Email and Facebook Hacked!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please disregard any email or facebook messages you receive from me about being mugged and needing money!!

I have not been mugged, but both accounts have been hacked.

4 days in San Juan

I spent the past 4 days in San Juan, capital city of the province of San Juan. Honestly, if I could choose any place to live in Argentina long term, I feel pretty confident about saying it would be San Juan. I'm not sure how much I would like the hot hot summers in San Juan (up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit,) but the fall/winter there is definitely to my liking. There is practically 0 humidity, so San Juan doesn't exhibit the bitter cold bite of the air in Parana, and it fairly warm and sunny this time of year. Also, the city is just the right blend of urban city and small town. It has a nice, relaxing (re tranqui) pace of life, while also offering a cultural scene and sufficient public transportation.

Because of 2 serious earthquakes during the 20th century, San Juan consists of only modern buildings. Everything constructed before the earthquakes was destroyed. I can only speak of the places I visited, but from what I've seen, San Juan is a pretty prosperous community. The civic center, public university, and the school of music here are beautiful and big. I've heard that the school of music here has the largest auditorium and organ in South America! I went to the auditorium on Friday to listen to a string quartet play Dvorak, and it was incredible. Sitting so close up to the musicians made it possible for me to see every movement and discern every sound produced. With most music, I don't care whether I listen to it at a concert or on a cd, but with classical music I've realized that it really is especially beautiful and moving to experience it in person.

One interesting tidbit about San Juan is that it is the birth place of one of Argentina's most notable national heroes, Sarmiento: president, inventor, and founder of education.

My Journey Westward

Ok, so I haven't written in a loooong time, but here's the deal: I've been busy doing many, many things in Parana! I will write on that later though. Right now the main topic of focus is my journey westward. Because of the May 25th Independence Holiday and the exam boards I have a full 2.5 weeks to travel, and my trip westward is already afoot.

Last thursday morning, I took a bus from Parana to Rafaela to visit my friend Agostina and her family. We hadn't seen each other in about a month since my last visit to Rafaela. Her and I watched a really funny Argentine movie called Un novio para mi mujer about a man who hires a Senor Flores to seduce his wife because he's too chicken to tell her he wants a separation. One highlight of the trip was the acto or celebration at the university in celebration of Argentina's bicentennial on May 25th. I could hardly stop myself from laughing out loud when a stray dog wandered wandered down the aisle behind the national flag during a very solemn procession. I just can't get over the presence of stray dogs everywhere here in Argentina, even inside school auditoriums!

On Friday night, I took an overnight bus to Cordoba to meet up with 4 other Fulbrighters. My bus was delayed by about 3 hours unfortunately, but thankfully the rest of the trip went pretty smoothly. I couldn't tell how beautiful Cordoba was the first day I arrived because the weather was pretty overcast, and truthfully, nothing looks good when it's cloudy and cold out.
We really had an action packed 4 days in the nation's 3rd largest city: a trip to Che Guevara's childhood home in Alta Gracia, a typical Cuban meal at the restaurant nextdoor owned by a woman who met Che in Cuba, a hike to almost the tippy top of a sierra in La Falda (the place where Hitler is rumored to have visited once although this is debatable), an interpretive dance/military procession/fireworks spectacular in honor of the bicentennial at midnight on the 25th, a visit to the two largest Cordobese art museums and one of the oldest Jesuit missions in Argentina, and a three-person bicycle ride around a lake.

Now after a 10 hour bus ride, I am further northwest in San Juan with another Fulbrighter: Matt. I am pretty excited to be visiting him in San Juan, the birthplace of Sarmiento, as well as the province where El Valle de La Luna is located. I've heard that this is one of the largest sites for dinosaur fossils in the world!

I will post another entry later with a run-down of my stay in San Juan. On a parting note, my first observations in San Juan: it was very difficult to navigate my way to Matt's apartment from the San Juan bus terminal as there are no real signs indicating bus stops, street names, or house numbers. I basically had to ask every single Argentine I saw in the street this morning at 7am "Where is bus 12a?" I'm pretty proud of myself for actually finding his apartment considering the fact that Argentines always give you directions when asked, but 9 times out of 10 they have no idea what they are talking about. I have been sent on many a wild goose-chase because of that. I have to ask one of my Argentine friends what's going on.
Also, interestingly, the Argentines of San Juan do not use the "shh" sound. I can't get over it nor, now that I've adopted the shhh into my speech can I stop using it even though no one else here speaks this way. Oh regional linguistic diversity!

Until next time!

A WOW weekend in Rafaela

Last weekend I took a long-distance bus to visit Brian in Rafaela. Rafaela is very different from Parana and Diamante. As Brian informed me earlier, Rafaela is a noticeably wealthier city, and therefore, it really reminded me of Fairfield County in Connecticut. The people on average have larger homes, more modern appliances, and newer car models. I'm guessing that the wealth comes from the three main industries in Rafaela: autoparts, dairy, and the metallurgical industry(?).

For the three days I spent in Rafaela, I stayed with Brian's host family, the Ricotti's. The mother, Leilia, is a recently retired English teacher, and the father. Raul, is a recently retired professor from the Tech University nearby. Their youngest daughter Sonia, who studies Bio-Engineering in Santa Fe, also came to visit and spend the weekend with all of us. I am very grateful to their hospitality and generosity to me. My weekend in Rafaela was a really relaxing and enjoyable vacation for me. The Ricotti's fed Brian and me delicious food all weekend, including a very special asado on Saturday. For our first time, Brian and I tasted molleja or ....... sweetbread. I believe the translation is pancreas! Although neither of us is a fan of eating organs, we have to admit it was quite tender and tasty. Unfortunately, noting the yanquis' aversion to organ-eating, the Ricotti's informed us that American cuisine does feature animal organs ground up in the form of hot dogs, hamburgers, and cold-cuts! Oh goodness! I also learned that the italian cold cut Mortadela is sometimes made from ground up horse! Ehhh......

During the weekend, Brian and I spent a lot of time hanging out and chatting with his young Argentine friends. On Friday night we went to a pub called La Republica to dance. I still haven't full-out gone to a Boliche (dance club), but I have been making gradual progress toward it. First I went to a pub in Diamante to drink and chat with Facundo and his friends Sebastian, Estefania, and her boyfriend Emanuel until 4am, and then I danced at a pub in Rafaela with Brian, Leo, and Edu until 5am. The next step is to actually dance at a Boliche until 7am with all the rest of the Argentine youth. As usual, the DJ at la Republica played a lot of American songs, including "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, and, to my delight, "YMCA"! However, that night, we also had fun dancing to a lot of Reggaeton songs, such as my personal favorite, "Yo soy tu gatita" = "I am your little cat." I am excited for when I will be fluent enough to actually understand all the words in a Reggaeton song.

While I was in Rafaela, I also met up with Flavio's friend Mauricio. (awww... the beauty of networking!) Mauricio and Flavio met and became good friends in the US while they were both working at a casino in Reno on a work exchange program. Although since there return to Argentina, they have not been able to see each other again, they still keep in contact, and Flavio passed Mauricio's contact information along to Brian and me. Mauricio works at the Hotel Plaza in Rafaela. Even though Rafaela is not a popular tourist city, it does receive a lot of visitors from Europe and the US regularly for business reasons pertaining to these industries. He and his girlfriend Mari also joined Brian and I at la Republica, and I am hoping to see them again soon in Parana or Rafaela. I may visit Rafaela again at the end of May when the classic racecars from all over Argentina come there for a race.

Over the weekend, I also met Brian's friend Agostina, or Agos. Agos is studying Spanish language and literature at the local University, so we had a lot to talk about as regards books and authors. Even though Agos does not know a lot of English, she spoke so clearly in castellano that I was able to understand almost everything she said to me right away. : - )! On Sunday, Agos invited me over her house to watch an Argentine film called "Lluvia," meaning "Rain." As she informed me, this film is very Argentine because there is not a lot of action, words, or changes in setting. Nearly the whole movie takes place while it is raining in Buenos Aires, first in a line of cars stuck in traffic and then in a hotel. This movie was especially interesting to me because of the two main characters: one is a Spanish man and the other is an Argentina woman. During their (very)brief conversations with each other, I noted the various classic differences between Argentine and Spanish castellano. The differences in vocabulary, intonaton, and pronunciation were all fairly transparent right away to me since I have lived in Spain and am now living in Argentina. I could see myself one day using this movie to teach a class about the differences in castellano spoken in Argentina and Spain.

Now for the definite piece de resistance of me trip to Rafaela:
This past weekend, I spoke and listened to so much Argentine castellano that I have actually begun dreaming in castellano for the first time. : - )!!!!

One weekend in Diamante with the Gregorutti's

I haven't had time to add a new entry in the past two weeks because I have been keeping very busy exploring Argentina and meeting new friends along the way. Last weekend I took a long-distance bus to the city of Rafaela in the Santa Fe province to visit fellow ETA Brian, and the weekend before that, I stayed with my friend Facundo in his parents' house in Diamante. It is difficult to condense two weekends of activity into two blog entries, but I will try to summarize as best I can.

Diamante: Most of the university students only live in Parana Monday though Friday; on the weekends, they return home to their respective hometowns in Entre Rios province to visit with their family and friends. Therefore, Facundo and his family were very kind to invite me to their home two weekends ago when I was very bored and at a loss of things to do in Parana. Facundo's mom cooked Estofado (beef stew), Milanesas, and a delicious salad with diced hard-boiled eggs, steamed zapallito, and chickpeas.

Facundo's mom also prepared achicoria for me, which is a green leafy plant eaten by a lot of Argentines with Italian heritage. Interestingly, I've already tried this vegetable before at my home in the US, but my grandma and her sisters refer to it as gigordia. I may sound a little nerdy, but I think this is really cool that on two distinct continents, people descended from Italian immigrants have preserved the tradition of eating this same plant, and that the Americanized and Argentinized versions of the original Italian name differ very slightly. I am really interested in studying the cultural and lexical similarities and differences between Italian-Argentines and Italian-Americans. I've noticed several other similarities between the two groups in the food, i.e. the plethora of similar cold cuts or fiambres, such as mortadela, pizza (although Argentine pizza is considerably thinner, less heavy on the cheese, and almost always features an adornment of whole green olives), pasta (lasagna, gnocci, cannelones, raviolis), and milanesas or breaded veal cutlets with fresh lemon on the side. Also, I've noticed similarities in the tradition of gathering together the whole family to eat on Sunday. In the US, my grandparents and parents were accustomed to this familial tradition, but since then it has fallen by the wayside. In contrast, Sunday family lunches are very much alive in Argentina. Now one difference that I am aware of is purely linguistic: in some parts of Argentina, where there is a large population of Italian-descendants, it is common to affix the article el or la, meaning "the", in front of a person's name. For example, I am "la Christina." Although the Spanish language uses artices in front of nouns, an article is not used for a person's name. The custom of saying "la Christina" or "el Facundo" in Diamante comes from the influence of the Italian language where articles are placed in front of people's names!

During my stay in Diamante, I brought my own supply of Quinoa along just in case it would be difficult to find any grains/carbohydrates that I could eat for over the weekend. His family really laughed it up when I showed them my bag of Quinoa seeds because to them it looked exactly like bird seed or mijo. Facundo's dad ran out right away to pick up a bag of bird seed to show me how much it resembles Quinoa. I've seen el mijo, and it is true! Some of my friends tell me that, with all my dietary restrictions, I eat like a bird, and now I realize how right they are!

Talking with Facundo and his family was really a two-fold learning experience for me. First of all, conversing with Argentine people who do not know any English (with the exception of Alfonso, Facundo's Dad, greeting me with "Good Morning")is really helpful. Non-English speaking Argentines don't alter their vocabulary, intonation, or syntax at all so as to make it easier for a Native-English listener to understand them. I want to learn Argentine castellano, not some simplified/Americanized version of it. I really think that even after only spending roughly a day and a half with the Gregorutti's my castellano improved noticeably. Facundo even told me that he could notice a difference in my intonation afterward.

Second of all, I learn a lot about Argentine culture, past, and present by talking with Facundo and his parents. His parents engage me in interesting conversations about the rising price of beef, the baseball-sized hail stones that terrorize Buenos Aires periodically, and the ships from all over the world that come to the Diamante port through the Parana River to pick-up and deliver grains. Actually, while I was in Diamante, I saw a HUGE ship from Hong Kong that was picking up soy to bring back to China. Interestingly, China imports a lot of soy grown in Argentina. I couldn't get over this when Alfonso told me. China, soy-based diet capital of the world, imports the majority of its soy from Argentina!

Off to a good start!

I have been very busy these past couple of weeks because at last classes have started! I am teaching in English Language II & IV, English Literature I & II, and in the ESL Teacher Training Workshop. So far I have been planning and leading lessons on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, American body language, and text messaging abbreviations in the USA. All of my students are in their 20's or older, so it is quite a relief to be able to teach a lesson without also worrying about classroom management and misbehavior. So far, I definitely prefer teaching this age group to highschoolers. Occassionally, I visit my advisor's morning classes at the local high school, and that is when I realized how lucky I am to be teaching adults. All in all, all of my teaching experiences here, even with highschool students, have been very fun and rewarding.

When lesson planning, I try to be creative about how I present the material so as to make it fun and accessible to the students. I'm a big fan of using games. I played Charades with Language II last week when we discussed body language in America, and I played Agree/Disagree/Unsure with Alice's high school class this morning in order to discuss various misconceptions about the United States.

It is a very interesting feeling to be an authority on USA culture and American English. I sort of feel like an Ambassador since, for the majority of the people here, I am the first American and/or native English speaker they have ever met. Of course, right away I get a lot of questions about where I am from and why I am here, and various inquiries about the USA. Actually as soon as I open my mouth, I hear " De donde sos" meaning "Where are you from?" At first it can get a little irritating because I want to blend as much as possible, but my accento norteamericano always gives me away. Thankfully, unlike my experience in Spain, the people that I've met so far haven't reacted negatively to me being an American. In general, they are just curious because Parana rarely gets foreign-speaking visitors. A lot of times people even say to me, "Why did you come here? Everyone here wants to go to the US?"

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I take classes at the School of Visual Arts. My class on Mondays is called "Libre Expresion" or "Free Expression;" I basically get to do whatever I want to do in art for 2 hours while surrounded by retired female teachers from the University. I am the youngest student by at least 30 years in that class, and I don't mind it at all! Then, on Tuesdays, I take an art class that focuses specifically on color when painting. For my first class, I drew a copy of a picture of a toucan I found in a magazine, and then I had to paint it using only black, white, and different shades of grey. I'm pretty excited to be painting; I recently went to the art store and bought all sorts of acrylic and oil paint, watercolors, and brushes. I've always wanted to paint, but I've never really had the opportunity to take any art classes since high school. Tomorrow I start classes in Tango and Folklore (another traditional dance from the Entre Rios Province).

I also recently signed up at SerAcuaGim: a gym offering group classes in water aerobics, aerobics, pilates, and yoga. I really enjoying going to a few classes a week because it's a great way for me to have fun working out while also reviewing the parts of the body and commands in castellano. : - )
I find it really funny that all of the songs are American remixes: "Oops I Did It Again" and such.

I really am enjoying teaching. In spite of being so shy for most of my life, I'm now at the point where I am confident and out-going enough to enjoy speaking in front of a classroom of students. I used to be nervous sometimes even when I taught 11 year-olds at Freedom Schools, but now I calmly teach 41 students (!!) in the second section of English Language II. It really shocks me how comfortable and happy I now feel speaking in front of such a large class of students. I think I may have found my niche, but we shall see how the next 7 months go. I am considering pursuing teaching as a profession, but I'm not certain yet.

Mi nuevo departamento!

At last, after all the delays, I am now in my own apartment. As mentioned earlier, I am living right across the street from the Hospital San Martin. Now, this of course has some perks (i.e. instant emergency medical care if need be), as well as some disadvantages (i.e. a lot of noise while I am trying to sleep!). Oh well, I am sure I will get used to it. I usually sleep like the dead anyways.

My apartment here is the nicest apartment I have ever lived in! Everything is brand new, and it is much more than a studio. I have a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and nice-sized bedroom. The apartment came furnished with gas stove (eh), fridge, table, chairs, silverware, plates, bowls, dishes, pots, bed, and mattress. I am really happy I don't have to buy these furnishings at least. I already have a long list of things to buy. It didn't occur to me how easy I had it when I was living at a home-stay in Madrid, until I had to rent an apartment here. When I lived with Julia en el Barrio de Pilar, I didn't have to buy food, cook, or do laundry, not to mention worrying about buying shower curtain rods, dish detergent, light bulbs, or a broom and dust pan. Also, waiting for gas and electricity hook-ups was annoying, especially since this all happened Wednesday, the day before the start of the 4 day holiday here. So, if I didn't get gas and electricity then, I definitely wasn't going to have it for the next 4 days. Thursday was Holy Thursday, Friday (today) is the Day of the Veterans of the Malvinas War, Saturday is Saturday and Sunday is Easter. What a relief that everything turned out okay yesterday thanks to my realtor's secretary! He sent Rita over to handle all the lio (mess). I just had to be present in my apartment while the carpinter finished putting shelving into my closet.

Even though I did enjoy living with Paula, and I would prefer to have a nice Argentine roommate, I am excited to be living by myself. Now I can decorate everything to my taste! So far, I have some nice pink bathroom hand towels and a black and white rose shower curtain that matches the grey tiles nicely :-)
I am also thinking about getting a Bienvenida (Welcome) doormat where guests can leave their shoes. Since I have white tiles, I now see the merit in not wearing shoes around the apartment. I would also like to decorate my dining room.....hmmm......

Fortunately, I have not been so obsessed with interior decorating that I haven't been able to start planning for my first two lessons next week. In Literature II, I am giving an introduction lecture on Alice in Wonderland, and in English Language II, I am designing an interactive lesson on Body Language in American culture. I am thinking about including a game of Charades to make it more stimulating and fun for the students. I am most used to designing classes for children, so we shall see how University students like this.

Asado a la Parilla en Argentina

Today I went to a real Argentine Barbeque, called Asado, at the home of the parents of Profesora Graciela. Gracielas siblings and their children attended so it was quite a large gathering of about 20 people. This was my first exposure to Asado, and I loved it! I have to admit, I have some misgivings about some of the types of meat I ate, but I am glad that I tried everything.....

Gracielas father prepared all the meat in the Parilla or outdoor grill near his pool and patio. Their backyard was absolutely gorgeous; I felt like I was at a resort because of the outdoor pool surrounded by bushes and small palm trees.

Again, I was thrilled that her family received me so well, as well as complimenting me on my castellano. Only Graciela speaks English fluently, so the entire time, everyone spoke in castellano very quickly. To my delight, I was able to understand nearly everything and participate as well. I even learned a few new words from the children there, like Alcahuete for tattletale, Chancha or pig to refer to rude behavior, and Mona meaning charming.

Graciela did her masters at Eastern Carolina University in North Carolina, so points of interest in the US was a big topic of interest, like Philadelphia, Boston, DC, and New York City. The funniest story of the afternoon by far was about when her neice, now 20, went to visit Graciela in the US when she was 8. On a trip to Washington DC during the winter, her niece saw snow for the first time (it never snows in Parana)! Eager to try out the various snow activities she had read about and seen in American movies, she jumped into a snow covered flower-bed in DC and did a snow angel face down in the snow!

For lunch, we ate Morcilla (blood sausage), Tripa (tripe stuffed with vegetables and Mandioca flour), Chorizo (sausage), Costillas (beef ribs), Ensalada de Papas con Mayonesa (potatoe salad with mayonaise), tomatoe and onion salad, and Pastelitos fried puff pastries filled with quince jam or sweet potatoe puree). I told Gracielas family about the potatoe salad and cole slaw usually served at American BBQs, and they were surprised at how similar they are to those served in Argentina.

My 1st experience with Argentine Health Care

So it figures that the one weekend Paula goes away to visit her family, my shoes cut my left ankle enough to make it swell up. Without a cell phone, it was very difficult and frustrating trying to get in contact with any of my friends or professors here. After living in Argentina for two weeks, I am more confident about my castellano skills, but I still did not want to venture my first experience with Argentine health care alone.

Thankfully, Profesora Graciela was online and saw my plea for help in her in-box this morning. She and her two children, Maggie (3) and Nacho (6), accompanied me to the private clinic near her home. Argentina has a system of private clinics for the people who have health insurance as well as a public hospital system that provides free health care to people without health insurance. Both private clinics and free public hospitals provide quality health care, but one usually has to wait a very long time for a consultation at the public hospitals. As an American, I was nervous about going to a private clinic, especially when I realized that the health insurance Fulbright gave me only applies automatically to clinics in Buenos Aires. Everywhere else in Argentina, i.e. Parana, I have to pay up-front in full and then apply for a re-imbursement later. I was expecting my bill at the private clinic to be at least a couple of hundred pesos. To my surprise, a consulation at a private clinic only costs 40 pesos ( $10 )!!

The doctor, who did not wear gloves to examine me (!!), said that my ankle was only inflamed from the humidity and that the cuts were not infected. He prescribed me a pain reliever and told me to take it easy and not walk on it for the next couple of days. The pain reliever was only $2.5, and, when I picked it up at the Pharmacy, it did not come wth any instructions or packaging, just the foil strip of 10 pills. Even though a trip to the doctor is never a good thing, I am glad that I was able to experience the health care system here through a sort of trial run for something very minor. Now, in case something serious happens, I know where to go and how much cash to bring. Clinics here only accept cash. Also, fortunately, in case of an extreme emergency, once I move into my new apartment on Monday, I will be living right across the street from the San Martin Public Hospital.

Diamante: Lujosamente Natural

On Friday I visited the Diamante, the small town approximately one hour outside of Parana. Facundo and I took the El Indio bus there to visit his family, tour Diamante, and meet with Paula at the private English Institute where she teaches. Parana is a very small city compared to Buenos Aires, and Diamante is even smaller! The majority of Diamante is farm land. As I learned on Friday, aside from Parana, the province of Entre Rios is mostly rural. Looking out the window, the trip from Parana to Diamante sort of reminded me of going westward from Philadelphia to Central PA.

Facundos parents were vely welcoming to me. They offered me mate, complimented me on my castellano, and then invited me to a parilla (traditional Argentine barbeque) at their home out in the country during the weekend of Semana Santa (Easter)! His parents told me a lot about different Argentine dishes, but one that really stands out in my mind is pescado a la pizza or fish pizza. Now, this does not refer to a pizza with fish as a topping; rather, it refers to a fish, deboned, and cooked with tomatoe sauce and cheese on top!!! I cannot wait to try this!

Then, Facundos dad toured me around Diamante in his car, honking his horn and shouting ciao out his window the whole ride to every person on the street and monologing about the sites. I saw the port where ships come in daily with grain to be processed and stored in the nearby silos, the Argentine rodeo stadium, the view of the Parana river , and the soy farms and cow pastures. He taught me the name of every type of cow, according to age and sex. :-) Interestingly, Facundos dad also told me that soy is replacing beef as Argentinas big resource.

Afterward, I visited Paula at the English Institute in Diamante where she teaches primary and secondary school students. I was the guest in 3 classes, and all the students went crazy for me! They had never met an American before! They had a lot of questions for me about music and food in the USA, as well as more personal questions about my boyfriend.... 12 year olds are so nosey! They even asked me for my name so they could friend me on Facebook. I now have about ten new 12 year old Facebook friends! I felt really honored to be the first American and native English speaker they had ever met. After I left the classroom, the students told Paula about how pretty and fashionably dressed I was! Apparently, they were not expecting an American to be either of those things. They were also shocked and thrilled about how well they could understand me. I hope that our meeting inspired them to continue with their studies in English. I plan on going back to Diamante on Fridays to assist in Paulas classes.

Evil American Corporations

Walmart (aka the Walmart effect): Yes, Parana has a Walmart, and it sells nearly everything you could imagine for cheaper than any other store here. Consequently, it is slowly putting the other stores out of business.


Disney: For their sweet 15 or quincinera, Argentines usually choose between having a party with their friends and family, or going to Disney World!


McDonalds: Okay, now it may sound strange, but McDonalds, pronounced Mac Donalds, is a fairly expensive restaurant here. A hamburger and fries meal costs 23 pesos, which is roughly the price of a four course meal here at most restaurants, including the drink, main meal, appetizer, and dessert. In spite of the high priced menu, eating at McDonalds is apparently very fashionable and a status symbol that a lot of people are willing to save their money for and splurge on.

The Beginning of Fall in Parana

Today is the first day of fall in Parana. From now on, the weather will progressively get colder and colder until winter when the temperature will be in the 40s Farenheit.

A couple of days ago, I met with the inmobiliario or local realtor to view two apartments, one near the University and one near the Parque Urquiza. It was a tough decision when I had to choose between business or pleasure, but I quickly realized I am here most importantly to assist in the classes at the University. UADER is my first priority (my advisor, an English grammar professor at the University here, informed me that this is a redundancy: a priority is by definition first!) My apartment is brand new and furnished! I have a refrigerator, gas stove (that you have to light manually), bed, table, and chairs. I am not too happy about having to strike a match everytime I want to cook for myself, but I am little by little getting used to it. The first time Paula walked me through through the process step by step and supervised me. :-) Apparently, the majority of homes in Parana have manual gas stoves because it is more expensive to produce automatic gas stoves and since electricity is extremely expensive in Argentina.

Yesterday I met with most of the faculty for the English Teaching Department at UADER. About 10 of us gathered around a table in one of the professors homes with the school psychologist to discuss the youngsters of today. They all complained about the increasing rudeness, laziness, and escapades of their students. It was kind of comical for me to listen to them because of course the same thing is happening in the US today and always happens. The older generation always dissaproves of the younger generation. I especially liked when the psychologist complained about her nephews spending too much time playing Wi Tennis.

I spent last night and this afternoon at the apartment of my advisor. Even though I did not have the opportunity to do a home stay here, I have been fortunate enough to experience family life and culture through Paula and my advisor. Alicia, my advisor, cooked a dinner of lentils and hardboiled eggs and we spent the evening watching Argentine television (for the first time!). Argentine television is made up of a blend of channels featuring subtitled or dubbed American movies and television series, German and Italian programming, and some local Argentine news and entertainment programs. I was suprised to see that they get E!, MTV, and VH1 here. I really like the Argentine channel called Utilisima (very useful in English) featuring all sorts of shows on crafts, home decorating, and cooking. Last night I also learned about some notable Argentine icons like the comedian Peter Capusotto with the Hitler stash, the very eccentric artist and Lady GaGa look-a-like whose name escapes me at the moment, the Argentine Congressman Jorge Rivas recently paralyzed after being shot following his election to Congress, and La Presidente: Cristina Kirchner. It is interesting having the same name as the president here. My advisor told me she sent an e-mail to another professor asking her: Would you like to meet Cristina (me) ?, and the professor, thinking Alicia was referring to the president, responded: No! Absolutely not! Never in my life!. I did not know anything about Argentine politics before my stay here, but apparently, not many Argentines are happy with their president. They do not respect her appointment to the presidency by her husband, the previous president, they mock her obsession with beauty and primping herself, and they especially do not agree with her attempts to exert more control over the country than the constitution allows.

This afternoon, Alicia walked half a block down the street to the home of her parents for Sunday lunch. Alicias mother, that everyone lovingly refers to as la Blanca or Whitey, is an excellent cook. I wish I could have tried her desserts or pizzas, which she is most famous for, but I really enjoyed the beef, vegetables, brown rice, and fresh fruit salad she prepared for me instead. Alicias family was very welcoming and friendly to me so I felt right at home. Her mother even took out her new tablecloth por la Americana (for the American!).

I am really happy that I came to their home on today of all days because the Superclasico was on TV in the kitchen. The Superclasico is a game held twice a year between La Boca Juniors and El Rio de la Plata, two rival soccer teams from Buenos Aires, and it is big news! I could best compare it to the World Series or the SuperBowl! So far I am a fan for River Plate just because I like their colors better, red and white. Alicias father, referred to as Toto, pressured me into choosing a team when he asked me: So what colors do you like better, red and white, or blue and yellow?. I am glad my color favorites happened to coincide with his team of choice.Unfortunately, it was also raining a lot this afternoon so the game was postponed. I will have to update this later with the results.

My first couple of days in Parana

Today is my second day in Parana and I am enjoying it very much. Alicia, my advisor, and Paula, the University student I am staying with now, are very nice and helpful to me always. I am looking at apartments today to find my own for my stay here, but Paula said I can stay as long as I want to with her. It is difficult for a foreigner to find an apartment for a short period of time like 8 months here because most apartments rent for minimum leases of 2 years. Additionally, one also needs to provide at least 2 gaurantias or co-signers on the lease who will be responsible for paying the rent if I do not. Also, furnished apartments are not the norm here and simple, basic furnishings such as refrigerators and stoves are very expensive. A refrigerator usually sells for about 3000 pesos or 750 american dollars. Luckily, Alicia has found one realtor or inmobiliara that can offer me a furnished one bedroom apartment for 1500 pesos or about 375 american dollars per month, which is very expensive for Parana standards, but fairly cheap for Americans used to paying upwards from 700 dollars monthly for a one bedroom in Philly.

Parana is a very small city, but there are plenty of shops and a moderately sized downtown area, and there is a large population of young people because of the University here. There is also a very nice national park, riverside with rowing club, and beautiful old government and school buildings. It has also been very hot and humid here, so my recently trimmed hair is now extra curly and short, and I have been able to wear my beloved onesie. We had a pretty fierce rainstorm with thunder and lightning last night, so Im expecting it to be a lot cooler for the next couple of days. According to Paula, Parana does not usually get tropical storms like this one last night, but in the past few years the weather has been changing little by little and the climate is becoming more tropical. Sound familiar to the folks in Philly with our 40 inches of snow in 5 days this winter? Parana is becoming the Carribean and Philly is becoming Buffalo, NY.

I went to Walmart yesterday with Paula and 2 friends to buy towels. toiletries, and food yesterday afternoon. Walmart looks the exact same as the ones in the US! In fact, this is a Super Walmart with pharmacy, optical shop, dry cleaning,automotive, and extensive grocery section with fresh produce and meat. Most of the vegetables and fruits are the same here as in the US, with the exception of a couple interesting items like the Zapallito, a very squat, round looking version of the Zucchini.

I also visited UADER, Universidad Autonoma de Entre Rios, to meet the Dean and secretaries yesterday. It was a very brief introduction, but they did talk to me about an interview soon for an article in their local newspaper. UADER is held in two highschool buildings in the downtown area. The main site is in a 100 year old building with an inner open courtyard and some classrooms with extremely old-fashioned desks. I will have to take pictures soon to post. The desks reminded me of episodes from the Little House on the Prairie. The other highschool building is the site for the English teaching classes so I will mostly be there once classes start April 5th.


My castellano is quickly improving as I get more used to the pronunciation of Argentine Spanish, the shhh and jjjja, and the vocabulary here. In Parana and Entre Rios, its surrounding province, the people pronounce the sound of y as shhh, unlike the rest of Argentina where they say jjja. For example, in Parana, one says sho me shamo, instead of yo me yamo in Spain, or jo me jamo in Buenos Aires. I am interested in looking into the reasons behind these regional differences.

I have also been teaching Paula and her friends Marcia and Facundo English words and expressions. They are all students of English interested in teaching ESL.
We speak half the time in English amd half the time in Spanish, so we all improve our foreign language skills a bit with each conversation. They have also introduced me to the popular custom of Mate, where everyone drinks a very bitter herbal tea from the same pot and metal straw. It sort of reminds me of the tradition of passing the joint or bong in the US, except more legal and not a drug. According to Paula, marijuana, aside from being illegal here, is not popular in Parana at all.

Finally today I have a few hours to myself to rest and unpack my suitcases. As Paula is teaching English lessons all day in the neighboring town of Diamante, I have the apartment to myself. I have been very tired lately from doing too much and not sleeping enough. I will post more tomorrow hopefully.

I have arrived!

I arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday morning after a 10 and a half hour flight!

So far I am really enjoying my stay in Buenos Aires. The prices are right, the food is delicious (Morrocan last night and Italian tonight), and the people are surprisingly friendly. Today we visited the Fulbright Commission's office for a brief introduction to the program and then we lunched at the Ministry of Education.

Tommorrow is my 23rd birthday and the last day of orientation. I leave on a flight to Santa Fe with my referente (advisor) at 20:50. The flight is about an hour long, and her son will then pick us up and drive us to Parana. One of the students at the Universidad Autonoma de Entre Rios has offered me a bedroom in her apartment for the next week or two until I can find my own apartment.

A few interesting observations thus far:

1) Cartoneras: People who pick through the trash on the streets at night for pieces of cardboard to sell.

2) Cubierta: Restaurants charge diners for their use of the silverware and table cloths......

3) Nice peso--> $ exchange: You can eat a filling meal at a fairly nice restaurant for less than $10. Score!

4) Anglocismos galor!: Argentine Spanish has adopted so many English words! For instance, instead of saying comida liviana or comida sana for healthy food, Argentines commonly say comida "light."

5) Celiacs Disease: Gluten intolerance is becoming more well-known here. Everytime I mention to an Argentine that I can't eat wheat, they ask me if I have "celiaca." The Morrocan restaurant I dined at last night actually had symbols on the menu to indicate which dishes (platos) are gluten free. Some of the corner stores also sell gluten free alfajores (chocolate covered sandwich cookies) made of brown rice and chia seeds alongside the usual junky candy and chocolates that I can't eat.

More to come!