Quick thought.

I feel like I might have turned into a bit of a yuppie because I really like taking cabs now. It cuts out the thinking process, trying to find a bus stop, waiting for the bus, having change for the bus, and the subway doesn't run after 1030 at night, but let's be honest: I take cabs during the day. I also do this because I have this deeply ingrained fear of being late, most likely with origins in middle school where it was sacrilege to step in the door after THE BELL rang. Middle school is pretty much the root of all my problems! haha but I don't like to be late.

soooo here's the thing about taking cabs: it's not that expensive here, and you ALWAYS meet someone interesting. okay, not like "meet" and exchange numbers (WEIRD) but talking to a person for 5, 10, 15 minutes and only that gives you a remarkably large perspective into their life. It's catching them at the most banal moments, during their job. So lots of them like to talk to you. One guy (on my way to see King Lear, which was amazing!) told me he had been married to a lady from the US, but she left and went back. His point was that he likes Americans. EXIT TAXI. I had a really great conversation with another guy (on my way to class... that's really lame, but I was late!) who told me about his son who was my age and going to the same university as me, etc. Stuff always comes up about how we like Buenos Aires, and sometimes they are enthusiastic and sometimes they think it's such a fast pace of life. (after I tell them I'm from the country haha) Which I can understand, because they are constantly encountered with people in a hurry, but really, they never are going anywhere! Just being dictated by other people.

But before I recount every taxi driver I've had (which would be embarrassing because it's a lot haha), I have to cronicle this man from today. I was on my way to get my visa (for being a temporary resident here instead of just a tourist=baller), and this man was just a kick. He asked me what I was studying, and I told him castellano (what they call spanish...) and history and his response was "mentiras." lies. and I was like, no, that is actually what I am studying... and he went on to say, no, history is nothing but lies. And I didn't really know what to say, because I am assuming he doesn't think WWII never happened... so in my horrible spanish I said something like, well, it's always a construction of the truth, but ultimately something did happen a certain way. And he went on to tell me that 80% of what children learn in school is lies. I'm assuming he meant concerning history, because otherwise we'd be really confused about our lives.

And I don't really have a conclusion here, but if "history is just one thing after another" (thank you history boys-movie) it's very difinitive in it's own right. We just mess it up.

Well. more on this later. Then cabby asked me about Obama. Oh gosh. I told him that I think he was the best candidate for the job and I don't support him blindly, but with everything there is to deal with at the moment I can't say he's doing a poor job. Cabby approved. Then he said something about Bush, and we arrived at destination.

So maybe taking cabs isn't such a bad thing. I might have to keep experimenting...

dang it.

This is going to be short, but I have to document this day because I finally broke down and joined a gym... and I went tonight, and oh my gosh. there were like 30 men who all knew each other and were chatting with the trainer, and it was like I walked in the navy seal training center hahaha. the machines are old and extremely no frills. this is the basic, you do 5,000 push-ups every morning and eat egg whites kind of deal. maybe not, but it felt like it!! there were 2 little tvs with soccer on, and the machines are in kilograms so i have to figure out weights... oops. good news is they offer classes, so i can go to those, but i'm kind of scared of that too because it's not like i will magically get into shape just because i'm being instructed haha. sooooo. i paid for it so i have to go, right?

also, iguazu was so baller. i should go into more detail on that, but i have a paper to write haha on the way back in the bus we got stopped 3 times by patrol people and once a dog sniffed for drugs. that was kind of different. the dog looked like midnight! haha and was really uninterested in looking for drugs. kind of a slow mover... has nothing to do with the falls haha. also, i saw tat yesterday! and we were supposed to hang out today after my class, but he never called=bad move. and that is really not relevant to the blog, it's just in general i don't understand why guys do that/why it is such a hard concept to grasp. it's like not a big deal apparently, but it's really annoying. if you're a man, take note!! and if you're a girl, please back me up on this haha okay not all the time i'm not a hater, but let's be real. more than necessary. communication, caballeros.

it's starting to get warm thank goodness. i hope this lifts my spirits! i love warm weather. so pleasant. okay. peace.
emily

...wait, what?

this is really not pensive, but i just have to include here that i saw a mom helping her maybe 3-year old son pee on the sidewalk today. like it was off to the side... but i really just can't get over that HAHAHA like really??? you are probably less than 100 feet from at least 3 bathrooms! like, we do that in the country, but really?? that poor child. he's gonna go to school and pee in the middle of class and be like, what? hahaha it's like ridiculously hilarious as well as extremely odd... and i can't get over it!

on a less disturbing note, this weekend i am going out of town to iguazu falls, which i really have no idea what it's going to be like except there are going to be a lot of beautiful waterfalls haha. we're leaving thursday night, taking an 18-hour bus ride (really. that's nuts!) and will arrive on thursday. i am going with 2 guys and 3 other girls, the "americans" if you will, and we hang out all the time so i'm really glad we're all going together. it will be tons of fun. i'll try to actually take pictures, something i have neglected doing so far... but yeah. then we'll get back on sunday i think and hopefully more relaxed and maybe even a little tanner : )

also, i saw tat today. haha very briefly because mondays are crazy for me, but yeah. what do i say. he's still sweet : ) he's going 5 hours outside of the city tomorrow to see his fútbol team play... psycho. these people don't mess around.

also! i got to go through some flyers/posters for events put on by the madres (or other human rights organizations around the world) at my pasantía (internship) and it was really impressive. if you like history the place i work is the proverbial pot of gold, so i'm really enjoying it.

chau, amores!!
emily

Okay, so. I'm having a thought. A mix of my experiences/things i am reading have spurred this, of which i will explain... I have been considering the structure of my life in the US and what I am used to; basically my vocation (calling if you will) has always been student, so therefore i go to class, study, and am evaluated on my academic performances. however class and studying time doesn't take up all my time; obviously i am used to an enormous amount of leisure time, during which i watch movies/tv, talk with friends, go to the theatre, go out to eat, etc.

so i was just thinking what my life would be like if i didn't have leisure time. i'm sure meg/alana would have more insight into this than me based on classes with mac, but what would it be like to honestly only have time for work?? to not have the money to go to a café and get coffee and medialunas (croissants). to NEVER go out to eat. make your own jelly. not have a microwave. not have a coffee machine. all these things seem so basic and obvious. in college, EVERYONE has a digital camera. EVERYONE has a laptop. why wouldn't we have all these other things??

sorry if i'm not explaining myself, this obviously isn't super organized, but it's something to consider. for example, i am reading a book called "boquitas pintadas" for my program spanish class, and i really hate the format but it has some good stuff in it haha the author goes through each main character and describes what they do on the same day, and it's really interesting. an upper-class female character wakes up leisurely, has coffee and toast with butter, doesn't work, and goes to the theatre with her mom that night. another male character is woken up by his mother (laaame) and is served breakfast in bed while complaining the food isn't warm enough the whole time, and he doesn't work either. another male character doesn't even have an alarm but wakes up really early because he works construction, and he can't even find any bread in his house so he goes without breakfast. and there's more, but just comparing the structure of their lives, down to what they eat, what time they get up, whether or not they work, it really affected me thinking about what my own "normal" was.

aaaand, of course to parallel this, i actually could apply it to tat! haha i get really frustrated because he ALWAYS tells me he has to work and i feel like he can never hang out. i started to worry that he was brushing me off, because if a guy keeps saying, oh i can't meet today oh i can't meet today you start to think oh my gosh he might not want to see me. but on tuesday i think it was he of course said he had to work, but this time he invited me to come have dinner at his restaurant so we could still see each other. so i went and he served me, which was precious of course. and watching him work, i realized, oh my gosh, this guy works really hard. he was running around trying to make sure everyone was happy, trying to talk to me when he could, and i don't know. it just hit me that, wow, he really does just work a lot. i just have so much free time i don't know what it's like to have his life.

i always feel bad when i have to tell people i can't do stuff because i feel like i have to do homework or whatever, but this poor guy has no choice! it's just really made me think, i should be committing myself to MY work with the same dedication. of course i'm still going to see movies/go to shows/restaurants because i love it and i have the ability to do so, but i almost wish i wasn't so spoiled because then working more would be natural.

back to reading! this has been a long break...
emily

The tale of tat and other adventures

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

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

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