The Southern Hemisphere...and beyond: March 2010

Moving day

SATURDAY 03/20/10

I moved into my new house, and LOVE it!!! Here's a little tour:

(my door)

(entryway)

(french doors into living room)

(living room)

(kitchen)

(stairs to the 2nd floor)

(empty bedroom on 2nd floor)

(stairs to my room - i've learned to walk at an angle, as the ceiling is quite low)

(my king-size bed - 2 twins pushed together)

(my "office")

REASONS WHY I LOVE MY APARTMENT:

1) window in my room (very hard to find in a city where most bedrooms are interior)

2) bathroom in my room (small, but it’s a full bathroom!)

3)    close to many of the friends that I’ve met, as well as my yoga and dance classes (except for African dance, which is in Palermo Hollywood, and it’ll be a good excuse to go there once a week)

4)    housemates are great (and Spanish-speaking)! the owner is Argentine and there’s a couple who’s been living in the Italian part of Switzerland – the girl is Swiss and the guy is Argentine – they mainly communicate with each other in Italian (I can brush up!), but both speak Spanish – they’re here for a year as well, and there’s an Australian tango dancer who’s coming on the 29th

5)    I’m on the 3rd floor – same floor as the terraza and parrilla (grill)

6) it just smells like home

7) ceiling fan in my room (next to the window, that is another huge bonus for me, as I always sleep with a fan)

8)    there’s a TV (not that I watch it much, but it’s nice to have the news and know the Argentine’s perspective of events)

9)    coffee machine and mate!

10)    living room with couch (nice to have a common living area)

Concert at the National House of the Bicentennial

FRIDAY 03/19/10

Argentina is celebrating their bicentennial this year, and a new cultural center opened this week in honor of the 200 years. There are events going on all week commemorating the history of the country and its people. As part of that, there was a concert of an Argentine and a Brazilian woman. Meri (the Catalana), Flor (the French who lives in Barcelona) and I went together, and it was a wonderfully intimate and acoustic show with some great talent! They sang folk songs with undertones of samba and local sounds.

Afterward, we went to a bar for the birthday of a Brazilian friend that I had met in cine class. I met a guy from Madrid who grew up in the neighborhood in Madrid where I stayed in October 2009 and ived in Iowa for 2 years! It was crazy!! It always surprises me when people a) have heard of Minnesota; b) are actually familiar with it.

(Vicky in the middle surrounded by other Brazilians)

Dinner at the depto (departamento = apartment)

THURSDAY 03/18/10

Tyrone had planned a dinner for the group of 4 Argentines that had brought him to Gualeguaychu, as well as another Argentine friend that he had met and her 2 friends. He had been preparing food for two days and had a nightmare that everything had gone wrong – he was so concerned about everything going well, and he really put a lot of work into the meal. My main task was buying plastic plates & silverware, since we didn’t have enough regular ones for everyone. It didn’t seem like it’d be such a tough task, and even though I went to Jumbo, where I knew they’d have something, they had a very minimal selection. The silverware was extremely flimsy and all of it was quite expensive, for the lack of quality, and it didn’t quite seem adequate to serve with such a great meal, but it was that or buy real silverware. We had a Caesar salad, a potato salad, a curry rice dish with chicken, and steak!

(table's all set)

It was great food, and it felt really good to entertain in the apartment.

Volunteering!

WEDNESDAY 03/17/10

I had a meeting with the attorney at the FCCAM, and I’m going to start shadowing him next week doing intake interviews with the refugees who come to the organization. I’m extremely excited to get familiar with the regulations for refugees – both internationally and here in Argentina. He sent me home with a lot of literature to read that outlines the organization’s procedures and the laws regarding refugee status – I’m very ready to start learning!!

Bang Trim

TUESDAY 03/16/10

I took the bold step of getting my first bang trim in a foreign country…as it had taken me several stylists to find one that I like in Minneapolis, I was extremely nervous for the results here in Argentina, but I could hardly see anymore and I was getting a crick in my neck from constantly trying to get the bangs out of my face. I entered the peluquería named “Guapa” (gorgeous), thinking it looked nice from the outside…but inside, it smelled of tanning oil (even though I didn’t see any tanning beds around) and mildew. But, I just figured I’d go for it. I sat down in the chair and the barber handed me a towel – “por las dudas” (just in case)…in case of what?! As he wetted my bangs and then dried them with his hands, he asked me to dry them further with the towel – kind of odd. He proceeded to cut them in a rather straight cut, and I was beginning to regret my decision. After some guiding, however, he did angle them more and give them a little shape. In order to not end up with a pixie cut, I accepted his attempt and made sure that he didn’t go too far. When he went to dry them, he just pushed them around with a bit more force than was necessary and not with much care. All in all, I have to admit that the cut wasn’t horrible, but the attention to detail wasn’t near that of what I get in Minneapolis.

Another fellow dancer

MONDAY 03/15/10

Coming into my sixth week here, things are starting to get into place, and you really don’t want to hear my daily accounts of routine activities. So, I’ll start to just give you the highlights of parts that are new and some observations along the way.

The only thing out of the normal to report was that I went out for dinner with Rosallin, the Peruvian that I had met at the parrillada. She’s also a dancer, and we’re both looking for places to dance – again, it’s nice to have some people to start sharing time and interests with!

Debaterillada

SUNDAY 03/14/10

I met up with the political debate group on Sunday morning to go to San Isidro (a town just outside of Buenos Aires) to have a parrillada (barbeque) at one of the Argentine’s house.

(the boys starting to debate on the bus ride to the asado)

(Meri - Barcelona, Rosallin - Peru & I)

It was a great afternoon to just sit outside in the yard and eat some good meat! There wasn’t as much “debating” going on this time…at least in the group that I was near – it was more of a cultural exchange – with people from Peru, Spain, France, Argentina and myself (the only American).

(the parrilla)

(la carne)

(Gustavo el asador)

las ensaladistas

Argentina Abraza a Chile

SATURDAY 03/13/10

What an incredible day!! The weather was just perfect as I headed out to do a little shopping. On Friday, I had passed a store with a bunch of skirts imported from India and had fallen in love with them, so I started out by purchasing a few. I then went to the Recoleta Feria where I had seen some earrings with flowers impressed into mother of pearl. Then, suited in my new purchases, Meri (the Spaniard that I had met at the political debate group) and 2 other friends of hers met Tyrone and me to go to a benefit concert for Chile. The names on the roster were some huge musicians in Argentina – Leon Gieco, Andres Calamaro, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and an appearance from Ricardo Darin (the lead actor from El Secreto de Sus Ojos). We didn’t realize what a large scale concert it would be, but as we went to catch the bus, the lines were extremely long and the buses just passed by, as they were already full. We decided to walk (since it wasn’t very far…by my measurement), and there were hordes of people going in the same direction.

(crowd heading to the park)

(collecting donations)

(crowd heading to the park)

(collecting donations)

We arrived to find the crowd just packed – it was in a large park near the regional airport.

It was an amazing day to be out in the open, listening to music, drinking mate…and the solidarity of the people just impressed me!!

(Leon Gieco)

(D-mente)

(mixture of Cataluña, Argentina, New Zealand & France)

(Geraldine & I)

Around 100,000 people attended, and they collected 12 tons of supplies that filled 7 trucks.

www.clarin.com/diario/2010/03/14/sociedad/s-02158964.htm

www.elargentino.com/nota-81724-seccion-109-El-festival-solidario-Argentina-abraza-a-Chile-recaudo-mas-de-40-toneladas-de-alimentos-y-ropa.html

After the concert, to let everyone clear out, we went to a bar in the area (which was a VERY upscale area). Then, the group of us, which consisted mainly of me and the Catalanes (people from Catalunia, Spain) went for dinner at Artemisia (the vegetarian restaurant in Palermo Hollywood). We had some fantastic wine and appetizers of Latin American tapas (guacamole, vegetarian ceviche, corn empanadas) and baked pears with goat cheese. The stuffed salmon entrée that I had was equally delectable!

It was so nice to have a perfect evening of great company and wonderful conversation, that I didn’t want to rush it. After finishing the dinner quite late (around 1:00 am), I topped the night off at Naty’s birthday party with all of the rugby players.

(Naty, the cumpleanera & Auro)

A night out in P. Hollywood

FRIDAY 03/12/10

Through Couchsurfing, I “met” a girl from Madrid, Geraldine, who was going to be in Buenos Aires for 2 ½ days and wanted someone to show her around. We started in Plaza Serrano with some picadas and continued to the Botanical Gardens. She also wanted to see the Japanese Garden, and despite my underwhelming experience the previous week, I brought her there. Another park on her list was Plaza Francia – so, we walked there, as I do everywhere…but it proved to a bit farther than she was hoping for (especially after having just gotten in the day before and being a bit exhausted)…I have learned that I need to have different measurements when walking – the “Lauren” distance and the “normal” distance. I really enjoyed having someone to walk around the city with and share some good company! She’s actually from France and lives in Madrid – her boyfriend is from Cordoba, Argentina, and he had to come to finish up an exam for school, so she was traveling for a week before meeting him in Cordoba.

After leaving Geraldine at Avenida 9 de Julio, I walked back home (yup! did double the distance of walking!). I stopped for a café cortado and ordered the merienda (midday snack) titled “Tazón” (large cup) that included a café, toast and OJ. I thought the name was just the name of the menu item, but it turns out that I got nearly a soup cup of café cortado – I felt ridiculous! I’ve gotten so used to my little espresso cups – I didn’t even realize that the large mugs were an option in Argentina – and I didn’t want that much. But another lesson learned.

The brother of a friend of my friend, Julia (figure that out!) was playing with his reggae band at Niceto Club – a club near my house. It was a great concert, and Julia was with a bunch of her friends from high school and their parents – it reminded me of when we’d go to see Bob Manning and the Real Deal...except that this was in a club similar to 1st Ave (on a smaller scale), and it was reggae that all the parents were getting down to!

(Leonchalon)

(Julia & I)

(Julia & her friends - the one on the right is the one who's brother is in the band)

Afterward, we grabbed some pizza at a restaurant across the street and then, I headed to a birthday party of a friend of my friend, Nacho. It was the same group with whom I had gone to El Tigre the previous weekend – such a blast!! We just sat outside of a small bar and listened to more of their childhood stories.