Mi Vida en Argentina: April 2012

Hello! As I predicted... I'm starting to get lazy on the blogging homefront. I used to be so good about it! I guess it's also because I've been blogging for a while now, with my whole summer adventures in Appalachia and all, and I'm getting a little tired of it. BUT, the good thing is that I'm not in the slightest tired of my current location.

The past week or so has been great. I'm trying to squeeze in everything that I can, because from this point on I have only about 2 1/2 more weeks! I've got a calendar written down in the journal that I carry with me everywhere, which has a list of all of my "to-do's" before I leave the country. This past weekend I went to an estancia out in the countryside, after visiting an extremely religious city about an hour outside the city. It's called Lujan, and I went with the whole ISA program to see the amazing church right in the center of town. It was covered in gargoyles and intricate stone-carved details around each arch, window and peak. Inside the church, the ceilings were easily 3 stories high, and I saw some of the most amazing stained glass I've ever seen! That is such a beautiful form of art- how on Earth do they shade the glass into different colors?! Anyways, after the church we went to the estancia, where we spent the whole day eating, eating, and watching authentic Argentine customs. We rode horses, danced their traditional dances, and watched performances of both! There were gauchos who did competitions on their horses, where they had to ride as fast as they could and try to stick their pole inside of a TINY ring that was hanging from a tall archway. There were 4 gauchos competing in total, and the youngest one (he looked no more than 16) was the only one to do it successfully. It was so fun watching them, especially relaxing after having had eaten more meat at the asada than I have in a long time. They gave us empanadas, chicken, slow-roasted red meat... it was amazing. I don't think I could ever be a vegetarian.

As far as the future goes, I have things planned for most days, and so far it's gone pretty well! For instance, on Monday I went to the famous horse-racing track in the city, and also went to my first casino. Well, actually I guess I've been to a casino before, but I've never participated in any of the games.... so I lost money on slots for my first time! The funny thing is, I think going to a casino and horse track are some of the only times that I'll ever lose money with a smile on my face. Luckily I only brought $25 pesos with me, which equals less than 10 bucks US, so you really can't be mad about losing. It's all a part of the experience. I tried to choose my horses based on their names and obviously, the colors of their outfits.... and I really thought I had it when I chose the horse with the name "Incurable Optimism". Unfortunately for me, I never gave up on that horse, although he came in last place in each race I bet on him. I guess I should have learned my first time...

Let's see, what else. I saw a terrible Spanish movie last week, I've explored some epic bars around Buenos Aires, and have gone to some new parks. I'm addicted to this book, Shantaram, and I'm currently over 700 pages into it so honestly that's been taking up a lot of time.. haha! I feel a little guilty reading an English book so much while down here, but the story and writing style are just way too good to put down. I have to finish it before I leave too because it's Julia's copy! There are 930 pages in total, so I'm well on my way there. This weekend I'll be going on a "party bus" for an Argentine's birthday, going to a few museums, I'll be visiting Boca (one of the most tango-infused neighborhoods in Buenos Aires), and going to see an opera at Teatro Colon! It's one of the most famous theaters in the world and I've already taken a tour of it.. even though I'll be standing on the highest floor possible for the 2-hour show, I'm not worried at all.

All during this, I've been preparing in multiple ways for this upcoming summer as a Center Director for ASP.... I can't believe it's actually happening!! It's exactly a month from 3 days ago that I'll be in Appalachia again. For whatever reason, whenever ASP season comes up I feel like everything is coming full circle, like that's where I'm supposed to be. It's what I'm good at- my "vocacion", as people say down here- and I can't wait to get back. By no means am I wishing away this experience right now, just looking forward for what else is to come. 2012 is crazy. So much to be thankful for!

So this past week was my second spring break, and I managed to do lots of things around the province! While a lot of other people lollygagged around Chile, Bolivia and northern Argentina, I stayed behind with a few friends and took it easy. On Sunday, Coleman and I went to Tigre, about 45 minutes outside of the city, and walked around markets on the coast of the river. It was a beautiful day and the area was flooded with tourists and Argentines alike, all in search for the perfect deal. Coleman left with an epic pair of classic Argentine pants, whereas I found a few little souvenirs and called it a day. We went back to the city and met up with some friends later that night, and even one girl that we had met in Patagonia! It turned out to be a great night across town, and I crawled into bed right before the sunrise.

On Monday, Coleman and I went to the WOOFing site about an hour outside of the city. WOOF stands for the World Wide Organization of Organic Farming, so the premise is that you go and farm at a location for a certain number of hours a day, and in return they provide food and housing for free. It's a pretty sweet deal! We got there in the later afternoon, and were immediately greeted with warm smiles, tea and organic cookies. Everyone was Spanish-speaking, obviously, and while most spoke some English, Coleman and I stuck to practicing Spanish for the majority of our time there. We were in the company of three other woofers at the time- 2 had been there for a month and the third was on her second month. That afternoon was relaxing, we had dinner and made our way to bed by 10:00.

I won't go into detail about every single day, but I can give some tid bits here and there. First, we were staying with a Twelve Tribes community, who live their daily lives in direct (or as close as they can) correlation to the Bible. This included addressing each other by formal names (esposo/a- husband/wife, hijo/a- son/daughter, etc), limiting their reading materials to only the Bible and Twelve Tribes-written works, and dressing in an extremely conservative fashion (includes head coverings for women). Anyways, we stayed for three nights four days total, although I initially planned on staying for almost the entire week. Each day we rose at 6am, went to a Bible lesson, ate breakfast, and worked on the farm doing different things like working with compost, harvesting, planting seeds and picking weeds. With each meal there was definitely a different type of satisfaction, knowing that I had personally contributed to the cultivation of the materials. It was fun too working with some of the residents of the TT- this one guy Juan turned out to be a great guy, and Coleman and I told jokes with him and his little buddy Zahar for the majority of one afternoon. Jokes in Spanish are either really funny, or really not.. hit or miss. I love it.

We also got about 70 bug bites- that includes about 20 on my face. Not kidding, 20 on my face. The funny thing is that I didn't even realize how bad it was until I left, because they didn't have a SINGLE mirror around their property! I appreciate the sentiment and that it's meant to disregard the materialistic and self-conscious part of your brain... but when a girl's got a situation on her face, she's gonna want to see it. Otherwise, I really didn't have any qualms with the system, I think it's a perfectly fine way to live your life if you feel called enough to do so. I really was just frustrated with the extremely strict application of gender roles. For instance, a tornado struck on Wednesday night. Yup, a tornado. Before it struck, we were standing outside doing the nightly evening gatherings, and I couldn't take my eyes off the sky. It didn't look discolored, but there was more lightning than I had ever seen before in my life- the entire night sky was smothered in forks and beams of light. It was eerie but exciting at the same time. The rain trickled, and within seconds it was sheets harder than I've felt in years- and that was quickly followed by the power outage and lack of water. Funny enough this was right as we were getting ready for dinner, which made a 40-person arrangement a tad complicated... but it all worked out in the end. At the end of this half an hour storm, we walked around the property to see that at least 9 trees were down, two of which had done damage to the other two houses on their land. It was really extreme! Naturally because of my knowledge of construction and overall eagerness to help I asked them if I could help doing construction or tree removal the next day... and I was received with a smile, almost a giggle, and was told to sweep the entire property with the two other female woofers that day. That was something that really didn't settle with me well. I can understand that hundreds of years ago men were the "bread-winners" and did most of the outdoor work, but we have evolved here people, and I am capable! Anyways, between the lack of water (which quickly became really unhygienic when we had to clean plates with dirty rain water...), lack of electricity and overwhelming number of bug bites, Coleman and I realized simultaneously that it was time for us to leave. And with that, after a morning and afternoon of sweeping and women's work, we were on the bus back to the city with the Twelve Tribes nowhere in sight. I definitely don't regret going, in fact, I'm so happy to have met those people. They had some of the warmest hearts and eyes that I've seen in a while, and I will never forget how welcome they made me feel. Some things just aren't meant for everyone.

The night we got back Coleman and I just kicked it at home and I was asleep by 8pm... best thing ever! I woke up the next day feeling rejuvenated, and Cole and Schayan and I went way downtown and walked around various markets and a park for the afternoon. It felt great being back in the city and just wandering around with no time constraints. That was another low key day (Friday) , followed by more wandering on Saturday around the city solo. I walked for about 3 hours in different parts of Belgrano and Palermo (neighborhoods I'm living in and around), and stopped at various parks to read and write. I came home and gabbed with Julia (the roomie) for a while about our breaks, and after dinner we met up with Coleman again to see the Hunger Games! It was so good! I'm definitely an easy crowd, and after having read the books I have to admit that they did a pretty good job of adhering to the actual plot.

Tonight, a friend's parents are here and taking a bunch of us out for dinner and drinks. I can't wait to meet up with the gang again and swap stories from their weeks! It's going to be rough waking up for school tomorrow..... yikes. Reality check!