Possible internship and photos from Las Heras

The purpose of this post is really just to share some photos. However, three exciting things have happened in the last few days:

1. Today I met with the internship coordinator—her name is Inés, so we’re already buddies since we have the same name—to talk about my interests. I’ve decided that I want to work with immigrants and that I do not want to do an internship that’s just about working on law (aka working in an office). When I explained this to Inés she said that she knows the perfect place for me. It’s called the Centro Comunitario La Alameda. I don’t know much about it yet, but it’s an organization that “rescues” (that’s their term) Bolivian immigrants who have been forced to work in sweatshops. My understanding is that the organization helps train them to find jobs and helps them with the legalization process if needed. The community center runs a day-care/school for the immigrants’ children, and has a bakery, an artisan cooperative, and a store. Inés told me that one day I might be doing activities with the kids and the next day I might be baking bread with the women and the next day I might be working in the store. It sounds like exactly what I want to do—I’m very excited! It’s not a done deal yet, but Inés is going to call them and see what we can do.

2. I learned that one of the major opera companies here in BA is opening their season (in March) with La Traviata.

3. After managing to stay away from sweets for my entire first week, yesterday I had ice cream (the ice cream here is amazing Italian gilato) and alfajores (cookie sandwiches made with dulce de leche).

Photos from a weekend group assignment in Parque las Heras:

This is Sebastian. He was walking around in the rain just like this, looking so happy! He allowed us to take his photo for our project, as long as I agreed to e-mail it to him. Then he stuck around and chatted. He's a pretty cool guy (and very cute, like every other Argentino....).

Trying (and failing) to be Porteñas

Saturday night we attempted to have a night on the town, Porteño-style. It was somewhat of a colossal failure. First of all, it is important to understand the night-life schedule in BA. People go to bars around 12 am or 1 and drink with their friends before heading out to the dance clubs. These clubs open around 3, but we’ve been told no one really gets there before 4. They close around 7 or 8 or 9….

So, around 11:30 we went to a bar and were almost the only ones in there. A new friend, Katie, and a Swiss girl, who is also living with Katie’s host-family, came as well. We had a couple drinks and chatted, but by 2 a.m. we were all getting tired and willing ourselves to stay alert until we could head to the club.

The first club we went to turned out to be a gay club, but the bouncer kindly pointed us towards a different one. When we arrived there, the bouncer seemed reluctant to let us in, but did. He also didn’t charge us a cover, which we were expecting. Inside there were only about 15 other people, and they all seemed to know each other. No one was dancing. The five of us stood awkwardly in a corner, garnering many stares, and waited to see if more people showed up. They did, but they all seemed to know each other as well. Turns out it was a private party. And we’re pretty sure they were high-schoolers. By this point we were all so embarrassed and uncomfortable that we just laughing. We decided to call a cab and flee around 3:30 and were all home by 4. So our first attempt at going out in Buenos Aires was pretty unsuccessful. Serves us right for being too proud to go to bars that cater to foreigners before we know the city, the customs, or the language.

With Emily and Kristen at the bar

Speaking of the language, I have never felt this incompetent in a Spanish-speaking country. My language is actually better then it was when I first arrived in either Costa Rica or Peru, but the accent here is very difficult to understand. What’s more, many Porteños speak English, so the second they think you didn’t understand something, they switch to English or get someone who speaks English or bring you an English menu. I’m getting a little resentful of this. I know they’re trying to help, but I won’t learn that way. Also, I know my Spanish is actually pretty good, but now my confidence is completely shot! I just keep reminding myself I’ve only been here for five days…

It rained yesterday and last night, so today (Saturday) was only 70˚, which was a welcomed relief. Kristen, Emily, and I took the opportunity to do some more exploring. We spent a couple hours at a huge artisan market in Recoleta, the neighborhood next to Palermo. I bought a simple silver chain bracelet with a small pink rhodocrosite, Argentina’s national stone...


After the market Katie joined us and we walked to the Casa Rosada, the president’s mansion, and the Plaza de Mayo, the site of many major protests in Argentina. It was a very long walk, so along the way I took pictures of the city, as people have been asking for them. The sun didn’t really come out, so the photos aren’t beautiful, but they do capture the feeling and look of the neighborhoods…

My street in Palermo


Palermo


Palermo

Recoleta

Av. 9 de Julio

Av. 9 de Julio

Av. 9 de Julio

The area around the Plaza de Mayo has wide streets lined with marble buildings with columns, and looks very much like DC…

Kristen, Katie, and Emily in front of the Casa Rosada

I dare you to guess whether this is DC or BA

Our plan tonight (also Saturday) was to see a movie, and this was Failed Attempt at Being Porteñas #2. We went to the theatre near our apartments, bought tickets for an 8:20 movie, and went to get coffee as we had an hour to kill. Upon returning, we gave our tickets to the man working the door, who informed us, laughing, that the movie was at 10:20. Damn 24-hour clock. He was still laughing when we showed up at the correct time. After the movie (Vicky Cristina Barcelona--it was really good!) we shared a pizza and a bottle of wine and pretty much decided that we should just stay in our apartments to avoid further embarrassment.

I suppose there's always next weekend....

Cell phone!

I got a cell phone! The number is 11-6299-4602. To call from the US you have to dial 011-54-11-6299-4602. It will cost you lots and lots of money, so I don't actually recommend doing it, but if you want to make my day give it a try. Otherwise I am happily available for skyping.

New friends and the Argentine "sh"

Argentina is hot. The term “sweating buckets” has a whole new meaning to me. Today it was 90˚ before 9 a.m. and hit 94 around 3. Lovely.

First, here is a map where I will be marking Important Places during my stay here. Right now it has my apartment and the building where we're having Orientation. It's a gorgeous old Parisian-style mansion that IFSA rented for the next two weeks.

Today was día tres de orientation. I’ve managed to make a few friends. In fact, today I had coffee with the sister of a girl I knew at Grinnell! She’s [meadeemm]’s sister, if any Grinnellians are reading. I’ve been hanging out mostly with two girls who live near me here in Barrio Palermo. Emily is from NYC and Kristen is from Chicago (shocking that I made friends with fellow city girls, I know). We’ve been walking to orientation together in the mornings, which means meeting at 8:15 and walking for 45 minutes. Nothing like starting the day out sweaty!

On our way home we’ve been exploring. Yesterday we ate empanadas and discovered a movie theatre right between where we all live. Today we went to Parque Las Heras (on the map, a few blocks east of my apartment). I love that you can’t walk three blocks without hitting a park in Palermo. This is one of the medium-sized ones and it was full of people sunbathing, sitting on benches, and playing fútbol. Both yesterday and today I got home around 9 p.m. This is early enough for me to walk in broad daylight and to have almost an hour to shower and get situated before dinner. Porteños (inhabitants of BA—the city was originally called Puerto Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre) operate on a very late schedule.

I am already understanding Spanish (here they call it castellano) better than I was three days ago. What is difficult here is the speed and accent with which people speak. The accent is something else. The “y” sound is pronounced “sh,” a fact that is forcing me to ask for very simple phrases to be repeated multiple times before I have any idea what I’m being told.

For example, take the phrase “Ya llegó Lina en la calle Callao” (Lina already arrived at Callao Street). In countries that speak normal Spanish, this would be pronounced, “Yah yeh-GO Lina en la CAH-yeh cah-YAO.” Here it is pronounced, “Shah sheh-GO Lina en la CAH-sheh cah-SHAO.” Cashe cashao is enough to make me think I am not actually in a Spanish-speaking country. It also keeps making me laugh (say it out loud!).

Here is the beginning of a running list of things I love about BA (when I figure out how, I’ll put it on the side):
-All the trees
-People keep telling me my Spanish is perfect (a blatant lie)
-In restaurants, water costs more than wine
-Porteños are very friendly (despite popular belief!)
-Empanadas del orno (baked)
-You can get ANYTHING delivered—empanadas, ice cream, shots of espresso in glass cups, condoms (I’m not kidding)….
-If I ever feel lonely, I can walk down to el obelisco and pretend I’m at home

As always, I appreciate all your comments and e-mails! ¡Besos!

¡Ya llegué!

I'm here in BA! My flight left last night at 10pm (well, we sat on the runway for an hour, but it was close) and we arrived this morning around noon, local time, which is around 9am at home. The flight was very crowded, including the entire Special Olympics team from Uruguay. I was seated next to two girls who are also on the IFSA-Butler program. It was nice to meet a couple people before arriving and to have friends for support while going through customs (always a little harrowing).

There were Butler representatives waiting for us at the airport and they didn't speak English for even one second. Our arrival to Argentina was completely unceremonious--we waited outside the airport for about an hour until I was told to get in a cab. Then the Butler staffperson handed the cab driver my homestay address and 30 minutes later he dropped me off in front of an apartment building.

The building is on a residential, tree-lined street. The apartment is small, but I think most apartments in the world are small by US standards. It has a lovely balcony that looks over a courtyard between this and six other apartment buildings. My host mom-person (I'm not exactly sure how to refer to her yet) is probably in her 40s, very friendly, and speaks very very quickly. I've only met her middle son, Mariano, who is 23. He shares a bedroom with his older brother. The sister, 22, has her own very messy bedroom.

I also have my own room. It has the narrowest bed I've ever seen...

some closet space for me...

a locked cupboard (very curious!), a TV, and a fantastic bookshelf that I'm pretty sure was usurped from a Dr. Seuss book and may come crashing down at any second....

I also have a table/desk and an internet hook-up, and sitting here with the big window open I can hear kids playing in the courtyard and piano music from another apartment. There is also a nice view...


A note to end on: I've only been here a few hours and I've already been asked about President Obama twice. The cab driver wanted to know how he's doing in Washington, and my host mom-person jumped right in and said that she thinks now there will be some good changes, ojalá. Ojalá, indeed.

Almost there!

I'm leaving tomorrow! I have pretty much taken over the entire house packing, but my parents are being very nice about it. I just wanted to post my mailing address, since I know you are all anxious to send me letters:

Caroline (or Lina) Rodriguez
c/o Institute for Study Abroad
Avenida Corrientes 880 8˚C
C1043AAV, Buenos Aires
Argentina

I will also post this in the "About Me" section, and I'll update as soon as I can!

Final days States-side

Well, I've never blogged before, but I'm trying it instead of the mass e-mails I sent during my Costa Rica and Peru trips. For those of you who don't know, I am using my second-to-last semester at VCU to study abroad in Buenos Aires through the IFSA-Bulter Argentine Universities Program. I'm leaving on Sunday and I am getting very excited and very nervous. Also a little stressed because I haven't done much packing--my parents are getting annoyed. Once I arrive I will be taking a few classes at a university and doing an internship for credit with a human rights NGO. Sound vague? It's feeling pretty vague. Unfortunately, I won't know more until my orientation because universities in Argentina don't open up registration until the first week of classes.

What I do know is where I'll be living. IFSA-Butler provides housing in a home-stay, and I will be living with a woman named María Victoria Chovet. Her three children, ages 22, 23, and 24, also live in the house. They are all university students, so hopefully they'll help me make friends! María Victoria told me that the house is muy tranquilo, which basically means chill or laid-back. The house appears to be two blocks away from a park in one direction and two blocks away from a botanical garden in the other (thank you Google maps). And that's all I know about the trip so far!

If you read the blog, I'd love comments! It will be nice to know that anyone's actually reading this, and I know I'll be missing home.

More coming soon!