Kaeli la antropóloga: ¡me recibí!

Hola todos,

I graduated! ¡Me recibí!

 After 1.5 years at Loyola University Chicago, 1.5 years at Knox College, and 1 year at la Universidad de Palermo, I made it! =) It feels surreal! It feels like freedom! It is time to enjoy mi Buenos Aires querido (my beloved Buenos Aires); read, write write write, and edit; and plan my next big job and trip.

The current plan involves: visiting family and friends in the United States, mi patria (my country); freelance writing and doing other work (in the fields of education, activism, and art); learning Portuguese, my favorite language; and investigating graduate schools for next year. I hope to end up in Brasil, Italia, or España soon! Everyone wish me luck!  =)

The day I graduated, July 20th, was also Argentina's Día del Amigo (Friendship Day) and Colombia's Independence Day. Jorge got me a little merengue cake to celebrate, and we went out to a movie and for dinner at Plaza Serrano (which is full of American-style restaurants and bars) in Palermo Soho. We got a seat at a outside right next to a heater (it's winter here!) and had chicken-and-avocado sandwiches with wine. It was really nice!

The movie we saw was "Moolade," a Senegalese drama about one community's struggles with female genital mutilation — some girls ran away from the procedure, and of those who undertook it (not always voluntarily), some died or had problems with urination, sex, and childbirth. The procedure was viewed as a religious obligation, a woman's duty, and a necessary procedure to enhance desirability for marriage. It was a great movie. Despite the heavy subject, it was surprisingly light-hearted and inspirational. It made me reflect that although big changes like the end of severe, traditional mutilations often entail a long, difficult, and painful process, they are nevertheless very possible. One big change I am working towards in the United States is the end of sexual violence. Did you know that 1 in 6 women in the United States are raped, and of the 39% of attacks reported to police, only 16.3% result in jail time?** This is contrary to the popular opinion that many women falsely accuse men of sexual violence, and that these (false!) accusations carry heavy punishments. Increasing accessibility to education and health care and reducing racism are two other issues I'm passionate about. As Cecilio Acosta said (my own translation): "History is a monument, not a rule: he studies wrong who fails to see the possibilities the future holds."

Now that I'm done with school, I'm starting to edit all the fiction I've written and read all the books I've amassed (I came with 5, and now have 50! I'll have to think about the best way to transport them, because I can only think of 3 that it might be bearable for me to leave behind, haha). I'm starting with the porteño (native Buenos Aires) fiction, which it will be nice to read while I'm still in this wonderful city!

Other highlights of my week have been:

• Jorge letting me borrow his camera (¡Gracias, Jorge!).
• Seeing the final "Harry Potter" movie with Nam.
• My landlady, Fernanda, being really proud of my graduation, and giving me a book by Paulo Coelho: 'Veronika decide morir: Una historia sobre la locura' ('Veronika Decides to Die: A Story about Madness').
• Taking a trip out to the province of Buenos Aires with Jorge for lunch with his family. It is much different than the city — everyone sits outside in lawn chairs, and you can actually hear the birds. Jorge's mom seems a lot like him, and very nice!
• Eating Peruvian food, peeking into an antique store I've always been curious about, and going to El Caminito to chat and watch a tango show with Daniel on his last day in Buenos Aires.
• Having lunch and coffee with Leo and checking out the cultural centers and book stores in Microcentro.
• Going to a birthday party with mi amiga Juliana and a few of her Colombian friends. We talked about different countries, music (they introduced me to Chayanne, the sappy Backstreet Boy of Puerto Rico), serenatas (serenades), and we ate hot dogs wrapped in empanada dough with spicy sauce.
• A Peruvian folk music show on Avenida de Mayo. The dancers wore bright traditional hats and outfits, danced with white handkerchiefs, and popped confetti-filled balloons. At the end (my favorite part), a little girl sang a really touching, melancholy song.
• All the SUPER-excited Uruguayans on the streets after Uruguay won the Copa América.

Here are some pictures I took!


A dock at La Boca.

 Me and Daniel, el trotamundos (the globetrotter) who will soon settle down in Brasil!

 This is El Caminito: a tourist spot with brightly painted houses and lots of tango shows.

 El Caminito ("The Little Path") continued.

 Don Quixote de La Mancha, a famous Spanish literary character who challenges the Spanish Inquisition norms and is judged to be insane. (I absolutely love Cervantes!)

 My favorite piece at Museo Maguncia, "La novela" ("The Novel").

 

 More Museo Maguncia, featuring hippy/revolutionary Jesus and Robin.

 The makings of my and Jorge's delicious chicken stir-fry. Spice spice spice, which Argentineans avoid except for salt, is what I crave! =D

 "I don't want your cat-calls, I want your respect."

 Capitalism.

 Pulpo zen! (Zen octopus!)

 All the essential elements of a Buenos Aires wall: complete with old sculptures, political posters, and "I love you" graffiti.

The gate of a beautiful church. 

Edited stories and poetry coming soon! =)

Abrazos

Kaeli

Exámenes, amigos, arte (y fotos!!)

Hola todos,

I'm just 4 days away from finals-freedom!  I've taken three so far and will take the very last one July 20th  in the morning. I got my grades for the first two, Sociology and Social Psychology, which were really tough classes for everyone: a 7 and 8, which is really pretty good! Estoy muy contenta! (I'm very happy!) My hard work is paying off. =)

Some of my US professors mentioned that they still have nightmares about important tests sometimes. Tests are the terrifying central theme of many Korean  horror films. While there is certainly more to life than tests, they can be life-determining, life-delaying, and ominous... And not only the kind you take at school. I love this poem, "Exámenes" (exams), from one of the old books I bought.

Exams: by Pedro Miguel Obligado (Argentinean), translated by Kaeli

I always dream that I'm about to take a test
and that they will discover my inadequacy—
that, being mercilessly attacked with questions,
I will not know what to answer.

I suffer like an artist competing,
like a prisoner awaiting sentence,
like everyone, throughout existence,
captives of trial and judgment all.

Maybe I feel, dreaming, that it's inside myself,
that shadow of the night that surrounds me,
and fear the light above the void.

When I awake each day,
I see that I'm still a student,
and again, I have to take a test...
                  —

One of my all-time favorite quotes, attributed to Plato, is: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Thank you all for your kindness and support through my current tests!

Besides my studying and testing, I've been doing a bit of cooking (nothing too fancy: stir-fry, miso soup, spicy tofu, milanesa [breaded pork], peanut butter and blueberry toast), maintaining my sanity with occasional chat and email breaks, and hanging out with friends.

On Wednesday Nam and I went to the botanical gardens (full of plants, beautiful statues, and cats), Chinatown (my go-to for spicy food), and the Sarmiento Museum. I'd never been to the Sarmiento Museum — it was really nice! Domingo Sarmiento was Argentina's president from 1868 to 1874. He was an advocate for public education, scientific progress, public parks (one of the joys of Buenos Aires!), and the census. He traveled to other countries in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the United States (which is even more impressive if you think about the arduous journeys all that globe-trotting must have required! — much more hassle than annoying airport delays and baggage checks). One of Sarmiento's heroes was Abraham Lincoln, and he traveled to the United States to meet him there. Unfortunately, Lincoln was assassinated one month before he arrived. At the museum we saw some of Sarmiento's clothes and weapons (Remington pistols, swords...) and the most beautiful aristocratic parlors I've ever seen.

Thursday I went to Benihana, an American-Japanese restaurant, with Fede and Nam, and saw the new "Transformers" movie in 3-D. We originally meant to see "Harry Potter," but there was an error with the tickets— since we bought them online, they probably scammed us and sold them to someone else. Still, though, the "Transformers" movie was pretty good. The best part was getting to see my city, Chicago!! I remembered while watching the movie that I had been there in the city while they were filming — I'd seen a part of the set!

Last night, after taking my Suicidology final, I went to Jorge's house and helped make delicious beef empanadas. I'm better at repulgando (twisting the dough at the edges to contain the meat) than Jorge is! We're a good empanada-making team, because while he likes cooking and dislikes repulgando (more of a decorating job), I am the opposite!

While eating, we watched "Some Like It Hot," a hilarious movie starring Marilyn Monroe, and "Wayne's World," featuring nerdiness and suburban Illinois (haha).

And now, more pictures, courtesy of Jorge and Jun!

Jun, Nam, and I eating homemade ham-and-onion pizza and drinking Quilmes, the Argentine national beer, at Jorge's house.

 Jun, roquera fashion (stylish rocker)!

Me at the Recoleta craft feria one Sunday.

Hip hop dancers at Fiesta Emergente.

Funky street dancers. This show was great!

Stand-up comedy at Fiesta Emergente.

And now, the more random/artistic photos:

The color my naturally blonde hair eventually turns if I dye it brown (not complaining...).

One of my favorite paintings at el Centro Cultural Borges. It's called "Alegría de Vivir" (Joy of Living).

A great mural at el Centro Cultural Recoleta.

Jorge's picture of me writing a blog at his house. He says it looks "muy escritora" (very writer-ish).
*A warning passed along from my poetry professor, Gina: don't rely on alcohol or drugs as creativity-enablers — that causes much more harm than good.

A picture that, according to Jorge, is "very rock," haha.

La luna at Recoleta. 

Cariños, mis amores! I can't thank you enough for all of your support!

Kaeli

9 de Julio, Día de la Independencia de Argentina

Hola todos,

My first and hardest finals-- Social Psychology and Sociology-- are done! I'm halfway through (two more!), and then I'll graduate! =) As I've been saying for months now, ¨estoy a punto de recibirme¨ (I'm just about to graduate)! It gets truer every day, haha. 

July 9th I celebrated Argentina's Independence Day with Nam, the American guy who moved into my house. We had a nice, colonial day! I went inside the Cabildo, one of the oldest colonial buildings in Buenos Aires, for the first time. Inside are a bunch of cool colonial artifacts:  clothes from the 1800's, a printing press (which helped spread the French and American ideas that sparked the revolution), triptychs and wooden sculptures of the Virgin Mary and other virgin saints, old keys and iron chests, a wooden 'stocks' (where they cuffed prisoners' ankles, wrists, or necks, depending on the gravity of the crime), velvety/satiny red banners, lockets, and lots of other cool stuff! I don't know why I expected that museum to be kind of lame... But I'm glad I saved its awesomeness for the occasion of Independence Day!

The French girl in my house asked Fernanda what Argentineans typically do on Independence Day, and she told us that they usually celebrate by eating traditional food (kind of like we do for Thanksgiving-- right now it's the Thanksgiving-style weather here). The example she gave was 'locro y mondongo,' a kind of stew. As Nam and I were aimlessly looking for a place to eat after visiting the Cabildo, I saw an advertisement for locro y mondongo and decided to check it out. It turned out I'd stumbled upon el Mercado de las Luces, the oldest building in Buenos Aires, built in 1663!

The restaurant (former market) was made of brick and looked like catacombs. The tables were lit with old candle-lanterns and there were replicas of colonial outfits and an antique piano around. The combination of those things and the Irish music they were playing reminded me of the movie ¨The Titanic.¨ I was excited to try locro, y con razón (with excellent reason)-- it was delicious! It's a stew with lots of beans, potatoes, sausage, and pork. It reminds me of pot roast, but is possibly even better! It was a charming, Disney-esque Independence Day. =)

The next day we went to la feria de San Telmo and walked all the way down to la Casa Rosada again. After that we tried to find the Joan Miró café I passed a while ago, but I think it was closed for voting day (last Sunday Argentineans voted for the new Jefe/Jefa de Gobierno, Chief of State-- voting is obligatory here). Instead we went to a café in one of my favorite librerías, which was also nice. I'd never had coffee there!

Yesterday I took my Sociology test, which was easier than I'd expected it to be, and relaxed for the rest of the day! That night Nam and I went to Café Nefertiti, a cool café at Plaza Dorrego, and watched la Copa América (the Latin American international soccer games).  Argentina beat Costa Rica 3-0! Messi, one of Argentina's players, is one of the most famous in the world. 

Today I attempted to study in the morning, but was too burnt out from the last 8 days of study, and mostly just wasted time online. At 3pm I decided it was too beautiful a day to say cooped inside the house. It is like spring in the midst of winter-- beautiful! So I went to Plaza San Martín, where they've installed a giant screen for people to watch la Copa América on, and listened to this year's theme song. It's cheesy, but I like it, and the video is really uplifting and nice. ¡Vamos, Argentina! ...even though I don't care at all about sports.

Today, other than Plaza San Martín and a bit of studying, I went to Jorge's house for an excellent chicken and potato dish (which is in the oven now) and we went to el Centro Cultural Borges to see the new artwork there. There's an amazing exposition with 'photography for the blind' that I really love. The photos are based on quotes from Ernesto Sábato, one of my new favorite authors, and the contours of the objects in them are raised, for people to feel. The photos also have descriptions and Sábato quotes written in Braille. 

I'll still be studying like crazy until the 20th, the date of my last final. I'll be a freer woman then! haha. 

Abrazos,

Kaeli

4 de julio

Hola todos,

It's been two San Telmo ferias since my last entry here, and I enjoyed them both a lot! The highlight of the first one was hearing a street musician play my favorite tango song, and at this week's I met a few new friends.

I have two new housemates now: an American named Nam and a Colombian named Juliana (my new roommate for a while). We three went to the feria with a few of Juliana's friends. We took pictures with a statue of Mafalda that I had never been able to locate (Mafalda is a famous Argentine cartoon character), ate at El Continental — a great pizza and empanada restaurant, practiced languages, and talked about travel. We walked all the way down to la Casa Rosada (the government house), which is lit up a beautiful violet-pink at night, and then Nam, Juliana and I continued on to a café by the Obelisco. Nam and Juliana are both really nice. Nam is the first American I've had a sustained conversation with face-to-face in about eight months! It is nice to have a compatriota (countryman) in the house.

On Thursday I saw "Jane Eyre" at the theater — the 1943 version with Orson Welles. It is one of my favorites now, and went perfectly with the two new books I got. Orson Welles "sickened [Jane's] heart with a craving for sour wild fruit and made it restless for a strange love" (Andre Gide). I strongly recommend it! I want to see the more current version now.

Before the movie I ate empanadas at La Americana, another famous pizza and empanada place. An old woman couldn't finish the wine she'd ordered, and gave the rest of it to me. I also discovered a café full of paintings on my way from empanadas to Jane Eyre, which I will have to check out later. It was a nice, serendipitous night!

On Monday Nam, Jorge, Jun, and I had a party at Jorge's house. Jorge and Jun made delicious ham-and-onion pizza casera (homemade pizza... How lucky am I to have two friends who've studied culinary arts? haha). We also saw both of their great views — Jun's of the Obelisco from her balcony, and Jorge's of the top of all the downtown buildings from his terrace. After the pizza and selva negra cake (Jun's great idea), we started watching "Saw 7." While my friends actually watched it, I 'watched' it, saying "No-no-no!" with my arm covering my face the entire time, haha.

Nam and I were both missing the United States a lot on the 4th of July. It's my favorite US holiday! He lives near DC, and missed a really spectacular show. I wanted to eat hot dogs and hamburgers, or something 'American' to celebrate, so we went to an American bar called Sugar with both of my friends named Fede, who brought along more of their friends. The place was extremely packed, and when we finally got a table, the kitchen turned out to be closed, so instead of the delicious chili, bacon-hamburgers, and other American-style deliciousness advertised there, we went to a little hamburger-and-hot-dog kiosko a few blocks away. We did get a taste of America, though — I saw some teenagers lighting rockets as we walked to the kiosko, and saw a bunch of Americans at the bar. The entire neighborhood, Palermo Hollywood, is American-style, so it felt a bit like home!

In the midst of all this, and especially now, I've been hardcore studying! My first final (for Social Psychology) is tomorrow, and after that I'll have a test every 4 days or so until July 20th. Wish me luck!

Besos!
Kaeli