Today was a life-changing day! First, the most trivial thing: I picked up my laundry. I can tell already that I'm going to miss lavarropas (the laundromats). They washed, dried, folded, and packaged two loads of clothes for about $5, and now they all smell wonderful! It was like a gift! =)
In the afternoon I set out for Palermo Chico, where all the students in our program had to meet at 2:45 for a tour at the Evita Perón Museum. I got there at 1:45 (I had left myself plenty of time for transportation mishaps), so I decided to explore the area.
Palermo Chico is muy caro (very rich). Walking along, I saw iron gates amongst some regular buildings. As I passed them, a well-dressed worker opened the gates for someone, and behind them I saw a private condominium complex with a huge courtyard, a big, colonial-style clock, and beautiful balconies. It seemed exactly fit for Cinderella-- I literally gasped when I saw it. My shock made me lose the photo opp!
I did take other pictures, but none of them convey the smallest part of what I saw! These two come closest. It was a pretty, consumerist, ultra-Disney-esque feel.
The Evita Perón Museum was really nice. The museum is in a house that Evita had designated as a refuge for poor and abused women and their kids. Evita was credited for achieving women's suffrage in Argentina and improving all sorts of human rights. Born in the countryside and without even a high school education, she represented Argentina at important conferences abroad, signed treaties, and won major awards for her social justice work. For those reasons she's loved, but many dislike her, too: she promoted Peronism above anything else, and in that way did a lot of damage.
Her dresses and hats were so beautiful, and one exhibit-- a video of her funeral-- was in black, white, and red, with tango music playing and mirrors on the side of the room. It was muy imprecionante (had a big impression on me). I'd never seen film before in black, white, and red, and I liked it a lot. The mirrors made us feel like we were part of the huge funeral crowd. After the tour, we ate at the museum café. It was very fancy and fun!
After that came the real life-changing event (this is political and depressing): I went with my friend Raluca to a discussion about Arab women in film at the Spanish Embassy. We watched clips of Palestinian women sharing their experiences, thoughts, and hopes. Many of them had been students before the Israeli occupation, but a wall that divided the people (between Israel and Palestine) thereafter prevented some from getting to school, hospitals, etc, and others who tried to cross were harassed, humiliated, raped, and otherwise hurt.
One of the speakers (the blonde one) is a reporter for TeleSur and was stationed in Iraq. Over a million civilians were killed there, she said, and the war is terrible as ever now. She showed her own footage of the bombs going off, people walking out of the wreckage covered in blood and dust with missing limbs, dead babies, bloody babies. America has supported and funded all these things. It struck me so much.
It's going on now, in our names, but we (almost) all keep quiet and try to think of nicer things. Americans now are like Germans during WWII: so close to us people are dying, but when we're eventually held accountable, we will have to say, "We didn't know." I feel terrible about not knowing, and that so many of us, capable of helping, don't.
The reporter who spoke thinks that information, which is kept from the people (for control, power, money), is the most important thing. I think so, too, and I'm glad I saw and heard these things. Film is a powerful, informative means!
Today was a very eventful day, and I still have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (which is a holiday) to go! =) Many more updates later!
Chau! (The Argentine way to spell it!)
Kaeli
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