MALBA

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We had the opportunity today to visit the Museo de Arte Latinoamerico de Buenos Aires (MALBA). Although not particularly huge, it did have a handful of famous artists, including Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, one of whose famous self-portraits is part of the permanent exhibit. Most of the museum was sculptures and modern art, though, which was both unexpected and really cool. It's not usually my style - abstract has never really caught my eye, and so many modern pieces are overtly simplistic, like one today that was just 6 small, thin slanted lines on a white background - but I appreciated the presence of color here.

We had a brief tour before having time to explore by ourselves, when we found a lot of acrylic and glass works, usually with curvatures and designs to create cool illusions when looking through them at someone. The basement of the museum also had a couple interesting exhibits: one video on Amazonian tribes, one on celebration, and one very interesting one that was almost pitch-black, save for the high-contrast, white outlines on the video. It seemed to be of some kind of revolution (my bet is the May Revolutions), but it was hard to tell with just the outlines.

After the museum, a bunch of us went to a café, where we played some pick-your-own trivia, enjoyed some drinks, and played some cards. One of the coolest drinks her is called a submarino, and needs to be brought to the US (like empanadas). Simply put, they give you steamed milk and a quite delicious chocolate bar, which you melt into the milk to make your hot chocolate. For some reason it's about 150%!b(MISSING)etter, assuming you don't eat the chocolate straight (I know a few of my readers that would have issues avoiding that...).

One thing I have noticed is the daily improvement in both my confidence and speaking skills here. I'm starting to think a bit more in Spanish, and our conversations at dinner - unlike some homestays here, we only speak Spanish with our family - have gotten intense. Over the past few days, we've discussed everything from the crippling student loan debts to gun rights. Interesting conversations, since Argentina doesn't particularly have cause to discuss either of these - at home or regarding the US - very often. Our host mom, in fact, didn't even know that the Second Amendment existed, or that Americans have relatively unfettered access to guns. It was a set of very interesting discussions. Difficult, but good both for practice and confidence in my abilities!



NB: pictures are up for Tuesday, July 14th!

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Photos

Frida Kahlo
forgot to take a picture myself
credit: http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g312741-d312325-i93308187-Museum_of_Latin_American_Art_of_Buenos_Aires_MALBA-Buenos_Aires_Capital_Fe.html