Feliz Cumpleanos a vos

Dear Chicago -

I made a big decision to switch the type of class I'm taking in July. While I loved my time at the University of Buenos Aires, I haven't been practicing aloud as much as I had hoped. My conversation partner has helped, but I'm now switching to the private Spanish school my program offers. I'll have class 4 hours a day instead of 3 and it will be in the morning, allowing more time to explore the city with the visitors I'll receieve for the last 2 weeks of July. Its a bit risky, but I think it will be better for my language skills in the long run!



All of this to say that I spent Wednesday morning coordinating such a change. From there it was class, and from there, volunteering with LIFE! I finally arranged to go out for a birthday party. We bring cakes, presents and games for all of the kids with birthdays that month and have a giant birthday party for the villa. We had a bit of a time crunch as the kids came late, but I've never made so many balloon animals in my life! It was great. Hard to forget that we were in a cement shack without heat or windows, illuminated by an old fashioned light bulb that pulsated light without really casting any. Difficult to look past the line of 4 year olds with empty pitchers, in line at the comedor for powdered milk the women were mixing with dirty water. As much as I felt like I should have been helping in another way, the room was somehow still filled with lots of laughter, squeals and smiles. The kids faces were glowing as we served pieces of cake.

It feels good to be helping - I feel like this city has already given me so much!

Tess

Martes!!

Dear Chicago,
Another busy week in Buenos Aires! I took full advantage of the sunny morning on Tuesday and took a few subways and a bus to San Telmo, one of the cities oldest neighborhoods. Its very interesting because it used to be the neighborhood of the city's rich and famous. When yellow fever hit at the turn of the century, the wealthy fled north and their gorgeous homes were abandoned. These mansions were quickly filled with squatters and immigrants and the neighborhood now has more character than most other areas. It was a great walk before class and an antique lover's dream.


I stopped for a quick cafe in a famous coffee shop on the Plaza Dorrego - straight out of a novel. Dark, dingy, only the sounds of glasses clinking and faint tango music playing in the background. It was delightful and my cafe came with little cookies.




From there I was off to class. Class was long. I am not gifted with innate ability to use the subjuntive conditional tenses in Spanish. I do get an A for effort.

After class I was off to another cafe - this time I picked another 'destination cafe' from my guidebook. It is called "El Gato Negro" - the black cat. The building is a tiny storefront on the busy street of Corrientes but walking in was like time traveling. Its a huge old refectory and smells like every tea and spice you can imagine. It was a great cafe con leche and alfajor break.

From drinking coffee we turned to drinking wine at my 3rd wine tasting class. It was delightful as Augustin taught us how to compare wines, taste for different levels of oak and pair with different styles of meat and cheeses. Another success!

I RAN home from the tasting to change for Carrie's birthday dinner. Cristina was so kind and ironed my dress as I threw on makeup and got ready. I was out the door in 15 minutes to meet the girls in Las Canitas, a cute neighborhood 'down the hill' from Belgrano. We found a restaurant and 10 of us dined well on steak, cheese and red wine. I had squash stuffed ravioli, as I can never turn down "calabaza" (squash). It was delightful. From dinner we walked through the neighborhood to a fun 'theme bar' called Soul Cafe. We were the only people (it was a Tuesday) but it was great and I enjoyed the company and the drinks. The ceiling lights of giant die were my favorite part -




I was exhausted!! Another great, busy day in Buenos Aires.

I love it here.


Tess

Vista de mi vidrio

This is the view from my bedroom window before my morning run.

Conversation y Cafe

Dear Chicago,

I've finally connected with my first conversation partner. The program I registered with promises each student a local person with whom they can chat and practice Spanish. After a series of unresponsive matches, I finally met Sergio today. He lives in my neighborhood and today I hopped a bus to meet him in a cafe.

The espresso was great and Sergio was very nice. He's a funny, nerdy porteño (local) working at the University of Buenos Aires language school for residents (I attend the one for foreigners). He was very helpful and corrected my grammar as we spoke about travel and language. We spoke for an hour and a half! He has been to various states in the US and it was very funny to give him examples of how the Chicago accent differs from a Boston accent.

I've now contacted 2 more language partners and I'm hoping to meet someone every morning to share a cup of coffee and have a chat (as if I've ever needed a reason to talk!) After class, the girls and I went to a cafe to plan the upcoming weekend. We've got 4 days off and I'm hoping to get out into the country again, though trips are looking to be around 20 hours on a bus and much more expensive... we shall see!

This week I've got final exams and a big birthday dinner tomorrow night for a girl in class. Volunteering Wednesday and Thursday as well.

!Ciao!
Tess

Feria de los Matadores

Dear Chicago,

I write in a Havana cafe on Cabildo street, warmed by a submarino hot chocolate and tired after a long weekend! The original plan for this Sunday was to spend it meandering an area of the city known as "La Boca", a touristy strip full of things to see and a famous part of the city. Because the Boca's Junior futbol team was playing, we were advised to stay far away from the area! Instead, the girls and I roused ourselves after a late night out (I got home at 5:30) and met in the subway tunnels to head north. With help from an information booth we figured out the local bus we needed to take to get to the 'Feria de los Matadores'. An hour's ride seemed very long to head to a Sunday market, but I was up for something different and the weather was mild. The girl who put this together had no idea where to get off the bus - not a very relaxing way to travel! As Grandma Terry would have said, "you're never lost if you have a tongue in your mouth" so I enlisted a local to help us find our way.



The first bit of the market we saw was a pathetic little stretch of tarps and used clothing... but when we finally found the market it was awesome! Hundreds of stalls radiated out from a center stage where tango singers played milonga songs and gauchos sang cowboy songs from the pampas. It was so much fun! There were crowds of local families out for Father's Day. I dove right in and enjoyed a 'lomopan' - giant slices of steak on bread. We doused them in chimichurry sauce and ate standing around in the sun with locals speaking spanish. It felt refreshingly authentic.

Lunch!



After a few hours of strolling, we had worked up room for dessert - freshly made crepes slathered in an inch of dulce de leche. Carrie and I split one, because even MY sweet tooth couldn't handle that much pure sugar. The picture acurately captures the gooey, sticky goodness we ate al fresca:



Another successful Sunday. It was great to get out of the city again and see a new part of the province. Successful shopping for K and J, too! They will be happy to see what I picked up today. I wish you were here, pookies! Today would have been a lot of fun with you both (everything else, too, of course).

Planning a busy week with

Villa Ocampo & San Isidro

Dear Chicago,
I have to be honest. After an amazing weekend in Mendoza, I didn't want to be stuck in Buenos Aires for a field trip. Fortunately, the trip to Victoria Ocampo's mansion was WELL worth the travel and the time! My classmates and I met up at the University building to take a private bus north. On our way we passed by Dr. Liliana's house, the home where I enjoyed my first week in BA. (It feels like that was ages ago!)

Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979) was a wealthy socialite who went against the conventions of her day and lived a fascinating life. She is famous for creating and editing "SUR" magazine and hosting world famous artists and writers in Buenos Aires. She spent most of her life in her family's giant summer home, the house we visited on Saturday. It was an unbelievable house. Every facade was designed with architectural elements from various countries and periods, and there were giant bouganvilia growing around every doorway, to provide a perfume to anyone entering the home. The property was originally 10 hectares, with huge gardens and a view of the Rio de la Plata. My pictures don't do the home justice. Victoria had most of the wood painted white during her interest in the modernist movements. This woman knew everyone - notes and pictures from Charlie Chaplain, lots of the rugs in the home were made by Pablo Picasso. It was really, really neat to see such an unbelievable house and learn about a woman that people remain so proud of. I have been a fan of Silvia Ocampo's work since I started studying Spanish in Iowa, so it was that more interesting to learn about her sister Victoria.










After visiting the Ocampo mansion (part of which included a very detailed tour by a man who could not speak spanish slowly!) we took a walk around downtown San Isidro before heading to a train for home. The town was gorgeous - one of the cities oldest historic neighborhoods. The town was settled in the 1600s and provided produce by train to neighboring Buenos Aires. For this reason it was a great town for summer homes because of the slightly milder climate and the trains. The cathedral is beautiful, as is the Rio de la Plata at night.





Another great side of Argentina I was very lucky to see!

Ciao Ciao-

Tess

L.I.F.E.

Dear Chicago,
I've finally figured out a volunteer schedule for my time left in Buenos Aires. The organization I'm working with is called LIFE, which stands for ' Luchemos para Infancia Feliz con Esperanza' or ' We fight together for happy childhoods filled with hope'. The group goes into the different villas of Buenos Aires that are so dangerous they remain unserved by other charities. These are unofficial neighborhoods made of shacks and dirt paths, frequently identified only by a number for the region of the city they occupy.

Once a month, LIFE hosts a giant birthday party for every child who celebrates their birthday that month. I spent Wednesday morning slicing giant day-old birthday cakes into layer cakes and spreading cream and dulce-de-leche in between the layers. We added powdered milk to the dulce to give it a little nutritional boost. I had to run to class but it was great to finally help out a little bit.

On Thursday after class I was picked up for my first volunteer session out in the field. Its been difficult to coordinate shifts, because the vans with volunteers head to the villas at 3:30pm, while I finish class at 4:00. It worked perfectly to get picked up and head out to the highway with the group. We were dropped off around 4:30 and I was joined by four girls to wait for our 'contact' person. I felt relatively safe there, but we had to be escorted through the villa by a local so as not to cause any trouble with people in the neighborhood. It was also a crazy maze of dirt paths and alleys, so I doubt we would have been able to find the Comedor! We were at a comedor - literally 'feeding place' called Horas Felizes. Every day at 4:30, LIFE goes in to this place with a big box of ... worksheets!! It was a throwback to Twin Lakes Mom would have been very proud of. We did math worksheets with little kids for an hour and a half!

These kids were adorable despite being hungry, dirty and very, very cold. I was in layers AND a winter coat and was very cold in the unheated building, and the little chicos were all in short sleeves and flip flops. The Comedor served food to the community at 5:00PM. Out of nowhere almost 30 kids ran in for a snack- plain bread and hot tea. It was a sight to see, but we just kept helping with worksheets! Pablo,9 and Hernan,6 were my favorites and we added and subtracted our hearts out for an hour. Pablo reminded my of myself and got very frustrated when he couldn't read some of the 'big words. After everyone finished a few worksheets, we pulled out the arts and crafts. We helped make signs for Father's Day. 'Feliz dia de papa'. It was a humbling day and I can't wait to go out again.

One interesting thing about the neighborhood - its marked by an abandoned hospital. Peron started a giant military hospital that was abandoned during the regime change. The skeleton of the building towers over the villas. Really glad to be seeing a different side of this city!

Ciao - Tess