TIGRE

Aug 31
I woke up semi early today to head to the train station and go to tigre or the delta. I met a friend from UO at the train station and we tried to meet up with another girl which we ended up doing in Tigre. We got off the train (which we and a majority of the people on it had to stand the whole time which was about 45 min-1 hour) and headed for the boat trips. We got a two hour boat trip, half of which we spend on the bottom deck sipping on café cortados. We got off the boat and looked around a bit for restaurants. None of the heaping piles of grilled innards enticed us so we headed to the other main attraction. The fair. I suggested we just some of the fair food…and that is just what we did. Each of us had something “substantial” (I had a hotdog, someone had a crepe, and someone else had a hamburger and fries). Then we went wild. Walking around the fair the other girls ate chocolate covered strawberries, and I opted for A HUGE thing of cotton candy. My camera was acting up so the picture didn’t save, but I think one of the other girls got a photo that I will post when I get it. We then got alfajores, and to finish off the day candy apples. It was a day of sweets sweets and more sweets. We headed home on the train, and were so sugared up we could hardly stand still. It was a nice day of fun, and now I come home to Buenos Aires…big busy Buenos Aires.

catch up

Aug 29
Leisurely got up and headed to flacso to check my mail. Also ate a raisin flavored yogurt for breakfast...que raro. (how weird). I chatted with some people then a friend and I headed to a café to chat over a café con leche y 3 media lunas. We witnessed 2 protests or parades. Then I attended class and rushed back to flacso to meet another friend (also to time myself because I have 30 minutes to get from the language class to a flacso class, it took me a bit over 30 minutes). I met up with my amiga and we headed to a place to get her some piercings. She pierced her ears two more times and then we went to a café as recommended by my lonely planet book. We chatted and then went our separate ways and now I am here. Waiting for dinner. Stefy has a friend over and I have been listening and occasionally adding to the conversation...its a start!

The media luna (small sweet croissants) count for today was 7. I need to find a way to cut down on things like this…ha.

Aug. 28
I skipped a day because it was so busy. I got up and had class at 11-2. I talked to the professor and he told me that I could write my final paper in English. I got every excited, but after I checked with my advisor here, my excitement was squashed. After that class I had to run to the bus and take it to another class that started at 2. I am enjoying my Spanish class (even though I am struggling a bit, since this is why I am not very good at Spanish, the grammatical part). I then came home and had a second to gather my thoughts and headed to the national museum of bellas artes. I met my friend from UO and we walked around the extensive art museum. Some of our favorites were the modern art pieces that we both agreed we could have made ourselves. Had a couple minutes of quite at the kitchen table before the storm came in. Everyone came to our house (Armando, stefy, gaston, jime, florencia, her boyfriend). This was a lot of people for the amount of space. I got help with my homework, and we waited for the dinner to cook. I also got a chance to skype with mom and nat, and my family here got to jump in as well. That was a funny experience. Two lives, cultures, and language collide. I ended up going to bed very late again after a wild tetris tournament with the gals.

spanish confusion

Aug 27^th

I attended a conference on service learning today at the facultad de derecho—the law school. It was an interesting conference, but I couldn’t understand a lot of it. It rained all day, which was a bit of a bummer when I had to walk to my classes and such. I came home after the conference for a quick lunch break, and to warm up with some mate. I then headed to my Spanish class. I arrived early and chatted with the 3 other south Korean students who were there. We chatted for quite some time, because our teacher was not there. In fact our teacher never showed up, but later we found out that we were in the wrong room. So I missed my second day of Spanish class because I was in a different room. AHHH. I then headed to the oldest café in Buenos aires to meet a UO friend for coffee. She was an hour late to due the buses and the rain, so I had a lot of time to just stand. The café wasn’t all it cracked up to be, but I am glad I went to say I experienced the same thing as so many others before me. It was next to the tango museum which I think I will check out some day after class. I was going to go to a tango show with my oldest host sister but she called and said she couldn’t. I ventured home and did some grocery shopping, and drank some more mate, answered some emails, and chatted with my host sister who is now cooking dinner. I just got very tired, maybe because I woke up a bit earlier than usual 9am. But it would seem that I drank enough mate to caffeinate me for life. Hasta luego.

Aug 26

Had my first Spanish class today. I was excited to see some new people in the class (which only has about 9 people). There is an older woman from Germany, a 30 year old from Slovakia and 3 South Koreans, and 3 people from the US (all from program). It should be a lively group. We have class for 2 hours each day (except Monday). I went out to coffee with the two flacso girls after. We shared stories about Buenos Aires, and our adventures. Now I am home alone (which is bad since I eat more cookies that way), my host mom went to Uruguay on Friday since her aunt fell and broke her hip and she doesn’t know when she will return home, my host dad is working, and my host sister is meeting up with her ex boyfriend. It is extremely hard to even start to build a rapport with people, without knowing how to say things. After these past couple weeks I am more appreciative of being able to communicate with people. But I am surprised also by how much I can portray without words.

But on second thought (after the day has gone on) there a lot that I cannot communicate without knowing the language.

read

Aug 25

Read all day. And I am still not even half way done. This may be a long term. I also had a delicious breakfast of yogurt and bananas, and 3 pastries, and a very tasty lunch of a salami and cheese sandwich and an alfajor. Early afternoon, I made myself mate (which ended up burning my mouth) and had a couple cookies with that. When my host sister came home we made CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES! Unfortunately, their oven is very hot, and all of them are a bit burned on the bottom, but still delicious. After eating about 5 cookies, I am still craving them. Tomorrow…more reading.

Aug 24
Again woke up late (3pm) since I went out dancing with my host sister. Boy, was that an experience. I would call it more like a very interesting cultural lesson. First off, people of all ages go to the argentine version of a club (yes natalie. i did go "clubbin'" ha). We got there at 1.30 and didn’t end up inside until 2am…and it was almost empty. By the time we left 5 am things were picking up. The men here are a bit more aggressive than the typical American man. And the typical reaction to this persistence is also different. One girl in our group (we were celebrating her friends birthday), was approached by a guy while we were dancing in a circle. He proceeded to whisper in her ear, rub her back, grab her hand, ect. Watching this take place, my immediate reaction was to take his hands off her and say something assertive about how she is not interested. This was not her reaction…she just inched away and was a lot less confrontational. This may also be an overall cultural theme, physical touch is more accepted or common. As an American, the typical greeting is not a kiss, and physical contact is reserved for family, friends or loved ones. Here it is for everyone. The beso (kiss on the cheek) is the typical greeting. I am still getting used to this one. But better get used to it fast, since it is considered rude not to kiss while meeting someone or saying goodbye. Anyways, this way of asking people to dance is not really considered that invasive here (compared to my view). It might also have to do with the machismoism. I will finish by saying that it was a surely an interesting experience.
Today I ventured to a southern part of the city to take a tango class. I got off the subway and was actually a bit worried. I didn’t see any foreigners, and it didn’t appear to be a very nice part of Buenos Aires. I found my way to the community center and waited around a bit. The class began and I relearned the basico, (the basic step) and practiced. It was fun, but the boy girl ratio was not in my favor. I left after I got a couple dances in, and ventured back quickly since it was now dark.
I did some grocery shopping: 1 pack of cookies, 100 grams of salami and 100 grams of cheese, ½ a kilo of mate and 2 alfajores (typical argentine dessert dulce de leche cookie sandwich). All of which cost me 15 pesos (or roughly 5 dollars). Yum. I got a lesson on mate and how to drink it and clean it and prepare it, and then I got to drink out of my gourd. Yum. I had myself a nice snack of mate and cookies and watched a bit of tv with my host dad. I tried out my phone card and got a well needed chat in. Ate dinner, chatted with my host sisters and played a tetris tournament. Now I should be trying to make a dent in my huge stack of reading but I am writing this blog instead. Off to do the reading.

pictures: argentina in a nutshell: tango and mate

Tango festival: impromtu milonga
other side. The woman in the red shirt was really good.
Audrey and mate.
an action shot (insisted on by my host dad)
my host sister preparing the mate.

5 am...

Aug. 23.

Last night I went out with a friend to see if we could find a bar to watch the soccer game. We had planned to meet by walking down the same street towards each other, unfortunately we missed each other and ended up walking farther than either of us bargained for. After consulting my lonely planet book, and looking around a bit we decided to go to a bar close to my house. The streets were basically deserted, since everyone was watching the game. It was an odd feeling walking down them without having to dodge women stopping to look at window displays or bags or strollers. We made it to a bar and chatted with the bartender who turned out to be from boston. He said at about 3am things would start to pick up. At about 3.30 people started rolling in after the game. We met some nice argentines (one who introduced himself as Pablo, Pablo Picasso…? ha). And we headed home around 5am.

I woke up late this morning and ate breakfast while internet was installed in our apartment. I ventured out to meet a friend to study and then go to the tango festival. It was really cool! I loved seeing people of all ages, sizes and skills dance around. It was awesome. The portion that I had gone to see turned out to be a bit of a bust so I skipped out early, and walked home. When I arrived my host sister and I drank some mate out of her gourd (mine is in the curing process and it will be ready tomorrow). I think we will be going out to a biloche (argentine version of a club) tonight… if we both are not too tired. More to come tomorrow.

Casa del nino and PRUNE

Aug. 22

I have almost been here a month. Wow. Today I got up and ate breakfast with my host mom. She informed me that she was off to Uruguay because her aunt fell and broke her hip. I headed off to FLACSO to meet the bus to go to Casa del Nino (another one of the organizations that we have the option of working with). It was about an hour out of time, and when we stepped off the bus you can feel the shift in energy. Buenos Aires is a great city for big city lovers. There is always something to do, someone to talk to (or 12 million other people to talk to). But I think the city is one of the reasons I am so tired. For introverts like me, energy is generated by me—and sucked out by other people. Or sucked out by big cities, bus fumes, car horns, Spanish, dog poop, Spanish, and more Spanish. Anyways, I think getting away from the city is a good break for me. A good way to breathe regular air and do a bit of rejuvenation. Casa del Niño is in one of the most improvised areas outside of Buenos Aires. We were told that the kids just need someone to talk to, most don’t have running water or bathrooms. They come to casa del Niño for a house, a safe place, some attention and some essentials like food and sanitation. I am so excited to start working here. As I mentioned before previous students have taught classes like cooking, arts and crafts, and dance. I am stoked about teaching a cooking class. When I came back I registered for classes (FINALLY) and got my schedule pinned down. I picked the tribus class in the UBA. It should be an experience to say the least. After deciding my classes, a couple flacsitos and I went out for ice cream then to the BA Fashion Week! Now this was cool. It is a huge 4 day fashion show. I had never witnessed a live fashion show before and was pretty excited to see one. Unfortunately, we didn’t really know the system (what else is new?) and it was super crowded, so we ended up waiting in line for about 3 hours before we got to see a fashion show of PRUNE. Nice name right? Argentina is playing someone else in a final game in soccer so tonight I may go out and try to find a fun place to watch the game. This weekend I will be curing my mate gourd with the help of my host dad.

Cultural note: The dance show (that I wrote about in the very beginning) has different themes each week they do a different style of dance. This week it is “strip tease.” I’ll just let you picture what it is like to sit at the dinner table and watch a program where the women end up wearing only rhinestones and the men tiny shorts. Oh Argentina…

Aug 21

Today I woke up late (despite the 5 hour nap the day before). And headed to my class. By default (since I didn’t wake up at 6 to go to my UCA class), I have chosen the more manageable schedule with the tougher (or at least anticipated tougher subject matter). The class is about Urban Youth Tribes of Buenos Aires. It will be interesting. Today we had an announcement in class talking about a socialist movement. Finished class and went to the copy shop for them to copy my readings for this class. Headed over to FLACSO and checked my email and such before heading to Barrio Mitre. I am taking this class about service learning and volunteerism in argentina. Half of the class is practicum work (working with an organization here in Buenos aires). We got to choose three and visit them. I picked two that include children. The one I went today is helping kids with their English in a community center setting. It seems nice, but is quite a long way out of the city. I will be going to the second one tomorrow morning (which is about 1 hour outside of the city). I am excited for this one called the casa del ninos because previous students have taught classes, like a cooking class. I am already thinking of recipes to teach the chillings. Hopefully, I like it, and they like me so I can work there. This class should be one of my better ones. The almost finalized schedule looks something like this.

UBA—Tribus class (Thursday 11-2)

FLACSO—Service Learning Class (Tuesday 4.30-6)

2 intense (8 week) Spanish language classes. (T-F 2-4)

After visiting Barrio Mitre, I walked over to a toastmasters meeting. It was an odd experience. Everyone spoke in English, and 95% of the people were over 40. But I did meet a girl about my age who just graduated from university and now is doing a masters here in argentina. She started a club at her university in the states. We both chatted about leadership education here, and she suggested some classes that I may be interested in. I am excited to chat with her more. Now I am home helping my host sister get internet (there is one spot in my room where we can get it). And we are just about to eat. Hasta Luego.

fotos de iguazu

the rock wall we climbed.
heading to the place in the iguazu river that paraguay/brasil/argentina meet.
our lesson in iguazu nightlife and german culture.
the cama exectutivo omnibus. didnt take any pictures on the way there..but that bus was nicer.
dinner. the dessert was in the circle dish. it was some sort of jello-pudding thing. the desserts here are very odd (texture wise) in my opinion. i just wanted a chocolate bar or a cookie.
the walk to the garganta del diablo.
the garganta del diablo. my quest for a good picture here was a bit impossible...people weasel their way in.
la garganta

The full moon tour!

Our adventure tour before climbing, zip lining, hiking and repelling.
some falls on the lower path.
more falls...i swear we got a bit used to seeing this kind of beauty throughout the day.

a bridge on the upper path

my favorite picture of the day.

you can stand almost under this falls. There is a walkway...what i didn't capture is the hoard of soaked people with ponchos.

experience a bit of the garganta

Cataratas de Iguazu! Say that 10 times fast!

Aug 19th
I just returned home from Puerto Iguazu! Lets start off by saying that this trip was a learning experience in many many ways. We loaded the bus at around 9 pm on Thursday. In the first couple minutes we made friends with some Canadians sitting in front of us. We picked the cama-exectuivo. (executive bed) Each chair folds back to a 55 degree angle, basically a slightly tipped up bed. We received dinner (pictures to follow) and then I fell asleep. I woke up and we got breakfast and coffee. These buses are actually pretty enjoyable for spending 17 hours in one spot. The lady who was serving us was a bit frustrated with the group of English speakers first three rows and was not too friendly (even though we were speaking spanish). We had a long delay and ended up getting there 3 or 4 hours after we were supposed to arrive. This delay was a bummer but we later heard from other kids from our program that they had a 30 hour bus ride to iguazu. We checked into our hostel and went out to dinner. It down poured and we were getting a bit nervous about the weather the next day.
Day 2:
We woke up early to get an early start at the national park iguazu. The free breakfast at the hostel was across the street at a restaurant. I was a bit surprised when I saw the assortments of cakes and pastries! Hostel breakfasts are not usually very delicious but this one was a little too delicious (cake for breakfast?). All the choices basically were bread and sugar or some form of that. We caught the local bus to the park and started exploring after reserving our space on the full moon tour! There are two major paths in the park to view the falls the high and the low. We started out with the low path and then we walked the high path. I was under the impression that we would have to hike through mud and dirt, but these walkways were easier than walking in Buenos Aires. It was a bit strange to see such massive, beautiful scenes swarming with people. We got lunch and then split up to see what we wanted to see. I was set on seeing the Garganta del Diablo (devils throat). I took the train up to the path and then waited while I ate a popsicle for the people to thin out a bit. I slowly walked the paths enjoying my stroll above the water greatly. I got to the garganta and it was immense—and swarming with people. But one of my favorite parts was that the light reflecting off of the mist (I think) made a bright rainbow! I took a lot of pictures and will post some. I just enjoyed the occasional mist or spray of the devils throat and hung out for a while. I meandered back to the train and took it to the visitor’s center where I was to meet mi amiga. We met up and then saw some people from our program. We sat on the hill waiting for the tour of the full moon to start (a tour where they take you to the garganta del Diablo when there is a full moon and then you come back and have dinner). We met up with our german roommates (from the hostel) and enjoyed the moon tour—which was less of a tour than just walking and seeing the garganta in the dark. We then went to the buffet which was delicious, but by this time we had been going since 7 in the morning and I think we both were winding down. We hurried to catch the last bus home, but it turned out to be at 12.30 instead of 12. We came back to everyone sleeping, and also zonked out.
Day 3:
We hadn’t planned anything for the Sunday since we had been too busy doing things on Saturday. I quick jumped up when I heard our roommates get up (since they had planned on going to the brazil side of the falls and I wanted to get in on the action). I booked two spots in the car and we ate breakfast (more cake and more sweets!  delicious but not a very good power breakfast). We stood waiting for the car to arrive and when it did the driver told us he wouldn’t be able to take us since we were American. Our german friends went on their way and we decided what to do. My travel partner wanted to change the bus ticket to go back early but we decided on doing an extreme adventure tour instead. This tour was rock climbing, zip lining, hiking, boat riding, and going down the rocks backwards (not sure what the name of it is called.) It was really fun! We took pictures of each other, so she has all the pictures of me, and I will put a couple up once I get them. On the tour we went to the place in the iguazu river where brazil, Paraguay and argentina meet. I was in three countries in the same day…and in the same hour. We arrived back at the hostel tired, and discovered we had 6 people to a 5 person room. I tried to sort that our and then took a shower. Our new friends invited us to share the dinner that they had cooked and we ate rice with milk and fruit salad. I made a dessert run and came back with a ½ of a kilo of ice cream! Delicious. We then waited around a bit as to not go our too early and ventured to a bar and cuba libre club. It was really interesting to chat with the girls and the cultural differences that they had noticed when they studied English in the states and in England and what they notice here.
Day 4:
Woke up and ate our last delicious breakfast of cake and dulce de leche and all the things that you never should eat for breakfast. I seriously think I gained some weight in iguazu just because of that cake buffet. We packed up our stuff and then walked around the town a bit to buy lunch and get some money. I treated myself to a mate gourd and a bombilla. Everyone carries their thermos and their gourd around. I haven’t seen it so much in Buenos Aires, but in Iguazu mate is everywhere. As I am trying to assimilate as much as possible—and that was one of the things I was excited about I figured it was a good investment ($7.00). We boarded the bus at about 2pm and began the long journey home. We had two little children behind us which worried me at first but they were pretty good until we got just about home, and at that point I was a bit ancy as well. This bus wasn’t as nice as the first one but it was an okay trip. I got in at about 8.30 and took the city bus home. I have unpacked and showered and I guess I am ready to start my week.
I am still unsure about my classes, and this vacation was a nice break from the go go go pace of Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, I felt it again when I stepped off the bus. I am going to find myself some lunch and head on over to FLACSO soon to attend my class (which I am under prepared for due to the fact I didn’t understand much of the reading).
Here my dilemma on choosing classes:
Urban young tribes of Buenos Aires (UBA –Public university—reputation is harder—walking distance from my house) 11-2 on Thursday. (don’t know where the readings are?) one large paper
psychology of personality (UCA—private—supposable more easy—bus ride away) 7.45 -9.15 and 10.15 on Thurs and Fri. (know where the readings are but haven’t bought or done them). Tests I think?

UBA...

Aug 14^th

Today, I went to class at the UCA. I made some friends in my class which was a nice way to start the day. I may practice English with one of the girls and exchange languages. I headed back over to my neighborhood to go to my first class at the UBA (the public school). There are not many words to describe the UBA. It is an experience just walking into the building. There are no bare walls, only signs and political statements. It is a bit overwhelming, and I will try to get a picture of it (but this will require sneaking in when no one is around as to not get mean looks from the politically active argentines.) The class started pretty much on time, but there were only about 20 people there. The syllabus appears very interesting, lots of reading, and discussion. I don’t know if this is the format that caters to international students. The title of the class is Young Urban Tribes—rough translation and focuses on different groups of young people in Argentina and their habits and such. Now I need to choose between this class and the psychology class at the UCA. They are totally different so I will have my work cut out for me. I left class, and grabbed a sandwich and headed back over to FLACSO to try and look for hostels. I registered to vote abroad (again so much for trying to be proactive and ahead of the game). I then went to meet a friend from UO who was finishing up her trip in South America. We walked and chatted and then got mcflurrys and sat under the huge obelisk (the picture I posted in the beginning). It was nice to chat with her and catch up a bit. After that back to FLACSO, to actually book a hostel. We are staying in the town of Puerto Iguazu (basically a tourist town for those who want to view the falls). And now I am just waiting. Our bus leaves at 9.30 and will get into Puerto Iguazu at 1.30pm tomorrow. J. I am so excited to go on an adventure and see Iguazu! I will be getting home on Tuesday morning so you wont here from me until sometime after then.

A note about public transportation here: Everyone takes it. The rich, the poor, the old, the young, today I even saw a mail man on the bus. Maybe this is part of the big city culture, but in Portland and in Eugene you can put the people who take the bus in several different categories. Here I think it would be impossible.

Aug 13^th

Headed over to FLACSO to meet my travel companion and get bus tickets. Unfortunately, she hasn’t got her schedule yet so we couldn’t get them. I came home feeling a bit under accomplished since I hadn’t done anything for the trip. I caught up on some correspondence and chatted on skype with a friend. I ventured out for a late lunch and then came back to quiz my host dad about the bus system. Finally, I got the call from my travel companion to venture over and get tickets. This was an ordeal. I first started walking to the station, when I was half way there she called and said that she found a way to buy them online. I then changed my direction and headed towards the school to go online and buy the tickets. She then called and said it didn’t work. By this time I thought I was walking back toward the school but I was walking away from it. I changed my direction and we met in the middle and headed over to the station via subte. This was an adventure in itself. We chatted with an older man on the subte about argentina, and when we finally got to the station we ended up in the train station, not the omni bus station. Inside the omni bus station there are over 100 ticket booth, I felt like we walked blocks and blocks, asking if they had any tickets left for tomorrow. We went through 3 companies and then got to the one that I had some left. We bought our tickets, and I took out my money to pay. My travel partner only had 30 pesos. I spotted her the money for the ticket, but I wont lie I was a bit worried when I handed her over the ticket. I offered to keep it for her since she has had a bad track record of being on top of things. But we got out tickets! I rode the bus home smiling. When I was walking home I met another FLACSito and she showed me where the UBA was and where my class was. I will tell you more about the UBA in the next entry. I had to cut out of chatting with the family early to go to bed since I had to get up super early for class the next day.

liderazgo y otras cosas

Aug 12^th

Today was the day of my 7.45 class, it seems so early I can barely even remember it. I made some friends in the class, Dani, Dani, Julie, y Ferch. All nicknames, if you haven’t already guessed. This is the class I was really excited about, but I haven’t actually made it to a real, international relations class. I couldn’t understand the professor, and I think this is somewhat of my specialty. ??? I left took the bus home, stopped at a bakery and got a late breakfast and got home and back into bed. I woke up, and headed to FLACSO. On the way, I did some errands, photocopied my visa, bought a phone card and some cookies for a mid afternoon snack. I ended up eating my fair share of the pack. I ate lunch at FLACSO and checked my email and did some searching around the internet for cooking classes here. I also did a lot of worrying since I hadn’t heard from the girl who said she was interested in going to iguazu with me. I want to go so bad, but am not sure it would be as good if I didn’t have a travel companion. Luckily, I heard from her today after many calls and texts I finally called her home phone and she had lost her cell phone. Tomorrow we will make travel plans. Bueno! I finished up my emailing and cookie eating, and headed to my first flacso class. A service learning class. It is a class half seminar and half practicum work. I hope to do my practicum work somewhere with kids. After this class, I busted by butt almost running to the bus stop and catching the first bus I saw to get to UCA. Why would I do such a thing? Because in the UCA magazine there was an advertisement for a seminar on leadership, and for those of you who know me well, I will bust my butt any day for anything related to leadership. The problem with this seminar lied in the fact that my class ended at 6 and the seminar started at 6 (according to the magazine). I was stressing all the way over on the bus, trying to make traffic move faster, because I do not like being late. I even questioned whether I should go or not, due to the overlap. I went anyways and when I arrived out of breath to the auditorium. I looked in and there was no one there. Bummed that I had missed it I started walking away and on my way out read the sign. “Mythos y realidades de Liderazgo 19:00.” The time had been changed to one hour later, so I was EARLY. This was one of those things that the universe seems to be in your favor. I took a seat relaxed and as the argentines do, it started way later than 7pm. The guy was interesting, he spoke in English. I was happy about that since I got to glean all the leadership knowledge I could. He is a consultant and trains people/employees/CEOs on how to be better leaders. It was my element, and it was nice to be in my element for once here. And to have taken advantage of the fantastic opportunities that universities have to offer.

Empanadas for dinner. Yippy!

Aug 11^th

Again woke up late and went for a run. I have been slacking a bit on my exercise, and noticing the effects of good food. On the way home from my run, I went in search of an empanada place that a fellow NE Portlander had recommended as the best empanadas in Buenos Aires. I think I will have to keep trying them and find the best ones myself. I then came back and headed over to FLACSO (the school where my program is based). I used the computers and did a bit of stressing over my plans for this upcoming weekend. Monday a week from today is a national holiday, so I am hoping to use this long weekend without some of my classes to go on a longer trip. This trip is to Iguazu falls. These falls are at the top of Argentina where it meets Brazil and Paraguay. It is about a 16 hour bus ride, but I hear from many many people that it is well worth it. I think it is one of the seven wonders of the world. At first I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to venture there with me, but hopefully I found a travel buddy so I wont have to make the trek alone. I did some homework—which I still haven’t finished despite my 5 hours or so worth of work. I hope this isn’t what the term brings. I walked out the door of FLACSO to a downpour. It was lightning and thundering and I had a sweatshirt on. I covered my important documents (school work and visa) in a plastic bag I had luckily kept in my bag and zipped up my sweatshirt over my bag. I then as a good Portlander would walked home without a care in the world. I had a cup of tea with my host sister and we chatted about American baked goods. I tried to finish up my reading but it looks like it will have to wait. I am now working on my trip itinerary.

Aug 10

Had planned on going out with my host sister and her friends to go dancing. But after dinner we both went to take naps before leaving to go out at 1.30 or 2 and at 1 she woke me up and asked… if I really wanted to go. Needless to say I was a bit disoriented from being woken up in the middle of the night by a knock on my door so I agreed to postpone it for a different day. I went back to sleep and got up at about 11. Here I am always tired, I don’t know why, but I cannot seem to get rested. I have been combating this exhaustion with sugar, which isn’t a very good cure but at this point I am not sure what is. Any suggestions shoot me an email.

Today continued to be a very lazy day. I tried to do my reading but it was too boring and I ended up falling asleep while doing it. Then I tried harder and just ended up looking at the words instead of reading them. A lost cause. I got a little stur crazy since I hadnt been out of the house or tiny apartment all day, and my attempts at organizing a tango dinner show had almost failed. I got together with another girl from the program and we went to this huge tango show. I wanted the more traditional feel without the 120 dollar show/dinner, so we moved on. We walked around for a while and then lonely planet helped us find our fantastic restaurant. It was DELICIOUS. They had all sorts of things on the menu but I got a stew like thing. Beef, onion and some brothy stuff under a layer of potatoes and cheese. It was very good. We enjoyed our dinner then I headed on home and stopped at McDonalds for a mcflurry—but not a taste of home. It was called a Cadbury cream mcflurry and it was odd. Now I am back in my little room and about ready to go to bed. I think this will be the first time ever, but I am the last one up in my house. Ha. Yippy. The only reason is because every is a bit under the weather.

pictures

this is the street fair in the san temlo neighborhood. So many people, goods, and street preformers.





















this is the view from my window.










A very pretty clock tower.


The station. i am not quite sure if this includes buses and trains or what.

Aug 9

I woke up today at about nine then went back to sleep until 12ish. I got up and chatted with the family/or listened to them chatting then ate breakfast and watch Stefy’s arabe dance performance from last year. We ate lunch. And then we (stefy, ana (her friend) and me) went for a walk. Pretty much on the weekends, argentines just walk around. This is an okay activity for me. The taught me some slang and I tried hard to listen to what they were saying. Now my brain and my legs are tired. Also we walked by a starbucks in the ritzy shopping mall and it had a line out the door! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Argentines, who pride themselves in their thimble full expresso’s drinking venti starbucks drinks. Alas it was a shocker.

Aug 8

Again started the day off bright and early at 6am. This time it was even more brutal since I had attended a fiesta with the FLACSO group. But I have decided to change my mindset. The fiesta was fun, kind of an odd feeling to be surrounded by 200 other Americans in a foreign country. It feels a bit like you are in America. My class this morning actually was a class! Yippy! I really liked it. The class has only one boy in it, and the girls seem very nice. I talked to a couple, but have generally been too shy to try and make small talk. I found out that they have a shared email address for everyone in the class, that’s how they communicate like professor to class or classmate to classmate. I never would have known. I came home and took a nap and a shower. Right as I was making plans for the afternoon, Stefi, my host sister who had been in New Jersey for the past two weeks arrived home. Yay! She seems very nice, and very outgoing. And it was fun to hear a bit about her travels around back east. She commented that New Jersey was her favorite place that she visited. J We just finished a good lunch. I was holding out on eating today and I am glad I did, milonesa and empanadas. I think I am going to try and find a cooking class here since I am enjoying the food so much. I also am going to look into a tango class. I am off to do some exploring around the city, and probably get some dessert. Since I have been here I have an extra sweet, sweet tooth. The other night we had these “healthy” cookies. And then my host mom brought out dulce de leche, basically this caramel stuff that I covered my cookie with. This is one of the popular flavors and an argentine staple. Delicious. I went to meet a friend, who turned out wasn’t planning on meeting me. But I got ice cream (dulce de leche with brownies and a chocolate flavor with nuts and brownies). Delicious, again. I headed over to flacso and registered for Spanish classes. After this I came home and chatted or listened to the family chat back and forth. We had pizza for dinner. And we got to see Stefy's pictures from the states.

aug 7

Today started off early. I caught the colectivo at 7 am to get to my 7.45 class. I found my class called personality psychology, and waited along with the 30 other girls for the teacher to arrive. The professor never arrived, and therefore we didn’t have class. I went to get something to eat at the café, and ended up getting media lunas but since they have a shortage of change here I had to give up my bus money home, since they didn’t have any change to give me. So here I am with a couple hours to spare until my next class, and no way to get home (since the buses only take change). I sat by the water and ate my media lunas, and then ventured upstairs to my second class. It was about 45 minutes before my class was supposed to start and I saw people streaming into the room. After what happened last time I quick jumped up and joined them. To my dismay, it was not my class, instead it was a econ class. What I have figured out is that unlike the states, kids have a specific career when they enter school. So those in the “political science career” take all political science classes, predetermined, and usually in the morning/afternoon/night block. This is why there has been so much confusion with the classes because the block of kids is there all morning taking a couple classes, and generally people don’t or cant just take one class and then switch careers. So I sat through the economics class, which wasn’t that bad, other than being in class for a couple extra hours. Then reconfirmed that was the place I was supposed to be for the international relations class. Indeed it was, although today was a surprise (not sure if it really was or I just didn’t know about it) conference. So instead of my class we had this conference on militant Islam or fundamentalism. This scholar showed a video and spoke to us in English…which was kind of odd. And all the questions were from international students in English. After class I tried to get a syllabus for the class but I couldn’t figure out how to do it, or what I needed and didn’t really want to buy the huge stack of papers if I wasn’t going to take the class. I left a bit disheveled after being crammed into a small room for quite sometime trying to figure it out. After leaving I was faced with another problem. Change for the bus. I tried to buy a piece of candy in the UCA store, but they didn’t have any. I then ventured to a store, where I tried to buy a piece of candy and the owner kind of yelled at me. No tengo moneras! I was trying to ask him nicely how people get around, when no one has change but my Spanish skills had left me. I left frustrated as usual. A man who was in the store called me back and changed my two peso note for two peso coins. It was a small gesture, but one that was so much appreciated at that moment. I cant figure out anything here…how to get coins, how to get copies, how to go to the right class. And today it just got super frustrating. I rode the bus home upset, at the days going on’s. I took my laundry to the laundry mat, and took a short nap, then got up, grabbed some empanadas and went to FLACSO. I attended the introductory class for the service learning class that combines a seminar with field work. I am pretty excited about it. There seems to be some neat organizations. One that caught my interest is a community outside of Buenos aires, and one of the jobs listed was teaching a cooking class to children. How fun. I hope I get that one. I am now at home, awaiting the arrival of the rest of the homestay family. Hopefully things will get easier.

visas II

Aug 6th
I woke up a little later to nice bright sun shining through my window right into my eyes. I walked over to migrations, and arrived early. I went in and had to leave again since I felt myself loosing it all over again surrounded by people in a hot small room. When I came back in at the time, I treated myself to two media lunas, small croissants, and chatted with some new people. We then were moved to another room where we were to wait for our name to be called and sign our visa. Unfortunately, what literally took each of us signing our name on a sheet of paper took somewhere between 4-5 hours (specifically in my case). Again, pure torture. I finally got called and signed my name and walked home quickly. I got empanadas on the way home for lunch and ate them and relaxed a bit before heading off to my class. Before my class I stopped at the juice bar, only to discover that Super Vitimana C tastes gross. Caught the bus and sat by the body of water that borders the UCA. I made sure to be sitting in the classroom early this time, as to not have them start without me, but we started about 15 minutes late. I think that I will not be taking this class due to the fact I looked at my watch so many times, and I couldn’t understand a lot of it. Caught the bus home and now am waiting for dinner. Tomorrow should be another busy day. I have class from 7.45-1. It is two classes one on international relations and the other on personality psychology. I am excited for these just not excited that I will have to wake up so early to get there.
Hasta luego.

visas y clase

Aug. 5^th.

I got up at the crack of dawn to do part 2 of the visa process. The immigration/migration office is in a very odd spot, behind some train tracks in the middle of nowhere (if that saying can even be used in Buenos Aires). I made friends with an older lady who I asked for directions, she was also headed there. I was the first from my program to arrive. I stood inline outside with a ton of other people. It was a very odd experience. And it was freezing. I had to give up my prime spot in the head of the line to go back with the rest of the group. We all were sent into the building and I quick snagged a seat. Good thing I did because I would be sitting there for about 5 hours. Sometime in this time our FLACSO go to person told me that I would have to come back since my passport number was typed incorrectly on the paper. An interesting thing about Spanish—and I assume any other language that isn’t your first one—is that when you get upset your skills or at least mine go down the drain. I was trying to understand why I had to leave when THEY got my passport number wrong. Couldn’t they just fix it and let me go through the process? In the end, they let me do it since it was only one number off. As it turned out, I was the first in the group to arrive, and the second to last person to leave. The past couple days I have been getting less and less sleep. If I were to live like a true Argentinean I would get up at about 11 or 12 am and then I can justify the 11pm class and 12 dinner. But that lifestyle doesn’t quite make room for 6am visa processes, and exhaustion after trying to understand/communicate in a different language, and navigate a city of 12 million people. So at this point my eye is twitching due to my body’s response to this experience.

To backtrack a bit: My first academic experience in Buenos Aires. Yesterday I attended my first class at the UCA (Universidad Catholico de Argentina). It is a class titled International Politics in Latin America. I got there okay, except for the drizzle on the way over. I gave myself a time buffer since I knew I would need it. And indeed I did. They post the room numbers for each facultad wherever the office or where they feel like it. There must be some rhyme and reason but I have yet to figure it out. I found the room numbers and found my class. At this point I had about an hour to spare. I read their school magazine, and discovered a conference on liderazgo or leadership! Another girl from my program then a girl from Canada joined me waiting for the class. We were all waiting outside the room, which looked like there was a class still going on. At 8.37, we were a bit confused. Our class was supposed to start at 8.30 but there was still a class inside. As it turns out, the professor started the class 30 minutes early…?! As all of us walked in late, he mentioned that he usually doesn’t do that but today he felt like it. As a little compensation he let us out about an hour early. I thought the class was interesting, but I doubt I will be very productive at 8-11. He made all the international students introduce themselves…and despite my arguments I had to start. I am excited to get to attend more of my classes, but if I had such a hard time in the private school, I don’t know how I will do in the public one that they have warned us about the hands off approach.

I am going to try and get nap number 2 in for today before dinner. So far the food has been delicious. I am enjoying these flavors much more than the Mexican cuisine. More Italian influence. A couple of my favorite meals have been pizza with cheese and onion, and this garbanzo thing you put on top of it and the French fries/milonesa/fried egg. The only thing I haven’t liked has been a pumpkin mash thing.

Aug 3^{rd/Aug 4th}

Today I woke up to a beautiful day. They have these things here like wood curtains that you put down over the outside of your windows, and I was very glad I did that since the sun was shinning so bright when I awoke. I spent last night watching a movie with my host mother and father which turned out to be Crash, but was named vidas cruzadas for the Spanish version. We all had a leisurely morning and I ventured off on my first bus trip alone. Luckily it was pretty easy, no bad experiences yet. I ventured to San Telmo to walk through the artisan fair. It was awesome. There were a ton of people, as always, but it was neat to see artwork, and antiques. I got to see one of my friend’s house which was also cool, since her host family lives in a pretty mod apartment/town house that is in an old monastery. We had a great time buying freshly roasted peanuts, churros filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate and sipping our café con leche in a café overlooking the main drag. I ventured home on the bus without any problems. Returned home to have a cafécito with my family. Went to bed late, and got to wake up super early this morning to start the visa process. Not fun. Luckily no mishaps with the bus, and I was one of the first people in line. Tomorrow we have to be at the place at 7.15 which means I probably have to leave at about 6:15. Today, after the visa thing I ventured to get some passport pictures for tomorrow and copy some documents we need. I didn’t know what kind of pictures I needed, and therefore annoyed the lady in the photo store. Luckily a fellow flasicto, walked in right in the nick of time and saved me before she could print the wrong kind of pictures. I then walked home, and now I am going to take a nap, since tonight is my first class. It starts at 8 and ends at 11 something. Yikes. Hopefully I can keep my eyes open during this…and make it to and from UCA in the dark. I found a really nice juice bar right by my house, I also discovered a bakery. The juice was good... I think I will have to keep testing the bakery.

lazy sat.

Aug. 2, 2008

Woke up later and went for a run around the recoleta neighborhood. There is this really cool statue that is a huge flower. It opens and closes depending on the suns rays. Also on my warm-up/cool down, I walked through the fair in my neighborhood. It is very cold here about 11 C, with just enough wind and patches of rain to make it downright chilly. I went in search of a coat after breakfast, which turned out to be a bit of a bust. The pea coats I found were either way to expensive, or bad quality (and still expensive for the amount of warmth/quality I would be getting). My goal of buying myself a coat before school starts may have to be altered, or tossed. I met up with a friend from the program to try and take care of some business. Next week we have to go and get our visas changed from tourists to student. And for that process, along with a lot of patience, we need some passport pictures, photocopies and cash. We ventured to get the pictures taken, but to our dismay they were closed. She quizzed some flower vendors and they said they are not open on weekends. So I didn’t get my coat, or my pictures. But for lunch I did get a huge hotdog with pancetta and sauerkraut. Odd but good. I returned home to find my host mother watching la presidenta have her first press conference in office. I watched that with her, and then took a nap.

viernes es el dia mejor

Today I started my day off with a wheat or oat flavored yogurt. And it wasn’t half bad. I ventured on my first colectivo ride to the UCA (Universidad católica argentina). The campus was very nice. All of it looked very new and it was in a barrio (neighborhood) called Puerto Madero which is right on the water. There is a long walkway along the water that is very pretty. I think this is the university I am going to attend classes at. The other one is the public school which is more prestigious but more chaotic and has a reputation for being more academically rigorous. I pre-registered for about 15 classes and in the next two weeks I have to attend all of them and choose which ones I want to keep. I am aiming for one direct enrollment, but they told us to pick from a lot of schools and keep our options open. My schedule for next week should be a bit brutal judging from the fact that I will have to be taking 3 times as many classes as I normally take. After my orientation at UCA, I met up with a good friend from high school who was rapping up her trip around South America. She and I shared some fantastic travel stories, and went through life updates. It was a bit odd having two parts of your life come together. But it was a well needed break, with someone I knew and knew me—not like the getting to know you game I have been playing for a week with the 130 students in my program (to make it even more challenging half of it is in Spanish and half in English with them).

I went out for coffee after registering for classes with two friends from the program. One is from Portland as well (and also was a Presbyterian deacon!?) I headed home and chatted with my host father about their previous students and the argentine economy (mostly I just listened and occasionally asked questions or responded with a si o que bueno, que estrano or things of this nature). I need to learn more phrases in spanish that say I AM LISTENING. I have resorted to doing the ever hated “umhum” in times of dire need. Tonight we had my host brother and his wife and his “yankee” (or exchange student) over for dinner. We had milonesa, fried eggs and French fries. It was very delicious but probably not very good for you.

This weekend is my final weekend of academic freedom. I plan to use it accordingly to buy myself a coat, go on a run, get some documents for the visa process that I start on Monday and do some walking tours.

(My host mom says to add that I am living with crazy people—in Spanish. But really they are very nice.)