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Published: August 1st 2006
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Casa Rosada
This is the Casa Rosada (Pink House) which is the equivalent of the White House. When the flag is flying like that above the Casa Rosada it is supposed to signify that the president is inside working. But when I took this photo, President Nestor Kirchner was at a meeting of the Mercosur trade bloc with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro in the city of Cordoba... First of all, I would love to receive notes via snail mail, if you're interested here is my mailing address:
Maggie Pettit
FLACSO - CIEE Program
Tucumán 1966
2 piso (1050)
Cap. Fed. Bs. As.
ARGENTINA (unfortunately I can’t receive large packages because I would have to pay a 200-peso tax to receive the package)
I have been living with my host family for just over a week now and I am really starting to feel settled in and comfortable. On Sunday, July 24th, my host mom came a met up with me at the hotel where all the students stayed during the first half of our orientation. I was pretty nervous to meet her because there were so many host parents and so many students waiting in the lobby of the hotel, and when the program staff would call out your name you would walk over and meet your host parent, with everyone applauding and staring at you… but despite all the overdone pomp and circumstance, it went fine.
We went back to their apartment for dinner and I met my house sisters, Trini and Rosario. It was Trini’s 16th birthday the day I arrived, but
Random encounter
Last week I came across this film or soap opera being filmed on a street near the Plaza de Mayo...Oh, and that thing behind them is an entrance to the Subway Line D, which is the one I take almost every day to get to the Facultad de Latina America de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) which is where my study abroad program is based. she had celebrated it the night before. Rosario is 14 years old. And of course, with a house of all women there is bound to be some drama… unfortunately Trini got in a fight with her boyfriend that day so she was not very social the first night I arrived, but has since warmed up to me (oh, and with her boyfriend again too).
I guess the biggest difference that I notice between this homestay and the homestays I experienced on Ometepe, Nicaragua, is that on Ometepe the whole town would stop to celebrate the student delegation. Life is simpler and slower on Ometepe; the families had time to all share a meal together or sit and talk for hours and hours about nothing in particular. Life in Buenos Aires is more fast-paced (but not necessarily to mean that things happen on time here). I guess I was naïve to think that my arrival would be more of an “event” and that I would be doing activities and spending time with the host family every night. Don’t get me wrong, they have all been so sweet and kind to me. And part of it is that it is somewhat
El vino
I think Mendoza produces some 90% of Argentina's wine... of an odd time to move in because it is their winter vacation; Rosario left to visit her grandparents in the north for a couple weeks, and Trini has been out of the house a lot. But the truth is they are busy women, and rather than hanging around the apartment alone in my spare time, I see it more as an opportunity to establish my own life, apart from theirs, in Buenos Aires. So far that has consisted of finding some down-to-earth, genuine American friends in the program and visiting with them and their families, and taking in some of what the city has to offer in the way of films, parks, and restaurants. I also hope to make argentine friends through classes and connecting with the womens lacrosse team that supposedly exists in buenos Aires. And there is comfort in knowing that I will be here for five months, plenty of time to get to know my wonderful host family between their busy schedules.
A few things I learned this week:
1.
A 12-hour bus ride to Mendoza is well worth it, especially if you make friends with the winery tour guide, and even more so if you have luck fixing your 20 peso bike rental in time to catch the bus back home again 😊
--This past weekend I went with four friends to Mendoza - a town to the west of Buenos Aires, known for its wine,
The wine tasting
Mendoza is famous for its "Malbec" wine, but the white wine was my favorite...and thats our guide, Pablo, pouring the wine. and also recommended to me by a certain Toren Johnson 😊 It was the perfect time to go because none of us had any homework yet, as we don’t start classes til next week. After the longest bus ride of my life we arrived in Mendoza and quickly dropped our bags at a sweet little hostel, and caught a public bus (MUCH shorter trip) to the vineyards. We went to a vineyard with a wine museum integrated into it, and with the special highlight of a free wine tasting at the closure of the tour. After aerating and consuming about three glasses of wine each, and finally chipping in to buy a box together, we were bold enough to ask our cute tour guide, Pablo, to join us for dinner. Not only did we get to practice our Spanish more, but this was a really great deal because he basically continued to serve as our tour guide for the rest of the evening - selecting a great restaurant, a perfect wine for dinner and helping translate the menus for us. The next day we rented bikes from a sweet old couple - they even took a photo of us for
Bicicletas
Here's the couple we rented the bikes from in Mendoza - they've only been renting bikes for a couple weeks - and the girls I traveled with, minus Leslie who stayed in the hostel to keep warm on this crisp day - (from left to right, Joanna, Hugo and his wife, Katie, and Lindsey). We were very excited to find that they were open for rentals because we had gone to another place first, where a very old creepy man opened the door and mumbled something about his son taking all the bikes away for the weekend... their brochure, ha! - and managed to bike for three hours despite repetitive handy-work on the bike chains that nearly caused us to miss our bus home. All in all, Mendoza was a lovely escape from city life and a good time to reflect on the first week in Argentina…
2.
Argentine men are either very romantically inclined or very desperate for American women.
--Case in point: I was wandering around my neighborhood (Palermo) with a couple girlfriends and we asked two local guys where we could find a simple restaurant or bar to get a glass of wine. They were nice enough to go 5 blocks out of their way to show us where we needed to go. Once we arrived at this strip of restaurants, we said our goodbyes, as they had to continue walking their dog, Tina. My friends and I wandered into one of the 10 restaurants on that street and sat at a table in the back. Fifteen minutes later one of the guys comes sprinting to our table with three red roses, and gives us each yet another kiss on the cheek (the normal greeting here). Mind you, this guy REALLY must have had to search for us because he didn’t see what restaurant
Recuerdos
One of the wonderful moments of the Mendoza trip... we went into. They even included a personalized note on each of the roses. My note said the following (translated roughly): “Thank you for making the sun come out on this fresh night with your smile.” They also included their email addresses. Now, you decide - romantic or desperate?
3.
Buenos Aires’ “lunfardo” (slang) is in a world all its own (they even have a different word for avocado here! - it’s “palta” instead of “aguacate” in case you were wondering)
--Part of our orientation is attending workshops to learn the Buenos Aires slang - which really should be declared a sect of Spanish itself - and to learn a whole new verb form which they love to use here to address EVERYONE with. Fortunately, after being utterly frustrated and intimidated, I realized that the new informal “you” (vos) form was really not that complicated to learn. Unfortunately, much of the slang words can be extreme insults in one context, and terms of affection in another, so at this point I feel I would rather speak like a foreigner than find myself in an uncomfortable situation with a very angry Argentine.
Hope all are happy and healthy and enjoying life. I love getting notes from you all and hearing whats new in your lives. Keep me posted 😉
Ciao y un abrazo, Maggie
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Mom
non-member comment
Hola!
The photo of the wine bottles with light shining through them is my favorite. You have an eye for catching the image, that's for sure. And I chuckled to think of you being pursued by romantic, rose-bearing young men. What's a mother to do...?!! Ciao!