http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/kmb86/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from kmb86 en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000 Well it's my last night here and I don't want to go to bed because then my last night here will officially be over. I'm ready to go home...I miss my family and friends back at home but I just wish there was some way to know that I can come back soon. It's really hard to say goodbye. I said goodbye to Laura and Vicky tonight and I almost cried because it just sucks that they came so late in my http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-420888.html Today I went to watch the mothers of the disappeared do their weekly walk around the Plaza de Mayo. Apparently there are two factions one that simply wants an answer as to where their missing children are and the other that wants justice to be served to those in the military dictatorship. It was a very moving thing to see because these women are now so old. The oldest one is 91 years old. So http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-419308.html Well it's officially my last full week here. Hard to believe. Really hard actually. I'm trying to see everything I missed before I go. Sara and I went to the Japanese Garden on Sunday then San Telmo. It was really a beautiful day and surprisingly warm.The events at the garden on Sunday were cool...there were some dancers with drums and the garden was really pretty. We had some sushi after http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-418292.html It is currently noon and I just woke up about an hour ago. Yesterday I started a new book called The Geography of Bliss written by a journalist who had decided to embark on a worldwide journey to discover what the key to happiness was. I am over halfway done with this book now and I am realizing a lot of things. Climate is not a determining factor in whether or not a nation can be happy. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-416166.html Swine flu is amongst us ya'll Yesterday we found out that the new health minister of Buenos Aires has called a state of emergency. The old health minister resigned because she suggested holding off elections until after the flu went away and disagreed with the amount of action the government was implementing. Well now it's bad. Public schools are shut down borders are tightening up hos http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-415166.html Well I now have 23 days left in Argentina. Just typing that made my eyes well up with tears. I am writing this entry in tears. How can you not love this countryRyan and I went to Mardel with Camila and stayed with her family this weekend and it made me so sad because I had to say goodbye to Camila this morning since she's staying at her house until the end of July for winter vacation. After http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Mar-del-Plata/blog-413882.html Well today was officially the first day that I went to LIFE and left feeling a little bit down. There were soooo many kids today and it was incredibly hard to give everyone the attention they needed with the 6 volunteers we had. And then there was this one girl who was probably around 8 years old or so and didn't know how to read or even write numbers. I did a math worksheet with her which to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-412636.html First of all LIFE stands for Luchemos para una Infancia Feliz y con Esperanza which means fighting for a happy and hopeful childhood. Friday and Saturday were my 2nd and 3rd days. Next week I am signed up for 4 events. I have met some pretty cool people. Yesterday was the cooking thing again and man it is not a pretty house that we work in. First of all bad news the milk we brought http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-410859.html Well looks like I'm finally going to take that trip to the small town of Colonia in Uruguay. Not necessarily because I'm dying to go there but more because my 90 day tourist visa expires at the end of the month. That means that either I pay a 300 peso fine at the airport when I try to leave the country or that I pay a 300 peso fine at the dreaded migrations office. So 300 pesos for absolutel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-409240.html Today was my first day at L.I.F.E. We met at the office then took a giant van to the villa slum. And I mean giant van. There were 12 of us in it Anyway so yeah people don't leave or go into the slums except for volunteers. Not even the police. It was exactly what you'd picture a slum to be. Houses that were made out of aluminum stray dogs running around everywhere lots and lots of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-408265.html So I'm finally done with my exams and my papers It's a great feeling of relief. I've been busy and crazy as hell trying to get this visa stuff straightened out and pass all my classes at the same time. But it's finally all straightened out and I am content and happy and STRESSFREE Tonight Camila and I are going to get sushi yes back to that old delicious habit and then I suppose I'l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-407597.html Hello all I've officially moved into my new apartment...on Rivadavia about two blocks away from my old residence It's actually so close that I will still use the same grocery store same bus and same laundromat. Very convenient and very beautiful. It's an apartment for 7 people and besides the landlords there is only one other flatmate. Her name is Tati and she's from Argentina. My land http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-403934.html Anytime you buy anything here it's wrapped in ridiculous amounts of tape. I suppose this is to prevent theft but they also wrap their luggage in tape here too. It's quite funny.I recently bought my own mate gord and am learning how to use it. There is a method to its madness. You say thank you only when you are done drinking. There is a servedora and the drinkers. The servedor pours the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-403175.html Today is Argentina's national holiday to commemorate their independence. Last night on the widest road in the world Avenida nueva de Julio they held a concert during which all sorts of famous people played. The coolest band was Bajofando which is an UruguayanArgentine band that started out as an experimental modern tango band and has eventually moved to more electronic style music. Appar http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-402043.html Yesterday Joey and I went to Boca to watch some tango and have a drink. We found a guy he had talked to once before and he sat us down and gave us each a free glass of wine. The service was more than terrible but we watched a lot of tango...and danced a ton too We got to show off our mad skillzzzzzz. I was doing pretty poorly at first but then I got the groove and did some fancy move I le http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-401459.html Cosi and I just went to Recoleta to see The Reader. I don't want to give anything away but I will say it was very intense. Cosi is halfgerman and says she still feels guilt about the Holocaust. Such an intense subject...and it was really nice watching a movie about a universally known event with a bunch of Argentines in the room and a Swiss girl Right now Juan and I are drinking Noah's pa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-400967.html Amongst the annoyance of the lack of coins in this city there is also the annoyance of beggers muggers and dirty exploited children. Every day for school I take the 60 line bus. Every night the same woman gets on the bus and tries to sell these cheap stupid looking bracelets. Sometimes people buy one mostly no one does. She says to us I tell you this is my only job this is the only w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-400574.html I'm not going to lie...I'm only writing this blog because I'm procrastinating doing my homework. But...I do have ONE interesting thing to put in this entry. Last week I uploaded a bunch of videos onto youtube so you can check them out here httpwww.youtube.comuserbennettbabe289Besides that nothing much has really been going on. I'm very tired today because I had a paper due today and a m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-400105.html So in 6 weeks I'll be leaving Crazy I can't believe how fast time has flown by here and how slow sometimes too. It's really the most odd feeling. My program called me today...said I could move out of the residence at the end of the month to an apartment nearby...free of charge because of my exceptional situation. I could have cried of happiness.Last night we went out to Club 69 again the d http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-399188.html Last night Sam and I both couldn't sleep. We started talking about everything...our lifestyles here the argentines that live with us etc. For the argentines this is serious. They are always studying and always going to bed early. For us we are always up and about and spending our money where we please. I'm not saying this is a good thing but it's the way we can live because for us this http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-398268.html