Well. After about 48 hours of travel, including 3 hours on the runway in Chicago and an unplanned night (and day) in Atlanta, I am finally here in La Plata! My bags are not, but they should be arriving within the hour if all goes as planned.
Saturday afternoon, after spending a blistering hot day in Atlanta, I managed to get myself switched to an earlier flight: leaving at 8:30 and going direct to Buenos Aires instead of connecting in Santiago. Thus yesterday I arrived to Ezeiza airport at around 7:30 a.m.. By the time I got out of customs and was able to check my email, I realized that the organizers of the program (Diego and Bettina) hadn't gotten my email saying that I was arriving earlier and at a different airport-- so my ride was not there to pick me up. I called Diego from the airport "locutorio" - in fact I think I woke him up, and he called (and woke up) Ricardo, the driver.
I've been loving how friendly the people are here- it seems normal to be much more affectionate with people you don't know than we are in the United States. After speaking with Diego, he said "Te mando un beso"-- I send you a kiss-- this from someone I've never met and had just woken up on a Sunday morning! And Ricardo greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and seemed genuinely happy to meet me. The kiss on the cheek seems to be the norm when meeting someone in a social situation. Already, the U.S. custom of shaking hands seems oddly formal and cold in comparison.
Ricardo drove me to La Plata, which only took about half an hour on the traffic-less Sunday morning. We arrived at Claudia's house. Claudia works a the Comisión por la Memoria (the organization that organizes the semester abroad). She lives alone, except for the William and Mary students that come every semester. I was a little worried that this would be awkward or strange- living just the two of us- but already I am beginning to feel at home. Luckily she is extremely friendly, but I don't feel like I'm obligated to spend a ton of time with her, if that makes sense- during the day, I think we just each do our own thing and then eat dinner together and talk.
The houses here are neat- really different from houses in the U.S. Each of the houses that Lauren, Dimelza and I are living in are at the end of a long outside corridor from the street. The door on the street offers access to all four little houses that are clustered around this hallway, almost like an apartment building but only one level. Claudia's is at the end of the corridor, and has a sweet little courtyard in the middle. The house is shaped like a backwards "C" as you enter it: first you walk through the office, then the dining area and kitchen, and at the back are the two bedrooms and the bathroom. It is small and simple, but painted bright colors and really charming. Here are some pictures of the house- unfortunately yesterday was rainy so it's all a little gray.
View of the courtyard from the dining area.
Dining area.
Kitchen (pardon the strange perspective)
Living room.
My bed!
My window
View of the courtyard from my window.
After I unpacked and showered, Claudia made us lunch and we talked for a while. We ate milanesas; breaded, fried pork cutlets, and salad- very yummy! Apparently they eat a lot of mayonnaise here, and a cheese the consistency of sour cream which we ate on the salad at lunch and later on pasta at dinner. (Dinner was more milanesas, and pasta with the cheese, spinach, and red pepper- very yummy!)
After this Dimelza came over and we had tea with Claudia and then met Lauren. Despite the rain and the cold (in the 50s), we walked around the city for a bit. Even in the gloom, it's a very pretty city; mostly one-story buildings, wide streets and lots of trees. Most places were closed because it was Sunday and it's also winter vacation for the students here for another week. We warmed up with cafés con leche in a "resto-bar" which was a little strange- we were the only customers there because it was an odd time in the afternoon but there were a bunch of people hanging up clothes on racks and setting up board games on the counter. On the wall in several places it said "BenSimon" which to the best of my knowledge is a line of shoes. They were also hanging paintings which appeared to be for sale, and there were books for sale too-- it was quite mysterious. Either it was really a "resto-bar-clothing/shoestore-bookstore-art-gallery-boardgame-store" or they were having some kind of strange event that night. Either way, it was delicious and warm. And, since the dollar is now worth almost 4 pesos, cheap!
After bundling up again we visited Lauren's home. She lives the closest to the University and Comisión, with Eliana and her two children. Elianas sister was there and her 6-year-old daughter Fran, who was quite a character. Then the sister's son, Gregorio, also 6, came home and greeted us each with a kiss on the cheek, which was possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen!! Later we were talking about losing teeth and the tooth fairy, which Fran matter-of-factly informed us does not exist. I was devastated by this news, although they seemed to find my pain hilarious to behold.
Another odd thing that I've noticed so far: swearing seems to be much more acceptable here, with children and parents using not-so-polite language with each other. Fran in particular seems to have quite the potty-mouth.
Today is the first day at the Comisión, so I'm off in a few moments to meet the teachers, directors, etc. and learn about the class options. Hopefully my luggage will arrive before I leave so that I don't have to wear this same dress for a fourth day!
After this Dimelza came over and we had tea with Claudia and then met Lauren. Despite the rain and the cold (in the 50s), we walked around the city for a bit. Even in the gloom, it's a very pretty city; mostly one-story buildings, wide streets and lots of trees. Most places were closed because it was Sunday and it's also winter vacation for the students here for another week. We warmed up with cafés con leche in a "resto-bar" which was a little strange- we were the only customers there because it was an odd time in the afternoon but there were a bunch of people hanging up clothes on racks and setting up board games on the counter. On the wall in several places it said "BenSimon" which to the best of my knowledge is a line of shoes. They were also hanging paintings which appeared to be for sale, and there were books for sale too-- it was quite mysterious. Either it was really a "resto-bar-clothing/shoestore-bookstore-art-gallery-boardgame-store" or they were having some kind of strange event that night. Either way, it was delicious and warm. And, since the dollar is now worth almost 4 pesos, cheap!
After bundling up again we visited Lauren's home. She lives the closest to the University and Comisión, with Eliana and her two children. Elianas sister was there and her 6-year-old daughter Fran, who was quite a character. Then the sister's son, Gregorio, also 6, came home and greeted us each with a kiss on the cheek, which was possibly the most adorable thing I have ever seen!! Later we were talking about losing teeth and the tooth fairy, which Fran matter-of-factly informed us does not exist. I was devastated by this news, although they seemed to find my pain hilarious to behold.
Another odd thing that I've noticed so far: swearing seems to be much more acceptable here, with children and parents using not-so-polite language with each other. Fran in particular seems to have quite the potty-mouth.
Today is the first day at the Comisión, so I'm off in a few moments to meet the teachers, directors, etc. and learn about the class options. Hopefully my luggage will arrive before I leave so that I don't have to wear this same dress for a fourth day!
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