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....

Busy busy busy

I know I know you all feel neglected. The internet in my house officially died so after a brief mourning period, I realized I had to move on and now do all my blogging in the blogosphere of cafes near my house. Which is very classy of me, I know. But hard to do every day. So im sorry peoples!

Ok now im gonna do an extra good extra informative post. Get READYYYYYYyyyyyyyy!
(Yes, Im on a lot of caffeine.)

FIESTA!!

More pics for u to soak up the Recoleta atmosphere a little...

Park where I run every morning. Its really cool. In the afternoons high school kids hang out there...thats how you know its cool. haha





RE-CO-LE-TAAA
This is a string of cafes and bars next to my house.







Mi barrio, che?

Fotos de Recoleta

Evita Peron's gravesite.





A girl from my Spanish class who lives a few blocks away from me, Kari. We went for a walk through the Recoleta cemetery together. This cemetery is where all the famous Argentines have been buried; and apparently it is one of the most expensive places to be buried in the entire world. It is like a city in there, with each grave inside its own little house (or in most cases, church). It's very beautiful indeed, but so unncesary and even a little disgusting, when you think about all the homeless people in this city, and how the dead aristocracy are in a much better place than live people. Anyways, the day we were there (26 July) it just happened to be the day Evita Peron died (57 year anniversary). We had had no idea. The place was packed with mourners. Crying, praying, and yes, a lot of prostheletizing. Very beautiful flowers. Some of the people here believed she was actually a Saint. I dunno what that even means...hahaha


Inside one of the graves. Some of them are open to walk inside and people put flowers, candles, etc all over the place. This one had a cool ceiling I thoguht..



















Is this not the cleanest, classiest McDonalds you've ever seen?






Me and Sam (from California) eating some delicious BIFE. CARNE. LOMO. mmmmmmmmmmmhmmmmmmm. Ohhhhh yeahhhhh.

Sorry a todos..

I thought it would be much easier to get the words out of my head and onto the page...Im at a point right now here English and Spanish are jumbled inmy head to the point where it's hard to formulate sentences in either...I need to walk the 20 feet out of my apartment to the cafe on the corner to use their wifi in order to upload all my pics. The internet here is slower than the one the cavemen used.....
¡boludo!
its a great word.