Around BsAs

Hello adoring fans (mom), sorry I haven't posted in forever... blame school. I'm FINALLY done with finals and papers and classes and it's really nice to be able to go to museums and see the city without having to worry about all that. I’m sorry in advance for how stream of conscience style this will be…

People have already started leaving and traveling so I don't have too many friends left in the city, but the free time is great. Yesterday we went to the MALBA, which is the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano en Buenos Aires, and it was really cool. My friend Harris and I also went to the Botanical Gardens the other day, and I even had to time to join him in his beloved yoga class at the gym. This was a challenge because I haven't done yoga in any language in ages, let alone in Spanish. I also had time to kill after the class before soccer practice so I had my first actual Argentine workout since being here since I walked on the treadmill instead of running and wore pants despite the uncomfortable heat inside the gym. That same day we had gone to the Jewish neighborhood for lunch where I had my first real kosher meal of hummus, babaganoush, and other dips with pita bread as well as some sort of rice and beans dish and some lamb. It was a lovely little cultural experience since I was literally the only gentile in the building and, it felt like, the whole neighborhood. I also had my first soccer practice without any other Americans, which was a nice language barrier-induced ego check since I tried to explain to the coach something I could barely explain in English (that to shoot with my left the ball has to cross my path from the RIGHT, duh) and everyone just kind of looked at me like I was speaking Greek and it was embarrassing. Anyway, they figured it out, he switched sides and I shot with my left foot so it was all good. I have been spending quite a bit of time with the soccer team, and it has turned out to be my only real source of Argentine friends and acquaintances. I went shopping with Dana from Wisconsin and Marian and Fer from here a week ago and it was really fun to get their opinions on things and help with decisions on the incredibly important subject of which boots to buy. We are all going out as a team this Saturday, after I attend the Fourth of July American FEAST that Harris is planning, which should be fun. This is my first Fourth outside of the country, which would be sad if we hadn't arranged to make hamburgers and hotdogs with ketchup and all the other proper fixings, macaroni salad, coleslaw, potato wedges, deviled eggs, beer, cookies, brownies, PEANUT BUTTER and whatever else people feel like bringing; I’m mostly excited to share all of our favorite foods with the non-Americans that will be there. Oh yeah one more thing about the soccer team: last weekend was our last game with all of the American girls there and so, during our after-game picture, the Argentines dumped entire bags of flour and mate (tea) powder all over us followed by water as a “goodbye,” comparable to the Gatorade-dump of the US but a lot messier. It was really funny and a good testament to how we have broken the division that used to exist between us and them, although I’m pretty sure the jacket I was wearing will NEVER be clean.

Other than going to soccer and seeing things, I have also been planning out my epic trip with my friend Ben to Peru, Bolivia, and the northwestern part of Argentina that begins (if all goes as planned) next Wednesday. Today, however, I realized that to get a visa to get into Bolivia we first need to know where we’re staying and have bus tickets, all of which I should wait for Ben to get back from Brazil to do… so even more free time for the weekend! We already reserved our Inca Trail tour for Peru (four days of hiking and biking along the Trail to Machu Picchu) so now we just have to rent backpacking equipment and we’ll be ready to go! I’m obviously very excited; we’ll be traveling for over two weeks and will be going by bus, which saves us money as well as gives us the opportunity to see days and days’ worth of scenery on the way up to Peru and on the way back down. I will be back on here to update on the final plans when that happens, until then I’ll just be hanging out and going to the weekend ferias, or artisan fairs, in Buenos Aires. Apparently the Argentine men’s volleyball team is playing Korea this weekend so I might go to that, as well. OH YEAH, I almost forgot, Argentina is freaking out about the gripe porcina (swine flu) because it has officially arrived down here. This means that school systems are closing down (Harris now doesn’t have to take this remaining two finals, yay!), people walk around wearing masks, and coughing is kind of like yelling ‘bomb’ in an airport. I’m hoping they let us all leave the country seeing as I’m going to Bolivia next week and back home in a few and would really rather not be stuck here forever because of some stupid new strain of a virus. The paranoia is also a little annoying, but I suppose it is legitimate since people are dying from it (although still not even 50 country-wide still).
Ok that’s all for now, sorry it was rambling and long. I’ll be back with a list of cultural differences I have noted that are interesting and some pictures I have been taking around my neighborhood.

Fun fact: I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but Buenos Aires is just as much of a melting pot as the US because some huge number of immigrants that I should know in some range of years that I should know (I’m bad at history) came over from Italy Spain as well as France, Russia, Poland and Germany. Lots of Jews and well as escaping Nazis came over after the War and more recently Koreans, Chinese, Bolivians, Peruvians, and Paraguayans; this makes for a surprisingly European looking population as opposed to the predominantly Hispanic makeup one might expect in South America. This is very helpful when I want to blend in.

Also of note, the Argentine accent is ridiculous and if you tell them that their language is not Spanish but rather ‘Argentine,’ they pretty much agree. They have an entire different second person pronoun, ‘vos’ instead of the ‘tú’ of most other Spanish-speaking countries, which conjugates verbs differently. They also pronounces their ‘y’ and ‘ll’ like ‘sh’ instead of the usual ‘y’ sound. Some days I like it, others I don’t, but all days I conform which means when I go back to the States, no one will understand me and it will be fun!