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.