I've gotta say, it was another pretty solid week in the 'tina. As my great friend Caroline Moore once told me about her own semester abroad in Buenos Aires, sometimes it's just nice to be a Southern girl in the Southern Hemisphere. Couldn't agree more.
In my forever-long post from the other day, I forgot to mention that last week (fue Miercoles, creo) a guest speaker visited our group to talk about her experiences as a Madre de la Plaza de Mayo, an activist who lost one of her children to the military dictatorship of the late '70s/early '80s. Our visitor was Sara Russ, a Jewish woman from Poland who not only survived the horrors of the clandestine kidnappings and killings in Argentina, but had relocated here after WWII, during which she endured life in concentration and work camps in Poland and Germany. She even spent three weeks in Auschwitz, I believe. Her stories were dark and beautiful and compelling. During her talk, when I wasn't fully absorbed in each word she said, I really couldn't help but notice the historical gravity and social relevance to today's world in her presence with us there. There she was, delicate yet powerful, a true witness to two of the most infamous governmental 'cleansings' of the twentieth century, a Polish woman, speaking Spanish in Argentina to a bunch of Americans. Talk about globalization. It was pretty incredible. And a lot to take in.
On a lighter note, most of our study abroad group went on a "pubcrawl" on Thursday night, to celebrate our friend Jen's birthday. At one of the bars we went to I was happily surprised that somehow I happened to know the bar tender, Elii, a friend I had met at the encuentro de mujeres the weekend before. Long story short, after enjoying myself too much at the previous pub, I decided that since I knew the bartender, it would be a good idea to BUY shots for everyone in sight. So I did. Flaming things and birthday shots and chupitos muuuuyyy dulces. It was gross. And not free, might I add. Needless to say this did not end well, but I made it to class bright and early the next morning and have not looked at tequila since.
On Thursday I also had a meeting with a representative from a different study abroad program that I had been thinking about joining for next semester. The program seems really great and just what I had hoped to find for next semester after the human rights/social movements program with SIT that I'm on now. I'm sure I'll talk more about these plans later, but just know that I signed up and I've officially decided I'm definitely going to be here for the spring semester too. Wooohooo!!!
This past weekend, I caught up on some much-needed rest and just enjoyed being back 'home' for once. Besides sleeping, I went on some long walks around my 'hood, discovered an awesome park about 10 or 15 blocks away from my house that I didn't know existed, and watched fútbol with Lola (the dog) until she jumped on my face, tried to eat my shoe, skidded around in a circle on the floor, and then played dead in a ten second spasm. We're trying to get along but it's going to take some time.
On Monday our group split up to visit the sites of two different social movements, una fabrica recuperada (collectively-run factory with no private owner, occupied and run by the workers) and another MTD (movimiento de trabajadores desocupados) named Guernica. I went to Guernica, aka Movimiento Maximiliano Kosteki, a collective that started as a piquetero group and now runs a soup kitchen for hungry kids in the barrio, a couple of health clinics, and an adult tutoring system for attaining the Argentine equivalent of a GED. The visit was super interesting and Vicky, the group leader, talked about the emergence of the movement as essentially the result of all the historical events and political/economic changes of the past 50 or so years in Argentina. We learned a lot, ate some great food, and were left with questions about economics and politics and governmental systems that would become casual commuting talk for some of us over the next couple days.
ANYWAY I'm running out of time but here's a rundown of some other news---
I played soccer with some friends yesterday and had a blast. Watched the latest American presidential debate online and sent in my absentee ballot. Woooo! Also, my feet are growing. All of my shoes are becoming uncomfortably tight. Like y'all, I really think I'm going through a growth spurt. It's weird. My host mom cooked delicious fish for me yesterday because it was our last dinner together for a while and she knows I love sea food. Oh yeah, and my program is going to Salta (nothern provence) today for about two weeks. Casual. (I honestly don't know what we're doing there besides taking a twenty-something hour bus ride from here and learning about "la lucha por los derechos y el derecho a no ser pobre en el Norte de Argentina: género, campesinos y temáticas de frontera." Obviously I need to read the packet.)
Got to go finish packing for the trip so hasta luego, y'all!!!
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