¡Feliz día de acción de gracias!

Just wanted to say feliz día de acción de gracias a todos (Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!). Tonight I´m going to eat dinner with my host family. We´re having chicken, which is more or less similar to turkey (not that common and pretty expensive here) and mashed potatoes and I don´t know what else. I´m going to make pumpkin pie as well =)

It´s strange to think of everyone back home celebrating "normally" with their families and whatnot. Oh well. I´ll be celebrating with my surrogate family here.

Spanish and English are the same,right?

So today I went to lunch with some people. As I was casually looking over the menu I was thinking in the back of my head, this is too complicated for me right now, I'm just going to "cheat" and read the English underneath. As I started reading, I realized how much easier it was.
Then I also realized that the first line was in I talian and the second in Spanish.... Go figure.

Today was pretty eventful. Got up early and went to the airport to meet Sarah and her sister and get my ATM card before they headed off to Barriloche. Found my way there on a bus, which I was pretty proud of myself for. From there went to do a dress fitting for my dress for Rach's wedding. Apparently their power had been out though and they didnt have time to finish. They tried to call me but I never got the message since I didn't hear my cell phone ring and they talked to Elvira but I wasn't at home (and our house phone doesn't call cells, her cell didn't have minutes,etc). Oh well. Now I'm going back tomorrow.

Did some work. Went to lunch. Did some more work. Had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (I dont think I ever wrote this but I switched tutors a couple weeks ago. Not so cool considering how close it is to the end of the semester, but things are much better now). Things are really starting to click and I'm getting excited. Finished/turned something in for lit and talked with the professor a bit about the final paper. I have some ideas for that now as well. So overall a good day.

Had a bit of a headache when I came home so I napped and now I'll do a bit of work and eat dinner and whatnot.

And to end on a completely random note, apparently back home my cat jumped out of the second story window today while my mom was painting. He's fine though. Crazy cat.

A weekend of firsts

This weekend has been quite eventful and full of new experiences.

Well, Friday wasn't too terribly exciting. I had a meeting with my tutor for my independent study (very little time left and lots to do--eek!), did some work, then went home and went for a run (about time!) around the ecological reserve in Puerto Madero. That night I went to dinner with Alex at Cumana, which has food more typical of norhtern Argentina. We both had yummy empanandas and shared desserts--including an empanada filled with dulce de leche! I had heard a lot about the restaurant and finally went. It was packed! Lots of people waiting outside for a table. It's not that big of a place and the menu is very simple (empanadas, pizza, tamales, etc) but we found out what the big deal was all about....

Saturday I went to the Argentina v. Boliva futbol (soccer) game! It was my first soccer game I've been to in Argentina. It was fun and Argentina won 3-0. They played in River stadium (the biggest stadium in Buenos Aires/Argentina, which is the Buenos Aires team River Plate's home stadium). One of the guys in our group is from Bolivia and proudly wore his Bolivia jersey sitting in the middle of us. We were in a calmer section though, so fortunately there weren't any problems. It was interesting to see/hear all the chants and random traditions of the games. I usually couldn't make out the words completely though (a bit harder w/ the stadium echo effect). During one though everyone jumps and says something about if you dont jump, you're English. Haha, fair enough. The other interesting thing of note was that at one point during the game they used firehoses to spray the crowd. It was really hot in the sun (fortunately we were in the shade), so they did it to cool people down. Apparently they do it when there are problems in the crowd as well though.

After the game I rode the subte D line the entire line to get home--first time I'd done that. It was slightly difficult walking home to my house because there was a HUGE parade of Comunidad Homosexual Argentina going through Avenida de Mayo. I hadn't seen a parade here before either and this one was huge.

Saturday night I went out to dinner with Michelle and Amanda. We went to Meridiano 58, where I had gone with some girls at the beginning of the semester (and wanted to go to with my parents, but they went there for lunch just as a coincedence). I did wear my new dress though, which keeps me on the weekend of firsts theme. After dinner, Sarah, Michelle, and I attempted to go to Acabar (a restaurant/bar where you can play boardgames) but it was way too crowed. We found a fun spot called Sonomans and relaxed on the patio outside. Apparently we picked a good place because it got packed!

Today I went to the Feria de Mataderos with Sarah, Kate, Amanda, and Michelle. Mataderos is the barrio/neighborhood its in, which is in the southwest corner/limits of the city of Buenos Aires (almost out of the Guia T!). Mataderos means slaughterhouse. This feria is similar to a lot of the others, but this one has more of a folk/provincia feel to it. There was music and folk dancing all afternoon. They had a lot of food typical of Northern Argentina. We ate tamales and some kind of cornbread with cheese. They also had some kind of horse races. It started late because there were cars in the path. They found the owners for some and then just pushed a taxi out of the way (which had to be good for the car?). We watched for a bit (they rode so fast on the pavement and without real saddles!), but it looked like it was about to pour any moment so we left. From there we took a bus back into the main part of the city and I took the subte home (We took the subte--the entire line of E--plus a taxi ride to get there. From the bus I then rode the entire A line minus 1 stop to my house. I'd never ridden the whole line and now practically 3 times in 2 days!).

I took a nap for a bit, but now its time to do homework. Lots to do! Its so strange how everything is starting to come to an end. I don't like it. I'm just not ready yet. I'm not sure if I ever will be. Some people are staying for an entire year (a lot of them decided to do it while they were here this semester). I'd love to do that or study somewhere else for another semester, but its just not really possible. There'd be a lot of things I'd miss out on next semester as well. Oh well. Alright, time to do work!

Wednesdays are long days...

Today as been a bit of a long day, as usual on Wednesdays, but a good day none-the-less. I was up late studying last night so I´m pretty tired, but life is good.

I took my parcial for Anthro this morning and I think it went well. I´m not quite as confident as I was at the end of the last one, but I think I did well anyway and that I won´t have to take the final. I talked with some of the girls after class and we´re hopefully going to get together next weekend or something. That would be fun.

Went from there to Lit, as usual. Today we had we had someone come in to speak with us. Don´t know how much you know about the 70´s in Argentina, but basically there was a genocide in which the government detained/sequestered "insurgents," who where then tortured, killed, forced into exhile, or "disapeared." Lots of students, intellectuals, artists, etc. Today José Sculman came to speak with us. He is a survivor who was captured/detained/tortured twice and now he writes about the experiences and the time period and whatnot and works with a human rights organization. It was really powerful. And intense. He read us some of his stuff, which gave it a whole new dimension. Good class. Scary stuff that happened.

(Sorry, I feel like my English is really awkward right now. I´ve been in classes in Spanish all day and I´m having hard time coming up with the right words)

Anyway, in a bit I have choir and then I´m painting tonight--yay!

Tomorrow I´m going on a tour with my Culture class to see French influences in the city. While part of this includes architecture, etc, it also means the methods or torture used in the 1970s, so we´ll be seeing some pretty powerful stuff tomorrow as well.

It´s so strange that, when I´m learning about things that happened during the time there are so many references to places in and around the city that I know. I have my own associations with these places and to put them in the context of such horrible events is just.... such a strange and disconcerting thought.
It´s hard to imagine the people who lived through the time or are survivors. First, that its real and they lived it and its not just a "story" or a "far away history" and second to think how so many places in the city have memories or history attached, but its everyday places all around the city.
I´m not really sure if that makes sense or not....

Visas and ATM cards

So this morning I spent about 3 1/2 hours in the Migrations Office for my visa. It was the 3rd time, but we had to go to extend the date and whatnot. The people who went last week said it only took about 1 1/2 hours, but I guess the fact that today is Monday as opposed to Friday helped. I overheard some of the staff commenting about how many people there were and that, even for a Monday, there usually aren´t that many people. Needless to say, I didnt go to class at 11. Oh well.

Saturday night I lost my ATM card. Boo. Very out of character for me. I realized right as I was about to go out, so tried to refrain from freaking out and made phone calls to cancel it and have a new one set to a friend´s sister who will be visiting next week. Today I went to the bank and asked about it and the card is there, but I need my original passport to get it out. I had a copy of my passport and my original visa form (from this morning), but had stopped by my house to drop off my original passport so I didn´t have to carry it around. Oh well. They said that if I don´t come back for it in 48 hours they´ll destroy it. I figure I´ll let them do that and just get my new one from Sarah´s sister since I´ve already cancelled it. Oh goodness...

Right now they´re finally repairing our appartment. They´ve been supposed to for a while now, but they just started last week. So... lots of things are rearranged. New painting. Soon the light will be fixed in my room--woohoo!

Anyway, thats my "fun" news for now. Haha. Now its time to get some studying done. I have my 2nd "midterm" in anthropology on Wednesday!

The last few days...

Hola again!
Life is good in BsAs. Last night Sarah hosted an empanada and wine party, which was lots of fun! Sarah and Kate baked us yummy desserts and everyone else brought their favorite/ "the best" empanadas and wine. My empanandas never actually got eaten because somehow the box got overlooked in the kitchen (Sarah thought I was crazy, but I found them afterward. Haha. They really are good though!) There were about 10 girls and Sarah's host parents hung out with us for a while as well. Good, quality (and slightly crazy) time spent together talking and laughing.

I started a painting class the other day, which I'm very excited about. I always said I wanted to learn to paint and now I'm working on an oil painting! I'm trying at least, we'll see how it goes.

Today I went out with Sarah and Michelle to find a dress for Rachael's wedding. Success! I'm getting one custom-fitted/made for a price I'd spend in the U.S. on a dress. Afterward we wandered a bit, looking at shops and at the feria.

And now I'm going to read a bit before dinner and going out. =)

Bomb threats and the education system...

My host brother, Joaquin, has had bomb threats at his school since last Wednesday. There have been multiple a day, so that they have to evacuate each time and wait until everything is investigated until they can go back to school. One day there were 4 bomb threats. Elvira just didnt even send him to school on Monday because more time has been spend going in and out of the building than in class. Terrible, no? Its probably just a joke, but you can never take it that way.

A lot of the schools work on interesting schedules here, with different students going during different sessions. At Joaquin´s school there´s a morning, afternoon, and evening session. He goes to both the morning and afternoon sessions so that he has more time with each class and can also take French. As of a few years ago, a law was passed that every school has to teach English, so now if students want to take another language its in addition to English or through a private organization/school.

My class went well today in UBA. I´m almost done. Next week we have our second parcial (kind of like midterm?) and if I get a 7 or higher I get direct promotion and don´t need to take the final. So...that´s what I´m going for. I feel like I´m finally starting to connect more with some of the people in the class, which I´m excited about but wish it could have happened sooner since class is almost over. I was talking with 2 of the girls after class today though and we´re hopefully going to hang out after parciales and whatnot are out of the way. They told me that I definitely have to let them know before I leave.
I think I wrote a bit about UBA before, but in general it still just makes me laugh. Today we moved classrooms because there was construction or something that made a noise so loud no one could hear in the classroom. The walls are covered with posters and banners and graffiti. Lots of socialist propoganda. And graffiti paintings of Che. Not exactly Elon. That´s what I wanted though and it´s really interesting to experience things that are different.

Anyway, just thought I´d share. Speaking of classes, thats where I need to go now....

And they got home safely

Just fyi, my parents arrived safely back in Dulles airport this morning.

Now I start a long week of playing catch-up as I go back to "routine" instead of vacation mode.

The padres came to visit!

My parents left earlier tonight for the airport. Their plane should be taking off pretty soon now. It was a really great visit--lots packed into 9 days. A bit exhausting, but good. It was really good to see them. I hadn´t really been missing things from home (mostly because I´m distracted by my exciting "new" life here), but I definitely got really excited thinking about them coming and it was a little hard to say goodbye and see you in December. Elvira said its because before I was distracted, but now I reestablished that connection. She's probably right. I can't even imagine what the goodbyes are going to be like in December when I won't be coming back to see those people after a month or so. It's going to be rough.

Anyway.... About the visit.


My parents arrived Saturday morning and went to the appartment they rented. There was some problem with the locks, but it all got worked out. We had empanadas for lunch--I figured we´d start out right with a very typical Argentine food. That afternoon we did a driving tour to see some of the highlights of the city. Afterwards we went to my appartment and they met my host family. It went really well. I played interpreter. My dad is did suprisingly well understanding and speaking a little bit of Spanish considering he hasn´t taken Spanish since college. His memory is ridiculous. We went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant that night with my host family as well. Yum. I packed my things up and then headed over to their appartment, since we were leaving in the morning. Unfortunately, we blew a fuse or something and all the electricity went out. We waited for the owners to come, but they couldn´t do anything either. A slightly rought start for the appartment building.



Sunday we went to Colonia, Uruguay. It's only an hour on the ferry across the river (or 3 if you take the slower one like I did earlier in the semester). Unlike my last visit, the weather was fabulous this time. We checked into our hotel (a hotel! Not a hostel! How wondeful!) and then went wandering in the historic district. Historic Colonia is very quaint--lots of old buildings and houses, cobblestone roads, restaurants and shops, all surrounded by the river. We basically wandered, browsed stores, and ate all day. We stopped by the restaurant I at lunch in last time and the owner/waitors/cooks, Ana and Carlos, remembered me. Ana had to think for a minute after I said something, but Carlos recognized me and came up to me right away. It was nice to talk to them for a bit. Had a nice dinner (also returned to where I ate dinner before. Maybe not original, but tasty) and then went for coffee at another restaurant with live music. Nothing else too noteworthy in Colonia, but it was very pretty and relaxing.

Also, Sunday was election day in Argentina. The current president's (Kirchner) wife, Cristina, was elected president--the first elected female president in Argentina.

Monday we came back to Buenos Aires. I thought I was going to have work and classes all days, but some plans changed so I got to play tourguide instead. I had to stop by FLACSO, so they got to meet a few people and see where I have a few of my classes. Stopped by a deli for lunch that I usually frequent a few times a week. Went on a mission for newspapers (for my independent study) and a hairdryer (which wouldn't be a culprit of another poweroutage in the appartment) and then wandered around Calle Florida, Plaza San Martin and Plaza de Mayo. After that I went to class, then came home for a big family dinner: Elvira (host mom), Joaquin (host brother), Catalina (host sister), Annie (Cata's student), and my real parents. Elvira had appetizers and wine waiting for us at the house. Dinner was a bit of an adventure. We started out walking the wrong way (2 similar street names, went to the wrong one) and when we arrived we learned were at El Palacio Espanol instead of Vasco Frances... we had the wrong address. The address I had gotten from the internet was really the address of another restaurant. We ended up eating there and it was good so it all worked out. Just made life a bit more interesting.

Tuesday I skipped my Spanish class to spend the day with my parents in Recoleta. We went to the cementary, which, though it sounds a bit morbid, was really cool. Its filled with monuments/mausoleums and there are lots of famous people from Argentina's history. I was able to explain a few, though a majority of the names that I did recognize I knew from street names or subte stops. We saw where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried and it was suprisingly unelaborate. We met up with Sarah and had lunch, which was fun. Tried to go to the Cultural Center to see some art exhibits afterward, but they're closed more or less on strike (welcome to Argentina). Went to Buenos Aires Design for a bit (basically a mall of cool things for the house?) and wandered around for a bit. My parents came to watch my tango class for a bit and afterwards we went to a tango show at Cafe Tortoni--a very classic and historic cafe in Buenos Aires. The show was really good and during one part, both dancers brought people up onstage with them and I got to dance!! I was quite excited and was actually able to follow pretty well and half-way pull it off. I think the combination of having come from tango class, a glass of wine with dinner, and the fact that he was really good and could lead all went together to make it work. I was super excited. It was really interesting to see where everyone in the audience was from as well. Out of 15 or so tables there were people from 10 countries. Pretty impressive.

Wednesday: Happy halloween, though its not really celebrated here. My parents brought me some halloween candy (including Reeses and candy corn!) which was exciting. I had class all day (11-8 with 2 hours total of breaks in between) so my parents were left alone in the city. They had various (outdoor) plans, but unfortunately it rained on and off all day. They went to the botanical gardens anyway (which apparently had many more cats than flowers in bloom) and to lunch in Palermo. There was an amusing/frustrating series of events trying to get to dinner that night. I was going to talk to my parents from my appartment about meeting up but discovered that I had the wrong number for their appartment, my house phone can't call cell phones, my cell phone was out of minutes, and my internet wasn't working to use skype or email. So I just walked over to their apartment. When I told them the name of the restaurant we had reservations at (Meridiano 58--which I had gone to early on in the semester and planned since that night to go to with my parents) they told me they had stumbled upon it and eaten there for lunch. Haha. I just couldn't win. We ended up going to Bar 6, which a friend had recommended and I'd read about in some of the guide books. Very good food, so everything worked out.

Thursday I had class in the morning and then we left for IGUAZU! It was an absolutely incredible trip. We spent all day Friday in the parks, but unfortunately had very rainy weather. I guess thats to be expected in a sub-tropical climate where it rains every 4-5 days. Even though the skies were gray, the views of the falls were still incredible. I took lots of pictures, but they just can't even capture it. The falls are an array of lots of waterfalls of all different sizes. There are falls in both Argentina and Brasil, but we couldn't go on the Brasil side since its so difficult (and expensive) for U.S. citizens to get visas there. We did the various trails and then took a speedboat out under the falls. Have you been soaked by a massive waterfall? I have. Incredible. From there we took the boat down the river and then rode in the back of an open truck through the jungle. Unfortunately, it starting pouring at this point (making us even wetter than from the falls) so the ride wasn't quite as enjoyable. We attempted to dry out a bit during lunch and did a bit more sight-seeing before going back to the hostel. We stayed at the Hostel Inn--amazingly nice for a hostel.
Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful ( I got nice and sunburned as well, though yes I was wearing sunscreen). We took the train out to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat), which is a really impressive view of the falls--my favorite. We took a raft down the river from there, which was really serene and hard to imagine that we had been so close to such a powerful waterfall. We repeated some of the walks from the day before to see the falls with a blue-sky background and got to see a rainbow as well! If you ever have the chance to go to Iguazu, I highly recommend it. It was just breathtakingly beautiful.
We were really lucky about spotting animals in the park also. We saw toucans, guinea pigs (wild), a deer, coatis (kind of like racoons), monkeys, turtles, and various other birds.

Saturdany evening we flew back to Buenos Aires. Elvira made dinner for us and, as my dad said, it was probably the best dinner we had during the trip. She made lomo (steak--filet?) with grapes and almonds and rice and stawberries with cream for dessert. Yum.

Today my parents brought their luggage over to my house and then we went out exploring the city one more time. Elvira accompanied us to the feria (market/fair) in San Telmo, which is 2 streets from my house, lunch at a parilla (grill), and then to La Boca, famous for its multi-color painted houses. When the immigrants (mostly Italian) moved there, they used whatever paints they had, which resulted in brightly, multi-colored houses. After we went to find a t-shirt for my dad and relaxed for a bit in a cafe before final packing and goodbyes. Around 7:15 they got in a cab and were off to the airport. Now my life will go back to "routine," though I'm quite alright with "routine" since I'm in Argentina.

Overall, it was a great visit and we got to do lots of fun things, including lots of things I hadn't gotten the chance to do before. I'm in the process of uploading pictures of our adventures, so be sure to look for them soon!

My parents are here!

My parents arrived safely in Buenos Aires Saturday morning. We've been having lot of fun! I'll update soon on our adventures, but right now I have 30 minutes to pack and get to the airport, so I'd better get on that. We're going to Iguazu Falls!
Back in a few...