had every been in that building!
There were four speakers before Elina, basically introducing her and describing the history of the Justialista Party as well as the economic history of Argentina. And while I have really been bemoaning an economics class that I am taking here, what I learned in that class TOTALLY helped me understand what the speakers were talking about! From concepts down to specific vocab that I can recall looking up in frustration, I could very much follow what was being said.

After about an hour, Elina spoke. It was so cool to see Elina in her element! I usually see her in front of the stove or sipping tea, but now she was a knowledgeable political pundit! She spoke about her 5 year long research project of democracia formal vs. democracia social, and how that culminated in her book. It was funny to so her use the same tones of voice, hand gestures and occasional English phrases that she uses at home in a public forum. As Christine, Dan, and I stood up with the rest of the room clap, I leaned over to them and said "Thats our mama!"

Afterward, Elina took all of us and some of her friends out for pizza and beer. What a great way to end the night.

And yet again, another unforgettable experience here in BA.

A Weekend in Córdoba

Yesterday, Monday, was a national holiday, so we were lucky enough to have a fin de semana largo (long weekend). While spending the weekend in BA always keeps me busy with new restaurants, museums and music to find, I want to see as much of Argentina while I'm here.
Hence, I took the advantage of an extra travel day and took the 10 hour bus trip to Córdoba, Argentina's second largest city, in the Sierras, the second tallest mountains in Argentina (to the Andes). Hm, I wonder if Córdoba gets tired of being second in everything...

Córdoba can be divided into two parts, the city and all of the surrounding pueblos.

Córdoba, the city, was really great. Its a city defined by the university, the oldest in Argentina. Students from all over the country go to Córdoba to study, giving the university some 30,000 students. Walking around the student district, where we were staying, it really felt like I was back in Columbus! Groups of young (early 20s) Argentines, holding books and notebooks made me slightly nostalgic for good ol' Ohio State. Unlike the universities in BA, Universidad de Córdoba has a campus where students live, and an overall set up similar to that of the universities in the USA. Also, I learned that higher education is FREE for all Argentines, and only a couple hundred dollars for foreigners. So, immigrants from many South American countries come to Córdoba to study, giving a very mixed student population.
When I go to new cities, I really feel thankful for spending so much time in BA. This is because every other city feels like a breeze to navigate when compared to BA. Córdoba was amazing to walk around- due to its mix of old and new. There was a large amount of gothic architecture mixed into the city, and it was fun to go around and point out the beautiful buildings. On Saturday there was an Artist's fair- they are really popular in this country! They are all over BA on the weekends too! My roommate Christine and I ended up getting a little gift for our host mom, Elina. We got her a small notebook with a pressed flower on the front and some Spanish quotes inside.

We went two places outside of the city: Alta Gracia and La Cumbrecita.
Alta Gracia was originally a resort town for Córdobaneses, and now its claim to fame is the Che Guevara Museum. We took a bus to Alta Gracia and found the Che museum- which was surprisingly well put together. It was in the house that Che grew up in, and although Che's involvement in revolutions in both Latin American and Africa was quite violent, Alta Gracia takes a lot of pride in being Che's home. Interestingly, "che" is how they say "hey!" in Argentina and it become Che's nickname because he used to say it frequently. People still say "che" all the time here, and it has nothing to do with Che Guevara. After the museum, we had a lovely picnic lunch of sandwiches, fruit and cookies. It was a great money-saver, and we got to enjoy the sunshine while fighting off some aggressive geese by a lake. After lunch we went to some Jesuit ruins. The Jesuits came from Spain to bring religion to the indians and set up estancias (large estates), where they missionized whomever they found. The estancia we went to was rather elaborate, and incredible sturdy despite being 300 years old. Again, I found that the estancia was arranged as a very complete museum, which was impressive. For dinner, we made a delicious quesadilla dinner in our hostel. Cheap, and filling!

The next day, we took a tour to La Cumbrecita, a small German village of about 4,000 people, about 2 hours from Córdoba. La Cumbrecita adorable! We entered the Sierras to get to the village, passing a gigantic manmade dam which held all of the water for the entire city. La Cumbrecita looked like it was a little Swiss village built into the hillside. I felt like it should have been snow-covered and full of skiers, but I definitely appreciated that sunny skies and 65 degree temperature. It was quite touristy, but I didn't mind, considering how cute it was! There were little waterfalls around and wooded areas to walk in. It really felt like I had gotten out of the city- out of BA, out of Córdoba, and into nature! After we returned to Córodoba, we took an overnight bus back to BA. When we got to BA, it was 8 am Monday morning and cold and cloudy. Not a great way to return, but getting back to my little room after a journey is a great feeling, and I was able to relax/do homework for the rest of the day.

All in all it was a great weekend! We meet some British and French people in our hostel, and we found the people from Córdoba to be very friendly! In fact, I was talking a German girl at our hostel who had lived in Córdoba for three months and now is studying in BA. I asked her how she liked BA, and she responded that she hated it! I was a little shocked by that, but she went on to say that the porteños were unfriendly, and in her months in Córdoba, she was surrounded by Argentine friends, but in BA, she can't make any. And then as I started to talk to others, I found that often, the Córdobaneses didn't care for BA and even other international travelers found BA to be cold and unfriendly!
When I began to think about it, the people in BA weren't as friendly as those in Córdoba, but I hear Americans in general aren't as warm, so its hard for me to judge porteños as cold. I guess they compare to New Yorkers, where the rest of the Argentines are the friendly midwesterners, more welcoming people. Getting different opinions about BA is one of the reasons I love traveling around the country. BA is NOT representative of all of Argentina (just as NYC is in not was representative of all of the USA), and I love getting tastes of different cities and regions, and meeting the people from different provinces.

Now its back to the semi-normal routine. Classes, homework, etc. But I still get to do it all in Buenos Aires, for which I feel very, very lucky.

**Shout out to my little brother Evan who came home from camp on Monday! Welcome back to Ohio!

Frustration, Friends and Fuerza Bruta!

I have been a bad blogger!
I'm seriously trying to improve, but no matter what country you are in, I suppose life has a way of sneaking up on you and snatching away that blogging (or homework-doing) time you have set aside.
So, since this is my homework-doing time, I'm going to use it for blogging! Makes sense?

Last week was quite a busy one! The combination of friends visiting from Chile, a presentation to prepare (on Argentina's economic policies of the 1990s??), a project for my Art History class and a trip to plan, I didn't have much time to reflect, blog, etc.

However, I do want to highlight two points from last week, ok three points (maybe more if I think of them along the way):

1) Frustration.
To mark our attendance for class (we have to maintain 75% attendance for the entire semester) there are magnetic cards that we have to swipe in machine located on the floor that our classroom is located on in the UB tower. This past week was the first week that we had to swipe, since the first two weeks we were essentially "shopping" for classes. For some reason, my card didn't work. No promising green light lit up when I passed my card through. The UB advising team made it clear that teachers could NOT vouch for attendance, so if you didn't swipe, you were absent. Period. Not wanting to be marked absent when I had attended class, after class I went to see my advisor, to explain the situation. My advisor, on the 17th floor, told me to go to the 12th floor. On the 12th floor, I asked about my card (in Spanish) and the administrator replied (in English, which can be frustrating, because its slightly insulting) that I needed to go to the 17th floor again, to a different part. I went to the 17th floor, where another administrator told me to go to the 16th floor. I went to the 16th floor, and asked about my card, and this administrator, who didn't speak English, got rather insulted when I had trouble using words like "swipe" and "demagnetize," but I got through, although he didn't have a solution for my problem. So, I had to go get the guy from the 17th floor and bring him to the 16th floor for more explaining. Finally, I was given a loaner-card until mine is fixed.

Whew. Isn't that exhausting just to read about? Anyhow, its at times like these when I have to remind myself that these annoying little blips occur at home, abroad- anywhere. At Ohio State, I often have to run back and forth between advisors and meetings, etc. granted, all of it is conducted in English.

2) Friends!
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, my friends were visiting after they completed 3 months of teaching in Chile. It was amazing to see Buenos Aires from their perspective, since they had been teaching in very small, rural areas of Southern Chile. They loved BA, and I was so proud to be able to point out some cool live-music venues, areas to walk around, places to visit. Also, as they experiences Buenos Aires, it renewed my appreciation for living in the city. Although it can get tiresome to be a city-dweller- so many people, noises, smells- I love living here! Its so exciting, there is always new music to hear, or a new cafe/restaurant to try, or new art to see, and I know that I am really lucky to live here. (However, more on how the rest of the country views BA in the next post.) I was sad to see my friends go on Wednesday, anyone else up for a visit? I'm an excellent tour guide!!

3) Fuerza Bruta
My friend Bri had heard about a show called Fuerza Bruta, that was described to her as "Cirque de Soleil" but cheaper, and different. With that enticing description, we had to go check it out, and we bought tickets for last Wednesday's show. This show tours to many major cities- and I heard the tickets in NYC go for 90 USD, tickets we got for 15 USD! Its at times like these where I really appreciate the Argentine Peso.
Anyhow, the show was absolutely amazing, and unlike anything I have every seen before. It was an interactive acrobatic, primordial, artistic interpretation. And that doesn't really make sense, but there is no other way to describe it. The audience is standing in a large room, and suddenly a treadmill appears in the middle, with a man running in the center. The man gets "shot" and soon, other people/objects appear on the treadmill. He begins to run, running through walls of cardboard and other materials. Soon, the focus switches over to two women running horizontally on the wall, on silvery mylar. Then the focus switches to a dancing/shrieking group on a stage, who come out and interact with the audience. Then, finally, the coolest part was a plastic pool or water, with a glass bottom lowering itself onto the audience, while several cast-members danced & did some acrobatics inside of it. At the end of the shower, sprinklers turned on and it turned to a giant dance party!
It was one of the strangest/coolest artistic experiences I have had in this city, I highly recommend it!


Upcoming: a post about my weekend trip to Córdoba!

A Birthday Abroad, A Visitor, and A Very Argentine Milonga

Its been a whole week since I've written! At the end of each day, I think, oh, that's not enough to post about, but somehow it all accumulates, until I feel like I have too much to write about!
Anyhow, here is a snapshot of this week, and the goings-ons of my daily life.

1) Hello Birthday!
This is my first post as a 20 year old! My birthday was the past Monday, and although it was not my first birthday abroad (thank you, Canadian summer camp), it was certainly my first birthday in the Southern Hemisphere. First Southern Hemisphere birthday translates to first WINTER birthday during the SCHOOL YEAR. Other than those slightly unpleasant details, my birthday was FANTASTIC. The day was chilly, but I had a relaxing morning, my host mom Elina gave me a small wooden box from Salta, then I headed over to classes. Two classes later, I was done for the day and of course, had some tea with friends in the afternoon. My parents had told me to go to ISA office during the afternoon, and of course, they had (when I say "they," I mean, my mom) figured out some way to send a dozen roses to me with a very funny little card sending me "lost and lost of love." My host mom cooked a special dinner for myself and my roommates Christine and Dan, and we sat and ate, like a little family. Elina is an amazing (and healthy!) cook, and we ate a corn/cheese concoction, some sort of bean/eggplant dish, and a veggie/mushroom/potato dish. I wish I could tell you the names of these things, but Elina says she just "makes them up!" After dinner, I met up with friends- where I had a birthday dulce de leche panqueque (crepe) with a candle in it, to blow out. And throughout the day, I received birthday messages from friends at home and friends here in BA, and I just felt very loved! It was a wonderful day.

2) Hello Healing Tonsil!
If you've been keeping up with this blog, then you know I was having a swollen tonsil issue. Well, thank goodness, it is clearing up! Lots of medication, a couple nights of more rest than normal, and some waiting around helped it along. I did go back to the doctor one more (no kissing hello/goodbye) this time, but the next step is to figure out how my international health insurance works...more posts to come about that!

3) Hello Classes!
So, other than sitting and drinking tea in cafes for hours on end, or going around the city and seeing the sights, I go to class. I am taking 5 classes, mostly in the afternoons. We are about the begin the third week of classes, and I am starting to get used to them...

Latin American Lit: This is a pretty standard lit class. Read. Discuss. So far, the material has been a little dry (think: Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas) but we'll see where this goes. The teacher seems very nice, however, and when I get bored in class, I just listen to her roll her r's, because she is very very good at that.

Urban Cartographies: This class has a very ambiguous title. Basically, what I have gleaned, is that the class is about the development of the culture of BA, and we'll learn about that through literature. Basically, a BA lit class. This is one of my favorite classes so far. The professor, is very dynamic and a little odd, and there are only 8 people in the class.

Contemporary Art: Wait! Stop everything! Rachel is taking an art history class?? Yes, yes I am. I've decided to fully embrace this pseudo-humanities-major life, and take, yes, an art history class. So far, its actually one of my favorite ones! We're studying the art and architecture of BA. The class is project based, so yesterday, my friend and I had to go to el Museo de Bellas Artes (the main art museum here) to analyze some of the paintings. It was amazing to look at paintings that I had studied, because I could actually view the art critically. Usually, when I go to an art museum, its "oh thats cool" and I move on.

Argentina: An Open Society: This is a sociology class that deals with immigrant groups that have moved to Argentina and the political/economic climate that they found themselves in (I think). This is definitely my hardest class, with complex readings from government agencies, and a whole boatload of terminology that I don't even know in English! We'll see how this goes! However, on Thursday, we watched a documentary about poverty in areas surrounding the city, and the documentary was fascinating- sad too.

Translation from Spanish to English: This is my one class with Argentine students (all the rest are taught in Spanish, but with other international students) and its actually mostly in English! Don't worry- its still challenging! We translate Spanish texts into English, which is a great way to expand my Spanish vocabulary, and actually think about how grammatical constructions in Spanish vary from those in English. It very much appeals my linguistic interests, and I'm learning that there is so much more to translating a text (keeping in mind cultural knowledge, etc.) than putting it into google (not that I did that anyhow!!).

4) Hello Volunteering!
During the week, the mornings before my classes are mostly spent sleeping, working out (I joined a gym near my house!), attempting to do homework, and trying new restaurants (we went to a great Thai place in China Town called Neo Lotus Thai...and this is the reason I need to post everyday, I forget about the little things!) but on Fridays, when I don't have classes, I will be volunteering! My friend Amanda and I will be volunteering at a place called Hogar Number 4 (Home #4), which is a day center run by the government for the elderly. Apparently these Hogares range from basically homeless shelters, to even private originazations where the wealthy Old people go to socialize. However, this Hogar is somewhere in the middle- with happy, old people! My friend Amanda and I travel about an hour by bus to an outer barrio, called Villa Luro. We went for the first time on Friday, and I was pleasantly surprised by how welcoming the old people were! They were lively and funny, and very interested in talking to us. The best was that they were so easy to understand!!! Our goal there is just to spend time with the people and do different "cultural exchange" activities. The interesting thing about volunteering in Argentina, is that its very rare. People don't have enough time/money to go work "for free," and no one is playing the resume-building game that we love in the USA, so volunteering is a very unusual experience. Nevertheless, day 1 went well! Amanda and I just presented ourselves and asked questions/chatted with the old people. They thought I was of Spanish descent! Until I opened my mouth, that was... updates to follow as I volunteer more!

5) Hello Ayla!
A couple months ago, I saw my camp friend Ayla's facebook status saying something about being in Chile. I looked at it, and thought: I am in South America, we should meet up! And after a failed attempt to meet up in Chile, while I was traveling there. she told me she was coming to BA for 4 days. Last night, I met up with Ayla, after not seeing her for two years!!! It was so amazing just to think that we were meeting up so far from home. Just another instance of how the world feels so small sometimes. Its incredible. We went to this really, really cool milonga (place where there is an open floor to dance tango) place which I will describe below!

6) Hello Milonga!
So, we went to this milonga bar called La Catedral, which was basically inside of an old warehouse with random garage sale decorations and furniture and a wooden dance floor in the middle. The atmosphere was dark, and quiet, mostly couples actually and a group of 5 girls (us) chattering away. There were couples just tango-ing, mixed in with musical performances. All in all, it felt so authentically Argentine, and such a cool find, only a short bus-ride from my house! I think I will be returning.


Sorry for this long post- I'll try not to let a week pass without posting!

Challenges

Living abroad is an experience unlike any other. You are placed in this whole new world, simply with the implicit instruction of: explore! But real life is never too far away. And what is more mind boggling to me than marveling at the cultural differences of where you are, is actually getting used to where you live, completely adjusting to the culture around you. Feeling normal within those cultural confines. For example. To me, it now feels normal to sit in cafes for at least three hours, drinking tea and talking. It feels normal to ride the crowded subte, gasping for air each time that the doors open. It feels normal to go to the bank, and ask for a pile of monedas (coins), so that I can ride the bus. If feels normal to see 80 year olds and 3 year olds out on the town beyond midnight, eating dinner or simply strolling around.

However, some things just don't feel normal.

1) There are no planners in this city. I pretty much live by my planner in the states; it allows all my lists to be in one place, all my assignments to be in one place, and any odds or ends that I want to remember to be in that same, one place. In a move of stupidity, I did not bring my planner to Buenos Aires. I assumed that as a large, cosmopolitan city, there HAD to be planners. Right? They're ubiquitous, not affiliated with a specific culture. Well, I was wrong, After an extensive search, that included STAPLES, yes the American company, Staples, I have exhausted my search. Apparently planners are uniquely American. I think this is a clue about Argentine time and planning...that it isn't structured. I know that I should take this whole inability to find a planner as a new cultural experience, a clue to relax a little bit and go with the flow. And, I'm trying. Being here is definitely relaxed compared to my normally crazy life, but. But. But. But. I still wish I had a planner...

2) Medical care. I guess that my medical care was never "normal" per say, because I have two doctor parents. But I have recently experienced some medical care here in Argentina. When my tonsil starting swelling in an ungodly way about a week ago, I wasn't too concerned. No other symptoms, and I didn't want to be a baby (read: go through the hassle of seeing a doctor). However, 10 days later and considerable pain with eating, talking, and breathing (three things I do pretty regularly), I decided it was time. A friend accompanied me to the ER, where we waited for a 45 minute block, then saw a doctor, then got a strep test, then returned to the doctor to learn that it was negative, and then was told by the doctor that I would have to call in 5 days to see if the other strep test was negative. Whew, exhausting. Exhausting for both me, and my wallet. And I left with no clear answers! And a tonsil the size of a golf ball! Frustrating. And the craziest part of it all was that on my way out of the ER the doctor gave me the traditional porteño goodbye, a kiss on the cheek! And then did the same to my friend!! Mind boggling!!

All in all, I'm not letting the tonsil ordeal slow me down...theres just too much to do here! However, if only I could find any sort of planner...

So long six week slump!

As of this weekend, I have reached the 6 week mark of living in Buenos Aires.
When I used to go to Camp Ramah, we alway semi-seriously joked about "the 6-week slump," that point where just after six weeks, you start to get a little antsy with what you've been doing.
When you arrive in a new place, EVERYTHING new that you try is exciting, but you know that you can pace yourself (at least for this trip), because there are six long months ahead. But slowly, your life starts to take on a routine- when you are a student, the routine is inevitable. Classes during the week, out with friends on the weekend. Classes during the week, out with friends on the weekend. However- in a city like BA, a cultural MECCA, it feels sinful to go on with life ignoring the off-the-tourist-track gems that make this city live up its its reputation. My problem, however, was finding these gems! They stay off the beaten track for a reason!
Last night, my friend invited me a local concert in a cafe about 10 blocks from my house. The music was AMAZING and the atmosphere was so authentic- 4 americans and a whole room full of porteños. It was exactly the type of experience that I had been seeking since I arrived! The art/music scene in this city is so rich, tapping into it is absolutely necessary.
So, i asked my friend how she happened upon this little concert. And she mentioned a KEY website www.whatsupbuenosaires.com to finding all things amazing going on in this city.
So long six week slump! Lets get ready to delve into BA a little further.

Over the Andes and through the Dunes, to Mendoza and Chile we go! (went?)

Hola a todos!!

Its been quite some time since I've updated, which always makes it difficult to say everything I want to say in one blog post. The past week I have been traveling, since we had time off of school for our Winter Break. My trip was certainly a whirlwind 8 day adventure, the details of which, I am about to share with all of you! I will try to break it down day by day for easy read-ability. Here goes....

Saturday, 17 de julio
Our overnight bus was scheduled to leave BA for Mendoza around 8:30 pm. We trekked down to the Bus station (about 50 min worth of walking/subte riding from my house) without our bags packed. The bus station was, what they say in spanish, una locura. A giant crazy mess! You aren't told your "gate" or where your bus leaves from, so you just kind of huddle with the masses until a bus pulls up that is labeled with your correct departure time and destination. Luckily, we found some locals who kind of knew what they were doing and led us to the correct bus, and an hour later than expected, we departed from BA.

Sunday, 18 de julio
I slept through the entire night, without a problem. I won't venture to say that the seat were comfortable, but for a $50 ticket, I wasn't complaining. We arrived in Mendoza around noon, taking a taxi to our hostel. I will be the first to say that traveling the backpacker style was pretty new to most of us, and we didn't really know what to do once we got to our hostel. Actually, I take that back, we knew what to do: eat. We enjoyed a delicious meal of pasta, and of course got some Malbec wine to share. Other than some eating and exploring, our first day in Mendoza was rather relaxing. We made some friends at the hostel, a British guy and an Argentine, so it was definitely entertaining to talk to them. Mostly, it was exciting to be outside of the city, enjoy some peace and quiet. After living and deciphering BA, going to ANY city while traveling feels like a piece of cake. Honestly. Also, it was FREEZING in Mendoza. It was actually freezing the entire trip, especially because hostels do not have heating. Our hostel in Mendoza did have a very questionable open flame heater that reeked of propane...but it was warm. Whether the fumes cost me several years of my life remains to be seen.

Monday, 19 de julio
In the afternoon on Monday, we went on a wine tour! We arranged for a tour guide to come pick us up outside the hostel. Ana, our tour guide, was very nice, telling us about Mendoza as an arid region that receives very little rain, and its main function as a region that produces wine, especially the Malbec grape. We went to two wineries, Weingart and Laguarde. They were both medium-sized old-fashioned wineries, so it was amazing to see the dungeon-like caves and gigantic oak casks being used in the wine production. Tasting wine is a field in which I doubt I will ever be an expert. It all tastes like wine to me, I don't get the aromas of cherry, pepper, onion, etc. Ana just told me I needed to develop my "palate." Haha. The only wine most of us liked was a very fruity fizzy wine, which was just like drinking soda. Yum!
After the tours, we drove near to the Andes Mountains, got out of our van and took some pictures. I truly love the mountains. I like living in a city, and the constant excitement and barrage of culture, but something about the majesty of nature pulls me.

Tuesday, 20 de julio
We woke up very very early to catch a 7:30 am bus from Mendoza to Santiago. We said goodbye to half of our group the night before, and then we were four, embarking on our journey across the border to Chile! The bus drive was INCREDIBLE. We drove through windy, steep roads in the Andes, watching the sun rise. We eventually made it to the border at the peak of the mountains, passed through customs without any problems (well, they did open my bag and question my jar of jam...) and drove on the Santiago. Santiago was rainy and freezing when we arrived. Not cool, Santiago, not cool. However, even through the weather you could see that Santiago was a very cool city. To me, it had more of a colonial feel than BA, and parts were definitely more run down. In Santiago, the Chilean people looked very much like Argentines, in that they were European. During the afternoon we were in Santiago, we took a city tour, and our tour guide told us that Chile, like Argentina was very much a country of immigrants. The city tour was great, we saw the main plaza, Plaza de Armas, got a (cloudy) view of Santiago from surrounding hills, and even tried some Pisco, the national drink.
I'm going to take a moment to talk about the hostel in Santiago. IT WAS FREEZING. I wore two pairs of wool socks, two pairs of long underwear, a thermal top layer, two shirts, my northface fleece and a hat and gloves to go to sleep. It was not enough. Fortunately, we only stayed one night there, but I do not think I will be going back there in the winter!

Wednesday, 21 de julio
We took a 1 hour bus to Valparaiso/ Vina del Mar, sister cities on Chile's coast. These cities were the highlight of the trip, without a doubt. As we drove from Santiago to Valpo, we could see the scenery change. It transitioned from scrubby mountains to lush green vegetation and palm trees. We took a taxi to our hostel once we arrived, and not only did we gape at the brightly colored houses the were built into the hillside, we cheered as the sun finally came out! Our hostel was adorable, reminiscent of a house, with a very welcoming staff. We wasted no time to exploring, our first quest was to find La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house. Seeing his house, it was no shock that he could write such beautiful poetry. His house was brightly colored and had a panoramic window overlooking the entire coast and rainbow houses. It was breathtaking. After finding La Sebastiana, we went down to the coast, and went on an ascensor (elevator) up a hill to get another breathtaking view of the port. The sun was starting to get down, and it got cold again (unfortunately). But we appreciated the sunshine during the day!

Thursday, 22 de julio
THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF THE ENTIRE TRIP!
We had planned earlier in the week to go horseback riding. I emailed a company about 30 km north of Valpo, and they arranged transportation to get us to their location. We mounted our horses for a full day adventure, with an asado for lunch, not really knowing what to expect. Before we knew it, our guides were leading us over gigantic sand dunes, forests, and all the way to the BEACH. One of my friends and I reached the beach and started experimenting with how fast our horses would go, until we were galloping down the beach. The coast, and riding along it on a horse was absolutely incredible, I don't even have words to express how perfect the day felt. Our asado lunch was delicious. For the non-vegetarians in the group, our guides cooked sausage, pork, AND giant steaks. For me, there were quesadillas and salads, it was amazing. After our late lunch, we returned to the beach with our hourses, and rode again on the beach as the sun set. It was unbelievable.

Friday, 23 de julio
We spent Friday exploring Vina del Mar, the more touristy sister city to Valparaiso. It was beautiful, except it started to rain. We also needed to schedule classes at 5 pm, so a large part of the day was spent figuring out those annoying real-life details.

Saturday, 24 de julio
This was our original departure date. When we woke up early to catch our bus back to Mendoza, we hear pouring rain. THis was not a good sign, because if it was raining along the coast, it was snowing in the mountains we needed to cross. We embarked on the journey anyhow, driving for two hours before our bus driver turned around. No buses could cross the Andes due to weather. We were put out for only about 30 seconds, because as soon as we got off the bus, the SUN came out! And it was the perfect day! We found this fish market where Chileans were gutting hundreds of fish, selling vegetables, and engaging in pure chaos. In a building near the market, we found several restaurants that all served very fresh fish, which was delicious! After the market, we went to beach, where we were able to watch the sunset, the perfect end to an amazing trip.

Sunday 25 de julio - Monday, 26 de julio
25 hours on buses. We smelled very bad. Nothing more needs to be said.


Okay, thats a long one! More updates of life in BA and semester classes to come...

Final Exams, Winter Break...in JULY

The weeks here pass so quickly, its hard to believe that today marks the one month mark of my trip here.
This past week was interesting because it truly felt like I was living my normal life...but in BA. I didn't do anything touristy, or really go visit any new parts of the city. This was because I had something looming over me all week: my final exam for my intensive month classes.
So, the days were spent at Universidad de Belgrano, and afternoons were split between time our or program office trying to plan our upcoming trip (more about that in a second) and meeting in cafes, etc. to get some studying in.
Our exam was Thursday morning, two hours for the written part, and a five minute oral exam. It was a little tricky, and I was pretty concerned because the final exam was our one and only grade in the class. The night before the exam, I even had an anxiety dream in which I got a '29' on the exam- this doesn't even make sense because the Argentina grading scale is 1-10! However, it was good to know that I can have test anxiety dreams on any continent!
The exam went pretty well, I ended up getting a 9 in the class (remember, out of 10), and I am not sure what that will translate back as once I return to OSU, but I am pretty sure it will be an A or A-.
Now that our intensive month of classes is over (and I am fluent in Spanish, haha not yet), we have a week long break! This is equivalent to winter break, which is very hard to wrap my head around, being that its July...
Anyhow, some friends and I are going to spend the next week traveling to Mendoza and Santiago de Chile. Mendoza is Argentina's wine country, equivalent more or less to Napa Valley. Its a 14 hour bus ride to Mendoza and then a short bus ride to Chile, and then it will be about 20 hours on a bus to get back to Buenos Aires. I'm so excited for my first real travel adventure!
I splurged on a backpacking backpack so that I can fit a week's worth of gear into one bag. Of course, this probably only means bringing two pairs of pants and a sweatshirt, but I felt I needed something a little bit bigger than my regular backpack.
Last night, I went to yet another synagogue...this time a Chabad! This past Wednesday, I had met up with Miriam's sister (Miriam is our Solon Chabad Rebbetzin) who lives 8 hours south of BA, in a very small town called Bahia Blanca. I spent a couple hours with her, viewing the religious part of BA (the neighborhood of Once) and even got some kosher cold cuts! She also put me in contact with Rivka Lipinski, the Rebbetzin of the Chabad that is 10 minutes walking distance from my home here!
So last night, Ruthie and I braved the cold and went to Chabad, and had an absolutely lovely time! It was very reminiscent of Chabad at home, with the set up of the building and the population of people that attended. Ruthie and I spoke to a woman from Córdoba (another city in Argentina) for a while, and I felt especially welcomed by the Rabbi and his wife.
There was a dinner after services, good to know that even in Argentina, I can eat a Shabbos meal of gefilte fish, chicken, and kugel!! The population of people there were mostly young married couples, but I spent a while talking with one of the Rabbi's daughters, hearing about her impressions of the US compared to Argentina. After dinner, everyone even went around the table introducing themselves and saying why they were at chabad (let me tell you, I love speaking Spanish to a roomful of natives, not. i mean, its great practice, but its stressful.)
All in all, it was a great evening!
Tonght I embark on my trip, and I am not sure if I will have time for a blog post while traveling...
So, for the time being, CHAU!

MALBA, Mate & Uruguay

Its been a while since I've updated, sorry to my readers out there! As I read on someone else's blog, its the blog paradox that once you have things to actually write about, you are too busy to write about them!

I guess I'll just give some highlights of the past week or so...

1) MALBA. Last Wednesday, my friend Drew and I went to MALBA (Mueso del arte latinamericano de BA/ Museum of Latinamerican Art in BA). MALBA is known to be one of the best museums in BA, since it was actually built to be a museum, rather than being an older building that was converted into a museum. The main exhibit was a photography exhibit feating the work of Robert Magglethorpe. This exhibit was pretty graphic, and definitely pushed the limits of my understanding of art. However, it was still very engaging to walk through. The rest of the museum was more sedate, featuring non-traditional/modern art from 20th century latinamerica. All in all, a very enjoyable museum, although rather small- only taking about 45 min to pass through.

2) Avatar. Ok, I know that Avatar has nothing to do with Argentina. But my friend bought a pirated copy for a couple pesos, and when I told him that I had never seen the movie, he lent it to me. I stayed up very late Wednesday night watching Avatar...and I LOVED IT. I know that many of my friends/family members were pretty critical of the movie, but for me, it was the perfect mix of Pocahontas and non-scary sci-fi. It was great! (Ok, sorry, I just had to share my review of a 6-month old blockbuster.)

3) Mate (MAH-tay). I finally tried my first mate, traditional Argentine tea. You should google mate so that you can see the copa (little bowl) in which mate leaves are packed and soaked in hot water and the bombilla (straw) that is placed within the leaves, so the water can be sucked up. Argentines can be seen holding these copas along with a thermos of hot water while on the streets, in schools, in the subte- really anywhere. You can drink mate from normal tea bags, but theres no fun in that. Also, mate isn't really drunken in restaurants, so I wasn't sure how to access it. On Thursday, I went over to a friend's apartment after classes, and she had some mate for us! It was pretty bitter and tasted like the earth. Her host mom had told her that Argentines (women especially) drink mate instead of eating, and thats how they stay so thin....

4) On Friday we didn't have classes because it was 9 de julio, Argentine Independence Day. Independence Day here is not such a big deal. Apparently a big celebration occurs on 25 de mayo, which was the day that Argentina, Bolivia and a few other South American countries began to fight Spain for independence. However on 9 de julio, there is a military parade that draws few spectators (so I was told, I didn't attend). I spent my day going to a DELICIOUS, VEGETARIAN restaurant- La Esquina de las flores- (its on my street, and I had passed it every day, finally getting a chance to try out its food) and the botanical garden.

5) On Friday night, I went to another synagogue with Ruthie. We went to one called Bet Hillel. As we tried to enter, we were stopped by security guards- they asked our names, purpose for coming, who we knew inside, our reasons for being in BA, and it went on. Thankfully, Ruthie actually did know someone in the congretation, but it was very much an eye-opening experience. I take for granted being able to walk into a shul at home- no questions asked. I feel very safe as a Jew in America. I've not encountered Anti-Semitism here, but the whole synagogue experience made me a little suspect as to the safety of Jews here. The service was again, reform, and full of lovely music. I love that I still understand Kabbalat Shabbat no matter the country I am in. Its truly a wonderful feeling.

6) Since we had a three day weekend, my friend Bri and I decided to spend Saturday/Sunday in Uruguay! Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay is a hop, skip and a jump from BA (ok, so its a 1 hour ferry ride), and for a $70 USD round trip, how could I resist? Colonia del Sacramento is a tiny town. Mostly built up for tourists, its main attractions are a beach, a historic neighborhood, and renting mopeds/golf carts to ride around. The best part of being in Colonia was its tranquility. It actually felt like we were on a little vacation from the hustle and bustle of BA. We could walk down the middle of the street, or take some turns without the fear of getting lost. It was wonderful. The first day we were there was sunny and clear. We walked along the beach, explored the little town, watched Uruguay lose (unfortunately) in the World Cup match, and saw the sun set over the water. The second day we weren't so lucky- it was rainy and very chilly. We had rented bikes in the morning, before the rain had started, so it was quite an adventure navigating our bicycles in the rain. Ultimately, however, we still found some nice places to walk around and spent a leisurely afternoon before heading to the ferry terminal, where we watched Espana win the World Cup! Some differences from Argentina noted in Uruguay: the speed people spoke, and the currency! People spoke MUCH faster than they do here in BA, it was unbelievable. Also, the currency is very different. 100 uruguayos=20 pesos=5 USD. Hows that for confusing??

On the horizon: my month-long intensive classes end this week...meaning finals are on their way, oh no! 10 day break- where will I end up?? End of July=starting volunteering at an Old Folks Home and a new semester of classes. Also, which synagogue will I try out next?

Stay tuned! :)

What goes up, must come down (read: a bus that goes one way, must eventually return in the same way)

So, having had some success with navigating the buses, I decided to try again, and hopefully continue my lucky streak.

Well folks, I should have just shelled out 15 pesos for the taxi.

Let me tell you the whole story.

So, I had left my jacket at a friend's apartment, about a week ago. I wasn't too concerned about said jacket (I brought two spares to BA) but I needed to get it back, and tonight had been chosen as the night.

I mapped out my route on comoviajo.com, proud that I was such a bus maven (they are called colectivos here). I walked to the two blocks to the stop, waited and boarded.

I pretty much immediately knew something was wrong, since we didn't seem to be going in the right direction. However, I put my faith in the route I looked up, because I don't really have the best direction sense. About 30 minutes in, when I should have been arriving at destination, we had just entered some darker, dirtier looking residential areas. At this point, I knew I was not getting the jacket tonight. I told myself not to panic, that the bus had to loop back at some point.

45 minutes later, we arrive at the end of the line and I get up, then ask the bus driver why I never got to my planned destination. He laughed, telling me I should have gotten on the same line but in the OTHER DIRECTION. He told me how to walk to the right bus stop (three blocks through some area that wasn't for gringas, let me tell you), then I boarded the bus and another 45 minutes put me right back where I started.

Lesson learned, look at a map, check the necessary bus direction before embarking on journey.

Argentine Moment: Te con leche and cafe culture

Hi everyone, I know its been a few days. However, I've been getting requests (cough cough, Sarah) for more updates, so although I spent some 2.5 hours on Skype tonight (I miss all of you!), I am faithfully keeping to the blog!

So, the last day I talked about was Thursday...

On Friday, I was quite thankful to finish up our first full week of classes. There is just something exciting about Fridays, in any country really, that signals the end of the week and the possibility of the upcoming weekend. I woke up a little later than I was supposed to, so I experimented with taking the colectivo (the bus) to UB, because I knew it would take half the time. It was a success! A quicker commute and much less walking, I might be taking the bus fro now on. Buses are CHEAP (30 cents USD) and go pretty much everywhere in BsAs. I think I will be getting very familiar with the bus system as the weeks wear on and my monies dwindle.

In class, we worked some more with the demonio known as the subjunctive. Something fun we did was act out scenes with a partner...showcasing out knowledge of the subjunctive. of course. There were three options, novios (boyfriend/girlfriend) that were breaking up, an employee getting fired, and a students petitioning a teacher for a better grade. Myself and a classmate acted out the novios situation, telenovela style ("Arturo! My love for Alejandro is real!") and it was quite entertaining.

After class, I headed home to rest up a bit (after the previous night's Teatro Colon/Twilight adventure, I was pretty exhausted), and watched the end of the Uruguay/Ghana game with my host mom. I loved watching the game with Elina! She was very enthusiastic, and when Ghana lost, she kept saying pobre negritos (poor little black people), which apparently isn't politically incorrect here.

When the game finished, I met up with my new friend Ruthie to seek out a synagogue. Ruthie had chosen Amijai, a Reform congregation in the middle of Chinatown (strange placement, I know). We took the subte halfway there, walked a bit, got a little turned around, took a taxi for the rest, and still on missed half the service! At Amijai, they had some pretty music- bongos, a piano and a cello, and while the musical service wasn't really my cup of tea, I very much enjoyed hearing and understanding a sermon in Spanish and of course, eating some challah on a Friday night. I am very excited to check out other synagogues in the area, maybe find some Kosher eating establishments (I miss meat) and just delve into the Jewish community of BsAs!

Saturday was the epic Argentina-Germany game. We all know that Germany was going to be tough (even Elina said, "Ellos están muy duros," they are very strong). However, what we watched was just carnage. My friend Diana and I met up at a burrito place (it was good, but Chipotle still wins in my book) and watched Argentina score a goal that didn't count, pass the ball to players that weren't in the right spots, and get scored on. The Germans were little machines and by the end of the game, we knew it was all over. I don't get too emotionally involved with sports, but this was sad! This country LOVES futbol! When I got home, I remarked "Que triste/how sad!" about the game to Elina and her friends, and they were surprised and confused that I cared about Argentina's team. To them, it was obvious that I would cheer for the USA, and beyond that, be indifferent. However, cheering for Argentina was just too exciting to pass up :)

On Sunday, Drew, Ruthie and myself went to the market at San Telmo. San Telmo is known as a bohemian/artesan area, and truth be told, I did see more dreadlocked-people at this market than I had ever seen in one place. For blocks upon blocks, there were tables set up with artist's wares. From what I could tell, it was all slightly touristy, yet still fun to walk among. Strolling through the streets was fun, but my favorite part was listening to the groups drumming on the streets. There was a group of 7 or so people who all had various drums and just played awesome music. It reminded me a bit of marching band days, but it was lovely to just stand, listen and dance a little in the street.

Even though yesterday was the 4th of July, I didn't really celebrate. This marks the fifth 4th of July I have been out the US (thanks to all those summers at Camp Ramah in Canada) and I can't say that it upsets me too much. There was no apple pie, no fireworks, but I didn't really miss it all too much. This upcoming Friday is Argentina's Independence Day (9 de julio), so I am excited to see what that brings!

Today began our third of four weeks of intensive Spanish class. Mondays are always rough, today being no exception. We read a story called "La adolescente/The adolescent" in class, which detailed a young writer being watched by another writer in a cafe. The most exciting part of this story was that I understood it the first time that I read it! Yay! We also worked on the usage of the words por and para, both ways of saying "for" that are varied based on context. Our class is structured such that we have no tests or quizes until our final in two weeks...this frightens me. I guess I should start studying!

After class, I went to the ISA office to socialize for a bit and began to think about what kind of trip to plan during out 10 day break...update to follow regarding that! After ISA, my friend Bri and I went to the grocery store/pharmacy (always fun adventures when you are in a foreign country) to get super exciting things like grapefruits (in my case), chapstick, etc.

We rewarded ourselves for surviving this rough Monday with some te con leche. This is little that I enjoy more than sitting in a cafe for a couple hours, talking, over some te con leche (tea with milk) and medialunas (sweet croissants). Firstly, the tea is delicious. Secondly, its very common just to linger in cafes and there is no rush to get customers out the door. In fact, our waiter didn't even think the bring the check until we asked for it, two hours in.

This tea time is so delicious and so relaxing, I love when its incorporated into my day. Whenever we go to this cafe, it feels like such an Argentine moment, where sitting, talking, and sharing stories takes precedent over the week's unrelenting undertow.

I'm so cultured

Yesterday, my class took a field trip to San Isidrio. San Isidrio is a little neighborhood north of BsAs, where the wealthy retreat in the summer, reminiscent of Tigre but minus the boats. We took the train to get there, costing 30 cents USD and taking about half an hour.

When we arrived, we first walked to a cathedral, then to a small plaza with benches and a flower clock. We strolled around looking for my teacher's favorite empanada spot (second only to her Grandma's, she told me) only to find that it was closed. Thankfully, empanadas can be found on every corner in this country, so it wasn't too long until w

e stopped somewhere else.

After we ate, we went to Villa Ocampo, the home of the Ocampo family- most notably Victoria Ocampo- which is now a museum.

Victoria Ocampo was, according to wikipedia, "an Argentine intellectual," and according to me, a pretty cool lady. She was a very wealthy, independent woman who broke

many barriers for South American women in the 1930s. On our tour, we learned that she was involved in the magazine Sur, which both translated internationally renowned poets/authors of that era into Spanish and also published unknown Argentine authors. She sounded like an all-around classy lady, and her house was BEAUTIFUL. It was a mix of Italian, English, and Argentine styles, surrounded by trees and flowers.

It was funny, it was so quiet while we were there. Since I've been in the city, which is pretty regularly noise-filled, I now only notice absence of noise. I love living in BsAs, but it was nice to be in nature for the day!

After returning from the field trip, I met up with my friend Drew to go to El Teatro Colon (the famous colon theatre!). He is a music major and was interested in hearing a certain pianist, and I just like going new places and having new cultural experiences, so we went!

The colon theatre is gorgeous. It was different than any

other theatre I had ever been in, because it was completely vertical. It was as if the theatre was a giant hollow cylinder with only three rows of seats lining the wall of each floor. We sat at the very top of theatre, tickets were only $25 pesos (a little over 6 USD!). I enjoyed listening the music, especially when I could pick out the oboe- my former instrument- and I think I would like to return to see a ballet.

After the performance, some of my friends were headed to see the latest Twilight installment- Eclipse. Before I could protest, a ticket had been bought for me and I was headed to the movie theatre. This was funny to me because in the span of an hour, I went from a highly genteel activity to the absolute bottom of the cultural-food chain...pop culture. Anyhow, it was a pretty silly movie (plot= nonexistent) but now I will understand what people are talking about when they talk about twilight!