la playa!

Last weekend I took a vacation from my very busy schedule (ha.) here in Buenos Aires and went to the beach! Mar del Plata is a city with the infrastructure for a few million people, but roughly 600,000 permanent residents. It looked like a big city, and it was, but it had more of the small beach-town feel. We could tell we had entered a different life when we encountered chatty waiters, friendly taxi-drivers, and easy access to monedas.

The cashier at the supermarket gave me my change of $5.70 in monedas - a large feat in Buenos Aires, although I suppose in the U.S. I'd be pretty annoyed with over 5 dollars in change. The woman at the kiosco didn't understand what was happening when I gave her a weird amount of money to prevent her from having to give me a moneda, something a kiosco employee in Buenos Aires would beg for from a customer. It's quite amazing how there's no coin shortage when the buses allow you to pay with bills, or buy a pass in advance - no me digas!



But we spent the weekend relaxing on the beach, roaming through the city, eating the largest chocolate and nut covered ice cream with dough of sorts inside (I tried to convince the cute Italian lady to bring the invention to NY), exploring the nightlife, and taking full advantage of the amazing breakfast provided at the hostel (okay, more than full advantage, since we stole breakfast the first day upon our early arrival).

I'm surprised I didn't turn into a medialuna dulce (23829483 times better than a croissant) after the amount I ate.

Family Visit!

The family came to visit and these are some of the things we did!

Iguazu Falls
On the border of Brazil, and really close to Paraguay, Iguazu falls consist of 275 waterfalls. The biggest one, called "la garganta de diablo", or the devil's throat, is the border between Brazil and Argentina, and massive and impressive.

The province of Missiones, where the Argentinian side of Iguazu is located, is a completely different place than Buenos Aires, where the people talk slower and life moves at a relaxed pace, but garbage still lines the streets. The wildlife consists of lagartos (lizards), coaties (funny raccoon-like creatures with a very pointy noses) and supposedly monkeys, though they hid out pretty well.

Garganta del Diablo

Abbey tourists

tropics

Puerto Iguazu

Colonia, Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento is the oldest city in Uruguay discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century. Some architecture and the city layout still resemble the Portuguese style. It's a one hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires, lying on the other side of Rio de la Plata. The town was full of cobblestone roads, colorful buildings, mopeds, art galleries, and really old cars. Even the brown river looked better from the other side.

Rio de la Plata



Uruguayan kitten!

We also got to tourist around Buenos Aires and eat lots of Argentinean food - not always the most thrilling meals. But we had the experience of a authentic parilla - a sampling of different types of grilled meat, which I of course opted out of. The appetizer portion is meat - chorizo, intestinal meat, and maybe some kidney. This is followed by the main portion - meat - giant steaks. I did have a bite of steak for the first time in a year, to see what the fuss was about with Argentine beef, but it tasted like normal steak to me. Oh well.

It was a great 10 days of family and travelling and I'm so glad they came to visit!

Last night, I saw a disturbing thing. There was a kid, who couldn't have been more than 8 years old, standing outside the subway stop picking up any cigarette butts that had a little bit of cigarette left to smoke. He would smoke one, and then light and smoke the ends of the next one he found on the ground.

Pictures from Cementerio Chacarita

Buenos Dias, Buenos Aires, Vote Obama, Buena Onda

U.S. election coverage down here has been very prominent in the newspaper, and is often the first thing anyone asks me about when they realize I'm from the U.S. "Which one are you for" is probably the question I've heard the most often since I got to BA. The news coverage is pretty biased - which makes sense since 60% of Argentines support Obama, compared to only 10% who would have preferred McCain.

We went to watch the election at a bar party hosted by Democrats Abroad. The place was flooded with American students, as well as some older ex-pats, and the occasional Argentine. The rowdy American cheers and toasts every time CNN showed a Democrat ahead, followed by the boos when they put the check next to a red candidate, exhibited the stereotype of drunk, obnoxious American students. Sometimes I am reminded what I don't miss.

the coolest shirt

Suburbia

In an attempt to go to La Boca, a barrio in the southeast part of the city, Julie and I ended up getting a grand tour of the 'burbs, at a killer rate of 90 centavos. Long story short - we missed our stop, and rather than getting off in an unknown neighborhood, we decided we'd wait it out until the bus turned around. It was clear that we had left the city as the street signs changed and the buildings because smaller and more run-down.

One hour, a few horses, many near-brake failures, and a couple of suburbs later, we were told to get off and wait for the bus to turn around to head back to the city. The driver of the first bus kindly informed our new driver that we were lost and American and to let us ride for free.

Of course, on our return, we spotted the brightly-colored houses characteristic of La Boca that we had set out to see. However, the suburb excursion was so exciting, we decided to save La Boca for another day.

Plus, we discovered a new budget way to travel!

Meerkat's are way smaller than they seem on TV

Red Panda at the Zoo

Hi, my name's Amanda and I'm awkward...

...just in case you didn't already know.

Five and a half weeks in and I still find myself in awkward situations every time I say hello or goodbye to someone. Kiss on the cheek is standard - but what about in business situations? Do you stand up? Which side do you go to? Do you kiss everyone in the room?

Many times I have gone in for an interview and been greeted and seen off with a kiss - which just seems inappropriate to me. My English students kiss me hello and goodbye. And how do I greet my Spanish teacher?

Today I encountered my first handshake since I've been here. A director of a multinational oil company (who had a very snazzy oceanfront corner office) shook my hand and wished me luck when I left. Of course, I had no idea whether he was going to shake my hand, or lean in for the cheek-kiss, or just open the door and send me on my merry way. Every time I come or go I get awkward and don't know how to act. I usually end up saying something weird and running out the door before we have to have an awkward goodbye. Hopefully they attribute my odd comments to a "bad translation", which is an excuse I plan on using quite a bit.

Speaking of, my favorite Spanish-English translation is "besos" to "kisses". This is the correct translation, but in Argentina, people say goodbye by saying "un beso". I have received emails from people I didn't yet know that said "Kisses!" as their goodbye. I guess their just friendly..

On that note, a kiss! Chau

Moneda hijacking

I, along with millions of other people in this city, were blessed with free subway rides this past weekend. The occasion? No, not Dia de la Raza - which is basically Columbus day, but sometimes thought of as a counter to it: a resistance to the white man's arrival in the Americas. Okay, sorry, back to the free ride! It was actually due to a lack of monedas. Since the subway did not have enough coins to provide change to customers, they let everyone ride for free.

The direct cause of this? According to Clarin, the Gendarmeria or Justicia Federal (national guard, or some internal part of the government) decided to sequester 5,000,000 in pesos in order to... count it? Okay, so I'm not 100% sure since the articles were in Spanish, but that's what I can gather. They took the monedas from Maco, a wealth transport company that acquires monedas (probably from the bus companies) and sells them to companies, at a mark-up of 8 - 10%. Their main customers include the subway and the biggest pharmacy chain, which resulted in free train service and Farmacity turning customers away.

There are almost 5 billion coins of varying values (from .05 to 1.00) in circulation, and the 5 million pesos that were removed are estimated at a mere .42% of the total supply. However, this had a huge (and "unforeseen") effect on daily life here. When they sequestered Maco's supply, the government was searching for false monedas in an attempt to counter the underground business .

Luckily, the monedas were returned safely and the subway is no longer free.

from our trip to Rosario last weekend

The joys of public transportation

I love public transportation - the subway, LIRR, Chapel Hill Transit, etc. It has been a month since I've been behind the wheel of a car and it is glorious. But the transportation here is, well, interesting to say the least.

- The Subte (Subway) is fantastic. The station is right outside my door, and it comes frequently. Of course, it stops running at 10pm and it doesn't go many places. Plus, it is so crowded that I often feel extremely violated.

- The buses are ridiculous. Besides the moneda (coin) shortage, there are hundreds of privately-owned buses with no schedule. They are confusing and unreliable and all I can do is hope that I am going in the right direction.

- Taxis are absolutely insane. One of the first nights we were here, I took the scariest taxi ride of my life. He drove about 50 mph down cobblestone sidestreets. And, naturally, many intersections have no rules. It's survival of the ballsiest. I've been trying to figure out the rules, and all I can surmise is that the rule is: go and hope the car going the other way hits their brakes in time. A very good system if you ask me.

Today I had to go to an obscure place in Puerto Madero to teach a class. Its very difficult to get to, since neither the subte or the buses go onto the port. So the plan was take the subte, take a bus, and walk. First, a bus completely left me because I was too slow getting on (translation: I didn't jump onto a moving bus, which is the preferred method of boarding). Then I ran for a bus. I've seen it happen many times - all of a sudden a person starts sprinting down the street and you have no idea why. That was me today. I got on the bus, only to realize I was going the wrong way.

I got off and caught a taxi - I didn't want to be late for the first class! I told him the address and he had no idea. I'm used to people giving me blank stares, but this time it was different - it was that he didn't know the street, not that I have a horrific Spanish accent. I pulled out my map for him and continually said "cerca del casino" - close to the casino. Luckily he was very nice and promised we would find it and the cops he asked pointed us in the right direction. He spoke to me in Spanish the entire ride, and it was the longest conversation I have had in Spanish since I got here. Plus, I may have picked him up as an English student!

I thought that our newfound friendship (I mean I gave him my phone number for English lessons) would mean I could pay with a large bill, but of course, he "had no change".

Tomorrow will be another early morning, since we are going away for the weekend!

What's a Jew to do?

Being that I do live in Queens, the large population of Jews is no surprise. In SAT terminology,

Villa Crespo:Buenos Aires AS Cedahurst:Nassau County.

The flower stalls on the streets had signs wishing "L'shanah Tovah" to passersby, and the city was full of colorful posters for "Rosh Hashanah Urbano" - a fair of sorts. The best part was the food displays at the supermarkets consisting of all your Rosh Hashanah staples: matzah, felafal mix, and gafiltefish. Oh well, they get an A for effort.

Tonight, we went to Yom Kippur services at Chabad (in spanish - Jabad). It was the least enjoyable service I have ever been too - and I was a bratty, uninterested teenager. For me, Yom Kippur is the only holiday that incites any desire to attend services.
*Yom Kippur, for my gentile friends, is the day of atonement, where you seek forgiveness and hope to begin the new year with a clean slate.

Basically, it was a service for men. Fortunately, they were nice enough to tell the women "if you want to celebrate your holiday, you can watch our service from afar and be completely uninvolved". I'm surely not interested in being super-involved, nor do I mind men and women sitting separately, but I am not okay with being forced to sit behind a screen where I can't see or hear anything. The majority of the women were chatting while their children screamed and their husbands prayed. The men kissed the Torah while the women kissed the air. I find it sad that people (men and women alike) are comfortable with a religious community that treats women, and their access to worship, as inferior.

It was hardly a thought-provoking, forgiveness-giving, slate-clearing scene if I ever saw one.

With that being said, this will probably be my final visit to synagogue for a while, at least to a Jabad. But let's be honest, I only go on Yom Kippur anyway.

On the lighter side of Judaism, Julie and I just taught Alana my favorite Hebrew school tune - "Wherever you go, there's always someone Jewish, you're never alone cause god made you a Jew". Naturally, the lesson was followed by a sing-a-long (I've linked to the lyrics in case you have the urge to have a sing-a-long of your own).

I am now off to bed, disheartened by the reality of a Yom Kippur without bagels and lox.

I am starting to figure out how to use my new camera!

Coexistencia

(whole text) .5 sq. m of coexistence

this guy knows a thing or two about coexistence

During my 8-hour break between my whopping 2.5 hours of work today, I came across a Coexistencia exhibit in Plaza San Martin. The exhibit was started by the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, and Buenos Aires is the 25th stop since the world tour began in 2001. It's purpose is to encourage people to think differently about their communities, themselves, and the "other". The exhibit consists of giant posters from artists all over the world to illustrate coexistence. Through simple art, the idea of a calmer future is portrayed.

Las Afueras

Julie, Susana, Josh & I took a scenic train to the suburbs. It was inexplicably nice to be out of the city even for just a day. We could get on and off the train wherever we wanted. We first stopped at San Isidro to eat and explore a market, then Delta where we took a boat around some of the rivers. There were lots of quaint and colorful houses off of the river, and people boating canoes that seemed to be built 100 years ago.

Buenos Aires is the stereotypical large city - dirty, loud, crowded, and polluted. Multiple times a day I witness people throwing their trash on the sidewalk, and the cartoneros disperse the bagged trash all over when searching for recyclables. The extensive bus system means copious amounts of emissions and the sheer number of people implies noise and crowds. Needless to say, it was good to get out for a day.

Buenos Aires Skyline

The job hunt is proving extremely difficult. I have a few English teaching jobs which I am completely unqualified to do, and the 4 hours a week probably won't pay the rent. Although it is interesting, and I have already learned some things about Argentine culture. I think on this weeks agenda will be informing the students that although in Argentina they say "besos" at the end of an email to someone they have never met, the English translation to kisses is a bit weird and slightly inappropriate in business communication.

Buenos Aires Recycling

The cartoneros of BA are the people who make recycling happen. After the economic crisis, unemployed people, generally from the outskirts of the city, began coming into the city and digging through trash to find cardboard and other recyclables. Men, women and children transport their finds in a large cart, supported on their back and then sell them to be reused. As with any other business, there is a long chain of middlemen capturing the bulk of the profit selling the recyclables back to businesses, and the cartoneros, who walk around the city all night, are still struggling.

The people of one community, who were among the first to be unemployed after the 2001 crisis, successfully petitioned the government to provide them with a train to get to and from the city each night. Their community even has a daycare center at night run by volunteers, many of whom were once cartoneros themselves.

The government's attempts at setting up a recycling program have repeatedly failed. Co-ops comprised of cartoneros are now officially registered with the government and provide the city's recycling service.

It seems to actually be a fairly good system, since it provides "employment" to the unemployed and actually gets the recycling done. It also decreases the responsibility of the individual citizen, since many are too lazy to actually recycle. The cartoneros were so successful in their means of survival, that the government employed their system. They are still being exploited, but they are getting by. A photo documentation can be found here: http://www.worldpress.org/photo_essays/cartoneros/

The photos above are from the Recoleta Cemetary, the only quiet place in the city we have found so far. The cemetary is full of elaborate tombs, including that of Eva Peron and family, Che Guevara's family, and many other famous Argentines.

Hasta Luego

Puedo Tener Sabor? Please, can I have some flavor?

Food here - pretty flavorless. Service here - nonexistent. The way I ask for things - rude.

Apparently asking "Can I have..." does not exist, so I feel pretty rude whenever I say: "I would like..." and "Check". Okay, it's not really that bad, but I feel like I am ordering the waiters to do things for me. But anyway, maybe the steak is good. And one day I will probably have a bite just to see what all the fuss is about, but right now, the food is just bland. I don't think they know what seasoning is, and 80% of the restaurants are exactly the same - empanadas, pizza, and ham. The food from the supermarket, unless it is fruits or veggies, tastes like artificial flavors - the yogurt definitely tasted exactly like the strawberry flavored antibiotic for strep throat.

As a waitress, I am not usually one to complain about bad service, by oh my god is it awful. The country must have a law that says "one menu per table" no matter how many people are there. I mean, that's fine, we can share. But one time the one menu we were allotted priced my dinner about 13 pesos lower than it was. But I mean half the menus had the "correct" price, so that's legit, right? That's nothing compared the time I ordered a veggie quesadilla only to get a chicken quesadilla an hour later when the food finally came. Okay, honest mistake, we've all done it. They told me my veggie quesadilla was first priority and coming right up, and 30 minutes later it came...

...with chicken. Again. I'm not bitter or anything.

Plus, what you're actually gonna get is usually questionable - today I ordered "un sandwich imperdible de queso y vegetales". As per all dictionaries, "imperdible" technically is "safety pin". We assumed it meant "unmissable" as perder means to lose. Let me tell you, it surely was "perdible". So service and food are obviously not big attractions for the city. Although I suppose for non-vegetarians, the u$s 10.00 steak dinners may be a draw. At least I know I have no desire to eat out and can save money cooking for myself!

Also, there is no quick service - coffee, food, ice cream, etc. It's great that they create jobs for people by making everything full serve. But when I wanted to buy a folder today, at a school supply store where everything was stowed away behind the counter, it was quite difficult. Similar to the man who does your laundry (it costs extra to do it yourself), and the lady who brings your 7 peso (u$s 2.50) bottle of water to the table in the mall's food court when you can see it behind the counter you ordered at.

But the food and service are not important, the city is still great and has the cutest (and most vocal) kitten ever! Tomorrow I will continue the job hunt with a personal visit to every hotel in the city until one decides to hire me!

Luna, who is snuggled on my lap ahora

Cute kitten!!

No job? So what! Rent an Apartment and Get a Kitten.

So today, following a job interview which I won't hear about for 3 weeks, and if I get it I'll be paid "less than what I would make at McDonald's", I decided to get a kitten.

She is 6 weeks old and teeny, a little rambunctious, but sweet. I'm just hoping she remembers how to get to the litter box and doesn't go to the bathroom on my acid-washed jean pocket patterned sheets. Yes, that's what the house came with, and the rest of the sheets are locked up in the "maid's closet". Needless to say, a sheet purchase may have to be made before I get a job.

I know cats are very self-sufficient, but I realized once I got her, that despite how much I love cats, I really don't know how to take care of them. Luckily, Olga, the kitty foster mother we got her from (who had 3 cats, and 3 foster kitties) gave us some advice. We are just hoping that Julie's allergies don't act up around her. But right now she is asleep on my bed, and so adorable.

The job search is tough. There just aren't a lot of resources for people like me who don't know Spanish well enough to work in a job where it is necessary. And waiting 3 weeks to hear from a job might not be the worst thing, but when it's only a temporary job, it is a long time.

Anyway, I am going to fill out my request for an absentee ballot before it's too late, and then snuggle with my kitten =)

Noventa Centavos?

The gatitas up for adoption that I'm going to see tomorrow!! =)

Today we ventured into el barrio de chino (chinatown), which was pretty much the same as any other Chinatown - a lot of cheap crap. We even found a biombo being used in a store, but apparently it hailed all the way from Taiwan, and the owner wasn't ready to part with it. We did come across the cheapest peanut butter in the country, but apparently it tastes like peanut sauce, rather than peanut butter. We bought it anyway (the only other peanut butter is the mini-jar of Skippy, for about $13). The Chinese market also had nazi-branded barbeque sauce, super cheap sushi, and delicious eggrolls.

We walked a bit to get there since we opted to get off the bus when someone vomited on the floor (just like the p2p, except at 5pm). The bus system is extensive, with a million buses going anywhere you need to go in the city. All you have to do is use your guia "t" - the transportation bible - and carry lots of monedas (coins). However, coins are a rare commodity here. They are impossible to get, but necessary to use the bus. There may be a mafia hoarding the coins from the buses and selling them back at a higher rate. No se.

The other monetary struggle is that you can only get 100 peso notes from the atm, but most places "don't have change" for 100 pesos (about 33 dollars). A store must have change for this! Kind of like the realtors who expected us to pay for an apartment in dollars when the atms only give money in pesos. The money system is obviously quirky, to put it nicely.


Here is a quote from Julie's blog, describing our apartment search with an example of what ads looked like:

"45 years old building, newly recycled department with two environments ubicated in Palermo. Full equipment for six passengers this department has a lot of luminosity. Just five blocks away from Bosque Palermo (like Central Park in New York), a big park full of trees, green very nice for run. $1600 USD"

My favorite part is "ubicated" - the word ubicado in spanish means located, but ubicated is a brand new word to those of us familiar with the english language.

Anyway, we are sipping on 8 peso wine (by far not the cheapest wine you can find) getting ready to check out the nightlife here.

Chau (spanish version of ciao, and how you say goodbye, accompanied by a kiss on the cheek)

No Longer Homeless!

Well, I moved all the way to Argentina only to end up living in Queens. Yes, we finally found an apartment and it is located in “Palermo Queens” – a neighborhood right near “Palermo Soho” and “Palermo Hollywood”. It is a 2 bedroom, and we are creating a third bedroom out of the living room, when we can find a biombo to use as a separator (technically translated as a folding screen, but really just my new favorite Spanish word). It is amazing to be moved out of the dark and loud hostel, and no longer live out of a giant suitcase. After spending the bulk of the time we’ve been here hopelessly searching websites for cheap 3-bedrooms that don’t exist, we can finally start applying for jobs and exploring the city, and decorating the house!

The highlight was probably Maria the crazy realtor who we almost rented from. When we told her we weren't going to sign, she freaked out and told us that she was calling the police on us because we owed her money. Apparently, she thinks we made a verbal contract to pay her commission whether or not we rented from her? Ridiculous. So, we may or may not have the Argentinian police after us right now.

ghetto view of our apartment - the dining room, living room, julie's bedroom, and the balcony

Now we can start exploring more and getting to know the city, and I suppose finding a job - although I do have 2 interviews next week, so we'll see how that goes.

market in Plaza Serrano