China-bound

I'm hanging out in the lobby of the hotel, deliriously finishing up a few loose ends before I leave country in apprx 6 hours! I haven't slept much lately, so I'm going to get everything ready then sleep for about 3 hrs before we head out.

I missed the last briefing b/c I came in late after the Points of Light ceremony featuring President Obama, Dr. Gates, and former President Bush 41. That was pretty awesome and I recommend watching it online if you get the chance.

At my mini-debriefing, I was reminded that toilets are typically holes in the ground, so I will get to practice my squatting skills (thanks Uncle Billy tho for already warning me of that) and we also learned that 41 will not be joining us in Beijing at the recommendation of his doctor. While that is a bummer, there are still many other people I am excited to meet.

I have email corresponded with my Chinese roommate, who is studying to be an English teacher. I think we will have lots to talk about :)

Finally, I'm just hoping that jetlag won't hit me too hard! I have taken certain measures to induce crashing on the plane, so we'll see if that works.

Love love love to everyone back home!!

A Time for Change

Turns out I like blogging. I got a little burned out on it this summer...as evidence, I never actually finished my last 3 days in BA update. But they were rather chill, so that's ok.

Anyways, what's going on now. Oh yea, reality slapped me in the face as soon as I returned. There's this thing called life, which I have definitely been living. There's this other thing called reality....which I am slowly coming to terms with. I'm more at peace though now than I have been recently. There come days when I can't even talk about May without stress immediately consuming my body and manifesting itself through leaky eyes. And then there are those days when I think people must be hardcore praying for me because I just feel peaceful about it all and aware that God is molding me for his purposes. I am also, slowly, taking action steps towards various goals. The top step currently has been opening my Teach for America application. Another step was taking the LSAT yesterday. One step that already ended was emailing the TAMU center in Qatar to see if they had an opening for a writing center consultant. They don't, but at least I tried.

Argentina has not let go of me. My bank recently got bought out by an Argentina company, some Italian sisters came to St. Mary's and spoke about a service thing they have going on in Cordoba, one of my writing center consultations was with a guy who spent his summer in Argentina, one of the workesr at the MSC spent 6 months in Buenos Aires as well....crazy!

I was looking at my world map last night, and I get so excited when I see my dots of where I have been. But I still have so much to see! And so much of it is so completely different from anything that I have seen. One of many reasons why I am so stoked about going to Beijing, China is that it will be completely different from anything I have ever experienced. I do not speak the language....I can't even piece together parts of it like I could in Italian. The architecture, history, government....everything is so different. I'm really excited.

If only I could spend this next year just seeing the world.

Everyone is allowed their moments of wistfulness, right? But I am so thankful for everything I have seen so far. And there will be another traveling time in my life, it just may not be for a while. I think my college experiences will sustain me until then. Espero que si.

Home sweet home :)

I arrived in Houston this morning around 6 a.m. My mom and John walked up just as I walked through customs. I have since enjoyed changing into clean clothes, a cup of ice-cold sweet tea, catching up with my family, and just enjoying being warm and summer!! I hadn't realized how much I missed Texas and everything that comes with it :)

So close

to being home!

Here´s my thought - if I was staying longer, I wouldn´t mind it at all. But since I´m going home...I´m really excited!! I´ve also gotten really bad about keeping my daily journal....so the last blog installment (which should come tomorrow or Tues) will be weak sauce.

I´ve been hanging out with a new group of peeps this weekend. Saturday, we went to Tigre and it was BEAUTIFUL. As I sat on the top deck of the boat (we toured the delta) in my DRESS and soaked in the SUN....it was heavenly.

Last night, I also went out for Indian food with some friends. If you know me, the fact that I was excited to try Indian food and not fearful of what it might be like is a big deal! I got a little nervous when ordering, but when my food came - chicken korma - it was amazing!! Definitely a fan.

Today was brought in with rain and cold again. I slept in, then actually worked on some homework I´ve been meaning to do all summer. I went by the Recoleta market in the afternoon, but it was weird because only about half of the vendors showed up. I think I´m good on souveneirs, save one or two things I´m going to pick up at the store....aka food, because that has seriously been one of the best parts of Buenos Aires for me. Tomorrow is the feriado for San Martin, a favorite hero of the people. He liberated Argentina, as well as Chile and I think Paraguay from Spain. I don´t really have any plans, except to work on my memory book. It´s currently just a drawer full of trash that I need to convert into my book.

Tuesday I´m going to try to find some boots, as well as my last class with Maricel, as well as picking up the rest of my payment from Language Roots.

And then Wednesday will just be last errands and my final class at San Tarsicio! Whew...three months as of today.....three days left as of today. Cool.

Discrimination Lesson :)

I taught my own lesson at San Tarsicio today! It was about discrimination, and it went SO well. I started off with a little game, where about 5 of the 15 kids had stickers. I asked them ¨questions¨, and the kids with stickers got them all right, and the kids wo were either asked unfairly or not given enough time, or something like that. Oh, and if you won you didn´t have homework, so they were into it. Some of the kids got SO frustrated, and then we started talking about the game. Pues, first I told them that whether or not you won didn´t mean you had homework.

We talked for a few minutes before it clicked, and one of the girls was like, It´s like discrimination! And it just flew from there. I also played the John Mayer song ...waiting on the world to change....at the end, for a little listening practice. They loved it, and we played it one last time and everyone sang along. It was a moment to be treasured.

It´s funny, because this morning I observed in another high school, and it was one of those experiences that made me ok with never setting foot in a high school again. The kids were in control of the classroom, so much time was wasted, they were so disrespectful....it was a quilombo. (argentine slang for huge mess). I was more than ready to get out of there.

But then my kids were great. They still like to talk and interrupt each other, but I´ll take that over the other stuff any day. During the break, instead of going to the teacher´s lounge like I normally do, I just chilled with them and showed them my music and pictures. One girl kept exclaiming - look, it´s americans! to which I replied -- i´m an American too, you know. It was funny. And they all exclaimed when I showed them pictures of the A&M football field. It´s great. I love their wonder.

I still have my last (for real this time) class at Quilmes tomorrow, and then my class with Maricel. But go me, I already made the lesson plans, so really, my work here is done. Aside from getting the final souveneirs and getting my plata exchanged, I´m just chillin´for the last 5 days. sweet. I think now I´m going to go to the Lenguas Vivas library. No tengo ganas de ir....I´m SO tired of the subte, but I need to at least check it out.

I can´t believe that this time next week I will be home! It feels a little surreal...

Dia del Nino

Sunday, August 9th

Needless to say, I didn’t do much today. It was Dia del Nino, so Maria Laura bought some facturas for breakfast. I enjoyed my standard two pieces of toast, as well as a yummy biscuit filled with dulce de lecho and some churros…which I dipped in dulce de leche.

I pittered around the house all afternoon, as well as napped. At 5, I headed to mass at my church, which requires a longer walk but was so worth it. After mass, I just came home and set up my appointments for this week. I don’t really have lesson plans because I only have two students left – Maricel y Patricia. With Maricel, we’re just finishing the conditionals. We’ll review the first two today, and then maybe start the 3rd. With Patricia, I just need to touch up one of my articles, as well as I think we’ll briefly review some of the simpler tenses just to perfect a few rules she has forgotten.

The thing that’s making me nervous this week is my class about discrimination with the high school kids. Obviously I have to make it fun, interesting, and of course, educational. I’m supposed to meet with Paz tomorrow to work on it though. Jon leaves tomorrow, after which I don’t really have anyone who I hang out with here anymore, until Lia gets back from her trip around Friday. I’m not worried though – if I play my cards right I should be observing in a school or in a library every day. I emailed two more teachers, and so I’m going to get two more high school observations (….3 total), but one of them is at the ‘premiere’ high school in Buenos Aires. The only school I haven’t been able to get inside is a public high school, but I at least have an idea of them from the Ministry people. They’re basically understaffed and underfunded. Go figure.

Chinatown

Saturday, August 9th

Tomorrow is Dia de los Ninos. Two weeks ago was dia de amigos, and a few weeks back was dia de abuelos. They’re really big about people days here. It’s a good emphasis, but I think that, like Valentine’s Day, it’s become an industry to encourage economic purchases. Anyways, Maria Laura and Martin were taking Lu today to buy a bike for children’s day. She has been really excited about her bici all week, and I joke with her that she’s going to get a pink one because she hates that color.

I did the general morning routine – reading, bathing, computer emails, etc. I waited until they left before leisurely making my breakfast and a mate cocido. I really like mate, and I wish I drank it more, but it’s kind of messy. If you see me back in the States and you want to try it, ask me and we can make some, I’m bringing back some yerba mate. Inside joke: church John told the customs officials he had “yerba”, which by itself means drugs. Don’t forget to say yerba mate!

At 1, I met up with Jon at the subte station. I was really glad we subte’d because with him around I felt more comfortable about taking pictures. A large part of my trip has involved travelling on the subte, and I didn’t have any pics to document it. I was still really discreet, but I got a few pictures. Also, it’s amazing how different the Pueyyredon stop, which is more downtown, is from say the Olleros stop, which is in Belgrano. Obviously it was added later, and as such it’s bigger, brighter, and just better. There’s also an ad which I LOVE which used to be all over and is now less present. I had seen it at the Olleros stop though, so we got off there and I got my pic. We weren’t at our stop yet though, so we just waited until the next one came.

Then, we were one stop from the end of the station, so we just rode to the Congreso de Tucuman stop so I can now say I’ve been to both ends of the D-line. Didn’t do anything besides step off then back on at Tucuman though.

Finally, made it to the Juramento stop. Oh, the goal today was Chinatown. About 2 blocks in, we hit a plaza with a market. I seriously think that any place with an open area converts into a market on the weekends. This one was more artisanal and had some lovely pieces, but I didn’t get anything. There were hand-crafted dominoes, but they were tiny and didn’t actually scream Argentina, so I passed. I also got a door sign though for my room, but ended up not getting that either.

Then, we finally made it to the barrancas, or a really hilly spot, crossed the train tracks, and entered Chinatown under the arches! Jon chose the restaurant, so we ate at the Porteno Dragon. I got some rice with meat with a green tea, and it was quite good. We had a good time talking about all the places we want to travel to.

We also hit upon a good point I hadn’t realized before. Travelling I think will always be appealing to me. But there’s something SO MUCH FUN about travelling when you’re young. I really don’t think it can be beat. I mean, if I travel when I’m older, ideally I’d have more money and could perhaps eat better, but I don’t mind hostels and cheap food. It’s kind of fun to just go with the flow. And you meet such interesting people and you can just DO stuff. It’s something I don’t want to forget as I plan these next years. Yes, travelling is always an option, but not travelling while I’m young. There’s something wonderful and exciting about it. I suppose the same thing that some people apply to their significant other – how happy that person makes them, etc. That’s how I feel about travelling. It makes me feel alive!

Anyways, good lunch. We walked around the couple of blocks, poking into some of the shops, but didn’t get anything. I was reminded of when I went to Chinatown in New York and all the crap I bought. Back in the 9th grade. Man, that’s so weird to think about how young I was. But seriously, I bought such crap. Maybe I don’t buy better stuff now, but at least I buy less of it.

After that, we just meandered back to the market place, as well as to this HUGE church. I forget it’s real name, but it’s popularly called La Redonda…b/c it’s circular. It was really pretty, and actually bright in the inside because the circle middle lit the place. Then, we headed back to the subte. Oh, I did stop into a computer store and bought two c.d.’s I’m going to burn some of my music for Maria Laura and Lu as part of the going away gift.

We subte’d about 3 stops to Carranza. This was another new area of town for me. We had to walk about 10 blocks. I kept getting confused because we were on a street where all the cross streets ended and had new names. I think it was the boundary of Palermo and Belgrano. We made it to the flea market, which was kind of weird. First of all, it was a really deserted part of town. Secondly, I was expecting junk, or antiques if you will, but it was more furniture. Lots of chairs and sofas, etc. I couldn’t help but think that some of it would be useful in my house next year. Oh, and there were egg chairs, which were cool. There were a few good stalls with paintings, but overall it wasn’t anything I was in the market for.

We subte’d back, and I made it home. I think we might be going to a Beatles cover concert tonight and maybe a boliche. Not sure – Jon leaves on Monday so he’s getting in his last kicks.

Yea, we met up with Jon’s friends from Ecuador and we all went to a boliche called Pacha. It’s supposed to be a cool place for younger people. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold because we had to wait outside for a bit. One of the girls knew someone, so we got discounted entradas, which was helpful. Inside, the scene was crazy. Tons of people, everyone dancing to this electronica music. I really felt like I was in a movie – or rather, in that mojito commercial where he is shaking the drink and everyone moves and then stops when he stops. Because the bass would stop in the music and everyone would stop…it would build back up….and then boom! Everyone goes at it again.

However, the one thing about electronica, for me, is that it all sounds the same, and it’s not like you’re really dancing with anyone. So I would’ve been fine with leaving about an hour in, but we ended up staying until 6 a.m. We cabbed back, and I made it in bed just as the day was beginning.