Hola a todos! It's been a while since I've written because things have been pretty busy here with classes. Quick update with the exchange rate, it took a huge slump! Luckily I took money out for my 200 peso student visa during the peak of the exchange rate, but its sittin lower now unfortunately. I guess this is good for argentina though so I should just suck it up.
Things get better everyday. I hit the slump a few days ago and I was trying to figure out why it was a slump and what made me feel that way. As I sat up on the terrace watching the sunset, a great place for deep thinking, I came back to the idea of a home. I thought somemore about what makes me feel at home. In thinking about this I made the important distinction between the external things that make me feel at home and the internal things that make me "feel at home." There are all the things I listed in a previuos blog that make me feel at home; a network of people and support, the things you are used to etc. But I was thinking, I don't mind that I can't just use my phone whenever I want to talk to someone or ask a question. I don't mind that I can't just go to the kitchen and cook up a storm. Not having these luxuries isn't that big of a deal.
Then I started thinking about missing the network of people that I have at home or at school. That's what makes the "hump period" of studying abroad, this post honey moon period, especially difficult. I don't have a best friend here, or real family members. And when I just want to go chill with another person who is close to me or be with close friends, I can't. In the beginning everything is exciting and going quickly, but then one gets hit with the fact that there isn't the comfortable network of people.
My reaction to this realization though is that I dont want to need another person to make me feel at home. And that is the "feeling at home" that I realized was on my mind. The type of feeling at home that is an internal feeling at home, which is more just a personal contentness. To feel ok just being you and comfortable with what you're doing.
Some one might think its unreasonable to not want to rely on another person to make me feel at home, but allow me to explain. Of course people are important in life, and we are social creatures who want to make connections. But I don't want to have to RELY on someone else to make me feel comfortable being me and doing what I'm doing. Of course I will rely on people all the time through out my life, but when nothing is wrong I hope I can just be good on my own. If I'm not relying on someone to give me oxygen in a hospital, or my sister to help me through a tough time, or any other situation that I can't handle on my own, I want to be an indepedent person who can just be herself in Buenos Aires or any other city I decide to plant myself. I guess what will make me comfortable and internally "at home" is just getting to know myself better. I feel more comfortable when I know what my interests or values are, what types of things I'd like ot try, what I've learned is difficult for me or makes me uncomfortable. All of these sorts of questinos and answers are helpful ot ponder. Of course I learn more about myself all the time and I don't expect to know everything ever, just be honest with myself to know more.
After asking myself some of these questions and thinking about the answers up on the terraze (in the light of a full moon none the less) I started to feel much better. I was thinking afterwards that this surely is the sort of conflict that the program is talking about when they say that students tend to have a slump in their trip. It's when you start feeling that this is longer than a vacation and that you don't have many comforts or connectinos with people that you are used to. You can't just go to your best friend to distract you from thinking about what you want to do here in BA and why. That's some hard stuff to grapple. And on top of it all, I even lucked out cause I have a really good friend here, Jesus (his name, not the religious figure) who I feel like I can go to and talk about anything really deep. I'm sure there are lots of students that don't even have that, because it is a rarety to have that after just one month of doing turisty things together. So anyways, IES was right, there are definitely ups and downs during this study about experience that I know see differently her in BA from how I saw them in Spain since my boyfriend isn't around to make things easier.
Every day is getting better because I've thought about these things and on top of that my external "home" is developing more and more. I met up with a girl I talk with to improve our languages (she's learning english while I leanr spanish) and then I just talked with my host mom for about an hour. As these relationships develop I feel more comfortable that I can just walk out of my room and talk with my family here like I do back home, or write an email to ask a friend to hang out this week. So both my external home and my internal home are developing. And that makes me feel better.
That's it for now, hasta luego,
Kati
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Milonga - Tango y Rock
La otra noche fui con mi amigo porteño a una Milonga. A él le gusta mucho el tango. Me dijo que antes, cuando era más joven, no bailaba pero ahora trata de aprender tango y su arte. Además, bailar es un buen ejercicio y muy saludable.
Fuimos a un sitio acá en Palermo cerca de donde vivo. Pagamos 16 pesos para tomar todas las clases que tenían esa noche y depués quedarnos en la milonga. Había al principio una clase de baile “rock.” Nunca he oido de una clase de baile “rock” en los EEUU pero bueno, lo aprendí.
Una cosa que suelo notar acá es la gama de edades que hay saliendo por la noche. Jamás hay ancianos fuera de la casa a la una, dos o tres de la mañana en los EEUU, jámas. Me encanta que los ancianos acá siguen saliendo hasta la madrugada, ¡que vivos son! Estuve allá con los ancianos, extranjeros, todos tipos, aprendiendo como bailar con la música “rock”.
Después, comenzaron las clases de tango. Mi amigo fue al grupo intermedio y me quedé en el grupo principiante. Había muchas más mujeres que hombres así que a veces no tuve una pareja, pero compartimos los hombres durante la clase (que suerte tienen los hombres).
Resultaba que había muchos extranjeros allá; conocí a una chica de Canadá que trabaja en la embujada acá y un chico de Nueva Zealandía de vaccaciones. A mí me parece que hay ciertos barrios y locales donde se congregan los extranjeros: San Telmo, ciertas milongas, ciertos bares (irlandeses por lo general), etc. Este local era uno de estos sitios que atraía a los extranjeros.
Después de bailar tanto tuve que descansar y decidí ir a mi apartamento. Me fui a las 3 más o menos. No sé si puedo acostumbrarme a este horario porteño; salir hasta las 8 de la mañana para empecar con clases el lunes a las 9 de la mañana. No sé como lo hacen.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The Burial of ex-president Alfonsín
El jueves fui al enterramiento de Alfonsín. Mi host-mother me dijo que probablemente nunca va a ser un evento así otra vez en su vida. Dijo que después del enterramiento de Eva y Perón, este evento atraería una de las muchedumbres más grandes. Mi host-mother se rompió la pierna hace poco así que era mi deber asistir por ella que no pudo.
Ella es gran admiradora de él y los valores que mantuvo. Dijo que él le dió un sentido de orgullo por ser argentina. Explicó que a veces le llamaron “flojo” o “indeciso” pero él evitó conflictos violentos de todos costos porque valoró la paz sobre todo. Además, nunca era corupto ni ávido; vivió en la misma casa por todo su vida en una manera humilde. Entre la dictadura y presidentes coruptos él sobresalió.
Por eso, supongo, había tanta gente a su enterramiento. Estar en el medio de todo me dió tanta emoción. Al principio, estuve fuera de la muchedumbre, sacando fotos, pero terminé en el medio de todo, gritando “Al-fon-sín” con los demás. Me noté que amable y cariñosa era la gente allá. Todos siguieron el coche con el féretro cogidos del brazo. Más tarde mi host mother explicó que eso es bien latino, para acercarse y abrazarse aún con desconocidos durante tiempos así. Y es verdad, no parece que hay tanta amor y cariño entre desonocidos en norteamerica, incluso durante un evento así.
Mi host-mother y yo esperamos que este evento haya servido como una motivación a algunos argentinos para pensar en la política y sus valores. Con los discursos de Alfonsín que han mostrado en la tele estos días y todos los recuerdos de sus ideas, este evento puede terminar enseñando a los jóvenes y recordandole a los demás.
Ella es gran admiradora de él y los valores que mantuvo. Dijo que él le dió un sentido de orgullo por ser argentina. Explicó que a veces le llamaron “flojo” o “indeciso” pero él evitó conflictos violentos de todos costos porque valoró la paz sobre todo. Además, nunca era corupto ni ávido; vivió en la misma casa por todo su vida en una manera humilde. Entre la dictadura y presidentes coruptos él sobresalió.
Por eso, supongo, había tanta gente a su enterramiento. Estar en el medio de todo me dió tanta emoción. Al principio, estuve fuera de la muchedumbre, sacando fotos, pero terminé en el medio de todo, gritando “Al-fon-sín” con los demás. Me noté que amable y cariñosa era la gente allá. Todos siguieron el coche con el féretro cogidos del brazo. Más tarde mi host mother explicó que eso es bien latino, para acercarse y abrazarse aún con desconocidos durante tiempos así. Y es verdad, no parece que hay tanta amor y cariño entre desonocidos en norteamerica, incluso durante un evento así.
Mi host-mother y yo esperamos que este evento haya servido como una motivación a algunos argentinos para pensar en la política y sus valores. Con los discursos de Alfonsín que han mostrado en la tele estos días y todos los recuerdos de sus ideas, este evento puede terminar enseñando a los jóvenes y recordandole a los demás.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Class Situation
Che boludos (that;s slang for hey dummies)
Well it's been a while since I've written anything because this has been such a hectic time. A bit stressful at times. I started my UBA classes last thursday and ever since it's been non stop. Here's why:
I was deciding between 4 UBA classes which I should take. I thought 2, since I took two classes at UAM(the Madrid university) and was fine. Little did I know the reputation of UBA. The school system is very different here but basically UBA is the best school in the country and one of the best in South America. It is a public school and free and most everyone there seems like they really want to learn. The first class I went to was a seminar about reciente argentine history from a historical and historiographical perspective. I could understand the teacher pretty well, except for a few big vocab words, and the class mates were very friendly the us foreigners (2 koreans, 1 german, and 1 other "yankee"). The only problem was that the teacher explained that the class was about perspectives looking at history and she wasn;t going to deal with the actual history becuase "we already know it." As we went around the class introducing oursleves I realized almost everyone was fnishing their 5 year long history major (ie pro's in argentine history). For this reason I felt out of place, so I thought eh I don;t think I;ll take this class.
The next class was Social Geography. I chose this topic cause Argentina has very interesting geography and it probably has interesting affects on their society. The content was fine and dandy but the teacher was impossile. Although my classmates were in their 1st or second years and new to this material as well, I couldn;t barely understand a word the professor was saying. He would trail off at the end of every sentence, years of smoking had turned his words into raspy, uninteligable jargon, he made jokes that the class only knew were jokes when he laughed at them himself and he would pase around the room half the time with his back to the class talking to the wall. That was a miserable 4 hours. O yeah, and the classes are 4 hours long, so that makes a difficult class even more overwhelming. I was so glad to get out of that class and I told myself no way am I taking that class. That was the end to spending from 9 am to 9:30 pm at UBA for one day (8 hours in class without a break). I went back home, went to bed, only to go back to UBA at 9 am in the morning.
My next class was in a huge auditorium type room about argentine histroy III (1916-now). The first thing the strong voiced male professor said from up on his mini-stage in this auditorium us something along the lines of "You all are the future historians and leaders of this country. This is the best university in the country and we expect a lot from you." shit. Again, I was a little misplaced in this class.
When the UBA classes were on pause, since I didn;t have another one to go to for 3 days, things got complicated at my program, IES. I decided that I only wanted to take one class at UBA (turns out portenos only take 3 classes at a time, so for a foreigner to take 2 classes was a lot) (In madrid I took two, but the madrileños took 7! So I had it a little easier) I went into IES frist thing on Monday morning and asked to change my schedule. I got into a class about Cultural icons in Argentina. I bought the texts and found out we had to read about 70 pages in spanish for the next day. whew. I started reading.
The next morning I woke up at 5:30 am and went down to immigrations where I was suppose to get my visa. After waiting in line for 6 hours I managed to get my student visa. I headed straight over to my new class in IES for which I had been able to do about one fifth of the reading for. I found my class mates taking a quiz on the reading. Luckily I was excused from the quiz since I joined late. I sat in class for 3 hours and then headed back to UBA to try out the final class. I looked at the syllabus when I got there, about 5 straight pages single spaced of readings.... The teacher sat in front of about 75 students with a microphone and mumbled about what we were gunna study. I stayed for a while and looked at words she said taht I didn;t know and then left early. I spent another couple hours there waiting in line to get the texts for the first class which wasn;t looking so bad anymore. The next day I started reading the texts for the class and that brings me to now. I am almost done reading the texts and I have the class tomorrow morning at 9 am. WHEW!!
Anyways, that is why I haven;t been around for a while. Probably not very interesting to read about, but I wanted to document this hectic week to remember it.
Luego,
Kati
Well it's been a while since I've written anything because this has been such a hectic time. A bit stressful at times. I started my UBA classes last thursday and ever since it's been non stop. Here's why:
I was deciding between 4 UBA classes which I should take. I thought 2, since I took two classes at UAM(the Madrid university) and was fine. Little did I know the reputation of UBA. The school system is very different here but basically UBA is the best school in the country and one of the best in South America. It is a public school and free and most everyone there seems like they really want to learn. The first class I went to was a seminar about reciente argentine history from a historical and historiographical perspective. I could understand the teacher pretty well, except for a few big vocab words, and the class mates were very friendly the us foreigners (2 koreans, 1 german, and 1 other "yankee"). The only problem was that the teacher explained that the class was about perspectives looking at history and she wasn;t going to deal with the actual history becuase "we already know it." As we went around the class introducing oursleves I realized almost everyone was fnishing their 5 year long history major (ie pro's in argentine history). For this reason I felt out of place, so I thought eh I don;t think I;ll take this class.
The next class was Social Geography. I chose this topic cause Argentina has very interesting geography and it probably has interesting affects on their society. The content was fine and dandy but the teacher was impossile. Although my classmates were in their 1st or second years and new to this material as well, I couldn;t barely understand a word the professor was saying. He would trail off at the end of every sentence, years of smoking had turned his words into raspy, uninteligable jargon, he made jokes that the class only knew were jokes when he laughed at them himself and he would pase around the room half the time with his back to the class talking to the wall. That was a miserable 4 hours. O yeah, and the classes are 4 hours long, so that makes a difficult class even more overwhelming. I was so glad to get out of that class and I told myself no way am I taking that class. That was the end to spending from 9 am to 9:30 pm at UBA for one day (8 hours in class without a break). I went back home, went to bed, only to go back to UBA at 9 am in the morning.
My next class was in a huge auditorium type room about argentine histroy III (1916-now). The first thing the strong voiced male professor said from up on his mini-stage in this auditorium us something along the lines of "You all are the future historians and leaders of this country. This is the best university in the country and we expect a lot from you." shit. Again, I was a little misplaced in this class.
When the UBA classes were on pause, since I didn;t have another one to go to for 3 days, things got complicated at my program, IES. I decided that I only wanted to take one class at UBA (turns out portenos only take 3 classes at a time, so for a foreigner to take 2 classes was a lot) (In madrid I took two, but the madrileños took 7! So I had it a little easier) I went into IES frist thing on Monday morning and asked to change my schedule. I got into a class about Cultural icons in Argentina. I bought the texts and found out we had to read about 70 pages in spanish for the next day. whew. I started reading.
The next morning I woke up at 5:30 am and went down to immigrations where I was suppose to get my visa. After waiting in line for 6 hours I managed to get my student visa. I headed straight over to my new class in IES for which I had been able to do about one fifth of the reading for. I found my class mates taking a quiz on the reading. Luckily I was excused from the quiz since I joined late. I sat in class for 3 hours and then headed back to UBA to try out the final class. I looked at the syllabus when I got there, about 5 straight pages single spaced of readings.... The teacher sat in front of about 75 students with a microphone and mumbled about what we were gunna study. I stayed for a while and looked at words she said taht I didn;t know and then left early. I spent another couple hours there waiting in line to get the texts for the first class which wasn;t looking so bad anymore. The next day I started reading the texts for the class and that brings me to now. I am almost done reading the texts and I have the class tomorrow morning at 9 am. WHEW!!
Anyways, that is why I haven;t been around for a while. Probably not very interesting to read about, but I wanted to document this hectic week to remember it.
Luego,
Kati
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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
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
Sunday, March 22, 2009
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:
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:
Friday, March 20, 2009
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.
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.
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