More pictures :)

I figured it's been so long since I've provided any and now that I've stolen pictures from Ines and Jessica's memory cards I'll share them with youuuuuuuu. These are pictures from a picnic at a park; that last supper we had before Sarah's party; the breakfast Kelsey, Jess, and I had outside that one cafe; the dinner the three of us made another night and the ice cream that we had home delivered; and the morning I made enough french toast for Ines, Maicole, Jess and I to share :)

Images from San Antonio de Areco

Taking a closer look

Now that I have no school and a few weeks left in the city I have decided to explore it further. Every day I am learning new things about Bs As and of more places to visit.

So Saturday (the 13th) morning, the day after I got back from Uruguay, I got up early to go for a run and get the day started before I got the chance to sleep it away. I ran by Plaza Italia as usual and had intended to go by Barrio Chino to pick up some peanut butter but the store I knew I'd find some was closed at 8 when I ran by it. The store by my house was open though so I stopped in to grab some food for breakfast. I took care of some stuff at home and then headed out for Puerto Madero. I had finally figured out how to get there when Lizzie and I drove past it on our way home from the boat. It's behind the Casa Rosada so I hopped on the subte and rode it all the way down to the last stop and walked towards that landmark. From there I wasn't too sure where to go but I could see the white point that shoots up into the sky from the bridge and so headed towards that. It's a really nice area. It's by the river, there are lots of trendy looking restaurants, and walkways along both sides. Jessica would later tell me the barrio is only 20 years old, which is pretty young for a neighborhood in Bs As. I walked across the bridge, which was made of wood and has a this long white point that comes up at an angle, as I previously mentioned, and long lines of wire coming down from it. At night it's lit up so I plan on taking mom to see it then. There's also an ecological reserve near that I want to check out. I sat down on a grassy area under a tree and read one of my books. The weather was gorgeous, not too hot but I still got a bit burnt when the sun found me under the tree. Don't worry mom, I'm putting on sun screne now every time I go out...well, at least on my face :) After a few hours I got up to go pick up the laundry I had turned in early in the day. Made my self some rice and veggies and chilled on the couch. Ines was going out but I was really tired so called it a night.

Jessica had come home Saturday night and wanted to go on my morning run with me so off we went Sunday morning. We went straight at a point where we normally turn because she said there was another park down that way and it would take us a different route home. It was beautiful. To the left was the park, and since it was early there weren't too many people out, and to the right was the street. The trail was lined with trees so it was nice to run in some shade since the day was already heating up. Then we ran by the stadium where I went to the Argentina/Spain game which is literally down the street from our apartment.

Then we went to the appartment that Lizzie is now renting with her family while they are here visiting, for brunch! It consisted of yummy pancakes, eggs, and mimosas. We then left the house after cleaning up the kitchen for the tour of the Casa Rosada and then shopping at the San Telmo market. It was cool to see the inside of the Casa Rosada, since it's their bicentenario here (they're celebrating Agentina's 200 year birthday/anniversary), there was this one room with all pictures of important women figures in Argentine history.

Monday Jessica and I went out in search of a park we had read about in a magazine article. It was supposed to have 3 towers that made music when wind passed through them. We took the train to St. Vicente because the only directions we had were "St. Vicente and the river." We couldn't find it and because we were waiting for Matias to meet up with us, we plopped down under some strange tower things to have a reference poin to give him. After reading and napping for a bit the weather started to turn gnarly and Matias was in a way different place than we were so we met up with him at the train station to give us a ride to our house. The three of us drank mate and Matias helped Jessica study for her upcoming final. Jess still has finals because her classes were with Argentines and their finals are spread out over a month.

Tuesday was dinner with the Italians. Some of our Italian friends: Arriana, Arriana's best friend who's visiting, Flavio, Giatano, etc had been away on trips and were only going to be back in the capital for another few days before they took off for either more trips or home to Italy. The dinner was held at Chori & Wine, the place we had eaten dinner after the Wine bodega a few months ago. Jessica and I arrived and there was already a full table of ten people, some from the university, others friends of people from the uni. It was a pretty tasty meal of meat and wine. For dessert: chocolate mousse :) Afterwards people wanted to go out dancing but I was feeling funny and wanted to go home. I walked to the bus stop around 2 AM on a Tuesday so of course I had to wait over half an hour for the colectivo. While waiting a woman around 30 came up to wait for the same bus. We started talking and she was super nice but seemed very concerned that I was out by myself. Eventually the bus did come and I got my ass into bed after arriving home.

Wednesday we went running with the group around the Palermo lakes as usual. I hadn't thought that the running team would be still going on but it is, because not everyone has left! At night we went over to Arriana and Flavio's appartment because Jessica and I wanted to dancin'. We arrive and Arriana's got the place covered in clothes and all of the things she is trying to pack. She's going backpacking and so we helped her decide what to take because she was running out or room and strength the carry all the crap she'd already put in there. We made some drinks and more and more people showed up but no one seemed to know where we were going or what we were doing soooo Jess and I ended up going home...with all of the left over food Arriana wasn't going to be able to eat by the time she left. Steallll :)

Thursday I attmepted to find another of the parks mentioned in the magazine article. Ended up near Ave. Libertador and while I didn't encountered that specific park, I still found a comfortable tree to plant myself under. I read, doodled in my notebook, snacked, and people watched. I changed my location a few times and started walking towards other parks I could see in the distance. Ended up walking past the flower near UBA (Universidad de Bs As). There is this giant silver, steal flower that was given as a gift by a French guy, I wanna say. What's cool about it is that it acts like a real flower, opening in the day and closing at night. As I said, it's next to the UBA which gigante and I enjoyed walking by and marveling at it. Being near this I knew that the Museo de Bellas Artes was across the street. If you recall I've already been there for an art project but when Kelsey and I went we really only looked at the things we needed for the class. This time I checked out the other painting they had. I love art! It was all so rad. After an hour or so in the museum I went out to the park at its side and continued reading. Agustin and Nico text me while I was there, trying to get organized for another trip to Carilo. There was talk of heading out that night instead of Friday so I figured I should get pack home to pack. Turns out we didn't leave that night and the plan was to take off on Friday but no one wanted to tell us a time so I had no idea when to get up.

Friday morning and still no one has told us anything, longgg story short we didn't go. Studied some spanish and went for a run, and that was pretty much the extent of my day.

Satruday went to the ecological reserve with Jessica! We didn't take off till around 5 and the reserve closes at 7PM so we knew we'd only really get to poke around a bit, but we were just glad to get ourselves out of the house. I have collected quite a few books and have taken to spending long periods of time lounging around the house reading, which is cool but can make me stir crazy by the end of the day. It was a beautiful, warm day and when we found the reserve we had just enough time to walk one section of it. Geee it's beautiful there! So nice to be surrounded by nature rather than concrete. After, we walked back towards Puerto Madero and sat on some grass and chilled. We were both hungry while walking by all the restaurants so decided to stop in somewhere to have dinner. Ended up at this gaucho/meat place. Luckily there were vegetables to go with my giant serving of meat because I can't eat it anymore. I just don't enjoy it anymore and it kinda grosses me out now. Back to being a vegetarian :) Earlier we had asked if Brad and Nico wanted to grab some beers at Plaza Serrano since none of us were going to Carilo and met up with them around 11. We had some cold beer on a nice warm night. Anddd a shot of tequila haha. Next stop a boliche (club) Las Terracas. The place was huge and way cool. You could dance inside or out and it was right on the river so of course we spent most of our time outside! Long fun night of dancin' and we ran into quite a few of our friends. Got in around 6:30AM.

Sunday recovered (the 21st).

Excursion to the "river where the painted birds live"

I wake bright and early 5 AM Monday morning so I can get ready and catch the 6AM subte to Retiro, where I was to board a boat for Uruguay. It's windy and grey outside. As it always seems to be when I have to go to Retiro. Let me tell you, if I haven't already, Retiro is probably one of my least favorite places. Moving on... I find the Buquebus station, the company I'm traveling with, check-in, go through customs, and wait to board. We get on and take off promptly at 9AM for our 3 hour ride across the Rio de la Plata for Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The boat ride is fairly uneventful, I spent most of the time with my head in my book. However since things got a bit bumpy the last hour, the kid next to me barfed and the girl in front of me had to lay down in the aisle with a bag of ice on her head so she wouldn't barf as well.

Straight off the boat I get onto a bus that will take me to Punta del Este in two hours. My seat is next to an old Argentine woman who wants to complain about the boat ride. It hadn't really phase me all that much so I think I disappointed her when I didn't join in on the complaining. She leans her seat back to sleep but I am trying to soak up everything of this new and foreign country :) Sleepiness overtakes me after twenty minutes or so unfortunately, but when I open my eyes every so often I'm enchanted by the pretty and peaceful country side I see after we get out of the city of Montevideo.

I arrive with the address and instructions that it is two blocks from the bus terminal. It was a beautiful, warm day and Punta del Este is a very clean city (which I have very much learned to appreciate in South America). They (Raquel, Hannah, Lizzie, and Tim) told me that the apartment was right on the beach. I headed for the beach and firgured I'd ask if I didn't run into the other street I was looking for after two blocks. Which I didn't, so I asked some guys who were working on the sidewalks, they didn't seem too certain but said I could walk towards the center and ask there. I start walking in that direction when one of them came after me and said they'd asked another guy who said it was 7 blocks away. 7 blocks? That can't be right but I thanked him anyway. Which of course he replies "no, por favooor" haha one of my favorite things people say here because of how they say and almost everyone does it. Anyway, so I walk down a few blocks till I get to a bike shop and ask the guy in there. He pulls out a map but we're having difficulties finding it, he asks another guy to help us find it and eventually we do. So they direct me on how to get there and off I go, with my first interactions with Uruguayans. Needless to say it was very possitive :)

Unfortunately as I'm nearing the place, I realize I don't remember the name of the apartment and I didn't write it down. Oh well, guess I'll just be buzzing a few different places then because there were buildings on both side of the street. And I'm sure at this point you're wondering why the heck I don't just call them. The phones weren't working for any of them except Tim who could make calls but I couldn't make calls when I got there either. So I'm poking around different buildings, buzzing here, talking with doormen there, and they can't be found. I begin to just slightly panic but force myself to take a seat on the beach and read to calm down. I figure that somehow, someone that I spoke to in the apartments didn't know what they were talking about and that my friends would go out and see me on the beach. The beach was gorgeous and I could see buildings all along the coast. However, it started to get clowdy and cool down, which made me want to head indoors. Then I thought, what if I can still text? I give it a try and turns out I can, Tim calls me after seeing my text and directs me where to go because it turns out there are two ends to the street. Because the main street they're on loops around the whole coast of Punta del Este and the cross street goes across. Hopefully that made sense...

Tim comes out to meet me and takes me up to the apartment. It's gorgeous and from every window you can see the ocean. Turns out the day before they'd had really kick-ass weather and poor Lizzie got sunburnt so bad she was left pretty much immobile the entire trip. But the weather for the rest of the time wasn't super beach friendly anyway so we speant a lot of the time in the apartment. Most of the trip consisted of sitting on the couch with a blanket, reading, and marveling at the crashing of the waves outside.

First night I was there though we went and got ice cream :)We went out to a chinese restaurant one night too and were the only ones in there the whole time. We came the week before "high season" so there was practically no one out and about. Nice break from the insanity of Cabildo and such. I think there're more people on the streets at 4AM in Bs As than there were at 4PM there.

I did get up early one morning to wander around on my own. I walked all along the coast and stopped to sit and gaze out at the ocean whenever I pleased for a few hours.

The last day I was there before I left with Lizzie, the weather was pleasantly sunny. So Tim, Hannah, Raquel, and I went for a walk on the beach.

Oh gosh but the exchange rate there was 20 USD to 1 Uruguayan Peso. Imagine buying an ice cream cone with two scoops for 95 Pesos or getting a 1000 Peso bill out of the ATM. I felt RICH and absurd all at the same time.

The bus ride we took from Punta del Este took us this time to Colonia and was 4 hours. This time I stayed awake for nearly all of it and the landscape of Uruguay is gorgeous. We passed the occasional farm where the farmers were using animals to move their tools. Pretty cool to see. The towns that we passed were super quaint, clean, and beautiful. I did some research after getting back and turns out Uruguay (all info about to be presented was brought to me, and now you, through Wikipedia) was the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage and did so in 2007. They also have the lowest income inequality rate in LA, they're second only to Canada in all of the Americas. Anddd the majority of their military is deployed as UN peacekeepers. Isn't that neat? Uruguay is a "multiparty presidential representative democratic republic" and their presidnet is Jose Mujica who is said to speak the language of the people and therefore is popular with the rural and poor. And now you know ;)

It was an absolute WONDERFUL trip and I am delighted that I got the privilege to visit the country of Uruguay which means: the river where the painted birds live.

Saying Goodbye to Kelsey

Saturday was a chill day with Kelsey. We spent the morning lounging around and then went over to Synnove's to enjoy some sun on her terrace. After hanging out there for an hour or so Kelsey and I went for a run around Plaza Italia, which was really nice. Kelsey was trying figure out all the things we'd done and what she hadn't gotten to do yet. We decided Sunday, her last day, we would get up early and try to do as many of those things as possible. When we got home we had just enough time to shower and get ready to go to dinner. There's a beautiful restaurant called Milion, that's in this old mansion. While the inside of the building still maintains its white pillars and dainty chandeliers there were also modern pictures on the wall and sculptures hanging from the ceiling. It was a cool mix. I got vegetable stuffed chicken on mashed potatoes with salad and we shared a delicious cold white wine. The group consisted of myself, Kelsey, Synnove, Gaitano ( the Italian that's in love with Kelsey), and Casper (Amsterdam). Our group got a bit bigger though because as we were finishing up, a Norwegian girl that Synnove knew came to say hello. She was there with her Australian boyfriend and their new Australian friend Beauden (I had actually met him at Sarah's party on Thursday). All three are traveling South America and the couple and Beauden had only just met in Buenos Aires. After we took care of the check we joined them at the bar. Kelsey, Synnove, and I shared another bottle of the white wine. We were all chatting for a bit, the two Australian guys were a hoot, and then Kels and I went out to the big balcony to admire the vines growing along the side of the building and the awesome atmosphere of the place. Around 12 or 1 Kels was ready to go home but I wasn't quite ready, so with a bit of encouragement from the boys and Synnove, I decided to go with them to Plaza Serrano for dancing. The line to club was wayyy to long so we went to another bar. The Norwegian girl was a bit too drunk so she and her boyfriend called it a night shorty after we got there. Synnove, Beauden, and I shared a beer and chilled for an hour or so. Then it was time to get home! My cab driver was super friendly and funny, wish I could remember what we were chatting about lol

Sunday Kels and I got out of the house around noon and were headed out for the MALBA (a museum of modern art). First we had to stop by the apartment she'd rented when David and then her mom came, because she'd left her mate there on accident. It actually worked out perfectly because we weren't 100% sure how to get to the musuem so we asked the landlady and it turned out we could walk to it in 20/25 minutes. It also helped that I had been there once before with Greg to watch that movie Plan B, so once we got closer I knew where we were going. It was AWESOME. Half the paintings/sculptures in there we had studied in art class. After we'd gotten our fill there, Kelsey's next desired destination was the Teatro Colon. We set out walking the direction we figured a subte would be and enjoyed the warm weather and neighborhoods we wandered through. We got to the Teatro Colon but it was closed to the public which was a bummer because it's not the outside that's all that impressive. We had to get back home anyway because Kelsey had to leave at 7pm and Synnove was coming over at 5:30PM because they were going together. Get home and Kelsey begins frantically last minute packing. Eventually everything gets settled and I walk them down to the street to hang out while they grab a cab. It was sad to say goodbye, but at least I know I'll be seeing her again since Santa Cruz is easier to get to than Europe. Greg came over around 10 to stay with me since everyone now was out of the house except for me (Jessica should be back from her trip today and I think Ines is still sleeping in the next room). We watched a movie and then I had to get to bed because I was going to be leaving at 6 AM for the boat that would take me to Uruguay :)

Farewell Fiestas

Sarah had organized a dinner and party at her apartment as a goodbye/so glad finals are over thing this last Thursday night. There were about 23 of us at dinner in this really awesome restaurant. We had this upstairs part all to ourselves and the ceiling was completely covered in wine bottles that were laying on their sides. I'm still not exactly sure what type of meat I was consuming but it was on top of sweet potatoe mashies and had a spectacular sauce on it. Rico. We wined and dined and then Sarah's apartment was litterally above the restaurant. She had a huge, and very nice terrace where we all hung out. SO many people came, and it surprised me to see so many kids and realize they're from Belgrano but I had never seen them before. There was dancing, fun music, and lots of running around, trying to talk to everyone. Agus, Nacho, and Nico ended up dropping by so I very luckily got a ride home. Sweeeeet. Went to bed as the sun was rising.

Yesterday Jessica, Kelsey, and I had deemed as girls/roomy day because Kelsey leaves Bs As for good on Sunday and Jessica was taking off for a week long trip today. We got up around one and decided to eat breakfast at a funky, cute cafe we've grown fond of. We had just ordered and were enjoying the cool couches to sit on while eating outside, when we noticed that the lights had gone out inside. Our waiter comes out and is like ya so the power went out all down the block, you guys can chill here for a bit in the hopes it turns back on because now we can't cook any of the warm food you requested. So we stuck it out for a bit, but man o man were we hungry. In the end we got orange juice, yogurt with fruits and nuts, and medilunas. After this we went to the park near Plaza Italia to rent rollerblades. This time I fell on my ass, HARD haha but got back up and kept on going. It was a really gorgeous, bit hot, day yesterday. The sun was shining and there were very few fluffy white clouds in the air so it was mostly blue skies. After our time was up on the skates (you rent them for an hour) Synnove, Soren, and another girl were having a picnic in the park but across the street. So we met up with them, drank some champaign, and then headed back home. Grabbed some groceries on the way home so we could make our own dinner together, stirfry and salad. We sat out on our balcony and had a really wonderful dinner. Thennn we ordered home delivery ice cream! We got 4 different flavors but they still all had dulce de leche in them. These people are OBSESSED with dulce de leche. Jessica's choice was a dulce de leche flavored ice cream, that had dulce de leche in it, and dulce de leche filled chocolate. At around 10:40 we were like hmmmm maybe we should get ready? Finally got out of the apartment and headed on over to Flavio and Ariana's apartment for another terrace fiesta :) Another oh so fun night! Almost everyone there had flights to catch home or for further travels today or Sunday. Crazyyy.

Now a day for recovering and cleaning my room. Chau!

The end of an era

So last week was basically studying for finals and what not.

Last friday however I deemed the only night I would go out since I had much studying to do. Sooo Lizzie and I went to a concert of El Cuarteto de Nos. Their from Uruguay I believe. I recommend you give them a listen, "Yo no se que hacer conmigo." It was rad. In this building I'm assuming is often a night club or maybe just does a lot of concerts. There were a ton of people and as usual, mass amounts of Argentines makes for a very passionate atmosphere :) After the concert I had told Agustin I would call him. So I did. He and the boys were at his apartment drinking and he invited me over. Lizzie was too tired to come, we said goodbye at the bus stop. Got on over to Agustin's and he, Nacho, and Duilio (one of the guys I met from Carilo who was hangning out with them in Bs As because he normally lives in Rosario) were munching on empanadas. Agus opened one of his birthday bottles of wine and we had some glasses of that. Yummy. Then 3 of Nachos friends came over, two of the guys had awesome curly-haired afros going on, the other guys hair was just plain wild. Then 3 more. So there ended up being about ten of us just chillin' and drinking. The boys were having a mini playstation football match going on which was entertaining. I made an attempt, it went alright. Then all at once everyone got up to take off (to what I thought was a house party but really we were going to a club). I hopped in a cab with Agus and one of Nacho's friends, forget his name though...At the door the bouncer guy was asking about documentos (like ID's or whatever) but because we left in such a rush I didn't grab anything and Agus was like she's from California and this other guy is from Rosario, and I don't know but somehow we ended up inside. Fo' free. We got in and it was actually a costume/Halloween themed deal which was cool. Nico and Brad were there so it was cool meeting up with them. We dancedddddddddd. Haha I had the 9 boys around all night so I was rarely without a dance partner. But because there were so many of us I didn't really notice as the club started to empty but I did one point look towards the growing gaps in the crowd to notice that there was light outside. I don't know exactly what time we were there till, but it had to have been at least 6 or 7. We all stumbled blindly into the light outside, kind of literally... Nacho was rough housing with me a bit and I was so tired we fell over eachother. Grabbed some cabs and returned to Agus's. He threw down a mattres for me and I crashed. However the red wine wouldn't let me sleep in too long so I ended up draging my ass back home around 12:30PM.

Saturday and Sunday: Study. Which sucked to miss Halloween but, oh well.

Monday: Lit and Spanish final
Tues: Art final
Wed: US LA relations final and then picking up my grades for Span and Lit.
Thurs: Picked up my Art and History grades.
When I say "picked up" my grades I mean that we had this sheet we had to go around to collect our grades. Our professors had to write them down and then once we'd gotten them all, we turned them into our advisors. It was kind of strange and could take a really long time since the profe has to do each student. And I finished my US LA relations final 1PM and came back to get my grade at 4:30PM the same day.

Anyway. STRAIGHT A'S straaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhht A's :)

Oh but Wednesday night Jessica and I went to Matia's and Nico's birthday party and it was a BLAST. Jessica had made them a cake and it was super fun presenting them with it. We were in this abandond bar that's going to be reopened eventually. Matia's introduced me to this very nice guy that night so I got a whole ton of Spanish practice in, which always excites me. The cops came around 1:30AM because, as I've mentioned the building wasn't really open to public yet. So we all hung out, out front for a bit but luckily there was a bar like two doors down so we all just piled in there. Jessica and I had origenally wanted to go out dancing after but by 2:30 we began to get a bit sleepy. We were making our rounds to say goodbye to everyone when some of the German boys, Falk and oh shoot, I forget the other guys name, were like noooo you're not leaving! Sit down we're getting you a speed and vodka. *sigh* so I sat down and drank my speed and vodka lol But it was cool because they were telling me all about Germany and I really, really, really need to take advantage of all the friends I've made in Europe. Finally though at 3:30 Jessica and I took off to a catch a bus home. The whole way home we were lamenting over having to leave this wonderful city with it's wonderful people and all of our wonderful friends. Many people are leaving this week for other trips they have planned and it's going to be very difficult to say goodbye.
I still have about a month here but things are very much coming to an end already, it feels like. The end of a very, very wonderful era. I'll be sad to see it go...

"si estas aburrido, veni al sur de america"

In the words of my history professor, "if you're bored, come to south america." Well at first he said Argentina but then looked at the Mexican girls in the class and was like ya, ok Mexico too...

If you weren't already aware, Nestor Kirchner died yesterday (Wednesday the 27th) of a heart attack. I'm not sure what everyone knows about Argentine politics and what not but just to be safe I'll assume nothing, so I don't leave anyone confused. Nestor is the husband of the current president Cristina and was himself president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007.

Before coming here I knew that Cristina was the president but I didn't know much else than that. What she stood for, what the Argentine people thought of her, how she'd come to be president, what she'd done/planned to do for the country...were all a mystery and for the most part still are unfortunately. But today I've learned more about Nestor and the answer to some of those questions.

I feel like there's sooo much to tell you guys to help explain the situation. But it's taken me months to find out for myself and several classes on Latin American subjects just to learn a bit so I know I won't be able to convey it all properly. And I'm really trying to get my own thoughts straight right now on the whole matter. I just got home ten minutes ago from Plaza de Mayo so to be honest I'm a bit emotionally drained; I wanted to get it all out while it's all fresh in my mind...I'll explain that journey in a moment though.

Let's back up a bit. What do you know about Evita and Juan Peron? I've spoken a bit about them already I believe, like when I visited the cemetary where Evita's body is supposed to be. But to recap on the part that applies to today's happenings: Peron was a president for the workers and according to my history professor, these were the best economic times Argentina's seen (we're talking about the 19040/50s). Yesterday a workers union was quoted to have said that after Evita and Peron, Nestor gave the most for the workers of Argentina. Grafiti I read said along the same things, "Because of Nestor my family works" etc.

Apart from what he has done for the workers of Argentina, he also fought to ease the minds of Argentines who had lived through the Dirty War. Professor Pomposo (my history professor) was telling our class today, that in a public, televised event, Nestor had the painting of the dictator Videla (the one responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and disappearance of thousands of people) taken down from a wall in el Colegio Militar. He wanted to let the Argentine people know that they would never have to endure the things they had twenty years before. He then showed us a picture of the event from a newspaper (which I bought today on my way home) and I was greatly impressed by Nestors act and all the things surrounding it. At this point Profe. Pomposo had to leave the room because he was beginning to cry. One of his friends was one of the many "disappeared" or "desaparecido." So of course, to see a president do something like that and make a statement such as that, had to have been a very powerful thing. Can you imagine? I have the hardest time wrapping my head around all of these things sometimes. First, living under a dictator. I just sent my mom and Chris all my choices for the upcoming elections so they can fill out my ballot for me. It makes me appreciate our political freedoms that much more. Then, the daily terror. At any moment you or someone you love could disappear forever, presumably to be tortured and killed, yet you will never know for sure what happened to them.

And quick sidenote, speaking of political freedoms: In my spanish class the other day it came up that one of my American classmates had sent a letter to their senator and how he had responded to the letter so my Profe asked if that was a common thing in America. Because in Argentina there aren't addresses or ways to get ahold of elected governors, etc. You vote for them and then they get to decide how they want to vote and don't consult the citizens, at the same time she was saying many Argentines don't pay attention anyway.

I was very much moved in my history class today and Profe. Pomposo urged us to go to the Plaza de Mayo if we could because there are thousands gathered, waitng to pay their last respects to Nestor. And I figured I would go, be apart of this moment and observe the reaction of the people. It was packed, as I expected, but because the people were lining up to go into the Casa Rosada the plaza was all gated off. So I walked down the street toward 9 de Julio (the street that the Obelisco is on) to see the line, hear the chanting, and read the banners. While I was walking down the street a news guy asked me if I wanted to blow a kiss into the camera, which I felt was an inappropriate thing to do so I said no. There were hotdog vendors and porta potties because if you wanted to get into the Casa Rosada, you were going to be waiting for a while. The line went on until 9 de Julio and then continued on down but I turned back. There were a ton of signs from worker unions in support of Nestor, telling Cristina to be strong, that she had their support.

I had previously asked Mati, one of the guys I met during my weekend in Carilo, what he thought about Peron. He said he didn't like Peron and Peronismo (the political party that stands for everything that Peron stood for and believed in, although there are TONS of variations of Peronismo by people wanting to use the influence Peron's name holds) and said that he didn't like the Krichner's as well. This tends to be the view of wealthy Argentines, I've discovered for myself and through my classes). This I haven't quite come to understand yet. Sooo more research will be involved to understand the opposition to Peronism. Because I tend to think, if you champoined the working man, you're a good guy right? I guess to the working man, but not everyone...

Very enlightening day. Very interesting. Lots to think about. I'd love to hear your opinions on any of this.

Oh but to return to the first thing I said in this post. Because my profe is usually an easy going guy he did start to joke a bit towards the end of class to lighten the mood. We were talking about the huge economic depression in 2001ish and how 25% of Argentines were unemployed at one point, etc. Then I don't know how exactly we got to this point but he looked at one of the Austrian guys and was like when you're at home in Austria and you're bored because the transportation system always functions, you know that the Euro is worth so much today and it will be the same tomorrow, and a bunch of other things that go on here, come to Argentina. Ah, now I remember how we got to that point. He was asking us if we had been well recieved here, had a nice time while we were here studying, he said that we were always welcome. Anyway, while all of this was in jest and the class was laughing, of course there's truth to these things and the frustration that comes along, I imagine, in living in an unstable place. Another thing that has me baffeled are indeed all of these uncertainties. Like that protest of public transportation workers that happened where a man was killed, and the next day we don't know if the public transportation will be working. There was a strike of waste workers and for a week the trash piled up on the streets. They're small things but they are daily things that you are just never certain about.

Besos. Buenas noches.

Scenes from Carilo

Right before my camera broke...

Last week was pretty chill and I didn't do too much because I was a bit sick :(
Monday: slept.
Tuesday: slept.
Wednesday: went to dinner with Jessica and Gigi. Gigi had text me that morning saying she missed Jessica and I and wanted to know if we could get together for dinner. There's a restaurant that Kelsey had been to a few times, Krishna, and she'd raved about it so we decided to try it. One of the waiters was standing at the entrance when we first got there and was like you know it's vegetarian right? Haha, yes, we are aware of that, thank you. inside the place was wayyyyyyyy cool. Dark with candles on the tables, the tables were low and have really cool ceramic designs, the seats were either stools or couches with rad cushions. We each got something we knew nothing about and then shared it. YUM. Dude, the food was gooood. And I got a lemondade with ginsing, also yum. Afterwards Gigi drove us home because her boyfriends house is near our apt. But I had told Agustin I would come to wine club so I hoped on a bus to get over there at around 12ish. Nacho, Brad and Agustin had eaten dinner and were sippin' on the wine when I got there. We were all pretty tired but we chilled and chatted a bit. Always a pleasure passing time with those boys. Brad walked with me down to the bus stop because sometimes it can take forever for a bus to come but one came within a minute or two of us getting down there! I'm always stoked when that happens haha. But I also wasn't sure a bus would come at all because there had been some protests I guess of PT workers and one had died :( so rumour had it there would be no buses and the subte wouldn't be going. Lizzie asked our history prof what had happened exactly (never do that, they give you the backround info from like 30 years ago) but basically I think this was the first death in a protest, like ever. Pretty amazing right? I just hope I understood him correctly haha.
Thursday: I was feeling particularly crummy so I slept more.
Friday Satruday and Sunday: I DID NOT LEAVE THE APARTMENT haha Not because I was on my death bed or anything, I just resisted all temptation to go out so I could sleep and do hw. When Kelsey got back from Iguazu on Sunday though, she wanted to go for a run so I went with to walk. It was really nice walking around the park.
Monday (25th): HW yay.
Tuesday: Girls night! Last night Arriana, Synnove, Kelsey, Jessica, sarah, me, Lizzie, and another Danish girl but not from UB and I went to dinner. (Gigi was supposed to come too but fell asleep haha) We went to a REAL cool restaurant, Don Julio. It had wine bottles all around the restaurant that people had signed and I was like WE'RE DOING THAT. Our table was upstairs and in an area all to ourselves! We ordered wine and meat with sides of french fries and salad. MUYYYY rico. I asked one of our waiters to bring us some markers and we all wrote something on the bottle, then I stuck it up next to some others...I don't know if they'll move it but since I want to take mom there I'll check it out! The waiters were nice and funny and they asked me if I wanted to go out dancing with them ahaha. I really did, why not go out dancing with a bunch of Argentine waiters?! But I had, had a bit too much wine and was also pretty sleepy. Plus it didn't seem like anyone else was down and I wasn't about to go by myself.
Today: Census day. EVERY thing is shut down because we're supposed to be in our houses from 8 AM to 8PM to be counted in the census. It's quiet here....I LOVE IT. There are barely any cars or any people out. It's weird but so freaking nice at the same time. Plus, now I've got time to finish my history paper (or write on the blog whatever) hehe wish me luck!
PS camera broke :( I'm going to steal pictures from others but from here on out pictures will be scarce! Oh well, just means my descriptions have to get even better!
Chau! Un beso!

Rosario

Thursday Kelsey, Jessica, and I went to Synovve's new apartment for some wine and to hang out with a few other friends before going to watch matias's band play again!
We was on the list cuz that's how we roll ;) haha and so we got in fo' freeee. Once again, because this also happened to them last time, the sound guy didn't show up. It was a bummer because we couldn't hear Matias sing that clearly but still awesome, fun to listen to 'em. Nico drove us home around 2ish and I went straight to bed because I knew this weekend was going to be crazy.
Jessica unfortunately couldn't come this weekend. She hadn't been sleeping well and wisely realized another sleepless weekend with booze and partying probably wasn't the best idea. Me on the other handdd haha no, I'd been sleeping just fine so I was good to go. I rolled over to Agustin's around 6PM with a birthday cake Jessica had made for him. Muy rico :) We chopped it up to eat on the drive there while sippin' on some mate. Agustin drove, Brad rode shot gun, Nico to my left and then me! It was a splendid 4ish hour ride there. Agustin was saying that Rosario is like the Chicago of Argetina because of their car manufacturing/industry stuffs. There's a big casino when you first get off the main freeway that gets you to the city too. Agustin (our ever faithful tourguide) told us that there's something they do now to keep the poorer people of the city from coming in and loosing all their money because I guess that had become a major problem. The villas were literally right across the street too and it always bums me out to see them, I can't wrap my head around people having to live like that. Which reminds me of something I had thought of the other day...Other than the very first Argentine boys I've met here, Matias and Nico and now Agustin and his whole crew are very wealthy for Argentine standards. It's not super common to have beach houses and take weekend trips whenever you want and what not. Agustin seems very aware of this though, he's fortunate to have parents so well off because of their successful careers and he doesn't flaunt their wealth. He only seems eager to share it. Just as he was eager to share with us his home city where he grew up and his home. We got to his house around 11PM that night and there were cases of alcohol and the first keg I've seen in a while haha. And of course LOTS of meat. I met a lot more of his friends and his SEVEN sisters and his other brother. Everyone was super nice, but I expected nothing less. It was a really good time :)
Saturday we got up around one, ate some sandwiches and headed out to meet up with some friends who have a boat! Something like 15 of us got on this little boat and rode out to an island to chill for a few hours. So lovely :) We made a fire for a bit, walked around most of the island. There were horses on it! And a house...one of the girls was telling us that there's a fisherman who lives with his wife and kid on the island. They live off what he catches in the river. There aren't really any laws I guess on these little islands that were throughout the river (there were two guys smoking weed when we hopped off the boat), so people could do that if they wanted. Not that this is something I think people would do as a choice, this family on the island was extremely poor and has no other choice.
We hopped back on the boat and though it was night time, as promised, Agustin took us to the monument. It was AWESOME. It's from the monumentalismo movement and that movement was all about BIG buildings. 25th of May is the dia de la patria. A day of revolution against Spain in Argentine history. This monument was built in remeberance of the day and the soldiers who died during the fighting over Argentine independence... Unfortunately my camera is shot up Agustin took a ton of photos so I think he's going to email them to me or something so I can share! We went back to his house to enjoy some pizza his youngest sister had made. And then we took off back for Bs As. A little earlier than we had planned because Hernando needed to get back and Nacho, who he had ridden with left. So Segundo (A different Agustin's nickname), Hernando, Agustin, Nico and I headed back. On our way out though we stopped at a beautiful park. Rosario was beautiful. A bit cleaner and WAYYY safer than the capital. There isn't a park in Bs As that I would stop and walk around in at night, even with 4 guys, but it wasn't a problem in Rosario. Much more peaceful feel to the place. I dug it :) After dropping Nando and Segundo off, they took me to my apartment and at 2 in the morning I invited them up for a glass of wine. That was a nice way to end the trip! Especially since one of the bottles we drank was from his birthday wine and they had gotten him so goooood stuff!
Today, Sunday I lounged around. Sleeping, eating and reading. Good recovery :)

It's nice to have friends in high places...

Last Monday (4th) Jessica decided that she didn't want to stay in so she found a nearby place to take salsa lessons. We asked our friend Nico from the running club if he wanted to come and he was down to get down. Sooo we met up...and the place was closed down! It was a major bummer but then Nico mentioned an ice skating rink so we were like, "let's do it!" Of course we weren't properly dressed for ice skating because things are warming up here but it's cool because we were only there for an hour. There was a class at one end of the rink and then two guys at the other end who were doing cool tricks because they were super good. Nico tried to teach Jessica how to go backwards and do turns and stuff but I was just satisfied to stay on me feet. Only fell once :)
Tuesday Jessica and I met up with our two Italian friends: Flavio and Giatano to go roller blading in the park near Plaza Italia :) Thanks to ice skating the previous night I was a pro on the bladessssss. The park is pretty big and because I was slower than everyone else we made it around 2 times I think, in the hour we rented the skates for. It was a LOT of fun and Gaitano treated us all to ice cream after haha. Because Tuesday was also Greg's birthday, we had to get home for the dinner we decided to surprise him with at my house. Lizzie was staying with us last week because Kelsey went to Brazil for a week and Lizzie lives SUPER far from school and we do not. She LOVES birthdays (like somone else I know: shout out to Court) so she planned the whole thing and made Tacos! SO yummy and it's not a common thing here, there aren't even tortillas in your average grocery store, let alone refried beans and salsa. Argentines don't like spicey by the way. She swooped up some Coronas too! Maria and Ines made an apple pie type desert and oh my, it was good. Intentions to go to tango that night as well fell by the way side when everything ran late.
Wednesday...can't remember if anything special other than the running club and school occurred. Ah! Wait, Lizzie and I treated ourselve to ice cream at Freddo after taking a walk down the side of Cabildo I don't normally travel upon.
Thursday Greg, Raquel, Lizzie and I had dinner in China town. YUM. and then Greg and I passed some time sitting in a park late at night.
Friday was Maria's birthday so we went to La Matuffia again, same place that we went for Ines's birthday. Had ourselves some yummy, and most importantly, unlimited pizza and beer. They wanted to go to a club after but because Jessica and I had to leave for the bus station at 9AM I called it an early night.
Saturday Jessica and I got up, very excitedly, for our trip to Pinamar! Nico had invited us to come spend the weekend with him and his pals at the beach. The bus was incredibly comfy. When you take a trip by bus, you get to chose between cama, semicama, and full cama. Which basically is a choice of how far back you want to seat to go, and we got the one that literally went flat as a bed, hence full cama. Good when you're tired, like we were! The countryside went flying by us as we converced in spanish the whole way there so as to prepare for our weekend surrounded by all Argentine's all the time! We made it there in about 4 1/2 hours and Nacho, Nico, and Brad (also an ex-Pat like Nico) came and picked us up. Oh em gee, I can't describe how beautiful this place was, but of course I'll try.
The ground is nothing but sand and there are trees all around. I could hear birds chirpping and nothing else. No ambulances, no dogs barking, no squeaky brakes from the colectivos, no loud people. Just nature doing its thing :) And the air was SO fresh and clean and cool. We went to the house we were to stay at first. It was also GORGEOUS. No more than a ten minute walk from the beach. We met Agustin, the owner of the house, and a few of the other boys. Jessica and I changed into our swimsuits and made our way down to the beach. There we met at least ten dudes and were encouraged to play soccer with them. Good thing I don't know how to play lol but they were SUPER nice and SUPER encouraging. It was a bit chilly because it was so windy so after a while we wandered back to the house and ate fracturas while drinking mate. Jeez do Argentines love their sweets. This weekend my diet consisted of sweets/pastries and meat and alcohol. I know, I know, I = the epitome of health. Oh and it was terrible because a water pipe had busted so I drank very little water this weekend to top it all off. Anyway, we did some chillin' back at the house and got to know the boys a bit better... and then Jessica and I took a nap around 8 in the evening. When we got up we ate asado. Muy rico, as we say here. A few girls ended up coming as well, that was nice to balance out the 15 guys haha. One was Agustin's sister and then she had 4 friends with her. They were all really sweet. Except everyone seemed to not like one of the girls, and while I could see why they might not, she was always pleasant to me so I had no issue with her. After the asado we turned up the music, made some drinks and made a party of it. It was a blasty blast. Around 3 in the morning everyone decided it was time to go to a club. Ladies got in fo' free! It was fun but I'm not a huge fan of cumbia and that was all they played the THREE HOURS we were there for. Went into the club when it was dark and came out when the sun had come up.
I started not feeling that well because I was so tired and a bit hungry so when we got back I crashed. But didn't sleep too well all weekend because the house is big and open so when they were playing music down the stairs there were no walls to spare me from all the racket. And I wanted to MURDER Nacho, he talks so damn loud. At what I thought was 3PM I decided to get up, only to find out later it was only 12 in the afernoon, and we all lounged around on the patio and on the grass. After eating more pastries for breakfast we headed to the beach. Jessica and I took a walk along the water and then went up were everyone else was, out of the wind, and chilled. Good fun conversation there :) They use a lot of English words here but it's funny because they're with an Argentine accent so sometimes I don't even understand the english they're saying haha
We went back to the house, Jessica and I again took a nap, got back up for some food and repeated the night before, even going to the same club.
Monday was a holiday here so Brad, Nico, Jessica and I went into the center (basically like the shopping area or what have you) and ate breakfast. Milkshakes and pancakes. One of the most delicious breakfasts I've had here. Picked up some waters at the supermarket and headed to the beach again. More relaxing in the sun and then we went back to help clean up. Said goodbye to some of the boys earlier in the day so we were a few less...made some chorripan and when I refused another Agustin was convinced I didn't like it. I really do like chorripan but by this point I couldn't eat anymore meat. TOO MUCH. Didn't leave Carilo (which is actually the town where we were, like a ten minute drive from Pinamar though) until about 10PM though haha. This time we bummed a ride with Nacho and Agustin. Finally got home around 2:30 and CRASHHHED.
It was an absolutely incredible weekend. All of the boys were so nice, there was one or two I could have done without but out of 15 that's not bad. It was lovely to see nature and lovely to see another place in Argentina. Now I'm going to Rosario this weekend (also about 4 1/2 hours away from Bs As in another direction) because it's Agustin's birthday and he and all of his friends are from there so that's where the birthday party is at. This time I'm going to ride with them there and back and Agustin promised a tour of the city. They all gushed about how its a small, safer, more tranquil version of Bs As. Plus there's a huge monument there that's on the back of the ten peso bill, and that I studied in art class, that I really want to check out. I'm so freaking lucky to have made these friends; I spent a weekend at the beach and maybe spent 60 USD, the entire weekend, including transportation. Now that they are going to drive us and I have a place to stay in Rosario, I'll be spending even less and having an even more awesome time with natives to pall around with.
But to catch you up on Tues and Wednesday...Tuesday just slepted a bunch in an attempt to catch up on sleep. Wednesday (yesterday) I went to sushi with 8 other people and then wine club at Agustin's house. After Nico and Brad went to bed Agustin and I stayed up a while longer talking...at times a bit difficult (he can barely count to 10 in english haha) which reminded us about a comment his brother Sebastian had made this weekend. Why don't we all speak a universal language so that we can understand everyone no matter where we are or from? Wouldn't that be nice? Until then I'll just keep absorbing as many languages as possible and exploring the cultures that come along with 'em :)

Greg's bday, my first very own mate, sushi, and the zoo :)

Tierra Santa

The resurrection, a view from that mountain on which the resurrection occurred, me by a sign reminding you to do your own parking here at Tierra Santa, and lastly, Jesus and I

PS: Marce if you're still following this, I just found and replied to your comment from a month ago!!!

Halleluja

Sunday morning Lizzie, Abby and I met up to go to Tierra Santo (Holly land: name of the Jesus theme park) to see what was up with this place. I was wayyy stoked when Lizzie invited me because I'd heard about the place before and wanted to check it out. We got there a little before it opened so chilled by the river which was right across the street from it. We get in and they take us through this (artificial) cave like tunnel where there are different scenes from the Bible acted out by mannequin statue things. We had a tour guide who didn't seem to pleased to be there, all dressed in his sandles and brown dress. They herded us into a place where we were going to watch the nativity. It was pretttty interesting and the rest of the time we ditched the tour guide and just wandered around checking everything out. I had fully expected it to just be all Catholicism all the time but there was actually a mosque, temple, a wailing wall, shout out to Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, etc. Oh and the best part...every hour on the hour Jesus would be resurrected to the sounds of "HALLELUJA! HALLELUJA!" It was insane. We were there for 5 HOURS and still didn't see everthing there was to see. I'm still not 100% sure how the Argentine's feel about it but I think they take it pretty seriously. There were families running around and I imagine this is a place where they can show them and teach them about different religions. I REALLY liked that they had something representing nearly all the major world religions (minus eastern ones).

Afterwards I had wanted to check out the Jazz festival that was supposed to be going on in the subtes. Since it was almost 6 I figured by the time I got home and checked it out online it would be too late and I knew that Sunday was the last day. But I'm getting out of the train and trying to get around this big group of people to get out onto the street when I notice the guys they're around have mustical instruments!!! There was the Jazz right there! They played beautiful music and I hung out there for about half an hour listening to it. I thought, man, this is such a wonderful thing. Music is so nice and to bring it into such a common, everyday place as the subte was a really nice gesture. People, like myself, would come up from downstairs, puzzled at first and then stop to listen to a song or two. It made the normally hectic busy people getting on and off the trains slow down.

Monday was a bit hectic...I went to class, came home and did some hw before the running club, ran and then had ten minutes to get ready before meeting up with Greg to go to a film festival! The festival was called Cinemigrantes and all the movies they had to offer were about human migration. I'm fairly certain that their message was that it is a human right to migrate. And that got me thinking. Mostly because every time I hear about migration I feel that it's in a negative light. People migrating to refugee camps to flee rebel armies or people migrating to different countries because they are being oppressed by their home governments.

But the first film we were presented with was about an Iranian woman, Molky, who had been a widower since she was 14. She wanted to travel to visit some family members and did so, even though she was about 70, she set off to see them because it had been twenty years. Ok keep in mind that this is my understanding with having to read Spanish subtitles haha. Anyway, so it made me think about voluntary migration, and what exactly migration entailed. Had I migrated? Even though I'm not here permanently? Wikipedia would consider my journey a migration because I'm "pursuing education." But "The Molky Way", as the movie was called, had followed Molky only to the destination where she had stayed for a few days and then returned home. Her example would make me believe we are always migrating. Just thinking about the number of trips I take by road or by plane, I am always moving, always staying in a different place for different reasons.

The second movie was quite strange. It starts with a woman and her young daughter, clutching a doll, at place of prayer in a Middle Eastern country. The girl puts her doll down and when she turns to show her mother and turns back to the doll, the dolls been taken apart. She turns back to her mother and her mother has disappeared. The woman then wakes up and from the fact that she was speaking French, I assumed she was in France. She goes about her day and from the story you get that she's fighting going back to wherever she's from. She does finally go back and it's all very odd for her and she sticks out for her clothes and manner of behavior. In this case there was migration, she obviously left her home villiage for Europe for whatevre reason, and then felt like an outsider when she came home. I could relate to that in a small part, it's only 5 months, and only two and a half have passed, but I can already feel the things that I'm going to be resistant to in American culture when I come home. But either way, this can definitely be one of the draw backs to migration. On the one hand, if you move to a place, assimilating is often the easiest option, but if you do then you alienate yourself from wherever you came from. If you don't assimilate, then it's more difficult to fit into wherever you've taken yourself.

The third, and the one I had wanted to see the most, El Regreso: The Return. This one was about a group of Palestinian children living in Madrid, returning to Palestine to visit their families and their place of birth. Well, that one was insane I knew a bit about the Palestine/Isreal conflict before seeing the movie but I had never seen it like we did in the film. Now, that was the type of migration I was familiar with. Things are so oppressive in the Palestinian territories that the children were sent to Spain to go to school and live so that they can have better lives.

Overall, the issue of migration is something I hadn't thought to deeply about before but now that I've seen these films and given it more thought I think it's a facinating topic. As well as their claim that it's a human right to migrate. I would agree with that; no one should be told they cannot go wherever they like for however long for whatever reason. But I also believe it should always be on a voluntary basis.

Yesterday I migrated over to Catedral for some Tango :) Met up with Gigi (the Argentine girl we met this weekend). Jessica, Arriana, and a different Nikko (this one a student at Universidad de Buenos Aires and from Germany), and Danielle (a girl from school I've been meaning to hang out with) were all there. It was PACKED. Too packed unfortunately. It's impossible to dance when there're that many people so I just lounged on a makeshift couch and watched everyone else dance. If I had brought enough money I would have enjoyed a glass of wine too but it was still a blast to watch everyone and I love the atmosphere of the place.

Besos!

check it!

Saturday was the wine festival! Jessica, Kelsey, and I met up with Sarah, Synnove, Asgar, and our new Argentine friend Gigi. The place was huge inside and when you get in they give you your very own wine glass for sampling. We wandered about tasting wine although I know nothing of wine. When I go to a store I pick the pretty label and make sure it's from Argentina. Honestly I don't really even like it that much, though it's kind of growing on me. So Asger and I found this free tour that would take you around the place, have you try a few wines, and then the (really cute) guy told us about them. So I've learned a bit about bubbly white wine. Oh and we also tried nectar? Not sure what exactly it all meant but my goodness it was yummy :) This guy walking around taking pictures for 2night.com came around and took a picture or Asger and I! Now we're on the internetssssss check it!

http://2night.com/buenosaires/photos/events/164495/vinos-bodegas#020

What's cookin' good lookin'?

Cemetaries, wine festivals, Jesus Theme parks, Jazz in the subway...

...these are a few of my favorite things.

After realizing I haven't been to an important/famous cemetary I decided to hit it up on Thursday after class. Got on the subte and with a bit of walking, arrived at Cemetario de Recoleta. I had never seen anything like this. Because Bs. As. is so flat, they decided to bury these people (mostly the rich and famous of Argentina) above ground so as not to soil their water. It was HUGE and there were so many, many mausoleums I gave myself 15 minutes before they closed to locate an exit. Sort of creepy...looking in, seeing a coffin, and knowing that a body was in there. But the mausoleums were beautiful as you can see from my pictures. Some were huge and elaborate with plaques and statues that had me admiring for a bit, while others I couldn't even find the name of the person resting inside. Bummer that I didn't find Evita. I did however find a ton of cats, I've gotten several theories on their pressence but I really don't know for sure. There was food and water out for them so that's what kind of struck me as odd...anyway, there were a lot of cats but not too many humans. It was nice though, I could wander about by myself and not be bothered by too many other tourists.

Got home from the cemetary and that night Nikko (Matias's brother) picked Kelsey, Jessica, and I up to have dinner at their house. The girls had bought food while I was out and this time we cooked for them :) We cooked squash, potatoes, and SALMON. I believe most of you know how I feel about seafood: I dislike. But, not wanting to be difficult and mildly convinced it was all in my head, I gave it a go and actually enjoyed it! yay. The food was superb, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was a fantastic night.

Friday I wanted to go to Avenida Corrientes because there're supposed to be tons upon tons upon tons of cool intellectual, artsy bookstores (and there were). Kelsey wanted me to come with her to check out an apartment for her mom when she comes to visit so we did that first. We got to Av. Corrientes and I was specifically looking for a cafe and bookstore I found in my touristy Arg. book (thanks Aunt Debbie and Kellie again for that) that were right next to each other and were supposed to be especially cool. We think we found the bookstore but the cafe was no where to be seen. Not to worry though, we'd brought some of our readings for our classes and just went into the first cafe we thought looked cool and drank cafe con leche while doing some hw. It was WONDERFUL :) We're both in the LA and US relations class and so Kelsey and I had some good discussions on some of our readings and what not. On our way home we stopped into some of the bookstores and that is where I found my treasures! The first book I found was a used, ancient poetry book from Bs. As. and as I was flipping through it I found a pressed flower!! I don't know about you, but that made me fall in love with it. The next one I got was, La idea de paz y el pacifismo (the idea of the peace and pacifism) and the third, El Delfin (the dolphin) which I'm having a hard time thinking how to explain the synopsis on the back but take my word for it, it looks rad. That night Kelsey, Jessica and I watched Moulin Rouge on Kelsey's laptop!!!

ok so I didn't get to the wine fest., theme park, or jazz but I am le tired ;)

Film festival tomorrow, tango Tuesday, Wednesday big dinner at our house, and I am going to cook up something for Thursday after I'm done here...

chau chau!

Cemetario de Recoleta

These days are just packed...

...the time is flyyyyyyying. I can't believe it's already the weekend again. To give you a quick recap of last weekend...

Thursday night Flavio, Jessica, and I went to a bar near the river to watch Matias's band play some alternative rock. They were fantastic :) After there was a DJ who played fun club music and man can these Argentine boys dance! We made friends with two Argentine guys earlier and so danced with them. I love being twirlled around and acting like I know how to do these dance and they're quite sexy which makes 'em even more fun ;) As we were leaving to find Matias, because he'd offered to drive us home, another guy we'd met earlier grabbed me and we started dancing as well. When I went to go though he was like, do you have a boyfriend? I said yes, and he was like "but I love you, I want to kiss you." Ahaha boys will be boys.

Friday I had to go to schooool. Because here, if a class is cancelled, you make it up on Friday. Lame, I know and you better believe that only two of us showed up haha. Afterwards I found Greg waiting outside for me and we went to a park read, picked up some peanut butter for Barrio Chino, and other food stuffs to make dinner. We also rented the movie Amelie since I haven't seen it. Nice relaxed night of good food and the movie.

In the morning we made french toast and then we went to the MALBA (a museum but I've forgotten what all the letters stand for) to see an Argentine indie flick, Plan B. Very interesting movie that touched on homosexuality.

Sunday was all homework all the time!

And now I feel more caught up :) Yesterday I went out to the cemetary in Recoleta where Evita Peron is supposed to be burried, never found it though...and then today Kelsey and I did hw in a cafe and checked out some kick as book stores :)))))))))) I love books! I want to bring them all home with me!

Besos! Chau!

So about them kids...

Two saturday's ago was the Juegoteca. Basically you go and play/hang out with kids in crapy parts of the outer cities around Bs. As. Greg and I met up at my apartment, took a bus to one destination and awaited Bestsabe and Jenna to take another bus. This second one was an hour long and we chatted the whole way there, well, more Greg, Jenna, and Bestsabe...I don't know why I don't sometimes jump on these opportunities to practice speaking. I mean I'm always improving my comprehension skills and what not but ya... anyway. We get there and I notice this big billboard type thing that basically said "here too we are growing" and it was a message from the government and I'm still not super sure how the people feel about politics and what not but after seeing the neighborhoods we worked in I wondered if the people think these messages are jokes. We walked for about ten minutes to a building where that Un Techo Para Mi Pais uses and began to paint on some boxes. That day we were going to go through the streets with painted boxes like we were a train and each a part of the train! Super cute right?! After hanging out there for about an hour the kids came. One girl was super talkitive, others were kind of shy but they were all real cool kids. There were about twenty in all I'd say. We went out to this patio in the back and then rounded up the boxes to put them on with string and walk about!!! I have never seen poverty like this. Some of these houses were just big planks of wood set up as walls with a blanket over the doorway and no glass in the squares cut out for windows. I don't really know how to describe it all but it was crazy. And the kids could talk so casually about attrocious things. One girl said she had to change schools because little girls were getting their eyes stabbed? Another girl said that sometimes vans would come around at night and kidnap children. Ugh, just made me super bummed to hear all of that. I'll never understand why people hurt others, but especially children. It was nice to offer these kids something fun to do, kind of take their minds off of those things and just be kids. I'm glad UTPMP does this.

That night I went to my friend Sarah's birthday party on her rooftop terrace. It was super fun but I was so exhausted from the day that I called it an early night and hit the sack.