Our Second Week

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Argentina for two weeks already! Everyday seems to fly by as we continue to learn more about the culture, history, and politics. Tuesday June 19 started off with a school wide assembly to celebrate Flag Day, which is celebrated on June 20.  Alumni and parents joined the students to honor the flag and it’s creator, General Manuel Belgrano. There was also a Granaderos band present to help make the day even more festive.

After the speeches and music finished, our guys joined the students visiting from Loyola High School in Los Angeles for some dance lessons. First up the tango! The Argentine tango is often marked by a sense of nostalgia, sadness, and laments for lost love. However, our guys were too busy saying derecho, izquierda, derecho (right, left, right) to the beat to notice the lyrics. We broke into leaders and followers and carefully practiced our individual steps, and then brought it together to dance. After mastering the basics there, we moved onto learning the chacarera. This is a genre of folk music that is considered the rural counterpart to the more urban tango. It involves the lead dancer trying to impress the follower with a series of foot stomps, and some pretty fancy circling around each other. It was impressive to see how well the guys did after just a few minutes of practice!

We were all out of school for the holiday on Wednesday, but the host families arranged an asado, or cook out, with the students visiting a local girls school from Fontboone, which everyone really enjoyed.

Thursday, we had a more open day in the schedule, so we took a quick vote and decided to try and visit the planetarium. This was our second time riding the subway as a group over to the Palermo neighborhood, and we had great weather for a day out.  We walked by the old zoo, which many of us are intrigued by. Although it closed several years ago there are still animals remaining, and peering through the fence we saw giraffes, monkeys, and ostriches. We reached the planetarium, and imagine our surprise to find despite the official opening time being 11:30, they would be closed until 1 for a project of some sort. So we walked back through the park and decided that was as good a reason as any to eat lunch and run a few errands. We stopped at both a Burger King and a local café since a few folks were interested in the differences between American and Argentinean fast food. Then it was back to the school after that as we had another World Cup game to catch. Unfortunately, Argentina lost to Croatia and wails of angst were heard throughout town. We will see what happens tomorrow in the game against Nigeria...

Friday morning we had a great class with two teachers from Colegio del Salvador about Argentinean politics and the economy. We learned about the branches of government, some key differences between the US and Argentinean justice system, and why their economy has been so unsteady. We heard opinions about the previous and current president, and talked about several important issues that are under discussion currently. After that, we were out again for the day. First stop was a visit to Libreria El Ateneo, also known as The Grand Splendid, which was the name of the theater that was originally there. It was chosen by a British newspaper as the second most beautiful bookstore in the world, in part because the bones of the theater remain, with beautiful balconies, a painted dome ceiling, and intricate carved details. It is visited by about 3,000 people a day and has over 120,000 titles on the shelves. After that, it was off to a tour of Recoleta Cemetery, the first public cemetery in city and where Evita Peron is buried. It is known for its impressive and ornate mausoleums and vaults, many of which have been designed by top Argentinean architects.  After lunch it was time to visit the Museo Nactional de Bellas Artes to take in some artwork by the likes of Degas, Monet, and Goya. We also got to see the Floralis Generica right across the street, which is a huge metal flower sculpture (23 meters high) that actually opens and closes its petals with the sun.

Today is a bit odd for us as there is a strike in Buenos Aires that has shut down most public transportation. Many students aren't in school given that, and I've heard someone refer to it like "a snow day in the south." Can't do too much or go too far, but really it's good excuse to get together with friends who are close by. Tomorrow will be back to a normal schedule and we'll be off to see La Boca, one of the more colorful neighborhoods, and tour the stadium. So more pictures and stories to come :)

~Jenny Ehalt