Up until yesterday afternoon, this post was most likely going to be as peppy as the last one, as this week was going really really well. But then, yesterday at around noon while I sat outside at a cafe, having a coffee and reading my book (yes, I am reading Crime and Punishment), my purse was snatched from where I had put it on the ground between my legs. I was so distracted (Crime and Punishment is a really good book...) that I didn’t even notice that my purse was gone until the thief (a young man with a couple other goons) was already running around the corner and away. This was obviously super unfortunate. I lost my wallet (which was beautiful and irreplaceable as it was a gift and was from somewhere in Asia), all the cash I had (luckily only like $30), my debit card (quickly cancelled so no harm there), all my IDs (driver’s license, international student id), the Argentinean cell phone I had just bought, both my Buenos Aires guidebooks (luckily there are a bunch of free ones in the volunteer house left behind by people), my Spanish-English dictionary, a sweater, the purse itself which had served me so well on my gap year and was perfection but luckily not valuable to anyone but me, a new pack of gum (the little things which are still so frustrating...literally an unopened pack of gum that those thieves now get to enjoy! “•$%&/), and my chapstick.
From that litany you can probably tell many things (mainly that I carry lots of stuff around with me...and can be a little materialistic/attached to my possessions), but I think the most important facts are these: I didn’t lose anything indispensible/super valuable like my passport or camera or American cell phone with all my contacts, and for that I am super grateful. And the most important/jarring thing that I lost was a (false) sense of security.
Basically, the honeymoon ended yesterday, and that’s not entirely a bad thing. I’ve spent the last day keeping busy and enjoying the city, and trying to regain my sense of equilibrium. This was the first ¨bad¨ thing to happen to me during my entire gap year (please re-read that and reflect on how lucky I am). And it wasn’t even that bad. I wasn’t mugged or threatened, didn’t lose anything super important or valuable. But despite those clear facts, I still feel unbalanced. First, there’s the feeling of being incredibly frustrated with myself—why did I put my bag on the ground when I know to never do that and usually keep it on my lap? Why did I let my guard down and get so absorbed in my book that I had no idea what was happening around me? Aren’t I more savvy than that? I don’t like to think of myself as someone who has been duped. Then there’s the feeling of being violated, of anger—How DARE anyone think it’s OK to take what belongs to someone else? There’s the feeling of unfairness, of frustration at the inconvenience. There’s the feeling of loss, because as anyone (particularly, honestly, anyone female) knows, things like purses and wallets and baby blue sweaters from H&M don’t actually MATTER but they do matter to me because they are connected to so many memories and experiences.
Also, I must admit that there is a part of me laughing through my metaphorical tears...I mean seriously. I was reading Crime and Punishment while I was robbed. The irony is deadly.
So suffice to say, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking (erm..moping? well, trying not to mope but instead ponder...) today and yesterday. Because while I lost stuff yesterday, I don’t have anything to mourn unless I let this happen again and don’t take a lesson from it. And on the other hand, I’ve only lost something really really valuable and irreplaceable if I lose my ability to love and enjoy Buenos Aires. And I’m really trying to make sure that doesn’t happen! Because that would be a true shame.
OK so there’s the major update. I have so much more to report but unfortunately this little event has hijacked this blog post....BAH! *Shakes fists at heavens* Even so, I’ll try to report the highlights from last week, although it was a truly highlight-filled week.
Starting with my birthday. Which was INCREIBLE. Really really good. Highlights within the highlight were the community celebration in La Boca, and this AMAZING AMAZING drum show. The community celebration in La Boca was for a guy who had helped start the community center where I work and was your good old-fashioned community organizer. He was killed during the riots after the economic crisis in 2001, although I don’t know the details. Every year, the community center/surrounding community celebrates his birthday, which is March 22. Like mine! There were all these cool performances that sort of made me think of a 19th century union picnic or something. Speakers rallying the populace! A master of ceremonies who evoked allegorical characterrs who then came onto the stage to perform songs or skits (ie ¨The Earth¨ or ¨The Mother of the Hero¨ or ¨the Spirit of Community¨)! Children playing, people singing, chants, food, etc. It was actually like something out of Dickens, and it was super interesting/inspiring to see so much community solidarity. Then, after the La Boca rally, I and three other volunteers went to La Bomba, this super awesome open-air drum show that takes place in this renovated factory in the middle of the city. It happens every Monday night during the summer (tomorrow is the last one and I’m SO THERE), and was absolutely incredible. Seriously, I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday evening. It’s like (not to get too self-referential here) a rock concert, Beatnik, a contra-dance in the Greensboro grange, and Woodstock all rolled into one. Basically: PURE BEAUTY. Every type of hippie you can think of, plus just tons of mainstream young people from so many countries, plus these awesome drummers, plus this amazing space, plus yummy empanadas...oh gosh. So good.
Then on Wednesday there was this HUGE march/rally which I went to in the Plaza de Mayo and on Avenida de Mayo (the street where I live) to commemorate the tens of thousands of desaparecidos from the years of the military junta. On display at this march were every type of left-wing CRAZY you can think of. SO ENTERTAINING. Of course, there were some really inspiring/legit community and labor groups, and it was interesting to read all the signs and literature they had...but there were also a whole bunch of student anarchists/socialists/socialist utopians, different factions of various Communist Parties, and, my personal favorite, a group waving a giant flag emblazoned with Mao’s face (NOT OK MY FRIENDS, NOT OK....they don’t even do that in CHINA any more...China’s crazy-ass parade didn’t include Mao ANYWHERE. Idiots.). Also these people waving a giant flag reading ¨Stop Bush¨. Stop him from...what? Building his presidential library? A little late my friends.
Thursday I went to the Recoleta Cemetary, one of BA’s top tourist attractions, and that was really cool. It’s a pretty big cemetary, but no one is buried underground...instead there are all these family crypts owned by various wealthy families, all built above ground, and highly intricate/decorated/beautiful. Lots of awesome sculpture. And it was fun/peaceful to just wander around. A little weird/morbid...but cool.
Today was also really fun. After church I walked through this huge market in San Telmo, a very old and quaint part of the city. Then I went to this beautiful rose garden where there was a free live jazz concert. I walked a ton and am really tired and a little sunburned, but it was a really good day.
Goodnight my friends! Sending lots of love to all from the Southern Hemisphere!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
¡Hola Buenos Aires! El placer es mío…
SO THIS IS EXCITING. I’M IN BUENOS AIRES. I’VE BEEN HERE FOR FIVE DAYS. IT’S AMAZING. AND TOMORROW IS MY ¡¡¡¡¡BIRTHDAY!!!!!
Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. But actually, life is so good right now. I arrived in Buenos Aires last Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon, and was met at the airport and whisked into the city by a very friendly driver named Victor, who over the course of our drive informed me that he is one of 15 children in his family. And then he listed them. On his fingers. Which required his taking both hands off the wheel. On a five lane freeway. Yesss. ¡Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!
I survived the drive into town, thankfully (I guess being 1 of 15 sort of gives you a pretty good survival instinct, right? If 14 brothers and sisters haven’t killed you, driving with no hands on the freeway doesn’t stand a chance! Right.). In case you have no idea what the heck I’m doing in BA, let me explain (Mom, this is for you....KIDDING. Mostly). I’m here in Buenos Aires for eight weeks, until May 15, volunteering with an Argentinean organization called Voluntario Global. VG, founded in 2005, supports social organizations in different working class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires by providing funding and foreign volunteers. I’m staying in the VG Volunteer ¨Club¨, which is basically a hostel for the VG volunteers, complete with kitchen, common room with TVs and computers, etc. There are no other Americans staying here, and I haven’t met a single other American while I’ve been here, which is cool but kind of weird. The other volunteers are from Europe...England, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany. Everyone is pretty young, probably between 19 and 25, but it’s hard to tell. I’m definitely on the younger end.
So, how am I spending my time? I’m doing two, hopefully three projects. Three afternoons a week I’m helping out at a community center in La Boca, a working class but pretty interesting/vibrant neighborhood (famous for its brightly painted houses), where they have an afterschool program. The program’s stated purpose is homework help, but not all the kids bring homework to do so it’s a lot of playing educational games/ just having fun with the kids...to provide a fun, wholesome, hopefully somewhat educational place for them to be. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons starting this week I’ll be tutoring a couple high school kids in English...the classes are supposed to be for adults but a few highschoolers keep coming looking for help with their homework so I’m going to be their point person. I’m excited. And then I think Monday and Wednesday mornings I’m going to be helping in the community kitchen in the community center. Sophia, a super nice British girl who is also volunteering at the afterschool program, is also working in the kitchen those mornings so I’m excited for that. BUT tomorrow is a special memorial event (not sure what that means...I think it’s a march?) in La Boca so the community center activities aren’t happening but I’m going down to the center anyway to take part in the festivities. And then Wednesday is a national holiday, the Day of Memory for the military junta. So stuff is cancelled again. So I won’t start in the kitchen until next week I guess.
The community center is SO COOL. It has a sewing factory cooperative run by people in the community, where they make and embroider T-shirts, uniforms, etc. They’ve also just started screen printing. Also the kitchen, a big space where different community groups gather, the after school help...it’s a hopping place. Lots of Che Guevara memorabilia everywhere ... which would normally sort of bother me but they’re the real deal Guevarians, right? Without the armed guerilla movement thing. No worries, Mom.
Other than volunteering, I’ve been doing TONS of sight-seeing/ exploring. SO MUCH walking around the city, and this weekend I’ve been riding this double-decker tourist bus all around town. It’s a gorgeous city (a bit grimy, but in a cute way I guess?), the architecture is INCREDIBLE. FOR SERIOUS...every single style you can possibly imagine, which makes walking down the street slightly hazardous because I’m always looking at the buildings, not where I’m going. Like Boston (and Shanghai, to a certain extent), BA is a city of neighborhoods, which makes it a real pleasure to explore. Even though I’ve barely scratched the surface, I feel like I already have a feel for the city because I understand the different neighborhoods. I seriously just can’t wait to keep walking and walking and walking. And I will be doing lots of walking probably until I figure out the bus routes, which are horribly complicated. And the metro is a bit of a joke...like the MBTA, except slower, without AC, and with about a third of the service area. So not like the MBTA. Much worse than the MBTA if you can believe it. But again...WALKING. LOVE IT.
You know what I also love? Leather. Boots, bags, jackets...drool. The big question is brown or black? These are the things I worry about.
Other highlights include the Oscar-winning Argentinean film ¨El secreto de tus ojos¨ that I went to with some other volunteers. Very good but definitely a thriller. Also, cooking for myself has been pretty fun. Also, cafes. Every day I have my cafe con leche in a different place and read my book. It’s an integral part of the gap year growing experience, I swear.
Today I went to El Museo Nacional de los Artes Decorativos, which is a BEAUTIFUL mansion in the French style filled with superb pieces of art. Every room is a different, exquisite style. Kind of like the Isabella Stewart Gardner but a little less over-filled and you can tell that the owners weren’t as crazy. Just crazy rich. It’s much more just this rich family’s house, filled with their beautiful things, NOT a rich eccentric pack-rat obsessive groundbreaking woman like Isabella’s house. But very cool. Also have fallen in love with this bookstore-slash-cafe in Palermo (my favorite neighborhood so far...chic but not kitchy, filled with cafes and bookstores and boutiques...LOVELY). Also this health-food vegetarian cafe where the waitresses where these awful floral uniforms...WITH CAPS. Poor them. But the food is good.
OK I think that’s all for now. I have lots to say. But I have to go to bed so that I can wake up and HAVE IT BE MY BIRTHDAY. WOOOHOOO. Yay turning 19...the most insignificant birthday of my life so far. But still, it’s a birthday.
Oh one more thing...just want to apologize for the excessive number of times I used the word ¨Ishkabibble¨ in my last post. I found it quite irritating when I just re-read it. I guess, as usual, I was over-enthusiastic. Slash desperate for a unifying theme? Yes. That too.
Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. But actually, life is so good right now. I arrived in Buenos Aires last Tuesday in the middle of the afternoon, and was met at the airport and whisked into the city by a very friendly driver named Victor, who over the course of our drive informed me that he is one of 15 children in his family. And then he listed them. On his fingers. Which required his taking both hands off the wheel. On a five lane freeway. Yesss. ¡Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!
I survived the drive into town, thankfully (I guess being 1 of 15 sort of gives you a pretty good survival instinct, right? If 14 brothers and sisters haven’t killed you, driving with no hands on the freeway doesn’t stand a chance! Right.). In case you have no idea what the heck I’m doing in BA, let me explain (Mom, this is for you....KIDDING. Mostly). I’m here in Buenos Aires for eight weeks, until May 15, volunteering with an Argentinean organization called Voluntario Global. VG, founded in 2005, supports social organizations in different working class neighborhoods in Buenos Aires by providing funding and foreign volunteers. I’m staying in the VG Volunteer ¨Club¨, which is basically a hostel for the VG volunteers, complete with kitchen, common room with TVs and computers, etc. There are no other Americans staying here, and I haven’t met a single other American while I’ve been here, which is cool but kind of weird. The other volunteers are from Europe...England, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany. Everyone is pretty young, probably between 19 and 25, but it’s hard to tell. I’m definitely on the younger end.
So, how am I spending my time? I’m doing two, hopefully three projects. Three afternoons a week I’m helping out at a community center in La Boca, a working class but pretty interesting/vibrant neighborhood (famous for its brightly painted houses), where they have an afterschool program. The program’s stated purpose is homework help, but not all the kids bring homework to do so it’s a lot of playing educational games/ just having fun with the kids...to provide a fun, wholesome, hopefully somewhat educational place for them to be. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons starting this week I’ll be tutoring a couple high school kids in English...the classes are supposed to be for adults but a few highschoolers keep coming looking for help with their homework so I’m going to be their point person. I’m excited. And then I think Monday and Wednesday mornings I’m going to be helping in the community kitchen in the community center. Sophia, a super nice British girl who is also volunteering at the afterschool program, is also working in the kitchen those mornings so I’m excited for that. BUT tomorrow is a special memorial event (not sure what that means...I think it’s a march?) in La Boca so the community center activities aren’t happening but I’m going down to the center anyway to take part in the festivities. And then Wednesday is a national holiday, the Day of Memory for the military junta. So stuff is cancelled again. So I won’t start in the kitchen until next week I guess.
The community center is SO COOL. It has a sewing factory cooperative run by people in the community, where they make and embroider T-shirts, uniforms, etc. They’ve also just started screen printing. Also the kitchen, a big space where different community groups gather, the after school help...it’s a hopping place. Lots of Che Guevara memorabilia everywhere ... which would normally sort of bother me but they’re the real deal Guevarians, right? Without the armed guerilla movement thing. No worries, Mom.
Other than volunteering, I’ve been doing TONS of sight-seeing/ exploring. SO MUCH walking around the city, and this weekend I’ve been riding this double-decker tourist bus all around town. It’s a gorgeous city (a bit grimy, but in a cute way I guess?), the architecture is INCREDIBLE. FOR SERIOUS...every single style you can possibly imagine, which makes walking down the street slightly hazardous because I’m always looking at the buildings, not where I’m going. Like Boston (and Shanghai, to a certain extent), BA is a city of neighborhoods, which makes it a real pleasure to explore. Even though I’ve barely scratched the surface, I feel like I already have a feel for the city because I understand the different neighborhoods. I seriously just can’t wait to keep walking and walking and walking. And I will be doing lots of walking probably until I figure out the bus routes, which are horribly complicated. And the metro is a bit of a joke...like the MBTA, except slower, without AC, and with about a third of the service area. So not like the MBTA. Much worse than the MBTA if you can believe it. But again...WALKING. LOVE IT.
You know what I also love? Leather. Boots, bags, jackets...drool. The big question is brown or black? These are the things I worry about.
Other highlights include the Oscar-winning Argentinean film ¨El secreto de tus ojos¨ that I went to with some other volunteers. Very good but definitely a thriller. Also, cooking for myself has been pretty fun. Also, cafes. Every day I have my cafe con leche in a different place and read my book. It’s an integral part of the gap year growing experience, I swear.
Today I went to El Museo Nacional de los Artes Decorativos, which is a BEAUTIFUL mansion in the French style filled with superb pieces of art. Every room is a different, exquisite style. Kind of like the Isabella Stewart Gardner but a little less over-filled and you can tell that the owners weren’t as crazy. Just crazy rich. It’s much more just this rich family’s house, filled with their beautiful things, NOT a rich eccentric pack-rat obsessive groundbreaking woman like Isabella’s house. But very cool. Also have fallen in love with this bookstore-slash-cafe in Palermo (my favorite neighborhood so far...chic but not kitchy, filled with cafes and bookstores and boutiques...LOVELY). Also this health-food vegetarian cafe where the waitresses where these awful floral uniforms...WITH CAPS. Poor them. But the food is good.
OK I think that’s all for now. I have lots to say. But I have to go to bed so that I can wake up and HAVE IT BE MY BIRTHDAY. WOOOHOOO. Yay turning 19...the most insignificant birthday of my life so far. But still, it’s a birthday.
Oh one more thing...just want to apologize for the excessive number of times I used the word ¨Ishkabibble¨ in my last post. I found it quite irritating when I just re-read it. I guess, as usual, I was over-enthusiastic. Slash desperate for a unifying theme? Yes. That too.
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