Don't forget to live

Today a cab driver asked me if I have a boyfriend. When I answered no, he asked me why. I said because I don't have time. He said, yes, you're young, focus on school, be your own person. He laughed. Then he looked at me in the rear view mirror and said, don't forget to live.

Shail, The Big Move, and MALBA

I would like to start by sharing a quick anecdote. In choir rehearsal yesterday, one of the men in the group came up to me excitedly and told me that on Wednesday he had seen the Shail choir perform. “The Shail choir!” he said, and then looked at me expectantly, as if I should know what he was talking about. “¡El coro de Shail! ¡De los Estados Unidos!” I kind of nodded. Clearly unsatisfied with my reaction, he solicited the help of a woman who speaks English. “He went last week to see the choir from Shail,” she told me. “I understood him,” I said. “I am not familiar with them, but I’m sure it was great!” Now she seemed surprised as well. “Shail,” she pushed. “From the university! They are muy conocido. Shail!” At which point it dawned on me that he had gone to see the Yale University choir. Stupid Argentine accent.

Anyway, this past week has been quite eventful. Well, it really just involved one big event that has greatly impacted everything here. Due to some really unfortunate circumstances, which I would happy to discuss via email, but probably shouldn’t write on the world wide web, I moved last Monday. It happened very quickly. I notified my program director of the situation on Friday, I went in to speak with him at noon on Monday, at two I met with the housing coordinator, at three I went back to my apartment to pack, and at 3:45 I was in my new apartment. It was a really uncomfortable few hours, but my program director and housing coordinator were really supportive, and the new homestay is fantastic.

The apartment is only about eight blocks away from where I lived before, which is nice because I don’t have to completely learn a new neighborhood or, more importantly, new colectivo and subte routes. I’m living with a lovely woman named Paz (it means peace--the IFSA housing coordinator and I decided it was a good sign) and her 22-year-old son, Juan. I have already spoken with them more than I did with all four members of the last family combined in three months. They chat with me, help me with Spanish, and have made me feel really welcome. They actually both speak perfect English, but are happy to let me practice Spanish. The apartment is bigger (not difficult), but my room is much smaller. It’s cozy, though, and I have my own bathroom and shower and much better pillows. The thing I am most excited about, though, is that we eat fruits and vegetables! There were never any in the other apartment (we’re not going to talk about weight-gain….). So this is going to be a much better situation. I am so much more comfortable and confident then I have been for months, and I’m kicking myself for not moving in March.

Other things are going pretty well. I am finished with my internship. Not really much to say about that. School is stressing me out, but school always stresses me out. I’ve met some good people in the last two weeks (in addition to Paz and Juan). Last weekend I went to a dinner party with my friend Meg and had one of the best nights I’ve had here. Meg is part of the Catholic student group at la UCA, and on Friday night she invited me (well, actually she begged me to come…this is how I know if you’re reading, Meg!) to a dinner they were having. The group was really nice, and a lot of them made a point to come and make conversation and get to know me. By the end of the night someone had brought out a guitar and everyone was singing! I want to go to the group meetings to hang out with them, even though I’m not Catholic, which Meg assures me is not a problem.

Yesterday I had choir rehearsal (concert’s coming up!) and then had a lovely day hanging out with my friend Mariano. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t been to very many of the numerous museums in Bs.As., so we decided it was high time to visit the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, aka MALBA. The inside of the building itself is similar to the east wing of the National Gallery in D.C., so it was familiar to me (reference this post). As in any museum there were pieces I really liked and pieces I really didn’t, but I really enjoyed the collection as a whole. I’m sure my grandmother could have told me a lot about the paintings. I really enjoyed the pieces by Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres-García (if you can read Spanish, check out this website). The two paintings of his that I really liked were called Calle de Nueva York (New York Street) and Compsition symétrique universelle en blanc et noir (that's in French, I think it's Universal Symmetry in White and Black). I couldn't find photos of either painting, but this painting is similar to the latter and seems to be typical of his style:

Arte universal--image stolen from Wikipedia

We also saw this painting by Argentine painter Emilio Pettoruti:

La canción del pueblo--image stolen from
http://lazarillomochilero.blogspot.com/2008/10/emilio-pettoruti-1er-post.html

We both recognized the painting, but we weren’t sure where we had seen it before. There were also paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. It’s a great museum!

Today I explored my new neighborhood and found a very cute cafetería (coffee shop) a few blocks away with wifi! I love Sundays in this city. Everyone comes out to cafetererías and just sits and reads and chats and generally relaxes. Not a bad culture.

Devil's Throat

Well, it’s been a very long time since my last update. My apologies. After three months this really feels more like living than traveling and I have fewer exciting stories to share. Also, I’ve had to stop pretending that I’m not really in school. This week I have a paper due and an exam, and next week I have two exams. I am super excited about it.

Last weekend, however, I traveled! I haven’t been traveling much, mostly because it’s expensive. But last weekend I went to Iguazú Falls, usually referred to here simply as las cataratas, or the waterfalls. Iguazú Falls is one of the biggest (are some of the biggest? Does one refer to waterfalls in the plural or singular?) in the world. Supposedly when Eleanor Roosevelt saw them, she said, “Poor Niagra!” (that tidbit courtesy of Wikipedia). There are three main sections of falls and many more minor falls; in total the whole thing measures over 2km across. The Guaraní legend—they’re the indigenous group native to this region—is something about a god being in love with a Guaraní woman, but she fled with her lover in a boat down the river and in anger and god slashed through the earth and the woman and her lover fell to their deaths.

I went with my friends Michael and Martín, and Martín’s girlfriend, Arina. After a 20-hour overnight bus ride, we arrived on Friday afternoon at a charming little hostel. We had a very international moment when showing our passports to check in—I carry a US passport, Michael is from the UK, Arina is Russian, and Martín gets to choose between his Peruvian and German documents. After grabbing some lunch we walked to a spot a little outside town where the Rio Iguazú meets the Rio Paraná, forming a T. Argentina makes up one of the riverbanks, while Brasil sits across the Iguazú and Paraguay sits across the Paraná.

Paraguay on the left, Brasil on the right

Each country has erected a small monument painted in their respective national colors, and you can see all three from from the riverbank.

Argentina

This spot is lovely and muy tranquilo, and we stayed for a while and watched the sun go down over Paraguay.

Michael, Arina, Martín

The next day we got up bright and early to go to the Parque Nacional Iguazú. In the morning we walked around the forest and found some small waterfalls. The weather was beautiful and these paths were pretty empty since most people just go straight to the main event and fail to explore the rest of the park.

Michael was a jungle explorer

In the afternoon we saw the cataratas. You get to the falls via a small train and an extensive network of raised walkways that allow you to see the falls from above and below. We went first to the biggest of the falls, called Garganta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat. The walk there was beautiful:

We could see the spray from Garganta long before we could see the falls.

The falls, of course, were incredible. Truly awesome. I’m not sure I’m a good enough writer to describe them. I would say that they (it?) were definitely one of those natural wonders that makes you feel very small. These walkways are at the top of Garganta and there is so much water creating so much splash and spray that you can’t even see the bottom of it. And it is very loud. I think I’ll just let the photographs and video speak for themselves:

After Garganta we went to the other set of falls, which are not quite as awe-inspiring, but beautiful nonetheless. Unfortunately the sun was going down by this time, so my photographs don’t really do them justice:

These falls are great, however, because you can go on a boat, which we decided to do. The boat first takes you to see Garganta from the bottom:





Then you go under one of the [not much] smaller falls. I knew we were going to get wet, but I thought it would be mostly from the spray, like the Lady of the Mists boat or whatever it’s called at Niagra. But in Argentina, you actually go under. I was not at all expecting the amount of water that was suddenly pouring down on my head. We got thoroughly soaked to the bone and had a great time!

Martín, Arina, me, and Michael, after the boat ride

In other news, the other day I went to the movies. When the movie was over, I left the theatre quickly because I was late for dinner. I was one of the first people leaving the theatre and I stumbled and fell down the stairs, sort of flopping onto the side of one of the seats. In front of everyone. I have a big scrape on my knee, and a bruise on my chest where I hit the seat. Graceful.

I’ve been missing home a lot lately and having some problems have arisen that I would prefer not to post on the world wide web, but it would meana lot to hear from you and I'll tell you all about it. ¡Hasta la proxima!