Venturing Off the Beaten Path

I haven't written in a while so here is a little update! I didn't bring a camera to a lot of the events I'm writing about today - either for safety reasons or just to avoid waving my tourist flag in the air. But never fear, google pictures will still get the idea across!

my bed and the big window next to it

the balcony

First of all, I live in a new apartment (departamento) now that's only 3 blocks from my old place. That's great because I can still stick to the area of town I know best without having to adjust all over again. I live with a woman named Mirta who rents two rooms in her apartment. She has an adult daughter who visits from time to time. A new renter just moved in to the other room yesterday. His name is Rob and he is from England. I like the new place and find it more comfortable than my previous apartment. It's in an actual apartment building so I have a lobby and an elevator (though I try to take the stairs unless I'm carrying groceries). My room is spacious and has a large window, desk, and plenty of closet space. There is no AC but I'm surviving the heat for now by opening the window at night. It is already very warm in Buenos Aires but everyone keeps telling me this is nothing. I'd better get ready for the summer heat! The sun shines almost constantly here. I will be tan (or sunburned) when everyone at home is bundled up for winter. :)

my desk and part of the closet (the penguin is my traveling companion - I won him at the fair last year)

part of the living room

the dining table is right next to the living area

I have also survived my first exams in Argentina! I had midterms (parciales) in two of my classes. I don't know my grade for one of them yet but I passed my cine exam! I feel pretty confident about the other exam though as I studied a lot. The two exams I took were for my cinema class and my religion/international relations seminar. I had to know a lot of information about 5 major religions and various writings about them. I've been reading a lot of religious texts and some other interesting texts.


My favorites so far have been "Being Peace" by Thich Nhat Hanh (a buddhist monk), "All Religions are True" by Gandhi, and "A Border Passage" by Leila Ahmed, a muslim feminist. I don't know that I will get credit at UNC for my religion seminar but I am mostly taking that class for myself. Gandhi argues in "All Religions are True" that we should study each religion from the perspective of those who love and believe it.

Now class is back to normal. I actually didn't go to school for about 15 days - the whole first half of October! But I had a ton of reading to do so don't be too jealous. Now I've got a presentation and a research paper due (in the same class, how charming) within a week of each other. My presentation is about art in Chile during the transition from dictatorship to democracy. My research paper will be about women's rights and movements under dictatorship. If I can survive all of this research, I will be rewarded because...Donovan is coming to visit me! He'll be here on the 31st of October and we already have lots of fun things planned. I am so excited! It is my motivation to survive my workload for the next two weeks.

And now a few highlights of my recent explorations...

a typical pro campaign ad

1. This weekend I visited a low income neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires with my friend Katie to work on a community service project. I had really been feeling a void in the community service department so it was fun to go spend an afternoon helping out. We rode on school buses to a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Turns out, school buses have some universal truths. Regardless of what country you are in, children will have ripped the backs of the seats and stuck things inside of them. :)

We learned we were joining an effort sponsored by one of the political parties, Pro. Basically the point was to focus on a few blocks in this neighborhood and offer our services to anyone who wanted their house painted. (The neighbors had been informed that we were coming). Some people lived in houses that had never been painted or that had graffiti on the outside. The neighborhood we visited, Villa Lugano, has a large Bolivian population, as well as Paraguayan. Many immigrants settle there after coming to Buenos Aires. There were several restaurants with menus full of Bolivian cuisine which sounded and smelled delicious! There were lots of scruffy but happy looking dogs relaxing on the sidewalk or yapping incessantly at everyone. The part of the neighborhood we visited was not the roughest section so I felt safe. There were lots of official political people running around in their campaign t-shirts. I'm not personally aligned with the pro party because I honestly know very little about it. All I know is that one of the candidates for this party is my religion professor! Anyone can run for office here apparently. There is also a rabbi running.

choripan - picture courtesy of google

Katie and I went into an apartment above a little restaurant and worked on a balcony overlooking the street. We spent a few hours scraping off rusty paint from the balcony railing. Honestly it was not the most thrilling work because the paint-remover fumes were strong, the remover burned my skin through my gloves, and the work was quite tedious. However the point is not to have fun, it's to help out someone in the community and show that we care and want to be a positive contributing force while visiting Argentina. Supporting the local community is so important and we made the work fun by chatting the whole time. Afterwards the political campaign had a huge asado (feast of grilled meat - Dad: you would like this!) for everyone. I had a choripan which is chorizo sausage tucked into a bread roll. Usually I like to have it with chimichurri, a mixture of garlic, oil, vinegar, parsley, and some other herbs. It's tangy and amazing and I never want to eat grilled meat without it again. I had flecks of paint in my hair and probably in my lungs. My hands were still kind of coated in toxic chemicals, and I had dust and rust particles all over me, but I just splashed a little water on my hands and went about my meal. That's probably fine...right?

here is the giant dinosaur with a rotating head

google images saves the day: this is just one section of tecnopolis

2. This weekend I went to a food festival in another neighborhood off of the beaten path. Katie, Celine, and I walked around this huge center called Tecnopolis, which appeared to be a huge science center of sorts. It was really spread out and had a lot of activities for kids and a giant dinosaur with a head that rotated back and forth. For lunch I had two tacos (one pork, one beef) which was a much needed dose of mexican food. (Hard to find great mexican food in Buenos Aires - but not as hard as finding good Indian food!)

The sun was really strong so despite drinking a full water bottle and a lemonade I ended up with a headache from dehydration. But a little bit of medicine and a nap cured that later. Anyway the food festival was full of little booths with all kinds of foods. Vegan food, organic vegetables, grilled meat, traditional foods from around the country, sweets, fresh juices, etc. There were a lot of vendors selling jam, dulce de leche (God's gift to Argentina), cheese, and sausage. We took a very lengthy bus ride to get home so we had a little tour of a new part of the city. I love that there are so many cheap buses that basically go everywhere in Argentina, and at any hour of the night. There is really no need to ride in a taxi unless you are lost or worried about safety.

3. In one of my more interesting Argentina experiences thus far, I went with my friend Francisco to a rally in the Plaza de Mayo. Plaza de Mayo is a major focal point for political demonstrations (including the madres de la plaza de mayo who march for their children who disappeared during the years of dictatorship). It's located in front of la casa rosada, which is where the president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner lives when she isn't at her other house in Olivos (a neighborhood). The event I went to was not a protest but rather a celebratory rally in favor of Evita, the current government, and peronism in general, if I am understanding correctly. I was a little nervous but Francisco is from Buenos Aires and I trust him not to bring me to a questionable activity. He explained that people were celebrating the anniversary of a day in which thousands poured into the plaza de mayo to demand answers about the location of Juan Perón, who had been kidnapped. He was released and gave a famous speech from the balcony of the casa rosada. Again, I could be getting some details of this wrong but basically there was a lot of love for Evita, his wife, at this rally. When we got off the bus I immediately jumped at the noise of fireworks. The streets were packed with thousands of people carrying huge banners on bamboo poles. A bundle of those bamboo poles came dangerously close to smacking me in the head when someone was carrying them over their shoulder. I felt the poles graze my hair but thankfully I am short enough to have avoided injury!

Anyway, the scene was completely chaotic and yet wonderful. I felt excited and a little nervous. People were screaming songs at the top of their lungs about being peronistas. Everyone was banging away on huge drums and clanging cymbals. There were entire families there, including little children. People had traveled hours to be at this event and each group had their own t-shirts and banners. Francisco, his friend, and I found the group he belongs to. We then proceeded to jump up and down with them and sing patriotic songs. I actually wasn't singing since I don't know the words. I just tried to look enthusiastic and not fall down or get stepped on. It was exhilarating and quite the cultural experience! Argentines are nothing if not passionate. I had the feeling of combining the excitement and sounds of a football game with a giant party in the street and a protest, all at the same time. We also followed around Francisco's dad for a while because he is also a candidate for office. He took a lot of pictures with all the people who flocked to him and cheered. I ended the night with a choripan (chorizo sandwich, remember?) and very tired feet!


4. Last weekend, I went to the Feria de Mataderos, a street fair in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. To say it was a struggle to get there would be an understatement... It started off okay, and I met up with my friend Kendra and a group called BAIS (they organize events for international students) to get ready to make our way over to the feria. Fun fact - Kendra and I were close friends in elementary school! We found ourselves studying abroad in Buenos Aires at the same time and have enjoyed hanging out.

So we met our guide and a few red flags cropped up. First, she spoke no Spanish. Second, she told us that for the three months she has been in Buenos Aires, she has only taken taxis and has no idea how buses work. (Please keep in mind we were about to follow her onto a bus). Riding in taxis is about one million times more expensive than taking the bus, though it can be intimidating at first. It really is worth learning how to use it. And there are so many helpful people in Buenos Aires who will direct you if you get lost or don't know where your stop is. Finally, red flag number three was that she wanted to take 2 buses (unnecessary, I even suggested a different bus I'd heard about) and did NOT know where the 2nd bus stop was! Hah... I should have been more wary but Kendra and I decided to get on the bus with her anyway.

Poor choice. We ended up traveling for about an hour in the wrong direction. When we got off the bus, with no idea where we were, there were people burning fires in the street. A man was laying on a mattress in the middle of the sidewalk. A parked city bus had its windows smashed. In short, it was a rough place. Kendra realized she recognized a nearby bridge - her professor had told her never to cross that bridge. How interesting, we had not only crossed to the other side but had no idea where to go next! Those of us who spoke spanish talked with locals who informed us that this guide was unknowingly leading us in the wrong direction on an unsafe bus. By some miracle, we found a new bus and rode for another hour until we arrived at the feria. Kendra and I decided to part ways with our "guide" and find our own way home, which we did without problems. So after a little bump in the road we arrived at a lovely street fair and enjoyed delicious food and all kinds of handmade jewelry, leather goods, food, and art. Because it was in a neighborhood away from the city center, it had a more authentic feel. I really enjoyed wandering around and hope to make a return trip!

humitas empanada and a tamale 

folk music

a parade of men marching through the feria and playing flutes

This week was filled with fun opportunities to venture out of the heart of Buenos Aires and get a new perspective! Whether it was visiting less glamorous neighborhoods, more authentic street fairs and festivals, or joining a passionate political demonstration, I got to see some sides of the city that I would have missed out by just passing through Buenos Aires for a vacation.

How do you celebrate a birthday abroad?

I wanted to take a quick minute to describe the experience of having a birthday abroad. In a word, it's strange. There is something very unique about spending your birthday in a far away place, away from most of your friends and all of your family. Yesterday, as I walked around my neighborhood in Buenos Aires, I had the sensation that my birthday was my little secret. I just smiled to myself as I went about my day, surrounded by people who had no idea who I was.

Yesterday marked the end of my teenage years. I am now twenty and feel somehow more adult. It seems fitting that I should end my time as a teenager by spending my birthday abroad, navigating everything on my own. It's probably the most grown up I've ever felt because it has been one of my most challenging experiences. My self-reliance and independence has been challenged constantly. There is no hand holding in Buenos Aires!

There is definitely a bit of sadness that comes with this experience. Yesterday was a bittersweet day because it reminded me of the fact that I am thousands of miles away from the people I love. There was no family dinner, no crowd of people coming into my dorm room at midnight to sing happy birthday and eat cake with me. My birthday was a strong reminder that I'm on my own.

And yet, I chose not to dwell on the sad parts. Instead, I spent the day doing whatever I felt like. I slept in and then had a bite to eat. I went to get a manicure (something that's actually more reasonably priced in Buenos Aires than in the US). I sat at a sidewalk table in a small cafe in Palermo Hollywood and read a classic book I've been meaning to start for years. I ordered a cafe cortado (a tiny little cup of espresso with just a little bit of milk) and sipped on it while eating a chocolate raspberry tortita. (A tiny cupcake without the unpleasant mountain of icing.) It was a lovely day and I enjoyed walking around my neighborhood and appreciating its charm. Palermo is quite adorable actually. Plenty of tree lined streets, cafes, bookstores, and art galleries.

Later, I skyped with Donovan and then with my dad. Finally, I met up with a group of friends to have dinner at an Armenian restaurant called Sarkis. It was delicious! In true Argentine fashion, we finished dinner around 1:15 AM. I might be far away from most of the people I know, but I have been lucky enough to get to know some wonderful people here in Buenos Aires. I am so grateful for the opportunity to live in a new part of the world and get to know people who I wouldn't have known otherwise. Starting over in a new place is fascinating and exhilarating.

I didn't remember to take a picture of my dinner, but google helped me find a picture of what I ate. (minus the beverage) - A skewer of lamb with onions & tomatoes, but topped with a yogurt sauce. It was delicious! I had trouble deciding what to order because there were no descriptions of the food items and the waiter was a bit hard to understand. The waiter was standing in front of me, awaiting my response. So I just ordered something without really knowing what to expect. All I knew was that the dish involved lamb, but it was a happy surprise!

The point of this story is that I had a lovely birthday and enjoyed exploring my neighborhood and spending time with friends. It also made me appreciate all the people at home who wished me happy birthday from afar. I promise I'll be in the US for my next birthday :) (Since I do need to finish my degree...) Buenos Aires has a certain charm and I am lucky to have been able to celebrate here. Thanks to everyone (near and far) who made my day great!

P.S. general life updates

1. I had my first midterm on the 2nd 

2. I moved into a new apartment and like it better (more on that later)

3. I went to my first milonga (tango venue) and loved watching the dancers - tomorrow I am going to see a tango show so I will write more on that later