El Tigre, El Tango, Los Tambores

9/3/12
On friday we took a program field trip to El Tigre, located in the north of Greater Buenos Aires. We met at station Retiro at 8:30 and then took the train, which cost about a peso. As soon as we stepped off, we immediately noticed the difference in the air (cleaner, cooler, not as humid) and in the pace of life-- much more tranquil. Next, we took a boat across the canal to our area.

The first thing we noticed after stepping onto shore was the incredible smell. Meat and meat and more meat over fire.

Once we all loaded into our private area at about 11, we were told lunch would be at 1:30. I spotted the pool and headed directly there.

And that's what we did for the day! Relaxed, spent time, played, ate, sunned.. This was our spring break day-vaca.
Lunch was a bit of a struggle for me... For those who didn't know, I was a pescatarian for 3.5 years, until Christmas when I had my first bite of bacon. I did it because I was told there are no vegetarians in Argentina, come to find out that my host mom is a vegetarian herself! But it's been perfect, I've been able to try the meat, bites here and there, or order a quesadilla con pollo, when I'm out. And then in the house, I know I'll always like what I'm eating! But anyways, the first course was a sausage and a blood sausage. I told myself to get over it, and I tried a bite of the regular sausage, but couldn't do it. Then the next course was a beef rib. Tasted good, but so much fat to cut off... not worth the mental or physical exercise. Next came the pollo (chicken) which was delicious! But even after just a few bites of the others, our stomachs were already feeling heavy and full. So then it was more sun, more water, more play.

And that's what the whole day was! I think a lot of people were expecting more, since our email told us to pack a million things, when all we needed was a bathing suit and sunscreen. But I enjoyed the free schedule that allowed us to fill it how we wanted. I got to know a lot of people much better.

Afterwards was my host-mom's tango show! I got home just in time to quick shower, change, and head back out to meet up with Alyssa and Debbie. I ended up waiting outside the wrong apartment however, ran a few blocks after the right bus going the wrong direction, and eventually we waited 20 minutes at the correct stop. Once we got off the bus, I ditched them to run the 7 blocks, and made it in time to catch the end of Vale and Marcelo's first dance. The show was really interesting-- narrated by a Radio Station, it was the history of tango. The boring-voiced man would give the next piece of history, the singers would sing the next song, and every few my "parents" would dance to one. It was great! And also, a lot of friends came to watch it too, which I really appreciated, especially since it was an awkward amount of time in between.

Afterwards, we all went out to dinner, and then to a club. Rey Castro... we were given free-admission tickets at dinner. Mostly, it played American Wedding Music.. so hilarious to see Argentines dancing serious salsa to those songs. Some in our group were begged to dance (Missy, Simone, Clay), which was fun to watch and paparazzi.

I took a bus home, which I've gotten into the habit of doing, even though they say it's much safer to take a taxi. I say it's safe enough for my body and much safer for my money to take the bondi. But you do have to wait around an hour for it to come when it's that late..


The next day, my mom had another dance show! During the day, I didn't do much (just skyped mostly), but the night was really fun. Marcelo drove me to the cultural center and my friends were already there in their seats. The show was put on completely by women and it was one of the best I've ever seen! Great music, great dancing, great energy (buenas ondas!). Vale was in the last section of the show, and her group danced the audience out of the arena into the open-air center where we joined in with the dancing. Although I wasn't in a dancing mood, I couldn't resist the enthusiasm of Vale, Marcelo, and Missy.

After that, my group took V and M's advice and went to San Telmo which was nearby. We ate outside in the plaza, filled with people for dinner at 11pm!

We stayed there a long time, and eventually decided to meet up with other people from our program in Palermo. But after wandering around for hours asking directions for the right bus, and eventually taking 2 taxis, we only had enough energy to play a couple board games before leaving again to find the bus stop home.

I took a separate one, walking the last 15 minutes or so home, past the drag-queen prostitutes and sporadic groups of night owls just as the sun was starting to yellowfy the sky.


Also: I added videos from the Tango Milonga to my youtube account..
take a look!

15/3

So it appears I haven't written in a while! That's because the academic side of the semester is finally underway. Aka, hours upon hours of reading in Spanish. They LOVE to read here. However, it's not at its fullest yet, which is why Jon, Clay, Lauren, and I acted fast to get out of town whil still possible. I'm currently on LAN airlines on my way to.... USHUAIA!
The southernmost city in the world. We have about maybe an hour left, and I'll probably try to sleep a bit. Thanks to Nammy for the amazing travel pillow and thanks to Mom for the awesome cover! I haven't gotten much rest this past week.. 1.5 hours tonight (left at 2:30 am), 3 hours last night, 4 hours the night before. I don't know why... I'm comfortable here-- I love my house, room, bed; I have a fan and window, nights are cool enough to use my blanket.. but I cannot keep my eyes closed. I'm subconsciously over-stressed and anxious most of the time. I think it's especially strong because I had a 3 month break without exercising my mind much, and now all the sudden it's gotta be full blast throughout the day. Going to my direct enrollment class honestly feels like I'm taking a final every time. But I have noticed an improvement in my listening abilities! On my hell day (Tuesday), I had my first really noticeable speaking breakthrough, where I stayed talking at the table with Vale and Marcelo after dessert for a few hours. Normally they talk to me and every time I want to contribute, they've gotta fill in blanks or correct my conjugations or I forget what I'm trying to say. But that night, I was able to semi-rapidly word exactly how I wanted or else describe in alternate ways. Vale said she loved being able to hear my thoughts and getting to know me better through that. This experience is definitely a lot of up and down in everything.
BUt anyways, this is just the trip I need. I brought some reading homework, but so far I've been distracted by the incredible sunrise out the window.
My academic schedule so far is
Martes (tues): Literatura Argentina en UCA a 745-915
Seminario de Aprendizaje-Servicio 10-11:30
Gramatical 1:15-3:15
Tango 5-7

Miercoles (Wed): Lit Arg 745-1015
Lenguaje en accion 1-4
Oral 5:30-7:30
Afro Dance 8

Then on Mondays and Thursdays 3-5, I'll hopefully be working with Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. Really exciting, but I dont wanna talk it up until it's confirmed..

Anyways, heartbreaking news from home.. pray for Tina's family.

And I need to catch up on
1. dance shows
2. Tango
3. Tigre
4. Cancha
5. San Telmo
but I don't have time right now...
ps. Astor is my favorite beyond favorite cat!! I love him.

5 de marzo

Sunday.
Tonight is so humid. I just took an ice-cold shower and already am steaming up again. But anyways, today was another great day! I woke up early and went all the way to Juramento to meet with Missy and to go to church with Stephen-- a friend who I know from Maine who lives in Argentina. We met his friends Paul and James and then walked over to Iglesia San Andreas. It was pretty great! I really liked the songs, the people, and the communion-- both the people and the sacrament... let's just say that Jesus tastes pretty good in Argentina. I didn't get much depth from the sermon, but I could understand the general topic. My blisters are my biggest problem at this point... which I guess means my life is pretty fantastic. After church and cafe, Missy left and I went to lunch with Stephen, Paul, and James (disciples?) to a Peruvian restaurant. It was chicken, sauce, salad, and fries.. so delicious! After that we went to China Town to look around. After a nice relaxing time with them, I went to Missy's house. Melissa and Annie were already there and the 4 of us tanned on the roof. Qe stayed quite a while and it was really nice just talking and relaxing. After that I walked the hour home.

Yesterday (4/3), I went to Recoleta with Clay, Missy and Jon. I had to talk to about 10 people for colectivo info and it was very confusing, but secretly kinda fun to practice. Once I finally got there and was waiting for them to come retrieve me, I helped a girl from South Korea with directions in Spanish.. pretty humorous. We walked through the plazas, checking out the ferias, and then went to the cemetery, where Evita is buried. After that we went to lunch to a place that was in my Top 10 guide book-- first time I haven't been able to finish all the food! So delicious and a good deal.

Monday Showers

I'm in the midst of una gran aventura... but I can't say whether or not I'm enjoying it exactly. Everything on my body, including my passport and pre-visa document I just got, is soaked. Mom, should've bought that poncho you showed me at LL Bean! The rain started as soon as I set off for home. But let me rewind. Today was the day of pointless travel. I got up this morning and took the bus for my first flacso class. This week is "shopping period" where we attend all the classes we're signed up for and decide whether we want to keep them or drop them. Which means a lot of the classes overlap and you've gotta decide whether to leave early or arrive late. So for this first class, I was going to leave after an hour to go to the Flacso tango class. But since I arrived 20 minutes late (don't take the colectivo in the morning, or else go EARLY), that didn't make much sense so I decided to wait in the Computer Lab, where I ran into some girls going to on-site orientation at IUNA. IUNA is the arts school and in order to take classes there you generally have to have a concrete background in whatever the subject is. However, they've also got a carrera en Folclore, with a few literature classes. So I decided to tag along and check out the school, which means we took the subte all the way back towards my house. The school has such a good vibe! Picture artsy people, without the snobby/fake/self-obsessed aka pretentious ego (cough cough zooey deschanel, you're cute but you don't fool me!)that often goes along with artists. Very fluid, relaxed, colorful and energetic-- which can describe a lot of Buenos Aires actually. After meeting some teachers there and listening/asking questions about the Movement classes, Roche (my director coordinator) told me that Folclore wouldn't present until 2:30 and pretty much I didn't need to wait. I could just get the info from him through email later. So we decided to go back to Flacso to catch the end of the Tango class. Another subte viaje. But when we walked into Flacso, our tango classmates were leaving. So then I went to lunch with them. Background info: I lost $200... So, in attempts to save money, I only bought 1 empanada ($6). And then as they all went back to take another class, I decided to head over to the immigration center to turn in my paper in order to get my Visa appointment. The rest of the flacsitos did this on Friday during the Scavenger Hunt, but of course, I skipped it. So anyways, I walked the 35 minutes from Flacso to Piedras. Not bad since it was pretty cool weather and I was wearing my walking shoes.
The actual time in the building took 5 minutes or less, and checking my guia T (the most useful thing I own here) for the 35 min route home, I stepped outside. You know that prank where someone walks through a door and a bucket of water pours onto their head? That's kinda what it was like. But I thought to myself, "I like walking in the rain, I'll try it." Plus, I was out of monedas for a colectivo and didn't want to pay for a taxi. By the 6th cuadra or so however, I was stressing "I need an umbrella, I need an umbrella!" A couple blocks later, I passed a little store on the side of the road and spotted a basket of umbrellas in the doorway. I asked frantically how much it costs and the man told me $25. I said "no, the cheapest" and he said "yeah. that is." I gave him $20, thanked him, and continued my walk as the rain increased. By this time my suede shoes were completely submerged. But at least my head and purse were no longer getting drenched... that is until the next block, when the ubrella (paraguas) ripped off the spokes. I debated turning around to yell at the guy and get my money back, but I wanted only to move forward. The bad decision to buy the umbrella was redeemed by my good decision to finally duck inside a cafe. Which is where I am now. After ringing out my hair and greeting the owner, I chose a table by a window and asked for the menu. He brought it over to me a long time ago but I couldn't decide. So eventually, he opens the freezer and pulls out an helado (icecream), offers it to me and says "maravilloso". How could I resist? It's like a Kondike, but sweeter, smoother, and not as cold. the icecream is dulce de leche surrounded by vainilla. I suddenly feel a lot better.
And now la lluvia parece mas tranquila, so I'm gonna try this again..

Blisters, Tango, Puppy, and Playing Hookey

Yesterday was a crazy day. First of all, the subte was on strike. I talked to Vale and Marcelo about it the night before and they explained how the subte used to be run by the national government and so there used to be police, switched to the city government because it only runs in Bs As, and how now they would like police back. The question is pretty much, who’s budget? So anyways, the subte was not running, which means all~3 million Portenos needed to take the colectivo, drive, go in taxi, or walk. It was also raining. Needless to say, the streets were overcrowded. We FLACSitos had the task of completing the 1st step to get our student visas. Alyssa and I met up to photocopy each page of our passports and then we headed to our bus stop after asking at ever cuadro where to find it. We waiting around 45 minutes, 6 busses passed, but all of them were too full to fit anyone more. We tried to squish onto the step of the last door on the bus and hold onto the doorhandles, but there were even too many people doing that and we would’ve fallen off. So. We had to walk…. Which equaled a lot of blisters. Looking down, I can count 5 on each foot . Anyways, it didn’t matter that we were late for our assigned time because the whole city was late. Anyone who didn’t walk took about 30 minutes to go 2 blocks.
After Visa stuff (where the workers loved to say my name.. “char-eel? Line? Leen?”), we headed over to UCA (la Universidad catolica de argentina), which is near San Telmo. More walking.. but by that time the rain had stopped and it was another gorgeous day. At UCA, we listened to a presentation explaining about the university. UCA is pretty similar to private universities in the US it seems. Very impressive accommodations, a lot of staff dedicated to international students, social clubs and activities. The closest to a campus life Argentina gets. We had the opportunity to talk with some professors about different classes and subjects which was helpful, but I still have no clue what classes I’m gonna end up with. Right now I’m pre-registered for philosophy at UBA (the public university that is the most prestigious and a little terrifying!) and 2 literatures at UCA. I’m still holding out for IUNA though. The rest of my classes will be at FLACSO. Since I placed in Advanced Spanish II, I need at least 15 credits and 5 classes. Of those, 4 have to be language courses (2 cred each) and 1 class needs to be Direct Enrollment (UBA, UCA, or IUNA).
Anyways, after we were done with that, we walked back to FLACSO. Clay lead my group past the monument so I could get a closer peek, and we saw some marches—some in favor of the new congress, others not. It’s pretty hard to tell which is which a lot of the time and to understand what each side wants, but I’m starting to understand Spanish better, which means I can ask Vale more questions about the politics. She’s been really good about that, giving me her opinion, saying she believes something completely, but that everyone has different views so she encourages me to ask others who think differently as well. It was a long day at FLACSO, but after pre-registering for UCA, I went to lunch (~3pm) with a group. While we were eating and chatting there was another parade of horses and soldiers outside the window. Oh and now I know what not to order: migas. A miga is a type of sandwich here… and for the grand majority, EVERY food is so good! Especially the sandwiches. But picture what your mom might’ve packed you for lunch in 3rd grade and you’ve got it..white bread without crusts cut into a square with a cold cut of ham and cheese. The jugo de pomelo (grapefruit juice) I got was just delicious though, which made up for my disappointment. After eating we had a few minutes before the workshop about the volunteering class (aprendizaje y servicio), which is the most popular FLACSO course offered because it gives the opportunity to get involved in the community. Theres about 10 different organizations that, outside of class, you are matched with to work alongside for about 4-6 hours a week. If I get into the class I most definitely want to work with las madres de la plaza. But anyways, before that, Clay Annie Katya and I went to La plaza de congreso and hung out for a while. A young guy made his friends take a picture of him and me haha. Then after the workshop, Alyssa and I rushed home as quick as we could, taking the colectivo for about 20 minutes. It was just enough time for me to change my shoes and scarf some leftovers from the fridge before leaving again, by way of another colectivo, for the optional FLACSO activity at a tango milongra. This was such a fun time!! Our huge group walked into this dimly lit dance floor with the best dancers I’ve seen in real life. We all scavenged for seats on the outskirts of the floor so as to blend in as much as possible, but before I could sit down un Viejo (elderly man) grabbed my hand. I told him I didn’t know how to dance tango, that I learned it once when a tango group (Tami Tango) came to my school, but he said don’t worry, let’s go! I’m so glad he did, because that served as my ice breaker and it was really fun! After our dance, he moved onto another and another one of us, which was really kind of him considering the majority had never seen tango before. Soon the lights went out and there was a show with the 4 pairs of professional dancers. I took video almost the whole time because it was so amazing! After that the room divided into class for beginners and for advanced dancers. We all crowded around and learned (I re-learned) the basic step. We stayed there into the dim hours of the night, catching a dance once in a while but mostly just watching the Argentines who know how and I mean really know how! They’re so fluid and beautiful.

After that a few groups, energized by the great experience, decided to keep the night going. We spent most of the night on this beautiful terrace with candles. And later I made some new friends! One American mountaineer who decided to venture from Patagonia to Bs As after his friends went back to the states, and the others a group of portenos. Since the night was pretty and calm, we wanted to walk, and we ended up meeting that group. One of the guys gave me his card so that we could add him on facebook and one of the girls who I talked to for a while (and who told me I speak well!) put her number in my phone. She studies at UCA and told me to take classes with her. So fun! On the way home, a stray dog befriended me. He followed me about 2 hours until I got home, where I explained to him I had to go inside and that he should keep looking for food. He gave me puppy eyes for a long time and then he lay down outside my door to wait. He was great company, but not as loyal as he promised because this morning he was not still waiting. Anyways, I’m playing hookey from FLACSO right now because I didn’t want to travel. Although the activities today are more fun than mandatory.. but I think I’ve gotta go out later anyways to do something else with my VISA. Should probably figure that out.