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:

Despues de 3 semanas...

Holaaaaaaa,

So tomorrow will be three weeks since I left home. It really has flown by much faster than I expected, at least after that first week. I was sick last week with a chest cold so that really put me down a bit. It's hard enough adjusting to everything, but being sick away from home was just bad. I, ms feeling much better now, emotionally and physically. I´m finally starting to get into the groove of things here. The other day LB and I sat down and made a list of what we wanted to get out of this experience and how we are going to get it. Spanish was number one on both of our lists, so since then I have taken some steps to make sure I'm speaking Spanish as much as I can, because the first week here consisted of LB and I hanging out in Cafes and speaking English, and the second week consisted of me being in bed sick and not speaking any language to anyone but the cat. So week 3, Spanish classes are in gear, for 2 hours a day 4 days a week, I started reading the paper in Spanish making it a goal to understand fully at least one main article (which means I have to sit down with a pen, paper and my dictionary and look up all the words I don't know, write them down and then reread the article). Deliberate exposure was one of the things that LB and I talked about being important, so yesterday I went to the ethnographic museum with Banu and spent over an hour going through the exhibit on Argentine history that was all in Spanish, dictionary in hand. I also posted on one of the boards at the university for a Spanish partner, a porteño (person from Bs As) who is trying to learn English, so that we can practice together every week. And finally I went to the social science dept of UBA and looked up classes that I was interested in, and am going to start auditing them next week. There are 2 anthropology courses I want to audit: Human Rights Seminar and Sociocultural Systems of America. I would also like to audit a third class on History of Argentina. SO we´ll see if I can feasibly fit it all into my schedule. These classes would be entirely in Spanish as they are for regular UBA students, so I would go and just sit in to listen. Should be coooool if the professors don't mind.

I think in one of my first entries I wrote about how it was finally hitting me that I would be here for 4 months, but now it´s hitting me that I am ONLY here for 4 months. Another week and my first month is over, and in reality since I will be spending my last month backpacking around, I really only have 2 1/2 months to be here, learning Spanish and working in the factory (which I don't start until October). The other night I hung out with LB and two friends from her class, Liz (from Australia) and Mari (From Norway) and the two of them had been traveling around for quite sometime. They, like me, were in a transition stage of finishing up school and not quite ready for the next step, which almost inevitably means work. The two of them had were in the middle of a over a year abroad. To think that Liz had been in South America for 4 months already and then is going to Europe and India before she heads home in April is incredible. We all talked a lot about what means to travel in terms of having the privilege to do it, and to have that tourist gaze that automatically comes with it. What I am seeing here and now and will see until I leave is only my interpretation of the world down here through the lens of my own experience, which is of a very different culture. I am free to come and go as I choose and in whatever capacity, and life will go one here or at home regardless of where I am. When I walk by the same people everyday asking for change, or say no to the kinds on the train trying to sell me stickers for a peso, and then go buy a pair of sneakers at the mall for $300 pesos, because to me that's the equivalent of $100 USD - it's really hard to grapple with how much privilege I have. And then the question becomes, now what? I have it, I can't get rid of it, and I remember what Ms. Ruth said in New Road, that if I have it I should use it. SO then the question is really how do I use it best. Travelling around the world, learning for now works, but it won't forever. SO that next step that we (being every traveling 20something I meet here) keep putting off needs to put what I am learning here to use and needs to make some kind of difference. So, maybe we're not putting it off after all, maybe we're just making sure we're really ready to live in the world as working people.

That´s my theory for now.

OK, well the weekend is here since I don't have classes on Friday, so until next week - Ciao!

Algunos fotos..

My room in Caballito:


A Thursday protest for worker´s rights:

The Obelisk in the center of Buenos Aires and La Casa Rosada (government house):

Scenes from Plaza de Mayo:

LB digging out the remains of our brownies made from nesquick

Lb and I in Puerto Madero, a barrio in Buenos Aires that is on the water:

Cultura, Clases, y Amigos

Hiiii,

So today was my first day of class at the University of Buenos Aires. I think I´m in the right level, it doesn´t seem too difficult. I made a friend today, her name is Banu and she is from Turkey. I realized that my Spanish class is not really the place to meet people from Argentina as the name of the class directly translates to ¨Spanish for foreigners.¨ Most of the students in my class are from the US. I briefly met a woman from Smith College who was in my room before we got split into two classes. Sadly, we are not in the same section. There was another guy from Boston, but he also was put in the other section before I could talk to him. Hopefully I can bump into the tomorrow. My class is Monday - Thursday from 9-11am, quite early for me. I get up at 7:15, eat breakfast with Evi and then catch the Subte (subway) to Plaza de Mayo, and walk 10 mins from there to my class. Everyone seems nice, but as I said most are estadounidenses (US citizens) Almost half the class is from one particular program, flaxo, and they have already been here a month and know each other quite well, so that kind of killed my hopes of meeting a lot of people in my class, since they already seem to have their group. Butttt we´ll see how it goes.

It was interesting to hang out with Banu today, because she seems to be having an even bigger culture shock than LB and I. It really made me recognize the daily differences. Something that I really love about the culture here is the familiarity and automatic comfortability. Everyone kisses hello and goodbye, whether you know each other or not. I had a stomach ache today and three people at LB´s house were concerned for me and offered to get me medicine. It just feels like family, which is really nice. The lifestyle is also very laidback, which is nice for me. It´s focused on spending time with people. Everyone takes breaks in the day to sit over cafe and ¨Charla¨or chat. Meals, especially dinner, last a long time. Sharing mate is a communal activity and ritualistic in terms of hospitality and who is the server. Also, simply sitting on the bus it easy to see that people are aware and friendly to one another. Most young people give up their seats for older people or women with children, without ever being asked. Today there was a protest in the square, about what I don´t know, but LB´s professor today was complaining of how there are protests everyday. And the culture of going out on a Saturday night is much different. LB and I went out until 8am the other night, and that seems to e a normal thing for argentine youth. It´s one bar, followed by another, followed by coffee at a cafe when the sun comes up. Not something I think I can handle every weekend. LB and I have also found ourselves in a ¨couples culture¨. Usually when you see women on the street they are holding hands with men, which sure enough is a symbol of the machismo. And PDA is the thing to do. Lb and I went for a walk in Puerto Madero and every which way we looked men and women were making out on the street. VERY different to see, and sometimes awkward if we´re sitting right next to it. But culture is culture and certainly takes some adjusting to view it through my own cultural lens. That´s what I have so far of a mini ethnography of my first week. If anything it has all made me much more aware of my own conception of culture in the US. Even the realization that calling myself an American is wrong. Everyone here in South America and in North America are Americans, I´m a US citizen. And even in talking to Banu (who by the way speaks four languages), who was most comfortable speaking with me in English, realizing again (a key learning from GCD) that being a native English speaker is such a privilege, and for me learning a second language is a luxury, not a necessity. I could talk a lot more about that, and I think fellow New Road students would agree, that language is also a privilege that oppresses. Buttt my internet time is running out, so maybe another time.

Ok, love and miss you all.

Jill