I hope that this officially begins a blog that I can keep. We shall see.
I arrived last night in Santa Fe, Santa Fe. Today marks the beginning of my second day, but before I get into Santa Fe, I’m going to take a step back and recount the last five days.
3/12/11 – 3/13/11
My departure date for Argentina finally arrives after months of anxious waiting and a state of limbo in every facet of my life. From finding out I got the scholarship on Spring break to fighting the consulate for my visa, the moment is here. I was met at the airport by best friends (Jeniffer, Kim, Madi) who did a great job of not crying and proceeded to give me cards that I had to read in the stalls of the Louisville airport in order not draw undue attention to my emotional outburst. In Atlanta, I met up with a couple other ETAs, Gillian, Jennifer, Hannah, and Maja. After our flight and elusive search for Malcolm, a mystery student, we confronted the dreaded passport control. After momentarily handing my passport to a lady who works there (a very scary thing to do), she moved us ahead into a different line because of our visas. This was great, right? Wrong. None of the employees knew what to do with our visas, asked us for envelopes we did not have, and kept us there until there was no one else left in line, not least of all Maja, who did not have the “permiso de ingreso” in her passport. Luckily, we got our luggage, also the last ones, and headed to our supposed meeting area to find (maybe Malcolm and) a driver with a Fulbright sign from the hotel who would take us there. No such luck… After asking some kind folks to use their cell phone and call our contact numbers – to no avail – and chatting with a nice man who was waiting for his daughter who was coming back from the U.S. and who helped us call the hotel to see if the van was coming, we decided to hire two private cars “remises” to take us to the hotel.
The ride in the remise with Jennifer was a hilarious experience. The driver proceeded to tell us about Argentine relationships from his point of view. For context’s he told us he was married for five years and had now been divorced for sixteen years. He said his wife was cold, and a man can’t live with a women who doesn’t satisfy his needs. Other interesting facts were that Argentine men would make you feel safe and tell you they would take care of you to get together. On the other hand, women are apparently gold diggers. I guess some things are international, though any info from an “interesting” driver should be taken with a grain of salt, or a spoonful of it.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we had some time to have a short “siesta,” or nap, which they do in the provinces though not in Buenos Aires. Then, we decided to venture out with some other comrades we met. We walked along Calle Florida, and found a place to get some schwarma. It wasn’t the best I had had, but after a long flight and exhaustion, food seems to taste better. Later on, we went on a bus tour of the city. We got off the bus a couple times, and in every place we got off, there were people tangoing. Though it seems very much like a cliché, it did happen. Also, outside of the cemetery La Recoleta (where Evita Peron was buried) I saw a group of swing dancers lindy hopping and doing some balboa. I almost fell up the stairs entering the cemetery because of my surprise. Seeing as how I didn’t want to join the tenants, I decided to watch my step. The cemetery was beautiful and looked liked a city for the dead with paved paths and tons of mausoleums. It reminded me of the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, though less park-like. That evening, though I really wanted to go out, I felt dead, so I decided to call it a night.
3/14/11
Second day. Time to go the Fulbright Commission. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we went to the Commission in buses. We arrived early, of course, and waited a bit outside before Kevin, who was in the second bus. What can I say? We North Americans like to be early. To make a long story short we did the following: introductions, awesome presentation by an author, yummy lunch consisting of empanadas, talk with former Fulbrighters working in Argentina, and an overview on Argentina history, politics, and culture.
In the evening I went with some wonderful Fulbright colleagues of mine to walk around in the evening and eat. First, they humored me in a search for tango shoe stores, which I did find. I tried on a pair of two-tone white ones that were great, but I didn’t rush to buy them to see if I could get a good price. I have a eight months to find a bargain. Then, we dined along the Avenida 9 de Julio. I took advantage of the happy hour with a couple Cuba Libres and enjoyed some cannelloni that were “muy” yummy. Yet again, an outing did not work out, but I was still tired, so it was okay. Apparently, jet lag doesn’t always involve a large time change.
3/15/11 – 3/16/11
These two days marked our first day at the Ministry of Education. The first thing I did was to search out Lorena Yaber, who helped me get my visa, which was a really long, drawn out battle of nerves. Then, we met with our “referentes.” Most of the day consisted about information pertaining to education in Argentina, which I won’t write down here, but let’s just say that I love the coffee breaks here that help keep attention spans sharp. I also tried mate, which is tasty. My referente, Javier, helped me figure it out because drinking it is a process.
The evening went very well because first I had some amazing steak. We went to a restaurant called El Palacio de la Papa Friat, or the French Fry Palace. It was not a fast food place, but rather a famous restaurant that had these inflated potato fries (I should have taken a photo). I ordered beef that had the word “mini” in its name, but there was nothing mini about it. It was potentially one of the best steaks I have ever eaten.
After dinner, I went to a milonga that Christy recommended La Confiteria Ideal because it was beautiful. Indeed, the structure was built in 1912 and very pretty. We had a large contingent of Fulbrighters at the milonga, and I took it upon myself to give them a crash course in some basic moves for those that didn’t know anything. It was pretty cool, and I danced a good deal. I even danced with some natives. I think that Tuesdays must be slow because only one of the argentinas could hold a candle to my chicas back home. Also, a fun thing that happened was that I fell on the floor. It was epic. I was walking Stacy through the gancho move, and she hooked me, but I neglected to mention that she needed to unhook, so we took a tumble. Bright side: I will always know to teach this move meticulously, and she will always know how to do that move. A further venture to a Brazilian club involved walking in the rain to the club, which was closed. However, I felt liberated to walk in the rain.
The next day we had a great methodology workshop that was very interactive. After saying goodbye to our friends and wishing them well we all left for the airport. Javier, our (Stacy and I) self-titled “patovica” or bodyguard took us for a walk before taking our luggage to the airport. Luckily, I did not have to pay a lot for my extra baggage, and we had some extra time to look at the river next to it, which looks like a sea. We sat down at a café, and I had a café con leche while waiting for the flight, the three of us, plus Max and his referente. The flight was great and had snack packs. We arrived in the early evening, and I could feel the humidity. I met Susana who will be organizing my activities at the Instituo Almirante Brown, where I will be working. After dropping off Stacey and Javier at the bus station (since they still had to go to Rafaela) I was taken to Amanda’s house, who is a professor of English grammar. She has two sons Sebastian and Lucas, and a daughter Amisel, who lives in Rosario. I had some dinner (at 10:00 PM here in Argentina), and we chatted about all sorts of fun things, especially when a friend of the family “El Flaco” came over to help connect my computer to wifi. Everyone is so nice here so far. I look forward to the following months in Santa Fe.
