On Sunday we went to an asado (all-day barbeque) Gaby´s house. Gaby is Mariana´s sister. Both Marianas’ sisters were there, as well as her bro-in-law, 17-, 15-, and 2-year old nieces and 4-year old nephew. There were also the other two American students and the brother, his girlfriend and friend of one. So we were 6 Americans and an army of Argentines.
When the other Americans walked in, they thought I was Argentine. One told me I spoke English well (that’s the second time this has happened this year). We ate all day and then I had tea with some of the girls (the Americans had left to go check their email). It was fun and I really think I will miss all of their crazy loud familyness (even though they have absolutely no volume control when they talk). I am actually looking forward to this weekend’s gathering.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Dinner and a movie
For the past two Tuesdays, Mariana (host mom) and I have gone to the movies and then out to dinner. Last week we saw Paris, J t’aime, which is a series of vignettes which are love stories that take place in Paris. Then, we went to a Spanish restaurant, which was ok. The wasn´t enough spice in the food and we wanted it spicier. We asked for some spicy sauce and the guy brought us some warm soupy stuff with a little bit of pepper in it. We sent it back and he put more pepper into it. The stuff was still a bland warm soupy sauce.
This week we saw Perfume, the story of a murderer. It was amazing. The movie was 2.5 hours long and really really good. It was about a man who kills women to extract their scent. He is on trial for the murders and charms the entire town with the new scent and therefore is set free. After the movie we went to a fancy pasta/Italian restaurant and ate really well. I had gnocci with sea food and she had salmon. Its really funny how we eat very similar foods.
This week we saw Perfume, the story of a murderer. It was amazing. The movie was 2.5 hours long and really really good. It was about a man who kills women to extract their scent. He is on trial for the murders and charms the entire town with the new scent and therefore is set free. After the movie we went to a fancy pasta/Italian restaurant and ate really well. I had gnocci with sea food and she had salmon. Its really funny how we eat very similar foods.
Julieta Venegas
On Sunday, June 3rd, I went to see Julieta Venegas at an auditorium near my house. As far as concerts go, it was an interesting experience. The mendocinos weren´t really all that into the concert. They pretty much sat down the entire time waiting for something to happen. My friends met at my house before going and we had a singing session and Jerin danced (from one of Julieta´s videos). We couldn´t handle the lack of energy at the concert, so Anna, Jerin and I left our seats and danced in the aisles. Then we were allowed to go up the stage and dance near Julieta. Anna´s sister met us and danced with us. After the concert, we found the stage door and waited for her to come out. When she did, I got some pictures, but we didn´t get any autographs. She was so cute. Julieta Venegas is a very quirky singer. She had guys in trenchcoats with pig´s masks walking around the stage during one song! We had a really good time at the concert after we left our seats and went to dance up front.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Palm Trees Covered in Snow
Monday, I woke up and my room was freezing, as usual. I got dressed and made myself oatmeal. While I was heating the water to make the oatmeal I looked outside. I was somewhat, okay very, surprised at what I saw: snow flurries. I was under the impression that it didn’t really snow much in Mendoza, just in the mountains outside the city. On the way to class, my micro (bus) passed through the city park. The palm trees in the park were dusted with snow! It was weird to see palm trees, a symbol of summer and warm climates, with snow! Anyway, the snow only stuck to the grass, and it was really just a little flurry, but still very cool! The Argentines were really excited by it. So excited that only ½ the class showed up to anthro (usually about ¾ show up).
Painting in the desert
This past weekend, the COPA group took a trip to Lavalle, a desert and the poorest area of the Mendoza province. 19 American students took a bus to the city (really town) of Lavalle and picked up a guide. That only took about an hour. Then the guide and our leader, Amparo, talked to us about the Huarpe, indigenous people who live in Lavalle. Amparo is not my favorite part of COPA: she is supposed to be the volunteer work coordinator, but pretty much just sucks at her job. She didn’t find enough positions for teaching English after promising us she would and she pretty much treats us like children who, because we don’t speak Spanish as well as she does, are incapable of thinking for ourselves.
En route to San Miguel, Lavalle, we stopped at a park where we had cake for breakfast. Yes, cake. Our program director had sent a cake which was filled with dulce de leche and topped in meringue. I took some of the meringue off the sides and ate that part. Then the guide led us through a part of the part which was made up like a museum. There were wooden structures se up to show how the Huarpes used to live.
We finally arrived in San Miguel at 12:30 (4 hours after leaving Mendoza) and picked beds and unpacked. We ate lunch and then began to paint. We went to Lavalle to paint a school and learn about the Huarpe culture. The school was a boarding school, for about 80 children who lived too far to commute to school everyday. It’s a grammar school, so children enter at age 5 and study there until 8th grade. They go to school for nine days and go home for five.
Saturday we painted four classrooms with the students and played outside with them. It was very disorganized: the floors weren’t protected well and the rooms weren’t cleaned of the dust (Lavalle is a desert). In some rooms, the kids literally painted the floor. It was mostly challenging because we were painting brick which involves rolling paint onto the face of the brick and then using a brush to coat the grout. Also, most of us agreed that we really liked the brick that was there beforehand. We also took a walk in the “town” which was a small settlement of four houses. We saw some quirquincho (armadillo) being raised to be eaten, some wild boar (same story) and some baby goats. Playing with the baby goats was just like being at Basset’s Animal Farm and watching my little brother playing with the baby goats.
Some of us taught the girls how to do the cotton-eye-Joe (line dance I learned at various grammar school dances and Bat Mitzvahs). We also played soccer and climbed on monkey-bars with them. After eating dinner with the students we had a “cultural exchange.” The kids danced some traditional Argentine dances (not the tango) for us, which was really cool because they were 10 years old and really capable dancers. Then a group of girls did the cotton-eye-Joe (again) and the electric slide with the kids. I was part of a group that put on a puppet show; I was an ant. It was a big success, the kids loved watching and wanted us to perform again, but we hadn’t prepared anything else.
Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then some students asked us to explain the American Revolution. They were learning about the Argentine revolution and we compared the motives and similarities between the two movements. Then we went outside for 10 minutes to play soccer. It was freezing cold, so playing was necessary, if anything, to stay warm. I actually kicked the ball three times!, which is pretty amazing considering my athletic ability. After going back inside, Jerin, Anna and I answered their questions as best as we could, then they asked us about the war in Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. By this point Amparo was angry that we weren’t painting/cleaning and she came over to tell the children that we had to go. They still had questions for us regarding the state of the USA as the biggest world power and what we thought of that. It was amazing that they students (who were 11 and 12 years old) had the interest and knowledge to ask us questions like these. Especially because they live in a remote place with no internet and no telephones. They go to a school which is paid for by the state, but don’t have television, newspapers, or connection with their families for 2/3 of the year.
So, Anna, Jerin and I took over one classroom and cleaned the floor really well. Then it was time for lunch. The kids at my table went nuts over the empanadas. A 5-year-old girl ate 4.5 and a 10-year-old girl ate 5 (she had me ask for an extra to give to her). I ate two. The COPA students sung songs for the kids, gave then new soccer balls and lollypops and then lined up to kiss them goodbye. Argentines always touch cheeks when greeting or parting. Finally, the president of a Huarpe community came to talk to us about their problems as an indigenous group in Argentina, but it wasn’t much different from the information I had heard in my anthro class.
On the bus ride back, we picked up people who were looking to get to Lavalle the town because very few cars pass on the dirt road. We got back to Mendoza and I took a shower, ate dinner, and went to bed.
En route to San Miguel, Lavalle, we stopped at a park where we had cake for breakfast. Yes, cake. Our program director had sent a cake which was filled with dulce de leche and topped in meringue. I took some of the meringue off the sides and ate that part. Then the guide led us through a part of the part which was made up like a museum. There were wooden structures se up to show how the Huarpes used to live.
We finally arrived in San Miguel at 12:30 (4 hours after leaving Mendoza) and picked beds and unpacked. We ate lunch and then began to paint. We went to Lavalle to paint a school and learn about the Huarpe culture. The school was a boarding school, for about 80 children who lived too far to commute to school everyday. It’s a grammar school, so children enter at age 5 and study there until 8th grade. They go to school for nine days and go home for five.
Saturday we painted four classrooms with the students and played outside with them. It was very disorganized: the floors weren’t protected well and the rooms weren’t cleaned of the dust (Lavalle is a desert). In some rooms, the kids literally painted the floor. It was mostly challenging because we were painting brick which involves rolling paint onto the face of the brick and then using a brush to coat the grout. Also, most of us agreed that we really liked the brick that was there beforehand. We also took a walk in the “town” which was a small settlement of four houses. We saw some quirquincho (armadillo) being raised to be eaten, some wild boar (same story) and some baby goats. Playing with the baby goats was just like being at Basset’s Animal Farm and watching my little brother playing with the baby goats.
Some of us taught the girls how to do the cotton-eye-Joe (line dance I learned at various grammar school dances and Bat Mitzvahs). We also played soccer and climbed on monkey-bars with them. After eating dinner with the students we had a “cultural exchange.” The kids danced some traditional Argentine dances (not the tango) for us, which was really cool because they were 10 years old and really capable dancers. Then a group of girls did the cotton-eye-Joe (again) and the electric slide with the kids. I was part of a group that put on a puppet show; I was an ant. It was a big success, the kids loved watching and wanted us to perform again, but we hadn’t prepared anything else.
Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then some students asked us to explain the American Revolution. They were learning about the Argentine revolution and we compared the motives and similarities between the two movements. Then we went outside for 10 minutes to play soccer. It was freezing cold, so playing was necessary, if anything, to stay warm. I actually kicked the ball three times!, which is pretty amazing considering my athletic ability. After going back inside, Jerin, Anna and I answered their questions as best as we could, then they asked us about the war in Iraq and the 9/11 attacks. By this point Amparo was angry that we weren’t painting/cleaning and she came over to tell the children that we had to go. They still had questions for us regarding the state of the USA as the biggest world power and what we thought of that. It was amazing that they students (who were 11 and 12 years old) had the interest and knowledge to ask us questions like these. Especially because they live in a remote place with no internet and no telephones. They go to a school which is paid for by the state, but don’t have television, newspapers, or connection with their families for 2/3 of the year.
So, Anna, Jerin and I took over one classroom and cleaned the floor really well. Then it was time for lunch. The kids at my table went nuts over the empanadas. A 5-year-old girl ate 4.5 and a 10-year-old girl ate 5 (she had me ask for an extra to give to her). I ate two. The COPA students sung songs for the kids, gave then new soccer balls and lollypops and then lined up to kiss them goodbye. Argentines always touch cheeks when greeting or parting. Finally, the president of a Huarpe community came to talk to us about their problems as an indigenous group in Argentina, but it wasn’t much different from the information I had heard in my anthro class.
On the bus ride back, we picked up people who were looking to get to Lavalle the town because very few cars pass on the dirt road. We got back to Mendoza and I took a shower, ate dinner, and went to bed.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
I almost didn’t get into a boliche because I had a tampon in my bag
Any American woman (or female from the Western world) may be a little confused by that sentence. First off, a boliche is a night club – a place you go to dance. Anyway, the security at this place was major. Guys had to go through metal detectors and girls had a pat down process. During this process, the security lady found the tampon (and my allergy medicine, which she wasn’t pleased about either). I had to whine a lot (something I have perfected by watching the Argentines who want to get into someplace or accomplish something like change the date of a test) because she really did not want to let me in. She called over the male security guard to ask him what she should do about it. So I’m standing there while they are both looking at the plastic-wrapped yellow Tampax. Seeing as how I am completely free of shame, I begin to explain - in Spanish - about women and menstruation. The male security guard looks at the woman and tells her that I am a foreigner and to let me in. After all that, the club wasn’t that great (it was better than most, which only play electronic music); I’m not really much of a club person.
We also had a “cocina mendocina” (
It was still fun to cook with some friends and we got to keep the aprons, which means that I can stay clean while cooking in my Sophia Gordon apartment!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
My hout mom´s crazy family
We had a Sunday family lunch this past weekend. My host mom (Mariana) and I went to her sisters’ houses which are on the same piece of property. One sister had made this meat with mushroom gravy dish and roasted potatoes. We ate and then had tea and sat around reading the newspaper. Each sister has a COPA student staying with her. Kate lives with María-Elide and her daughters Agostina (17) and Antonela (15). Katie lives with Gaby her husband Ariel and kids Facundo (4) and Lucciana (2). So, all of these people were there along with Mariana’s father and his girl friend. Then, Mariana’s brother and his wife and one of there three children stopped by (I think this one is Juan Pedro, aged 5, or something). Kate, Katie and I decided to get out of Gaby’s house and go to the other one. We could no longer take the screaming and all had homework to do. At this point, Juan Pedro and Facundo were running around playing with a mask. Lucciana, the two-year-old, is still breast feeding. She climbs on to her mother’s lap, grabs her shirt and yanks at her bra. (We’re all sitting at the table experiencing her embarrassment for her). Kate, Katie and I discussed how age 2 probably is too old to be breast feeding and this child is horribly spoiled and never shuts up.
Katie went to take a nap, while Kate and I did more homework. As the afternoon progressed, the conversation seemed to move into the house we were in. Kate and I discussed how the family doesn’t have speaking voices. They all scream at each other. All the time. I am the luckiest student because I live with Mariana and its just the two of us. I thought Kate didn’t have it to bad living with the teenaged girls, but apparently they start screaming at 6 AM when they are getting ready for school. Kate’s room is downstairs and they go down to eat and yell up to their mother when they can’t find things. The girls also yell at their mom (and their aunts) when they are angry or don’t get what they want. Kate said they’ve even been rude to her. Apparently she’s had to yell just to be heard before. Anyway, so the family is nuts….all three generations yell at each other to be heard over all the noise they create and I’m the lucky one because I only live with one other person.
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