Hey y’all! So first of all I want to say how shocked and flattered that so many people have read my blog! I seriously didn’t even think my mom would actually take the time to read it all. However, now I'm all stressed out, anxious, and nervous to write. Fingers crossed I don’t say something stupid!!
Also, will have to update this more frequently (because I now have 3 weeks of happenings to update on) so that the posts are shorter and less of a dread to both read and write.
The week after I returned from Bariloche was a trip. Not literally, but the figure of speech type in my mind. Not only did I spend it on the phone with the Embassy and program directors, but I had to repurchase many things that were stolen. I also spent two days at the U.S. Embassy to obtain my Emergency Passport. Also, it was the first week of classes and until 2.5 weeks after it started, I still was unsure of what classes I need to take and would get credit for. Por eso, I lived a couple stressful weeks of e-mailing back and forth with different advisors/professors/etc.
This whole “being robbed” experience has taught me loads. Now that the initial shock of it is over and I’ve had time to reflect and gain confidence walking down the streets again, I can realize some of the lessons it has taught me. Before, I took for granted all the material possessions I had and relied and depended on them. Life is better if you live a simple life anyways. (For example, I’ve learned to appreciate moments instead of constantly snapping photos of them).
In regards to replacing all of my lost things, I’m working on it. Some of the things can’t or just won’t be replaced (like clothes, camera, ipod, books, miscellaneous things). However, after days at the U.S. Embassy, I finally have a new Emergency Passport!!! I had high blood pressure while walking through the streets on the bus home from the Embassy, clutching it with my life and avoiding all eye-contact. The toilets at the Embassy had AMERICAN FLUSHERS!!! I felt at home. It took me two weeks without a phone (not the safest thing I realize) but thankfully I now have a working phone! It took three tries to buy different chips but finally I found a company that works. My new debit card still has yet to arrive. I now have to re-do my background check, go back to the capital in a couple weeks, and then go to the migrations office for my visa. This is quite the process, but I’m getting there. Spending my Wednesday going downtown to get fingerprinted is my favorite.
***1) At the Embassy there were AMERICAN FLUSHERS!! I felt at home. 2). I needed two passport size photos for my passport with a white background. The lady at Window 15 told me to go across the street to the park. So did the guard. When I arrived, there was no photo shop. Just an old fat man on the bench. I asked him where I can get my picture taken for my passport. He pointed, "that there tree yonder" (my translation of his Castellano) and whiped out a stool and white dirty board and asked for 45 pesos. How professional! HAHA
Besides my joyous times making friends at the Embassy, it was also the first week of the real semester. Being the undecisive person that I am, I attended NINE different classes for the first 2 weeks to check out all my options and test out the professors. Thankgoodness I did. Some of the classes with Argentines totally freaked me out. The professors could have been talking about lettuce, their shoe size, or global warming - I wouldn’t have known the difference. It was as if there were one of those wind-up-monkey dolls in my head that bang the symbols all the time. I understood - nothing! Even the students who grew up speaking Castellano were confused! Sexuality and Health? No Thank You. It's one thing to learn the material of a college class; It is another to learn the language WHILE learning the material. However, part way through the third week of class, I have finally determined my schedule. (20 minutes before the deadline, of course). This process has been so stressful trying to communicate with both CMU and the professors and advisor here to make sure my classes will meet all requirements. So that I don’t die, yet am still challenged, I have finally decided to take Psycologia Social (con argentines), Sociologia General (con argentines), Literatura Latinoamericana (con internacionales) y Historia de Latinoamerica (internacionales).
One cultural difference which I find hilarious is how they buy their books. Instead of “buying books”, the professors tell everyone to go to a photocopy location at the university. This is the lovely location where they make photo copies of random chapters of random books and bind them together and sell them. Copyrights clearly don’t exist here! Haha It blows my mind. However, I realize that if the books aren't printed here (printed in the U.S. for example) it must be ridiculously expensive to buy actual books here. The government is fine with their “photocopy method”. I felt like a rebel.
Overall, observing the whole educational system in general here blows my mind and makes me so grateful for the organization we have at CMU. (Even though the whole costly issue might possibly make the unorganization and lack of technology worth it). It's just so different!
And right now (because seasons are opposite) the summer is ending and school kids have all headed back to school as well. I am not sure if all of the schools I see are public or private, but every school-age kid wears a uniform. I've seen probably at least 100 different uniforms. And they are so cute!! I wish our college wore uniforms. Jumpers with tall socks and grandpa shoes and sweaters! And all the 5 yr old boys in their ties and gray or navy suit jackets are just priceless.
The first couple weeks since returning to BsAs, I had a lot of time to myself. Especially without a phone to contact friends, or even a book to read or ipod to listen to. So, I would go running at this awesome park with a huge lake and palm trees. It was glorious. The only down part was the 78 giant geese who chased me and tried to eat me. A man literally pointed and laughed as I darted back and forth.
I go to several parks to just sit. At one there was an art show and a puppet show. When I saw that there was a puppet show, I was more excited than a puppy who pees on the carpet! I ran over and sat down in the grass with the kids, waiting with enthusiasm. After about 4 minutes of the show, I left angry. Somehow, those toddlers understood EVERY WORD that the puppet was sayin! I have been learning Spanish since before they were conceived.
Last weekend, the holiday! = To celebrate the democracy and the 35 years since the dictatorship. Also, of course in memory of the 30,000 “disappeared” (disaparecidos). Everything (schools etc) was closed on Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday, I wanted to go to the Plaza de Mayo, but my host mom advised me not to. She told me that the people who go are not “nice or happy people” and that it is violent and “things happen”. She said that the military always show up to keep things under control. And, she said that it’s a popular day for robberies. Sooo, clearly I wasn’t going. However, I did go with my friend Megan to the outdoor concert of Placido Domingo [which is only a few blocks from the Plaza de Mayo (which is the center and downtown of the capital of Argentina, where the Casa Rosada [their White House] and the government buildings are located.) I got to the concert a couple hours early because of the crowd and and even though I was some blocks away from the Plaza de Mayo, I was able to see a glimpse of the action. Hundreds…actually probably thousands of people were marching down the streets. They were so riled up and filled with such emotion, banging on drums, yelling, etc. It was definitely something to see! I felt like I was in a movie, but then I just had to remind myself that their "history" of something so tragic is just so recent. I’ve had so many people explain to me the history, but I’m sure I will never fully understand the complexity of it.
Placido Domingo. It was an outdoor concert on the widest street in the world, 9 de Julio in front of the Obelisk. Although I had been told to get there early because there’d be about 7,000 attendees, it turns out a whompin 150,000 people at this concert! And it was a FREE concert! He is an opera singer/orchestra director. If I understand right, he is the #1 tenor in the world. He plays the piano, violin, etc. But his voice!! Oooh I had goosebumps for 3 hours straight! I have never appreciated opera before, but he was so talented! My host mom just told me tonight that he is the director of the symphony in NY as well as Los Angeles. And how guapo of an old man he is!!! ;) I have no idea how much a concert like that would cost in the U.S, but I feel like it would never be free!
Friday, Megan and I went Tango/Salsa/Swing dancing in the night. They offer lessons for a few hours and then have open dance until 6 a.m. We stayed the whole time and then went out for breakfast afterwards, which was great because then it was safer to go home in the daylight. But at the tango club, there was live tango music at about 3 a.m. It was a piano, violins, accordions, etc. Awesome! This city never ceases to amaze me - there were so many old people (literally gray haired and elderly) out dancing in the middle of the night! I was a little nervous that their knees, ankles, or backs would just give out and they'd hit the floor. Thankfully that never happened. I'm not sure what I would have done. OOOOH! I almost forgot! The folklore dancing!!! Somehow EVERYBODY knew this and it was a type of dancing I had never seen! The man and woman pass a hankercheif back and forth to each other. It reminded me of the dancing in "Fiddler on the Roof".
Saturday, the next night, Buenos Aires has the coolest thing since sliced bread. It’s called “La Noche en Vela” and EVERYTHING is open and going on all across the city during the night. From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. For example, some of the things (and I saw most) were: the zoo, concerts, shows in the streets, dramas going on in parks, fairs, tours of churches, projections at the Recoletta cemetary, painting of a bridge, and so much more. If you just walk down the street, you are bound to discover something awesome. My favorite was definitely the hundreds of people who moved across the city to follow a show of dancing and drama that migrated from the park, across the street, to the statue, to the parking lot, etc.
Sunday, I found a church that is somewhat similar to His House at CMU. It is a huge non-denominational church. I just love to hear the music when I can read the words on the screen and understand better what they’re saying. What was really great was that they sang the same songs that I already knew in English, but now just sung in Spanish! For example, many Hillsong songs. Some aspects of the church, I was unsure of. I am still undecided if they are things I disagree with, or if they are just cultural differences. Then, I went to a beautiful Cathedral just a few blocks from my house.
Last night, I went salsa dancing again J
My great news is that I finally have the confidence to walk through the streets again without freaking out like an overly paranoid loser.
Well folks, that right there's a glimpse in the brain of my head. Live, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Barrio of Belgrano. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! <3
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