Fútbol and Family

Saturday NYU took us to the Argentina vs. Venezuela fútbol match. Holy Moly!! It was calmer than most fútbol matches because everyone in the stadium was rooting for the same team mostly, but it was still nuts! We won 4 to 0. I also learned a lot of swear words in Spanish, which was hilarious. I'll teach you all when I get home. I didn't bring my camera to the game because I was sure it would get stolen, but a friend of mine did and I will try to snatch her pictures for you.

Yesterday (Sunday) I met up with cousin Patricia. I went down to her place at the Tribunales subte stop. She lives in a nice area of town, closer to downtown than I live. We met up for a coffee, but we ended up staying to eat, walking, and talking for over 5 hours!! We walked down by the port and explored the city. We even saw a UNICEF art exhibit that is in town right now. It is a bunch of enormous teddy bears painted to represent different countries of the world. I was sad to see Israel as a bleeding heart in the middle of the kotel, but the USA bear was an enormous statue of liberty and that brought a smile to my face. Patricia and I had great talks. She is an economist, studying to get her Phd right now, so she had a lot of interesting information on the local economic situation and the government. She is also a single, well educated porteña in her thirties, that has traveled the world and spent time abroad (which is unusual here), and therefore she had interesting insight into men and the social scene.

I had such a great weekend!
I hope you all did too!

Thursday I head off to Iguazu falls and then to Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Hopefully I will be able to keep you guys posted!

Wine Country

This weekend I went with a group of about 10 kids to Mendoza. We took a 16 hour, overnight bus across the country. We saw the most beautiful stars, stars we never get to see in the Northern Hemisphere!

We got to the Mendoza Inn, the youth hostel we were staying at, around noon. We then quickly found out how the town works, and head out towards the bus. We took an hourlong bus to an area of town called Maipu, where we rented bikes from a place called Mr. Hugo. Over the two days we biked from vineyard to vineyard, and got to see about three or four vineyards. We also saw the Mendoza Wine Museum, which was totally awesome. We learned about the grapes, the local wine called Malbec, and the special system they use to water the grapes with freshwater from the Andes Mountains! We also got to visit a place that makes chocolate and special liqueurs, where I bought a Pomelo liqueur (grapefruit) and also a grapefruit marmalade. Delicious!!

Friday night J, this girl Lauren and I went to a restaurant called Azafran. They do not have a wine list, but instead you go into the cellar with their wine master (I forgot the word) and pick your wines. We got a cheese platter, two bottles of wine, steak, and some desserts, and I still spent less than $30!! What a deal!!

Mendoza was absolutely amazing. I didn't get to see everything I wanted, but I saw a lot. I would really like to go back...

Clandestine Center of Detention

On Friday they took us to see what is called the Clandestine Center of Detention, here in Buenos Aires. I will try to explain as much as I can, but it is pretty difficult. I will also try not to simply recite one horrific event after the next, while also portraying exactly how brutal the dictatorship was to the citizens that opposed the reign of terror.

Okay, so when the Army dictatorship took over the government in 1976 they made it a mission, as all dictatorships do, to destroy any opposition. In their reign from 1976 to 1983 the Argentinean dictatorship made about 20,000 people disappear, about 400 of which were children. They say disappear because no bodies were ever found. People still do not know what happened to these people, though most likely they were killed. The Clandestine Center of Detention has been kept in place as a reminder of the dictatorship and what happened when people tried to stand up against their dirty government.

At this specific center, at least 5,000 citizens (or "packages" as the soldiers called it in their cover-up slang) were taken to perform slave labor, be brutally tortured, embarrassed and dehumanized and then eventually get "transfered" (disappear). 9 babies were born in this specific camp, and they were then taken from their imprisoned mothers and given to the families of soldiers that wanted them.

Another shocking element about the camp, besides that it is on Avenida del Libertador (the avenue of the liberator), is that it is across the street from everyday life (schools, apartments, doctors offices, etc.). The people of Buenos Aires were supposed to fear their government, just one among many terror and torture elements the Argentineans learned from the French. Everyone in town knew the torture that was going on behind those gates, at times they could even hear screaming, shackles, or the loud cover-up music, but they were too afraid to do anything about it. Instilling the fear in everyday citizens was the governments goal. They did not want rebels, they did not want "packages" that they needed to "transfer."

Got the picture?

Any questions?

It was horrifying and interesting all at the same time. After all, this was only 30-some years ago! Buenos aires has changed so much since then. Though they are still victims of a corrupt government- for example, the money system here. It is nearly impossible to get coins, yet the buses only take coins. Jesse kissed me the other day when I gave her a coin. Also, nobody will break a 100 peso bill, but banks mostly give out 100's. However, the citizens of BA have learned to overcome the struggles of an oppressive government and have learned how to make a lot out of very little. 

I need to post....

I need to post about the tour I got on Friday, but I am not feeling very well right now. I will try to as soon as possible!

(I kinda just did that to remind myself :-D )

Procrastinating

Sorry that my last post was so repetitive. They really party here on Purim! But hey, it's a Mitzvah!

I have so much schoolwork to do right now, but I can't seem to do it. I feel like I am out of my mind here. There is no structure and I am just so all over the place. It sure is difficult to get schoolwork done!

Chag Purim

Today I went to Purim at the Hillel. It is the only hillel in the entire world with a private pool! We read megillah, and of course, I cried. Everyone assumes it is because I miss my wonderful family, and as much as I love you guys, it's is really because I am shocked and honored by the strength of Judaism internationally.  I am so proud that this community of people can take me across the world and translate across all sorts of cultural settings. We boo-ed at the name of Haman and dressed all kinds of crazy. I am just so proud and excited about the young community of Jews that we are able to find each other and reach a common ground. The Hillel here for sure feels like home to me, and yet again, in a completely foreign city, I am proud to consider myself at home and a Jew amongst Jews. I love it here.

P.s. mom--- I didnt write that for you. I wrote that for me.

Manu Chao

Manu Chao is ridiculous. Internationally, the man just rocks. Last night was nuts, the show was off the walls as always. I will say, I hardly noticed a difference between his show here and in the States, besides that it was longer here. I danced for literally over 3 hours. We thought the show was over at a certain point, and it was not even halfway done. Manu Chao puts on an amazing show wherever he is.

Fantastic.

A Little Bit of Gold and a Pager

So another week has gone by in wonderful BA. Again, I don't remember a bunch of what I've done this week so I'll just write whatever I can remember. 

Thursday night we went out to a reggae bar that I found once when I was walking called Instinto. It was chill and they made nice mixed drinks. From there we moved to a club called Niceto that was SUPPOSED to have a reggae show, but instead they had b-boys (break-dancers) for a while. They then shifted, quite quickly I might add, to a veeeery pornographic show. We tried to stay for a minute and enjoy the party with the locals, but it was far too disgusting for our liking, so we turned to leave. On our way out we ran into a group of Chassidim enjoy the show very much! I thought it was hilarious and pretty awkward. We went to the bar across the street for a bit because they had a gorgeous rooftop terrace thingy.

The next day I woke up and went to the Botanic Gardens to lay out for a bit, and finally caught a bit of a tan! It faded though, and now I have none...

Friday night everybody else went out, but there were a bunch of miscommunications flying around and I ended up staying in and watching Batman Begins....pretty great flick, even though it makes no sense.

Saturday morning J and I woke up and made our way to the Recoleta market. It is a booming market that lines the streets around the infamous cemetery, and it was filled with artists, jewelers, and other vendors. It was literally the Argentinean take on the shuk. Awesome!

Then Saturday night we went to a party-concert-thingy thrown by the group called Fiesta Clandestina. They throw some of the greatest parties in BA! We went there because the percussion group La Bomba del Tiempo were there and I love them. They played a set over 2 hours long and had 3 guests, including a DJ! It was awesome and I danced my petunias off!

Tonight I am going to see Manu Chao perform at the Luna Park. I'll let you know how it goes!

I love you all,

M

Punta Del Este

We returned last night from our wonderful trip to Punta Del Este, Uruguay. It is a magical peninsula, with the coast on one side and calm waters on the other. We stayed at a hostel called 1949 that was right off the water and really nice. We sat our lazy bum bums on the beach and parked it all day. Most of the kids burned, but I could hardly catch a tan! Still, it was a wonderful weekend of relaxing in the sun with friends. Also, I had an amazing steak! Funny that I left Argentina to get some great beef! The exchange rate in Uruguay was 24.5 to the US dollar, so we all felt like we were tossing around monopoly money for a bit there. 

They have a cool sculpture on the beach that looks like an enormous hand reaching out to grab beach-goers. Also, when we went to the marina to check out the boats, the local fisherman were cleaning up and selling the catch of the day. There were gigantic sea-lions waiting in the marina with their mouthes open to catch the leftovers! So cool!

I hope all is well back home,

Gotta go do homework!

I LOVE YOU!

M