¡Verano!

Hola todos,

It is officially Summer here! I'm starting to get change-of-season allergies, and tons of mosquito bites. But the benefits of a Buenos Aires Summer far outweigh the costs: the botanical gardens and plazas are absolutely beautiful, it's great weather for picnics and walking, and I love all the flowering trees (especially on 9 de Julio by the Obelisk). Again (I'll keep saying it), it is great to have a friend who works in an ice cream shop at a time like this! =P

So many things have happened this week! Here are some of the highlights:

Fede and I cooked tacos with the taco seasoning I brought him from the United States. We ate it with nacho chips and cheesy Doritos. It tasted absolutely great! After that we watched South Park and "Examine Life," a movie featuring famous philosophers. We had a good time catching up!

Nelson and I cooked an excellent meal of chicken, zucchini, carrots, tomatos, onions, and ground ají (one of my new top-favorite spices). Yum!

I saw the famous flower sculpture in Buenos Aires up close for the first time. I had never realized that it's surrounded by a fountain. ¡Muy lindo! (Very beautiful!) It is one of my new favorite spots.
 

While trying to register for classes (it turns out I'll have to wait a few more weeks), I ran into Alejandra, the Knox study abroad program director. It was great to see and talk with her again! I've missed her and all my Knox study abroad friends! For those of you who were here in the winter, I think of you guys whenever I eat dulce de leche or a Milka bar, and remember when we first arrived here, because the liquidaciones (widespread seasonal sales) are back!

I walked around the sculpture garden near el Museo de Bellas Artes. After that I continued walking down Agüero street and ran into the National Library. Next to the library is a beautiful park full of flowers, benches, and stray cats (the ones pictured here are from Parque Centenario). Someone leaves buckets of water out for the cats to drink, and they are all pretty friendly.

I went to MALBA, explained art interpretation to a new Argentine friend, and ate delicious veggie sushi at a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown. I was expecting it to taste great, but it turned out to be more delicious than I imagined! Sushiiii is delicious! =)

I went to el Gato Negro (The Black Cat), a fancy tea cafe on Avenida Corrientes, with Nelson. After tea and coffee, we ate pizza and fainá (a garbanzo bean pie that accompanies pizza here) and bought some bargain books. I've been reading short stories about single women, short stories by Chekhov, classic fairy tales in Spanish, plays and poems by Gertrude Stein, and Argentine literature, besides all the essays I find on StumbleUpon and read online. I've missed reading, and am glad to be doing more! I'm going to start doing more writing, too.

I went to Parque Centenario, planning to see a play. It turned out I had mixed up the event schedule: they weren't showing a play that day, but projecting a show called "Hijitus." I had no idea what the show was, but decided to wait and find out. I sat in the park (which is beautiful during the summer) reading a book of poetry that Nelson's friend published and watching children feed the ducks. A guy holding a cardboard carton of wine and walking very unstably tried to strike up a conversation with me, cutting my peaceful reading-in-the-shade time short. I am glad I waited, though, because the show turned out to be great. When I got to the ampitheater, I realized that "Hijitus" must be a children's show, because the place was packed with kids. It turned out to be a cartoon series from the 60's about a kid superhero whose raggedy sombrero enables him to receive messages from his confidantes and to fly. He undoes the messes an evil scientist and his gang cause for their city with the help of a policeman, "el comisario." He does a little dance sometimes, saying "chiki chiki chiki," and sometimes concludes a days' work with the phrase "Ojalá, ojalita, hojalata, chocolita, chocolata," a silly little word-play rhyme. The comisario sometimes says "Buenas noches, Bariloche," another cute, rhyming phrase that means "Goodnight, Argentine-province-Bariloche." I saw a character in the show drinking mate, as well as a little girl at the park, and felt more connected to Argentina than ever.

I had my first dream in Spanish. In it, my dad and sister were speaking Spanish. My dad said he was going to "pasear por la hospital." I felt accomplished about having dreamt in Spanish when I woke up: a woman I met in Calafate told me that you know you're really fluent in a language when you start to dream in it. I've started thinking in Spanish more often, too. 

This is a picture of a piece of graffiti I passed every day on the bus last term. It says "Fernanda B: / for a wiseman, Soloman / for a poet, Borges was born / and to love you, me." While I'm not extremely impressed by the writing, I now have a nostalgic attachment to it, and think it's sweet.

Miss you all! Keep in touch, and let me know if you have any requests for the pictures I should post!

Besos,
Kaeli

Comida mexicana, picnics y "la playa"

Hola todos,

I had another semana fantástica (a fantastic week)! I've been hanging out a lot with my friend Nelson from la heladería (the ice cream shop... again, this kind of connection is great! lol). We cooked a delicious Mexican meal on Monday: chips and salsa, Argentine beef (the best), onions, jalapeños, and refried beans (ingredients which are not too common around here). It was the most delicious thing I've eaten the whole time I've been in this country! I love Mexican food. =)

This was our riquísimo taco salad.

Other than that, we've been having lots of discussions, drinking mate, and having picnics. Great summer times!

An example of our picnic food (replacing the coffee with mate). Today we had classic Argentine salad (lettuce, tomato, and onion) with cheese, along with cherries and plums.

A while ago I saw a government-sponsored poster that said "Every day in Buenos Aires is like a day at the beach!" I had no idea what it was talking about until I saw the crazy stuff they did to Parque Las Heras. It's like Disneyworld around here! lol.

 Oh, populism...

This is more like what the parks are normally like. (It's a photo of Parque Sarmiento.)

On Thursday I went to the acrobatic tango and milonga 8cho show again. The music and dances were great! Here are some pictures. They're blurry, but the best I managed to get!

On Friday I got my weekly dose of ice cream: cardamom, blueberry, and deep chocolate (three of my new favorites), and tons and tons of samples. ¡Qué rico! (De-li-cious!)

I also walked around the botanical gardens. Today I met a Canadian girl there. She asked me if I speak English. She suspected I did because I have "the same super-pale skin as she does." I asked her if the US seemed very much like Canada to her — she'd visited for just a few days. She said that it did, except that in Canada there aren't any billboards warning about people's damnation or advertising gun shops. Haha. She seemed pretty nice, and we might get together sometime to dance salsa.

I love the koi fish at the botanical gardens.

There are unfortunately a ton of abandoned cats in the gardens. There are signs around asking people to please not abandon their pets. =(

Con cariño,
Kaeli

Cine, teatro, helado

Hola todos,

I had another great week in Buenos Aires. I'd completely exhausted my food supply by the middle of the week and had to go grocery shopping. I didn't feel like it and procrastinated going, but... I love grocery shopping here! It means a trip to the health and oriental stores of Chinatown, which are cheaper than other grocery stores and have (for me) more delicious things. So far I've added two new recipes to my repertoire: Waldorf salad and curry. I also replenished my supply of herb-flavored soy spread and sunflower bread and discovered that my favorite kind of tea is jasmine. Yummmm, haha.

I had a second interview at a business in Retiro, the fancy business district of Buenos Aires. The interview went well, but I'm still waiting to see if I'll get the job. While I was there I saw a photo exhibition themed around music education. It was beautiful. I really like Retiro!

On Wednesday I saw an acrobatic tango and milonga show by 8cho. The dancing and special effects were impressive, but the music was my favorite part. I love tango, milonga, and salsa songs! I highly recommend the 8cho shows. They're put on for free (city-sponsored) every few months or so. It is great to live in a capitol!

On Friday I saw another classic movie at MALBA: "Shame," a Swedish movie from the 60's directed by Ingmar Bergman. It shows how one married couple's lives (and the town they lived in) are completely devastated by war. It is a powerful anti-war movie, which I highly recommend.

Saturday I met an Argentine girl named Eli and saw a play with her downtown: "Family Code," a work based on a true story about a lawyer's experience working with two members of the same family, one of whom shot and killed the other. She got free tickets from a friend who was involved in the production and I got to chat a while with some very artsy folks. After the play we got some coffee and talked until 2am!

Today I wrote a bit and got some free tea and ice cream through Nelson, an Argentine friend who works at an ice cream shop. Ice cream (more specifically, helado argentino) connections are great to have! haha. My new favorite ice cream flavor is: dark chocolate.

I also rediscovered my love for Billie Holiday! My favorite song of hers so far is "All of Me":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P0hG3sD0-E

Love and miss you all!
Kaeli

Películas e amigos nuevos

 Hola todos,

I have had a fun, eventful week! On Thursday I went dancing at Club Niceto. I set off alone — I really wanted to go out somewhere, and admission that night was free. While I was in line for my ticket, though, one of Fede's friends - Ornella - recognized me from Facebook and invited me to go with her and some of her friends and colleagues! It was a lot of fun. I met some Colombians and an UBA (University of Buenos Aires) professor and saw a crazy, glittery, amazing dance show. We danced from 12 to 4 in the morning — the typical porteño dance schedule!

On Friday I got ice cream at Altra Volta with my Dutch friend (Volta's was the most delicious helado I've had so far) and saw "Wild at Heart" at MALBA. The movie, directed by David Lynch, is disturbing yet captivating. It's very bloody, but has a lot of touching and funny moments as well. If you like independent films and "Kill Bill," then this is definitely a movie you would like. At some point this month I'm going to see the other Lynch movie they're showing: "Lost Highway."

On Saturday I planned to go to a movie at the Park — an Argentine movie called "Carancho." I went, but the speakers weren't very loud, and I could hardly understand a thing. So instead I met up with Santos and saw "Hereafter," or "Más alla de la vida," at the theater.

On Sunday I hung out with Santos and his friends and went to a feria (craft fair) in Parque Centenario, the neighborhood where I used to live. I love hearing Santos and Antonio tell stories (I wrote a bit about them before). Antonio's mom was visiting from Peru and made us ceviche de pollo, a great Peruvian dish with chicken, rice, onions, and potatoes spiced with salt, aji, and saffron. ¡Riquísimo!

 

Later in the day we went to a different friend's house, watched "The Perfect Plan," and drank mate. Tomorrow I have a second interview at a super fancy office in the business district. I'm excited for that and will take pictures!

 Santos is the one with his arms around two people, and Antonio is next to his mom.

 Here is a better picture of Santos, and an example of the typical Buenos Aires checking-out (although they were looking at me in this photo because I had my camera out). Whenever there are two or more men together and a woman walks by, the men are guaranteed to stare. It is a cultural thing that I had to get used to when I first arrived here. I was so used after a few months of living here, though, that when I went back to the US for Thanksgiving, I had to do a double-take the first time I saw two men on a corner in the United States and they didn't seem to notice me at all. Our program director, Alejandra, said that she felt invisible when she went to the United States. Aside from the men checking women out (which I am in no way exaggerating about), Argentine people are in general miradores: very "looky." People don't avoid eye contact on the sidewalk or the subway. When Alejandra went to New York for the first time, she looked all around her on the subway. Her friend nudged her to cut it out (she seemed to be staring), but she didn't understand the warning. A few seconds later, a big black guy came up to her and asked "What are you staring at??" She was careful about it from then on! The way we look or don't look at each other is a significant cultural difference.

This is a great sculpture near Plaza Italia at night.

Hasta pronto!
Kaeli

Health cooking and other excitement

Hola todos,

 

2011 has been really nice so far! I'm having a lot of fun learning how to dance and cook.

My favorite meals lately are:

• oatmeal with fresh peaches (I don't use any sweetener at all: just a bit of peach in every bite)
• hummus or flavored soy spread on bread, topped with alfalfa sprouts
• miso soup with shitake mushrooms, tofu, and green onions
• all-natural instant soup
• and pasta!

All these things are cheap, healthy, easy, and delicious! Which makes me really happy every time another mealtime comes around, lol.

Don't forget to drink healthy, too. A lot of people around here seem to live on Coca-Cola, Crystal Light (aka Clight), and beer or wine. Water, tea, 100% juice, and unsweetened or mildly sweetened coffee are best.

 

Other delicious things I am very excited about are:

• Melona melon popsicles (Asian popsicles that taste exactly like cantaloupe)

 (I have one in my hand here. And am wearing a new skirt I bought myself for Christmas!)

• Sweet aduki bean pastries (also Asian)

• And Peruvian rice, beans, and spicy sauce that Santos' roommates made! It tasted really great.

As for the non-food-related news... Yesterday I met up with two Americans from Couchsurfers and showed them around MALBA and took them to Chinatown. They are in the music business in Salt Lake City. I told them everything I know about Argentina (history, craft fairs, food, etc.), and we had a lot of fun!

Later that night I went out for ice cream and Peruvian food with Santos. Tonight we're going to the premiere of Los Pequeños Fockers, the new Meet the Parents movie. It'll be the first movie I've gone to at the theater in Argentina!

I also got a new job teaching English. The language institutes here (as in Korea, and probably most other places...) are not very well coordinated. Still, though, it should be great to get more teaching experience and meet a few more people.

Other exciting news is that Maria rented the vacant room in our apartment out — to a girl from South Korea! I haven't met her yet, but I'm excited to.

There are lots of cool events I'm excited about for later this week and next week, but as I'm not sure which ones I'll go to, I'll save it for another entry!

¡Hasta luego!
Kaeli

Año nuevo

Hola todos,

Last week I met a Peruvian salsa instructor named Santos. We went to a beginners' tango lesson (free for us because the instructors are his friends) and learned basic tango steps in a big warehouse decorated with paintings and sculptures (the place is called Para el orto and has a chair museum, too). It was a lot of fun! I met a Dutch woman doctor there, too!

Later in the week we went to Uniclub for salsa night. Before dancing, we hung out with some of Santos' Peruvian friends and drank beer Peruvian-style, passing one cup between us like the Argentines do with mate (tea). I couldn't understand everything they said because Peruvian Spanish is a lot different than Argentine Spanish, but they were buenas ondas (cool people / good vibes).

At Uniclub, Santos and I danced right in front of the stage. He twirled me and himself around like a pro. It was really a lot of fun!

On New Year's Eve Day I hung out with Fede. We took a long walk, saw a bunch of embassies and a fancy horse race track, ate lunch and ice cream at a mall (never eat lunch at an Argentine mall... it's always at least two times smaller than advertised), and sat in the shade at a park. He gave me three books he thought I'd like: a Buenos Aires arts map, Stories of the Boulevard, and Gallery 3, a story and poetry review. I'm really excited about them! They are great, and I was just thinking that I wanted something new to read.

Here are some of the things we saw on our walk:

The Hipódromo Argentino: the very fancy Argentine race track.

Fede thought I was crazy for taking this picture, but I thought it was cute that the father and his hijito matched. There was another cute photo opp of two girls sitting in chairs on opposite sides and eating suckers, but I missed it!

I love flower kiosks!

This is a beautiful mosque and cultural center.

At night I went to Santos' family New Year's party. They cooked parrilla (Argentine BBQ) and made a traditional New Year's cocktail drink. We sat on the roof with his family's giant dog (he looked like a black bear!) and watched fireworks, which are traditional here for New Year's! We could see the whole neighborhood as we talked, salsa danced, and chatted with the other people who came and went.

On New Year's Day, everything was closed. I was surprised, because on both Christmas and Christmas Eve, a bunch of stores and restaurants had been open. Since there wasn't much food at Santos' house, I cooked him and his friend Antonio some miso soup.

It was a very exotic meal for them, but they liked it! We had a great time making jokes about our experiences as foreigners and English pronunciation. They are funny: they exaggerate everything and use their entire bodies while telling stories.

I found out that most people in South America are convinced that Beeks Baporu is a medicine that helps with congestion and chest pains and that Madone-ah is a world-famous pop diva. If you say "Vick's Vapor" or "Madonna," they don't have any idea what you're talking about! Likewise, when Antonio kept repeating "Beeks Baporu," I guessed that he was saying "Viva el Perú," not Vick's Vapor!

Later that day we went to Antonio's girlfriend Ariela's house to drink mate tea, eat homemade pizza (it was delicious: the sauce tasted like barbecue sauce), and watch some movies: a documentary about Bob Marley (he's extremely popular here) and the action movie "Constantine." She's a buena onda, too. She has two adorable cats, and most of the things in her house are monogrammed A for Ariela.

After that, I caught up on sleep and work, went to the post office here for the first time (and found out about the looong lines there), did some laundry, and got a few calls for jobs!

My new year so far has been great! Most exciting for me is that this will be the year that I graduate! It is really in sight now, and I absolutely can't wait! =)

¡Felíz año!
Kaeli