Suerte

Obviously, I have an intestinal parasite. Obviously.

Corte de Ruta

Well, the farmers in the north have started a 7 day strike where they are cutting off major highways and ceasing the production of soy, grain, and beef. The inetersting part, though, is that no one really seems to mind. It's headline news and yet the only reason we talked about it in class today was because the route we were taking up to Salta is has been "cortada" by the farmers. We are now flying, instead of taking the bus ride through the countryside. Apparently the delays would have been up to 40 hrs. So that's that. Just as simple as changing a bus ticket.

Take a second and think what would happen if in Washington D.C. thousands of farmers took the streets and cut off the major highways leading in and out of the city.

Gotta love Latin America.

A crazy few days

It's amazing how fast the time is passing. We've been here nearly three weeks, and on Saturday we're off to Salta for an 11 day trip north. I remember looking at a calendar and thinking about how much time there was before we got to travel, and yet, here it is.

The last few days have been crazy. We headed into this week knowing that it was going to be busy, but classes have really picked up and I'm not sure where the time has gone. Tomorrow we are visiting an organization, Sol Naciente, that works with single mothers in one of the biggest slums in Buenos Aires. In the middle of the city, among the high-rises and resturants, is a very large shanty town, mostly filled with single-parents households. This organization, from what I understand, has bascailly formed a collective where women can live free of fear of domestic violence and send their children to school. Among the services it offers are a soup kitchen, a mini-market where women can sell handicrafts and childcare during the day while these women work. I believe we have an escort to go into the shanytown, though. Should be quite interesting. Then friday we have our spanish "midterm" and two written assignments on the theory of social movements due. Work? What is that? I've sort of forgotten how to sit down and study.

Once I get through Friday, this week should really take off. Saturday we leave for Salta (20 hours by bus to the north). We are doing some touring (visiting local monuments such as the indignenous museum, the salt mines) doing some hiking and taking classes on indigenous movements and social organization at the University of Salta.
Then we start our rural homestay. Now that should be the interesting part. For four days we are living with farmers, in their huts, in this small village outside of Jujuy. No cell phones. No lights. I can't wait. The houses -- well, at least one per neighborhood -- are equipted only with radios in the off shot that something happens. Needless to say they've already placed me with the equivalent of the town doctor, as close to the "main" road as possible, but so it goes with my asthma. Sigh. Either way, it's going to be so interesting to see the different lifestyles and pace down there. I am so excited to sit under the stars and talk to my host family (all 10 of them that live in the house?) I am so ready to be pushed out of my comfort zone again.

That's all for now. Missing everyone in the states a lot..


Random addition: Latin salsa turned out to be more like step aerobics/cardio latin dance, to bad spanish covers of 90's music, in spanish. Needless to say it kicked my ass.

Today I joined a "gym". Since being sick, I've been going crazy just sitting around the house. While part of me loved watching old re-runs of Friends with my host family, the other part of me was dying from being inside while in such a dynamic city.

So, I joined a "gym". I put that in quotations, because apparently the gyms here in Buenos Aires (with the exception of a big chain that exists in the center of the city) are located in people's homes. Mine, two blocks from my house in Barracas, is the converted garage of a single woman who has made it her life passion to get people fit. In general it's pretty run down, with two old school tredmills, a few bikes and some rusty machines - but man do they take pride in their rusty machines! She followed me around this tiny space all afternoon, "teaching" me how to use the bench or showing me exercises. As my host mom explained when I got home, no one there knows anything but everyone thinks they know something. It at least made for some interesting conversation as I was working out today. I am going to go back Wed to try their "latin salsa" class. I think she teaches that as well.

It's not quite U of M, but it'll do.

"A terrible cold"

Today my parents closed up the house because a "terrible cold" had descended upon Buenos Aires. It's 61 and sunny. I love this country.

Tonight my mom made me a special "light" dinner since I am sick. It consisted of pan friend steak, onions and a tomato salad. Wow culture shock.

Well apparently people read this- who knew? :)

I can't believe we're already through our first week of class and settling into life here. Part of me feels like I've been here forever (yes, I can finally navigate the complex web that is the colectivo system here) and part of me feelings like I barely left WashU. For those of you that aren't familiar with the Buenos Aires bus system, there is a 40 page thick intricate map of buses, their routes and how much they cost. The tricky thing is, stops are not marked on this map, so actually finding where bus 134 stops within the 10 block square quadrant you're currently standing in can be a bit tricky, to say the least. Also, if you're not standing at said stop, waving your hand frantically (and even sometimes when you are) there is no guarantee that the bus driver will stop for you. Same goes for when you're trying to get off. You've really got to assert yourself -- something I'm not great at. However now that I've figured out how this system works, I can really get anywhere. So much more effective than any public transportation system in Miami. Ick.

So this weekend was filled with exploring. On Friday night my family had another family celebration of my host "sister" Flo's birthday. This was suppose to be her friends party, as the big family dinner was last week, however aunts, uncles, grandparents, ect all came over to be with her as well. The concept of family here is so interesting. I was trying to picture, most of the time, how a 23-year old would react to large amounts of family showing up to her birthday party with her friends. It was no big deal at all here. Family stayed, and the girls all went out dancing when the fiesta was over.. at 3am. Crazy.

(Below: my host mother, on the left, her sister Flo, in the middle and their mother on the left).


Saturday, I explored through Palermo, one of the nicer areas in the city and finally found some food that wasn't meat or bread: Armenian! It's amazing how fast one misses vegetables and soy milk. Never thought that would happen. Sunday, I met up with a group of 15 WashU freshman that were here in Buenos Aires with Dean Duvall and Prof. Brown for a focus seminar. We met up at a country club outside of the city and had a long, lazy lunch at this estate in the sun. The man's house we were at makes some of the best wine in Argentina, and obviously- had studied at WashU's business school for a year. If that wasn't a cool enough connection to make, the guy they had pick me up (Gustavo) studied at WashU Law for a year while getting his JD. He is now a lawyer in Buenos Aires with a big family, and teaches Constitutional Law at UBA (the University of Buenos Aires, one of the most reputed institutes in the country). From what I understand, although teachers there make close to nothing since it's public and paid for by the government, it's a huge prestige thing to teach at UBA. Anyways, he invited me to sit in on his class in the coming weeks and I am super excited. What a small world! If that wasn't enough for one day, that night about 15 of us saw Manu Chao at a sold out show at Luna Park. When we finally left, at 1am, he had been playing for four straight hours and was on his 7th encore. Amazing.



Anyways, more later. I'm sick and missing classes for the first day. Obviously, then, as the WashU student that I am, I feel the need to at least catch up on some reading. Ciao.

As requested...

More photos of Buenos Aires, per requested.





Left: our living room and "dinner table" followed by my first try at empanadas. Can you tell which is mine?

Below: our group at the plaza de mayo, attending the march of the madres de la plaza de mayo)

Disclaimer: Apparently my brain is a bit confused and my english is slipping. I really don't use english writing at all anymore, and almost my entire day is in spanish, so pardon my lack of coherent phrases and/or spanish grammar.

Tonight I had the opportunity to show, or at least try to illustrate, my host parents American politics. To contextualize, the past few nights have been filled with questions about Argentine politics, Peron, Eva, Kirsher, Menem, and the social implications (most of which were in the form of movements against the government) of their presidencies. Some very heated debates have emerged as a result of these conversations (especially last night at a three-generation family dinner). Don't get me wrong, they have been quite interesting, especially because my family has a very distinct perspective from that being offered in the university here. However, the most salient fact that has come out of all these discussions is not a condemnation of Argentine politics nor the presidents that have come before. More so, a general frustration, an inability to change things, seems to permeate the discourse of everyone I talk to. It's very sublte and implicit, but after showing my family Youtube videos tonight, it appears clear as day to me.

I sat Nati and Fede down tonight and showed them the videos I had told them about a few nights before about Sarah Palin and the SNL skits that Tina Fey did. Of course, with no background knowledge that provoked the Katie K. interview and a few other clips. That turned into Obama's speeches and finally his DNC address in 2004. After it was over, (and I had chills, as always) I asked them what they thought. They agreed with what he was saying and agreed that he was a good orator, but both said that they'd never trust someone like that. Someone with obvious intellect that had a way with words -- they'd be interested, sure, in how his policies panned out in the following years, but they'd never volunteer time or money for a political candidate. Ever. They couldn't imagine a time in which they would either.

The conversation that followed illustrated perfectly the difference between politics in the U.S. and elsewhere. Where the Argentine population can rise up against an idea/government, ours rose up in support of an abstract idea, because we believed that with the right person, it actually could be implemented. That concept completely escaped them. A fundamental belief in the system, something I myself doubted before this election, competley is lacking here. For them, government and politics will always be the same. Presidents are just new faces driving the machine. It's sort of hard to put into words the political/social frustration (that seems to have just turned into a self-perpetuating apathy) but the realization today, was, as we say "muy chocante".

That's all for now.

A woman on the bus today asked me for directions. She thought I was Argentine.
Great stuff.

Meet the Parents

" The world is a book and those who d not travel read only one page"


It's been a crazy past few days, but man has it been incredible. After a few days of being oriented to the program and Buenos Aires (if that is even possible in two days, ha!) we finally met up with our host families on Friday evening. I was a bit nervous, as I was one of the only students given a family on the outskirts of the city and the only one whose "parents" were under the age of 30. How do you think of someone as a figure of authority if they're only 6 years older than you are? Needless to say, though, after ten minutes with my "parents," who prefer to be called host siblings, I realized my fears were ridiculous.

I am so incredibly lucky. Nati grew up with exchange students in her home for years. Her parents had hosted SIT students for six years, and when she moved in with her boyfriend, Fede, they decided they wanted to do the same. They live in Barracas with their turtle, PepaThey are both architects in their final year at UBA. My first night was spent here sitting on a table about 6 in above the floor, listening to music and Fede playing guitar while talking politics. I didn't realize it before, but having parents that are 27 offers such a distinct perspective on what is going on down here. They have both lived the history and understand the perspective of the new, globalized generation and the combination is truly fascinating. We have debated history, Obama, Iran, Iraq, the Argentinan crisis of 2001 and the rise of Blockbuster and Starbucks in Argentina's major cities in the past few months. At first the langauge barrier was a bit tough, being that spanish class just never really taught us those kind of works, but after only a few days I'm having a hard time thinking clearly in English. (This entry, has taken me forever).

That's pretty much all for now. It's been a long pair of days, between hanging out with Nati and Fede, exploring the barrios around ours (which is really on the border of the Captial Federal) and meeting the whole family, who lives a few houses down. Today was Nati's mom's birthday, so we all went over for a typical asado by the pool. It was lovely, but I was a bit out of it, as last night was my first night out with other kids from the program. It began at 12am and ended around 6am this morning. Apparently that is early for them. It's going to be a long semester.


Time for some rest. Classes begin tomorrow and I've got an hour commute by bus. Should be interesting!








(Nati and her nephew)