Obama and politics/being a (north) American abroad

3.76!! Wowza, just keeps going. Things get cheaper and cheaper all the time.

I just watched Obama's live press conference with my host mom and her sister. It is interesting to see the US relationship with other countries. It seems like everyone likes Obama here. My host mom is so impressed with his confidence, honestly, manner of speaking (and so am I). My host mom always says that the US is going ot pave the way, and the less powerful or developed countries are going to follow in its footsteps. I felt really proud to have him as the president of the US when he ended his speech on a global note. He said that we would get out of this crisis, and so would the world. The fact that he concluded on a global note shows that he has a global perspective. Everything is so tied together these days and to have a president that can't see past texas for example would be an embarrasment. I can sit next to other citizens of the world and listen to him and nod my head. That's a cool feeling.

I have been interested to see while I'm abroad (in Madrid and here) how much people know about the US. It feels strange sometimes that they would know so much about US singers, presidents, culture, tv shows, politics etc while I know so much less about them. At times they know more about the US than I do even. My friends in Madrid watched way more US tv shows that I did, my host mom here knows way more US singers and celebrities than I do. My host mom here watches way more CNN than I do as well. It sort of puts in perspective the fact that right now, US actions are very important. I'm talking now about politics, so I don't know how tv shows and culture fits into all of this, but the politics of the US are of interest to citizens of many countries around the world it seems. I'm not sure what else I think about this. I feel bad sometimes that I don't know even the basic history of Argentina (although I'm learning) while they know such details about the US. But I think that's the situation that many Americans will experience outside of the states. Because to know about another country, that isn't one of the super powers lets say, is to be quite specialized. In contrast, for a non-US citizen to know about the US seems more common and the information is more general knowledge. The news about the US is so readily available in newspapers and tv here. Anyone who reads the newspaper here will probably know the major events of the US. It's an interesting unbalanced phenomenon. If I were from some other country, like Italy or something I would look at it more objectivaly and say of course its that way. But its not as easy to settle into since I'm a US citizen. I'm trying to figure out whats fact and not get caught in some cocky perspective about the US being so important. So just how important is it? I guess that's what I need to figure out. So that I can have more facts and be able to see the difference between patriotism and objectivity. I'll probably touch more on this later. I don't know if I wrote this very well, but that's because I haven't developed these ideas very much. Anyways, it's a start.

I went to the tiny town of San Isidro today. I went with my two friends Jesus and Caroline. It was nice to get out of the hubub of Buenos Aires and check otu a small town. We hung out by the coast of the river, watching the kite surfers, and then had a picnic. We also checked out the cathedral that was relatively new and nice looking. It was a nice day trip to a cobblestone street town.

Buenas Noches a todos.

Luego,
Kati

Polo/Host Family Drama/Religion

Hola a todos,

Today was a good day. I woke up, ate my breakfast of champions- yogurt, granola, cheerios- and then got some homework done. Next I went out to the terraza on the top floor of my building to check out the scene. My host mom encouraged me to go. She said I would be able to see the polo fields from up there. Check out the view:

Next I headed out to catch a polo game and then to check out the race track. I picked the winning horse, but then changed my mind right before the race (just betting between my friends and I, no money). Next we decided to go to the grocery store and get some fixings for a picnic in the park for dinner. We hung out in the park eating our salami cheese sandwiches and talking about stuff. It was a fun night and now I'm back in my room.

I also had an interesting conversation with my host mom today. For those who don't know, my host sister (I'll call her HS from now on) has been fighting with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who lives in the south of argentina came to visit for a while. They have been going out for about 5 years now. A couple days into the visit, they got into a huge fight. I was trying really hard to unerstand what the arguement was about from my room. The whole family was involved in the living room. Ther was something about pictures on the internet and marijuana and some other stuff. I couldn't grasp the actual problem but they were upset. The parents would every so often offer up some wise advice with out getting upset as well. I really respect that about them, that they were there but not taking sides and getting involved.

I was talking to my host mom today about this and everytime we talk about it I find out a little more of the problem. I found out that my HS is having trouble accepting her boyfriend. Something that I've thought about recently is that is important to accept people for who they are, the good and the bad. Because thats life, a mix of good and bad. If you accept the good and yell and fight the bad, you are going to make yourself miserable it seems. I think it's better just to acknowledge that that's how life is and accept it and respect it. So everytime the boyfriend does something thats "wrong" according to her, she fights with him about it. The otehr day they were in the kitchen arguing about the death penalty. There are conversations that are interesting, but you don't have to yell at someone everytime you discuss them. Anways, it's interesting to see this behavior and analyze it. I think I used to act the same way in the past, but now that I've been thinking and stuff I've been trying to be more respectful of both the good and the bad. The other thing my host mom added to the conversation is that if there is something bad, the only thing you have complete control over is how you act or view the bad. You can't go around forcing other people to change in order to make things better for yourself. Thats apparently what my HS is trying to do.

Another interesting side note here is the affect of religion in all this conversation. My host mother is very catholic and I am not religious in the least. Interestingly enough my host mother and I have a lot of deep converstations and we agree about a lot of things. So I'm sort of watching out for what types of differences the religion will bring into things. The other day, one of these such differences came up. She mentioned how she accepts everything because in the end it is for the better. Meaning, things might seem bad but they always work out. She asked me if I had experienced that before, where I thought something was bad but it ended up being good. And I said I had, but I don't agree with her here. I don't think bad things happen and that they are actually good in the end becuase someone is watching out for us. Although sometimes a bad thing turns out good, there are plenty of bad things that can be just bad. So my host mom and I are acting the same way about a phenomen but I think for different reasons. I'm trying to accept what is-the good and the bad in people, situations, life- because I don't see any better way. Why fight all the time when yo ucan just relax and accept that there will be bad things that happen to you and imperfections in relationships and people. (This might sound lazy and I don' mean not fight for what you believe in, but just not expect everything to go your way or be the way you want it). My host mom is accepting all these things becuase she has "faith" and she believes that someone is watching from above planning this out and giving justice. I don't think this further jump has much evidence or seems likely, but anyways... She just lets god do what he will do and doesn't get in a tiff when its not what she expects or wants. Interesting stuff.

Anways, here's some pictures of the polo game:

What makes me feel at "Home"

The exchange rate is almost at 3.75, things are getting so cheap. These days I have to buy things such as a student visa, shampoo, school supplies; start up materials if you will. But once I get done buying those expensive things, I think I will have enough money to travel. For example, on a normal day near the IES center I'll go to this panaderia to buy a "tarta" which is a quiche. Its a large slice with chicken, cheese, spinach and egg. It costs me 7.50 pesos which is equivalent to about $2.00. So I can eat lunch for a little more than $2! And its really good! I also eat a lot of empanadas, mmmmm.

By the way, something terrible happened: I found the argentinian food network. This could be the end of me. Its 24 hours, "el gourmet" (they pronounce the t for some reason). I'll have to excercise a lot of self restraint. Atleast I'm learning cooking terms though!

I was going to just mention some thoughts I've had about living abroad. I think this time, when I return to Lafayette, I will be able to see more good things about being there. I guess I'm just sorting out in my head the pro's and con's of living in different places. One thing I have noticed recently is the value of independence. That is something I never quite have when I'm abroad (well I've always been dependent financially for example but in terms of space I guess). Living in someone elses house is a great learning experience but interms of settling in somwhere, it is an impediment. It contrasts a lot with the experience I have living in a dorm with my own room. When I have a key to my door, it's easier for me to feel comfortable and at home. If I just had a bathroom and a kitchen I would be even more content with the personal space. So that's one fact that limits me from completely settling here.

Another factor is the language. I wanted to come here and be in the uncomfortable situation of always speaking my non-native tongue when I leave my room. So, I don't mean to complain here. I just am noting how much of a toll it takes on someone. It's just one other way that settling down is difficult here. Everytime I chat with the doorman, or someone on the street, or in a store, there might arise some sort of confusion or dificulty. That is a completely different experience from the US where all those interactions are relatively smooth.

The other factor is an established network. That is something I am building right now. In the US I can call certain people from anywhere in the country if I'm in a jam. Whether I'm at home or at school there are always people around that can answer questions if I have them, lend me money, give me a ride etc. That is because I have spent so much time building a network of support. Both with people and through my cell phone, computer, organizations... Here, I am establishing those things from the beginning. I have a cell phone, a computer, a "family," and a few good friends. But I can still feel that my network is pretty week and that makes this experience different. That makes it harder to settle down here. I know that this network is going to grow and grow while I'm here and probably be fairly good by the time I have to leave. I guess that's how studying abroad is, after about a semester, you are feelin pretty good, and then you go.

So en conjunto, I feel like I could live here or anywhere else comfortable if the climate is decent, the language is English or I'm willing to tackle the Spanish, and I give myself time to establish a support network. I'm not going to achieve that this time around, but its good to think about what would make me comfortable living in a certain place.

Here are some pictures, just to keep things interesting. These I took at the botanical gardens today and at a Polo game. Just another day in Buenos Aires... gotta love being abroad.

Demonstration about Insecurity in BA

The exchange rate is as high as its ever been over the last few weeks, 3.745, woop woop.

Here are some pictures from the demonstration Jesus (my friend, not the dude himself) and I went to. We heard there was a demonstration about insecurity in the city so we went to check it out. The plaza was completely filled. There were even poeple standing on top of the buses nearby just so that they could see. There was a lot of excitement in the air. People were selling flags and food everywhere. We waited for about 15 minutes until they started the speech.
Right in the middle of Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada, we heard 3 different people speak about the problem. The speeches basically talked about not using violence or hate to counter the murders that have occured to young people who were robbed. (not my neighborhood, the bad neighborhoods). The called for everyone regardless of religion or political views to come together behind this cause. They said the solution needed to come from government, a change in system. They also called for the young people to get involved and vote in the upcming election in order to create change in the policing system. When the speaker spoke out against Kischner, the presidente, everyone roared with applause. I guess she is pretty unanimously disliked... It was exciting to see this huge plaza of people cheering and clapping together in agreement of the need for change. It was very moving to see such passion among the people there. Jesus and I listened and cheered just like the natives around us. The only part we didn't participate in was singing the national anthem in the beginning, cause we didn't know the words. What an event.
Luego,
-Kati

Trip to the Farm - Asado!

The other day I went to an estancia, which is basically a farm outside of the city. It is such a cool culture out there. Instead of renting out a fancy hotel for a business party or family reunion, the people here head out to these resort-ish farms. The scenary is beautiful out there. When we got off the bus, we all loaded onto these wagons to get to the main part of the farm. We passed pastures of sheep, horses and cows and then we were greeted by some people holding baskets of empanadas. (soooooooooooooo good). Then we cruised around the area to check out what was there. There was a table of mate and thermoses so we tried some out. You fill the cup with the mate leaves, and then pour in the hot water from the thermos. After you drink it you refill it and pass it to something else. It's important that you share it, people usually only have one cup among a group.

After snacking on some olives and cheese we were welcomed into a room FULL of BEAUTIFUL food. It was honestly a dream come true. Everything was beautifully displayed and the options were endless. I think I saw tongue somewhere, which I didn't try... But there was fruit, salad, appetizers, and endless meat and desserts. We absolutely stuffed ourselves.

During the meal, my friends and sat with the asistentes del programa. So we got to speak in Spanish a lot and after the day at the farm they invited us to go out with them. We had a really fun night teaching each other new words in english and spanish at some bar in my neighborhood.

We also went bike riding on the farm and swimming. I got ot play soccer for about an hour which was a good time. First time in a while and my entire body was sore the next day. It's amazing how many different muscles playing soccer uses.

Last night I met up with some friend of one of the asistentes of the IES program. We had a great time hanging out at a bar. Now I'm going to check out this plaza called Plaza Mafalda. Its commemorating the comic book writer Quino who wrote the comics that my host sister shared with me. I'm learning a lot of argentian culture from these comics. For example, one comic had the mom telling little Mafalda not to answer the door unless is was her mother. Mafalda responded "but what if its happiness?" I deduced from that there this is some saying such as "happiness is at your door" or something. I asked my host sister about it and she told me that's exactly true. So I'm hoping to learn more cultural things like that from reading the comic book. And what better place to read it that in Plaza Mafalda!

Luego,
Kati

Less waste/My Spanish/Difficulties here

I just wanted to jot down a few ideas before I forget them.

It's really interesting to me how small of a footprint (waste-wise) my host family leaves compared to what I'm used to at home and school. My host mother in Madrid was the same way. For example, the trash cans. I don't even have a trash can in my room (I've started using a plastic bag because I often have to throw something away). There is one small trashcan in the bathroom, and one small trash can in the kitchen. They're both about1.5 feet tall. In the kitchen, we eat all the food except for bones (My host mom doesn't like to throw food away because she can see people starving on the streets). Other than food, there aren't many packages and things from food because people buy more fresh ingredients that aren't wrapped in boxes and bags etc. The milk comes in a bag so that doesn't take much space to dispose of. (Apparently milk came in a bag in lithiania too, back in the day). In the bathroom I throw away the hair that falls out in the shower and a tissue now and then, but that's it. Everything just seems more simplified. And it also doesn't seem like this family is constantly buying new things and having to throw out the packaging.

Also, the kitchen shows this minimalism. For example, there are 4 poeple living in this house and we have 4 glasses, 4 wine glasses, and 4 mugs. That's it. It makes sense, one per person. In these small apartments, it's not like my host mom is throwing dinner parties or anything. The kitchen is full of just the things they need and nothing more.

The other, completely different topic I was thinking about yesterday was what makes my spanish better or wise. "What" meaning, what conditions. Besides learning the language and such, in some situations I can speak faster and more accurately and in others I feel like I'm just running into a wall over and over again. Of course, whenever I'm tired, it gets much harder to get the words out and think quickly. I also notice that I sometimes speak better when I'm forced to. For example when I speak to younger people who talk faster. Sometimes I don't think so much, I just try to get the idea out at their pace and it works. Although sometimes they just speak to fast and I have to say "what" after everything they say. Of course then there are accents. When people have accents that I'm not used to it is very difficult to have a conversation with them. Some people say that when they drink, they speak better because they're more relaxed. I found that after I drink I had more trouble speaking. Maybe I was tired that night though, it's hard to separate all the variables. Sometimes I also have trouble forming sentences after I've been speaking spanish for a long time. Since it is exhausting for me to speak, after a day of struggle my spanish usually worsens. I guess that's related to being mentally exhausted (agotada=exhausted).

One third random thing: The other day my host sister gave me a comic book that she read as a young girl. It's called Mafalda, by Quino, a famous argentinian comic book author. Apparently there is Plaza Mafalda nearby with statues of the characters. My host sister told me I could ask her any questions I had about the book and its content. She said it showed a lot about argentian culture. I thought that was sweet that she was reaching out to me. I learned a lot of new words from just the biografy of the author in the beginning.

Ok one last update. To follow up on the honeymoon period ending etc: This is still a strange time because I still dont' have a fixed schedule and I'm trying to figure out how best to spend my time. But it's still nice becuase I just feel like I'm on vacation. Something that really helps to make me feel comfortable is that my host parents completely respect my space here in this room. They never ever come in here or even knock on the door to say something. They really try to make it like my apartment or something. Having that personal space and privacy makes me feel a lot more comfortable. It's a place where I can relax or hide if I'm feel exhausted and feel comfortable that I won't have to jump up and intereact with other people. I feel like that is one of the difficult things about studying abroad. You aren't in your comfort zone at all and sometimes you don't have a space that is really yours. Some host mothers will come in whenever, clean your room and move your stuff around or what not. With out this personal space, one can feel like they always are exerting themselves or have to be presentable. It's already stressful enough that you always have to be thinking al ot when you speak in the foreign language to all the people. Anyways, I just wanted to note here the value of this personal space, I think it has helped me through the post honeymoon stage. But nothing was very difficult about this post honeymoon stage in general. I feel like things get better every day as I meet new people, spend time with friends I've made and see new places.

Yesterday night I took my argentinian friend Carito to get some icecream. Apparently there is an icecream place right next door and we went so that I could try argentian helado for the first time. AYY QUE RICO! I had dulce de leche flavor, it was so rich and creamy of that delicious caramel flavor. Then I had una bola de tirimisu, which ahd pieces of amaretti cookies soaked in coffee and a creamy mascarpone icecream. It was some of the most delicious icecream I've ever had. Plus I got to talk to Carito about places to travel. I think I'll go with Tomas to Cataratas, the big waterfalls, and she said we can stop by her uncle's yerba mate farm if we want. How argentinian!
Today I'm going to an estancia, which is a little farm in the provinces. We are going ot eat asado (steak), mayne ride horses, swim, play music, and hang out with the gauchos! I'll try to take lots of pictures.

Luego,
Kati

Talking with my Host Mom and the Park

Today I woke up as usual, got ready for orientation class, and went to eat my breakfast. These days I usually eat breakfast with my senora. We always end up having very deep conversation over breakfast. Today we talked about independence and relationships. Her father made this sculpture out of wood of two branches coming together in a swirl. It's called "Pareja" because couples have to be two independent individuals coming together in their commonalities. I agreed with her on this subject. Sometimes people get into relationships and define themselves by there partner, and that never seems to work out. Plus it can put someone in a situation where they have to act against the way they are (personality, values) and that is never pleasant. The interesting thing about having these conversations at breakfast is that I usually need to go fairly quickly to class but it is hard for my to smoothly end the conversation when they are so meaningful and deep. Anyways, don't worry mom, I always arrive on time in the end!

Today in class we had a practice exam for the one we will take tomorrow. We are getting placed into our spanish levels. The exam is very interesting becuase it doesn't just test how many words one knows or how many different grammatical forms one can make. It tests how much practical spanish one knows. For example, how to say "Hello, may I ask whose calling?" on the phone, or how to ask for directions. There are a lot of phrases that I wouldn't have known if I hadn't gone to Spain. I learned a lot of those practical phrases from living with my host mom, shopping in stores, going to classes at UAM, meeting spanish speakers etc. Things that you don't learn in an American classroom.

Afterwards I went with three friends to la Reserva ecologica. Apparently, the portenos tried to move the coast line and the land that was added to the edge of the cost just sprouted out with vegetation. Now the area is protected by the government and maintained. It is a beautiful park with paths, trees, coast line and sun. I went for a run around the park. Afterwards I sat with my friend in the shade of a tree just relaxing. I was thinking that I'll come to this park whenever I have class near by at IES. I can always come for a jog and then to read or something. It's really nice to sit in the grass and see the buildings of the city over the edge of the trees and feel the wind from the river blowing over you. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures, but I will post some in due time.

Here is a picture of the type of trees they have in many parks. The roots are tall thin fingers that curl around everywhere.

Also, here is a random picture of a crazy dressed woman I saw walking around in the cemetery. Yes, in the cemetery.
The exchange rate, mas of menos igual as before.

Luego,
Kati

Fair with Aunt B's friend / Indie Scene

Uho, the exchange rate dipped down to 3.71 again... Hopefully we can get back up.

To pick up where I left off, on Sunday I met up with Aunt Barbara's friend Dee. She apparently is the woman that lives in my grandfather's old house in new york, who knew? She made plans with her husband to move to North Carolina, but first to live for several months in Buenos Aires, a city they had visited and loved. Recently, Dee's husband passed away unexpectedly. She decided to continue with the plan on her own.

I met Dee at the Feria de San Telmo. The feria was full of antiques and other little trinkets (one of Dee's passions), food, tango and music. Dee was there with her neighbor (a young student like myself). Since he is learning English and she is learning Spanish, they sort of met up and hit it off (even though they are about 40 years apart in age). It was nice to meet this friend and his family. I spoke in Spanish with all of them. Sometime soon we are going to get together, Dee luciano and I to cook! Luciano isn't big into cooking but he says he's into eating.

We got to hear a band at the fair (with 4 accordians, 3 violins, and 1 bass) playing tango music by Carlos Gardel, the most famous tango singer in BA.
One thing that is so great about cities is that there is always so much going on! This fair happens every Sunday in San Telmo. Although there were a bit of extranjeros there, there were also a good number of portenos sitting in cafes, strolling around and enjoying the sunday afternoon. There are countless events going on right now in March. My friend went to check out a circus at the same time I was at this event. I saw the pictures and it seemed really cool. Luckily I will have a chance to go this weekend.

After the Fair, I met up with my friend Jesus to check out a movie. It was an indie movie that Jesus found out about online. We went to this tiny library run by these young portenos. They had resfreshments and live music from a band that some of them were in. I spoke with one of the guys there named "Nacho, like the chip." It is interesting to see that a lot of the people my age that I meet speak English. The friends of the IES assistent I went out with all spoke english as well. Nacho said it was fairly common when kids are young to learn English in school. But of course, we spoke in spanish. Then the movie started and I had my philosophy major friend to talk about the indie movie with afterwords. There was apparently a lot of metaphors about female body in a male dominated culture. Besides the interesting themes that the movie presented, I was interested in thinking about the differences between what I got out of the movie and what my friend did. I was characterize him as a more "artsy" thinking, not that I really know what that means. But I am more analytical in a way. After my friend described to me what he saw in the movie, I could see it too, and I was interested in discussing the subject and themes. But on my own, this form of transmitting these ideas doesn't really speak to me. Some of the metaphoric portrayals of ideas in artsy movies or literature don't get the message accross to me. It was interesting to realize this about myself. Not to say I can't appreciate art, or I won't try to see this messages, but that maybe there is a difference in the way people's brains are wired and some mediums of communication work better for some than for others.

Bueno, afterwards I came home, chatted with my host mom and went to bed. My host mom is very supportive and always asking me how I am doing here in BA. She is checking to make sure I'm adjusting comfortably and she always supports my enthusiasm. We have had very meaningful conversations about people and values. She lives her life mainly through the church but she is very respectful of those who aren't religious (like her 4 children).

Today I went to UBA to register for classes. In many ways the facilites resemble UAM (university in Madrid). There are no fancy buildings like at Lafayette, just basic concrete facilites covered in posters and flyers. There were lots of students around making their schedules and such. I picked four classes to check out: A seminar on recient argentinian history, social geography in Argentina, Argentinian History III, argentinian thought and latin America. I'll check them out and then select just 2 of the 4. Classes don't start until the 23 though.

Afterwards I walked home. I love walking around this city and just running into unexpected spectacles, such as the man covered in wine flour yerba mate ect. the other day. Here are some pictures of random things I have come across in this city to wrap up my post today

Luego,
Kati

City Tour and Lost en el Sur

The exchange rate is leveling a little, still pretty good though.

Yesterday I went to a parilla (steak place) with the IES program and we had a grand feast. I was in heaven trying all the different foods. We had mozzarella sundried tomato crostini with real olive oil, roasted vegetables with bread, empanadas, grilled cheese, zuchini fritters, papas fritas, asado of course, potato cheese sticks, spinach ravioli, cheese ravioli, beets, wine poached pears, flan, helado chocolate, and some sort of delicious raisin egg bread. It was DELICIOUS!


After we went to lunch, we went on a tour of the city. We drove around various areas and heard about the history and context of many areas. Porto Madero is the new part of town and it is very ritzy. We also drove through the shanty town which is mostly inmigrants. The houses were made out of chapa, corrugated metal sheets. People we outside cooking, washing clothes, playing. It was sad to see the state of their houses and the neighborhood they lived in. Close by were then the huge modern apartment buildings of Porto Madero in contrast. In Porto Madero is this new bridge called the puente de mujeres (womans bridge)

We also saw the Casa rosada, and the balcony where Eva gave her speech!


After the tour I went to a cafe with my friend Jesus. We decided we wanted to go check out the feria de Mataderes which we read about in a cultural events listing online. We started out on our journey walked to the subte and going to a barrio we had never been to. The neighborhood turned out to be a little less festive than we thought. We walked for about 2-3 hours trying to get to this place. It was honestly like Harry and Kumar's trip to white castle, a long journey to get somewhere and in the end, we landed on a nice sloppy pizza. It was delicious. Ironically we journeyed very far south to get to this fair and ended up having pizza in a place about 5 minutes from both of our apartments. The journey was fun though and we got to see a different part of town. When we finally arrived at the fair, it was completely empty, just a bunch of empty stands. So we turned around and went back to our barrio. We bought this pizza. It was a perfect end to the night.


Plus it was a beautiful night last night with a slight breeze but warm. There was this beautiful sky:

Graduation Tradition

I forgot to mention that when portenos graduate from school (this guy graduated from medical school) they get covered in eggs, wine, flour and yerba mate by their friends. We stumbled upon this ritual in the middle of the sidewalk...

First night out with Porteños

Exchange rate: 3.723, just keeps going....

I had my first experience with real Argentinian night life anoche.

During orientation yesterday I went up to one of the program assistants and starting talking ot him in Spanish. After our little chat and after class, he came up to me to ask if I wanted to meet up with his friends that night. I immediately thought of what I learned in class and I was not sure in a different culture what this meant and involved etc. I immediately used my friend justin for protection and I said that I was gunna go somewhere with him initially so would it be ok if he came too. I ended up going with two friend, justin and jesus, to a bar with this guy leandro and his friends. We got there and we had a great ol time! All of his friends knew a good bit of english so we swapped slang terms and curse words and laughed at each other saying them. They also taught us a lot of frases and sayings. At one point, tv programs came up and we realized there were a lot of the same programs in BA as in the US. For example HEROS (Heroes), House (Dr. House), Dancing with the stars (bailando con las estrellas), Lost (Perdida), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Sabrina la bruja adolescente) etc! It was fun to hear them say the show in spanish and then we put it together and said "OOOOOHHH, dancing with the stars!!" or whatever the show was.

It was also very interesting to see how important small sounds are in helping one understand a word. There is this band called Keene and the portenos were saying keeeeen and we couldn't figure out what they were talking about, but somehow, when i figured out the band was keene and told justin that's what they were saying, he immediately understood me. The portenos were all frusterated cause they couldn't figure out the difference in the way they said keene and the way I said it. It's true, I don't even know what the different was, but some small change in tone made all the difference.

I also talked to my host parents last night during dinner about music. My host mom really likes all these american singers (opera singers, norah jones, elvis, ect). She is so suprised when I don't know one of the names. Some time we say she knows more about the US than I do. It is interesting though to see what tid bits of information are known here and in Madrid. My host mother there received a lot of news about the US through television. Mostly when I was there, it was about the election, but at times they reported more on Obama and Hilary than on their own concurrent elections!

Time for breakfast!

Luego,
Kati

Hangin with the Host Fam

That exchange rate is still climbing! Up to 3.72!

I ate another delicious lunch today for 2 dollars, empanadas de pollo y carne. Then for dinner I had a delicious plate of pasta with sundried tomato sauce, ay que rico. I also bought four mini pastries today to share with my host family. I thought it would be a good way to bring everyone together for a little and it worked. The father was at the gym but my sister, mom, a friend of the family and I all shared the pastries and chatted for about 2 hours. I also got to see the mom and friend drink Mate. There is a sort of ceremonial way to drink it, where you have a thermos of hot water and one person drinks it and fills it up for the other. You keep taking turns drinking the mate and refilling it with the hot thermos water. It was interesting to see.

Last night I got to watch Boca (famous Argentine soccer team) win their match with my host father. He was watching the game on tv, so I sat down and joined him. We had a great time watching and chatting and I learned some futbol lingo. He said I had clearly studied in Spain becuase I said "portero" instead of "arquero" for goal keeper. But he straightened me out.

I asked my host mom how she made this delicious sauce last night and it sounded like a good recipe. She used the cheapest cut of meat, which is also the leanist, and first browns the steak. Then she makes a sauce out of purees onions, soy sauce, mustard, vinagre and water. She puts this mixutre into the pan and cooks the meat for 45 minutes. It becomes really tender and delicious after this time. Hmmmmm.

I walked back from class today, about an hour and a half, to my apartment. I checked out this old huge theatre that was transformed int oa bookstore. It was pretty cool. I got to read all the signs on the street and take part in to hubub of the streets. I looked in the store windows at all the delicate pastries and cakes. I kept an eye out for some good cake decorating ideas. There are a few I want to try out next chance I get.

Overall it was a great day. Lots of Spanish, meeting new people, seeing new places and hangin with the fam falso. But now it is time for bed.

Luego,
Kati

Minimalism Thoughts/ Friends

And the exchange rate continues to climb favorably, it's now at 3.71! Today I spent 2 dollars on lunch, que barato!

One of the things I was thinking about today, while washing my face with soap, was the value in not having excess things. This is something I already thought about in Madrid, but I thought about again here in Buenos Aires. I forgot to bring my face wash here so I have to use normal old soap. Years back, I started using face wash because my face would break out and I didn't want to have a lot of zits. I'm not so sure that I will have zits if I don't use this special face wash. If this is the case, it is so nice to not have to lug around with me this orange neutrogina bottle wherever I go. I started thinking about the culture in my town, where accumulating excess needs seems like a sport. It's one thing to accumulate luxuries as one is able to afford them or new activities through experience in life, as long as one treats them as such. But with this small example of face wash, I realized its possible to add something to your life, feel it is a neccessity and feel that being without it is a grave situation. It seems like this way of living needlessly complicates life. Such a needlessly complicated life seems to also lead to a lot of complaining. I'm going to be careful that I don't slip into that lifestyle of accumulating stuff as a sport, treating it as necessity and complaining about how complicated it is to keep everything together. At least this is the way I look at it now, maybe I'm not appreciating some other perspective or component to the equation.

Today in class we continued to learn about Argentina. It's fun the way we learn about it; we have this fun lively Argentinian man (good looking, but no worries tomas, he's about 45, dare I say....old?) that tells us, based on his first hand experience as a "porteno," about the customs and culture in Argentina. He told us about the mentality of a young argentinian guy in the clubes. Apparently, the guys are not interested in buying a girl a drink or buttering them up; they are aggressive because they don't want to lay a penny down until they know that they are getting something. This is very different from the "beat around the bush" strategy of many american men. Which is better? One is direct which is nice, the other is more comfortable? I'll touch back on this after I get more experience in such situations.

I met a cool American today named Lukas. He has a friend here in BA who is a circus contortionist. His friend is living here with a bunch of other circus performers. He is into sax and guitar and studies the performing arts. Interesting guy, really genuine and proactive (two things I like in a friend).

Besides the IES people, I talked via email with Aunt Barbara's friend and the foreign service couple here in BA. Barbara's friend and I might cook together this sunday which would be very fun. The other couple hasn't responded yet. Besides that, I might meet up with my portena friend Carito this weekend. Lots of people to get to know!

According to the program student development specialist, us students might be ending the honey moon period soon... Our expectations were set a while back, we have been swept up in the excitment of BA, and now reality should be setting in. I'll report on how my feelings are compared to this standard. I feel like I'm always back and forth everyday. There are really exciting moments in the day mixed with the feeling of being in a far away place, away from any truly comfortable moments. Hopefully I can create some more confortable moments for myself, embrace the anxious uncomfortable ones a little more and focus on the excitment of the city.

It's 9:30, time for dinner! Comemos como los espanoles aca!

Luego,
Kati

Getting settled/educational system differences

The exchange rate is climbing again, now at 3.69 (an all time high for the past 30 days :) ).

One of the things I love most about studying abroad is that almost everything is new! I couldn't possibly put into this blog all of the new things I learn and think about. Everything from walking around this apartment, taking the metro, to eating dinner involves something new and different.

Yesterday I bought a cellphone and some groceries. I could spend hours in the grocery stores here, not because they are big, but because it's really interesting to look at a culture through what they eat. There is a huge section just for dulce de leche here. They sell their milk in bags. They have so many different types of creams (they don't just use those cows for carne). They have tons of Italian foods, all types of pasta, tomato sauce, etc. They even have a special section of home made pastas. The first day I made the mistake of shopping at "Jumbo" which is a huge store that sells everything. I thought it would be similarly priced to walmart, big store, cheap stuff. I was wrong. It was more like the prices in Corte Ingles, a complete rip-off. My argentinian friend told me that only the rich people go there.

I went out to eat with my argentinian friend Carito (short for Carolina turns out, not for little expensive like I originally thought). Carito is a friend of a woman I met at my neighbors party before I left. What luck I had to get connected with her because she has been so nice and friendly in welcoming me to Argentina. The other day she stopped by and we went for lunch. She told me all these cultural things I need to know. For example you always have to order a drink because they don't just bring water to the table and you usually leave a 5-10% tip at restuarants. She also taught me in the grocery store all the names for food and cooking implements. Now that I have a phone, I'm sure I'll be hanging out with her more.

I've also been learning a lot of slang and lunfardo (sp?) which is the italian that has creeped into the spanish here. For example they say "colectivo" instead of bus or "laborar" instead of trabajar. There are also slang words such as "boludo" which literally means something like ass-hole but is used in a friendly way to call a friend (among the youner generation) such as "che boludo, que tal!" My host family taught me how to say slang wth the word "pedo" which can be confusing. When one says "al pedo" it means with luck something happened. For example, you don't study for a test, but you end up doing really well on it. You would say it happened "al pedo." One says "de pedo" when they aren't doing anything. For example, "estoy de pedo" means I'm not doing much, I'm idle. Finally, one would say "en pedo" to mean drunk, for example "llegue en pedo" means I showed up drunk. This same frase "en pedo" can be used in the frase "ni en pedo voy vos" which means "not even if I were drunk would I go with you." This is good to know in case there are some pushy guys inviting me to have a drink!

Another interesting event today was our visit to UCES. UCES is a private university here in BA. We entered into this ritzy looking building and went to a very professional looking meeting room. Men dressed in fancy suits and ties gave us glasses for water and soda and handed us a bunch of pamphlets. These men turned out to be teachers. What a difference from our tipical professors in the US. It felt like a business transaction in this room with these suited men trying to sell us there classes and the benefits of their university. Although there is a bit of colleges selling themselves in the states, this feeling was very different. I feel that in the states, all the money that a well off school makes is shown in its facilities and academic focus, not in the finely pressed suits of its teachers. This made me think about where schools do and should lie on this spectrum from non-profit to for-profit. In general I think of schools as organizations run by people who highly value education and love their subjects that they teach, but in this room today I felt like these suited men just wanted my money. Is that bad though? Eh, for sure it's different from the image protrayed at most US schools.

Tomorrow, more orientation! Classes start the 16th of March so we have to brush up on our Spanish.

iki, ("bye" in Lithuanian)
Kati (This is not a spelling error, this is what im called here because no one can pronounce Katie)

First Night: the flight and my family

I'm sitting on another random bed in this great big world. I have the same feeling I had as a freshman in college lying in bed for the first night; the feeling that it is so random that I'm lying on this piece of mattress in this building in this city in this country. This situation really pushes me to be content on my own and independent.

On my flight from DC (home) to Miami, I met a woman from Chile. She didn't speak much English and was relieved to find out that I spoke Spanish. She told me about her family in Santiago and even showed me some pictures (while we waiting for half an hour for our flight to take off). Shortly after take off, she got sick and I had work with the stewardesses who didn't speak any Spanish to help out my new friend Carmen. We chatted during the flight and then parted ways in Miami, where she felt more comfortable surrounded by Spanish speaking airport assistants.

On the second flight, from Miami to Buenos Aires, I shared a plane with about 100 Argentinian girls who were turning 15 this year. After they asked me to change seats 2 so that they all had some friend to sit near, I ended up (towards the front of the plane :) ) and sitting next to a very nice and surprisingly mature girl. She explained to me their trip and how when a girl turns 15 in Argentina they either have a big party or go on one of these trips to amusement parks in the US (which they don't have in Argentina). I talked with this girl on and off during the whole flight about Argentinian slang, American and Argentine bands, tourism in BA and our families among other things. I got a little more used to the Argentinian accent and got to ask some questions about the "vos" form which I had never learned.

At the airport I met with the IES program workers briefly and then got in a cab to arrive at my host parents' house. I am living with a woman about 50, her husband a little older, and their daughter who is finishing up college. The family is really nice and accommodating. During the tour of the apartment my host mom explained that this is my house too and that we are all adults here so I can come and go as I please. She also said she will make dinner for me but I can eat it whenever I want. She seems to be very understanding and accommodating of the college student spontaneous lifestyle.

I am trying to get to know this family poco a poco. I just utilized the father's passion for futbol to strike up a conversation. I feel that I can go to any of them with questions and that they will take good care of me here. I live in a small room with a super comfortable bed and a good internet connection which is enabling me to keep in touch with my friends and family and maintain this blog. Overall, life is good here in Buenos Aires. This was a short day so that is all for now. I'm going to get some much needed sleep now.

Luego,
Kati