tour of colonia

monday morning we took a tour of colonia. it was really refreshing to finally do something touristy on this trip, becasue so much of our effort is put into NOT looking like toursits, and shunning all things that tourists would do and trying to be as porteno as possbile.

when we're in BA, for example, as a safety precaution, you just never take a map out in public. but in colonia, we were asked to walk around with maps.

colonia was absolutly beautiful it was like a glorified version of anyone of those cape cod, or small new england towns, i took probably 80 pictures because everything was so pretty. it was right on the water, there were coble stone streets. even a lighthouse. mom would have died. i wish there was a way that i could upload more pictures to this but ill just do a few highlights.

tour of colonia

sunday afternoon we left for our 5 day trip to uruguay. we traveled as a group via buque bus (bookay booos). the buque bus is about an hour long fast ferry across the rio de la plata. becuase it was so fast you couldnt walk around up top, which is obviously one of the best parts of ferries, but it was still a fun easy way to travel.

we arrived to colonia on friday night, after dropping our stuff off in the hotel our whole group was taken to a delicious pizzeria/pasta restuarant. that night there was a lightening storm across the river, after dinner most of the kids on my trip went up to the roof top terrace to watch the storm, it was really beautiful.

we stayed at an unbelievable hotel, i think it was actually a hostel, but it seemed more like a hotel because it was a huge house, with many rooms, and it had an angel/cherub theme.

EL Campo

The goal of the trip to rural rosario was to get an impression of how the economic policies that we've been studying have affected the rural, agrarial communities. we visited a university there that specialized in agriculture, as well as stayed with a family in a farming community for two days.

the whole trip to rosario was great, we were there monday through friday, and stayed on the farm tuesday until thursday. it was short, and we learned a lot, but by thursday i was ready to leave.

we were each paired up with at least a few other kids on the trip to live with, so that made the whole experience a little less scary. when we first got to the farm, the first job that we got to help with was changing the cows. there were around 300 cows in one pasture, and when we lifted up the rope to fence them in, all 300 (+) cows trotted around us to the other pasture where they could eat.

beyond that, we didnt really do that much on the farm. there werent all that many jobs for us to do. but we followed around gerarado, the owner of the farm, and he explained to us all about the different crops, and nitrogen fixing bacterial, and sustainable soil usage ( i mean at least i think thats what he was saying, he was speaking in spanish, and my agribio vocabulary in spanish is nothing to speak of...)

my stomach must have increased in size 10fold at the farm. they just kept feeding us! wednesday night the pueblo threw an asado (barbeque) for all of the kids on the program staying in that village. it was so special how excited they were to have us there. my host mom (who has a radio show in the village) wanted to do an interview with us to play on her show. after dinner she took out a tape recorder and we all spoke about our experiences on the farm. it seemed corny at first but it was actually a really nice way to complete the experience.

(this photo is from right before the asado, some of the woman from the pueblo took the girls on a tour)

a few girls on my trip are hispanic (their families are from mexico and the dominican), and they both had very emotional experiences at the farm, because they were able to experience first hand their families livlihoods. it was very interesting.

another something that i noticed at the farm that was interesting was they have a different way of speaking than they do in buenos aires. similar to the way one would compare the speach to someone from an american city, versus a country bumpkin in america. soemone in the city would speak much more properly, using correct grammer....whereas the person in the country would stereotypically tend to use more slang. the same was such here. one specific example the phrase che, means like hey you, or dude, it is very casual and is used occassionally in buenos aires. but everyone used it in rosario.

after rosario we went back to buenos aires, we got home around 10 on friday night. only to pack up and leave for uruguay sunday afternoon.

Jorge Luis Borges

So in several fleeting moments of packing chaos, i thought it logical to not bring any books with me to buenos aires. i dont know what exactly i was thinking, i guess i assumed i would be too busy exploring the city, meeting new people, and learning that i wouldnt have time to read.

although i still am doing all these things, i still do have time to read, and i've been meaning to buy a book for a while. well i havent yet..but today on the bus today my friend lent me a copy of Ficciones, a collection of short storis by Jorge Luis Borges.

when i accepted this loan, i was just looking for anything to read that would help pass time. what i got was way more than i bargained for. i found love. real, true, love.

Borges is known for his ability to write briefly and consisely. In his prologue he referenced this and said that when he writes he imagines that he is writing a review for an imaginary story. it was interesting to think about this as i read his work today. people also say that the best place to read JLB is in Buenos Aires (he's from here) in his works he references specific locations and interesections. some of which i have been to/heard of.

anyways while i was reading, i found myself reading over certain phrases or sentence 5 or 6 times, his choice of words was so interesting, and the sentences were so graceful. i was so tired from working on my midterm all night, but i didnt want to go to sleep because the stories were so good.

here is one section that i must have like 10 times,

"One of the Schools in Tlon has areached teh point of denying time. it reasons that the present is undefined, that the future has no other reality than as present hope, that the past is no more than present memory (25)".

Rosario

So here i am in my hotel in rosario. this is supposed to be our trip to "rural" argentina, but i thought just in case i would bring my laptop, in case there is wireless--well the hotel that we're staying in has wireless.

we took a public bus this morning to rosario. it was a double decker bus, probably 75% students on my program. the ride was only about 4 hrs, it was fun. when we got here we went to a HUGE buffet restaurant for lunch.

after lunch we went to an agricultural university. we spent the afternoon learning about how the economic development policies affected the rural and agricultural regions of argentina.

tomorrow we are going on our "rural homestay" for a few days. we are leaving the hotel first thing in the morning, and then beyond that im a little foggy on the details...

i think that we are going to be paired up with another student on our program, and we are going to live with a family until thursday morning. while we are there we are going to participate in their family just like anyone else--it sounds like we'll be doing farmwork during the day, and im not really sure what else...im imagining simple life meets post neoliberal argentina... i should come home with a few stories...

a study abroad all nighter...

only on rare occasions do i pull an nighters at school. i just dont like doing it, i think its both uncomfortable and totally avoidable. however, last night i ended up pulling my first all nighter in about a year, over a midterm for study abroad...pathetic...id say...

maybe i would be more successful if i created a more conventional study environment as opposed to the one below...

our midterm, which consisted of 3 one page (single space) essays was due this morning. it needed to be e mailed to our directors as well as a printed copy to turn in to them. This is easier said than done in a foreign country with little access to such things as printers and internet.

also this morning, we left for Rosario, a city in the Santa Fe Province, in the Pampas. We needed to be at the bus station at 8 15 in the morning. I finished writing my exam last night around 5 am. after that i packed for our trip, and then around 7am i went surching for a locotorio (little kiosk like stores where you can use computers, printers, and telephones). but the problem was that everythign in argentina seems to run about 2 hrs later than it would in the united states. for instance, dinner is typically eaten here at around 9pm, where as in the us it would be 7pm. people go out here around 3am, where as in college we would go out around 12 30 or 1. so trying to find a locotorio at 7am was the equivalent of trying to find one at 5am.

i was wondering around recoleta with my huge camping backpack, (becasue i was going strait to the bus station after) and all of my other things for the trip, after not sleeping at all the night before. it was kind of a disaster. well i found a 24 hr locotorio, printed and e mailed my exam and was off to the bus station.

banco alimento

Friday morning in Spanish class we got to go on a field trip. We were told that we were going to a banco alimento, we didnt know why at alimento was, and we didnt ask we just assumed we were going to a bank of some sort. friday morning we put two and two together and realized that what we were going to was a food bank.

we took a public bus for about an hour. got off the bus, were pretty lost...but eventually we found it. we talked to one of the supervisors and learned a little bit about the bank. they get food from supermarkets and other company grants, no government assistance. the bank packages the food and ships it to various soup kitchens throughout the province.

we sorted the food and looked for packages that were broken or past the expiration date. it was fun to go out into the community, and have a little change of scenery

Shamrock

Shamrock is a bar very very close to my (and lauren's) house. Lauren and I, along with a few friends from my program who live in my neighborhood decided to meet there. we had a fun time. my program friends couldnt get enough of lauren. and lets be honest i cant either

fabrica recuperada

I'm a little behind in my blog entries, we had a take home midterm due this morning (which i will discuss later...) so my attention has been elsewhere recently.

Last thursday we went on a field trip to a "fabrica recuperada ." To recap briefly, during the 1950s Argentina went through an industrialization phase, they tried to keep production local, and reduce imports. the program was called import substitution industrialization. government programs and policies during this period encouraged the growth of business and production. (the picture up top is from where the workers punch in every morning and clock their hours, the sign translates to we do things well, from the beginning).

however, in 1976, the economic policy shifted towards neoliberalism, which supported functioning on the global market. due to this, many of the factories were shut down, unemployment was rampant.

In response, some factories were taken over by the former workers and turned into cooperatives. although the structures from factory to factory the fundamentals are the same. there is no clear boss, and every employee earns an equal share of the profit.

the factory that was taken over in 2001, and made autoparts. when we visited we walked around and saw what kind of jobs everyone did. i got to talk to one of the employees. it was very interesting, he said that the factory was more productive when there wasnt a boss sitting in the back corner watching over everyone. i also asked him about a workmans comp insurance program (because the equipment they were using looked pretty hefty...) he told me that because everyone is a boss, everyone contributes to the insurance cost.

(this poster was in one of the lounge areas, and refers to the freedom that the employees enjoy since they have retaken the factory, it translates to "when one is able to choose, quality triumphs")

the trip was very interesting, and it was great to see how the policies that we learned about in class actually affected individuals. if you are interested in learning more about factories like the one that i visited, you should watch "La Toma" (the takeover) its a documentary, mostly in english, by Naomi Klein.

top ten signs im not a portena

as i mentioned in one of my last entries a porteno is someone who is native to argentina. for the first few weeks here, i tried really hard to be portena...but a few things keep getting in my way, here are the top ten signs that im not a portena.

10. I wear shorts when its hot outside.
9. I take pictures when something spectacular happens ( i have fairly liberal standards for spectacular...).
8. I Laugh.
7. I have curly hair.
6. I get physically ill from drinking too much coffee.
5. I wake up early.
4. I Admit that i dont know the answer to things.
3. I value schedules (this includes both arriving promptly and ending at the stated time).
2. I eat the candy/cookie/brownie that comes with coffee (because the coffee here is more like espresso it always comes with a small sweet treat to offset the bitterness of the coffee, its always delicious, and for some reason the portenos never eat it).
1. I rarely use mayonase, and i am terrified by salsa golf (salsa golf is a popular condiment, it seems like russian dressing, mayo, ketchup, i think vinegar. it is the most vibrantly orange sauce i have ever seen...).

"king goth"

yesterday i was walking down the gold paved streets of recoleta listening to my ipod (talib kwali, bridge to bama more specifically). i was walking behind a blonde haired woman wearing shorts, which was intersting because porteno (someone who lives in argentina, like the argentine version of a sabra) rule #1 is never wear shorts.

i walk through one group of gothicly dressed teenagers. this is weird becasue there isnt really a lot for goths to do in recoleta. i over look it and im not really paying attention. before i know it pass 4 or 5 more groups just like this. pierced lips. greased, died and straitened hair. black fishnet tops. i feel overwhelmed, and a little out of place with my jean mini skirt and banana republic sweater.

across the street i notice a building that looks liek a school, in the front yard there are hundreds maybe even 1 thousand goth teenagers just hanging out. im not sure if this is a special day for these goths, or if this is just public school in argentina.

its too much, i have to take a picture. for the most part i try not to take pictures of non spectacular events, because i try not to be too touristy and lets face it, its almost as bad as walking around in a map and a tropical shirt.

so as soon as i start taking pictures, the woman wearing shorts, leans over to me and in perfect english tells me that this happens every weekend. i notice the man she is with starts taking pictures. she told him that if i was doing it, he could also do it.

i asked her where all these people came from, she said that "king goth" lives over there (in recoleta, i have no idea where king goth lives, maybe in between the fendi and the hermes store, or maybe he found a place above louis vuitton) and he holds this goth convention every weekend.

thanks dengue fever....

on friday we found out that our trip to paraguay is canceled becasue of dengue fever.

from what i've heard paraguay is experiencing nor mal levels of dengue for this time of year, however their minister of health just died from dengue...so they declared a health emergency. personally i think this reflects more negatively on the minister of health than the dengue carrying mosquitos. i mean isnt dengue fever avoidance an important qualification if you want to be a health minister in latin america?

but im not too upset for a few reasons

1. i've been to the paraguay consulate. it was hot and and i got sweaty. i saw lots of paraguayos, and there were street vendors selling paraguayan food. it was almost as good
2. i already have my paraguay visa in my passport, and its really sweet looking, my paper trail says that i've been.
3. i really love buenos aires and im excited to be here for an extra week
4. im not really on the market to contract dengue fever

museo textil

last wednesday we took our first fieldtrip. actually we took two field trips last wednesday. in the morning, before classes started, we all had to make our way to the paraguayan consulate and pick up our passports. it was almost as fun of actually going to paraguay...

then we had a little bit of spanish class, after that we went to a shut down textil factory which now functions as a museaum. in the 1930s and 1940s argentina, like many other developing nations in latin america and asia subscribed to a policy called Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI). This meant that instead of continuing to spend a lot of money importing mostlyof the processed goods and exporting mostly raw materials, the country would try to process their own goods. the textile factory that we went to was very representative of the time period. however in 1976 the thinking changed more towards a neoliberal attitude, and factories built during ISI were shut down.

so we went to what was at one point a textile factory, we saw all the equipment that they used to make the fabrics. we saw the yarns, the machinery, the archives and documents. we got to sit in their dining hall. scattered throughout the factory were various slogans encouraging loyalty to the company and quality work.

next week were going to a fabrica recuperado (recovered factory) i dont know very much abou this yet but from what i understand it is the next phase in the lifecycle of these factories. once they were shut down, in some cases, the employees revived the factories, without a boss or a leader. they ran the factory democratically and split all of the profits.

cell phone number

i have one. hopefully if i put it up creepy people wont call me.

you need to dial--if it doesnt work ask my parents how...they know...
549.15.6782.7556

nueva entrada

i figured it was about time to update my blog and fill you all in on whats been going on in Buenos Aires. this blog is powered by google, and because google knows everything it knows that im in a spanish speaking location, so all of the text on this website is now in spanish--soooo this is my "nueva entrada"

last friday afternoon, we went on a trip with my spanish class to a memorial. Two years ago, there was a night club called Cromagnon that burnt down. The situation seemed similar to that of what happened at that Great White concert in Rhode Island but on a much larger scale. And because it is Argentina the whole situation was ridden with curruption. The emergency exit doors were locked to prevent kids from sneaking in, and the material used in the ceiling was extremely flamable. 196 people died and the boss of the night club was put in jail. The smemorial was really moving. the style was informal, there were 196 pairs of shoes hanging from a clothesline to represent all the young people who died. there were also pictures of all the victims, with notes and quotes from their friends and family. the most poignant quote to me said "a lo que el cielo no pudo esperar". I learned from my little host brother, Rody, that those are song lyrics. they basically mean, because heaven couldnt wait...the fact that the memorial was so informal made it that much more moving because it reflected the victims.

this weekend was fun, it was the end of our first week of classes and everyone was ready to hang out, relax, and explore the city. the night life in buenos aires really doesnt start until 4 am or so, so as americans we were a little unprepared for this and cut the night early. saturday morning i wandered around recoletta (the neighborhood that i live in) and then met up with some friends from my program for coffee.

here is a picture of me and some friends on friday night

coffee is one of the best parts of argentina, its more like espresso, then if you get it "con leche" its more like a latte. its amazing, and whenever you go to a cafe, it never takes less than 2 hrs.he

on the other hand something less delicious that they serve here is a desert, im not quite sure what its called, but its a huge slab of dulce de leche, coupled with an excessive amount of cheese. it looks like this, and i prefer not to eat it

saturday night, we had a special invite to Crobar, its an international club chain. a lot of the kids on my program were there, as was my host sister. it was a really fun night. sunday, i went to an art fair in recoleta with a friend. (this is where your gifts will probably be from)

sunday night, before dinner i want to a McDOnalds with 2 friends--mcdonalds here--they're really something else. they're huge and they have a cafe attached. and really fun.

monday we had 6 hours of spanish class BUENO...not. haha no i learned a lot. today we're starting learning about economics, and the economic crisis of 2001. then tomorrow we're going to visit a textile museum--ill post another another entrada soon.

besos