Sunday, September 28, 2008
Jujuy
Sept 25-sept 28. Jujuy, (Who-who-ee) Argentina.
Jueves: started off early meeting at the domestic airport all 60 of us (only half of our program). We flew into San Salvador de jujuy, then got on a bus and drove to Tilcara. We arrived and many of us were a bit hungry since it was about 3pm and no one had eaten lunch. We arrived to a merienda (which turned out to be the same as our breakfast for the next couple days. Media lunas, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, bananas, apples, oranges, toasts, jam, dulce de leche, crackers and bread). We all inhaled the snack, and then listened to a presentation about what we were going to be seeing. We checked into our rooms and then went to explore the town. We walked around the tiny town and enjoyed the silence. We almost got lost on the way back but luckily we found some other flacsitos and made our way back for dinner (bread, salad, mashed potatoes, milonesa, flan). It was my friends birthday so we sang her happy birthday and ate cake. We had an impromptu birthday party with a bit of music and dancing in the restaurant the hotel. Then the birthday girl and I walked into town to try and find something to do (it was her 21st birthday), but we couldn’t find a bar to save our lives. We ended up just chatting about the cultural differences, one of our favorite subjects. Came back and my bed was “crumby” literally. EWW!
Viernes: We visited the Pucará de tilcara, a bunch of ancient ruins. It also included a pyramid constructed by some architects that thought that they should include something that looked neat even though it wasn’t historically accurate. The pack with the pyramid is a bit of a slap in the face to the local people. We are at a restaurant (all the locals did a second take when we walked through the door) with live traditional music. The food was okay, although my meat turned out to be mostly bone and fat. We spent the afternoon shopping around the tiny town (now our group looks like it has been eaten by llamas since now everyone has sweaters, hats, mittens, and all else.) I treated myself to a local ice cream and a local afajor. We returned to tilicara only to have a couple minutes before meeting up with some friends to hike the mountain. (the only reason I went was because they told us that they were going to get llama afterwards). Now our hotel was surrounded by mountains but there was one that had a cross on it and had a welcome to tilicara sign. We started up…but couldn’t find a way to get up to the mountain. We ended up climbing through the indigenous community, the cemetery; peoples back yards and then hiking straight up the rocky mountain. Rocks were sliding under my feet, and I thought that this would be something probably end up with me rolling town the hill hitting a house, through the cemetery then the indigenous community. Luckily it turned out okay, I was a bit out of breath when I reached the top the huge cross. We took a couple pictures, some of which I will include, and then hurried down since it was a bit dark and walking down the (or sliding) down the hill in the dark would be less than fun. We found the path on the way down which made it a whole lot easier. We reached the town and chatted a while since it was still too early for dinner. We then found a locals place (filled with argentine men watching the futbol game) we went in and split a litre of beer for 6 pesos or 2 dollars! It was an experience. We headed to find some llama. We went to a restaurant with hardly anyone in it and plastic chairs and table cloths, a real simple place. After dinner we walked home and went to bed early since we were going to get up early again for a busy day.
Sabado: This day was the busiest, and most fun. We rode the bus for a long time to the salt flats which were everyones favorite part of the trip. Its just a vast sea of salt. On the ground are geometrical shapes since that is the shape of the salt crystal. They harvest the salt and sell it. We got to run around, take pictures, and sample the salt. Some of the pictures are included. We then went to another small town Purmamarca, and looked at the hill of seven colors and ate lunch and I walked around the street fair. Loaded the bus and went back to tilicara. We had a bit of free time before dinner which turned out to be a huge asado. Salad, tamales (cheese and meat) and then every kind of meat you could want, and French fries, then strawberries and cream. Yum. Then we all headed into town to watch some folk dancing. It was fun although our group was a bit more rowdie than I would have liked. On the way home, we joined a group of argentines to do some more dancing. I said I was from the states and they said “bill Clinton!” stopped for an ice cream on the way back then hit the sack.
Domingo: low key, we woke up (early), ate breakfast (my usual hot chocolate, bread, dulce de leche, bananas) and bussed it three hours to salta to catch our plane. When we arrived we found out that it was delayed. We had a nice picnic lunch of a huge ham and cheese sandwich and 4 empanadas. It was very satisfying. Then we waited around in the scorching hot weather and finally got on our plane. We arrived in BsAs (with a couple of bouts of scary turbulence) 3-4 hours late. Shared a cab home and had a low key night unpacking and relaxing before the week begins.
Jueves: started off early meeting at the domestic airport all 60 of us (only half of our program). We flew into San Salvador de jujuy, then got on a bus and drove to Tilcara. We arrived and many of us were a bit hungry since it was about 3pm and no one had eaten lunch. We arrived to a merienda (which turned out to be the same as our breakfast for the next couple days. Media lunas, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, bananas, apples, oranges, toasts, jam, dulce de leche, crackers and bread). We all inhaled the snack, and then listened to a presentation about what we were going to be seeing. We checked into our rooms and then went to explore the town. We walked around the tiny town and enjoyed the silence. We almost got lost on the way back but luckily we found some other flacsitos and made our way back for dinner (bread, salad, mashed potatoes, milonesa, flan). It was my friends birthday so we sang her happy birthday and ate cake. We had an impromptu birthday party with a bit of music and dancing in the restaurant the hotel. Then the birthday girl and I walked into town to try and find something to do (it was her 21st birthday), but we couldn’t find a bar to save our lives. We ended up just chatting about the cultural differences, one of our favorite subjects. Came back and my bed was “crumby” literally. EWW!
Viernes: We visited the Pucará de tilcara, a bunch of ancient ruins. It also included a pyramid constructed by some architects that thought that they should include something that looked neat even though it wasn’t historically accurate. The pack with the pyramid is a bit of a slap in the face to the local people. We are at a restaurant (all the locals did a second take when we walked through the door) with live traditional music. The food was okay, although my meat turned out to be mostly bone and fat. We spent the afternoon shopping around the tiny town (now our group looks like it has been eaten by llamas since now everyone has sweaters, hats, mittens, and all else.) I treated myself to a local ice cream and a local afajor. We returned to tilicara only to have a couple minutes before meeting up with some friends to hike the mountain. (the only reason I went was because they told us that they were going to get llama afterwards). Now our hotel was surrounded by mountains but there was one that had a cross on it and had a welcome to tilicara sign. We started up…but couldn’t find a way to get up to the mountain. We ended up climbing through the indigenous community, the cemetery; peoples back yards and then hiking straight up the rocky mountain. Rocks were sliding under my feet, and I thought that this would be something probably end up with me rolling town the hill hitting a house, through the cemetery then the indigenous community. Luckily it turned out okay, I was a bit out of breath when I reached the top the huge cross. We took a couple pictures, some of which I will include, and then hurried down since it was a bit dark and walking down the (or sliding) down the hill in the dark would be less than fun. We found the path on the way down which made it a whole lot easier. We reached the town and chatted a while since it was still too early for dinner. We then found a locals place (filled with argentine men watching the futbol game) we went in and split a litre of beer for 6 pesos or 2 dollars! It was an experience. We headed to find some llama. We went to a restaurant with hardly anyone in it and plastic chairs and table cloths, a real simple place. After dinner we walked home and went to bed early since we were going to get up early again for a busy day.
Sabado: This day was the busiest, and most fun. We rode the bus for a long time to the salt flats which were everyones favorite part of the trip. Its just a vast sea of salt. On the ground are geometrical shapes since that is the shape of the salt crystal. They harvest the salt and sell it. We got to run around, take pictures, and sample the salt. Some of the pictures are included. We then went to another small town Purmamarca, and looked at the hill of seven colors and ate lunch and I walked around the street fair. Loaded the bus and went back to tilicara. We had a bit of free time before dinner which turned out to be a huge asado. Salad, tamales (cheese and meat) and then every kind of meat you could want, and French fries, then strawberries and cream. Yum. Then we all headed into town to watch some folk dancing. It was fun although our group was a bit more rowdie than I would have liked. On the way home, we joined a group of argentines to do some more dancing. I said I was from the states and they said “bill Clinton!” stopped for an ice cream on the way back then hit the sack.
Domingo: low key, we woke up (early), ate breakfast (my usual hot chocolate, bread, dulce de leche, bananas) and bussed it three hours to salta to catch our plane. When we arrived we found out that it was delayed. We had a nice picnic lunch of a huge ham and cheese sandwich and 4 empanadas. It was very satisfying. Then we waited around in the scorching hot weather and finally got on our plane. We arrived in BsAs (with a couple of bouts of scary turbulence) 3-4 hours late. Shared a cab home and had a low key night unpacking and relaxing before the week begins.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
September 24, 2008
Got up early (what happened to my easy schedule where I could live the argentine life of staying up late and sleeping in late?). Ate breakfast and walked over to flacso to meet the remises to go to casa del nino. Unfortunately, they came 2 hours late, and we ended up not going since we would have had about 30 minutes actually there (due to the transportation time) before we would have had to come home. A free Wednesday was something I hadn’t experienced in a while. I puttered around checking my email and such, then a friend from Georgetown and I went to this bookstore that is in an old theatre and did some homework. After that we ate at this natural restaurant, which had a lot of English speakers. But I had a spinach salad which was delicious! We tried to go to a museum and a library both of which were closed, so instead we walked to our Spanish class. After Spanish I met another friend and we went to coffee (again café con leche y media lunas I am getting to be quite the expert). And then meandered through the city. I came home and packed and answered some emails and did some errands for my trip to JUJUY (pronounced who-who-ee). I am very excited to venture to northern Argentina to see the more “traditional argentine life.” The only bad thing about the trip so far is that my memory card on my camera broke! Ahhh! Right before a trip where I want to take tons of pictures of the salt flats and all the neat stuff I am going to see. Luckily, stefy loaned me her memory card. But what timing. Boo! Also she helped me write an email to the kids that I talked to yesterday (I passed around my notebook and I got like 15 email addresses) argentine friends here I come. off to eat dinner. Hasta lunes!
September 23
Busy busy day. I started out the day very early (I feel like all my entries start like this). I took the colectivo to a high school. I got there way too early so I did a bit of walking around. I ended up waiting at what I thought was the school I was supposed to be at (turned out I found out about 10 min before I was supposed to be there the actual school was across the street and down the block.) I met another flacsita, and we got ready to do the actividad de intercambio with the seniors. I was a bit nervous since I didn’t really know what it entailed, but I got even more nervous when we were sat down on separate benches and the seniors sat on the ground, and grilled us. It was really fun, I got to practice my Spanish, and my public speaking. Although I will say I am glad I didn’t know what the format would be so I didn’t have time to worry about it. They asked some hard questions (hard to answer in english) some of the themes were September 11th, the war, bush, cheerleaders, university, the typical schedule, and many more. It was nice because I had a person (roche a flacso staff member who is basically my age which is funny since he is one of the people running things) to help me when I didn’t understand and such. The great part was that I am doing my final paper on los FLOGGERS, a youth urban tribe of Buenos aires, and I got so much information about los floggers from people who know them the best. I even got an interview with a flogger—but the best part about that was that I hardly had to work since the kids asked many of the questions! After the intercambio I took the bus back home and quick brought my laundry to the laundry mat, and got lunch (empanadas) then headed to class. After Spanish class I went to my service class, and I ventured to a book store and bought a book on youth cibercultures (edited by the teacher of my class at the UBA) after that I headed home to pick up my laundry. I had an urge (that never goes away) for a typical argentine snack at any time of the day, a café con leche and 3 media lunas. I walked around to try and find semi cheap ones and a nice café. I like to find the more “argentine” cafes (or bares here) rather than the chains or ones with lots of English speakers—I like those whole in the wall, chip in your cup, cheaper ones, they have a bit more character. I read a bit of my book over my snack and then came home to work on my final paper for my service class. It is not going to well, mostly because my theme is a bit odd. I am commenting on how casa del Niño fulfills maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Late dinner as usual then to bed early since I had a busy long day and was in for another today.
Got up early (what happened to my easy schedule where I could live the argentine life of staying up late and sleeping in late?). Ate breakfast and walked over to flacso to meet the remises to go to casa del nino. Unfortunately, they came 2 hours late, and we ended up not going since we would have had about 30 minutes actually there (due to the transportation time) before we would have had to come home. A free Wednesday was something I hadn’t experienced in a while. I puttered around checking my email and such, then a friend from Georgetown and I went to this bookstore that is in an old theatre and did some homework. After that we ate at this natural restaurant, which had a lot of English speakers. But I had a spinach salad which was delicious! We tried to go to a museum and a library both of which were closed, so instead we walked to our Spanish class. After Spanish I met another friend and we went to coffee (again café con leche y media lunas I am getting to be quite the expert). And then meandered through the city. I came home and packed and answered some emails and did some errands for my trip to JUJUY (pronounced who-who-ee). I am very excited to venture to northern Argentina to see the more “traditional argentine life.” The only bad thing about the trip so far is that my memory card on my camera broke! Ahhh! Right before a trip where I want to take tons of pictures of the salt flats and all the neat stuff I am going to see. Luckily, stefy loaned me her memory card. But what timing. Boo! Also she helped me write an email to the kids that I talked to yesterday (I passed around my notebook and I got like 15 email addresses) argentine friends here I come. off to eat dinner. Hasta lunes!
September 23
Busy busy day. I started out the day very early (I feel like all my entries start like this). I took the colectivo to a high school. I got there way too early so I did a bit of walking around. I ended up waiting at what I thought was the school I was supposed to be at (turned out I found out about 10 min before I was supposed to be there the actual school was across the street and down the block.) I met another flacsita, and we got ready to do the actividad de intercambio with the seniors. I was a bit nervous since I didn’t really know what it entailed, but I got even more nervous when we were sat down on separate benches and the seniors sat on the ground, and grilled us. It was really fun, I got to practice my Spanish, and my public speaking. Although I will say I am glad I didn’t know what the format would be so I didn’t have time to worry about it. They asked some hard questions (hard to answer in english) some of the themes were September 11th, the war, bush, cheerleaders, university, the typical schedule, and many more. It was nice because I had a person (roche a flacso staff member who is basically my age which is funny since he is one of the people running things) to help me when I didn’t understand and such. The great part was that I am doing my final paper on los FLOGGERS, a youth urban tribe of Buenos aires, and I got so much information about los floggers from people who know them the best. I even got an interview with a flogger—but the best part about that was that I hardly had to work since the kids asked many of the questions! After the intercambio I took the bus back home and quick brought my laundry to the laundry mat, and got lunch (empanadas) then headed to class. After Spanish class I went to my service class, and I ventured to a book store and bought a book on youth cibercultures (edited by the teacher of my class at the UBA) after that I headed home to pick up my laundry. I had an urge (that never goes away) for a typical argentine snack at any time of the day, a café con leche and 3 media lunas. I walked around to try and find semi cheap ones and a nice café. I like to find the more “argentine” cafes (or bares here) rather than the chains or ones with lots of English speakers—I like those whole in the wall, chip in your cup, cheaper ones, they have a bit more character. I read a bit of my book over my snack and then came home to work on my final paper for my service class. It is not going to well, mostly because my theme is a bit odd. I am commenting on how casa del Niño fulfills maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Late dinner as usual then to bed early since I had a busy long day and was in for another today.
Monday, September 22, 2008
fotos
the eternal flame...
Olivia and I at the monumento.
the monument at night.
the first ice cream.
the third ice cream...
the monumento del bandera (flag). this monument entombs the person who designed the argentine flag. it is pretty grandiose. and a popular hang out spot.
Olivia and I at the monumento.
the monument at night.
the first ice cream.
the third ice cream...
the monumento del bandera (flag). this monument entombs the person who designed the argentine flag. it is pretty grandiose. and a popular hang out spot.
Rosario, Argentina
Sept 19-Sept 22: Rosario, Argentina
This weekend I went to visit one of my friends in Rosario. Rosario is about a 4 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires. I boarded the bus at 9 am and arrived at 1 to a smiling welcoming committee of OLIVIA! We took a taxi to my hostel (which turned out to be pretty nice, even though I was a bit worried). I had booked cheapest room (a co-ed shared dorm with 10 other people yikes!) my first roommate I met was a 50 or something year old Brazilian man (he was a plant biologist and a bit odd). Luckily more people came so I didn’t just have to share a room with him. We unloaded my stuff and then we walked over to and ate lunch at the place that all the students who are in Olivia’s program eat. I met some fellow UOers and we skipped out on the dessert there only to eat some fantastic ice cream. We started out splitting a 3 scoop dish, and then we got another one to split. We made our way back to Olivia’s homestays apartment and then she headed out to cello practice. I was on my own. I visited the flag monument, which was really cool. I got to go up to the top of it and view the whole city and river. I walked to a café and spent a good amount of time enjoying my café con leche y medialunas while perusing my argentina book and the local newspaper. (I love the café culture here, no one would ever tell you to give up your table even if you are done eating). I headed back to my hostel to do some journaling, and met Rob from Holland. We started chatting, which was a little hard due to the fact there was LOUD rock music and the sounds of a tattoo needle going right next to us---oh hostels you never know what you will get. This has been the first time one has changed into a tattoo parlor. Then I went over to olivia’s homestay for dinner. Her family is a single older woman named Emilce. It was a great dinner, and it was fun to see that I could communicate pretty well, and even add to the conversation. After dinner we went looking for something to do, and ended up at a restaurant with a massive ice cream sundae. We ventured back to the hostel and after we were ready to call it a night we ended up going out for drinks with Rob. (it was nice to walk around at night with a HUGE –something like 6’7’ guy and it was funny how no one gave us any trouble, looks or remarks). After visiting the monument at night—which was so cool! It was lit up all blue we all went home and got a couple hours of shut eye before waking up for a full day on Saturday.
Hostel breakfast consisted of media lunas, cereal, tea, coffee and jam, and dulce de leche. After a breakfast like that (only of carbs and sugar) I felt myself dragging a bit, after we hit the shopping drag, a pedestrian street called Cordoba. We both were on a mission. Buy boots. Boots here are the shoe of choice and I have felt a bit frumpy in my nike athletic shoes since I have arrived. Now that the boot season is almost over everything is on sale, and that is when we swoop in. After a long time, Olivia found her perfect pair of suede boots for 100 pesos (33 dollars). And I was still looking. We ate lunch at a little café off the beaten road, and then returned to our mission. I found my pair a little while later for 99 pesos! Seeing as we had accomplished our mission, we returned to her apartment where we had a bit of time to chill out before the big night. We went to a place called brownies, where we enjoyed a nice coffee/media lunas and a particularly good conversation. After that we had to find some real food, which ended up being 2 empanadas and a yogurt at a cafeteria type place. We were scheduled to go out with olivias host moms younger friend but it ended up being that we were just introduced to her and her friends at the place we went to. We then headed over to another bar, which is where the hostel people were supposedly hanging out. We didn’t end up finding them, but we did find another person from olivias program and all chatted (unfortunately most of our chatting was in English since rob doesn’t know spanish). I broke my record and we got back at about 5.30am. Slept for a couple hours then got up to finish off the weekend strong. Sunday we went down to the river and walked around the fair, we ate a true argentine lunch of a chorpan, its like a spicy sausage sandwich and then we split up for siestas and reconvened to get coffee at our new favorite place, brownies. After coffee we headed back to olivias home stay where we ate dinner, which was pizza with cheese and eggs.
Overall the weekend was a very good one. It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, and get to connect with someone who knows me, and I know her. That alone takes a lot of the stress off. Good food, good company, and some odd experiences that will make for some good stories.
Today I arrived home around 1, and then read an email that said I had a tutoring session at 4. Yikes! I hurried to prepare and then went and returned and now am having to prepare for my intercambio session tomorrow with a high school. I have a busy 2 days until Thursday, when I take off for Northern Argentina, Jujuy! Then I am really going to have to get to work on my papers, and my homework because all this traveling and enjoying myself will not translate into two well written papers.
!Una gracias especial para Olivia por esta fin de semana fantástica!
This weekend I went to visit one of my friends in Rosario. Rosario is about a 4 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires. I boarded the bus at 9 am and arrived at 1 to a smiling welcoming committee of OLIVIA! We took a taxi to my hostel (which turned out to be pretty nice, even though I was a bit worried). I had booked cheapest room (a co-ed shared dorm with 10 other people yikes!) my first roommate I met was a 50 or something year old Brazilian man (he was a plant biologist and a bit odd). Luckily more people came so I didn’t just have to share a room with him. We unloaded my stuff and then we walked over to and ate lunch at the place that all the students who are in Olivia’s program eat. I met some fellow UOers and we skipped out on the dessert there only to eat some fantastic ice cream. We started out splitting a 3 scoop dish, and then we got another one to split. We made our way back to Olivia’s homestays apartment and then she headed out to cello practice. I was on my own. I visited the flag monument, which was really cool. I got to go up to the top of it and view the whole city and river. I walked to a café and spent a good amount of time enjoying my café con leche y medialunas while perusing my argentina book and the local newspaper. (I love the café culture here, no one would ever tell you to give up your table even if you are done eating). I headed back to my hostel to do some journaling, and met Rob from Holland. We started chatting, which was a little hard due to the fact there was LOUD rock music and the sounds of a tattoo needle going right next to us---oh hostels you never know what you will get. This has been the first time one has changed into a tattoo parlor. Then I went over to olivia’s homestay for dinner. Her family is a single older woman named Emilce. It was a great dinner, and it was fun to see that I could communicate pretty well, and even add to the conversation. After dinner we went looking for something to do, and ended up at a restaurant with a massive ice cream sundae. We ventured back to the hostel and after we were ready to call it a night we ended up going out for drinks with Rob. (it was nice to walk around at night with a HUGE –something like 6’7’ guy and it was funny how no one gave us any trouble, looks or remarks). After visiting the monument at night—which was so cool! It was lit up all blue we all went home and got a couple hours of shut eye before waking up for a full day on Saturday.
Hostel breakfast consisted of media lunas, cereal, tea, coffee and jam, and dulce de leche. After a breakfast like that (only of carbs and sugar) I felt myself dragging a bit, after we hit the shopping drag, a pedestrian street called Cordoba. We both were on a mission. Buy boots. Boots here are the shoe of choice and I have felt a bit frumpy in my nike athletic shoes since I have arrived. Now that the boot season is almost over everything is on sale, and that is when we swoop in. After a long time, Olivia found her perfect pair of suede boots for 100 pesos (33 dollars). And I was still looking. We ate lunch at a little café off the beaten road, and then returned to our mission. I found my pair a little while later for 99 pesos! Seeing as we had accomplished our mission, we returned to her apartment where we had a bit of time to chill out before the big night. We went to a place called brownies, where we enjoyed a nice coffee/media lunas and a particularly good conversation. After that we had to find some real food, which ended up being 2 empanadas and a yogurt at a cafeteria type place. We were scheduled to go out with olivias host moms younger friend but it ended up being that we were just introduced to her and her friends at the place we went to. We then headed over to another bar, which is where the hostel people were supposedly hanging out. We didn’t end up finding them, but we did find another person from olivias program and all chatted (unfortunately most of our chatting was in English since rob doesn’t know spanish). I broke my record and we got back at about 5.30am. Slept for a couple hours then got up to finish off the weekend strong. Sunday we went down to the river and walked around the fair, we ate a true argentine lunch of a chorpan, its like a spicy sausage sandwich and then we split up for siestas and reconvened to get coffee at our new favorite place, brownies. After coffee we headed back to olivias home stay where we ate dinner, which was pizza with cheese and eggs.
Overall the weekend was a very good one. It was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, and get to connect with someone who knows me, and I know her. That alone takes a lot of the stress off. Good food, good company, and some odd experiences that will make for some good stories.
Today I arrived home around 1, and then read an email that said I had a tutoring session at 4. Yikes! I hurried to prepare and then went and returned and now am having to prepare for my intercambio session tomorrow with a high school. I have a busy 2 days until Thursday, when I take off for Northern Argentina, Jujuy! Then I am really going to have to get to work on my papers, and my homework because all this traveling and enjoying myself will not translate into two well written papers.
!Una gracias especial para Olivia por esta fin de semana fantástica!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
September 18:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! (I forgot to tell you on the phone but my host family sends saludos, felicidades and lots of besos!—direct quote from my host mom)
Started the day off with a happy birthday call to the birthday girl in Portland Oregon. Then I headed to class, hoping that there would be class. I chatted (my goal or challenge is to make small talk with anyone I can) with some girls before my class who were saying how frustrating the system is with the strikes and everything. They were laughing that my first impression of the school was a very bad one. I actually understood a lot of it. I also said hello to the girl I talked to when we were waiting for the class that never started…she seems nice so I hope I get to talk to her more. I had class, which was long…and impossible to understand. I almost drifted off several times. It was even harder since the professor speaks softly. I asked him for some good recommendations for books that relate to the floggers and he said oh…this is a good book I wrote about the floggers. Ha. I guess he is kind of a big deal in the youth tribe scene. I then rode the bus to my Spanish class, which I arrived late to since one of my classes ends at 2 and the other one starts at 2. this class wasn’t as hard, since I had a roll of cookies to keep myself entertained and happy. I took the subte to FLACSO where I put up some posters about my host sisters event (the oldest one works for the ministry of trabajo and she is organizing a seminar/conference thing about globalization or something). I chatted with some other flacsitos about the pilgrimage to Lujan, a small religious city outside of Buenos aires. I think I am going to participate. It is the first weekend in oct. and we walk 18 km o 18 hours approximately to the town. It should be quite an experience. I also got an email from UO about summer internships. AHHH summer internships! Occasionally I find myself thinking, oh what am I going to do when I get back, what are my summer plans, what are my after school plans…but then I have to remind myself that I am here, and only for a limited amount of time, so I should try and not plan things for when I get back. As much as I tell myself this, I am a planner, there is no getting around it. So far some ideas for summer: internship w/ the state department, volunteer with heifer project (run the educational programs on their farms), internship with mercy corps, or world affairs council of Oregon, go to spain, or just find a high paying job and work. so far I am liking the heifer idea the best. I was going to go to tango tonight and try out my new shoes but I was in such a BLAH mood, I decided to stay home. I also was a bit nervous about being sick or dead tired for my trip tomorrow morning. I have been going going going all week, which is okay when you go to bed at 11 each night, but here I do not do that. I am going to Rosario, Argentina tomorrow. I will be visiting a friend from UO who is studying down there. It seems like a really neat city, comparatively I think it is the Querétaro of Argentina where Buenos Aires is the Mexico City (DF). Also Che was born there. I am planning on going to his birth house and soaking up a bit of the revolutionary spirit. I probably won’t write until Monday or Tuesday. And then I take off on Thursday for Northern Argentina, Jujuy with my program (which also should be very fun). Hopefully I won’t speak barely any English, which is super hard to do when you are surrounded by English speakers.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! (I forgot to tell you on the phone but my host family sends saludos, felicidades and lots of besos!—direct quote from my host mom)
Started the day off with a happy birthday call to the birthday girl in Portland Oregon. Then I headed to class, hoping that there would be class. I chatted (my goal or challenge is to make small talk with anyone I can) with some girls before my class who were saying how frustrating the system is with the strikes and everything. They were laughing that my first impression of the school was a very bad one. I actually understood a lot of it. I also said hello to the girl I talked to when we were waiting for the class that never started…she seems nice so I hope I get to talk to her more. I had class, which was long…and impossible to understand. I almost drifted off several times. It was even harder since the professor speaks softly. I asked him for some good recommendations for books that relate to the floggers and he said oh…this is a good book I wrote about the floggers. Ha. I guess he is kind of a big deal in the youth tribe scene. I then rode the bus to my Spanish class, which I arrived late to since one of my classes ends at 2 and the other one starts at 2. this class wasn’t as hard, since I had a roll of cookies to keep myself entertained and happy. I took the subte to FLACSO where I put up some posters about my host sisters event (the oldest one works for the ministry of trabajo and she is organizing a seminar/conference thing about globalization or something). I chatted with some other flacsitos about the pilgrimage to Lujan, a small religious city outside of Buenos aires. I think I am going to participate. It is the first weekend in oct. and we walk 18 km o 18 hours approximately to the town. It should be quite an experience. I also got an email from UO about summer internships. AHHH summer internships! Occasionally I find myself thinking, oh what am I going to do when I get back, what are my summer plans, what are my after school plans…but then I have to remind myself that I am here, and only for a limited amount of time, so I should try and not plan things for when I get back. As much as I tell myself this, I am a planner, there is no getting around it. So far some ideas for summer: internship w/ the state department, volunteer with heifer project (run the educational programs on their farms), internship with mercy corps, or world affairs council of Oregon, go to spain, or just find a high paying job and work. so far I am liking the heifer idea the best. I was going to go to tango tonight and try out my new shoes but I was in such a BLAH mood, I decided to stay home. I also was a bit nervous about being sick or dead tired for my trip tomorrow morning. I have been going going going all week, which is okay when you go to bed at 11 each night, but here I do not do that. I am going to Rosario, Argentina tomorrow. I will be visiting a friend from UO who is studying down there. It seems like a really neat city, comparatively I think it is the Querétaro of Argentina where Buenos Aires is the Mexico City (DF). Also Che was born there. I am planning on going to his birth house and soaking up a bit of the revolutionary spirit. I probably won’t write until Monday or Tuesday. And then I take off on Thursday for Northern Argentina, Jujuy with my program (which also should be very fun). Hopefully I won’t speak barely any English, which is super hard to do when you are surrounded by English speakers.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sept 17:
Early departure for Florenica Varela the town where casa del nino is located. Got there and had coffee and tea and then started our class. we made brownies today, but the recipe was from the back of the condensed milk can (?) so they were a bit strange. Condensed milk, nesquick, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Odd, but the kids liked them. I also have made friends with one of the mujeres that works in the kitchen, she is fairly old and has no front teeth, but she loves our desserts. she wants the recipe for the condensed milk brownies. We “taught” the kids about following a recipe, and measuring, and how to cook cleanly. Then we played a couple games like the human knot and “wham.” I had to help the remise (cab) driver get us back to our school. And then I took a long walk over to my Spanish class since it was a beautiful day (and even more enjoyable since I got an ice cream on the way). I think if I ever get robbed in this town it will be because I am not totally aware since I am enjoying some food thing too much. This makes me super aware when I am concentrating on eating my ice cream… In Spanish I presented an article about how the Italians are getting mad at each other for using English words. And then I lead the debate about whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. After Spanish I grabbed coffee and a couple media lunas with some friends from FLACSO and then rode the bus home to a full house. I drank mate with my sister, her boyfriend, and some other friend with a tiny baby. And I watched the news with had a special on my urban tribe the floggers!
Sept 16: Same old same old. My Tuesdays are as follows: Wake up (banana, yogurt and cereal for breakfast). Head to flacso to meet with my taller de cocina partner. We plan menu and shop for the goods. Then head to Spanish class, and run to the subte for my servicio class. after servicio walk home, try to do some homework and finally eat dinner. Then head to bed early since I have to wake up super early on Wednesdays (7am) for casa del Niño.
Early departure for Florenica Varela the town where casa del nino is located. Got there and had coffee and tea and then started our class. we made brownies today, but the recipe was from the back of the condensed milk can (?) so they were a bit strange. Condensed milk, nesquick, eggs, vanilla, and oil. Odd, but the kids liked them. I also have made friends with one of the mujeres that works in the kitchen, she is fairly old and has no front teeth, but she loves our desserts. she wants the recipe for the condensed milk brownies. We “taught” the kids about following a recipe, and measuring, and how to cook cleanly. Then we played a couple games like the human knot and “wham.” I had to help the remise (cab) driver get us back to our school. And then I took a long walk over to my Spanish class since it was a beautiful day (and even more enjoyable since I got an ice cream on the way). I think if I ever get robbed in this town it will be because I am not totally aware since I am enjoying some food thing too much. This makes me super aware when I am concentrating on eating my ice cream… In Spanish I presented an article about how the Italians are getting mad at each other for using English words. And then I lead the debate about whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. After Spanish I grabbed coffee and a couple media lunas with some friends from FLACSO and then rode the bus home to a full house. I drank mate with my sister, her boyfriend, and some other friend with a tiny baby. And I watched the news with had a special on my urban tribe the floggers!
Sept 16: Same old same old. My Tuesdays are as follows: Wake up (banana, yogurt and cereal for breakfast). Head to flacso to meet with my taller de cocina partner. We plan menu and shop for the goods. Then head to Spanish class, and run to the subte for my servicio class. after servicio walk home, try to do some homework and finally eat dinner. Then head to bed early since I have to wake up super early on Wednesdays (7am) for casa del Niño.
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