Week 7 in Argentina. Got to go to an estancia this week.

My seventh week here has been extremely great, and I’m starting to think about how weird it is that I have to go home soon. I’ve been living in a residency with around 35-40 other people who are mostly from Spanish speaking countries. I have three roommates right now, and we all share the same room. I sleep on the top bunk. Needless to say my exposure to Spanish has been pretty intense. I also have been studying the language five hours a day, five days a week. It’s insane how much better my Spanish abilities are since I’ve come here. I wish I could stay here for just a few months more to become more fluent and make fewer errors when I’m trying to speak the language.

 

One aspect about living in Buenos Aires that fascinates me is the variety of reactions I get from strangers that I talk to when they realize that I can’t speak Spanish fluently. Porteños are used to coming into contact with foreigners, but most of the people they meet can already speak Spanish. Some people underestimate how much Spanish I know and they freak out when they think it will be impossible to communicate with me. Some of my friends overestimate how much Spanish I know and they end up talked way to quickly about topics that are way over my head in Spanish. In short, I’ve become really comfortable talking to people in Spanish even though it isn’t perfect and my accent isn’t that great. It’s been fun trying to trick Spanish speakers that I understand what they are saying to me, even though, in reality, I only understood a couple of words that they said.

 

This week was really fun because CIS took us on a trip to an estancia! An estancia is basically an Argentina version of what we in the US call a ranch. I got to ride a horse, eat authentic food while watching people dance the tango and play local music. Overall it was an amazing experience! I also loved that I had my own room with a queen sized bed. There was really good internet there too which is crazy.

The house on the left is giant and very rustic looking on the inside. There was another house on the estancia where people could sleep that was equally nice.

The house on the left is giant and very rustic looking on the inside. There was another house on the estancia where people could sleep that was equally nice.

I got to take part in a giant maté circle at the estancia

I got to take part in a giant maté circle at the estancia

 

This was our entertainment while we enjoyed a six course meal included 4 different types of bbq style meats

This was our entertainment while we enjoyed a six course meal included 4 different types of bbq style meats

 

The horses knew to follow the leader.

The horses knew to follow the leader.

 

There was a show involving this guy demonstrating how they train the horses by dominating them and getting them to be comfortable with human contact.

There was a show involving this guy demonstrating how they train the horses by dominating them and getting them to be comfortable with human contact.

 

Week 6 in Argentina

The last few weeks have been extremely busy, but I have caught my second cold since I have been here so I feel like this is the best time to write about what I have been doing for the past two weeks. Now that I have gotten my second cold here, I have learned why Argentinians (Porteños) always carry around and use hand sanitizer. You are constantly touching germy things like a hand rail on the subway or bus. Plus, most of the foods here are eaten with your hands such as the media luna or empanada.

On Saturday and Sunday during week 6, I got to visit a city called Tigre which is a famous and heavily populated area of Buenos Aires. It takes about two hours to get there from where I live by using public transportation, and the crowds on the bus and on the train are ridiculous on the weekends.

I have never taken the train in Buenos Aires and that in itself was an experience. The train is frustratingly slow and makes several stops on the way to Tigre. Hundreds of people take the train on the weekends and it is nearly impossible to get comfortable and find a good seat. At the beginning, the train drives by the slums of Buenos Aires which look like an area where a severe earthquake hit, only there are actually people living in these destroyed buildings. You know people live there because there are clothes hanging on wires in the abandoned, destroyed housing.

When we finally got to Tigre, we had a tour guide and we got to take a boat around the city. Tigre is the name of a river the flows around the city, and we were able to take a tourist boat that pointed out the attractions of the city. There are a lot of people that do recreational activities like rowing and canoeing on the lake, which is weird because of how cold it is right now in Buenos Aires.

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This is the tour boat we went on

This is the tour boat we went on

A nice view towards Tigre
A nice view towards Tigre

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Tigre is also home to one of the biggest amusement parks in South America (which in reality isn't that big). I don't know if I'd actually ride on any of the rides because I've seen some reports of ride failure, not at this amusement park, but in Rosario, Argentina recently.

Tigre is also home to one of the biggest amusement parks in South America (which in reality isn’t that big). I don’t know if I’d actually ride on any of the rides because I’ve seen some reports of ride failure, not at this amusement park, but in Rosario, Argentina recently.

Tigre is also home to several mercados selling all kinds of random trinkets, clothing, toys and other souvenirs. It is definitely a cool place to go on the weekend because it has water sports, local food, souvenirs and it’s bursting with people. We were also able to attend a maté museum before leaving.

Maté is a huge part of the culture here. You can’t talk about BA without mentioning how obsessive they are with their Maté tradition. I’m pretty sure most people have seen Yerba Maté in stores in the US and I had heard of it before I came here, but they maté here is more fresh and there are various rules and traditions that go along with drinking maté. It’s meant to be shared with a group of people and it’s a very communal activity.

Basically there is a cup or container that they call “maté” and the leaves they put in the cup are called Yerba. The cup is filled with 3/4 maté and the rest is filled with hot water. The resulting yerba/water mix is meant to be drank with a metal straw with little holes on the end to filter the yerba particles.

One person is in charge of filling up the maté cup with hot water, and it generally only takes a minute or so per person to drink the maté. When the person in charge gives you the maté, you have to drink ALL of it. You don’t pass it to the person next to you when you’re done. You give it back to the person with the thermos of hot water in charge of refilling the maté. I like the taste of maté but it has an extremely strong flavor the first time you drink it so it takes awhile to get used to. 1091035_10151558739853091_633053936_o

This is my second try drinking mate. I think I'm addicted!

This is my second try drinking mate. I think I’m addicted!

Week 5 (A week of vacation) in Argentina

This week I didn’t have any classes so I had a lot of time to explore new places in the area. My girlfriend and her mom ended up coming down for a few days, so it was fun playing their tour guide for the duration of their time here. It made me feel really smart that I knew how to take them to all of these different touristy locations by bus and subway. I was also able to take them to some of my favorite places to eat.

One thing that I discovered this week is that it isn’t that weird for pigeons to be inside the mall. I saw a pigeon walking around the food court in the mall next to where I live and no one seemed to mind it being there. I asked my girlfriend about it who has been to South America many times said that it wasn’t that weird. Despite the birds, the food court is turning out to be one of my favorite places to eat. There are 10 or so places to eat there, and each one is different and very Argentinian. It’s nice being able to look at all of the options side by side and make a decision that way.

Pigeon in the food court

Pigeon in the food court

The most interesting part of week 5 was that I went on an excursion to Uruguay. I decided to leave the familiarity of Buenos Aires and venture off to the nearby country to a small, old town called Colonia. My friends and I found this company called Buquebus that will take you by ferry to Uruguay for really cheap. At first I thought it was going to be a cheap, scary fishing boat or something like that because it only costed around 500 pesos (~$65 USD), but it ended up being a nice, miniature cruise ship. It took three hours by boat to get there and the ride enjoying because the ship had extremely comfortable seating. You could buy overpriced food and beverages there if you wanted to. There was an arcade and duty free shop on the boat as well.

View from the top of the boat as we were leaving Buenos Aires. The Uruguayan flag on the right.

View from the top of the boat as we were leaving Buenos Aires towards Uruguay. The Uruguayan flag is on the right.

 

Arcade and cafe area on the boat. There were 1st class, airplane type seating on the floor above this which is where I spent my time on the boat.

Arcade and cafe area on the boat. There were 1st class, airplane type seating on the floor above this which is where I spent my time on the boat.

It felt really weird getting off in Colonia because we really didn’t have a plan of where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do. We were kind of like fish out of water. We ended up walking straight for a while until we got to the main street in Colonia. The buildings there were really old looking, but very beautiful and well kept.  The food there was pretty similar to buenos aires offering a variety of meats and sandwiches. They use a different currency in Uruguay, but interestingly they accept three types of currency there: US dollar, Argentine Peso and the local currency.

It was nice to get out of BA for awhile and visit this peaceful city with clean air and nice people. It’s definitely a touristy town because the prices there were extremely high compared to Buenos Aires. We ended up eating at a beachside restaurant that costed around $20 USD per person. It’s probably one of the only times I’ll ever go to Uruguay so the price didn’t bother me too much.

They like old cars in this town. Here is an old VW next to the beach in Uruguay

They like old cars in this town. Here is an old VW next to the beach in Uruguay

 

We got to eat lunch with the birds. One of the most relaxing lunches I've ever had.

We got to eat lunch with the birds. One of the most relaxing lunches I’ve ever had.

Picture of the edge of the beach and part of the city of Colonia

The edge of the beach and part of the city of Colonia

A restaurant we found just after eating. Would have been amazing to eat lunch in this lighthouse. The prices to eat here were absurdly high though.

A restaurant we found just after eating. Would have been amazing to eat lunch in this lighthouse. The prices to eat here were absurdly high though.

 

 


Argentina Week 4. Mostly a picture gallery this week.

This was my final week of taking Spanish intensive courses so I have been pretty busy cramming for the exams. The finals are worth around 75% of my grade so I have been pretty preoccupied making sure I am familiar with all of the material we have covered. I am excited because I will have an entire week off before I have another 4 weeks of intensive Spanish classes. My girlfriend is also going to show up for a week during my break to come visit me. I have been spending a lot of time trying to find her a nice hostel to stay at while she is here. I did a lot of shopping and walking around this week. Somehow the value of the dollar went from 7 pesos to 8 pesos this week so I thought it would be a good time to check out the markets. One of the markets I went to is called San Telmo and it’s in a very old part of Buenos Aires. Thousands of people come out to this market which stretches to about 20 or more blocks in length. I ended up buying only a few things, but I took several pictures of the booths that were there. We went to a second market with my advisor, but we traveled by taxi and I forgot the name it. It was really far west in Buenos Aires and it was a much more poor area of the city. I don’t really know how to organize all of the different thing I did this week so I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures with captions underneath them. ith all of the material we have covered. I am excited because I will have an entire week off before I have another 4 weeks of intensive Spanish classes. My girlfriend is also going to show up for a week during my break to come visit me. I have been spending a lot of time trying to find her a nice hostel to stay at while she is here.

I did a lot of shopping and walking around this week. Somehow the value of the dollar went from 7 pesos to 8 pesos this week so I thought it would be a good time to check out the markets. One of the markets I went to is called San Telmo and it’s in a very old part of Buenos Aires. Thousands of people come out to this market which stretches to about 20 or more blocks in length. I ended up buying only a few things, but I took several pictures of the booths that were there. We went to a second market with my advisor, but we traveled by taxi and I forgot the name it. It was really far west in Buenos Aires and it was a much more poor area of the city.

This building is known as the pink house and is located right next to San Telmo. The building is pink because it was made with a pink colored clay. I believe that this building has a similar significance to the White House in the United States.

This building is known as the pink house and is located right next to San Telmo. The building is pink because it was made with a pink colored clay. I believe that this building has a similar significance to the White House in the United States.

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A few of the more quirky market stalls in San Telmo

A few of the more quirky market stalls in San Telmo

Below are some images from the second market I went to.

These bottles are everywhere here. They are used to make mineral water.

These bottles are everywhere here. They are used to make mineral water.

Meat on the street

Meat on the street

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This is some sort of game that was going on outside of the market. The jockey has a small pen that he has to stick through a small ring that dangles between two posts. I don't know what the game is actually called but I call it the Lord of the Rings. Hundreds of people line up to watch this event.

This is some sort of game that was going on outside of the market. The jockey has a small pen that he has to stick through a small ring that dangles between two posts. I don’t know what the game is actually called but I call it the Lord of the Rings. Hundreds of people line up to watch this event.

 

Churros and other homemade pastries.

Churros and other homemade pastries.

 

Dancing gauchos. I believe that these people are not in costume and are actually from the Argentine countryside.

Dancing gauchos. I believe that these people are not in costume and are actually from the Argentine countryside.

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They had a paintball range. This little guy was probably excited to be shooting a gun for the first time.

They had a paintball range. This little guy was probably excited to be shooting a gun for the first time.


Funny "in case of emergency" items.

Funny “in case of emergency” items.

Area just outside of the market. The markets are completely packed with people on Sundays. It's the place to be in Argentina.

Area just outside of the market. The markets are completely packed with people on Sundays. It’s the place to be in Argentina.

I don’t really know how to organize all of the other things I did this week, so I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures with captions underneath them.

Not the best picture, but I found an amazingly big horse racing track in Buenos Aires a few miles away from where I live.

Not the best picture, but I found an amazingly big horse racing track in Buenos Aires a few miles away from where I live.

Probably the best/quirkiest thing I've eaten since I've been here. It's a triple waffle breakfast sandwhich with egg, cheese, bacon, avocado, ham and tomato.

Probably the best/quirkiest thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here. It’s a triple waffle breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese, bacon, avocado, ham and tomato.

 

 

3rd Week in Argentina

I’m starting to get really comfortable here and time has really been flying by now that I have adjusted to daily life here. I know the subway and bus now pretty well. I feel a lot more comfortable navigating the streets on foot because I know the roads near my house and could easily ask for directions in Spanish in case I got lost. As a result of this time has really been flying. I have just been going through the daily motions and nothing seems particularly odd anymore.

One thing that I really love here in Argentina that you can’t get in the US is amazing coffee. Actually, then don’t really make traditional drip coffee that we are used to in the states, but rather they like to make espresso then add hot milk. They call it Café con Leche which is half espresso and half milk. Another popular variation is the Cortadito or Cortado which is 75% espresso and 25% steamed milk. If you order coffee black they will ask you in Spanish how many tears you want in your coffee. If you haven’t lived here long you wouldn’t know that they are actually asking you how many minute drops of milk you want in your espresso.

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The most interesting place I visited this week is this enormous book store that’s either called Grand Splendid or El Ateneo. It’s a giant classic theater that has been transformed into a book store. Each of its five or so levels are jam packed with books as well as music, comics, and DVDs/Blue Ray discs. One interesting note about this place is that music from the United States is placed under the international section. I obviously knew that this is where it would be put, but it was just weird actually seeing it in person. Also, 90% of the music they play in restaurants and bars here are by artists from the United States so I was kind of expecting there to be an exclusive United States section (as ethnocentric as that sounds). I also got a kick out of the translated names of American movies.

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One thing that I have been observing over here is that a disproportional amount of people walking on the street are wearing medical braces around their foot that go up to their knees. I pointed this out to my friends and they have all noticed the same thing. I find out through asking a bunch of people is that the sidewalks are often uneven and have tiles missing every so often. People get into accidents just by walking down the street. I guess one just needs to be really observant while walking around the street of Buenos Aires.

Argentina Week 2

One of the lingering questions that I have had about Buenos Aires since I have been here is, “how safe is it really here in BA.” Towards the beginning of this week I felt extremely safe and I didn’t really think twice about going out alone after dark (One aspect of being here during the winter is that it gets dark around 6:30PM). However, as this week has been progressing, I am finding out that Buenos Aires can be extremely dangerous if you’re not careful.

On Monday, one of my friends from school told me a horror story about how he was walking alone at night and had his iPhone and wallet stolen by a gang at knifepoint. He was robbed probably ten blocks or so away from where I live, but it was a bit of a wake up call of how cautions I should be while I’m here. I shouldn’t get too comfortable. Also, people get me confused with this guy all the time, so it made me feel like I fit the description of a “robbable target”.  There is also a story going around of a girl who tried walking through a really poor area of BA in order to get to a more touristic area. However, on her way she was picked up and raped by a gang. She immediately dropped her study abroad program and went back to the US. One final horror story among the many I have heard so far is that thieves wait outside of these major currency exchange offices that only Americans use.

Needless to say I feel like I have to be constantly aware of my surrounding and safety while I’m here. Things getting stolen out of your backpack while on the bus/subway/street are just a part of daily life here, and my Argentine teachers have confirmed that this is true. I’ve started leaving basically all of my valuables at home. I now own a pay-as-you-go phone and leave my iPhone in my residency almost every time I go out. I don’t even bring my wallet with me anymore. I just bring the essentials like my house keys and a few pesos.
Even though this post has been all negative so far, I have really enjoyed my time here. The topic of ‘how safe it is here’ is something that my friends and I have spent long conversation about this week, and it is probably an important one to have and think about.

I also haven’t been taking that many photos this week because I don’t want to be that guy that puts myself or the group I’m with in danger because I wanted to take a “silly” picture.

The only thing bad that has happened to me this week was my own fault when I accidentally left my debit card inside of an ATM after I took money out. It happened this Friday night and I didn’t realize I left my debit card in the ATM until a few hours after it happened. This means that I won’t be able to find out what happened to my card until Monday since the banks are closed on weekend. I know a way to get money from my US bank without having my card so I’ll be fine no matter what happens.

This weekend I’ve been walking around a lot and staying out late since that is the big thing to do in Buenos Aires. Most of the bars around here never seem to close. Some of my friends and I explored the Buenos Aires night life until around 6:00 AM and yet that seems to be the norm here.

There is an incredible bookstore here filled with every book in Spanish that you could possibly imagine. The escalators lead to a the child and music section of the store. The theater and curtain area toward the back is actually a coffee shop. Each floor contain books as well.

booksMy school is located in one of the richest neighbors in Buenos Aires. When rich people have money they tend to have dogs, and when they are away at work they need to have someone take care of their furry friends while they out. You will often see one guy walking up to 10-15 dogs down the side. Dogs

I haven’t really been able to take too many pictures this week since I’ve been freaked out to use my camera. Hopefully in the coming week I will be able to capture some more interesting aspects of living in BA!

 

Arrival Post and First Week in Argentina.

When I landed in Buenos Aires, I was lucky enough to have been able to connect with three other study abroad students who were equally confused as to what to do after we landed. Annoyingly stressful and worrying thoughts kept popping into my head while I was waiting in the extremely long line to get my passport stamped and to get through customs like, “Was I supposed to recheck my luggage when I transferred in Texas? Was I supposed to pick up my luggage before waiting in line to get through customs? What do I do if CIS is not here to pick me up and I have no phone?” Luckily for me, none of these worries ended up being a problem for me and I was able to easily find my luggage and my ride to my residency.

The long long line of people trying to get into Argentina from the United States.

The long long line of people trying to get into Argentina from the United States.

Being driven through the streets of Argentina was surreal, and I was way too tired to be able to process the fact that I was in a strange land far away from home. My mind kept trying to make comparisons to places I have been before in the United States to these new places and images I was observing while being driven through Buenos Aires. The grey skies and cold weather reminded me of Oregon. Being an Oregon native, I am accustomed to seeing stores in all Spanish. This kept me from feeling too odd while observing a city that only speaks and operates in Spanish.

This statue is right next to where I live. I use it as a reference point to know when to get off the bus on my way home from school.

This statue is right next to where I live. I use it as a reference point to know when to get off the bus on my way home from school.

After being being dropped off at my residency and taking a long nap, my CIS advisor took me and another CIS student on a tour around the residence area. One thing I noticed while on my walk is that Buenos Aires does not feel like a extremely foreign country on the outside. The buildings, architecture, clothing, and advertisements are very similar to the western culture that I am used to. It wasn’t until I tried ordering food by myself that I truly felt like an outsider to the culture.

Me and Leah having dinner at a really nice restaurante in BA. This was my first Argentine meal.

Me and Leah having dinner at a really nice restaurante in BA. This was my first Argentine meal.

One thing that really amuses me is how much culture in the United States has become infused with the culture in Buenos Aires, especially in terms of US entertainment. There are many US brands, fast food, TV shows and movies here. I was in a fancy bakery the other day and they we playing the song “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio. I was hanging out at a big billiards/bar here and 90% of the songs that they played were current pop hits and a few 80s and 90s hits as well. One of the bars that we walked by had a cover band that were doing several covers of famous songs from the US. It’s interesting how far away from home US culture has spread.

Another interesting event that happened to me was that I was able to make friends with people from a different study abroad program in the US. My first or second day here, I was able to join along with student from their program for a guided tour of a very nice Catholic church as well as one of the nicest graveyards in the entire world. The graveyard tour was definitely the highlight of my trip so far because I was able to learn about the history of all of the famous Argentine figures that were buried there (such as Evita) and I also got to observe the immaculate sculptures and art that went in to making the mausoleums that these Argentines were buried in.

Glimpse of just of few of the immaculate mausoleums that we got to see.

Glimpse of just of few of the immaculate mausoleums that we got to see.

Picture of the pope inside of a Catholic church

Picture of the pope inside of a Catholic church

This what the exit of the graveyard looked like.

This what the exit of the graveyard looked like.

The only thing that has frightened me about being here so far is that I have been repeatedly told to be careful about valuable electronics such as cameras, phones and computers. This has made me wary to use my phone to take pictures. I also brought a non-digital 35mm camera, but I’m afraid to use this camera too in case someone mistakes it for a nice camera. It also makes me look more like a tourist.

I am looking forward to the coming week and will hopefully have many more stories and pictures to share on next week’s blog!

Pre-departure post

It’s four in the morning the day I am supposed to leave for Argentina, and I have finally finished packing the last of my things. I have a very vague sense of what Argentina will look like or what the people will look like because I have spent little time up till now researching it. Not because I was lazy, but I felt weird and awkward spying on another culture and expecting any information about Argentina from a second hand source. My approach is that I want to go into Argentina with an open mind and not treat or view anyone differently than I would if I had met them at WOU or somewhere in the US.

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This is a picture of the plane that of the plane that I will have taken from the Houston Airport to Buenos Aires, a 10.5 hour trip.

Going into this journey I feel slight apprehensive because my Spanish skills aren’t that great, and I haven’t studied the Argentine accent or their use of the “vos” form that much so I’m worried about being able to communicate with others while I am there. I am also entering the country with a little amount of money because my financial aid money has been very slow to come through. I am sure that these factors will not prevent me from enjoying myself in Argentina.