Okay. I have a whole week of fun and crazy and ridiculous things to update on. Now that I have the chance to breathe and listen to some Glee (<3 I’m obsessed), vamos.
First off, I’M ON SEASON FIVE OF LOST! I was barely into season 3 when I got here, and I just MIGHT make it in time for the series finale on May 16th! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Man, I love that show.
Last Saturday, we went to the Festival del Día de la Tierra (Earth Day for you gringos 
). Ironic, right? Since Argentina doesn’t believe much in recycling and the likes of Earth Day things…unless you count marijuana. Which I surprisingly didn’t smell much of at ALL there. It was right by the Floralis Generica sculpture, which seemed appropriate. Lots of hippie kinda stuff and vegetarian/vegan/healthy food, which I surprisingly consumed much of (but then again, I consume anything). A few of the girls got their faces painted and that was cute. We frolicked in the grass and chilled like the liberal arts college students living in BA that we are 
some people walked around handing out free vegan desserts, which are ALWAYS good (shoutout to Victor Galli!) and another group was having people decorate eggs for the upcoming World Cup, because 1) Soccer is its own religion in Argentina, and 2) it’s a play on words, because their way of saying “Got balls?” is “¿Tenés huevos?” kekekeke. And there were several psychadelic bands and musicians playing, and even though I’ve no idea what it feels like being high, hearing the odd music gave me some awkward sense of it…and I assured myself that ignorance is in fact bliss.
All of us with our painted huevos
Mmm organic foods. Those apples were literally las mejores del mundo.
Lauren and Sam with their cute butterfly faces
Sun and Moon with stars..she spent a lot of time contemplating her design too, haha
Floralis Generica
Later that night, Layla and I went with Hannah Foster to a parrilla in San Telmo for some supposed steak that is supposed to put Lo de Bebe to shame. Now, if you’ve read my posts, you know Lo de Bebe is mi amor and I’ve eaten there 7 times and have I mentioned how much I love it? Well…dammit, she was right. The place was called Desnivel and we had legit STEAK, not just bife or carne. And the BEST papas fritas with garlic and stuff, and the best mashed potaters that South America probably has to offer. Oh my god, foodgasm to the MAX.
Oh my gah.
And of course, we had some helado after.
On Sunday, we went to the Feria de Mataderos, all the way on the other side of Captial Federal, which is great because I literally have not ventured out into any other barrio aside from Palermo, Barrio Norte, Recoleta, and a tad of San Telmo/La Boca/Congreso. Anyway, we took bus 55 to the Mataderos barrio, and it was quite the nifty crafts and gaucho fair. Lots of cute stuff to spend yo’ pesos on, and lots of good food. And entertainment. Win-win.
Llama and a midget pony
Cinturons de cuero, aka leather belts
Alpargatas, aka the original TOMs
On Monday, I gave my presentation in La Lengua. If you know me, you know I am pretty shy with class discussion, especially in spanish. So I was very nervous for this, which covered this Argentine artist, Daniel Santoro. whose exhibit we were going to visit on Friday. But I actually did really well, according to Mariano’s head nods and repeats of “exacto“. ¡Que bárbaro! And I guess my presentation was actually interesting, so even better. After school, I went to Marcela to ask what I was to do about my visa fiasco. To sum it up, she said this was an irregular case, and while it was definitely not my fault that I didn’t get stamped, this is now my problem. Uh, what? And she literally told me I have to leave the country and return so I can get an entrance stamp into Argentina. “Ever been to Colonia? (In Uruguay) Well now’s your chance to take a day trip!” Oh. My. God. Why is NYU so USELESS when it comes to my immigrations nonsense? So I spent $50 on a round-trip ferry to go to Colonia for tomorrow, May 1st. Luckily, lots of my friends want to go too, so it’ll at least be fun. I just can’t believe it’s come down to that. I’m seriously a fugitive of the Argentine law, existing in neither Argentina nor Uruguay…ay dios mio.
I met an ex-pat (ex-patriot, aka an American that lives elsewhere than the States) on Tuesday at the Alamo. Which was fun, since he was from New Mexico and thus we’re practically neighbors. Good American conversation, makes me miss not being so self-conscious about what to talk about in another language…
Wednesday, we had a screening of the documentary The Take, which I recommend to anyone interested in economics or stuff with co-ops and the like. Not that I understand ANY of it, but it was very interesting nonetheless. And we had two speakers that work for a non-profit organization that lends money to co-ops and such. They showed us some stuff that co-ops fail to sell with the money lended, like bright-colored skinny jeans.
Nick and Jesse modeling the...jeans
Afterwards, Emma, Layla, Arielle, and I went to Rachel’s house and we had a girls’ night, doused in caprichia and lime and funny picture-taking/video-making.
Thursday was the 33rd anniversary of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo marching, so Layla, Lily, Arielle, Geoff, Mariann, and I decided to finally go and see them. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but the historical context is too important to ignore. Layla pointed out how fascinating it was being at the Plaza de Mayo, such a vital area that took part in so much recent history of Buenos Aires, and that we don’t really have places like that in the States (of recent history). The closest thing is probably the Lincoln Memorial when MLK gave his ‘I Have a Dream” speech. But I digress. They were also holding a press conference and debate about journalists that sided with the military regime of the Dirty War era, and who are going to be tried soon.
Then, Emma and I were eating dinner with Margarita, a yummy mixture of veggies, humus (for Emma), milanesa and hamburguesa (for me!). Our host-sister, Manuela, comes in, as we tell her about our day visit to see the Madres de Plaza de Mayo march at the plaza, as they do and have been doing so for 33 years today. Margarita–very surprisingly–told us she was VERY contra what they do, and also the current administration. She actually seemed angry for the first time that I’ve witnessed, saying that the gobierno is all aggressive and very much acting like the dictatorship and military regime of the 70s and 80s. Manuela comes in and is like, I completely disagree, and it was a rather interesting debate of sorts. She was saying how she supported the Madres and the Kirchner administration for bringing all the bad guys to justice and trying to make things right, because future generations are and will be asking “Que pasó?” and trying to understand the logic and mysteries behind the Dirty War. She brought up so many good points, and thoroughly argued her point, and Margarita just sat grimacing and said “I must not have a heart”. And we were laughing and joking and stuff, except they both really felt strongly about their positions. Margarita’s is what I found most interesting, because she LIVED through that era in Buenos Aires, and to think so strongly against what the Argentines suffered..wow.
So after a late-night of partying, I had to wake up at 8am on Friday for my field trip with La Lengua and the Mitos class at 10am. We were freaking out because Mariano wasn’t at the Academic Center, and there would be hell to pay if he made us get up early for an excursion that he wouldn’t be attending. Luckily, our van picked him up somewhere near Flores later on. He explained he was teaching an early class at UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires), because he’s an Argentine Renaissance man and does fifty-million things. Anyway, the exhibit was cool, especially since I actually knew all about Santoro’s works, having given that presentation. (Kelley–you were right! Studying up beforehand on the artwork actually helps with self-engagement!) Basically, he’s a painter who is obsessed with Peronism and Evita, and pretty much puts her in nearly every one of his works (you know Where’s Waldo? It’s like Donde esta Evita!). There’s also tons of themes of the importance of the number 3, capitalism/communism/peronism, Descamisados, and la Mama de Juanito Laguna. Dang, I feel so intelligent and artsy. Of course, it was also the perfect opportunity to be a creep:
Mariano, what an intellectual being.
And then…we had a fun spur-of-the-moment excursion that Mariano made us promise not to talk about. So I’ll leave it up in the air
Apologies for the long-ish post. Though, no apologies for having such an awesome, fun-filled week/life. I really don’t know what I’m going to do once I get back to the States. I’ll be stuffing all greasy food things American into my mouth, sure, but I won’t be around the same 106 (well, 15 really) people I’ve surrounded myself with for four months; I’ll be using my ll‘s and scha- sounds and vos and no one will understand what I’m saying; I’ll be kissing people hello on the cheeks like the Porteños do and people will be offended by my invading their private spaces; my sleep and eating schedule will be so off it’s going to hurt. Yes, I’m starting to worry about reverse culture shock, which I’m 100% sure it’ll be way worse than coming to Argentina in the first place, because I embraced the culture so easily.
Anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it. Tomorrow is Colonia. And hopefully IRON MAN 2!!! AGH!
Chau chicos.
