the "fam"

I realized I never put up a picture of my new house or Liliana sooo here is one! Liliana is the one in the middle. She is really amazing--teaches me new words and expressions every day, knows a LOT about politics (which could not be more loco here), and just in general is a very wise woman. The woman on the right is Liliana's cousin (wow i cant speak english--i literally first typed "the cousin of liliana" and then upon proofreading it realized it sounded slightly awkward)
she is the shiz--i helped find her a boyfriend on facebook. kind of a weird story, but basically it involved me finding her 60-year old childhood boyfriend who had moved and they never had each others phone numbers and then the whole dictatorhsip happened and everyone disappeared...anyways she calls me "cupida" now and says im "divina" (which we all already know...por favor....) :-)

New Democratic Media Law in Argentina!!

It only took 26 years after the military dictatorship ended for the media to be democratized, but on Saturday at 3am the new law was finally passed. The debate lasted for over 18 hours in the Senate. I went to Congreso around midday to see the manifestaciones (demonstrations?) in favor of the new law. It has been a huge controversy here ever since the dictatorship ended here because all of the media is controlled by about 4 groups of private owners. Because they have so much power and lobby, the law that was made during the dictatorship hasnt been able to be overturned yet, despite the fact that 75% of all the news comes from one source, which isnt very democratic now is it...



CONGRESO







This is flag of the indigenous groups. Jimena and I interviewed their spokesman for our UBA Radio. He had marched to Congreso all the way from Neuquen (over 1000 km). He said that it is an embarrassment on the entire country to still have in place a law that was made during the times of a military dictator, and that freedom of speech and freedom of press haven't been actually observed yet in Argentina and that hopefully this new law will change that.

Libros de Cartoneros

Recycling of reusable materials in this country is done primarily by homeless people. Every night, you see them in the streets, collecting and sorting the massive piles of trash into bottles, cardboard, paper, etc. which they then sell back to the government for a few centavos each. The people who sort through the tremendous amounts of cardboard (cartón) are called cartoneros. After the 2001 economic crisis here (caused by the government lying and essentially making up that an Argentine peso was equal to a US dollar), there was a huge increase in cartoneros. They just barely make enough to eat.

This lady in the blue and yellow was a cartonera until 2 years ago. She now works for this incredible organization that makes books out of the cartón and pays the cartoneros almost double what the government pays them for the same amount of cardboard.



I went to their store with my derechos humanos (human rights) class and I was blown away by what they do.

Located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Boca, the majority of the books they make are sold for a few pesos (at most 2 US dollars) to children to read and use for school. They hand paint all the covers, using these stencils and neon colored paints.






This is me with the 2 books I bought. They are 2 really famous Argentine books. It's cool because the operation helps out so many people, and the book is exactly word for word as though I had bought it in a bookstore.

Escuela

Bueno, now that things have calmed down a bit, I am finally finding time to go on the internet once again. The last 2 weeks have been completely LOCO, because the university classes were having "shopping" periods...meaning I was trying out all these different classes trying to figure out which ones I wanted to take (aka which professors I could understand the least bit of what they were talking about, haha--How do people talk so ridiculously fast?) I also spent a lot of time being completely lost in this massive and confusing city, what with getting on the wrong bus, or trusting my (pretty much always wrong) sense of direction..But anyways, now things have settled down a little. I finally (semi-)figured out the bus system.
I have been assigned a lot of reading in every class, and reading in Spanish takes double the time than English, though I am fosho improving. But its really exciting for me, because for the first time in my life, I actually LIKE my classes! I know it sounds weird to you, but for me it is a revelation--"Waitttt you mean I dont have to feel like I want to shoot myself in the face every time I sit down to do my homework?? You mean I can actually learn things in school that interest me?!" I had no idea...I always thoguht people were just lying to me to make themselves look cool or something, when they were like yeah man, i looove my classes! id be like, yeah right. stop lying.
This is a photo I took a couple weeks ago, of people dancing tango in a park in San Telmo, one of my favorite neighborhoods. Im starting a tango class tonight! Very excited...Il let you know how that goes

Thank you and SOrry

Thank you to everybody for the brithday wishes, emails and phone calls. Sorry it has taken me so long to write.

I have been incredibly busy with moving (the other woman was CRAZY!) into an amazing new house with an amazing new host mother, Liliana. Shes a million times better than the other lady in every way possible. Just a few ways: she actually talks to me, like we have really deep and interesting conversations. She used to be a sociology professor at UBA (the school i go to here--its awesome!) and shes really intelligent.

I will elaborate on all of the above when i have time tomorrow, now i am passing out on the keyboard. SOoo tired!! Mucho tango dancing...

here are the pics of my trip to mendoza!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022084&l=bf427bf29d&id=1244220143

much love to everybody!

Feeding children should be the government's responsibility

Any of you who have ever been to a poor place (3rd world country) know how hard it is to resist giving money to children who are pulling at your sleeves, and heartstrings, with their pleas for help. Here, they are everywhere, especially outside the boliches (clubs/bars) at night, begging. It is really horrible to see, and even though some of them dive to see up your skirt or try to light you on fire (that was only one night...) for the most part they are really cute kids that are visibly malnourished and homeless. Obviously, we've all seen Slumdog millionare, that stuff doesn't just go on in India. I have seen a few times now an adult man walking with these beggar kids away from their begging spots late at night (or early morning). So I figured out what I can do to help them, because clearly the money doesn't go anywhere good--buy them food! Obviously theres not always a hotdog or empanada (little dumplings of heaven) stand nearby, but when there is, it is 2-3 pesos out of my pocket (about 60 or 70 US cents) and a lot of food in their little 7-year old stomaches. Just now I was at the grocery store and 2 girls who must've been about 5 approached me and asked if I would buy them a yogurt. How can you say no to that?? They looked so dirty, and poor...so i bought them each a yogurt. I hope one day this governemnt can take care of its people...every day there are articles about how much the people here hate the government. Today there were reports of intense police brutality against workers in a factory. There are huuge rallies and demonstrations every single day. You can feel it in the air. The proverbial shit is about to hit the fan soon, for sure. My professor today told us, "you guys are in Argentina at a really important time. You are about to see some intense stuff go down..."

Delicious Sandwich and La Bomba

Ok I know what you think when you see this street-side hot-dog /hamburger stand with sketchy man grilling up some meat in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. You're gonna leave here with either: a) swine flu, b) all of your belongings mugged from you by a street gang of 12 and 13-year olds, or c) explosive diarhhea. But, let me assure you, it is actually none of the above!
So let me set the scene for you. You've been out for a few hours getting your groove thang on. All that dancing you've probably burned a good 4 thousand calories. at least. Its time to replenish all the nutrition you so desperately need. The only way is...load up on a chicharrón! (Basically a grilled chicken sandwich with peppers, onions, pico de gallo, mustard, ketchup, mayonaise, and mad other stuff on a delicious grilled baguettte!) Best thing ever. And oh so nutritious at 5 in the morning! Dont worry I went there with a big group of people (and my pistolo in my pocket).



<---heaven in a sandwich. (A little grease never hurt anyone)











Me in my cool new leather jacket. How cool is that jacket? Possibly the coolest thing youve ever seen in your life. The leather here is incredible. So soft and nice and cheap! Oh and I guess there are a few other poeple in this picture. Theyre all my friends from my program except the dude in the back who is an Argentine who invited us to a party w a bunch of Argentines which was fun. Im so sick of going to bars here and hearing everyone speaking english! So it was definitely nice to get away form that whole scene last ngiht and go to this house party.


This is definitely one of the coolest things Ive done here so far. Its called "La Bomba del Tiempo" and its basically an illl drumming circle in a huge warehouse and everybody is intensely dancing. They invite different local guest artists to join in every week, and this week it was a SICK guitarrist from the band Los Pericos (theyre from Buenos Aires). He was reallllly good.




I think I sweat(ed?) more dancing here than I did running outside in the New Orleans summer. My friend Kate was visititing and we made our way into an Argentine dance circle where we proceeded to bust out our best moves and make up some great new ones. Sooo sweaty....