Fotos de Colonia en Uruguay...

The Old City, Beautiful...









Asado with a group of guys having a bachelor party at our hostel:



The beach we "found":









We rented motorbikes:



Sunset as we were leaving:



Sigh...

Dia de la Raza, Chilavert, Uruguay, Asados...

Hola,

I´ve been meaning to sit down and write in this thing for the past few days, and finally have the chance because today is a feriado (holiday) por el Dia de la Raza, which actually translates into "Race Day". It´s been explained to me as an awful holiday pretty similar to our Columbus day in that it is supposed to signify when the indigenous people of South America were "discovered" by Europeans. SO it´s similar to Columbus day in that all the school children are taught that it is about celebrating diversity, when in fact is is, as my mom put it, a celebration of the beginning of the end for indigenous people here. So yeah, that´s why I have a little time to write, because indigenous people were exploited by Europeans a couple hundred years ago...sound familiar?

ANYWAYS, it has been quite a week for me! Let me start at the beginning...I started my internship at Chilavert on Monday and went three days last week. It was really good. I was pretty intimidated at first about the Spanish and about coming into the factory as an outsider, but as soon as I walked into the factory I realized there was nothing to be intimidated by. LB and I met Ernesto, Candido, and Placido- a few men from the factory. They invited us to eat lunch with them everyday, after they first asked if we were vegetarians, since there´s meat for a meal everyday. When I wasn´t eating lunch or chatting with the workers, I spent most of my time in the archive they have there. Chilavert is known as an "open door factory" because it is an open community space for events and night classes. It is also open to student groups and people who are interested in learning about the movement. The archive is the one place where all the research that has been done (in a few different languages) on el Movimiento Nacional de Empresas Recuperadas. There are a few students from UBA who work there as well. We´re from all over the place, US, Italy, France, Canada, Argentina and the common language to use with each other is Spanish. So it´s been good practice to sit and talk with the other students working in the archive. But it certainly takes a really long time to get through research in Spanish, especially when there´s so many people to talk to! BUT I did get through a few articles about how Chilavert "took" the factory and started to run it as a cooperative. I´ll try to find some info in English to post here, because it´s a long but important story to tell. SO that sums up my first week there, I hope to go there 4 days next week and start working on the floor.

I also finished my Spanish classes at UBA on Thursday, took an oral and written final exam. I´ve decided to start taking private Spanish lessons here at a language institute, because my Spanish really needs to be better. It costs pretty much the same to do that, and I think I will learn a lot more one on one with a professor, two hours a day , 5 days a week. UBA gave me a good review of Spanish and I met some people, but now that I really only have two months left I really want to be doing everything I can to speak Spanish fluently.

On another note, I went to Uruguay this weekend with Mari. The whole adventure was very last minute, we just went to the boat terminal on Friday evening and put our names on a waiting list for tickets, and then there was a 2 hour delay with the boats so we had to wait, not even knowing if we would actually get on. But once we finally got on the boat the trip went perfectly! We obviously hadn´t booked a hostel, but the first place we walked into had rooms. We dropped our bags and found a bar and met these two Uruguayan guys who brought us to another bar where we met more people. And then we just danced the night away. It was so great to go and talk to interesting people and just dance, dance, dance. I like dancing here so much better than at home! The next day we got up and rented motorbikes (so much fun!) and found a deserted beach and just hung out there for a while. And then there was a group of men at the hostel for a bachelor party and they invited us to an asado (BBQ) so we ate and drank, and then walked around the old city. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. So much calmer than the city. I took lots of pictures, so hopefully I can post them soon. SO our one night escape from Bs As was spectacular. AND I got my passport stamped so that I have another 90 day visa for the rest of my stay in Argentina. Perfecto!

And then last night, I went to a party where I only really knew one person (with the encouragement of Ana Lua...haha) with Alyza. I was invited by Rhiannon, the Canadian student who works in the archive - and I´m so glad that I went! The people there were so nice and welcoming. There were so many strange coincidences. I met a woman there, Vanessa, who graduated from Mount Holyoke this past year. And not only is she from the Valley, but also used to work at Nuestras Raices in Holyoke. She knows all about Nueva Esperanza and YouthBuild. It was so so so nice to talk to someone about my work in Holyoke, because I miss it so much. And attention ASB alumni: she confirmed that everyone who has ever worked at Nuestras Raices has a crush on Eric- haha, ASB alum know alllll about that. Also, Rhiannon knew another UMass student that did the same program as me, Caleb, and so we had a lot of commonalities there as well. All in all, it was great and we partied until 7am today. It just proves that being abroad you have to take risks and make yourself uncomfortable to meet people and have new experiences. Thanks Ali and Lua ;)

And nowwwww....I´m going to an asado at Rhiannon´s house and perhaps the movies later with Banu. And then tomorrow the week starts again, with Spanish lessons and Chilavert and hopefully back to the gym! Vamos a ver!

ALSO! It´s so nice to get comments from everyone, thanks for keeping up with me while I´m away. It´s really nice to hear from friends and family. And Uncle Tom and David, don´t worry, I was already planning on going to Marcho del Orgullo in november! I´ll take lotssss of pictures!

Love,

Jill

Demasiadas cosas...

Heyyyy all,

Busy week this week, classes are ending at UBA and my internship is starting. Which entails me running between both places while trying to study for my final exams and also comprehend the written and spoken spanish required of me at my internship. I will write a full entry soon, most likely when the week is over. But I´m doing well!

;)

Tightrope walking, Friends, Demonstration, and Waterfalls!

Slackline walking in the Park with Mari:






Mari & Me:



Mari, Liz and Me:



Banu & Me in Palermo Viejo:



Recuperated Factories Demonstration on front of the National Congress:







CATARATAS DE IGUAZU !!!! AMAZING.

Chau Buenos Aires, hola Iguazu...

Hey,

So it´s been awhile since I´ve written, I hope people are still reading this. My motivation to write now comes from the fact that I am leaving today to go to Las Cataratas de Iguassu (Iguazu Waterfalls) that lie up North between Argentina and Brazil. I´m reaaaaaalllly excited. These falls are supposed to make Niagara look tiny. And I´m really excited to take a break from the city for a while and see something beautiful. LB and I are taking an overnight bus for 18 hours there, spending two nights in a hostel, and then busing back overnight on Saturday. Woo bus!

To update on the last two weeks, where to start....I went to a milonga (tango bar) and took tango and salsa lessons. It was a big group lesson and hard to see the instructors feet, and I don´t have the best coordination, but I still learned a few steps. It was good too, because they had us keep switching partners, and this one time I was with this guy who was like "HOLA co-mo te YamAS" and I asked where he was from and he said the US, Virginia more specifically. And I have to say he made me feel better about my Spanish, haha. He said he thought I was a porteña (from bs. as.). Anyways, it was a cool atmosphere at the club, old people, young people, good dancers, bad dancers, and everyone was dancing with everyone. I would definitely go back.

On Saturday night I went to a party with Mari, at the house of some Colombian exchange students in her program and had such a good time. the difference between parties with Colombians, Argentines, and others from Sudamerica and the US, is that PEOPLE DANCE. And they all dance well. Talking to Liz about dancing she said that Luciano (her boyfriend) said that people from Australia and the US don´t dance, but they "squeeze"- I have to say that´s a pretty accurate way to describe it. The other difference was that even though the only person I knew there was Mari, everyone was so nice and welcoming, I feel like parties at home are much more cliquey, but maybe that´s not an Argentine thing, but more the community of exchange students. Everyone is here away from home, and their closest friends here they have probably only known for a few weeks. Works for me.

The week before last was rough, probably one of my lowest since I´ve been here. Just felt lonely and missed home and counted the days until I go back. But it all seems to come and go in waves, because now I´m frantically counting how little time I have left. I got a package from my mom and that definitely helped and talked to some people on the phone. It feels good to know that I have people I can call when I´m feeling that way. Thanks.

OH! I almost forgot! And this weekend, at shindig/jam session at LBs place I met a guy from Buffalo who is planning to go to Grad school at BU. At first we were speaking spanish and then he asked where I was from and I said Boston, and he was like "I love Boston! I´m going to BU next year" so there it all awkwardly started, but I found out that he had been an anthropology major in undergrad and he had just finished 3 years doing the peace corps in Ecuador. He stayed an extra year because he loved it so much. When I told him I was thinking about it he said I absolutely have to do it, he said it was the best thing he ever did and that with my background and Spanish ability I´d be starting out much further along than he was when he started. It´s funny how people just fall into your path like that, telling you the things you´ve known all along. He´s really got me thinking about it, him and this whole experience has got me thinking that I want to do the Peace Corps after graduation. Vamos a ver, We´ll see...

Ok, I think that´s it for now. I wanted to post pictures (of me walking on a slack line in the park!) but this computer doesn´t have the hook up, so next time I will have fun pictures and falls pictures!

Miss & Love.

Jill

Un mes!

Hola,

So to go in line with the rest of my blog titles...it´s been exactly a month since I left home! SO far so good. I just got back from auditing a Human Rights Seminar at UBA, and there was a new teacher who spoke very fast so I only understood what he wrote on the board. Most days I´ve been having lunch with Elsa, the woman who works in the house cooking and cleaning. She speaks only Spanish, so it´s good practice. It´s funny though when I don´t know a word or how to express something, because then I have to point to things or make silly gestures, but it definitely helps break the ice. I´ve also been watching a Telenovela (soap opera) with Liz, the other US student in my house, every night, which is good for my Spanish and good for getting to know her a little better. Some really exciting news is that LB and I went to a cultural exchange center here, called ICANNA, to meet with the director. The director is a friend of LB´s neighbor at home, and she had been emailing her before the trip. The center is a place both for learning Spanish and English, and they have a specific program that makes it very unique for English learners. The classes focus on US English and doesn´t just teach grammar, but teaches the language through other subjects, such as Literature, business, current events, etc. Because of this, Vivian, the director said that there is a possibility that LB and I could assist in teaching one of these courses, in exchange for Spanish tutoring. SO we would be teaching English and learning Spanish at the same time, for free. She asked us to give her CV´s to see if we would fit into any of the subjects. I´m not as confident as LB, with her poli sci and current events knowledge, because there´s no anthro class. But she also said, part of the classes is also about teaching cultural values, that I could do. My past entries have been an example that you recognize what your own cultural values are much more clearly when you are out of the context. So, my job this week is to finish my CV and send it off to Vivian. I hope it all works out.

Another exciting thing is that Evi invited LB and I to dinner with her family on Wednesday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, so there will be lots of good food, lots of opportunities to speak Spanish, and to meet Evi´s family. I definitely like talking to little kids whenever I get the chance, because they, like me, are learning the language. And when they point to a book and say "libro", I can understand them...haha. It is also nice to be around kids because they have no problem correcting you, and and 5 year olds don´t easily offend me. That´s the thing that I wish I had more of, someone correcting my mistakes. There have been things that I have been saying wrong in Spanish for 7 years, and only now am I having to undo those mistakes. It´s really hard breaking the habit. Also, Argentine Spanish is different with different pronouns and the "vos" verb form, and the accent- so it´s definitely taking some getting used to. But hopefully having a private tutor will help.

This weekend I went to "El Museo de Eva Peron" and also "MALBA" the Latinoamericano Modern Art Museum. They were both good for different reasons, but I particularly like the art museum. I saw paintings by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Xul Solar (LB tells me he´s famous, but I hadn´t heard of him before...Maybe you know, Auntie Cindy?) The admission was free for students so I think I will definitely go back.

Lately we´ve also been hanging out with another student from UMass here, an old coworker (Earthfoodie) of LB´s that I know peripherally, Alyza. She´s been here a month longer than us and is staying indefinitely, for now in Bs As, later to travel around and maybe live somewhere else in South America. She was a Spanish major, so her Castellano is much better then mine. Pretty cool to just get up and go for however long you choose.

Next weekend I am going to Tigre with Mari, it´s a nice place a little outside the city that has art museums and a beautiful river. And then the weekend after I´m planning a trip to Iguazu to see the waterfalls between Argentina and Brazil. I´m really excited for that, Liz went on a trip there with her program this past weekend and said it was amazing. I´ll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them!

Ok, that´s it for now, I´m off to make dinner!

Besos.

Mas Fotos...

La Feria in San Telmo- street vendors, music, lots of people every Sunday:

LB and I in Cafe Tortoni - the olderst cafe in Buenos Aires, where Borges would come.

"Dr. Ernesto Che Guevara Classroom" at the University of Buenos Aires, where he attended.

Sign at the University for the student strike that has been happening for the past month:

San Martin Square: