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…