Elections and Evita

Well I have some down time because its a Sunday, and since its election day everything is closed across the city. Voting here is obligatory, and people take it very seriously! For example, since everyone votes in their local schools, all schools that served as polling places will be closed down tomorrow morning to be disinfected. I'd like to see that happen in the US!

I'm also excited because I'll be here for the entirety of the presidential elections. For the first time ever, Argentina is having a primary - it will be an open primary and any candidate who receives more than 400,000 votes will be allowed to run in the general election. The primary will be on August 14th and the general in October. I told my host mom that it will be exciting to watch, and she said thats only because I get to leave after its over and they'll all be stuck here with whoever wins. Oh how I'm loving Argentine politics!

Our main project for the past few days has been picking out our classes from our 4 possible universities. I've registered for a Spanish class and a seminar at FLACSO (part of our program), and still have to register for my 2 classes at UBA (the public university here). I know I had originally said that I wanted to take one class from UCA, the private university, and one from UBA to see the differences, but UCA restricts exchange students from taking most of its courses, so there were no interesting courses that I really wanted to take. Instead I'll take two classes from UBA and just hear stories from other students in the program about UCA.

I did, however, get to at least go to UCA's campus for an orientation. The fact that it has a campus is a massive difference from UBA to begin with. UBA has each department in separate buildings spread all throughout the city. UCA has 4 classroom buildings all in a row, and all along the water. They even have a department full of advisers for exchange students, certainly not something I'll have at UBA, and a dress code for classes and final exams. Oh well, going to UBA will be truer to an Argentinean University experience.

We did escape from the course registration process one afternoon to visit the Museo de Eva Peron. I think I speak for most Americans when I say that much of my knowledge of Eva Peron comes from the musical Evita (yes, I just admitted it), so it was nice to learn more about the woman that every porteño loves. In just 35 years she was a famous actress, first lady, helped secure the women's vote, wrote declarations of worker's and children's rights, and started countless programs for children's education and women's health. Shortly before her death there was a call for her to be named Vice-President of Argentina, which she turned down, explaining that none of her actions had been done to win political fame.

Her funeral procession through Plaza de Mayo. The wake lasted one week.

Tomorrow I'm finishing up my visa process (and officially becoming a resident of Argentina!) and registering for classes. Wish me luck!

And the list continues...

6. Maroon 5 is the new Lady Gaga. Wherever you go, a cafe or a bus, you're almost certain to hear a Maroon 5 song during your stay. Many places play American music, but no artist is as popular as Maroon 5.

7. The subte was designed for sardines, not humans. I've experienced the DC Metro while pretty crowded, like after a huge basketball game, when you thought you couldn't breathe. But every single morning and evening on the subway here is the same, without fail. And its even more crowded than in DC (Gtown people might find this hard to believe, but yes, its possible). Never before have I seen 50 year old businessmen and 70 year old nuns pushing people until they almost fall over to get onto a train before.

8. Ñapas. A ñapa is a little treat that is thrown in for free whether at a cafe or a bakery, and doesn't need to be asked for. The most common is a small cookie with your cup of coffee. Or, since water isn't free, a small (shot glass sized) cup of water on the side. My record so far is 2 ñapas with one cup of coffee (two little cookies and a glass of water), but I'm on a mission to break that!

9. Assigned seats at movie theaters. Buying movie tickets in Argentina is a bit more complicated since you have to pick your seat ahead of time and then have assigned seating inside the theater. No more sneaking people into Harry Potter premieres...

10. Sleep is for the gringos. I assumed before coming to Argentina that since the daily schedule is similar to that of Spain and many other South American countries they too would have the lovely tradition of siestas. Well, they seem to be an exception. No one appears to nap here, since people only spend very limited amounts of time in their houses. This must be why the coffee here is stronger than in the U.S.

Don't Cry for Me Argentina!

Hello again! Its been a few days since I've updated, but we're doing more orientation sessions now, so I don't have as many interesting things to share, but don't worry there are some!

I guess I'll start off by explaining a bit how courses will work here. Our main area (where we have orientation and where are coordinators have offices) is called FLACSO, or the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. FLACSO is one branch of a project started by UNESCO several decades ago to promote higher education in South America, Africa, and Asia. Even though several of the schools have closed now, the center in Buenos Aires is a well-respected graduate school for international and Latin American studies. We're the only undergraduate students, and we take our Spanish classes with their professors and are allowed to take one of their seminars as well, which are on a wide variety of subjects. My other two classes will come from Universidad de Buenos Aires, the predominant public university in Argentina (350,000 students!) and the Universidad Catolica de Argentina, a private university that is much smaller. We've just begun the process of enrolling in courses, so I will be sure to let you know which ones I sign up for and which ones I stick with after shopping period. Some classes begin next week, but all of the ones I'll be taking begin in 2 weeks and then we have another 2 weeks to make sure the schedules work and we can understand the professors (only slightly important). Phew, enough about classes.

We started off the week with our oral exams to place us in Spanish levels. Getting to FLASCO was my first time on the colectivo, or the bus. The subte, subway, is very easy and readable on our maps, so I generally like to take it exclusively, but my host mom really wanted me to learn to take the colectivos. The only problem is that I have no idea where anything is in this city, so I had no idea where to get off the colectivo and from there where to walk (the bus stops aren't marked on our guides, only the 10 block square that they stop in). So naturally I was a little late for my exam, which wasn't exactly the best starting off point. There were many other stumbles with my interviewer, but all that doesn't matter. After our exams we explored the parks around our barrio and got caught in a thunderstorm.

Yesterday, after a morning full of orientation sessions we headed out for Cementario de Ricoleta (famous because Evita Peron is buried there). I didn't know much about the cemetery before, so I naively assumed it was just like any other cemetery in the US. Instead, each family has a personally designed tomb that can reach up to 30 feet high with marble statues and fountains. Inside you can see the coffins of each family member. I could wander around the corridors for hours, it was simply incredible. Also, we had no idea before we arrived that we had chosen to go on the anniversary of Evita's death! Her tomb was lined with newspaper photos, signs expressing gratitude, and large flower bouquets. Many porteños were there to pay their respects.

(Unfortunately, I somehow left my memory card in my computer when I left in the morning, so I had to steal some photos from my friend from the cemetery).

That night we went to our first every tango class! The host sister of another girl in the program is a professional tango dancer and also teaches classes for beginners. We learned all the basic steps (note: this does not mean that we can actually do the steps well), and got a lot of practice time with a bar full of porteños watching us butcher their national dance. Oh well, tomorrow night we have another class with our program - in no time we'll be showing off in the tango clubs!

Today was another orientation day, which included the beginning of our visa process. I'm not sure where exactly we were or what we were doing, but I think we established residency. Still haven't gotten quite used to this concept (for example, I haven't figured out if we can get the resident prices at museums).

Also, since its winter vacations my host brother and sister are out traveling, so each night I have dinner with just my host mother. This is actually a lot better for me because Argentines are much easier to understand when they're speaking slowly to you instead of quickly with each other. Last night I was telling her that many houses in the US use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins, and tonight she told me that she went out to buy cloth and sew her own napkins! Tonight we moved to another important cultural discussion - prom. Hollywood has taken over Buenos Aires, and all the programs on tv (other than telenovelas) are the same ones we watch but with subtitles. She had seen programs with proms and wanted to know if it really was as dramatic as they made it out to me. Don't worry, I reassured her that it was. I even taught her the word "prama"!

Tomorrow we start enrolling in courses and have our tango class!

Ciao!

Folklórico, Familia, y Ferias

The past two days have been very light on orientation, so I've been out exploring the city and getting to know my host family better.

I mentioned in the last post that my host mom took me to the Ballet Folklorico last night. Many people focus only on the tango as the national dance of Argentina, but in reality there are many traditional dances that date long before the tango was born. The show also had two magicians and one very passionate singer (there was crying involved as he explained the themes of each song). After the show, though, I learned that the reason my host mom had wanted to go was that she used to coordinate the show but hadn't been reelected to be the leader, so she was comparing the quality of the shows (apparently there were unforgivable problems with the font size in the program).

This afternoon I had my introduction to the entirety of my extended host family at a bienvenidos lunch. I had already met two sisters, a cousin, and an aunt. Today I met a grandfather, grandmother, another aunt, and another cousin. I have one more cousin, a brother, and sister to meet until I've met the whole family. The whole family gets together for meals frequently and they are hilarious when they're together (that is, what I can understand). But my "grandfather" has a rule that you aren't allowed to eat one of anything, it has to always be two. This meant that as soon as I finished a roll he put another one on my plate, etc. I don't understand how the Argentines all stay so skinny!

Later in the afternoon I met up with some friends to explore La Feria de San Telmo. Every Sunday there is a street fair throughout the barrio. We didn't make it all the way through, but from what I could see, it must have been at least 30 blocks long, and packed with leather, scarves, and mate bowl vendors. From there we visited La Puente de la Mujer ("Women's Point"), which is a very modern looking bridge over El Rio de la Plata. The point is a representation of a couple dancing the tango. It was a beautiful evening walk!

The smallest cultural differences keep cropping up, so I decided that I should start a list:

1) 8 glasses of water a day is not standard. Water isn't free in restaurants and people don't serve it in their houses frequently. I don't understand how the porteños (residents of Buenos Aires - I have to teach you all vocabulary somehow!) don't suffer from dehydration.

2) Napkins aren't too popular either. They aren't part of the regular place settings in a restaurant or a house. And when there are any on the table at a restaurant they're small and plastic-y. My host family seems to think that I use an oddly large amount of paper napkins.

3) Talking on the phone during a performance is perfectly acceptable. Last night my host mom took me to the Ballet Folklorico (not actually a ballet, just a dance performance of traditional Argentine dances) and I didn't realize that we hadn't been asked to silence our phones until I heard several ring and one man even have a rather loud, and long, phone conversation.

4) Staying out until 5 in the morning is expected even when you're 40. I knew before getting here that Argentines like to live a nocturnal life, but I didn't quite understand the extent to which this was true. Dinner is at 10 or 11 pm, then everyone goes to a bar or discoteca at 12 pm or 1 am and stays out until 4 or 5 am -- and this isn't just teenagers. This then makes it perfectly acceptable to sleep in until noon; besides, lunch isn't until 2 pm anyway.

5) Traffic lanes don't exist. I've traveled to South America several times before and have always known that driving looks like a death wish, but I've never been inside a normal car driving around. What I quickly noticed was the lack of traffic lanes -- as long as you stay on the street (which is a rule that buses apparently don't have to follow all the time) you're fine. Just don't run into the car next you.

Caballito y Plaza de Mayor

I think I could actually get into this blogging idea! And I finally have pictures for you (although I haven't yet snuck around the house taking pictures of everything, but I will soon!)

I did take some pictures of my room yesterday:

Yesterday morning my host mom took me for a brief tour of our "barrio" which is called "Caballito," or for the non-Spanish speakers, little horse. Its in the geographic center of the city, and its a standard middle-class barrio, but it does have two very large parks (one actually has a museum of natural history inside the park and the other has a book fair every day). While we were walking around my host mom was telling me all about the city-wide elections that they're having next Sunday and the country-wide ones on August 14th. Since voting is obligatory in Argentina, the people are much more politically aware and there are signs all over the city for the two candidates (its a run-off election). At the major crosswalk in our barrio there were these two on opposing corners.

Then in the afternoon I met up with my program for a walking tour around the central, touristy part of the city. We started in Plaza de Mayo which is the center of Argentine government, with the Casa Rosada (their version of the White House), the national cathedral, and the home to political demonstration during the Guerra Sucia. We also visited San Telmo, the barrio famous for being the headquarters of the tango!

The National Cathedral

A View of the Plaza de Mayo with the Casa Rosada in the background

Bienvenidos!

Well, I've promised friends and family back home that I would keep them updated on the next 5 months through a blog, and I've told myself that I will update it frequently. So here goes my first ever blogging attempt:

After months of applying, packing, and preparing, I arrived in Buenos Aires Thursday morning, without any hitches. Just a couple of hours later we were out trying to run errands...completely in Spanish (we learned very quickly how to say adapter and pre-paid cell phone). As if buying a phone from Verizon in English isn't difficult enough, buying a phone in Buenos Aires was certainly a struggle. But despite many embarrassments, we managed to navigate around the barrio where our classes are held, and have our first few meals of carne and vino.

Tomorrow we're going on a walking tour of downtown, which will be helpful because as of now Buenos Aires is one massive, crowded jumble to me. Every street is jammed with people, cars, and buses. Of course, we're living and studying in a non-touristy barrio, so we have the added benefit of sticking out like sore thumbs as the only Americans around. But it has its definite benefits since Argentines speak to us as if we were native speakers and not tourists.

The most exciting part of today, though, was moving in with our host families! I am living with a single mother named Analia and her two children, Veronica (19) and Franco (24), who are both traveling for another week on their winter vacations. But to fill the empty house she has nieces and other family staying with her until her children return. We live in a small barrio, but in a very large house, complete with three patios. With the help of one of Analia's younger nieces, I've unpacked and gotten settled into my room for the next 5 months. I will upload photos of the house and my room tomorrow.

My brain already feels fried from all the Spanish and translations -- I have a napkin full of drawings just from dinner of family members explaining vocabulary. But it already feels more comfortable to hold an extended conversation, and I'm sure the vocabulary will come with time.

Tomorrow Analia is taking me on a tour of our neighborhood and then our orientation group is exploring downtown. I'll be sure to take lots of photos and post them!

Besos!