Classes STILL haven’t really got going yet, so this was pretty much my last week to relax all I want before I have to study hard. Last night I went out with some people from the program and I met a girl from London!! Studying abroad here. She is in a class with my friend angelica, and she is so sweet. I also met angelica’s host sister, who is 34 and lives at home, and we spoke Spanish together. She was kind of indie and plays the drums apparently haha. I love meeting new people, and just going to a restaurant, sitting outside with a group and talking for hours. It’s such a fun way to pass the time. We should do that more often in the US.
My human rights class met this week, and we met the teacher’s aid, manuel who is working on his doctorate here. It’s so weird because at depauw we don’t have any grad students, but this upcoming week the professor isn’t even going to come to class, manuel is going to teach. He seems cool. Once again, love meeting new people. I’m so weird haha
ALSO, this week I got SICK. Well, not really, I just got a bad dolor de garganta, pain of the throat thing. So I had to go to the HOSPITAL to see a doctor! I was so scared to go. Walking into a hospital in a foreign country, not knowing where to go. And of course I went by myself… great idea. But, it all turned out alright. It was the hospital aleman, and just like the Germans (as my host mother told me) it was extremely clean, precise, organized, and austere haha. I talked to the doctor in Spanish (kind of bad but oh well) and he gave me an antibiotic and a scrip for ibuprofen. So, all in all an good experience in trying something new in the language.
But let’s be real, this week gets a lot more interesting than a hospital visit. However like any good “news” report, the title tempts the real story, and after boringness we have it. TAT. Okay. So last Saturday me, angelica, michelle, casey and scott went to a restaurant where there was supposed to be a live tango show during dinner, so we were like score this will be fun. So part of the way through our meal, our waiter changed from a lady to a man who spoke English to us, so we all assumed it was because the restaurant people were trying to cater to our needs. But this guy keeps making comments, and near the end of our meal he was like, so where are you all going tonight? And we didn’t know, so he comes back with a list of places that he thinks are good, and he hands it to me haha and of course, it has his phone number on it, and he’s like, if you ever want to go, just call me. And he also says I have beautiful eyes. The standby. Oh! And we dub this guy “tat” cleverly because his arms are covered in them. Tat.
So when we go to leave, tat is standing at the door holding it open, and I’m the last one to leave and tat is like, oh you have to get used to the argentine ways and does the side kiss thing they do here. It’s not actually a kiss, like a greeting or goodbye. Sooooo when we left, everyone I was with was like find out if we’re hanging out with this guy. So I texted him, and as it turns out ol’ boy had been working hard all day and offered to take me to lunch the next day!! How precious. Like really. Precious.
So like a nice guy, he actually followed through and took me to lunch on Sunday. And he paid for it all. And I met one of his friends who stopped by, se llama (named) diego, who works in a classy restaurant in Puerto madero, a really nice area of Buenos aires. And it was good. And tat is extremely nice. His parents live in Virginia by DC, and he is Mexican-chilean-american so his English is really good. So after lunch we walked around San Telmo, which has an outside fair on Sundays every week.
So then on Wednesday, he took me to my first futbol/soccer game here! And once again, he paid for it. It was river plate against lanus, and tat is a diehard river plate fan. That was such an experience… it took forever to get in, and we had to switch lines multiple times because the police were being jerks and singling people out. Like I think they saw that me and my friend angelica were foreign and literally pulled us out of the line because of that, even though we were really close to the front. Jerks. But, so we eventually got in, and these people are freaking nuts. It’s so much more intense than anything I’ve seen in the US. They have songs for their teams, and no joke they did not stop singing THE ENTIRE GAME. There were about 3 people in the amount of space one person should be! And people were leaning on me, using my shoulder to hoist themselves up past me, it was ridiculous. Also, 90% of the crowd were males and 10% were women and children haha. Why you would ever take a child there I have no idea! It probably makes people move out of your way easier I guess. But we went with him and two of his friends from work who didn’t speak English, so we spoke some to them. And sadly, river plate lost. Only 3 goals the entire game! Soccer is so different. 1 us, 2 them haha and everyone in the crowd was wearing a jersey or jacket or hat or something from their team. It’s diehard. I’m really glad I didn’t try to go with just Americans, because we would have gotten eaten because we don’t know what we’re doing haha
So yesterday I also hung out with tat haha he had to go to work though so we just walked around a little before he had to go. He’s an extremely nice person, smart, intuitive, treats me like a princess, and proof that nice guys do exist haha. Some of the guys in Argentina make me wonder… but yeah. How lucky am I? I have made great friends in the program, have tried so many new things, and am hanging out with a really nice guy. Oh, and his name is Sergio haha not tat.
Off to shower and then dinner with the Americans. Maybe I’ll meet another waiter HAHA just kidding. Tat, I didn’t mean it : )
Shout out to alana for reading this!! Haha love you guys
Emily
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
what a beautiful day!!
oh my gosh. i feel so lucky for a really dorky reason, and i love it!!
so today, right, this morning a lady from our program had invited us in the human rights concentration to listen to a tribunal for crimes committed during the military dictatorship here during the 70s. basically what happened is the long-standing stable president (peron) died in 1974 and in the absence of a solid government, the military took over, instituting a "national reorganization process" where they basically sought to eliminate students, activists, and their families in order to wipe out resistance. it has many but not all characteristics of genocide, and many human rights violations were carried out by the police/government.
ANYWAYS. so i went to a trial today and got to listen to people's testimonies against a man who went to their houses and took their relatives away, many of who died in camps. so this man is just sitting in the courtroom! and 8 people testified. one of them was present when a cousin was taken, one had her sister taken, etc. but the most impressionable were two that both had their parents taken, and they were about 6 or 7 years old at the time. imagine! 10 policemen coming to your home and taking your parents away, when you are 6.
when the man was talking, he said he had lived on arenales 1300, and i almost died, because i live at arenales 1242. that makes it so real. literally where i am living--in the not so distant past--police were forcing their way into people's apartments just like mine and taking their children/parents/cousins/sisters/brothers, never to be seen again.
some of them cried, and especially for those that were young, when they got to a certain point of telling their story, it's like they felt the emotion of the moment when it hit them that they would never see their family again, and today i saw them experience it again. it was just unreal. i've studied this so much at depauw, about victims and trials and the complications with prosecuting the perpetrators, and here, 30+ years later, it's happening, and i got to see it. what a historic moment, you know? this is huge. it's as if i were in the same room with a SS officer, listening to his victims' family members talk about what he did. and in many ways what happened here was actually modeled after the holocaust in germany; from what i've read, the military in many ways modeled itself after hitlers.
so. i got to see how memory is constructed. and that acts of genocide or "politicide" create suffering that has no closure, and that should not be memory's goal. and to think, i could have passed any of these people on the street. there's of course many more, i only heard from 8. more lessons: everyone is dealing with something. i would probably never have known, just talking to these people casually, what their experiences were or how they have survived them. so think about that next time you meet/talk to, well, anyone. you probably can't imagine what kind of suffering has passed through their heart and remains with them. it's always amazing to me how people can still have such beautiful lives after experiencing pain. i think it just strengthens your spirit, so you have more to give, and these people gave me something today. so. it was a beautiful day.
-em
so today, right, this morning a lady from our program had invited us in the human rights concentration to listen to a tribunal for crimes committed during the military dictatorship here during the 70s. basically what happened is the long-standing stable president (peron) died in 1974 and in the absence of a solid government, the military took over, instituting a "national reorganization process" where they basically sought to eliminate students, activists, and their families in order to wipe out resistance. it has many but not all characteristics of genocide, and many human rights violations were carried out by the police/government.
ANYWAYS. so i went to a trial today and got to listen to people's testimonies against a man who went to their houses and took their relatives away, many of who died in camps. so this man is just sitting in the courtroom! and 8 people testified. one of them was present when a cousin was taken, one had her sister taken, etc. but the most impressionable were two that both had their parents taken, and they were about 6 or 7 years old at the time. imagine! 10 policemen coming to your home and taking your parents away, when you are 6.
when the man was talking, he said he had lived on arenales 1300, and i almost died, because i live at arenales 1242. that makes it so real. literally where i am living--in the not so distant past--police were forcing their way into people's apartments just like mine and taking their children/parents/cousins/sisters/brothers, never to be seen again.
some of them cried, and especially for those that were young, when they got to a certain point of telling their story, it's like they felt the emotion of the moment when it hit them that they would never see their family again, and today i saw them experience it again. it was just unreal. i've studied this so much at depauw, about victims and trials and the complications with prosecuting the perpetrators, and here, 30+ years later, it's happening, and i got to see it. what a historic moment, you know? this is huge. it's as if i were in the same room with a SS officer, listening to his victims' family members talk about what he did. and in many ways what happened here was actually modeled after the holocaust in germany; from what i've read, the military in many ways modeled itself after hitlers.
so. i got to see how memory is constructed. and that acts of genocide or "politicide" create suffering that has no closure, and that should not be memory's goal. and to think, i could have passed any of these people on the street. there's of course many more, i only heard from 8. more lessons: everyone is dealing with something. i would probably never have known, just talking to these people casually, what their experiences were or how they have survived them. so think about that next time you meet/talk to, well, anyone. you probably can't imagine what kind of suffering has passed through their heart and remains with them. it's always amazing to me how people can still have such beautiful lives after experiencing pain. i think it just strengthens your spirit, so you have more to give, and these people gave me something today. so. it was a beautiful day.
-em
Monday, August 10, 2009
three weeks out!
it's been awhile since i've written, and i have so much to say! i have gone to a lot of new places this week... i saw el fantasma de la opera on corrientes two weekends ago, which was awesome. i went with three other girls from the program and we bought cheap tickets, but when we got there we were able to bribe the usher into moving us up closer! haha love south america. apparently that's custom... i'm glad i have it practically memorized because it was in spanish and the translations aren't exact, so sometimes it's hard to catch, esp. if someone's singing! it was beautiful, though. pictures to come. and the masquerade scene was my favorite. ahh that show is awesome! i hope i never stop going to stuff like that. it's always so much fun.
aaaand yesterday i went to san telmo, which is a HUGE outdoor fair thing where an entire street (defensa) is lined with people selling crafts and stuff like that. weird, but i saw some guys from wabash there... depauw's rival school. that was so twilight zone! haha i saw some of the same people i saw in january, selling in the same spots! the nice man who sold me the beautiful glass art clock (? how to describe it...) was there, and we talked with him and his wife. the two girls i was with both bought one, so now we all have one from this same guy. that's cool for him to have such an influence, his art is being displayed all over the world!
okay, this was a long weekend so i have so much to tell... friday night (i think haha) i went with a girl named kari to a bar that was pretty cool. we didn't go until like 1 or later and after a while there was a drag queen, which was the funniest thing ever because she was talking in spanish! hahaha it was at least 10 times funnier, seriously. then we danced, but the music here is not like in the US, it's more like, how do you say, mariachi band. i miss my chris brown/sigma chi mix haha. when they choose to play american music, they always pick stuff that we actually don't listen to which is hilarious. oh! and everywhere is playing michael jackson. EVERYWHERE. haha last night i went to a jazz bar with a girl named angelica, and they were playing michael... yeah. but last night we met some paraguayans and they live really close to me, so hopefully we can hang out sometime. two of the three spoke really good english, so it wasn't hard to understand them, obvi.
so, now for saturday... saga. i went shopping with kari for boots, because they are everywhere and she wanted some, so literally the first store we go to the shoe salesman is like, hey, you guys want to hang out with me and my friends tonight? so being the americans wanting to meet argentines, we were like yes, actually. saga. so we MEET at 145, take a cab to this club, and there are a ton of people in line but it's not moving. so we meet his friends who for the most part don't know any english at all=fun, but after waiting for like an hour for this line to move, we decided to go somewhere else. (we did get to talk to other people in line though... i love argentines! haha they are so nice. people are happy and friendly here, which is cool) so we go this somewhere else, and it's packed. like sick packed. and all the guys there are extreme creepers. the music was better, but oh my gosh. creepers. so long story short, on my way home in my cab, i heard a beeping sound and didn't know where it was coming from, and i realized it was my watch. to wake me up. haha yeah, it was like 730. i went home and ate breakfast haha
at some point i need to write more thoughtful things than just what i did... yesterday i talked to my host mom for awhile during dinner, and i need to remember what she said because it's really insightful about what argentines think about their government. it's really sad, actually, because she said that in their government, for her it's a problem of morality: like they are just out to improve their lives and their own gain, and they have little respect or insight into how to improve the country. and from what i've studied about lots of recently developed nation-states in africa, that same corruption exists. i don't understand, how could a person with a strong national identity be proud of who they are if they are screwing their people? and it could be much worse, but what the people see is their politicians vacationing in other countries (why are they leaving?) in huge houses (unnecessary luxury considering the economy) and neglecting the issues. it's like they're too proud to admit they have a problem... estela (host mom) said christina kirchner (female president of argentina) said to obama that argentina doesn't need a plan b. as in they aren't in that bad of a crisis. but yet the country was practically bankrupt in 2001, and is still recovering from that setback. it's arrogance, and potentially very dangerous arrogance. the problem is the people who suffer are not the politicians, but those in the provinces, and even in buenos aires. estela had to move just before i came to a smaller apartment down the street because she could no longer afford the other one. and let's be real, this one is small. it's enough and i'm not complaining, but people are definitely feeling it here. the US is hurting, but it's amazing to see how much we effect the rest of the world. the argentine peso is 4 to 1 (USD) which makes it cheaper and in our favor, but it's really hurting them, considering it used to be 1 to 1 in 1989 i think when they dollarized the peso and made them equal.
SO. all in all, a lot of things going on. pretty much everything interests me, so i find it hard to keep to one topic! haha but really, i'm trying to learn as much as i can everyday. i'm trying to live on less: less stuff, being less needy, whatever, and i'm so proud of how many amazing places i've already been, and all over this city. when i hear about something, i go straight to investigating where it is and how to get there. that's an amazing feeling. knowing i have the ability to go anywhere and do whatever i want. very metaphoric, no? story of my life : )
okay. enough for now. had to catch up! thanks so much for keeping up with me. i've made friends here but of course i miss my friends in the US dearly : ) and my dog hahaha for some reason, everytime i leave home, i just really miss my dog (this is totally a sidenote... but it's a blog, what did you expect??) i think it's because you can tell she misses me. when i come home, she sleeps in my room and when i sit on our couch she sits by me, and she's just my buddy i guess haha so yeah holla to my girl midnight!!! HAHAHA
thanks for the
love. emily
aaaand yesterday i went to san telmo, which is a HUGE outdoor fair thing where an entire street (defensa) is lined with people selling crafts and stuff like that. weird, but i saw some guys from wabash there... depauw's rival school. that was so twilight zone! haha i saw some of the same people i saw in january, selling in the same spots! the nice man who sold me the beautiful glass art clock (? how to describe it...) was there, and we talked with him and his wife. the two girls i was with both bought one, so now we all have one from this same guy. that's cool for him to have such an influence, his art is being displayed all over the world!
okay, this was a long weekend so i have so much to tell... friday night (i think haha) i went with a girl named kari to a bar that was pretty cool. we didn't go until like 1 or later and after a while there was a drag queen, which was the funniest thing ever because she was talking in spanish! hahaha it was at least 10 times funnier, seriously. then we danced, but the music here is not like in the US, it's more like, how do you say, mariachi band. i miss my chris brown/sigma chi mix haha. when they choose to play american music, they always pick stuff that we actually don't listen to which is hilarious. oh! and everywhere is playing michael jackson. EVERYWHERE. haha last night i went to a jazz bar with a girl named angelica, and they were playing michael... yeah. but last night we met some paraguayans and they live really close to me, so hopefully we can hang out sometime. two of the three spoke really good english, so it wasn't hard to understand them, obvi.
so, now for saturday... saga. i went shopping with kari for boots, because they are everywhere and she wanted some, so literally the first store we go to the shoe salesman is like, hey, you guys want to hang out with me and my friends tonight? so being the americans wanting to meet argentines, we were like yes, actually. saga. so we MEET at 145, take a cab to this club, and there are a ton of people in line but it's not moving. so we meet his friends who for the most part don't know any english at all=fun, but after waiting for like an hour for this line to move, we decided to go somewhere else. (we did get to talk to other people in line though... i love argentines! haha they are so nice. people are happy and friendly here, which is cool) so we go this somewhere else, and it's packed. like sick packed. and all the guys there are extreme creepers. the music was better, but oh my gosh. creepers. so long story short, on my way home in my cab, i heard a beeping sound and didn't know where it was coming from, and i realized it was my watch. to wake me up. haha yeah, it was like 730. i went home and ate breakfast haha
at some point i need to write more thoughtful things than just what i did... yesterday i talked to my host mom for awhile during dinner, and i need to remember what she said because it's really insightful about what argentines think about their government. it's really sad, actually, because she said that in their government, for her it's a problem of morality: like they are just out to improve their lives and their own gain, and they have little respect or insight into how to improve the country. and from what i've studied about lots of recently developed nation-states in africa, that same corruption exists. i don't understand, how could a person with a strong national identity be proud of who they are if they are screwing their people? and it could be much worse, but what the people see is their politicians vacationing in other countries (why are they leaving?) in huge houses (unnecessary luxury considering the economy) and neglecting the issues. it's like they're too proud to admit they have a problem... estela (host mom) said christina kirchner (female president of argentina) said to obama that argentina doesn't need a plan b. as in they aren't in that bad of a crisis. but yet the country was practically bankrupt in 2001, and is still recovering from that setback. it's arrogance, and potentially very dangerous arrogance. the problem is the people who suffer are not the politicians, but those in the provinces, and even in buenos aires. estela had to move just before i came to a smaller apartment down the street because she could no longer afford the other one. and let's be real, this one is small. it's enough and i'm not complaining, but people are definitely feeling it here. the US is hurting, but it's amazing to see how much we effect the rest of the world. the argentine peso is 4 to 1 (USD) which makes it cheaper and in our favor, but it's really hurting them, considering it used to be 1 to 1 in 1989 i think when they dollarized the peso and made them equal.
SO. all in all, a lot of things going on. pretty much everything interests me, so i find it hard to keep to one topic! haha but really, i'm trying to learn as much as i can everyday. i'm trying to live on less: less stuff, being less needy, whatever, and i'm so proud of how many amazing places i've already been, and all over this city. when i hear about something, i go straight to investigating where it is and how to get there. that's an amazing feeling. knowing i have the ability to go anywhere and do whatever i want. very metaphoric, no? story of my life : )
okay. enough for now. had to catch up! thanks so much for keeping up with me. i've made friends here but of course i miss my friends in the US dearly : ) and my dog hahaha for some reason, everytime i leave home, i just really miss my dog (this is totally a sidenote... but it's a blog, what did you expect??) i think it's because you can tell she misses me. when i come home, she sleeps in my room and when i sit on our couch she sits by me, and she's just my buddy i guess haha so yeah holla to my girl midnight!!! HAHAHA
thanks for the
love. emily
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