Opuestos

The Argentine chapter of my life has come to a close and my Minnesota chapter is beginning. I have been back in the US for a week. My first few days were spent visiting friends and such in Kansas, then I made my way up north to the new house in Duluth, MN. Since my Argentine experience has ended, my blog "Cyndi in Argentina" would be a bit of a lie ... if I start a new one I will let y'all know. Overall my time in BA has taught me a lot of lessons. I believe I learned a lot more because it wasn't exactly what I had wanted or didn't always go my way. I found my second set of parents on the other end of the world, my lovely Argentine and Colombian roommates, some very free and adventurous young adults and grandparents, some great friends from all over the world, my 2 bread bakery men that knew exactly what I would get every day, my favorite security guard at the international office, sprinkle some crazy Argentine men and a few mean people in there as well ... I wouldn't change any of it.



The environments of BA and Duluth are nearly opposites. In BA there is never enough time in the day; always things to do but never enough energy or time to do it. Noise never stops, the city never sleeps, people are everywhere to where you have no minute to yourself, constant awareness of where you are going and if that's the safest route, public transit shared with 10-100+ people, constant awareness of purses, bags, etc., walking everywhere, all that you need within walking distance. In Duluth, my 4 days have ticked by while I have been searching for a holiday job and being the cook and grocery girl. I drive 20 minutes into town in my own car alone feeling like its a waste of gas, rural living, complete dark and quiet at night, deer in our yard several times a day, gas stations called Superamerica, no need to lie about being Canadian just to avoid conflict or extra attention, the most individual time I have had in a long time, a huge comfy bed, lots and lots of time to do what I wish. Surprisingly I have less energy here in MN ... I do less and sleep more ... I still would like to think I am adjusting back to the US culture.

I fear I lost my spicy buds in my time in Argentina. Chipotle was pretty spicy to me ... since then I have been trying to build my tolerance back up. I have a different perspective on food and different dishes after the Argentine cuisine, fresh bakeries and not having a kitchen. My family is celebrating Thanksgiving Argentine style ... that will be fun.

No more meat bites for me. It will take going to another country to let meat touch these jaws again.

After a few days of rusty English grammar and poor word choice, I feel like my brain has flipped the switch back to English. I notice I don't think in Spanish first. I'm working on a place where I can continue practicing. I think I pick up accents pretty easily: my Spanish right now is Argentine tainted, my English adopted a Chicago flavor ... in two months I might be speaking pure Minnesotan ... eh?

Love.

Tourist Bit

With my time slowly ticking away I have been making sure to enjoy my last week here. I have started going to as many vegetarian restaurants as I can find since Manhattan doesn't seem to like that idea. I found a really cute place as small as a normal house kitchen, of a guy that makes whole wheat bread and vegetarian meals. Adorable. I have found that I really like Yucca (like mashed potatoes but better from the Peruvian restaurant. I also took a wheat grass shot ... just to give it a try. It is supposed to clean the blood and help the body detoxify. Tasted like any other plant I eat normally being a vegetarian but in liquid form.

I tried to surround my last week with cultural things that I haven´t quite seen the most of ... tango. I took a few more tango classes; I love it ... I will miss dancing with grandpas that have that old smell. I attempted to go to the world tango museum but a young pop singer was signing autographs across the street so the whole block was closed down by 16 year-old screaming girls. The most touristy thing I have done in my life was probably going to see a tango show at Cafe Tortoni. Its a cafe that has the most history in BA being a famous spot for tango shows and the cafe where many famous Argentine actors and writers would go and for that reason its tourist city. It was a cute cafe .. .but nothing way special to me. Show tango is exactly what tourists want it to be. The low back and high slitted dresses, high leg intertwining, the sensual and movie side of tango ... the opposite of what you see in the milongas and classes. After having a slight idea of real tango (thanks to my dramatic old man professors), I didn't appreciate or wasn't as wowed by the show tango. I did like how there was a real orchestra for the show ... there was a little acting thrown in between the dances but every Argentine joke they could slip in ... just for tourists. The actors did a poll (there were 2 people out of about 60 from Argentina watching the show).
Friday I went and did a touristy gaucho day. I was about the only one out of about 100 people that was under 45 and not married. Married couples traveling through group packages throughout South America or at least Argentina. We took a bus to the estancia (farm) Santa Susana that was about 70 km outside of the city in the pampas (fields, open air, no sight of buildings, plains) of Argentina. We were greeted by people dressed as gauchos (cowboys) and chinas (the gaucho`s woman) dressed in traditional clothing (almost of 1900`s clothes giving us drinks and empanadas. It kind of reminded me Mahaffie Farmstead in Olathe. We had some free time to ride horses, ride in a horse carriage, go to a little museum of the gaucho times, or go to the overpriced gift shop. I did it all ... we didn't get to ride the horses for very long or very far but I was alright with that because my horse skills are zilch so just a little ride was sufficient for me. We had a huge lunch of unlimited drinks, salad, food, dessert ... and they asked if anyone was vegetarian ... a few others were so I joined in and had pasta instead of charred mammal flesh. At lunch I met some interesting people. My favorite was 70-year-old world traveler who was so shy until you got her talking ... she has been on 6 international flights this year and had a list of countries and tips to travel cheap ... she isn't rich by any means just knows how to get deals and use flyer miles and clip coupons at home ... I loved her stories. Then I met some parents who were visiting their daughter who is also studying in BA, they were very friendly and would talk about when they were young and traveled together. There was a dance and music show of tango and gaucho dances and songs followed by a gaucho competition. The competition consisted of little rings attached to a post, the gauchos rode the horses really quickly under the post and snatched the ring with a small pencil-like stick. The competition traditionally won women or money with bets. The first winner of the competition (and gaucho that let me sit up front on the carriage ride gave me the ring in trade for some victory kisses on the cheek. I felt special ... until the gauchos kept competing and giving the victory rings to almost all the women. I fell asleep on the bus ride home and woke up in the center of hustle bustle of the tall buildings and traffic of BA ... the opposite feeling of the relaxing day in the open air.

The church I have been going to had an international party last night: a service and dinner of food from different countries ... it was very interesting and humbling. Lots of people from Brazil and other parts of South America. Sweet people. Different types and styles of empanadas. It has been really great seeing where God has shown himself in my time here and a good reflection of the people and power of love that I have seen here in unexpected places.

Kansas is starting to call me home. At the gaucho day, a man asked where I was from, after saying I was from Kansas he asked if I was from Manhattan ... turns out he was a KSU professor for a long time. Then at the international night of church I met some missionaries who had lived in Kansas before living all over the world. My flight leaves Tuesday night and I will wake up in the lovely Kansas City on Wednesday morning.

One thing I will miss about Argentina is the pastas and pizzas .. delicious.

Love.

Needles and Costumes

This week was basically the end of my work for my classes ... now I just have to go and get a few papers signed and have a few despedida (going away) parties in class. I ate my last lucky gnocchi of my Argentine experience and got a few more things done on my checklist.

I had been curious about acupuncture for a while and stumbled upon a place next door to my University. I last week to just ask some information and ended up getting an interview about ¨who I am¨ and what is unbalanced in my life or my body ... they are difficult questions to answer in general ... non the less with a suppressed Spanish vocabulary... but I managed. I explained my situation of my pain in my feet and the bittersweet situation of running to get out stress but not being able to run sometimes because of the pain. I left with approval that if I wanted treatment I could receive it. I had my appointment this week. It was very interesting. I got a second interview about who I am and how my mind body spirit connection is and the condition of body. She pressed a few spots on my feet and I told her where it hurt. Then she started looking in my ears and started telling me all of these things about myself that are not obvious by just looking at ears:

"You think a lot and struggle to let your brain fully relax"

"You are obsessive about certain things" (Ya, I like things clean I guess)

"Your diet is healthy" (That makes sense ... I`m a vegetarian)

"You drink plenty of fluids" (Yup, liter and a half that morning)

"Overall your body is fairly well-balanced"

Then she proceeded by putting 10 needles in my ears with my breathing. She taught me the form of breathing for the 20-30 minute therapy session and left the room with dimmed lights. I breathed and started relaxing and would occasionally have chills go throughout my body and about once every 10 minutes my left leg would twitch; eventually I reached a state of relaxation I haven´t had my whole time in BA. She came back in the room and asked if I saw a color (I was so relaxed I didn't remember) and then took out the needles with my breaths. She analyzed my ears some more and said the most imbalance lies in my pancreas which is caused by my obsessiveness; I need to work on accepting the grey in life because things are almost never black or white. She went on with more profound analytical phrases and suggestions for improvement. I left in a state of complete relaxation that I practically floated home in my own world. Everything just happened around me. I feel like my body is in more harmony and some of the pain is gone. Very neat feeling.

For Halloween I dressed up as a blackberry ... the fruit. I somehow managed to create my costume by stopping by each specialized store to gather supplies to make my costume on the stormy Saturday day of Halloween. I thought my blackberry outfit would be the perfect defense mechanism against the Argentine men ... I was wrong. I think I attracted more attention with my balloons than if I were to decide to be a sexy whatever. I started with 50 balloons .. after the first hour at this Colombian Halloween dance party I had about 45 ... then we went to another dance club called Rumi ... my balloons vanished in minutes. I had people coming up to me all night arms outreaching to grab my balloons and pop them. Once again I am affirmed that Argentine men know the key to my heart ... I have never been more repulsed by men since my stay here. All I wanted was to dance and have a good time with my roommates ... which happened once my balloons were popped.

Today Analia and I went to the Lujan Zoo, which is about an hour and a half outside of BA. We take a bus to get there and he drops us off at the side of a highway off ramp and points us in the direction of the zoo. All we can see is grass and highway and some back country roads ... middle of nowhere. We find the zoo and are greeted by an outdoor Tractor Museum ... showing the evolution of tractors. The zoo is just a field with random cages and pits ... no pathways or sidewalks; It had been raining the past few days so it was a mud pit to every new animal. There were ducks, geese, hens and others of the sort wandering around the mud pit hissing if we got to close trying to dodge the swamps of the walk paths. Since it was after lots of rain ... the crowd was scarce. We started of petting some full grown lions and tigers sitting right next to them. Then played with some lion cubs. We fed dead fish to some sea lions. Fed milk to pigs and goats. Rode and fed a camel. Rode an elephant that was not obeying ... I felt like I could end up with a fatal injury falling off a stubborn elephant in the swamp of South America. It if happened it would have at least been an adventurous story. I just clung on for dear life. It was great ... not a huge variety of animals ... but when else can you touch with tigers, lions and see bears ... oh my ... best zoo ever despite the lack of safety prevention.

In festivities of Halloween ... some zombie street art.

Love.

Unforgettable

I just got back from my trip to Iguazu Falls. Incredible. Its only a bus ride of about 17 hours to get to the spot where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil form a border of water that is the greatest natural wonder I have experienced in my 21 years of life. It is a never ending network of rivers all coming together to create a beautiful area of waterfall after waterfall. The vegetation is so green ... tropical plants, birds and animals. Upon entering the park I got warned to watch out for the monkeys overhead ... they tend to pee on the visitors. The park is set up in several circuits to see the general area of waterfalls from above and below. I got soaked walking the lower circuit which we did the first day along with the upper circuit; the day was hot and sunny ... perfect environment for creating several rainbows over the waterfalls. Just beautiful. My night in the hostel was spent in a 5 person dorm with a few people I never saw and 2 really interesting girls from Scotland ... they were both about 30 and had worked together for a few years ... together decided to quit their jobs and travel the world and have been traveling for the last 9 months.
I woke up to a powerful tropical thunderstorm ... the power went out throughout the morning in the hostel and the rain did not seem like it was letting up. It was my last day in Puerto Iguazu and I hadn't yet seen the biggest attraction `Garganta del Diablo´ (The Devil`s Throat). I asked around the bus station and the buses never stop and the park never closes to cater to the tourists who might only have one day to see the natural phenomenon (despite the fact that there was thunder and lightening and the trails and bridges of the park are all metal and surrounded by water). I took a risk and decided to go. From my bus ride to the park, I got the impression that Argentines are not afraid of flash floods at all. The water was up to the curbs of the medians in the road ... and the bus just plowed right through. All of the rain water mixed with the naturally red soil of the area making it look like the earth is seeping with bloody mary cocktails. I arrive at the park with my umbrella, poncho and my double zip locked bagged camera. To take the first train into the park I had the train car to myself ... the second train to go to Garganta del Diablo was packed ... which I found surprising with the weather. The trail to see Garganta del Diablo is 1100 meters. Within the first 300 meters, the strong wind and pelting rain had folded my umbrella in two and ripped my poncho into shreds. The wind was so strong I was walking with little to no progress along the long metal bridges over extremely wide rivers that crossed small islands for a breath of semi-shelter. I could not believe the wind and rain ... I thought I was a pretty seasoned from my Kansas thunderstorms ... nope. I take wrap myself strategically in what is left of my poncho to best protect my camera and claw my way to the end. A massive pit that swallows all of the water and rain ... vomiting a mix of mist and rain back out. There were no rainbows this time. It appeared to be the image of what some sci-fi movie would show as the end of the world ... the name could not have been chosen any better. I stayed the minimal time to take a few photos and videos and trekked back to the train station to find that there is no way out. The park is set up very well for malfunctions ... the only way to get to Garganta del Diablo is by train ... there is no walking trail. Luckily the storm knocked down a few trees in the train tracks keeping anyone from leaving the park for well over 2 hours. The park officials did not do a very good job of letting the soggy and cold public what the status of the situation was. After the 2 hours of waiting for a way out of the park ... survival method had already kicked in and I didn't have it in me to stop in the gift shops.

The falls made me feel so small and powerless. A very humbling experience. It is amazing what God created and how the Earth is and continues to be so breathtaking. Thank you.

Apparently the park can always be a dangerous place. Yet I remember faking sick in elementary school to repeat the same image in my windbreaker pants sliding down the stairs really quickly.

Love.

Simulation

Note: Argentina didn't feel like daylight savings this year ... despite what websites say ... the people in the interior of the country (in the pampas, farms and fields) didn't like the idea. The rest of the country abides. So it is still only a 2 hour time difference. Yet just another example of the lack of organization and the relaxed mentality about absolutely everything.

For Mother`s day I went on a day adventure to Belgrano. Visited a little feria of artisans, Museo Arte Hispanico de Enrique Larreta (a rich Argentine author that collected things and wished he was from Spain) Museo Historico Sarmiento (a President of Argentina 1868-1874). The Hispanic art museum was decent ... it had a garden maze with modern statues that didn't really seem to fit the theme. The president museum was a bit boring (I don´t need to know the family tree of historical figures that all mesh together in my mind) ... but I am sure he was a cool guy ... he accomplished a lot in his life. Later that afternoon I enjoyed free music in the rose garden of my favorite park. It was a lovely day so I just sat in the sun and listened to the guitarists that played music (it reminded me of the movie ´Chocolate´ ... jazzy-gypsy-upbeat) as I people watched all of the families and young mothers chasing after kids in the huge garden of freshly bloomed roses of every shape, size and color imaginable.

Analia and I went to Teatro de los Ciegos (Blind Dinner Theatre) ... definitely one of the neatest experiences I have had. We started out in the entrance of the building and to get us acclimated and explain what the night will be like they turn off all the lights so only light from streetlamps outside the window gleams in. We are told that when we sit down there will be 5 courses ... suggested to eat left to right ... each will have a different texture and flavor end with a dessert ... a bread basket is in the middle of the table (the basket too is edible ... but I didn't quite translate that part correctly so when I started eating the basket I questioned it`s food level). They lead us in in groups of four grabbing onto each other`s shoulders in a train to know where to go into a room completely dark. They take your hand and let you feel where you are supposed to sit ... ask you what you want to drink ... leave you to your meal. We described and guessed each course with the couple we were sitting with ... tried each other's drinks ... tried to toast our drinks. There was a musical with fragrances to create the scenes and the characters (vanilla, coconut, coffee, beach, etc.) At the end of the show the main character lights a candle and to reveal the room briefly. What a shocker ... it was the exact opposite shape that I had imagined. After the lights were dimmed on ... we receive a paper telling us what exactly we ate (kabobs of grilled vegetables, chicken, sesame pork, some kind of beef, dessert with cheese and fruit) ... we met the couple we had been chatting with face to face ... met the man that runs the theatre. We stayed to talk over wine and champagne with them. We received advice from the couple at our table on how to live a happy healthy live and work in a job that you love. The man that runs the theatre has such a passion for it ... its an equal opportunity work environment for the blind (our waiter was blind, but others weren't ... they just get used to the darkness) ... its not that profitable because no one knows about it ... he offers free music lessons to the Blind community but not many come. Very good environment ... very good intention ... very good people ... very good food .... perfect experience.

On Tuesday, I took a touristy afternoon and visited Manzana de las Luces (block of enlightenment), Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (National School ... I just read a book in my Literature class that was taken place here), Museo de la Ciudad (Museum of the City) and Cafe Puerto Rico. The Manzana de las Luces is the oldest part of BA, built in the 1600-1700 by the Jesuits and later used by Military ... its a series of tunnels connecting a few important buildings of the oldest part of the city. The Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires supposidly has a library like Beauty and the Beast ... I tried to go ...but they wouldn't let me enter. The Museo de la Ciudad was a historical collection of toys and doorknobs and a nice photography exhibit of life in Buenos Aires cafes. Cafe Puerto Rico is over a hundred years old and has tango dinner shows on the weekends. Good food and cute historical environment. I visited a few Cathedrals as well ... both were old but very impressive architecture ... just not well kept ... paint was peeling off of some of the alters and beautiful ceilings.

To start the birthday festivities of birthday eve, a group of us went to Thelonius Club (a jazz club in Palermo). It was a small narrow room with a very modern vibe to it. The jazz was good and like always made the environment very chill and relaxed. I brought in the midnight with a drink called ´Kirk´ (red wine and champagne ... so my brother was halfway with me on my B-day). My friends bought me an ice cream from the bar and put a candle in it and started singing in between songs of the second set of music ... the jazz band joined in too ... it was great. The day was rainy but it didn't bother me much. I went to a vegetarian restaurant, Bio, that I had wanted to go to for quite awhile ... organically tasty. My night class teacher didn't show so that was a great present. I came back from my day and found my room decorated with confetti and balloons and a cake from my roommates. Later, a smaller group of people ate at Sorrento ... the best pasta in the world ... everything is flavor-blasted (gourmet style ... not the goldfish freakishly flavorful style). A great view of Puerto Madero and the city lights reflecting on the water. Another group was celebrating a birthday as well, they hired two accordion players to come and serenade ... we reaped the benefits as well. So I rang in the midnight with a Jazz birthday song ... had several different Spanish birthday songs ... and finished with an accordion version. It was one of the best birthdays yet.

From the vibe I got from classes this week ... school is starting to tone down. Less effort from now on. Celebrate.

Love.

New Country ... New Day

I have continued taking tango classes. I took one for free that is offered at the Carlos Gardel museum right by my house. The teacher is adorable. An old man that just glided around the room for the first 10 minutes showing us real 'Tango'. Then we practiced gliding. It's great. There was an interesting mix of people at the museum class ... girls my age that danced extremely well, a middle aged sweaty man, petite grandma folk, a grandpa that wore a hat and sweet Nike shoes ... a good mix. Later after the class when the instructor handed me his card I learn that he was in the movie Evita and was Madonna´s dancing partner ... he has reason. I realize that I lack woman shoes. Sneakers were more comfortable for the class ... but don´t 'glide' well. And either way my feet hurt the next day. I am just not a heel kind of girl.


I went to Colonia, Uruguay today. Got my passport stamped and did another country in a day. Woke up early to take the hour long Buquebus across Rio de la Plata and arrived back in BA for rush hour traffic early evening. It is a really cute old town with a historic district of brick roads and very unique old buildings and ruins. Nicole and I rented vespas so we could ride along the beachside and see a few other parts of the city that were farther for walking distance. We saw the bullring, the lighthouse, the historic district. We didn't visit any museums or anything but it was just a nice day out and so much more of a relaxed environment than BA. We ate lunch at what appeared to be a normal restaurant which ended up being probably the most expensive in the country. I paid about 100 Argentine pesos for lunch ... some grilled vegetables and a glass of wine that arrived 20 minutes through my meal. Normally 100 pesos normally buys 3 meals at normal restaurants or 2 nice ones. Its not like I go to Uruguay every day. Overall, Uruguay didn't seem too different from Argentina ... but maybe I wasn't there long enough to feel the difference. I did notice a few more people carrying around their mate and thermos on the streets ... but only a few more than usual.

Cultural note that I learned that applies to most of Latin America ... when you sneeze once 'salud' (health) ... when you sneeze twice 'dinero' (money) ... when you sneeze thrice 'amor' (love). All are meant to bring some sort of luck.

This Sunday 10-18 is Mother´s day here in Argentina ... who says you can`t have it 2 times out of the year. Happy Mother`s Day Mommy. Also it´s daylight savings time Sunday night ... since it is spring here ... we spring forward. In a few short weeks the US will fall back making it a 4 hour time difference...strange the way the opposite ends of the world function thanks to our tilted global axis.

I am learning a lot about myself in my time here and I still don´t know quite who or what I want to be when I grow up...

There are so many possibilities.

Love.

Checkmark

My half marathon was yesterday. Wow. It has been a life goal of mine for a while. I almost did one in April in KS and got hurt the week before. So instead I did one here in BA. It was huge. over 12,000 people participated in the event ... a sea of teal shirted people that never ended. Main streets of the city were closed down for a course that went by major tourist parts of the city: River Stadium, Patio Bullrich, the Oblisk, Boca Stadium, Puerto Madero, Retiro, Autopista General Paz, etc. There was a platform set up with people dancing tango to show the culture of the city to the international marathon. My half marathon went by most of those sites ... I had always wanted to run on a highway ... completed that goal too. It was interchangeably overcast, misting and windy... a.k.a. hardcore conditions. I couldn't tell what was sweat and what was rain. It was definitely a test of physical and mental ability. It is amazing how the brain can force the body to do things its not supposed to. I finished in about 2 hours and 5 minutes and came in 2541st place. (The winner of the full marathon finished in 2 hours and 13 minutes ... ouch) It was very hard to walk yesterday ... today is getting better. Luckily I had my roommate Analia come and support me. I am really blessed to have Analia in my life ... I wish I could bring her home with me. Whitney from the Residencia ran too and her boyfriend Scott came to support her. It was nice having people there for support since it wasn't anywhere close to home. I am glad I did it ... and glad I did it here in BA because I know my body is not made for another half marathon. My one of my life was done in another country at a huge event ... and it makes my study abroad story that much sweeter.

I went to the Carlos Gardel museum. A block from my house. Its small and not too amazing. But they offer free tango classes a few times a week that I will conveniently try. I tried to go to the planetarium today ... but because it is a holiday 'dia de la raza' there were families and kids everywhere and a line out of the door ... so I will wait for a more tranquil day. I do miss seeing the stars ... it has been several months since I have seen them for real. A museum visit in the near future will replicate them enough to satisfy until I am in my Kansas plains again. Instead of a crazy hectic museum, I just strolled (still in pain a bit) through the parks ... one thing Argentine´s know how to do and do well is ... picnics.

Tonight I went to Bomba del Tiempo which is a Brazilian drum show. Hippie city. The Konex complex it is held at is like a garage with the roof taken off. Drum beats and dancing and a cloud of smoke above the masses. People selling happy brownies outside while the police direct traffic. For some reason ... I was not really feeling it. The music wasn't way impressive (sometimes it had its moments) and not really my kind of environment. I also had a great spot ... elbow level behind a dancing giant ginger with a rattail ... my face was in danger most of the time.

Note on rattails: they are common here. Men. Women. Dred rattail. Braided rattail. Beaded rattail. Spiral curled rattail. Gotta love it.

It has been a weird week of city life ... a lady on the bus asked me if I was pregnant ... a man walking on the sidewalk next to me tried to give me wedding rings he found, then wanted something in return (money or food) ... Analia´s cell phone got stolen on the subway ... some punk little kids approached me in a gang to try and take mine (luckily I had been training for the half marathon) ... its starting to get to me ... about the perfect time for coming home.

Sometimes I feel like this:

Love.

Why Not Sooner

This week was a smack in the face that parciales (mid-terms) are soon and that those and finals are all fitting into 6 weeks along with everything else. I am ready for a break from school and classes. I have a list of things to do before I leave and am slowly crossing one or two off ... I am not too sure I will get them all done. Exactly one week from now, I will be running my half marathon. Yes ... life goals. I feel pretty ready. It could be an interesting morning to get somewhere that early in the early morning and since I am only doing the half the course is not circular ... I pretty much start at one end of the city and run my 21K to the other side. Transportation could be interesting.

I love the tradition of the gnocchi on the 29th. I will continue as long as I remember. Its a good reason to go out and treat yourself to warm food; unlike the food in the Residencia.

My learning excursion of the week was the Museum of Arte Hispanoamericano. It was filled with pieces from the 17-18th century with elaborate metal and wood pieces of furniture and decor which would belong perfectly in a castle or mansion. There was also a really neat photography exhibit of an indigenous tribe. I think after all of my museums here photography is my favorite type of art. The museum had a sweet setup because it is one of the oldest buildings in a newer neighborhood. It has a nice courtyard filled with plants and a tiny church in the courtyard.

After the museum, we went to see 'Te amarè por siempre' aka 'Time Traveler's Wife'. I cried, it is on my list of top 3 books I have read; the movie doesn't do it too much justice. I was the only one crying; I was also the only one who had read the book. But I do remember crying with the book too ... in the rec center at KSU while on the treadmill reading the last few pages. Good story. I realized that I have only seen 3 movies since I have been here and don´t watch much to any television.

I went to my first tango class ever last night. I absolutely love it. The teacher was this cute, round, old man who wore a t-shirt and scarf. The class was filled with everyone ages 50 and up except my friend Molly and I. It was in a little dance studio off of a side little street. It is such a beautiful dance. Just like watching it is like a dream world. There is no eye contact, you look right at the person´s heart. There shouldn't be facial expression. The man leads but appears to do nothing... but secretly he is giving slight signs with his hand of what the girl should do. I had always wondered about the time and the music...from what I noticed last night, there is no correlation to the counts of the music...each couple goes at whatever tempo they want, pausing for dramatic effect and just flowing together. I want to get so much better and will take several more...I might even get a pair of heels which make it supposedly easier. It is beautiful.

I was at a little feria in Plaza Serrano in Palermo that has lots of crafts and homemade clothing vendors and happened to stumble upon some participatory graffiti. Translation: ´If I want, I can fly.´

Love.

You Will Be Missed

As I sit in the computer lab of the lovely Residencia using a mid-90´s technology center and internet connection and a key board with sticky space button I fear that my blogs will become less frequent. Sadly, my computer ´Franklin` has stopped functioning. He turns on but the clock freezes and no programs open...he just sits there with the desktop that appears to be normal. I am working on him ... it could just be some sort of coma. With this inconvenience I am excited to embark on a lesson of technology. It´s necessity and its distraction. No sé.

The time with my family was spent so well. I loved that I could share the smells, tastes, sights, sounds and more of my experience with people from home. Being together in person is better than any distance. It was very relaxing and a good break from the normal. Luckily I didn't have too many classes. We ate some of the best food I have had in my entire life; delicious pastas, desserts, breads, cheeses and wines. We visited my favorite park that has aerobic classes during the weekend mornings, a few city gardens (rose, Japanese, and botanical), a few ferias, Alee came on my class field trip to a museum and we ended our journey with rainy cold weekend in the beautiful beach getaway of Argentina watching some ugly and rancid smelling 'sea wolves'. It was great. One of my favorite things so far was when my host family met my real family. That night I could not stop smiling. I love that I can have family on both ends of the world.

I went through my migration process ... I am legally a student here, 6 weeks before I leave. I love the organization and logic of this country. Luckily my migration process went very smoothly; others were not so lucky.

I got my haircut today; it was a bit scary not having a good hair describing vocabulary. The lady manhandled those scissors in one of the fastest haircuts I have ever gotten. Its decent. I got asked if I was from France today... maybe I am catching on to some European flair and trends of this Latin American city.

Tomorrow I have plans to eat the lucky gnocchi ... do you ?

And to leave you with some ´Mar del Plata´ wall art.

Love.

Mini-vacation

My parents are going to arrive in the morning to stay here in Buenos Aires for 10 days. I have so much I want to show them and do with them ... some things I have resisted visiting to save for when they came. I am very excited and it will be like a mini-vacation because I will be staying with them in my host dad´s apartment that they are renting from him and we are also traveling to Mar del Plata for one of the weekends. I will get a break from the rules and confinement of the Residencia. I will miss my roommates but not the 8 flights of stairs, rules, sketch neighborhood, and cleaning ladies. It will be super bien.

I feel like since I will be away from the Residencia for a while, I will demonstrate the encouraging and fun environment we have from the posters of our ´recreational room´ (which consists of the oldest workout machines I have ever seen, a television, a pool table with matting so worn down that the ball goes in when its still centimeters from the hole, a Foosball table and a computer lab). Posters are as follows:

´Commitment isn't the time you spend. It's a line you cross. Budwiser.'

´1947 Indian Chief´

(sweeeeeet)

'A Hard Man is Good to Find' (this can be found in the workout section along with two other posters of women working out in thong unitards with phrases such as 'Determination' and 'Body Heat' ...man that makes me feel like working out right now.)

(self-explanatory)

Love.

Coto: Land Of Glory

I am starting to realize how much of my time here (my weekends) are already occupied by several plans (between my parents visiting - which I am overly excited for, my half marathon and the preparation for that) I don't have as much time to travel as I had originally thought. I am already more than half-way through my trip. My Monday-Thursday mornings are way occupied by my classes and school work so my weekends I can do exploring and relax. The weeks fly by.

This week I started a book for leisure in Spanish which was recommended by my host mom. Its called 'Cronica de una muerte anunciada' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Colombian author famous for magical realism. While slowly reading it with my dictionary for the colloquialisms and details, I am able to enjoy it, which I think is a good sign of my learning of the language. I went to the Museum of Sculptures de Luis Perlotti, Museum of Natural Sciences and the Museum of Plastic Art this weekend. The sculpture museum was nothing too special, especially after the long journey getting there and almost getting smashed by the subway doors. The Natural Science Museum was amazing ... a huge display of fossils of dinosaurs that have been found in Argentina and other parts of South America. Also there were very big exhibits of all other kinds of wildlife, rocks and plants. I stopped in the Plastic Art Museum this morning in the middle of my run in my favorite park ... it had interesting wood sculptures and a very good photography exhibit.

I went to another free music show in the downtown theatre district. It was a relaxed environment like the kinda shows I am used to; the instruments and everything just set up in the atrium of the theatre instead of the stage of the auditorium. The band was called Tonolec, a mixture of electronic and indigenous music; http://www.myspace.com/tonolec. Probably one of my favorite music mixtures I have seen here.

I went to the best grocery store I have been to in my entire life. Reasons: two stories of grocery. escalator that is specialized to take carts on it and have them not slide down. Bread in the shape of turtles. A loaf of fruit bread the size of my kitchen table. Soooo much. I always get enjoyment of going to the grocery store; this one tops all. I was so excited and looked around forever. As for cultural experiences of the week: I witnessed a hazing right in front of my eyes. It is common in high school for the newbies of the incoming grades to get hazed by the upperclassmen. The upperclassmen gather whatever nasty food they can think of: flour, eggs, fish, oil, milk, etc. and find the victim walking home and just throw everything on them backpack and all. I had never known why there were just huge random piles of food all mixed together on the sidewalks reeking of nasty (its strange because I always see people washing and sweeping the sidewalks and they are fairly well kept except for when hazing happens) until now. After the victim walks home tarred and feathered, the hazing vomit is just left for the public to wonder and avoid.

And some graffiti to stay on the dinosaur theme:


Love.

Adventures

My learning adventures this week composed of a trip to the Museum of Architecture and an attempt to go to the Torre Monumental or Reloj de los Ingleses (England gave it as a gift to BA). The Museum of Architecture was interesting and funny shaped (very skinny and very tall and placed in the center of a park) because it used to be the old water supply to the city. The inside is mainly a staircase with small galleries containing paintings of cityscapes and building projects. I liked it a lot for being a smaller and specialized museum. The Torre Monumental was closed because the elevator is broken and they don't have enough staff for people to walk the stairs (I didn't get the logic either) and luckily since the Argentines are so organized and timely the elevator won't be fixed for 3 more months.

I went to this restaurant to watch some folklore music. It was quite cute. It attracted a cute crowd and was a very relaxed environment. After the restaurant's entertainers were done performing, a few spectators pulled guitars out of nowhere and tables just started singing songs.

Tonight I went to a Jazz concert in a little cultural center along the big theatre strip of the city. The hosts of the concert were such cute old men ... I could understand their Spanish very well and got their jokes and stories. It was so great. The jazz group consisted of a pianist, bassist and drummer. And to top it all of the drummer was about 60-70 years old. He could barely walk to the drum set yet played so well and energetically. It was so beautiful how the age didn't stop him fro playing. One of my favorite things I've seen. I found a government website that is very up-to-date with all of the free and cheap community events...It's perfect.

I tried a Peruvian restaurant ... it was fancier than I had wanted; next time I will try a whole in the wall place because they are plentiful in my barrio. If I were to be blindfolded, I would have guessed I was at a Chinese restaurant from the look and taste of my vegetarian option. I tried some duck (which had a curry sauce ... Thai food anyone?). The chicken was normal. I guess the cuisine has a lot more poultry than Argentine cuisine. The unique things of the food were the sauces, the drink and the appetizers. There was a green creamy sauce (Aji) which was spicy and made from peppers, a orange creamy mild tasting sauce that was served with potatoes and rice, and what appeared to be ketchup and mayonnaise but didn't quite taste exactly similar. I wasn't sure of what to do with all of the sauces that were brought to the table along with my stir fry (ketchup + stirfry?). Chicha Morada is a drink that is made from the colored corn that is sweetened with pineapple. The appetizer was a baby baked potato with the orange sauce and some garnishings. The other appetizer was canchita ... if popcorn and corn nuts had a baby it would be canchita. It looks like giant corn nuts but aren't nearly as hard and taste like popcorn.

So living in Buenos Aires is an automatic confidence booster. Each and every day that I step outside, no matter if I am a bed head in my pj's or actually showered and did something, I get noticed ... not saying I like it. But I could feel so gross and unattractive and open the front door and get looks and whistles and catcalls. It's like a movie almost: a girl is having a rough day and feels lost in a big city ... things change the instant she steps outside; people notice her, look at her, try to talk to her, try to approach her. It's nice but it gets kind creepy and annoying. Especially when the man is way older than 50 or you can tell he has a family and kids...I just have to keep telling myself 'this is part of the culture, this is part of the culture.' Now that I understand Spanish a whole lot better, its quite comical. I am not responsive at all; I make sure to not look or even give hint that I heard or understood the catcalls because I don't want an unwanted situation to arise. I have been compiling a little list of my favorites of the week:

'Deliciosa' (Delicious)

'Que rica' (How rich/delicious/lovely/cute)

'Hola, Hola! Como estas?!' (Hey, Hey. How are you)

'Che Bebe' (Hey baby)

'Mi amor' (My love!)

'Por Favor!' (Please!)

'Que hermosa sos' (How beautiful you are)

'Ojos hermosos' (Beautiful eyes)

'Sus ojos' (Your eyes)

'Hermoso culo' (Beautiful butt)

'Que linda' (How beautiful/pretty)

'Que bonita' (How beautiful/pretty)

'Mama flaca' (Skinny mama)

'Hey...I love you' (No translation needed)

'Hola rubia' (Hello blonde girl)

'[attention whistle]' (Short repeated whistles to get attention)

'[long whistle]' (The classic cartoon in love whistle)

'[honking]' (Just to get attention)

'[kissing noises]' (yup ... to get attention)

'Chh...Chh' (Just to get attention. Ojo! The colectivos make similar noises so it could be either.)

Men cat call from the street, from the doorway, from the window, from inside their shop, from their car, from their bicycles, from everywhere. Some are more confident in others; some yell and some just mumble under their breath, some start following you or go out of their way to make sure you can hear them. Almost always they do the stare down to make sure they catch any glance or response the woman will give. I heard something about 'babies' this week too ... didn't catch the full thing.

Sign of the week: Just in case you wanted to dry your face too ... the blow dryers in some bathrooms have that option and instruction.

Love.

Legends

So in continuation of the Tango Festival I went to a modern ballet ... it was completely free. It was very beautiful. I tried to go to another concert series but got there just in time for one song and the hour long break in between everything; I didn't have the patience or the time to wait for the next act. I still plan on trying a few tango classes at a studio or two. To keep the classy theme of activities for weekend, I attended an orchestra concert in a cute little church whose inside looked like a cathedral but only held about 100 people if even.

The orchestra concert did a Beethoven piece with three different movements ... there were small pauses between each movement but according to etiquette you don't clap between the movements ... good thing I have a slow reaction time with my applause, a few others weren't so lucky.

I also tried some more museums this week: Museo de Arte Popular 'Jose Hernandez' and Museo del Arte Decorativo. 'Jose Hernandez' was nothing too special, an interesting mix of modern art and traditional Argentine art and Argentine customs such as weaving. The Museo del Arte Decorativo was one of my favorites; very elegant pieces of art given as gifts from all over the world to a rich family that inhabited the mansion before the government bought it. The mansion is beautifully built and there are stories about each room explaining its purpose and how the rich family would host parties.

In Argentine tradition, gnocchi (the pasta) should be eaten the 29th of every month. You place a blank note or money under your plate while you eat to bring prosperity and good luck. It's called 'gnocchi del 29' and it came from a story about Saint Pantaleon who blessed some farmers with abundant crops after they offered him what little they had to feed him in his travels; the tradition also stems from the fact that the 29 is normally the day before payday. I gave it a shot this month ... we will see if this tradition works.

Also another legend/tradition happened this week called 'Tormenta de Santa Rosa'. Every year on the 30 of August there is a storm in Buenos Aires. It is preceded by several days of 'summer' (it was 80 degrees almost all of last week) and then on Sunday, a huge cold front came with crazy wind and some rain and now its in the 50's and stormy again today. The Legend is about 'Santa Rosa de Lima' who is the 'Patron of the Americas'...back in the 1600's a huge storm sent by Rosa prevented pirates from invading the port. The storm happens nearly every year in Buenos Aires. I love it ... the magical, mystical and enchanting stories are my favorite.

My favorite graffiti of the week:

Love.

Tango y Tigre

My schedule last week and this week have been quite busy ... there is never enough time in the day to do everything that I have planned. Time never stops; I don't feel like I can every really relax because there is always something I want to do or see on top of all of the obligated things to do. More and more classes are beginning to start up as the weeks go on. I am supposed to try classes I am interested in and then select 5 from there...its hard to tell if I will like a class when I go to classes that aren't held. Thanks to the wonderful organization and good communication of USAL, I went to four different classes this past week to find that the teacher decided to not show up or be an hour late and run class an hour late as well. Note ... its a half hour walk one direction to find out that there is no class.

On Sunday I went to Tigre Delta with a few friends from class, it's about a 4o minute train ride outside of the city for around 50 cents. It's known as the weekend getaway for all of the city folk...and it definitely proved to be that. There were loads and loads of people; the 'fruit port' (which is a market with much much more than fruit) felt like an amusement park with so many people constantly herding in one direction. Coincidentally, there is an amusement park located in Tigre Delta. Outside of the busy market, we took a boat tour of the delta. It was beautiful. Little summer and weekend houses are backed up right to the river front, each with their own dock. From my understanding, the river and the boats were the means of transportation for those people. Those that stayed week and year-round went to school by boat. It seemed like such a relaxed community that is surrounded by nature. We ate at an interesting place called 'waffles del mundo' that specialized in waffles and such...but it wasn't breakfast food. There were lunch sandwiches made with waffles, savory filled crepes, wafflons (which is like a corn dog hybridised with empanada fillings)...very creative food combinations. Because they only had meat wafflons available at the time, I had a 'burrito' and asked for no meat ...it was basically an ice cream cone with hard-boiled eggs, lettuce, carrot and tomato ... no spice. Later at a little stand I had a candied apple rolled in popcorn ... hardest thing to eat ever. I will not repeat that purchase. There was a lot in Tigre that I didn't do, like the Historic walk and the Touristic restaurant strip by the riverside. I liked the getaway so I am sure I will return several times.

The past few weeks, there has been a huge tango convention going on; there are events and classes throughout each day for free. The convention hall is always filled with people crowded around the dance floor watching or dancing tango; some are in fancy contest outfits while others just wander in from the streets. Last night I went to watch some music at the convention hall. First, a female tango vocalist 'Anita Co' played with her band. It was very classy and dramatic. The next band was an electronic tango band called 'Otros Aires' it was very sweet. I've really been digging the electronic tango music. It's modern...yet there's an accordion. I have a lot on my plate this week so I didn't stay for the second electronic tango band. I am trying to frequent the tango convention as much as I can because it is the last week. Take a listen at this electronic tango I speak of http://www.myspace.com/otrosaires and the vocalist http://www.myspace.com/anitacomusic

I ate at my first vegetarian restaurant in my life today...funny that it happened to be in Buenos Aires. It is not far from my school so I went during my break between classes to do some homework. I discovered dirt cheap 'pizzetas' at this bakery that are about 30 cents; they are like french bread pizza but without the cheese. Also I have been experimenting with some dried fruit, there's a store that has every fruit you've ever dreamed of dried and sometimes candied...today was pear. Other than that not too many food adventures. I have dinner with my old host family every Monday...it's still soo good. They are such sweet people. After talking with some people in my classes I learned how much I lucked out. Some host families are only in it for the business and the money of having a stranger at their house and don't talk or try to get to know their foreigner. I told my host mom about this and she told me to invite them over to her house for dinner next week. She is so genuine.

On Saturday people from the Residencia went to a Salsa club. There was a class and then dancing after. I like taking the Salsa classes ... I am learning how much I didn't know about salsa before. I want to try tango classes too... maybe throw in some yoga too (I got info from a yoga studio and they practice a different type of yoga here)

I believe I am successfully signed up for the half marathon on October 11. I got new running shoes, which was a huge ordeal as all shopping in this city. I will invest in some Dr. Scholls as well because I am overly cautious of injuring my arches again. I wore sandals today because it was almost hot out; I learned my lesson to always wear walking shoes...it's a walking city. My arches in my feet were stretching with each step and killed by midday.

A Buenos Aires blog has a whole post dedicated to walking around the city and its obstacles...I will provide my shortened version as well. Walking is rough here ... you constantly have to look ahead and down at the same time in order to dodge the following: dog poop, smeared dog poop, teeter totter sidewalk tiles, missing sidewalk tiles, attempts at filling the sidewalk tiles with concrete, holes, wood planks to protect the already trampled on wet cement, crazy drivers of the taxis, cars and buses, elderly that walk so, elderly that walk slow with umbrellas, kids with backpacks with wheels, strollers, couples randomly stopping for PDA, smokers blowing a good putt over their shoulders right into your face, window shoppers that stop suddenly in their tracks, unidentified building 'juice' dripping on the sidewalk, traffic funnels made from the newspaper stands, etc.

Love.

Siga La Vaca

After more than a week in my new home...it's pretty good. I live in a quirky barrio, this time its filled with mannequin stores, its quite a competitive area if you are trying to sell mannequins (if you want one let me know). There are kosher stores and restaurants scattered throughout and a local grocery store named 'Bambi' with the beloved deer as the mascot. My roommates are really great...Analia, from Ecuador, is bilingual so she helps me when I'm struggling to talk to Toña, from Colombia. I really lucked out with my roommates to be in an environment where I can get help with the language but also speak almost only Spanish.

Classes have basically started, by the end of this week, I will have tried them all and chosen which ones I want to take for the semester. My two foreigner classes 'Myths and Legends' and 'Literature of Argentina' are both small and seem interesting. This morning in my 'Internet and Advertising' class, I had quite a shocker ... we had to watch a video for homework that was made by a K-State professor (Professor Michael Wesch) so there were images and references to KSU...what a small world. So far the classes are not too bad.

There was a long weekend so I started to hit up some touristy spots in Buenos Aires: the Zoo, the Evita Museum and the Participatory Science Museum. At the zoo, there were plenty of animals I had never seen before in my life and the zoo regulars. Like I have said before, things are just more relaxed here, the fences are quite low for some of the cages: tigers, elephants, etc. There are deer rabbit, muskrats, roosters and other animals just wandering around the zoo with you. We bought some food to feed the animals, just stick your hand right up to the cage and hope the animal won't freak out too badly. The Evita Museum was interesting; a good Argentine history lesson. In the Participatory Science Museum, there were signs everywhere saying it was 'prohibited not to touch'; it was more for kids (they were everywhere) but it was still really fun because I still have a childlike vocabulary so it took me a while to read the instructions for each activity.

I had an adventure mishap...on my days off I like to pick a green spot on the map (a park or plaza) and just go to it. I've gotten good with the collectivos and subtes...so it's not as intimidating. And I have gone to all the close ones so it forces me to go farther away. I chose a green spot...took the new subway line that is still being built. The new H line only has about 5 stops. Each of the stops is quite clean and sparkling new. The train is like a ghost train; since there aren't many stops, no one is on the train ... that should have been the first sign. I show up at the park ... one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. It shouldn't even be marked green on the map. It was filled with construction and dirt piles and nothing of the color green...bum out.

The last herd of people from the Intensive language course left today. It will be an adjustment to not have some of my closer friends that I have met so far with me to continue on this adventure. I lost my protectors that would go out of their way walk me home every night and make sure I wasn't creepily hit on by random Argentines when we went out. I really appreciated and loved it all. Its the beautiful cycle of life though ... you live and share life with people for a certain amount of time and part ways to continue on your own track. Because of the big departure, last night we ate at 'Siga la Vaca' (follow the cow) which is a all you can eat parilla (grill) and salad bar and a bottle of wine, water and dessert are included in the price per person. I ... ate ... meat. I probably had at least a portion if not more between all of the sampling of the different cuts of chicken, pork, beef and other random animal parts. I tried some fried intestine and blood sausage ... nasty. The texture is still not my favorite of anything; you have to chew it for sooooo long. I doused every meat I ate with a delicious red and green pepper sauce and gobbled up tastes of everything from the salad bar. It was worth it ... a final supper. I still prefer the veg. But I can get over the thought enough to try and actually eat a fair amount of meat ... for the culture of course. Looks like someone in my barrio agrees.

Other food notes: I tried a tofu whole wheat empanada, a mushroom empanada (a rarity) and a peach and cheese miga sandwich (peaches are no longer off limits as sandwich makings). I keep ordering this thing called a 'tortilla' (its like a trick to make me think of real Mexican food) but it is supposed to be like a quiche with potatoes and whatever other topping...but both times it has been just like an omelet ... with no potatoes...I don't get it.

Love.