La Pura Vida

¡Todo bien!

Title is my current answer to the question I often hear here... ¨¿Todo bien?¨

Disculpame - a post from this country is long overdue. The days are just packed (reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes book)! Estoy aqui, in beautiful Buenos Aires! Though I have many pages to read for my first seminar tomorrow on Argentine politics, I suddenly have a burst of energy - that combined with the availability of this computer (my host family has internet at the house!) make blogging a winning combination. Got home a couple hours ago from my first day of classes - arrived exhausted and tried to sleep but tossed and turned. Do feel better now though after being in that almost asleep state for a while. As Maria de Carmen, mi madre here, agreed, even just closing the eyes for a while helps after a long day.

Where to begin! I´m going to let the fingers fly and see what results. Crazy to think that I only arrived here a week ago this morning. The plane ride was long though for the most part fun...enjoyed the free wine with the other SITers that were on the flight. Still working on being a more optimistic passenger - dreamt the plane was crashing and woke up around 4 am heart pounding and disorientated. Feelings changed to awe upon arrival a few hours later... felt as though in another dream as I took in the lights of huge BA through the plane windows. Soon set off to el campo - we had our first part of orientation in a ranch about an hour outside of the city. Discussed safety, had our first mate, took spanish exams, got to know each other.

Before long to the city. Loved it at first sight. More orientation and then a tango class (mesmerizing to watch the masters). City exploration. Finally began to feel more comfortable with group.

Friday night: met the family!!! Earlier that day we finally found out details. For me: my mother, Maria de Carmen, my father Juan, and my 21 year old sister Maria de Los Angeles. Two kids live on their own: sister Victoria is a biochemist and brother Juan Pablo is an anthropologist who specialized in shipwrecks and now teaches. I was absolutely thrilled to read the interests my family had listed... our interests are based in family unity, love, sharing. We like to participate in our parish and work around the house. Cocker spaniel also, adorable Mara!

Even knowing that description beforehand, my family was/is warmer than I could have imagined. On Friday night, the homestay coordinator led me by the hand amongst different groups of waiting families - moment of truth. Maria de los Angeles, Angie, ran over and gave me a huge hug. She is one of the bubbliest and caring people I´ve ever met. Such energy!

To be in this house is to be constantly embraced (both literally and figuratively). Sometimes I find myself smiling at the goodness of it all. I am reminded of Christmas, because of the crisp air (still winter here though brink of spring) but also because of the atmosphere of love. This family´s priority is taking care of each other - from my mom who is called a mother hen, to the father who now is even more appreciative of life after a previously life threatening problem in his brain, to Angie who is a little ray of sunshine. I can´t speak highly enough of them! I feel so grateful to have been placed with this family. Though mostly excited for classes, I was sad to leave this house today. So enjoyed spending time with them all this weekend. Especially feel grateful after talking to the other kids today who haven´t really bonded with their families.

This weekend included...
venturing out to find local parks (and then people watching...babies in strollers, dogs...even a Keeshond like my beloved Mel!)
shopping with Angie (NY-like shops are nearby)
going to a vigil with Angie´s youth group at the church, making friends with her group afterwards as we sat around til 2 in an open air area inside the church grounds - eating, playing soccer, singing to a guitar... Afterwards I went to a friend´s birthday party, which went from 2:30 am (typical) til 4:30! I felt so comfortable with her friends, as if I was with my own. It was wonderful to be with people of the same values and outlook on life. Really appreciated their patience as I worked through the language barrier in our long conversations... One guy summed it up well as we walked through the streets (I had just voiced my happiness at being with a community similar to my own at home) it´s great that you´ve encountered people with the same age values etc - really the only difference at all is the language! Making friends here made me really happy. This was the most included I´ve felt yet in my time in Latin America.

Sunday I recovered from the late night and had a lazy day with Angie. We got up around noon and had breakfast while she told me the long story of Montecristo, a favorite telenovela in this family. I played around with Skype as we listened to Jack Johnson and enjoyed being in our pajamas on the beautiful Sunday afternoon. Crashed in the afternoon after a really late lunch of empanadas and ice cream (mmm) with Juan Pablo, and then woke up in time to go to Mass with my mom. It was really cool to recognize people at the church, in the choir and in the pews. Left feeling really peaceful.

Yesterday was my dad´s birthday, and to celebrate we went to visit the other sister about 30 minutes away. We picked her up and went to a nearby river - felt like I was in a movie with this jovial family outing... touched once again by Angie´s kindness as she took me by the hand to show me the water. We ate at a riverside restaurant that has 350 different kinds of panqueques!! Amazing. I ordered one with bananas, cream, and nuts, all covered in chocolate. Delicious. Big dinner and cake later to top off the celebrations.

Ok time to start wrapping up. Dinner soon - my mom said something about soy meat! What accomodation.

It was fascinating to see the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) today. So politically charged! As I´d heard, the walls are COVERED with flyers and banners hang from the ceiling about marches, meetings - communist symbols, socialist newspapers. SIT staff told us to go without any expectations, as it´s completely opposite from the university environment we know. Locals half smile when talking about UBA - one never knows whether there will be classes (students often strike, remove desks, etc), teachers go on strike... While I was in Spanish class a little boy opened the door and said something unintelligible. When my teacher answered, ¨No ahora, mi amor¨ I thought it was her son. However she then explained that he´d asked for ¨una moneda.¨Pobrecito... begging is also common within UBA. The line between student life and ¨real¨ life is blurred. Definitely looking forward to spending more time there. This is the first time they´ve put SIT classes in the university - it´s an experiment.

Oh Maria del Carmen! Just told her that I´m writing about how happy I am here. ¨¡Me alegro!¨ (makes me happy) she said with a hug.

Buenos Aires: HUGE and glorious. Buildings are of a European style but size and busy-ness is similar to NYC. Still MUCH to see - pretty incredible how much there is to do (museums, theaters, cinemas - over 100 each).

Loving the food here. Typical breakfast is coffee or tea with wheat toast or medialunas (croissants) with a creamy cheese and jam (grateful for a lighter start to the day than gallo pinto). Luckily this family loves vegetables so I´ve been feasting on broccoli, asparagus, corn, radishes, lettuce... big bowl of fruit too with oranges, mandarines, and apples. Maybe I´ll try the famous meat. Oh! Schedule - this culture is late to eat (dinner yet to be started and it´s now 9:20), late to bed (everything still going at 1, later often), and late to rise.

Ok - enough for this cursory overview. Back to learning to be a city girl (took the subway for the first time by myself today!) and about Argentina´s history. Will have updates soon about my research project...everything´s vague now but I´m really excited by the possibilities...

Though still uncomfortable at times as I adapt to a new life, I am enthralled by Argentina. I will try not to let so much time pass before the next entry. Hope all´s well in whichever corner of the world you´re in - besitos!!

posted by Colleen @ 5:39 PM